Category Archives: India

‘Like any other job’: Indian sex workers lobby for pensions and healthcare

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Five million sex workers vow to vote en bloc in national elections in effort to have rights acknowledged

Sex workers across India are lobbying candidates in the country’s general election to support their demands for better health and welfare services in return for votes.

“We wanted to see which party accepts sex workers as part of the community,” said Kusum (who goes by only one name), president of the All India Network of Sex Workers (AINSW), which is coordinating efforts. “Some express support for us behind closed doors, but never in public.”

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India’s #MeToo backlash: accusers battle intimidation, threats and lawsuits

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Six months after a wave of accusations against some of the country’s most powerful men, many women are now embroiled in litigation

Onlookers crowded against the walls of the Delhi courtroom for the testimony of Mobashar Jawed Akbar, India’s former junior foreign minister, and the highest-profile man to quit his job after Indian women started sharing their #MeToo stories last year.

Akbar, 68, has denied accusations by more than 10 women of sexual misconduct. Over two hours in court, an antagonistic audience hissed and tittered as he answered questions on the stand.

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Adani deal with Myanmar military-linked company raises human rights alarm

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Australian expert worries Queensland coal may help fund armed forces accused of genocide

The Adani Group has signed a US$290m commercial deal with a holding company controlled by the Myanmar armed forces, who have been accused by UN investigators of committing genocide and crimes against humanity.

The Indian conglomerate behind the controversial Carmichael coal project in north Queensland was granted permission in April to develop a container port in Yangon, on land owned by the Myanmar Economic Corporation. The MEC generates significant revenue for the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw.

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Holy and unholy waters: a tale of two Indian rivers

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While the Ganges is sacred but heavily polluted, the Chambal’s ‘cursed’ but pristine waters have proved a blessing for locals

Cold-blooded gharials, a crocodile-like species unique to south Asia, catch the last of the day’s warmth as a setting sun paints the sky crimson above the Chambal river.

Two jackals and a jungle cat scuttle up thorny ravines that box in the expansive blue water, while the orange-beaked Indian skimmer bird glides overhead.

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Global neglect of millions forced from their homes by conflict branded ‘pitiful’

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Top official condemns lack of focus on record 41 million people left homeless in their own countries after fleeing violence

Record numbers of people have been forced from their homes by conflict in a crisis that has received “pitiful” international attention, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council has said.

A total of 41.3 million people were living in a state of internal displacement by the end of 2018 due to violence, researchers for the organisation found, with increasing numbers unable to return home for protracted periods. This is a rise of more than a million on the previous year.

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World alcohol consumption on the rise as China’s thirst grows

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Chinese will surpass the US for per capita intake by 2030, research shows, but Moldova claims top spot for now


The world is consuming significantly more alcohol than 30 years ago thanks in large part to heavier and more widespread drinking in China and India, researchers have claimed.

On current trends, global consumption per capita will rise another 17% over the next decade, they reported in The Lancet, after a 10% rise in drinking between 1990 and 2017 .

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Cyclone Fani hits Bangladesh after killing 15 in India

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More than two million people in at-risk areas in two countries were moved into shelters

The strongest cyclone to hit India in five years killed at least 15 people in the eastern state of Odisha, before swinging north-eastwards into Bangladesh on Saturday, where more than a million people have been moved to safety.

After hitting land, Cyclone Fani lost some of its power and was downgraded to a deep depression by the India Meteorological Department.

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Cyclone Fani: ferocious winds leave trail of destruction in eastern India – video

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Cyclone Fani, the most severe storm to hit the Indian subcontinent in two decades, has made landfall on the coast of the eastern state of Odisha, where officials were trying to evacuate the homes of one million people in its path.

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Cyclone Fani: India’s biggest storm in decades makes landfall

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One million people evacuated as huge storm hits small city of Puri on east coast

Cyclone Fani, the most severe storm to hit the Indian subcontinent in two decades, has made landfall on the coast of the eastern state of Odisha, where officials were trying to evacuate the homes of 1 million people in its path.

