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NEW DELHI/BEIJING, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping's decision to skip the G20 summit is being seen in host India as a snub to New Delhi and a new setback to the already frozen relations between the nuclear-armed Asian giants. Asked if Xi's decision reflects China-India tensions, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that Beijing had supported India's hosting of the summit. China did not refer to any agreement and said Xi stressed improving ties helps both countries and global peace and stability. Shyam Saran, formerly India's top diplomat, said Xi's decision to skip the summit was "unusual". Happymon Jacob, who teaches international relations at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, said Xi skipping the G20 summit "doesn't bode well" for India-China relations.

Persons: Xi Jinping's, Xi, Li Qiang, Mao Ning, Mao, Narendra Modi's, Baijayant Jay Panda, ”, China nosedived, Modi, Shi Yinhong, Shi, Shyam Saran, Saran, Happymon Jacob, bode, Jacob, Liz Lee Organizations: NEW, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, riling, China's Renmin University, Reuters, New, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Thomson Locations: NEW DELHI, BEIJING, India, New Delhi, China, Beijing, Johannesburg, Delhi, United States, riling Beijing, Japan, Australia, South China

☆ BRICS expansion is a big win for China. But can it really work as a counterweight to the West?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The summit was the largest the BRICS have ever held, with more than 60 countries attending alongside member nations Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. “This makes China the clear winner,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London. Helena Legarda, lead analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, a think tank in Berlin, said it is unclear to what extent the BRICS expansion will increase the value and influence of the group. The BRICS expansion is also likely to fuel competition – and potential friction – between China and India, whose ties have already been strained by a simmering border conflict. “Sino-Indian competition for the leadership of the Global South is now bound to sharpen with China having a clear advantage,” said Jacob in New Delhi.

Persons: Xi Jinping, United Arab Emirates –, Xi, ”, Steve Tsang, “, ” Happymon Jacob, Yun Sun, Helena Legarda, Cyril Ramaphosa, Narendra Modi, Jacob Organizations: CNN, United, United Arab Emirates, SOAS China Institute, University of London, Moscow, US, United Nations, Security Council, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Xi, New, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Stimson, Mercator Institute for China Studies, Indian, Anadolu Agency, Getty Locations: Johannesburg, Beijing, Africa, Asia, Latin America, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab, Moscow, United States, Ukraine, Washington, Tigray, UAE, America, Berlin, New Delhi, “

☆ Rahul Gandhi: Indian court stays conviction, paving way for return as lawmaker
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —India’s top court on Friday stayed Rahul Gandhi’s defamation conviction, offering a crucial reprieve for the embattled former chair of the country’s main opposition party who was disqualified as a lawmaker following a trial he maintained was politically motivated. Gandhi’s Congress party decried the conviction, accusing Modi of using the courts as a way to expel him from parliament and silence his critics. Since then, the opposition leader has been in and out of courtrooms, fighting for a suspension of his sentence that would allow him to be reinstated as a lawmaker. Gujarat is the state Modi used to run before becoming prime minister. His grandmother Indira Gandhi was India’s first female leader, and his great-grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was the country’s founding Prime Minister.

Persons: CNN —, Rahul Gandhi’s, Narendra Modi, Gandhi’s, KC Kaushik, ” Gandhi, Modi, K.C, Kaushik, Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, India’s, Jawaharlal Nehru Organizations: CNN, Press Trust of, Indian National Congress, Gandhi’s, BJP, Indian Locations: Press Trust of India, Gujarat, India, Karnataka, INDIA, BJP, Tamil Nadu

☆ Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi visits restive Manipur after vehicle is initially stopped
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The embattled leader of India’s main opposition Congress party visited crisis-hit Manipur and met with its displaced residents on Thursday, after his convoy was initially stopped by police near the state capital. Rahul Gandhi’s visit comes as the northeastern state grapples with ongoing ethnic violence in which more than 100 people have been killed and tens of thousands more driven from their homes. Modi has yet to comment publicly on the situation and has not visited Manipur since the violence erupted in May. Manipur needs healing, and only together we can bring harmony.”Indian army soldiers patrol the streets of Manipur on June 7, 2023. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also claimed that Gandhi is using Manipur as a pawn for his own political gain.

Persons: India’s, Rahul Gandhi’s, Narendra Modi, Modi, Gandhi, “, ”, Sambit Patra, ” Patra, Rahul Gandhi, ” Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Christian Organizations: CNN, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Facebook, Indian Army, Reuters Locations: Manipur, Imphal, Myanmar, Kuki

New Delhi CNN —Eleven people have been shot dead and 14 injured in a fresh outbreak of ethnic violence that has gripped the northeast Indian state of Manipur. The current unrest has seen some of the worst violence in recent years and has sparked criticism of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which governs Manipur. If they are given this status, other ethnic groups – many of whom are Christian – say they fear they will not have a fair chance for jobs and other benefits. People wait at a temporary shelter in a military camp on May 7, after being evacuated by the Indian army, as they flee ethnic violence that has hit the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. Arun Sankar/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Metei community dominates positions within the state government, and have been privy to more economic and infrastructural advancement than the other ethnic groups.

