Politicians, activists and scholars have documented the origins and development of the language, spoken mostly by tribal people, while the state government has shut down schools using Assamese. Since colonial times, the language has struggled to establish itself due to competition from Bengali, an issue that still worries Assam nationalists.
While India reached an agreement with China on border patrols, activist Sonam Wangchuk, 58, ended one of his many hunger strikes. Local herders, whose activities have been limited due to military tensions (unlikely to decrease, experts say), fear the construction of power plants.
Baba Siddique was killed on 12 October as he left his son’s office; the latter is a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra, where voters will go to the polls on 20 November. The investigation suggests that behind the killing is the Bishnoi gang, which has been accused by Canada of killing Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on behalf of the Indian government. The group has a track record of threatening Bollywood stars for killing blackbucks, sacred to their community.
There are already 7.7 million people working in digital platform services, but it is estimated that this will triple by 2030. A recently published report notes that the vast majority of them do not receive a decent wage after deducting the expenses they have to incur to work. Some Indian states are trying to regulate the sector.
Baseless rumours are fuelling the ethnic conflict that broke out a year and a half ago in the north-eastern Indian state. The latest fake news refers to “900 militants” who allegedly came from neighbouring Myanmar to fight the Meitei. Chief of Army Staff has denied the claim, saying that people entering from Myanmar “are coming unarmed” to escape the war in that country.
Since 9 September, about a thousand workers have been asking for higher salaries and their own union. The southern Indian state has been an important industrial hub for hi-tech production since the 1990s; unlike other states where economic growth dominates, it has seen social progress as well, due especially to policies that do not take into account caste or religion.
The two candidates favoured in the polls hold opposite positions towards Sri Lanka’s Indian neighbour, sometimes seen as a cumbersome presence in the island nation’s domestic politics. India is worried instead about China’s growing influence, but, given the current environment in South Asia, it will likely work with whoever comes to power.
After the acquisition of the Dar es Salaam Port in Tanzania, the group controlled by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is in talks with the Kenyan government to lease the capital’s airport for 30 years. Fearing job redundancies, workers are opposed to the move. Meanwhile, the Indian conglomerate is getting involved Kenya’s energy sector. Back in India, an inquiry into its alleged share price manipulation is still ongoing.
For almost a month, Kolkata has been shaken by protests and rallies, initially organised by feminist groups. In recent weeks, however, the Bharatiya Janata Party has taken advantage of widespread dissatisfaction to call for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation.
The historically disputed Muslim-majority region with Pakistan will go to the polls for the first time since PM Narendra Modi's 2019 coup to cancel its special status. The BJP has redrawn constituencies to gain a majority. But it is an open game with an alliance between the Congress and a local political force that want to restore the autonomy guaranteed by Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
Ruling on the case of an exasperated family who demanded a stop for a 30-year-old man who had been artificially fed for 11 years as he could no longer afford the costs. Judges: 'It would be death by starvation, not passive euthanasia. But the government should work to provide some form of support for the family." Dr. Carvalho, Indian Catholic bioethics expert: “A compassionate ruling.”
Some 90 per cent of the world's rough diamonds are cut and polished in India, but the industry has been in a severe crisis for the past two years due to the drop in Chinese demand and the Gaza and Ukraine wars. Thousands of workers have lost their jobs while another 65 have committed suicide in less than two years. After a local union set up a helpline, it received more than 1,600 distress calls in a month.
The ties between former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and India go back to the War of independence, becoming even closer economically in the past ten years. In India, some fear that Bangladesh will turn to Pakistan and rival China, but much will depend on who comes to power after the elections.
The drowning of three students earlier this week has reignited the debate over such facilities. Young people from all over India are crammed into overcrowded classrooms and student residences and find themselves studying up to 18 hours a day to pass a government or college entrance exam. The costs fall on families while students feel all the pressure. The government has been forced to intervene because of a high number of suicides in recent years.
The BJP-led state government wants hoteliers and restaurateurs to display their names, so that Hindu pilgrims visiting Shiva temples at this time of the year can avoid Muslim-run establishments. The Supreme Court stayed the state order and will re-examine the matter later. The district where the order was supposed to apply saw serious violence in 2013.
