Category: India

What Digvijay Singh promised to a Pakistan-origin journalist about Kashmir: Leaked Clubhouse Chats

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What Digvijay Singh promised to a Pakistan-origin journalist about Kashmir: Leaked Clubhouse Chats

During a recent conversation with a Pakistani-origin journalist on the Clubhouse app, Congress leader Digvijay Singh stirred the hornet’s nest by hinting at reversing the decision by the Modi government to revoke Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The decision was taken on 5th August 2019 by the Modi government in a bid to fully integrate Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India by revoking the draconian provisions of the article. Shahzeb Jillani, the Pakistani journalist currently residing in Germany, had claimed that he was shocked at the changing…

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Punjab, Haryana farmers head to Delhi border to mark Wed 26 as ‘Black Day’

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Farmers from Haryana and Punjab on Sunday, 23 May, left for Delhi borders to mark six months of the Centre passing the controversial farm laws, by observing ‘Black Day’ on Wednesday, 26 May. According to NDTV, farmers from Haryana’s Karnal and Punjab’s Sangur are headed towards Delhi. The farmers’ march to the Singhu border will be led by Bharat Kisan Union (BKU) leader, Gurnam Singh Charuni. Upon reaching, they will perform langar seva for one week, the news channel reported. Farmers have also left the Khanuari border in Sangrur, Punjab,…

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India’s coronavirus crisis pushes up the cost of living and dying

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By: Rajendra Jadhav & Saurabh Sharma Ashok Khondare, a 39-year-old vegetable seller in the western Indian city of Pune, had already borrowed money to pay for his sister’s treatment when she died in a private hospital two weeks after contacting COVID-19. While trying to overcome the tragedy, he also had to deal with money problems that increased with his sister’s death. The only available hearse driver charged 5,000 Indian rupees ($68) for a 6-km (four-mile) journey to the nearest crematorium – five times the going rate. When Khondare reached there,…

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India’s Covid Crisis delivers a blow to brand Modi

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By Aparna Alluri “Modi leads India out of a lockdown and into a Covid apocalypse,” declared a recent headline in the UK Sunday Times. The Australian newspaper re-published the story with a scathing summary: “Arrogance, hyper-nationalism and bureaucratic incompetence have combined to create a crisis of epic proportions, critics say, as India’s crowd-loving PM basks while citizens literally suffocate.” It earned a rebuke from India, but there’s no denying the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cherished image has taken a bad hit. Stories from India’s punishing second wave have…

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Bodies float down Ganges as more than 4000 died of COVID in India

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Scores of bodies are washing up on the banks of the Ganges as Indians fail to keep pace with the deaths and cremations of around 4,000 people a day from the novel coronavirus. India currently accounts for one in three of the reported deaths from coronavirus around the world, according to a Reuters tally, and its health system is overwhelmed, despite donations of oxygen cylinders and other medical equipment from around the world. Rural parts of India not only have more rudimentary healthcare, but are now also running short of…

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India is hiding its COVID Crisis; So the whole world will suffer for it

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India is hiding its COVID Crisis; So the whole world will suffer for it

Modi’s government had a choice between saving lives and saving face. It has chosen the latter By – Ankita Rao A few years ago, as Narendra Modi came into power, I worked on an investigative report about India hiding its malaria deaths. In traveling from tribal Odisha to the Indian national health ministry in New Delhi, my colleague and I watched thousands of cases disappear: some malaria deaths, first noted in handwritten local health ledgers, never appeared in central government reports; other malaria deaths were magically transformed into deaths of…

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Top Indian tycoons flee by private jet as Covid-19 infections spiral

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India’s mounting crisis surrounding a surge in coronavirus infections is prompting wealthy families to flee the country by private jet. With reports of hospital bed and drug shortages sweeping social media, Indian tycoons and others able to afford fares running into millions of rupees are booking flights to boltholes in Europe, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean. “It’s not only the ultra rich,” said Rajan Mehra, chief executive officer at New Delhi-based private jet firm Club One Air. “Whoever can afford to take a private jet are taking private…

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Farmers hoist flags at Red Fort, intensifying clashes with police

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Thousands of protesting farmers who stormed into Delhi with their tractor rally, poured into the Red Fort complex by afternoon, as violence continued in parts of the city. Visuals from the spot showed them climbing a flagpole at the ramparts of the iconic Mughal fort, from where the Prime Minister addresses the nation on Independence Day. As tractors take over the Ram Leela Maidan outside the fort — the original site where they had planned their protest — farmers are heard saying that they will not leave. Violence broke out…

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‘Kangri’ reach Singhu border to keep protesting farmers warm

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The farmers from different parts of the country camping at various border points of Delhi for more than a month now have been given around 50 Kangris brought by a Delhi-based NGO from Jammu and Kashmir to give some respite to elderly farmers from the chilling cold. Kangri is an earthen pot woven around with wicker, filled with hot embers, and it is used by Kashmiris under the traditional long cloth Phiran or inside a blanket to warm the body. “Last week, I was approached by some people that they…

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Term ‘Halal’ dropped from meat manual by govt body

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A government body on Monday removed the word “halal” from a red meat manual that it issues to lay down the contours of meat export — a move that came in the backdrop of allegations by some Hindu groups that the use of the term gives an unfair business advantage to Muslim exporters. “Halal” is a term used for consumables permitted under Islam. Meat that is slaughtered in a certain way is also labelled as “halal-certified”. Several Islamic countries import only “halal-certified” meat. A section of the older manual by…

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