Persons: JNIMS, Deben, Arun Sankar, Narendra Modi, Modi, Amit Shah’s, Christian Organizations: New, New Delhi CNN, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, Raj Medicity Hospital, CNN, Getty, Indian, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Union, Indian National Congress Locations: New Delhi, Manipur, state’s, Imphal, Indian, Arun, Myanmar, Kashmir, India, Kuki

☆ India's outsourcing giants cut hiring; disheartening for economy, students
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Navamya Ganesh Acharya | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

There are pockets of optimism elsewhere in the services sector - especially in accounting, where there is a surge in hiring. NLB sees a 20-25% drop in IT employee additions in the first half of the current financial year, while TeamLease Digital expects a 40% decrease for the entire year. Nasscom declined comment on the hiring slowdown. That has "surely left applicants concerned about future prospects", said staffing firm Xpheno's co-founder Kamal Karanth, who highlighted how current hiring activity was "under a third of what was recorded in the buoyant peak". Pai highlighted sectors such as financial services, consumer goods, specialised manufacturing, medicine, law, chartered accounting and other services as more viable options.

Persons: Rohit Azad, Azad, Rishad Premji, Sakshi Gupta, Sachin Alug, NLB, Nilanjan Roy, Nasscom, Gautam, Xpheno's, Kamal Karanth, LTIMindtree, Karanth, Siana, Siddharth Pai, Pai, Dhanya Skariachan, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: New, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Wipro, HDFC, Apple, Citigroup, American Express, Europe's Credit Suisse, UBS, NLB Services, TeamLease, IT, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Reuters Graphics, Sethuraman, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, India, Punjab

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - U.S. congressional leaders on Friday invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and Senate on June 22, one of the highest honors Washington affords to foreign dignitaries. The speech would be Modi's second to a joint meeting of the U.S. legislature, a rare honor for a leader once denied a visa to enter the United States over human rights concerns. The State Department's annual report on human rights practices released in March listed "significant human rights issues" and abuses in India. Addresses to joint meetings of Congress are generally reserved for the closest U.S. allies or major world figures. In their letter, McCarthy, Schumer, McConnell and Jeffries said the address would celebrate the enduring friendship between the United States and India.

Persons: Narendra Modi, Kevin McCarthy, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, Hakeem Jeffries, Modi, Joe Biden, Yoon Suk, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Jawaharlal Nehru, George W, Bush, McCarthy, Schumer, McConnell, Jeffries, Patricia Zengerle, Doina Organizations: Indian, Washington, Republican, Democratic, White House, Bharatiya Janata Party, South, Senate, Thomson Locations: U.S, United States, China, India . New Delhi, Washington, Russia, Ukraine, Delhi, Indian, Gujarat, India

☆ India builds more hospitals as population surges but doctors in short supply
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Shivam Patel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The problem is a lack of doctors, a shortage that is reaching crucial levels as India becomes the world's most populous nation. Inaugurating the first specialised medical institute in northeast India last month, Modi said his government had sought to increase the number of doctors by setting up more medical colleges. The number of public hospitals, excluding specialised institutes, has risen some 9% in Modi’s time at the top, government data shows. The government says there was a near 80% shortage of surgeons, physicians, gynaecologists and paediatricians at community health centres in rural India as of March 2022. Specialist doctors tend to go overseas or join the private sector in metropolitan and other large cities, said Dr K. Srinath Reddy, at the Public Health Foundation of India non-profit.

☆ Manipur: Over 50 dead, hundreds hospitalized by ethnic violence in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Sania Farooqui | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New Delhi CNN —Ethnic violence in the Indian state of Manipur has left at least 55 people dead, according to hospitals in the city of Imphal. A further 260 people have been hospitalized since violence broke out between members of the Kuki and Meitei ethnic groups earlier this week, hospital officials told CNN on Sunday. A vehicle set on fire during an outbreak of ethnic violence in Imphal, the capital of India's Manipur state, on May 4. Scheduled tribes are among the most socio-economically disadvantaged groups in India and have historically been denied access to education and job opportunities. If the Meitei community are given scheduled tribe status, other tribal groups say they fear they will not have a fair chance for jobs and other benefits.