The “extremely severe” storm bearing winds of up to 185km/h barrelled into the small city of Puri, home to about 200,000 people, at aabout 8am local time on Friday, according to Indian meteorological officials.

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Cyclone Fani: India evacuates 800,000 from coastal areas

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Emergency crews deployed to Odisha state with 127mph winds predicted to hit east coast

India has begun the evacuation of 800,000 people and deployed emergency personnel as the country’s east coast braces for a severe cyclonic storm.

Tropical Cyclone Fani, located in the Bay of Bengal and packing wind speeds up to 205 km (127 miles) per hour, is expected to make landfall on the coast of Odisha state on Friday.

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Sri Lanka told of extremist network months before blasts – sources

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Exclusive: Foreign agencies warned officials of terrorist threat four months ago

Sri Lankan authorities were told by foreign security agencies more than four months ago that a network of violent Islamic extremists was active in the country and likely to commit terrorist attacks, regional and western officials have said.

The revelation that officials may have known last year about the threat posed by those responsible for the Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 350 people will fuel outrage at what now appears to be multiple and systematic intelligence failings.

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‘Stigma does not go away’: Mumbai’s dedicated LGBT health clinic | Payal Mohta

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After reports of transgender people being refused treatment, a new centre offers specialised services – and respite from discrimination

Vivek Sharma has travelled 20km from his home to the congested eastern suburb of Mumbai for his HIV treatment. But the journey is no hardship for the 23-year-old student.

“My file was shifted to this clinic. I am so happy that this has finally happened.”

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India elections: man chops off finger after voting for wrong party

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Pawan Kumar had voted for Modi party in confusion over symbols on machine

A man has chopped off his index finger in desperation after voting for the wrong party in India’s general election.

Pawan Kumar became confused by the symbols on the electronic voting machine and voted for Narendra Modi’s party instead of its regional rival in Uttar Pradesh state on Thursday, his brother said.

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The two MPs of British descent who do not have to stand in Indian election

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Anglo-Indian George Baker, who occupies one of two reserved seats that are a relic of colonial rule, speaks to Michael Safi

Winning a seat in India’s parliament can take months of gruelling campaigning across vast electorates, often in stifling heat. Unless you are George Baker.

The award-winning actor from eastern India is one of just two members of the country’s 545-seat lower house whose name will not appear on any ballot in India’s six-week election season, which kicked off on Thursday.

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UK ‘deeply regrets’ Amritsar massacre – but no official apology

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High commissioner to India marks 100th anniversary of British troops firing on crowd

Britain’s high commissioner to India has laid a wreath to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Amritsar massacre, one of the worst atrocities of Britain’s colonial rule.

On 13 April 1919, British troops fired on thousands of unarmed men, women and children in the northern city of Amritsar. Colonial-era records put the death toll at 379, but Indian figures say the number was closer to 1,000.

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India election 2019: marathon vote begins to decide Modi’s fate

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Six weeks of voting begin with many viewing it as referendum on prime minister

The world’s largest ever election has started in India, with voters in 20 states casting their ballots in the first phase of a marathon six-week poll.

The contest in the vast country of 1.3 billion people is dominated by local issues but also viewed as a referendum on the prime minister, Narendra Modi, a staunch Hindu nationalist who rode a wave of popularity five years ago to become the first leader of a majority government in decades.

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Dalai Lama, 83, taken to hospital with chest infection

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Tibetan spiritual leader to spend a few days in hospital in Delhi after feeling ‘some discomfort’

The Dalai Lama has been admitted to hospital in Delhi with a chest infection, an aide said, adding that the 83-year-old Buddhist monk was stable.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, lives in exile in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala.

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What’s at stake as India’s 900m voters head for the polls?

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The world’s biggest democracy will this week begin the 40-day process of choosing a new government in which an eighth of the world’s population will have the vote

Consider what is involved: more than one-eighth of humanity will have the opportunity to vote in April and May. Those voters will speak 22 official languages and thousands of dialects. Tens of millions will never have learned to read. They will vote from the shadow of the Himalayas right down to the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago; in tribal communities without running water or electricity; in Delhi’s genteel southern neighbourhoods and in the teeming slums of Mumbai.

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