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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mohammad Zubair is co-founder of AltNews, a fact-checking website created in 2017. Multiple criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes back to the pogrom of 2002. Twitter is struggling with India’s requests to block tweets and accounts.
The ban takes effect on 1 October 2022 until the end of February 2023. Lorry drivers expect losses of millions of dollars. In winter, Delhi’s air becomes unbreathable; in 2019 alone, 1.67 million Indians died from air pollution-related diseases.
Protesters attack railway stations and set trains on fire following the unveiling of the Agnipath programme to limit military tenure to four years rather than the typical 17. For the Modi government, this will allow defence modernisation. Reducing job prospects by one of India’s main public sector employers has put the spotlight on youth unemployment, which tops 20 per cent in Indian cities.
Aid distribution is still based on 2011 data, and does not take into account large sections of the population. The census scheduled for last year was postponed to a later date. The BJP refuses to carry out a caste census as demanded by opposition parties.
