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India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea to legalize same-sex marriage, a stinging setback for gay people seeking equal rights in this socially conservative country of 1.4 billion people. A five-member bench of judges ruled unanimously against the petitioners, with the chief justice saying it was up to Parliament to create any laws recognizing same-sex unions. Still, it offered a few glimmers of hope to same-sex marriage proponents, if largely rhetorical in some cases. The judges ruled that transgender people can marry other transgender people, and expanded the definition of discrimination. Among the four opinions they issued in the ruling, some were pointedly sympathetic to the petitioners.

Persons: ”, Anjali Gopalan Organizations: Foundation Locations: India’s, New Delhi

While a major climate policy breakthrough appears unlikely at the G20 summit this weekend, experts do expect less-wealthy countries to continue pressing richer ones to provide more climate financing. In an article published in Indian newspapers on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India appeared to signal that climate finance would be a priority this weekend. “Ambitions for climate action must be matched with actions on climate finance and transfer of technology,” he wrote. But a meeting of climate ministers from G20 countries in India earlier this summer failed to produce consensus on climate-mitigation targets. There was some progress on climate finance at a G20 summit in Rome two years ago, where leaders said they would end the financing of coal power plants overseas.

Persons: Narendra Modi, ” Organizations: European Union Locations: United States, Egypt, Tuvalu, Chad, Pakistan, Pacific, India, Paris, Rome

While a major climate policy breakthrough appears unlikely at the G20 summit this weekend, experts do expect less-wealthy countries to continue pressing richer ones to provide more climate financing. Last year, rich countries agreed at a climate summit in Egypt to establish a fund that would help poor, vulnerable countries cope with climate disasters made worse by pollution from wealthy nations. “Ambitions for climate action must be matched with actions on climate finance and transfer of technology,” he wrote. But a meeting of climate ministers from G20 countries in India earlier this summer failed to produce consensus on climate-mitigation targets. There was some progress on climate finance at a G20 summit in Rome two years ago, where leaders said they would end the financing of coal power plants overseas.

Persons: Narendra Modi, ” Organizations: European Union Locations: United States, Egypt, Tuvalu, Chad, Pakistan, Pacific, India, Paris, Rome

The Indian mission launched in July, taking a slower, fuel-conscious route toward the moon. Vikram out-endured its Russian counterpart, Luna-25, which launched 12 days. Luna-25 was scheduled to land on the moon on Monday in the same general vicinity as the Indian craft but crashed on Saturday following an engine malfunction. India’s recent efforts in space exploration closely mirror the country’s diplomatic push as an ambitious power on the rise. Indian officials have been advocating in favor of a multipolar world order in which New Delhi is seen as indispensable to global solutions.

Persons: Vikram, Narendra Modi’s Organizations: Soviet Union Locations: India, Russia, Soviet, New Delhi

☆ India Moon Landing In Latest Moon Race, India Aims to Claim First Successful Southern Pole Landing
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( The New York Times | Alex Travelli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

India’s recent efforts in space exploration closely mirror the country’s diplomatic push as an ambitious power on the rise. That assertiveness on the world stage is a central campaign message for Mr. Modi, who is up for re-election for a third term early next year. “Thanks to our scientists, India has a very rich history in the space sector,” Mr. Modi said after Chandrayaan-3’s launch to the moon last month. Russia’s failed moon landing just days before India’s successful attempt was the latest indication of Moscow’s struggles as a space power. On the day India is attempting its moon landing, Mr. Modi is in South Africa for a meeting of the group of nations known as BRICS.

Persons: Narendra Modi’s, Modi, Mr, China —, Russia’s, India’s, Xi Jinping, Modi’s, Bharat Karnad, Karnad, “, ” Organizations: China, Mr, Artemis Accords, Center for Policy Research Locations: New Delhi, India, United States, Soviet Union, Washington, Moscow, China, Beijing, South Africa, Russia, U.S

The group of nations known as BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — represents 40 percent of the world’s population and a quarter of the world’s economy. Now it is considering expanding, in a push to be seen as a credible counterweight to Western-led forums like the G7 group of advanced nations. It comprises the world’s largest authoritarian state (China) and its largest democracy (India), economies big and small, and relations with the United States that run the gamut, from friend to foe. China, under Xi Jinping, wants to expand BRICS, seeing in it a platform to challenge American power. India, locked in a territorial dispute with China, is wary of Beijing’s dominance in the club.

Persons: Xi Jinping Organizations: South Africa — Locations: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Western, United States, Moscow, Ukraine

☆ India’s Top Court Clears Way for Rahul Gandhi’s Return to Parliament
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Alex Travelli | More About Alex Travelli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court stopped short of implying any foul play within the judiciary, however. When the Surat court issued its ruling, Mr. Gandhi was forced out of the official residence where he had lived for 19 years, and his ability to run for office in next year’s election was thrown into doubt. After the Supreme Court handed down its decision on Friday, Mr. Gandhi struck an upbeat note, albeit in keeping with a stoical persona he has been developing in his campaign against Mr. Modi. “This is not one to celebrate but weep,” Praveen Chakravarty, a close adviser of Mr. Gandhi’s, posted on Twitter. “An orchestrated judgment in a bogus case by a friendly court had to be rectified by the SC, when 70,000 cases are pending.

