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At least 125 people have been killed and more than 40,000 have fled their homes in Manipur since the violence erupted on May 3. HOW DID THE MANIPUR VIOLENCE BEGIN? The development imbalance favouring the valley over the hills has been a point of contention and rivalry between the ethnic groups. Manipur shares a nearly 400-km (250-mile) border with Myanmar and the coup there in 2021 pushed thousands of refugees into the Indian state. Kuki and Meitei groups also refused to join a peace panel formed by the federal government due to differences over names included in the panel.

Persons: Adnan Abidi, Myanmar’s Chin, Meiteis, Pradip Phanjoubam, Kukis, Biren Singh, Singh, Krishn Kaushik, Alison Williams Organizations: Kuki, Court, REUTERS, Arts and, Indian Army, Bharatiya Janata Party, Thomson Locations: DELHI, Manipur, Myanmar, New Delhi, MANIPUR, Kuki, Naga, India, Imphal, Myanmar . New Delhi

The total value of the purchases is expected to be around 800 billion rupees ($9.75 billion), according to one of the sources. Earlier this year, the government proposed a 13% hike in defence spending to 5.94 trillion rupees for the 2023-24 financial year. The marine version of Dassualt's Rafale jets, intended for India's first indigenous aircraft carrier commissioned last year, outperformed the American Superhornet F18s in tests last year for Indian requirements. India has relied on French fighter jets for four decades now. In 2005, India bought six Scorpene-class diesel submarines from France for 188 billion rupees ($2.29 billion), the last of which will be commissioned next year.

Persons: Narendra Modi's, Rajnath Singh, Modi, Singh, Krishn Kaushik, Tanvi Mehta, Kim Coghill Organizations: Rafale, Defence, procurements, Dassault Aviation, Mazagon, France's Naval Group, Mirage, Thomson Locations: DELHI, France, Paris, Pakistan, China, India

Also, Russia's war in Ukraine has disrupted some military supplies to India, reinforcing New Delhi's long-term desire to diversify imports or replace them with home-built hardware, Indian defence officials said. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that India intends to order weapons from the domestic arms industry worth over $100 billion over the next decade. "It is a reality, that we have to reduce dependence on Russia," said a senior Indian defence officer working on future capabilities of the Indian military, who declined to be identified. GAP WITH CHINAIndia still uses mostly Russian technology for traditional arms. Over time these purchases will reduce the share of Russian military technology used by India, but this would take at least two decades, Indian officials said.

Persons: Rajnath Singh, Narendra Modi's, Eric Garcetti, Washington, Arzan, Tarapore, Sukhoi Su, Bill Greenwalt, Derek Grossman, Grossman, Krishn Kaushik, David Brunnstrom, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: NEW, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Defence, GE, Stanford University, GAP, CHINA, U.S, Sukhoi, Pentagon, International, Rand Corporation, Thomson Locations: NEW DELHI, WASHINGTON, India, Ukraine, Russia, Stockholm, Indian, Washington, U.S, CHINA India, China, Pakistan, Russian, Australia, Japan, Moscow, DELHI

MUMBAI, July 7 (Reuters) - India's federal police have arrested three railway employees on Friday in connection with the country's deadliest train crash in two decades that killed 292 people last month, the crime agency said in a statement. It is India's worst train crash in more than two decades. The accident happened when a passenger train hit a stationary freight train, jumped off the tracks and hit another passenger train coming from the opposite direction. Reuters reported earlier this week that workers repairing a rail-road barrier had made faulty connections in the automated signalling system on the network. The malfunctioning system directed the passenger train onto the path of the freight train, it said.

Persons: Narendra Modi's, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Krishn Kaushik, Jatindra, Shivam Patel, YP Rajesh, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI, Reuters, of Railway Safety, CRS, Local, Indian Railways, Railway Board, Railways Ministry, YP, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Bahanaga Bazar, Odisha

☆ Hague court rejects India's objections over water treaty arbitration
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

AMSTERDAM/NEW DELHI, July 6 (Reuters) - The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague rejected on Thursday India's objections to a Pakistan-initiated procedure over water use in the Indus River basin, reopening a procedure that had been blocked for many years. India called the arbitration proceeding illegal as a neutral expert was also looking at the issue and the World Bank-brokered treaty prohibits parallel proceedings. India has boycotted The Hague court proceedings and questioned the competence of the court. A spokesperson for India's foreign ministry, Arindam Bagchi, said India's "consistent and principled position has been that the constitution of this so-called court of arbitration is in contravention of the clear letter and spirit of the Indus Water Treaty". Pakistan's Foreign Office said that it remained fully committed to the implementation of the Indus Water Treaty and its settlement mechanism, which it termed a "foundational agreement" between the two countries.

