Raghubir Nagar has been given a colourful makeover by the Delhi Street Art group, drawing art lovers and selfie-snappers to a rundown area that they would never normally visit
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Kashmir: text messaging services to be restored in disputed region
Curbs on internet services remain five months after India revoked semi-autonomous status
Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir are to restore text messaging services in the disputed region, almost five months after India’s government downgraded its semi-autonomy and imposed a strict security and communications lockdown.
A local government spokesman, Rohit Kansal, said the decision was made after a review of the situation.
Continue reading...India primed: what Amazon’s vast new Hyderabad campus reveals about its plans
Amazon have arrived in force in rapidly expanding Hyderabad, with designs on the currently almost non-existent Indian e-commence market
The futuristic lobby of the new Amazon building in Hyderabad feels as though it should have a permanent orchestra blasting out Also Sprach Zarathustra. The scale is intended to awe. A large slogan on a wall suggests the company is “Delivering smiles”. The only sound that rises above the hush is a synthesised beep, coming from a giant screen playing a video of the campus at various stages of its construction.
Built on nine acres in this Indian city’s financial district, it is Amazon’s single largest building globally and the only Amazon-owned campus outside the US. It can house over 15,000 employees, but its size is its main architectural feature: it resembles the same cube of glass steel and chrome seen in corporate offices across Hyderabad, though a flash of magenta reflected in one of the top floor windows, from a billowing sari across the road, is a nice Indian touch.
Continue reading...Water-related violence rises globally in past decade
Water shortages and extreme weather contribute to tension in Middle East and India
Violence associated with water has surged in the past decade driven by attacks on civilian water systems in Syria’s civil war and increasing disputes over supplies in India, according to a comprehensive database of conflicts linked to the vital resource.
Recorded incidents of water-related violence have more than doubled in the past 10 years compared with previous decades, the statistics maintained by the California-based Pacific Institute thinktank show.
Continue reading...The power behind the thrones: 10 political movers and shakers who will shape 2020
Some are trusted aides, others are fixers who work in the shadows. Often unelected and unaccountable, they all have the ear of national leaders
The role of Dominic Cummings in plotting and facilitating Boris Johnson’s drive for power has focused attention on the influence exerted by behind-the-scenes advisers and confidants who have the ear of prominent politicians.
Powerful men and women around the world all have personal counsellors, trusted aides and backroom mentors. Then there are the “insiders” – string-pullers, fixers and manipulators with ambitions of their own. Few become well-known, although Cummings’s notoriety is by no means exceptional.
Continue reading...From rubbish to rice: the cafe that gives food in exchange for plastic
The Garbage Cafe in Ambikapur, India, is helping to tackle the country’s plastic waste problem – and their novel idea is catching on
On bad days, when his employer made some excuse for not paying him his paltry daily wage, Ram Yadav’s main meal used to be dry chapatis, with salt and raw onion for flavour. Sometimes he just went hungry. For a ragpicker like him, one of the thousands of Indians who make a living bringing in plastic waste for recycling, eating in a cafe or restaurant was the stuff of fairytales.
But last week, Yadav was sitting at a table at the Garbage Cafe in Ambikapur, in the state of Chhattisgarh, over a piping hot meal of dal, aloo gobi, poppadoms and rice. He earned the food in exchange for bringing in 1kg of plastic waste. “The hot meal I get here lasts me all day. And it feels good to sit at a table like everyone else,” he said.
Continue reading...Gandhi’s great-grandson joins wave of protest at law isolating India’s Muslims
As the new Citizenship Act risks defining Muslims as ‘infiltrators’, Tushar Arun Gandhi lends support to the backlash
Last week 25,000 protesters gathered in Mewat, in the Indian state of Haryana, to begin the historic five-mile walk to Ghasera village. It was here, 72 years ago, that Mahatma Gandhi made the same journey during the turmoil of partition, visiting the area with the promise of a dignified life for local Muslims.
While millions have retraced Gandhi’s steps before, this time felt different. Against the backdrop of a new Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) passed by the Indian parliament last week, which many believe is openly discriminatory against Muslims and relegates them to second-class citizens, honouring Gandhi’s words of religious harmony and reconciliation felt like a powerful political statement. “Mewat has witnessed many protests, but this is the biggest in our life,” resident Shahzad Khan told local media.
Continue reading...Deadly clashes in India as protests take place across country – video
Police and protesters have clashed across India and six people died during standoffs on Friday in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where tensions exploded between majority Hindus and minority Muslims.
Thousands of protesters have been demonstrating since 11 December in several parts of the country to oppose a new law championed by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, which makes it easier for people from non-Muslim minorities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who settled in India prior to 2015 to obtain Indian citizenship
India citizenship law: Modi meets ministers as protests continue
At least 14 killed in clashes between police and protesters since law passed on 10 days ago
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, met his council of ministers on Saturday to discuss security measures to end violent protests against a citizenship law, in one of the biggest crises his Hindu nationalist government has faced.
At least 14 people have been killed in clashes between police and protesters since parliament passed the law on 11 December. Critics saying it discriminates against Muslims and undermines India’s secular constitution.
