Women and children among dead in mountainous Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh
At least 44 people were killed when a bus in India’s mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh plunged into a gorge on Thursday, officials said.
Another 28 were undergoing treatment, many of them for critical injuries, after the private vehicle veered off the road and fell into a 150-metre (500-foot) gorge near Banjar in Kullu district of the northern Himalayan state.
Continue reading...Ice losses indicate ‘devastating’ future for region and 1 billion people who depend on it for water
The melting of Himalayan glaciers has doubled since the turn of the century, with more than a quarter of all ice lost over the last four decades, scientists have revealed. The accelerating losses indicate a “devastating” future for the region, upon which a billion people depend for regular water.
The scientists combined declassified US spy satellite images from the mid-1970s with modern satellite data to create the first detailed, four-decade record of ice along the 2,000km (1,200-mile) mountain chain.
Continue reading...Four reservoirs supplying India’s sixth largest city dry up as state accused of inaction
Authorities in Chennai have been criticised for failing to deal with a crippling water shortage that has brought the Indian city to crisis point, leaving taps dry in homes and forcing schools, offices and restaurants to close as temperatures soar.
The four reservoirs supplying the bulk of the city’s drinking water have completely dried up, leading the Chennai Metro Water to cut the water it provides by about 40%.
Continue reading...The two medical workers in Punjab who survived a dramatic end to their rooftop hunger strike over staff rights
Everyone who works at Rajindra hospital in Patiala knows Karamjit Kaur Aulakh. Their eyes follow the 35-year-old nurse as she walks around the hospital with the support of her crutch. Others stop by to ask how she is after her fall.
On 28 February Aulakh jumped from the dome of the main building at Rajindra hospital, where she had sat for 23 days on a rooftop hunger strike. The leap of almost 15 metres was a desperate cry for attention to her cause, and left her with three major fractures in her right leg. Joining her in the protest was her colleague Baljit Kaur Khalsa, who was not injured in the jump.
Continue reading...Chanchal Lahiri’s still-chained body found 1km downstream on bank of river in Kolkata
Indian police have recovered the body of a magician who drowned when a Houdini-like stunt in a river went wrong.
Chanchal Lahiri, 42, known by his stage name of Mandrake, went missing on Sunday after a ferry took him towards the broadest part of the Hooghly river in Kolkata at around noon. There, he was lowered by crane into the muddy waters with chains and ropes. Lahiri was inside a small, padlocked cage. His arms and legs were apparently tied and he was blindfolded.
Continue reading...Soaring temperatures hit most of country with mercury topping 50C in some parts
Weekend showers provided a much-needed but partial respite to parts of India sweltering in a brutal heatwave.
In Bihar, however, one of the poorest areas of the country, 49 people died on Saturday in just 24 hours.
Continue reading...Sick and elderly left to fend for themselves with no end in sight to water crisis
Hundreds of Indian villages have been evacuated as a historic drought forces families to abandon their homes in search of water.
The country has seen extremely high temperatures in recent weeks. On Monday the capital, Delhi, saw its highest ever June temperature of 48C. In Rajasthan, the city of Churu recently experienced highs of 50.8C, making it the hottest place on the planet.
Continue reading...Country’s first athlete to reveal she is in a same-sex relationship on freedom, happiness and the backlash to coming out
Dutee Chand, India’s fastest sprinter and the nation’s first athlete to reveal she is in a same-sex relationship, doesn’t describe herself as gay. When the word is used during an interview with the Guardian, she breaks in. “I didn’t tell reporters I was that ... I simply said I am in a relationship with a woman,” she says.
Chand comes from a village in India where homosexuality is never talked about. Unlike urban India where there is growing acceptance among the young of notions of personal freedom, rural India remains largely entrenched in tradition, and tradition says marriage is between a man and a woman.
Continue reading...Country’s fastest sprinter praised for courage, but family and locals say they cannot accept a gay relationship
Supporters of India’s first openly gay athlete fear for her safety after her decision to come out prompted a backlash in her home village.
Local reaction was hostile in Chaka Gopalpur, a village of weavers in Odisha, after Dutee Chand, the country’s fastest sprinter, told reporters on 19 May that her gay partner was her soulmate.
Continue reading...Group of eight including four Britons were attempting to summit Nanda Devi mountain
Eight climbers missing after avalanches in the Himalayas have not been found during initial helicopter searches, and hopes that they will be discovered are slim.
Two Indian air force helicopters have been searching the region around the Nanda Devi mountain, India’s second highest peak, which the group were attempting to summit on a previously unclimbed route.
Continue reading...Indian search team sent to find climbers, including Americans and Australian, on Nanda Devi amid signs of avalanche
At least three people from the UK, as well as two from the US and an Australian woman, are reported to be among a group of eight climbers who have gone missing in the Himalayas after a heavy avalanche.
It is believed the climbers, including an Indian guide, failed to return to base camp after their attempt to reach the summit of Nanda Devi, India’s second-highest mountain at 7,434 metres, on a previously unclimbed route.
Continue reading...Latest deaths, including an Irish climber, come as others report ‘insane’ delays at the peak
Four more deaths have been reported on Everest as concerns grow about the risks posed by the severe overcrowding on the world’s highest mountain this year.
Kevin Hynes, 56, from Ireland, died in his tent at 7,000 metres early on Friday, having turned back before reaching the summit. The father of two was part of a group from the UK-based 360 Expeditions.
Continue reading...India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has claimed a landslide victory in national elections that cements the Hindu nationalist leader as the country’s most formidable politician in decades. The emphatic victory has been greeted with dismay among some members of religious minority groups, who have voiced fears that a returned Bharatiya Janata party government would be further emboldened to prosecute its Hindu nationalist agenda
Continue reading...Party leader’s north Indian constituency was bastion of support for his famous family
As India’s opposition Congress party went down to a landslide defeat on Thursday, its leader, Rahul Gandhi, was also convincingly beaten in his own parliamentary seat – a north Indian constituency that had sent three of his family members to parliament in the past half-century.
The loss of the family bastion seat of Amethi underscored the dwindling relevance of south Asia’s most famous political dynasty in Narendra Modi’s “new India”, alongside the decline of the pluralistic vision of India that has been synonymous with the Nehru-Gandhi family for the past seven decades.
Continue reading...The hugely popular BJP Hindu nationalist leader brushes aside economic woes to claim another term
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is on track for a historic landslide election victory that would cement the Hindu nationalist leader as the country’s most formidable politician in decades.
Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) had been expected to easily win a majority in coalition with smaller parties, but official results after nearly three hours of counting showed the party ahead in at least 290 seats, enough to claim an outright victory. Its main national opponent, Congress, was leading in just over 50 seats.
Continue reading...Voting has officially ended in country’s marathon six-week ballot
India’s prime minister and his allies are on track to decisively win a second term, according to exit polls released after voting officially ended on Sunday night in the country’s marathon six-week elections.
Sampling by six pollsters showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and its coalition winning between 287 and 336 seats. The final tally each survey predicted varied but were uniformly well above the 272 seats needed to form government in India’s lower house. Two surveys showed the ruling coalition falling short – by between five and 30 seats.
Continue reading...PM admonishes candidates who lauded Mahatma Gandhi killer as a ‘patriot’
Campaigning in the most acrimonious election in recent Indian history has ended with an admonishment by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, of some of his hardline candidates for praising Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin.
A six-week campaign dominated by national security issues and increasingly brazen rhetoric came to a head this week after a candidate for Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh state said she believed Gandhi’s killer, Nathuram Godse, was “a patriot”. She later apologised. Three other BJP members also weighed in on Gandhi’s murder.
Continue reading...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.”
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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