Rubric Indian Mandala

Indian Mandala
by Alessandra De Poli

Unlike the West, India cannot afford to see Russia crumble because it would mean giving China carte blanche, this according to Rahul Roy-Chaudhury of the International Institute for Strategic Studies speaking to AsiaNews. If there is little talk about India's role in this war, it is because this is what it wants. Prime Minister Modi wants to bring the world's most important leaders at the same table.

| 24/02/2023
| INDIAN MANDALA

Earlier this week, the Labour Minister presented the figure in Parliament, specifying that the deaths occurred between 2019 and 2021. Several studies had already found severe psychological distress among internal migrants caused by the loss of jobs during the lockdown. According to some estimates, poverty levels are even higher than pre-pandemic levels.

| 17/02/2023
| INDIAN MANDALA

It is not yet clear what will happen once financial markets stabilise after the Hindenburg Research’s revelations. India could follow South Korea whose economy is dominated by family-owned economic conglomerates, or see greater erosion of the rule of law. Many Indians are concerned that promised new infrastructure projects will be built.

| 10/02/2023
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

Some 539 people are currently on death row, but only eight were executed since 2004. Last year, India's Supreme Court empowered a constitutional bench to draw up guidelines for trial courts. The last executions were carried out in 2020.

| 03/02/2023
| INDIAN MANDALA

The north-western Indian state reported more than 48,000 cases from prolonged inhalation of silica dust in the past few years. Although the state government has created compensation programmes for affected families, many obstacles remain, above all the many illegal mines.

| 27/01/2023
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

India's population may have already surpassed China's; however, there are profound differences between city and country, north and south. The greatest concerns are stress on metropolitan infrastructures and job creation for young people.

| 20/01/2023
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

Yesterday, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India announced new standards for the most sought-after grain since Mughal times. Pakistan has been opposed to India’s application for Protected Geographical Indication, fearing a negative impact on its exports. As India lifts protectionist measures, Indian exports are expected to jump in the coming months.

| 13/01/2023
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

The Indian film industry, which churns out up to 1,600 films a year, has not yet recovered from the pandemic. Regional, non-Hindi productions, on the other hand, are increasingly popular. Films are also dragging with them the popularity of music: new genres and artists are emerging thanks to social media.

| 30/12/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

The country has the highest number of such attacks worldwide. In 60 per cent of cases, victims do not report the attack because the wheels of justice turn at a snail’s pace. The reasons behind the violence are rooted in a patriarchal culture.

| 16/12/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

The skilled workers who have been laid off have up to 60 days to find a company that will sponsor them to stay in the United States. However, recruitment is blocked. For historical and cultural reasons, India produces thousands of graduates in STEM subjects every year. But the guarantee of employment is no longer certain.

| 09/12/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Nirmala Carvalho

The occupancy rate in Indian prisons is 130%, with the vast majority of prisoners awaiting trial. Mental suffering is on the rise: at least 150 suicides were recorded last year. An organisation run by Bishop Allwyn D'Silva helps prisoners by facilitating their rehabilitation.

| 02/12/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA

Despite recent progress, the disease has not yet been wiped out. In slums, parents are wary of injections. In addition to increasing the number of vaccinations, the government must also reduce child malnutrition.

| 18/11/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA

For many Indians, especially Dalits, the ruling is discriminatory. The court sets a 10 per cent quota in government employment and university admissions for people earning less than 800,000 rupees a year. The government followed the policy used for disadvantaged castes, who nevertheless continue to be marginalised, so much so that thousands of Hindu Dalits have converted en masse to Buddhism.

| 11/11/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

This year India’s wedding season promises to be more lavish than ever after many couples postponed their nuptials due to the pandemic. According to some estimates, weddings are the fourth-largest industry in the country. But dowries are a sore point with more than 8,000 women dying as a result.

| 04/11/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

Manjeet Sarkar, Manaal Patil, and Ankur Tangade are three “untouchable” stand-up comedians  who use comedy to eviscerate the caste system in which they grew up. While crowds laugh, some feel a little guilty at times. In India's big cities, discrimination is more subtle, but even here, when Dalits climb the ladder of success they have fewer footholds than their upper caste colleagues.

| 28/10/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA

A steady flow of refugees from Afghanistan and Myanmar has highlighted what some observers have called India’s deliberate “strategic ambiguity”. India is not a party to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees. Assistance and refoulement depend on geopolitical and domestic political considerations.

| 21/10/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

Sikhs for Justice plan to hold a second vote on 6 November, raising concerns in India about  what it calls "anti-Indian" activities. Sikhs in Canada are only half a million but they exert great influence. The Indian diaspora is not insulated from politics in the old country.

| 14/10/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

More than 60 children died in The Gambia from toxic syrups made in Haryana. A third of the drugs sold worldwide come from India. The development of its pharmaceutical industry has been possible thanks to "reverse engineering" and process patents. Now the government wants to end its dependence on China and manufacture its own active ingredients.

