Category Archives: South and Central Asia

From waste to play space: the project turning India’s scrap into playgrounds

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Realising safe play places were in short supply while waste materials were abundant, a group of friends has set about transforming life for India’s children

Children of all ages cluster on top of tin cans painted in green, red and yellow embedded in the ground, others hang off a climbing frame made of rubber tubes. Others clamber energetically up a wall of colourfully painted repurposed tyres while some play on giant dominoes.

“Tyres are versatile,” said Pooja Rai. “We use as many as 70 tyres in one playground to build seesaws and slides as well as elephants, octopuses and bikes that keep the children engaged.”

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Violent clashes as Indian farmers storm Delhi’s Red Fort

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Farmers protesting against new agriculture laws enter grounds of historic fort as violence breaks out

Farmers protesting against new agriculture laws in India broke through police barricades around the capital and entered the grounds of Delhi’s historic Red Fort on Tuesday, in chaotic and violent scenes that overshadowed the country’s Republic Day celebrations.

Police hit protesters with batons and fired teargas to try to disperse the crowds after hundreds of thousands of farmers, many on tractors or horses, marched on the capital. One protester was confirmed to have died in the clashes and dozens of police and protesters were injured.

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Indian troops brawl with Chinese counterparts on border

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Clash in Sikkim happened days before talks aimed at ending tensions in Ladakh border dispute

Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in another violent clash along the Himalayan border last week, as tensions between the two nuclear powers showed no signs of abating.

According to reports, Indian and Chinese troops came to physical blows on Wednesday along the high-altitude border in north Sikkim, a small Indian state, situated between India and Bhutan, which has been a flashpoint of India-China conflict for decades.

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Indian comedian held over ‘indecent’ jokes at show where he did not perform

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Police admit they have no evidence against Manuwar Faruqui, who has been held for three weeks

A Muslim comedian in India has been detained for more than three weeks for allegedly insulting Hindu gods during a standup routine that he did not perform.

Fellow comedians, lawyers and opposition politicians have spoken out against the detention of Manawar Faruqui, 29, who was accused of making “indecent” and “vulgar” remarks about Hinduism and government figures during a comedy show on 1 January in the city of Indore, in Madhya Pradesh.

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Indian hesitancy sets back world’s biggest Covid vaccination drive

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Low uptake fuelled by fears over safety of vaccine and spread of misinformation

India’s Covid-19 vaccine drive has been hampered by turnout as low as 22% in some states, as fears over the safety of the vaccine and the spread of misinformation has fuelled widespread hesitancy.

On Saturday, India launched the world’s largest vaccination programme as it began the massive task of vaccinating its 1.3 billion citizens against coronavirus.

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Food to go? Covid threatens Hyderabad’s famous street food carts

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Despite government loans and staff trickling back to work, the pandemic has made survival precarious for the city’s vendors

On a normal working day, Venkateshwara Rao would be ready by 4pm, stationed on the pavement waiting for office workers to emerge and order their favourite varieties of idli and dosa from his bandi, a food cart grandly named Kavyajyotika Tiffin Centre.

“When the lockdown was lifted, but with many restrictions still in place, the inflow of customers plummeted. However, the last few weeks have been good with a handful of workers back in offices and people lining up for takeaways at my bandi,” says Rao.

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Sri Lankan holy man’s ‘miracle’ potion for Covid turns sour

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Minister who publicly drank syrup touted as coronavirus cure tests positive

A self-styled Sri Lankan holy man’s supposed miracle potion to prevent Covid-19 has turned sour after a minister who publicly drank it was taken to hospital with the virus.

Thousands defied public gathering restrictions to swamp a village in central Sri Lanka last month to get the syrup made by Dhammika Bandara.

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G4S migrant workers ‘forced to pay millions’ in illegal fees for jobs

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UK-based security firm faces calls to repay charges made by recruitment agents for jobs in Gulf states and conflict zones

Migrant workers working for the British security company G4S in the United Arab Emirates have collectively been forced to pay millions of pounds in illegal fees to recruitment agents to secure their jobs, the Guardian can reveal.

An investigation into G4S’s recruitment practices has found that workers from south Asia and east Africa have been made to pay up to £1,775 to recruitment agents working for the British company in order to get jobs as security guards for G4S in the UAE.

Forcing workers to pay recruitment fees is a widespread practice, but one that is illegal in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The practice allows companies to pass on the costs of recruitment to workers from some of the poorest countries in the world, leaving many deep in debt and vulnerable to modern forms of slavery, such as debt bondage.

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‘We are worried’: Indians hopeful but anxious as vaccination drive begins

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India launches bid to vaccinate 300m people amid fears over efficacy of domestically produced vaccine

Emerging from Holy Family hospital in New Delhi, Ram Verma, a sanitation worker, breathed a deep sigh of relief. As one of the first in India to receive a coronavirus vaccine on Saturday – marking the start of the world’s largest vaccination programmes – he had been feeling a little jittery.

“I must admit I was nervous,” said Verma, who had received his Covaxin jab in a centre set up in the hospital car park. “A lot of us were. I thought I might faint or have side-effects. After all, it is something totally new. But I’m fine. There is nothing to worry about.”

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Two female judges shot dead in Kabul as wave of killings continues

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Assassination of supreme court judges follows months of increased violence in Afghanistan

Gunmen shot dead two Afghan women judges working for the country’s supreme court in an early-morning ambush in Kabul on Sunday, officials said, as a wave of assassinations continued to rattle the nation.