Four more students were arrested yesterday, while the Supreme Court said it will order a retest depending on whether the leak was localised or systemic. The agency that drafts the exam will have to post online information that has not yet been made public. Medicine, like engineering, is a highly sought-after profession among young Indians; this year, 110,000 places were available for 2.4 million candidates.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs announced the repatriation of Indian nationals fighting in Ukraine after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia. Attracted by high salaries, the possibility of obtaining Russian citizenship, and traveling to countries in Europe’s Schengen area, hundreds of South Asian men have embarked on the journey to Russia. In many cases, they did so without knowing that they would be sent to the front.
Floods are a normal occurrence in the north-eastern Indian state, but the greater volatility and intensity of rainfall has become a problem for farmers. Tea production, a sector that employs a large chunk of the population, has been particularly affected. For experts, a centralised government approach should be dropped in favour of one based on local communities.
Adopted in December, the three new codes will come into force on 1 July. Several legal experts warn against greater police powers and the vagueness of some articles that could lead to the criminalisation of Satyagraha, the non-violent form of resistance used by Gandhi. Backers of the new codes see them as a step towards “decolonisation”, claiming victims of crimes will receive swifter justice.
What binds India and Russia is oil, which India is buying at discounted prices. Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the latter did not show particular interest for the Summit on Peace in the Ukraine held in the Swiss city of Lucerne, sending a low-level delegation. At the same time, Indo-Russian relations are not likely to expand, experts believe.
An ethnic Santal, Mohan Charan Majhi becomes Odisha’s new chief minister. He comes from the ranks of the RSS, the BJP’s paramilitary group that promotes Hindu supremacy. In the past, he supported a fanatic jailed for killing Christians and Muslims. According to experts, the BJP is trying to prove that even those from disadvantaged castes can come to power.
According to Prof Sebasti L. Raj, the BJP lost some key constituencies because it focused on religious issues rather than solve people’s real problems. The opposition is not a single bloc; to succeed, it must remain united. New undercurrents within the BJP will be clearer when the new cabinet is formed.
Hundreds of thousands of Indians are unable to return to their places of origin at election time due to long journeys and high costs. Most of them are daily labourers who would be forced to give up wages and look for a new job. Non-resident Indians face the same problem. Meanwhile, India’s main parties rejected a proposal made last year for remote electronic voting.
Today, at least nine people died in Rajasthan from possible heatstroke; yet the main parties ignore the problem, which is hardly present in their election platforms. The issue is more relevant at the local level, but the actions by individual states have a limited impact.
In Bastar, tribal converts to Christianity continue to be attacked. Kosa Kawasi was one of them, killed by an uncle and a cousin. This kind of incidents shows the level of discrimination against people who embrace Christianity in rural villages. “Christian tribals live in fear and insecurity even among their own families,” a local told AsiaNews.
The Reserve Bank of India has changed its rules allowing Russia to use the rupees it earns from crude oil sales in India to invest in local government bonds, stocks, equities, and loans. India's imports from Russia are up by 32.95 per cent to US$ 61.44 billion.
A year ago, violence broke out between ethnic Meitei and Kuki, tearing apart the northeastern state, with at least 220 deaths. In a situation that remains tense and painful, Archbishop Linus Neli called for three days of fasting and prayer. “[W]e know only too well the present scenario of ethnic segregation,” but we “pray for the day when people of all ethnicities and religious communities can live together”. To this end, we urge “positive action from the State Government and other authorities”.
The former East Pakistan is watching the election process closely. Especially with regard to the presence of migrants, of Muslim faith, in India. For now, Dhaka is trying to maintain a certain balance between Delhi's pressure and Beijing's influence, explains Fr Sergio Targa, a Xaverian missionary in Bangladesh since 1992, now in Italy.
According to the Housing and Land Rights Network, many evictions remain undocumented. Figures for 2023 are the highest in the last seven years. Local authorities and courts have deviated from previous practices, violating human rights. The government has often failed to offer resettlement or compensation.
In the region nestled in the Himalayas on the borders with China and Pakistan, the local population is demanding the creation of a local administration, after the Delhi government revoked autonomy for Kashmir in 2019, dividing the region into two. Activists fear the melting of glaciers, the launch of large industrial projects and the militarisation of the territory, including by Beijing.