Persons: ”, Mr, Gandhi, Modi, Praveen, Gandhi’s, “ Organizations: Supreme Court, Mr, Party, Twitter, SC Locations: Surat

In the early hours of Monday, on a train bound for Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, a police officer took up his service rifle, fatally shot his superior and then killed three unarmed passengers. All three of the passengers were Muslim men, according to Indian news reports. The violence occurred on the same day as a march led by a Hindu nationalist organization in one of the few northern Indian districts in which Muslims are a majority. The rally, which a Hindu vigilante wanted in the murders of several Muslims had promised to join, dissolved into street fighting, which then gave way to a full-blown riot that spread toward Delhi. As shops, vehicles and a mosque were set ablaze, at least five people were killed, including the mosque’s junior imam, the police said.

Persons: Chetan Singh, Modi, Yogi, Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath, Modi’s, —, Washington — Organizations: Mr, State Department Locations: Mumbai, Hindustan, South Asia, Delhi, India, New Delhi, Paris, Washington

☆ The Surprising Striver in the World’s Space Business
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Alex Travelli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

When it launched its first rocket in 1963, India was a poor country pursuing the world’s most cutting-edge technology. That projectile, its nose cone wheeled to the launchpad by a bicycle, put a small payload 124 miles above the Earth. In today’s space race, India has found much surer footing. These new thrusters will guide Skyroot’s next one into orbit this year, with a much more valuable payload. Pawan Kumar Chandana, 32, Skyroot’s chief executive, anticipates a global need for 30,000 satellites to be launched this decade.

Persons: pored, Skyroot’s, Pawan Kumar Chandana, Biden, Narendra Modi, “ Organizations: Skyroot Aerospace, U.S Locations: India, United States, Soviet Union, Hyderabad, Washington, China

The grubby lanes of Musallahpur, in the north Indian city of Patna, heave with the foot traffic, banners and vending carts familiar to commercial hubs across India. Musallahpur is filled with brick-barn classrooms where 20-somethings crowd themselves and their heavy backpacks to train for standardized employment exams. With nearly 1,800 applicants for every one of the state’s top-tier jobs, they know it is the ultimate long shot. A thousand miles to the south, in the city of Coimbatore, a busy automotive parts entrepreneur, M. Ramesh, faces the flip side of India’s profound employment challenge. If the government has far more potential workers than it needs, Mr. Ramesh has far too few.

Persons: Ramesh Locations: Musallahpur, Patna, India, Coimbatore

How India Profits From Its Neutrality in the Ukraine War The Gulf of Kutch in India is home to the world’s largest oil refinery. After Russia invaded Ukraine, tankers laden with Russian oil are an increasingly common sight along this inlet of northwestern India. China and India are buying so much Russian oil now that Moscow is selling more crude than it was before it invaded Ukraine. Russian crude shipments in the Gulf of Kutch this year Total barrels shipped between through May 2023. In December, S. Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, was asked in Parliament about India’s decision to buy Russian crude.

Persons: Narendra Modi, Modi, Biden, Ukraine Price, —, Mukesh Ambani, India’s, Copernicus, ” Organizations: New York Times, Western, Ukraine, International Energy Agency, European Union, Argus Media, Jamnagar, Reliance Industries, Nayara Energy, Rosneft, Port, Southeast, Center, Research, Energy, Clean, United Arab Emirates, Modi government’s Locations: India, Ukraine, Kutch, Russia, SynMax, United States, Europe, Moscow, West, India China, China, Kpler, East, Jamnagar, Gujarat State, Russian, Gulf, Pipeline, Panipat, Mundra, Vadinar, Jamnagar Port Vadinar Refinery Jamnagar, Port, Nayara, Southeast Asia, Africa, Finland, Turkey, Singapore, Sikka, Asia Europe

☆ Northern India Endures a Heat Wave, and a Wave of Deaths
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Alex Travelli | Hari Kumar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An unusually intense heat wave has swept across northern India in the last four days, with some hospitals in the state of Uttar Pradesh recording a higher-than-usual number of deaths. Dozens of deaths were recorded at hospitals there on June 15, 16 and 17. “The number of deaths has been more than normal,” Dr. Kumar said. He told the Press Trust of India, a news agency, that on average, eight people usually die per day. “Most of these are natural deaths,” he told The Times in a phone interview, “most of the dead being elderly people suffering from different ailments like diabetes.”

Persons: there’s, Jayant Kumar, Dr, Kumar, ”, “ Organizations: Press Trust of, Times Locations: India, Uttar Pradesh, Ballia District, Bihar, Press Trust of India

People burned out of their homes by the hundreds. Men, women and children beaten and set ablaze by angry mobs. India, the world’s most populous country and home to the fastest-growing major economy, is now also the site of a war zone, as weeks of ethnic violence in the remote northeastern state of Manipur has claimed about 100 lives. More than 35,000 people have become refugees, with many living in makeshift camps. Internet service has been cut — an increasingly common tactic by the Indian government — and travel restrictions have made it difficult for the outside world to see in.