Continue reading...‘They travel hours to see a doctor for a minute’: India’s mental health crisis
With fewer than two psychiatrists for every 100,000 people, experts are seeking innovative solutions to address the emergency
On a sunny morning at Calcutta Pavlov Hospital, 600 people wait patiently in the outpatient department. For many, the journey to see a doctor started hours before sunrise, with some even travelling overnight to secure their place in line. Despite waiting for hours, most will spend just 90 seconds with the psychiatrist.
One of the doctors on call, Dr Debananda Saha, expects to treat about 250 patients during his seven-hour shift at the government hospital.
Continue reading...2019 has been a year of climate disaster. Yet still our leaders procrastinate | Geoff Goldrick
We should pause to remember just how extraordinary this year has been, and reflect on what it might mean for our future
2019 may go down in history as Year Zero of the climate apocalypse. The tsunami of extreme events has been so relentless that each is quickly forgotten in favour of its successor.
So before the year ends we should pause, remember just how extraordinary it was, and reflect on what this might mean for our future.
Continue reading...India citizenship law: protesters across country defy ban
Government orders ban on mobile internet as violence escalates
Turmoil has continued to escalate across India over a controversial citizenship law that is seen as discriminatory against Muslims, as tens of thousands defied bans on public assembly to take to the streets, the largest internet shutdown yet was imposed and three more people were killed.
Attempts by the authorities to clamp down on the demonstrations by banning large gatherings in areas across the country proved futile, as protesters gathered in their thousands in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bangalore and many other big cities.
Continue reading...India suffers most pollution-linked deaths in world, study finds
Pollution causes more than 2 million deaths a year in India, while Chad, Central African Republic and North Korea saw highest per capita rates
India leads the world in pollution-linked deaths– followed by China and Nigeria – according to a report published on Wednesday that estimated the global impact of contaminants in the air, water and workplace.
The report by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP) found pollution to be the largest environmental cause of premature death on the planet, causing 15% of all deaths – some 8.3 million people.
Continue reading...India clamps down on citizenship law protests
Critics say Narendra Modi’s Citizenship Amendment Act ‘has declared war on Muslims’
Authorities have imposed an emergency law banning large gatherings in parts of India’s capital, Delhi, as nationwide protests escalated, injuring police and demonstrators.
A week after a controversial new citizenship law was passed by parliament, which has been accused of openly discriminating against Muslims, protests across the country showed no sign of abating.
Continue reading...Police storm Indian university campus in violent crackdown on students – video report
Students have condemned as 'barbaric' the tactics of Delhi police after they stormed a university campus to break up a peaceful protest, injuring dozens. Footage shot by students showed police firing teargas inside a library and beating people with batons. Demonstrators at the predominantly Muslim Jamia Millia Islamia University were protesting against a new law that will fast-track citizenship for migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, but excludes Muslims
Police fire teargas inside university library during India citizenship protests – video
Indian police storm main library of New Delhi's Jamia Millia University on Sunday, firing teargas at students barricaded inside. Footage shot inside the library shows people scrambling over desks and climbing through smashed windows to escape
Continue reading...Women protect unarmed man from police beating in India student protests – video
Women form human shield around man in New Delhi and shout 'go back, go back' as officers attempt to beat him with sticks. Protests have erupted across India against law to fast-track citizenship for everyone except Muslim asylum seekers
Continue reading...India protests: students condemn ‘barbaric’ police
Anger grows across country at new law which denies citizenship to Muslim migrants
Students in Delhi have condemned their “barbaric” treatment at the hands of police who stormed a peaceful protest against the new citizenship bill over the weekend, injuring dozens.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, students who were caught up in Sunday’s protest at Delhi’s predominately Muslim Jamia Millia Islamia University – which turned violent after police descended on the campus firing teargas and rubber bullets and beating demonstrators with batons – said it had turned into a “battlefield”.
Continue reading...India citizenship law: shock at crackdown may unite Modi opponents
Protests are most significant show of dissent in nearly six years of Modi in power
Student protests are not unusual in India. Nor is police violence. But the scenes of officers entering one of Delhi’s Muslim-majority universities, teargassing the library and beating demonstrators and bystanders have shocked a country thought to have become inured to both.
Fuelled by the apparent police brutality, protests against a controversial law to fast-track citizenship for everyone but Muslim asylum seekers were spreading on Monday to other major universities and cities across the country, in what is becoming the most significant show of dissent in the nearly six years since Narendra Modi took office.
Continue reading...Indian students join fierce protests against ‘anti-Muslim’ citizenship law
Campus protests take place across country, as alleged police brutality fuels anger
Intense protests against a divisive Indian citizenship law that excludes Muslims have spread to university campuses across the country, fuelled by a brutal police crackdown on a demonstration in Delhi at the weekend.
Police entered the Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI) campus in the capital on Sunday and detained more than 100 students, beating activists in the street and firing teargas. JMI was shut on Monday, as were nearby schools and offices, after barricades and buses were set alight during the protest.
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