Persons: Hague, Arindam Bagchi, Bagchi, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Krishn Kaushik, Gibran Peshimam, Richard Chang, Kim Coghill Organizations: AMSTERDAM, World Bank, Ratle Hydro, GV De, Thomson Locations: DELHI, Pakistan, India, Hague, Pakistan's, Amsterdam, New Delhi, Karachi

☆ Schools remain shut in India's violence-hit Manipur despite reopening order
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Zarir Hussain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GUWAHATI, India, July 5 (Reuters) - Nearly all schools remained shut in India's violence-hit Manipur state despite a government order to reopen them on Wednesday in a bid to restore normalcy after two months of ethnic clashes that have killed almost 120 people. Students, teachers and support staff did not show up at schools in the morning in the state in northeast India, said a state education department official who requested anonymity. Four private schools opened but all government-run schools were still closed, he added. At least 118 people have been killed and more than 40,000 displaced in the violence. Additional reporting by Krishn Kaushik; Writing by Shivam Patel; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Ibotombi Singh, Narendra Modi's, Giridhar Aramane, Min Aung Hlaing, Krishn Kaushik, Shivam Patel, Kim Coghill Organizations: India's, Thomson Locations: GUWAHATI, India, Manipur, Imphal, Myanmar, Kuki

BHUBANESWAR, India, July 4 (Reuters) - Workers repairing a rail-road barrier in India made faulty connections in the automated signalling system on the network, leading to the country's worst rail disaster in two decades, an official probe has found. The June 2 crash at Bahanaga Bazar station, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, killed 288 people and injured more than 1,000. The disaster struck when a passenger train hit a stationary freight train, jumped off the tracks and hit another passenger train coming from the opposite direction. The malfunctioning system directed the passenger train onto the path of the freight train, it said. Indian Railways, the fourth largest train network in the world, is a state monopoly run by the Railway Board.

Persons: Narendra Modi's, Jatindra Dash, Krishn Kaushik, Sudipto Ganguly, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Workers, Reuters, of Railway Safety, CRS, Local, Railways, Railway Board, Railways Ministry, Thomson Locations: BHUBANESWAR, India, Bahanaga Bazar, Odisha, New Delhi, Mumbai

Putin spoke to Modi in a call last week to discuss the aftermath of the quashed mercenary mutiny. The summit on Tuesday will also see Modi sharing the virtual stage with Xi for the first time since November when the two leaders were present for the G20 summit in Indonesia. It will also bring Modi face to face online with his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif, 10 months after they both attended the SCO summit in Uzbekistan. New Delhi announced last month that the summit will be held virtually, without providing any justification. SCO member nations are expected to discuss Afghanistan, terrorism, regional security, climate change and digital inclusion, among other topics.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Narendra Modi, Joe Biden, Putin, Modi, Uzbekistan Modi, Xi, Biden, Shehbaz Sharif, Krishn Kaushik, William Maclean Organizations: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Belarus, China’s, SCO, Indian, U.S, Foreign, Thomson Locations: DELHI, India, Iran, China, Russia, Soviet, Pakistan, Eurasia, Belarus, Moscow, Europe, Asia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, New Delhi, Indonesia, Uzbekistan . New Delhi, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Goa, Kashmir

☆ In a first, India gifts active warship to Vietnam
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, June 28 (Reuters) - An active duty missile corvette of the Indian Navy is on its way to Vietnam as a gift, the first warship given by India to any country. India and Vietnam have strengthened their ties in recent years, with a special focus on defence, as both countries are concerned over an increasingly assertive China. India has given smaller boats and military equipment to countries like Maldives and Mauritius in the past and a submarine to Myanmar. But the corvette for Vietnam is the first time India has given a warship to a Chinese neighbour with a coast on the South China Sea, where several countries have overlapping territorial claims. The warship was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1991 and has been designed and produced within the country.

