The war that Israel and the United States launched against Iran is resulting in a shortage of gas supplies in India, higher food prices, and even rising costs for drinking water. This situation could get worse if fertiliser shortages are added; as a result, India has asked China for help. Once again, Washington is bringing the two Asian giants closer together.
In Gujarat, an amendment to the marriage registration law introduces new requirements that risk hindering unions between people of different religions or castes. The High Court of Allahabad, in Uttar Pradesh, had to reiterate that interfaith relationships between consenting adults do not constitute a crime. Two parallel cases that reignite the debate on the relationship between state legislation, constitutional rights and political campaigns against so-called “love jihad”.
With a reserved order, the court halted for “for 15 days” the film's premiere, today. Questions remain about the certification and classification of a work that presents an "unfiltered" reality. Of greatest concern are the repercussions at the community level, given the sensitive issues such as reconversions.
A ruling has called for a halt to the forced exhumation of the bodies of tribal people who converted to Christianity, which often meets with opposition from villagers. Similar incidents have also occurred in Orissa, where a family was denied burial of their son in the village cemetery.
After a year of diplomatic tensions, the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Kuala Lumpur on 7 and 8 February marked a rapprochement between India and Malaysia, with the signing of 11 agreements in various sectors. Modi also emphasised the importance of ties to Indo-Malaysians who represent the country’s third-largest ethnic group. Investment and technological cooperation have been revitalised.
During this period of global instability, the precious metal has broken all records. But this surge is particularly pronounced in India, where women hold the largest share of this safe asset as a guarantee of financial security in marriage. Together, they hold an estimated 11 per cent of the world's gold. Rising jewellery prices, however, are also changing market habits.
Tribal leaders slam the authorities for pressuring them to sign “surrender certificates” and lose their ancestral lands hit by the 2004 tsunami. At the heart of the dispute is the Great Nicobar Island Development Project, a plan of nearly US$ 9 billion that includes a port, an airport, and a power plant. The Nicobarese and Shompen peoples are demanding to right to return to their original villages, while environmentalists and scientists warn that the plan poses risks to biodiversity and is threatened by seismic activity.
At Manikarnika Ghat, an important cremation site in the holy city, a structure linked to the Hindu Queen Ahilyabai Holkar has been demolished, part of the Kashi Vishwanath corridor project. Meanwhile, the environmental problems of the Ganges and the poverty of many residents remain unresolved. The project has left the Gyanvapi Mosque exposed, paving the way for fresh sectarian tensions.
Bangladesh’s concerns about the safety of its cricket players is connected to the decision by Indian cricket authorities to exclude Bangladeshi player Mustafizur Rahman from the Indian Premier League. The deterioration in bilateral relations follows former Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina's flight to India. The two sides also accuse each other of sectarian violence as Bangladeshis are set to go to the polls next month. Still, New Delhi is trying a more conciliatory approach.
The Supreme Court has asked states and the central government to urgently identify and repeal all obsolete provisions that continue to contain discriminatory references to people with leprosy. According to the National Human Rights Commission, there are nearly 100 laws that limit the rights and access to services of even those who have been cured.
In his first visit to New Delhi since 2021, Vladimir Putin announced an economic cooperation plan with India between now and 2030. India has been trying to balance relations between the United States, which has imposed heavy tariffs, and Russia, which remains the country's leading arms supplier. No new defence contracts were signed, but the two sides inked energy, nuclear power, shipbuilding, and labour deals, to reach US$ 100 billion in bilateral trade a year.
At last week's summit in Johannesburg, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented a six-point agenda, ranging from coordination against drug trafficking and terrorism to a new framework for critical minerals, as well as regulations on artificial intelligence. Relations with Japan, Italy, and Canada have strengthened. But while New Delhi claims a central role for emerging economies, tensions with Beijing flared up again after yet another incident related to the disputed territory of Arunachal Pradesh.
India wants China to open a flight corridor over Xinjiang, even though the area is highly militarised. Tensions with India have led Pakistan to close its airspace to Indian aircraft, causing Air India losses estimated at over US$ 450 million a year. Meanwhile, closures of land crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan are paralysing regional trade, leading Ariana Afghan Airlines to lower fares to Indian markets.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance won a landslide victory in the Bihar elections, largely outperforming the opposition Mahagathbandhan bloc. The Modi government’s cash transfer programmes for women and youth played a decisive role. Voter turnout among women exceeded that of men for the first time.
The Indian government wants to introduce strict rules on content generated by artificial intelligence, such as deepfakes. The measure aims to combat abuse and disinformation, but raises serious concerns about privacy and freedom of expression. Critics and legal experts warn that the obligation to label and track content could turn into a tool for digital surveillance.