☆ India's exports likely to touch $900 bln in 2023/24 -exporters
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Manoj Kumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Shailesh AndradeNEW DELHI, May 4 (Reuters) - India’s exports of goods and services could touch $900 billion in the current financial year, up from $770 billion in the previous year, keeping resilient despite global headwinds, a top official of a grouping of exporters said. India’s exports have increased by more than $200 billion in the last two years, led by a surge in exports of software, mobile exports, and agricultural and petroleum products. Exports of agricultural, petroleum, and electronic goods remained strong in the Western markets due to pricing factors while exports to Asian and Middle east countries have grown substantially, exporters said. "Indian exporters are hopeful that both countries would soon work out a mechanism allowing payments in local currencies that would facilitate the shipments of Indian goods to Russia," Sahai said. But Indian officials have said Russia was reluctant to accept payments in the rupee currency for its oil exports.

The extrajudicial killing has sparked widespread concern about the state of law and order in Uttar Pradesh as well as fears of retaliation. A decade later, he was elected as a member of Uttar Pradesh’s legislative assembly where he served five times, from 1989 to 2004. Police in Uttar Pradesh have killed more than 180 suspected criminals during encounters over past six years, according to Reuters. “The shoot out that happened is unacceptable.”CNN reached out to Uttar Pradesh police for comment on the situation but did not receive a response prior to publication. A political flashpointFollowing the incident, the Uttar Pradesh state government announced it will form two three-member Special Task Forces (SIT) to investigate the killing of Atiq and his brother.

☆ Rahul Gandhi to appeal jail sentence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, April 2 (Reuters) - Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi will appeal a two-year jail sentence in a defamation case brought against him by lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), local media reported on Sunday. A lower court sentenced Gandhi on March 23 for two years in jail on charges of defamation. The opposition critics accuse Modi government of giving undue favours to a business group led by billionaire tycoon Adani. Shares of Adani group companies plunged after Hindenburg Research on Jan. 24 alleged that the Indian company had engaged in stock manipulation and used tax havens. A day after Gandhi's conviction, 14 political parties jointly petitioned the Supreme Court, saying opposition groups were being selectively targeted by federal investigative agencies.

☆ India's parliament disqualifies opposition leader Rahul Gandhi
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW DELHI, March 24 (Reuters) - India's parliament on Friday disqualified opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi as a lawmaker after a lower court found him guilty of defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison, according to a parliament notice. Gandhi, 52, a scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, was convicted on Thursday for a 2019 speech in which he referred to thieves as having the surname Modi. The court granted him bail immediately and suspended the sentence for a month. Reporting by Shivam Patel; Editing by Andrew CawthorneOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: Why Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi may lose his parliament seat
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Arpan Chaturvedi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A formal disqualification order will, however, have to be passed by the secretariat of the lower house of parliament of which Gandhi is a member. CAN GANDHI CONTEST ELECTIONS? The law also mandates that a convicted lawmaker cannot contest elections for six years after the end of their jail sentence. To avoid disqualification, a convicted lawmaker has to secure an order from a higher court suspending the conviction, lawyers said. He can secure bail extensions during the appeal period but cannot contest elections until the conviction is stayed or he is acquitted in the case.

☆ Ex-fugitive in fraud scheme tied to $100 million NJ deli willing to pay millions for bail
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Watching from the gallery was Coker's mother, Susan, and his father, Peter Coker Sr., 80, who is also a defendant in the case. "He looks good," Susan Coker told her son's lawyers, John Azzaerello and Bill McGovern, afterward. Coker Jr. is "pretty much willing to stake every nickel he has" to be released on bond, Azzarello said. After the hearing, Azzarello told CNBC, "I don't think this case, by any means, requires pretrial detention." Coker Sr. and Patten, who were arrested in September after a grand jury indicted them and Coker Jr. on 12 criminal counts, each remain free on $100,000 bond.

☆ India says its infrastructure boost could create much-needed jobs. Economists aren't so sure
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Charmaine Jacob | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

High unemployment remains a challenge for India, and has been one of the biggest criticisms of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesIndia is pumping up its infrastructure spending, a move the government says will create much-needed jobs. On the other hand, 94% of jobs are in the unorganized sector — with half the jobs in agriculture. watch nowAs India's infrastructure sector becomes more reliant on technology and automation, the upcoming boom in projects will create jobs for the organized sector, Kumar said. A lack of investments in the unorganized sector hence leaves many stuck with unstable jobs without a fixed income.

☆ India raises defence budget to $72.6 bln amid tensions with China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Manoj Kumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

She said 2.77 trillion rupees would be devoted to military salaries and benefits in 2023-24, 1.38 trillion on pensions for retired soldiers, and further amounts for miscellaneous items. Sitharaman also revised the defence budget for the current financial year ending in March to 5.85 trillion rupees from earlier estimates of 5.25 trillion. Laxman Behera, a defence expert at government-funded Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said the hike in the defence budget was "reasonable but not sufficient", considering requirements for military modernisation. India plans to spend near 242 billion rupees ($3 billion) for naval fleet construction and 571.4 billion rupees ($7 billion) for air force procurements including more aircraft, the latest budget document showed. Although the defence budget allocations fell short of military expectations, they are likely to grow as the economy recovers from two years of pandemic curbs, according to Behera.