Persons: INS Kirpan, Gen Phan Van Giang, Li Shangfu, Krishn Kaushik, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Indian Navy, INS, Vietnam's Defence, Chinese Defence, Thomson Locations: DELHI, Vietnam, India, India's, China, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, South China, gifting, Beijing, Hanoi

[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden meets with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 24, 2021. Washington also wants to wean India away from its traditional defence partner Russia. Though Modi has made several previous visits to the United States, this will be his first with the full diplomatic status of an official state visit, just the third of Biden's presidency and third by any Indian leader. "It’s a milestone in our relationship...It is a very significant visit, very important visit," India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters on Monday. Modi will also meet American CEOs and lead an International Yoga Day event at the UN headquarters.

Persons: Joe Biden, Narendra Modi, Evelyn Hockstein, Modi, Vinay Kwatra, Kwatra, General, Ely Ratner, Biden, Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken, Raja Mohan, Krishn Kaushik, Sarita Chaganti Singh, David Brunnstrom Organizations: India's, White, REUTERS, Indian, . Congress, JET, General Electric, U.S ., Defense, Pacific Affairs, UN, Asia Society Policy, Rajesh, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, India, DELHI, WASHINGTON, United States, Washington, Washington and New Delhi, Pacific . Washington, Russia, New Delhi, Moscow, Ukraine, West, China, Cooperation, New York, U.S, Asia, NEW DELHI

NEW DELHI, June 15 (Reuters) - India's defence ministry has approved the procurement of U.S.-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones, sources told Reuters on Thursday. India will buy 31 drones made by General Atomics worth slightly over $3 billion, one of the sources said. India’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The defence ministry's initial clearance for the procurement comes just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for a state visit to the U.S. next week. The U.S. government approved the sale of 30 drones to India more than two years ago, but the Indian defence ministry had been sitting on the decision.

Persons: General Atomics, Narendra Modi, Joe Biden, Biden, Jake Sullivan, Ajit Doval, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Modi, Lloyd Austin, Krishn Kaushik, Jan Harvey Organizations: Reuters, U.S, Modi, . National, Modi's, Thomson Locations: DELHI, U.S, India, China, Pakistan, New Delhi, Delhi, Russia

India has long expressed interest in buying large armed drones from the United States. U.S. negotiators are counting on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's White House visit on June 22 to break the log jam. Modi and Biden are also expected to discuss co-production of munitions and ground vehicles, like armored personnel carriers, while Modi is in Washington, the sources said. The topic was expected to be on the agenda as Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday to finalize preparations ahead of Modi's visit. The Quad grouping of countries - the United States, India, Australia and Japan - all operate, or have operated, the MQ-9B SeaGuardian.

Persons: Narendra Modi's, Biden, General Atomics, Modi, Spokespeople, Joe Biden, Jake Sullivan, Mike Stone, Trevor Hunnicuttt, Krishn Kaushik, Heather Timmons, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: WASHINGTON, Indian, U.S, U.S . State Department, Pentagon, White, Department of State, Biden, Thomson Locations: DELHI, Washington, New Delhi, U.S, India, United States, Russia, Ukraine, Australia, Japan

Indian and international media have previously reported that a possible malfunction in the automated signalling system may have led to the crash. However, details of the frequent malfunctions at the nearby rail-road barrier and its possible connection to a manual bypass of the signalling system are reported by Reuters for the first time. A spokesman for Indian Railways said "repair works keep happening as per requirements" but tampering with the automated system is not allowed. "(Indian) Railways believes the system was tampered with," said the second source, who has access to briefings on the investigation. The Indian Railways spokesman did not directly address the authorisation issue and only said it is not allowed under Indian Railways rules.

