| “India needs multiple languages, including Tamil, not just two… We must embrace linguistic diversity,” Pawan Kalyan slams CM Stalin over NEP issue Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan has slammed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin over the National Education Policy (NEP) issue. Kalyan emphasised the importance of linguistic diversity in India, stating that the country needs multiple languages, including Tamil, not just two. n18oc_politicsNews18 Mobile App – https://onelink.to/desc-youtube

An Indian student studying at Columbia University in the US has self-deported herself from the country, days after her student visa was revoked for participating in pro-Palestine protests. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, Ranjani Srinivasan’s visa was revoked on March 5 for “advocating violence and terrorism”.

“Ranjani Srinivasan was involved in activities supporting Hamas, a terrorist organisation. On March 5, 2025, the Department of State revoked her visa. The Department of Homeland Security has obtained video footage of her using the Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agency app to self-deport on March 11,” it said in a statement.

Self-deporting, or leaving voluntarily before authorities take action, avoids the risk of one being put on a US military aircraft and sent home like the deportees who recently arrived in India.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted a video of Ms Srinivasan at the airport and said that anyone “advocating for violence and terrorism should not be in the country”.

“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence and terrorism, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country. I am glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self-deport,” she said in a post on X.

It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live & study in the United States of America.

When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked and you should not be in this country.

I’m glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers… pic.twitter.com/jR2uVVKGCM

— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) March 14, 2025

Ms Srinivasan was a doctoral student in urban planning at Columbia University. According to the school’s website, she was doing research at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. The Indian national has a Bachelor’s Degree from CEPT Univeristy in Ahmedabad and a Master’s Degree from Harvard with Fulbright Nehru and Inlaks Scholarships.

It also mentioned that she has worked for an environmental advocacy nonprofit in Washington on “frontier communities at risk from climate change” and as a researcher for the West Philadelphia Landscape Project (WPLP) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The school’s website shows Ms Srinivasan referring to herself with the gender-neutral “they” pronoun.

Columbia University has been the Ground Zero of student protests in support of Palestine amid the raging Israel-Hamas war. Last week, a former Columbia student of Palestinian descent Mahmoud Khalil – who was at the forefront of the pro-Palestinian protests on campus last year – was arrested by the US authorities. While his green card has been revoked, a federal judge has put Mr Khalil’s deportation on hold temporarily.

Another Columbia University student, Leqaa Kordia, was arrested by an immigration official for overstaying her student visa. She was arrested last year for her involvement in pro-Palestine protests in New York.

According to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Justice Department and Homeland Security are investigating whether Columbia was “harbouring and concealing illegal aliens on its campus”.

President Vladimir Putin called on Friday for beleaguered Ukrainian troops in the Russian region of Kursk to “surrender” as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russian leader of seeking to sabotage a ceasefire initiative.

US President Donald Trump urged Putin to spare the lives of the Ukrainian troops as he said his envoy had held “productive” talks with Russia’s leader on a proposed 30-day ceasefire.

Russia has mounted a rapid counteroffensive in the western border region of Kursk over the past week, recapturing much of the territory Ukraine seized in a shock incursion last August.

Defeat in Kursk would be a major blow to Ukraine’s plans to use its hold on the region as a bargaining chip in peace talks for the three-year-old war.

“We are sympathetic to President Trump’s call,” Putin said in remarks broadcast on Russian television.

“If they lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and dignified treatment,” Putin said.

Trump said “thousands” of Ukrainian troops were “completely surrounded by the Russian military, and in a very bad and vulnerable position”.

‘Horrible massacre’

“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” Trump said.

Ukraine’s military leadership denied the claims. “There is no threat of our units being encircled,” Ukraine’s General Staff posted on social media.

Zelensky gave a more sober assessment in comments to reporters in Kyiv. “The situation in the Kursk region is obviously very difficult,” he said, while insisting the campaign still had value.

Russia, he said, had been forced to pull troops from other areas on the front line, easing pressure on Ukrainian forces fighting to keep control of the eastern logistics hub of Pokrovsk.

Trump’s latest comments came as he gave an update on a meeting Thursday between his envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin on a US-Ukrainian proposal for a 30-day pause in hostilities.

“We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday, and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Ukraine losing grip

Putin said Thursday that he had “serious questions” about the proposal and that events in Kursk would influence the next moves towards a ceasefire.

Zelensky accused the Russian leader of seeking to undermine the ceasefire initiative.

“He is now doing everything he can to sabotage diplomacy by setting extremely difficult and unacceptable conditions right from the start even before a ceasefire,” Zelensky posted on X.

The Kremlin said Friday that it was “cautiously optimistic” a deal could be reached, but that Trump and Putin had to speak directly before talks could progress.

US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said in a Fox News interview that the United States had “some cautious optimism” after Witkoff’s visit.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a meeting of the Group of Seven western powers in Canada that both sides would have to make “concessions”.

G7 foreign ministers warned Russia of new sanctions unless it accepted a ceasefire “on equal terms”, saying sanctions could include “caps on oil prices, as well as additional support for Ukraine, and other means”.

France and Germany accused Russia of seeking to block a ceasefire, and support for Ukraine was to be discussed again in a video conference of some European leaders with Zelensky on Saturday.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday said Russia’s “complete disregard for President Trump’s ceasefire proposal only serves to demonstrate that Putin is not serious about peace”.

Diplomatic sources said EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas would propose that the 27-country bloc supply up to 40 billion euros ($43.5 billion) in new military aid to Ukraine.

Ukraine hoped its hold on Kursk would be a bargaining chip in talks with Russia and was eyeing a potential land swap with Moscow, which has occupied around a fifth of Ukraine since it took Crimea in 2014 and launched its military offensive in February 2022.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)