Violence has surged across Afghanistan in recent months despite continuing peace talks between the Taliban and government, especially in Kabul, where a new trend of targeted killings of high-profile figures has sown fear in the city.

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Mahatma Gandhi’s killer venerated as Hindu nationalism resurges in India

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Nathuram Godse rehabilitated from traitor to patriot for many, as Gandi’s vision of secular India eroded by ruling BJP

Last Sunday, in a nondescript building in the India city of Gwalior, 200 miles south of Delhi, a large crowd of men gathered. Most wore bright saffron hats and scarves, a colour evoking Hindu nationalism, and many held strands of flowers as devotional offerings.

They were there to attend the inauguration of the Godse Gyan Shala, a memorial library and “knowledge centre” dedicated to Nathuram Godse, the man who shot Mahatma Gandhi. The devotional yellow and pink flowers were laid around a black and white photograph of Godse, the centrepiece of the room.

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‘Untouchable’ Bollywood poster provokes outrage over caste stereotypes

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Upper-caste actor playing Dalit politician Mayawati shown dishevelled and holding broom in publicity for new film

A picture of a woman holding a broom. Anywhere else, the image might pass unnoticed. But in India the poster for the film Madam Chief Minister, loosely based on the life of politician Mayawati, who is a Dalit, has triggered uproar for perpetuating caste stereotypes.

Bollywood actor Richa Chadha, who plays Mayawati, tweeted an image of the poster ahead of the film’s release later this month. She is shown looking dishevelled and holding the kind of large broom used by municipal roadsweepers. The tagline of the poster reads: Untouchable, Unstoppable.

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‘There is no noise’: inside the controversial Bhasan Char refugee camp – a photo essay

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Amid concern from charities and NGOs, Bangladesh is relocating Rohinghya refugees to a remote island. One resident describes his new life there

I wanted to come here. No one forced me, and my wife also agreed in a snap.

To be honest, though, I didn’t tell my brother. He lives where I used to live – Kutupalong camp. He is very against this island for some reason. He might have tried to stop me coming if I dared to discuss the topic. So I didn’t. I only told him after I arrived. I was amazed that he didn’t yell at me.

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Nationwide power blackout plunges Pakistan into darkness

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Second major incident in less than three years caused by engineering fault, says PM

Power is gradually being restored to major cities across Pakistan after it was hit by a massive electricity blackout.

The electricity distribution system in the nation of more than 210 million people is a complex – and delicate – web, and a problem in one section of the grid can lead to cascading breakdowns countrywide.

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‘Modi’s policies are doing nothing for the poor’: feeding India’s protesting farmers – video

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Pushpinder Pal is one of tens of thousands of Indian farmers camped along nine miles (15km) of major roads outside Delhi, protesting about agricultural laws they claim will devastate their earnings. Based in Haryana, he collects food every day from his local gurdwara, a Sikhs' place of assembly, delivering spinach curry to huge numbers of protesters. The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, promised to increase farmers' incomes, but they claim his new policies are designed to favour rich corporations and not them. In one of the largest protests in history, farmers are pledging to stay put while they wait for their representatives to strike a deal with government

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Making waves: the hit Indian island radio station leading climate conversations

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With its unique blend of gossip, jokes and songs mixed with serious global issues, Kadal Osai has built a devoted audience

Selvarani Mari is a fisher and seaweed collector who lives on Pamban Island of Tamil Nadu, on the southernmost tip of India.

Every day she helps her husband cast the fishing nets, maintains rafts for cultivating seaweed, and dives into the ocean to gather sargassum. But she always makes time to listen to the radio.

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Virginity tests for female rape survivors outlawed by Pakistani court

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Judge said the ‘humiliating’ practice was used to cast suspicion on the victim, and deflected focus from the act of sexual violence

A Pakistani court has outlawed the practice of subjecting female rape survivors to a virginity test in an unprecedented ruling.

Lahore’s high court ruled on Monday that the virginity test has no legal basis and “offends the personal dignity of the female victim”.

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India’s supreme court gives go-ahead for controversial new parliament building

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Critics say Narendra Modi’s $3bn redevelopment of Lutyen’s central vista is ‘expensive vanity project’

India’s supreme court has given approval for a new parliament building that critics have called an “expensive vanity project” for the prime minister, Narendra Modi.

Under the $3bn development project, Delhi’s iconic central vista at the heart of the capital, home to its parliament and the famous India Gate monument, will be transformed by a new triangular parliament building, government and legislature offices and a new home for the prime minister.

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New-sprung: the project turning PPE offcuts into Covid patient mattresses

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Cheap, hygienic and sustainable, the mattresses made by Indian fashion designer Lakshmi Menon also generate income for rural women

At the height of the pandemic in the Indian state of Kerala, fashion designer Lakshmi Menon, 46, heard that every new Covid care centre had to have 50 beds. Mattresses were in short supply. Every time a patient was discharged, the mattress had to be incinerated. “I thought: that’s a lot of mattresses and a lot of burning,” says Menon.

Menon’s solution was to collect the mountains of plastic pieces from factories that make PPE – all the little bits left over after cutting. Women then braid the bits into rope-like plaits 6ft long. The braids are laid out in a zigzag and the ends tied together. The result is a light, soft, washable, hygienic mattress for just 300 rupees (£3) – half the price of a normal one.

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