Persons: Amitabh Sharma, Sharma, Soubhagya Ranjan Sarangi, Narendra Modi's, Jaya Varma Sinha, Sinha, Sandeep Mathur, Mathur, Sudhanshu Mishra, Krishn Kaushik, Jatindra, Sarita Chaganti Singh, YP Rajesh, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Railways, Reuters, of Railway Safety, CRS, Railway Board, Railways Ministry, Indian Railways, police’s Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI, Coromandel Express, Express, YP, Thomson Locations: India, DELHI, Bahanaga Bazar, Balasore, Odisha, Bahanaga, Niranjan, Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi

[1/7] A general view of the Bahanaga Bazar railway station, near the site of a train collision following the accident in Balasore district in the eastern state of Odisha, India, June 5, 2023. REUTERS/Adnan AbidiBAHANAGA BAZAR, India, June 7 (Reuters) - Few trains stop at Bahanaga Bazar, the sleepy, small rural station in the Balasore district of Odisha state where India's deadliest train accident in more than two decades happened. "We never imagined we would witness a tragedy of such magnitude in our life time," Jasoda Nayak, a Bahanaga village council member, told Reuters. Several railway officials at Bahanaga Bazar declined to speak to Reuters about the accident as it was now the subject of a police investigation. While Balasore district is known for housing India's missile testing facility, most villagers in the area, which is less than 20 km (12 miles) from the Bay of Bengal coast, are farmers, fisherman or labourers.

Persons: Adnan Abidi BAHANAGA, Jasoda Nayak, Bhagwat Prasad Ratho, Mahesh Kumar Gupta, Krishn Kaushik, Miral Fahmy, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Police, Thomson Locations: Balasore district, Odisha, India, Adnan Abidi BAHANAGA BAZAR, Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Bengal

REUTERS/Francis MascarenhasBALASORE, India, June 7 (Reuters) - Indian authorities made fervent appeals to families on Tuesday to help identify over 100 unclaimed bodies kept in hospitals and mortuaries after 275 people were killed in the country's deadliest rail crash in over two decades. Following non-stop efforts to rescue survivors and clear and repair the track, trains resumed running over that section of the line on Sunday night. Till Monday evening around 100 bodies were yet to be identified, a senior state health department official told Reuters. Bijay Kumar Mohapatra, health director of Odisha, said authorities were trying to source iced containers to help preserve the bodies. "Unless they are identified, a post mortem cannot be done," Mohapatra said, explaining that under Odisha state regulations no autopsy can be conducted on an unclaimed body until 96 hours has passed.

Persons: Dilip Kumar Sabar, Jyotilal Sabar, Francis Mascarenhas BALASORE, Bijay Kumar Mohapatra, Odisha, Mohapatra, A.M, Chowdhary, Jatindra Dash, Krishn Kaushik, Sudipto Ganguly, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India's Railway, federal Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI, Railway, Express, Thomson Locations: Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, Bhubaneswar's, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Kolkata, Howrah

BALASORE, India, June 3 (Reuters) - Ompal Bhatia, a survivor of the three-train crash in India on Friday, had first thought he was dead. When the train he was traveling in went off-track, Bhatia was with three friends on his way to Chennai for work. The 25-year-old had spent most of the four-hour journey on the Coromandel Express standing. The train, traveling past hills along India’s eastern coast, takes more than 24 hours to complete the journey of more than 1600 kilometres. Archana Paul, a housewife from West Bengal, was in the other train, the Howrah Yesvantpur Express, when the crash happened.

Persons: Ompal Bhatia, Bhatia, Moti Sheikh, Sheikh, ” Bhatia, ”, Archana Paul, Paul, “, Das, Jatindra Dahs, Krishn Kaushik, Christina Fincher Organizations: Reuters, Express, Thomson Locations: BALASORE, India, Chennai, Bangalore, West Bengal, Howrah, Balasore, New Delhi

☆ BRICS meet with 'friends' seeking closer ties amid push to expand bloc
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Wendell Roelf | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Foreign ministers of BRICS nations pose for a family photo with representatives from Africa and the global South during a summit in Cape Town, South Africa, June 2, 2023. BRICS, which now consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is considering expanding its membership, and a growing number of countries, mostly from the global South, have expressed interest in joining. Developed countries have never met their commitments to the developing world and are trying to shift all responsibility to the global South," Pandor said. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Thursday's talks had included deliberations on the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of what an expanded BRICS bloc would look like. As an ICC member, South Africa would face pressure to arrest Putin were he to travel to the summit.

