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The allegation was a bombshell: that India had been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil in June. Canada’s prime minister leveled the charge on Monday, and an all-out diplomatic war soon followed. Canada pressed its allies to come together to challenge India, with statements of concern issued in Washington and Canberra, Australia. India moved to expel a top Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move, and Indian officials lined up to air grievances with Canada. But behind the plunge in relations to what officials and analysts called the lowest point ever were years of diplomatic tension.

Persons: Canada’s, Canada — Organizations: Canadian Locations: India, Canada, Washington, Canberra, Australia, Canadian, Britain, United States, Punjab

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

☆ Making Sure 1.4 Billion People Are Very Aware India Is Hosting the G20
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Suhasini Raj | More About Suhasini Raj | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In cities across India, the beaming face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi adorns giant posters promoting the country’s G20 presidency. A hundred national monuments, including the Red Fort in Delhi, were illuminated with the G20 logo to encourage people to post selfies. But India, and its governing party, were primed to capitalize on the moment. Mr. Modi has seized on the G20 presidency as confirmation and celebration of India’s ascent — a rise to which he has fused his own image — as he seeks a third term in an election early next year. “That India has arrived on the world stage will go strongly in his favor with the electorate.”

Persons: Narendra Modi, Modi, ”, Neerja Chowdhury Organizations: Democracy Locations: India, Fort, Delhi

☆ At Least 26 Die as Bridge Collapses While Under Construction in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Suhasini Raj | More About Suhasini Raj | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

At least 26 workers were killed on Wednesday after the collapse of a bridge that was under construction in the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram, officials said. Several other workers were feared trapped under the wreckage, the Indian news media reported. Sabyasachi De, a spokesman for the North East Frontier Railway, said that Mizoram State had taken over a rescue operation and that the construction was a project of the federal railways ministry. “Most northeastern state capitals are not connected by the railways, so this bridge was part of that connectivity project,” he said. Mr. De said that a gantry, rather than the entire bridge, fell while being set atop the bridge’s piers.

Persons: Sabyasachi, ”, De Organizations: North East Frontier Railway Locations: Indian, Mizoram, Mizoram State

In June, 11 women who work together as sanitation laborers in India pooled their money to buy the equivalent of a $3 lottery ticket because they could not afford the cost individually. Last week, they won. The jackpot was $1.2 million, or more than $700,000 after taxes — an enormous sum for workers who spend their days collecting household waste and building public toilets. Lottery drawings are famous feel-good stories because they make people rich overnight, but these winners may be among the most deserving in history. “I’m swimming in debt, so this money will be a big relief,” said one of the winners, Leela K., 50, a mother of four daughters.

Persons: ”, Leela K, “ Locations: India

“The fact that there are these weapons which are at large — massive number of sophisticated weapons — is a very huge risk to our national security,” Mr. Gogoi said in an interview. Mr. Modi’s silence, analysts said, reflects how crucial his brand is for the calculations of his governing party, known as the B.J.P., around next year’s general elections. Amit Shah, Mr. Modi’s home minister, visited Manipur last month, and told Parliament last week that he was willing to have a discussion on behalf of the government. Since India’s founding as a republic seven decades ago, its northeast has been rife with insurgencies rooted in tribal and ethnic grievances. Successive national governments have prioritized connections through the northeast that could expand trade with neighboring Bangladesh, Myanmar and Southeast Asia more broadly.

Persons: Mr, Gogoi, Amit Shah, Modi’s, Modi Organizations: Party Locations: Manipur, Meiti, New Delhi, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Southeast Asia

☆ Monsoon’s Fury Sours Romance of Wet Season Travel in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Suhasini Raj | More About Suhasini Raj | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Akash and Parvani Kapadi drove up pine-covered forests to a hill town in northern India with a view of the snow-capped Himalayas. In their hotel room, the gentle pitter-patter of monsoon rains on the roof set the stage for a week of romance — away from the heat and grime of the city. But the drizzle turned into a downpour and did not let up for days. “We were fearful that the honeymoon may result in a tragedy,” Mr. Kapadi said. Because of climate change, the wet season is forecast to get even more violent and erratic.

Persons: Parvani Kapadi, ” Mr, Kapadi, “, — Locations: India

☆ Video of Sexual Assault Goes Viral in India, Renewing Attention on Ethnic Conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Suhasini Raj | More About Suhasini Raj | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It took more than two months for word of the shocking sexual assault to spread, partly because the internet in the region had been shut down. So when a video — showing two women being paraded naked and assaulted in Manipur — went viral on Wednesday in India, it shocked the nation, further inflamed tensions and brought renewed attention to a conflict that has left more than 130 people dead, and over 35,000 displaced. It also led to Prime Minister Narendra Modi making his first public comments about the situation in the state. “This incident of Manipur which has come to light, for any civilized society, it’s a shameful incident,” he said on Thursday. It was, he added, an “insult” that “is of the entire nation.”

Persons: Narendra Modi, it’s, ” Locations: Manipur, India

The proposal was delivered to the streaming platforms at a June 20 meeting at the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The government highlighted the need for a "more proactive approach" to ensure that streaming content, "including international content", aligns with a so-called code of ethics, the minutes showed. That code already mandates providers to exercise caution on content that could incite violence or be sensitive for religious reasons. The proposal also comes as streaming giants protest a government order to add 50-second tobacco health warnings in each piece of content, and two years after India ordered the setting up self-regulatory bodies for complaints about streaming content. Suhasini Maniratnam of the Digital Publisher Content Grievance Council, told the gathering pre-censorship could hurt the industry growth and cost jobs, and that given the high volume of content "there is a need to specifically act" against obscene and vulgar content.

