Category Archives: India

Woman who defied Indian temple ban ‘shunned’ by family

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Kanakadurga, 39, allegedly beaten and ousted from home for entering Sabarimala shrine

A woman who defied violent protests to worship at a centuries-old south Indian shrine that banned females of “menstruating age” has been spurned by her family, attacked by relatives and locked out of her home.

On New Year’s Day, Kanakadurga, 39, along with Bindu Ammini, became the first women to enter the inner sanctum of Kerala state’s Sabarimala temple, one of the holiest Hindu sites in the country.

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Tired of dark fields and jeering men: the bride who led a ‘toilet revolution’ | Amrit Dhillon

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Komal Hadala’s hellish treks to relieve herself inspired a campaign that left her Indian village flushed with success

The day after her wedding, Komal Hadala was shaken awake at 4am by her mother-in-law. They joined a group of women who were waiting outside the house, in Nithora village, Uttar Pradesh.

“It was the time when they went outdoors to relieve themselves in the fields before men started appearing. I couldn’t believe it. It was total darkness outside. And it had been raining,” says Hadala.

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How can we take power away from criminal gangs? Legalise drugs | Martin Drewry

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Prohibition makes our world a more dangerous place, trapping people in poverty

I have spoken out on many issues during my career, but there is one that leaders in poorer countries passionately lobby me to campaign on: the prohibition of drugs.

The “war on drugs” is harming the most vulnerable and criminalising poverty. It is not a war on drugs – despite decades of prohibition, drug production and consumption is on the increase globally – it is a war on the poor. Prohibition damages people and the planet.

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‘I have lost my wallet and brother’: reuniting at Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest festival

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As an estimated 15m Hindus gather at convergence of holy rivers in India, the huge lost-and-found centres go digital

Day and night, through crackling loudspeakers, the announcements ring out. “It is Babu speaking,” says a shrill voice. “I have lost my wallet and brother. Please come here the moment you hear this.”

“Lal Ram is here,” a woman says a few times. “Come and collect him from the yellow tower.”

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‘A three-generation project’: riverside development divides Indian city

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The next 15 megacities #6: New facilities by the Sabarmati will provide Ahmedabad with much-needed public space, but at what cost?

As the sun dips below the horizon, young lovers make themselves more comfortable on benches overlooking the Sabarmati river. Walkers stroll along the concrete promenades, and mothers enjoy a moment of respite under newly planted saplings while their children play in the adjoining gardens.

Few Ahmedabad residents could have imagined this scene a couple of decades ago. Back then the Gujarati city’s tidal river banks were lined with slum housing – precariously constructed on land polluted by industrial effluent and untreated sewage, and home to some of the most marginalised communities in the city.

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The Indian village where child sexual exploitation is the norm

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Poverty and caste discrimination mean that children in Sagar Gram are being groomed by their own families for abuse

Many families in India still mourn the birth of a girl. But when Leena was born, people celebrated.

Sagar Gram, her village in central India, is unique that way. Girls outnumber boys. When a woman marries, it is the groom’s family that pays the dowry. Women are Sagar Gram’s breadwinners. When they are deemed old enough, perhaps at the age of 11, most are expected to start doing sex work.

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India: teenage girl murdered and mutilated by family for eloping, say police

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Girl killed with help of a butcher friend, say police in Bihar in so-called ‘honour killing’

Police in eastern India say a teenager who was found dead this week with her body dismembered and mutilated was murdered by her family in a so-called “honour” killing.

The body of the 16-year old from Gaya, a city in Bihar state, was discovered on Sunday. Pictures of her mutilated remains were widely shared on social media along with claims she had been doused in acid, sparking protests and candlelit vigils in the city.

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India’s sick left out in the cold as New Delhi’s top hospital struggles to cope

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Patients awaiting treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Science are living in tents and on pavements for months at a time as the centre reels under the weight of demand

The night-time cold in New Delhi is biting. As the temperature plunges, Alam Ansari’s twin daughters, born prematurely, have only their parents’ body heat to keep them warm while they huddle in a crowded tent on the road outside the capital’s top hospital.

They are not alone. Each day, about 8,000 people from across the country queue outside the outpatients department for treatment. Mainly from poorer backgrounds, they sleep in tents or on the ground.

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India outcry after scientists claim ancient Hindus invented stem cell research

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The organisers of a major Indian science conference said they were concerned by speakers citing religious texts and ideas at the event

The organisers of a major Indian science conference distanced themselves on Sunday from speakers who used the prestigious event to dismiss Einstein’s discoveries and claim ancient Hindus invented stem cell research.

The Indian Scientific Congress Association expressed “serious concern” as the unorthodox remarks aired by prominent academics at its annual conference attracted condemnation and ridicule.

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Indian PM lampooned for ‘manufactured’ interview

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Narendra Modi accused of being afraid of media after rare interview that failed to ask tough questions

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been accused of being afraid of the media, after consenting to a rare interview – just one of a handful in four years as PM – on New Year’s Day in which he answered a range of questions that critics compared to “free-hit deliveries” in cricket.

Related: India: world's biggest election has suddenly become competitive

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Two Indian women enter temple after centuries-long ban on women

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Event comes as hundreds and thousands of women form a 380-mile human chain in support of gender equality

Two women have become the first to enter a Hindu temple in India’s southern state of Kerala after the supreme court lifted a centuries-old ban on women.

The temple was later “purified” by priests at the famous Sabarimala temple, which does not permit menstruating women inside. They closed the temple for several hours to conduct ancient rituals to remove the “polluting” female presence.

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India: world’s biggest election has suddenly become competitive

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PM Narenda Modi weakened after Rahul Gandhi’s Congress ends 2018 with string of regional victories

The world’s largest exercise in democracy looms in 2019. In the beachside towns of Kerala state, the mountain villages of the Himalayas and across the dusty cities of the Gangetic plain, an estimated 850 million people will cast their votes in India’s national election sometime between March and May. And the race just got competitive.

A few months ago the prime minister, Narendra Modi, looked invincible. His party had followed its thumping national election win in 2014 with a run of victories in India’s largest states. The Congress party, which ushered India into independence 70 years ago and had been its default ruler since, was reduced to a rump, with leaders from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) boasting the country would soon be “Congress-mukt” (Congress-free).

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Independent Shiva Ayyadurai challenges Elizabeth Warren

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NEW BEDFORD - V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai doesn't have much use for the two-party political system in Massachusetts. He's running an energetic campaign as an independent for U.S. Senate to topple incumbent Democrat Elizabeth Warren, complete with a campaign bus bearing the slogan “Only a real Indian can beat a fake Indian.” Ayyadurai, 54, was born in Bombay, India, into the bottom rung of that county's caste system.

Three men, four questions and a 24 million dollar quandary

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Hong Kong court orders asset management firm SSG Capital to answer questions about missing funds relating to a multi-million dollar fraud A court in Hong Kong has ordered Shyam Maheshwari, Andreas Vourloumis, and Edwin Wong, principals of the hedge fund SSG Capital, a Hong Kong-based asset management firm, to answer under oath questions about missing funds relating to a multi-million dollar fraud scheme perpetrated in the United States. The principals of SSG Capital are former Lehman Brothers executives based in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Dress that! Different avatars of Prime Minister Narendra Modi

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On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday, we take a look at his sartorial sense which shows a different side of the man This shimmery shirt was worn by Narendra Modi in South Africa when he had gone on a four-nation Africa tour aimed at enhancing ties with the continent. Showcasing India as an attractive destination for defence production, the Prime Minister also sought deeper collaboration in the sector with South Africa, a major arms exporter, even as he thanked them for supporting India's bid for membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group.