☆ India's Gandhi ends 135-day march to revive Congress party in snowy Kashmir
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Fayaz Bukhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"All secular parties must come together to liberate the country from BJP," D. Raja, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India, said at the rally. Several other opposition leaders failed to make it to the rally because flights into Srinagar's airport were cancelled due to the heavy snow. The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has controlled the Congress party for decades but has also overseen its recent decline. Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president after the last election. "I am not from the Congress party but want to support the cause Gandhi stands for," Ahmad said.

☆ India's Gen Z grapples with Modi's dark past in clashes over new documentary
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Yashraj Sharma | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Modi denies being complicit in the attacks, and India’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling last year that he should be cleared of all charges. The first part of the documentary is about Modi’s political career before he became prime minister. The second half of the BBC documentary, which aired in Britain this week, focuses on his leadership since then. Critics say Modi has promoted discrimination against India’s Muslim minority and quashed dissent, especially since his re-election in 2019. Students at Jamia Millia Islamia defied university warnings not to screen the BBC film.

☆ Indian university reports power cut ahead of Modi documentary screening
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Indian students said they would show again a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the government has dismissed as propaganda after a Tuesday campus screening was disrupted by a power cut and intimidation by opponents. The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) plans to show the documentary, “India: The Modi Question,” in every Indian state, its general secretary told Reuters on Wednesday. More than a dozen students were detained by police at a New Delhi university on Wednesday ahead of the screening, broadcaster NDTV reported. Police then detained more than a dozen students there about an hour ahead of the screening, according to the broadcaster. The media coordinator for the university administration did not comment when asked about the power cut on the campus.

[1/2] India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi walks after the handover ceremony during the G20 Leaders' Summit, in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, November 16, 2022. The Students' Federation of India (SFI) plans to show the documentary, "India: The Modi Question", in every Indian state, its general secretary told Reuters on Wednesday. "We are encouraging campuses across the country to hold screenings as an act of resistance against this censorship," Ghosh said. The media coordinator for the university administration did not comment when asked about the power cut on the campus. Ghosh said members of a right-wing student group threw bricks at the students hoping to watch the documentary hurting several, and students had complained to police.

☆ Indian university warns students not to screen BBC documentary on Modi
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A top Indian university has threatened strict disciplinary action if its students' union carries out plans on Tuesday to screen a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the move might disturb peace and harmony on campus. The students' union of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, long seen as a bastion of left-wing politics, said on Twitter it would screen the documentary, "India: The Modi Question", at a cafeteria at 9 p.m. (1530 GMT). "The concerned students/individuals are firmly advised to cancel the proposed programme immediately, failing which a strict disciplinary action may be initiated as per the university rules." She declined to comment on the university's threat of disciplinary action, however. The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the threat of disciplinary action.

☆ Indian university warns against screening of BBC documentary on Modi
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A top Indian university has warned its students' union of strict disciplinary action if it goes ahead with a planned screening of a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, saying it might disturb peace and harmony of the campus. Modi was chief minister of Gujarat during the violence in which more than 2,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims. The university administration said on its website it had not given permission for the documentary to be shown. "This is to emphasise that such an unauthorised activity may disturb peace and harmony of the university campus," the university said. The documentary is also scheduled to be screened at various campuses in the southern state of Kerala on Tuesday.

☆ Despite India's economic growth, few jobs and meagre pay for urban youth
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Manoj Kumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

He has since remained unemployed, unable to pay back a 100,000 rupee ($1,224) loan he took to buy a two-wheeler scooter. The rising unemployment in India belies other indicators suggesting the economy is undergoing a healthy rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the surge in people looking for work, many of them rural migrants, raises concerns about consumption and longer term growth prospects. The urban unemployment rate swelled to 10.1% in December, although the total number of jobs in India touched a pre-pandemic level of 410 million, data compiled by Mumbai-based think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed. Urban unemployment spiked during the pandemic years, largely because of lockdowns, but before that it hovered between 6%-7%, according to CMIE data.

☆ Rahul Gandhi's cross-India march reaches capital city Delhi
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Anushree FadnavisNEW DELHI, Dec 24 (Reuters) - A cross-country march led by Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi reached the capital New Delhi on Saturday, hoping to regain some of the popularity it lost to the ruling Hindu-nationalist party. Gandhi's mother, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party leader Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra joined Saturday's march. The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has controlled the Congress party for decades but has also overseen its recent decline. Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president after the last election. The "Unite India Rally" march began in September in the coastal town of Kanyakumari on the southern tip of India.

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