Persons: Naledi Pandor, Pandor, Mauro Vieira, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Thursday's, Africa's Pandor, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Carien du, Krishn Kaushik, Joe Bavier, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Russian Foreign Ministry, REUTERS, South Africa's, United Arab, Democratic, Cape Town, International Criminal Court, ICC, Thomson Locations: Africa, Cape Town , South Africa, REUTERS CAPE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Argentina, Bangladesh, Guinea, Bissau, Indonesia, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Carien du Plessis

The White House, which said in January that it had received the application to jointly produce the engines in India, declined to comment. Washington maintains strict controls over what domestic military technology can be shared or sold to other countries. India is keen to get the know-how to make aircraft engines. Though it can manufacture fighter jets domestically, it lacks the ability to produce engines to power them. However, India intends to produce more than 350 fighter jets for its air force and navy over the next two decades, which could be powered by the GE 414.

Persons: Biden, Joe Biden, Narendra Modi, Trevor Hunnicutt, Krishn Kaushik, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Heather Timmons, Jamie Freed Organizations: WASHINGTON, General Electric Co, Indian, GE, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, HAL, U.S . Congress, Thomson Locations: DELHI, India, Washington, Russia, New Delhi, Ukraine, India's, United States, Chicago

[1/2] Trade visitors walk past an advertisement for BAE Systems at Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, Britain, July 17, 2018. REUTERS/Toby MelvilleNEW DELHI, May 29 (Reuters) - India has filed a graft case against Britain's BAE Systems plc (BAES.L) and Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.L) for "criminal conspiracy" in the procurement and licensed manufacturing of 123 advanced jet trainers, a federal police document showed. The case is based on the findings of an investigation launched by India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2016, the document dated May 23 said. In its response BAE said it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing probe. Between 2008 and 2010, it said the Indian government approved the licensed manufacturing of an additional 57 jets for 95 billion rupees ($1.16 billion) under a separate agreement with BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd.

They were in the Vietnamese Exclusive Economic Zone when the Chinese boats moved towards them, the Indian sources said. Ray Powell, who leads Project Myoushu on the South China Sea at Stanford University, said the boats belong to the Qiong Sansha Yu militia fleet in the area. Such militias consist of commercial fishing boats, which work in coordination with the Chinese authorities for political objectives in the South China Sea. Several of China’s littoral neighbours have accused it of using its official and militia vessels to harass and intimidate their fishing and military boats in the South China Sea. China has for years claimed sovereignty over the entire South China Sea, and has been sensitive to the presence of other militaries in the region.

Singh "categorically conveyed that development of relations between India and China is premised on prevalence of peace and tranquillity at the borders", it said. India accuses China of frequently intruding into its side of the disputed border in violation of agreements signed since the 1990s. China pushed for engagement and cooperation between the two militaries but was told by India that could happen only if there is tranquillity on the border, two Indian sources told Reuters. The two ministers met ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) defence ministers' gathering in New Delhi. It is also the first visit by a Chinese defence minister to India since the violence in the Himalayas began in May 2020.

☆ Kashmir's traditional Ramadan drummers wake neighbours up for pre-dawn meals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Fayaz Bukhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Devout Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan, and usually eat a meal before the sun comes up. Jinded says his family has been playing the role of "Sahar Khans", named for the pre-dawn Ramadan meal called Sahri, for generations. Kashmir's Ramadan drummers are not paid, but as the month nears its end, people tend to become generous. "Ramadan drummers are an important part of our tradition," said Sheikh Ghulam Nabi, a tailor in Srinagar's old town. "They add to the festive atmosphere of the holy month."

☆ India to have 2.9 million more people than China by mid-2023, UN estimate shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Yp Rajesh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The demographic data from the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) “State of World Population Report, 2023” estimates India’s population at 1,428.6 million or 1.4286 billion against 1.4257 billion for China. The United States is a distant third, with an estimated population of 340 million, the data showed. Population experts using previous data from the UN have projected India would go past China this month. Although India and China will account for more than one-third of the estimated global population of 8.045 billion, the population growth in both Asian giants has been slowing, at a much faster pace in China than in India. “The Indian survey findings suggest that population anxieties have seeped into large portions of the general public,” Andrea Wojnar, Representative for UNFPA India, said in a statement.

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