The archbishop of Imphal spoke to AsiaNews in Rome. Violence between Meitei and Kuki-Zo has diminished, but "the mental divide continues”. Modi's visit in September came “too late”. The Church is providing assistance to displaced people. For the prelate, “survivel comes first, then, the pursuit of peace”. Meanwhile, Naga leader Thuingaleng Muivah returned to Manipur after decades.
The northern Indian state has arbitrarily denied land rights granted under the Forest Rights Act of 2006. The legal process has reached a stalemate, but the case of the village of Kajaria has reignited the debate over the slow implementation of the regulations and the broken promises to indigenous peoples, for whom forests are not only a source of subsistence but also the basis of their identity.
Today, India decided to reopen its embassy in Kabul, marking an unprecedented political step towards the Taliban government. The announcement came after Pakistan struck the Afghan capital to eliminate Noor Wali Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban. These developments are part of a new phase in the conflict between India and Pakistan, which began with Operation Sindoor, launched by New Delhi in May in response to an attack in Kashmir.
New Delhi is weighing the consequences of the end of US exemptions on the Iranian port of Chabahar, in which it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars as a strategic hub to Central Asia and a counterweight to China's presence in Gwadar. New sanctions risk stalling the project and further complicating relations with Washington, already beset by tariffs and new visa restrictions. In the long run, analysts warn, China could be the real beneficiary of the crisis.
The Modi government wants to boost nuclear energy production with a new nuclear liability fund to attract investment. The goal is to increase production capacity from the current 8.18 GW to 100 GW by 2047. New Delhi has already opened uranium supply and processing to the private sector, but critical issues remain like high costs, the lack of an independent regulatory authority, and the uncertainties surrounding next-generation modular reactors.
Following the approval of the anti-conversion bill in Rajasthan and the Maharashtra Public Security Bill, protests have broken out in India. In Rajasthan, the law even affects voluntary conversions and interfaith marriages, while in Maharashtra, the executive will be able to declare entire organisations ‘illegal’ without concrete evidence. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has asked the states for clarification on the constitutionality of these laws.
The Indian prime minister is expected to visit the northeastern state next week, after more than two years of communal violence. Meanwhile, militant Kuki groups signed a reconciliation agreement with the central and state governments, but many issues remain unresolved, such as the displacement of some 60,000 people and internal divisions within the BJP, the prime minister’s own party, which controlled Manipur when violence erupted in 2023.
Before his highly anticipated trip to China, the Indian prime minister is in Japan, a clear sign that he wants to counterbalance his overtures to Beijing. Economic co-operation is the focus of the visit, especially in high-speed trains and new technologies. Both sides are seeking a mutually beneficial partnership.
So far, the only real rapprochement, unintentionally fostered by the tycoon’s tariffs, is the one in the shadow of the Himalayas. But for India, the first steps suggest that it promises to be an uphill battle.
The court has suspended the “Land Pooling Policy 2025” for four weeks. Launched by the Aam Aadmi Party government to acquire 65,533 acres of agricultural land for residential and industrial purposes, the measure is contested by farmers and the opposition who say it was approved without consultation with village assemblies. Trade unions, which have organised several protests in recent days, denounce inadequate compensation, risks to the livelihoods of labourers and benefits only for large real estate groups.
The US president's decision to impose such a high tariff is causing economic and diplomatic upheaval in New Delhi. The measure includes sanctions over India's relations with Russia and its membership in the BRICS group. While the opposition calls it a “catastrophic failure of foreign policy”, the Modi government says it wants to negotiate a "fair deal" again in August. But US aggressiveness is pushing New Delhi to consider a tactical rapprochement with Beijing, while Washington is boosting ties with Islamabad, fuelling tensions in an already fragile regional context.
In a report released yesterday, the human rights group accuses India of expelling 1,500 Muslims to Bangladesh between May and June without due process, fuelling religious and ethnic discrimination. Those expelled include Indian citizens with valid papers, as several witnesses testified. In Assam, where the situation is most critical, evictions and home demolitions have been ongoing for months, involving thousands of families, expelled or detained, partly to make way for business development.
In the world's most polluted capital, the territorial government is set to begin experiments in artificially stimulating clouds to generate rain during periods of stagnant atmospheric conditions. According to a study, 30 million residents risk losing up to 12 years of their life due to poor air quality.
The Indian prime minister visited Ghana and Trinidad and Tobago before travelling to Argentina, Brazil (for the BRICS summit), and Namibia to boost ties with developing countries and challenge Chinese influence. Billions-dollar investments in Africa and South-South cooperation top the agenda, while at home the opposition accuses him of neglecting domestic crises.
At Milan Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2026, Prada presented leather sandals identical in design to the traditional Kolhapuri chappal of Maharashtra, without any acknowledgement of the Chamar artisans, one of India's indigenous and outcast tribes. The high price and the distribution of leather rings during the show to emphasise the sandal's distinctive detail sparked protests on Indian social media. Activists have long been calling on fashion houses to recognise cultural origins and share profits with local communities.
