india

India Grapples With Migrant Workers' Exodus

India Grapples With Migrant Workers’ Exodus

With few transport options available, thousands of people, mostly young male day labourers but also families, have resorted to commuting on foot during the 21-day lockdown that started on Wednesday.

The workers started fleeing New Delhi after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the lockdown, which effectively put millions of Indians living off daily earnings out of work. Construction projects, taxi services, housekeeping and other informal sector employment came to a sudden halt.

Delhi Bus Rape - India Hangs 4 Notorious Gang-Rapists

Delhi Bus Rape: India Hangs 4 Notorious Gang-Rapists

Seven years after the gang-raping to death of a physiotherapy student in India, the rapists were hanged to death at 5.30 Friday morning in Tihar jail in New Delhi.

The Indian Express newspaper said the men Mukesh (31), Pawan Gupta (24), Vinay Sharma (25) and Akshay Kumar Singh (33), were hanged hours after their petitions were rejected by the Supreme Court, Delhi High Court and lower court.

At around 4.30 am, a a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court dismissed the petition of death row convict Pawan Gupta filed against rejection of his second mercy plea by the President.

Read

Coronavirus - India Suspends Tourist Visas

Coronavirus: India Suspends Tourist Visas

As the World Health Organisation declares coronavirus a pandemic, the Government of India has suspended all tourist visas and e-visas granted on or before March 11.

All incoming visitors including Indian nationals are advised against non-essential travel.

“All existing visas, Tourist Visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/international organizations, employment, project visas, stand suspended till 15th April 2020,” it has said in the statement.

The order comes into effect from 1200 GMT on Friday, March 13.

Read Also: Coronavirus: Donald Trump Bans Flights From Europe

Visas of all foreigners already in India remain valid and they may contact the nearest FRRO/FRO through

India is gearing up for a visit by US President Donald Trump starting Monday

Taj Mahal But No Trade Deal For Trump In India

US President Donald Trump will open the world’s biggest cricket stadium and watch the sun set at the famed Taj Mahal during a lightning visit to India starting Monday, but behind the spectacular optics he is expected to face a protectionist counter-punch on trade.

Trump’s blossoming bromance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that will be on show again belies prickly relations, particularly over commerce, with both men ramping up protectionist measures.

Experts say this has hurt US efforts to make India a strategic counterweight to China, while Trump’s mediation offer in the long-running Kashmir dispute with Pakistan has annoyed New …

coronavirus

Coronavirus: India Reports First Case

The Indian government on Thursday confirmed that a patient in Kerala State, Southern India had tested positive for novel coronavirus, the first case of the virus which originated in China and has so far killed 170.

“The patient was a student of Wuhan University in China.

“The patient is stable and in isolation at a hospital,’’ the government disclosed.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) senior Indian government official said bringing Indian nationals from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus was not the best option due to the risk of infection but increased pressure from the citizens.

India-Nigeria Trade Volume Hits $13.9bn

Mr Abhay Thakur, the High Commissioner of India to Nigeria, said the trade volume between India and Nigeria increased to 13.9 billion US.dollars in 2018-2019.

Thakur said this at the 70th anniversary of India’s Republic and 60th year of formal diplomatic relations between India and Nigeria on Friday in Abuja.

He said that India and Nigeria had long standing relations based on mutual respects that predate independence of the two countries.

According to him, 2019 witness several milestones in the cooperation between the two countries.

”We held the first-ever bilateral Consular Dialogue and the first-ever Joint Trade Committee, both co-chaired …

India Death Toll Rises In Clashes Over Citizenship Law

Six more protesters died in India Friday in fresh clashes between police and demonstrators, taking the death toll to 15 in more than a week of unrest triggered by a citizenship law seen as anti-Muslim.

The law — which makes it easier for persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries to gain citizenship, but not if they are Muslim — has stoked fears Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to remould the world’s biggest democracy India as a Hindu nation, which he denies.

The latest deaths, in northern Uttar Pradesh where almost 20 percent of the state’s 200-million population are Muslim, …

2 Dead After Police Open Fire Amid Raging India Protests

At least two people are dead after police opened fire at a demonstration, an official said Thursday, as fresh protests erupted across India against a contentious citizenship law that critics say is anti-Muslim.

The men — Abdul Jalil, 49, and Samshir Kudroli, 23 — “died in police firing during the protests”, Qadir Shah, a spokesman for the deputy commissioner of the southern city of Mangalore, told AFP, adding that a curfew had been imposed in the city with schools, restaurants and bars shut.

Another man taken to the King George’s Medical University Trauma Centre in Lucknow in the northern …

India Shuts Down Internet In Hotspot After Deadly Protests

Internet access was cut in India’snortheastern city of Guwahati on Friday as thousands gathered for fresh protests against a new citizenship law, a day after police shot dead two demonstrators.Protests erupted this week after the government introduced new legislation that many in the far-flung northeast believe will give citizenship to immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, and which other critics say is anti-Muslim.

On Friday morning thousands gathered in central Guwahati as riot police looked on, with residents hurrying out to buy essentials.

No fresh violence was reported but Guwahati and other areas remained littered from the detritus of recent days,

Protests Rage In Northeast India Over Citizenship Bill

Protestors in northeast India set fire to tyres and cut down trees to block roads on Tuesday in a shutdown across the region hours after lawmakers approved the government’s new citizenship bill.

The legislation, set to go before the upper house on Wednesday, will fast-track citizenship claims from immigrants from three neighbouring countries — but not if they are Muslim.

For Islamic groups, the opposition, rights groups and others this fits into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda to marginalise India’s 200 million Muslims — something he denies.

People in northeast India object for different reasons, fearing that large …

Screams As Scores Die In Devastating India Factory Fire

At least 43 people were killed Sunday in a devastating fire that ripped through a bag factory in the congested old quarter of the Indian capital New Delhi, with survivors describing the screams of workers trapped inside.

Police and fire officials said they had rescued at least 58 people and did not expect to find more bodies.

The blaze was the worst in Delhi since 59 movie-goers died in a cinema in 1997.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known, but the city’s poor planning and lax enforcement of building and safety codes have often been blamed for …

Career-High Kohli Powers India To Six-Wicket Win

Skipper Virat Kohli struck a blistering 94 to power India to a six-wicket win after chasing down 208 against the West Indies in the opening Twenty20 international on Friday.

Kohli put on a key 100-run second-wicket stand with KL Rahul, who made 62, as the hosts reached their target with eight balls to spare and lead the three-match series 1-0.

The star batsman smashed six fours and six sixes to record his career-best T20 international score in 50 balls as he surpassed his previous high of 90 with a winning hit over the rope.

Kohli arrived with the score on …