Persons: OTT, Anurag Thakur, Thakur, Suhasini, Aditya Kalra, Robert Birsel Organizations: Netflix, Disney, Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Reuters, Media Partners, Amazon, Apple, Industry, Broadcasting, Thomson Locations: India, DELHI, New Delhi, Bengaluru

☆ ‘The Country Is His Family’: Why Modi and Other Indian Leaders Stay Single
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Suhasini Raj | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When President Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, take their place on the red carpet at the White House on Thursday to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, there will be an asymmetry of sorts in the picture-perfect setting. Mr. Modi will go stag. Not for politicians in the world’s largest democracy, who stay busy attending to the needs of 1.4 billion people and compete with one another in their declarations of sleep deprivation. (Mr. Modi clocks only four hours of slumber a night, his aides say.) “Every moment of my time, every pore of my body, is only for my countrymen,” the prime minister said in 2019 after winning re-election.

Persons: Biden, Jill Biden, Narendra Modi, Modi, — Organizations: White, India Locations: United States, 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

The crushed train cars were cleared and the jumbled tracks straightened and rejoined, as workers labored on Sunday to quickly restore an important rail line in east India two days after the country’s worst train disaster in decades. Families of the victims were still struggling to reach the site of the wreck, near the town of Balasore in Odisha State. The desperate journey to claim the bodies of loved ones was complicated for many families by a lack of train service, though by late Sunday night, some rail movement on restored tracks began in both directions. Officials said a special train would ferry relatives from the city of Kolkata, in the neighboring state of West Bengal, to Odisha. And the government of Odisha announced free bus service on the disrupted train route.

Persons: Odisha, ”, Rahul Kumar Organizations: Officials Locations: India, Balasore, Odisha State, Kolkata, West Bengal, Bhubaneswar, Odisha

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

The other passenger train was a Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast Express train, running from a commuter hub in Bangalore to Kolkata, the capital of the eastern state of West Bengal. India’s railway minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said that he had ordered an investigation into the cause and that those affected by the crash would receive compensation. Site of the train crash An initial government report said that the Coromandel Express passenger train derailed while traveling at full speed. Dozens of trains had been canceled but crews were rushing to restore service after pushing off the train cars involved in the crash off the tracks. 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, Derailments, Jitendra Prakash, Narendra Modi, Modi, Modi’s, Amit Dave, Suresh Prabhu, Mr, Vaishnaw, Mujib Mashal Organizations: Chennai Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway, Express, Coromandel, INDIA, Sunday, Economic, Disaster Management, Reuters Rail Locations: India, Balasore, Odisha State, Shalimar, Chennai Coromandel, India’s, Howrah, Bangalore, Kolkata, West Bengal, Bahanaga Bazar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha’s, Bihar, Pukhrayan, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad

☆ Cyclone Mocha Leaves Thousands Homeless in Bangladesh and Myanmar
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Saif Hasnat | Suhasini Raj | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Hundreds of thousands of people began repairing or rebuilding their homes and livelihoods on Monday after a deadly cyclone hit Myanmar and Bangladesh over the weekend. The storm, named Mocha, killed several people in Myanmar, though there were conflicting accounts from leaders as to exactly how many. The Myanmar government said the number was five, but the shadow government, called the National Unity Government, which may have more sources in the country’s remote conflict zones, said it was 18. Though the damage from the powerful storm was not as dire as predicted, there were still hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees left homeless, along with reports of people stranded and having to make their way through storm debris to get home. The damage in Myanmar was mostly confined to Rakhine State, Chin State and other areas in the west, according to officials and aid workers.

☆ India Struggles to Eradicate an Old Scourge: Witch Hunting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Suhasini Raj | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

They ushered the young woman into their home and closed the door behind her. Then the beating began. “You are a witch,” shouted one of the attackers, as she, her parents and her uncle rained punches, kicks and slaps on the 26-year-old woman’s stomach, chest and face. When the pummeling finally ended, after nearly two hours, the young woman was pulled outside by her hair, dragged through her village and dumped, unconscious, next to a temple, her clothing barely clinging to her battered body. The attack, in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand in 2021, was evidence that India is still struggling to eradicate the age-old scourge of witch hunting, despite a raft of laws and other initiatives.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

How Putin and Friends Stalled Climate Progress A handful of powerful world leaders rallied around Russia and undercut global cooperation. Mr. Putin has gained from this as the increasingly autocratic Mr. Xi finds common cause with the Kremlin. “Much depends on whether authoritarian leaders perceive climate action to be in their self-interest.”Though their actions help Mr. Putin, their track records on climate are mixed. Mr. Xi called Mr. Putin his “best friend.”He was returning the favor from a year earlier, when Mr. Putin hosted Mr. Xi at the Grand Kremlin Palace and awarded him one of Russia’s highest medals for foreign dignitaries. At a news conference with Mr. Putin, Mr. Bolsonaro thanked his “dear friend,” saying that Mr. Putin had offered him support when other world leaders were criticizing his Amazon policy.

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