Persons: — Locations: India, Manipur, China

☆ Money for Show Horses, Not Work Horses, on India’s Rails
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Alex Travelli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Those decisions loomed large on Sunday in the aftermath of a devastating train wreck that killed at least 275 people in eastern India. Investigators said they were focused on the possibility that signal failure might have led to the three-train crash on Friday, the worst rail wreck in the country in years. The crash, which also injured more than 1,100 people, occurred when a passenger train heading south about 80 miles per hour toward the city of Chennai veered onto the wrong track and hit a parked freight train, the authorities say. The first train’s derailed cars then plowed into a second passenger train that was heading toward it, leaving a scene of carnage. The government spent almost $30 billion on the rail system during the past fiscal year, up 15 percent from the year before.

Organizations: Investigators Locations: India, Chennai

A second passenger train, heading in the opposite direction, then struck some of the dislocated cars. More than 2,200 passengers in all were onboard the passenger trains, according to railway officials, and at least 23 cars were derailed. The other passenger train was a Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast Express train, running from a commuter hub in the southern city of Bengaluru to Kolkata, the capital of the northeastern state of West Bengal. Site of the train crash An initial government report said that the Coromandel Express passenger train derailed while traveling at full speed. In 2016, 14 train cars derailed in India’s northeast in the middle of the night, killing more than 140 passengers and injuring 200 others.

Persons: Ashwini Vaishnaw, Vaishnaw, Derailments, Jitendra Prakash, Narendra Modi, Modi, Modi’s, Amit Dave, Suresh Prabhu, Mr, Mujib Mashal Organizations: Chennai Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway, Express, Coromandel, INDIA, Economic, Disaster Management, Reuters Rail Locations: India, Balasore, Odisha State, Shalimar, Chennai Coromandel, India’s, Howrah, Bengaluru, Kolkata, West Bengal, Odisha, Bhubaneswar, Odisha’s, Bihar, Pukhrayan, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad

A train crash in eastern India on Friday was the country’s worst rail disaster in two decades, killing more than 230 people. The crash occurred when several cars of a train derailed and hit a second one, the train’s operator, South Eastern Railway, said in a statement. Local officials said that a third train, carrying freight, was ultimately involved, but details of this were not yet clear. One of the trains involved was a Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express train, according to South Eastern Railway. The Coromandel Express service has been known for connecting the biggest cities on India’s east coast at relatively high speed.

Persons: Pradeep Jena Organizations: Eastern Railway, Chennai Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway, Express Locations: India, Balasore, Odisha, Shalimar, Chennai Coromandel, India’s

☆ Dozens Killed in Ethnic Clashes in India’s Manipur State
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Alex Travelli | Suhasini Raj | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Clashes between rival ethnic groups in Manipur, a remote state in India’s northeast, have reportedly killed dozens of people in recent days, and the situation remains volatile, even as the authorities rush troops to the area to quell the disorder and seek to control the flow of information. The unrest, which began Wednesday, arose from a dispute over who gets to claim a special tribal status that grants extra privileges. The largest group in the state, slightly over half the population, is seeking that designation for itself. By Thursday, the violence had reached an extraordinary level, as people set fire to homes and vehicles, churches and temples. In response, the Indian Army has flown nearly 10,000 troops and paramilitary forces to Manipur, a state of less than 3 million people near the borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar, more than 1,000 miles from New Delhi.

This month, India reached a notable milestone. The country’s population surpassed that of China, which had held the No. 1 position for at least three centuries. Alex Travelli, who covers South Asia and business for The Times, examines whether India can use its immense size to become an economic superpower.

☆ Will This Be the ‘Indian Century’? Four Key Questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Alex Travelli | Weiyi Cai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +11 min

Annual population growth 3% Growing population Projected Projected 2% India’s population is projected to grow until the 2060s. 1% 0 Declining population -1% 1960 2000 2040 2080 3% Projected 2% China’s population declined for the first time in 2022. Fertility rate 8 children per woman Projected Projected 6 India 4 India’s fertility rate ensures a roughly stable population. Age 100+ Male Female Male Female 95–99 90–91 85–89 80–81 75–79 70–71 Nearly 80% of India’s population is younger than 50. 20–21 15–19 10–11 5–9 0–4 Age 100+ Male Female 95–99 90–91 85–89 80–81 Nearly 80% of India’s population is younger than 50.

☆ Apple Opens First Store in India, a Promising Frontier for the Tech Giant
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Alex Travelli | Suhasini Raj | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Thursday, Mr. Cook will travel to New Delhi to open a second store, Apple Saket, at the center of the capital’s biggest mall. The Apple brand is not new to India. The iPhone is still a rare sight within the ocean of cheaper, and mostly Chinese-branded, Android smartphones that have swept across India over the past decade. Yet in India, as in nearly every other part of the world, Apple has its fans. So Mr. Bhasin addressed a letter to Mr. Cook himself — and a month later, a new iPad appeared in the mail.

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