Category: India

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

Editor
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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As farmer’s stir escalates, several border points in Delhi remain closed for traffic

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“Ghazipur border is closed for traffic coming from Ghaziabad to Delhi due to farmers protests. People are advised to take alternate routes for coming to Delhi via Anand Vihar, DND, Chilla, Apsara and Bhopra borders,” the Delhi Traffic Police updated commuters through its Twitter handle. The Delhi Traffic Police said on Monday that multiple border points in the national capital such as Ghazipur, Singhu, Auchandi and others have been closed for traffic movement as the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s agricultural reforms, which has been going on for 19 days,…

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India in historic technical recession, signals RBI in its first-ever nowcast

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GDP contracted 8.6% in the quarter ended September, the RBI Showed in its first ever published ‘nowcast,’ which is an estimate based on high-frequency data. The economy had slumped about 24% in April to June. India’s economy probably shrank for a second straight quarter, according to a team of economists including Michael Patra, the central bank’s deputy governor in charge of monetary policy, pushing the country into an unprecedented recession. Gross domestic product contracted 8.6% in the quarter ended September, the Reserve Bank of India showed in its first ever…

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Will a Biden-Harris administration stand up to Modi’s toxic rule in India?

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Rana Ayyub On Nov. 7, the first woman elected vice president of the United States, Kamala D. Harris, dominated Indian social media, newspapers and television coverage. The daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother was making history and being celebrated as a national icon. Just hours before she took the stage to introduce Joe Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted a picture with the president-elect, assuring the world that his presidency will take India-U.S. relations to new heights. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and later…

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Like Ram Mandir, Article 370 decisions, PM has decided when there would be war with Pakistan, China: UP BJP Chief

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Bhartiya Janta Party’s Uttar Pradesh chief, Swatantra Dev Sing, said that Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has decided when the country would be at war with both the rival countries- India and Pakistan. Singh, according to a report by news agency PTI, made the controversial remarks amid the ongoing tensions at the Line of Actual Control between India and China. The BJP leader linked his claim to the beginning of construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya following a Supreme Court judgment, and the abrogation of special status to…

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Hathras Case: UP govt calls for court-monitored probe by CBI in Supreme Court

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Uttar Pradesh has asked the Supreme Court to order a court-monitored probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the Hathras gang-rape case, which has triggered protests across the country, in an affidavit filed before the top court. The state government has already recommended a probe by the central agency. The state government also said in the affidavit, which was filed on Monday, that the body of the 19-year-old Dalit woman was cremated at night to avoid law and order problems. The government has blamed political parties and civil…

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