 

| 07/10/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

Yesterday, fearing clashes, Tamil Nadu banned a rally by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The Indian government recently banned the Popular Front of India for five years and arrested about a hundred of its members. Constant use of anti-terrorism legislation could fuel extremism.

| 30/09/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

Google announced a pilot to make some gaming apps available in India, where online gambling is formally banned. Despite this, the industry is growing fast and could reach US$ 5 billion and create 50,000 jobs by 2025. At the same, debts and suicide are also increasing among users.

 

| 23/09/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

Long-time top members of India’s once-dominant party have left. After running the country for half a century, it has failed to renew itself, increasingly centralised and in the hands of the Gandhi family. Rahul's march to unite the country against the BJP is unlikely to succeed.

| 16/09/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA

Last week India replaced the United Kingdom as the world's fifth-largest economy, but its per capita GDP is still very low. During her reign, Elizabeth II presided over decolonisation, but anti-British sentiment in India has evolved over time. Today it is driven by the BJP. While the balance of power is changing, economic and military ties between the two countries remain close.

| 09/09/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

The recent attack on a Catholic church in Punjab could have serious repercussions. On 5 September, Sikh religious leaders will hold an assembly to demand anti-conversion laws in a state not ruled by Hindu nationalists and where coexistence between religious groups has always been peaceful. As a result of the incident, the Diocese of Jalandhar closed schools for a day in protest. Meanwhile, India’s Supreme Court told the Modi government to gather evidence from states about the rise in violence against Christians.

 

| 02/09/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

Some as tall as 15-storey buildings, they are powerful sources of methane, which heats the air 84 times more than carbon dioxide. The Modi government has launched a campaign to clean up at least 600 of them in several cities by 2026. Need to re-evaluate the work of India's Safai Saathis, the informal waste collectors, who almost always belong to the lowest castes.

| 26/08/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by sr. Meena Barwa

On the very day marking 14 years since the pogroms in Orissa, the Ministry of Home Affairs submitted a memorandum to the Supreme Court calling complaints about persecution at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists "falsehoods to meddle in nation's internal affairs." The testimony of Sr. Meena who was personally victimized in Kandhamal district: "God allowed me to see death and live again. I am close to those who are still suffering today."

| 19/08/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA

Pakistan and India will celebrate their independence on 14 and 15 August respectively. While Kashmir pins the two against each, for Delhi, Beijing is the main rival. India has made great strides in recent decades, but Hindu ultranationalism is turning the original idea of the Indian nation on its head.

| 12/08/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Nirmala Carvalho

They were celebrating the birthday of one of their children when neighbours called police., who arrested them after finding Christian religious texts in their possession. For Fr Vineet Pereira, the problem is “community polarization”. First application for bail was denied.

| 05/08/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

The games began yesterday in Chennai, chess central for sports fans. Russian, Chinese, and Pakistani players are absent, the latter because of the Kashmir question. As the game gains in popularity in India, chess coaches are now in short supply.

| 29/07/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
by Alessandra De Poli

Neeraj Chopra, Murali Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin are India’s newest track and field stars. Although some will bet at the World Athletics Championships, which opened today in Eugene (US), India remains a desert when it comes to Olympic medals. Cultural attitudes and poorly made investments seem to be the main causes; however, things appear to be changing.

| 15/07/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA

Draupadi Murmu, 64, is from Odisha, and later this month she could become India’s first tribal (Adivasi) woman president. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party is working overtime to ensure its victory in the 2024 elections. Adivasi and Dalits are still marginalised. The BJP is taking advantage of a recent political crisis in Maharashtra.

| 08/07/2022
| INDIAN MANDALA
Editor's choices
 
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| 21/09/2023
| CHINA - VATICAN
 
by Dario Salvi
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| 19/09/2023
| GATEWAY TO THE EAST
 
by Alessandra De Poli
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| 12/09/2023
| ASIA
 
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| 12/09/2023
| CHINA – VATICAN
 
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| 11/09/2023
| VIETNAM – UNITED STATES
 
by Andrea Lembo *
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| 06/09/2023
| JAPAN
 
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| 05/09/2023
| CHINA – MONGOLIA – VATICAN
 
by Gianni Criveller *
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| 04/09/2023
| CHINA - VATICAN - MONGOLIA
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”