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☆ Regulator fines Air India $37,000 for unruly passenger incident
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Air India has been fined 3 million Indian rupees ($37,000) for its handling of an unruly passenger on one of its flights in November, India's aviation regulator said on Friday. Air India, on Friday, said it was studying the regulator's order on the matter, but acknowledged that there were "gaps" in the airline's internal reporting and assured the "relevant steps" were being taken to address them. "We are also strengthening our crews' awareness of and compliance with policies on the handling of incidents involving unruly passengers," said a spokesperson. India's aviation regulator had earlier issued formal paperwork, named show cause notices, to some Air India staff, including the pilots and cabin crew of the flight involved in the incident, asking why enforcement action should not be taken against them. Air India had also issued show cause notices and de-rostered one pilot and four cabin crew as part of its investigation.

☆ India editors warn 'fake news' proposal akin to censorship
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A major Indian journalist group urged the government to reject a proposal to police fake news on social media, saying such a change to the country's information-technology rules would be akin to censorship. The proposal would bar social media platforms from hosting any information that the authorities identify as false, the latest in a slew of measures by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government that are being seen as efforts to rein in big tech firms. Information deemed "fake or false" by the Press Information Bureau or by any other agency authorised for fact-checking by the government would be prohibited under the draft amendment issued on Tuesday. The Editors Guild of India, in a statement on Wednesday evening, urged the government to scrap the proposal and begin "meaningful consultations" with stakeholders on the regulatory framework for digital media. Reporting by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by William MallardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India says BBC documentary on India PM Modi is "propaganda"
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to his supporters as he arrives to cast his vote during the second and last phase of Gujarat state assembly elections in Ahmedabad, India, December 5, 2022. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File PhotoNEW DELHI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - India's foreign ministry on Thursday dismissed a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi which questioned his leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots as "propaganda". Accused of failing to stop the rioting, Modi denied the accusations and was exonerated in 2012 following an inquiry by India's top court. Terming the BBC documentary a "propaganda piece" meant to push a "discredited narrative", foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said a "bias", "lack of objectivity", and "continuing colonial mindset" is "blatantly visible" in it. "We offered the Indian Government a right to reply to the matters raised in the series – it declined to respond," a BBC spokesperson said.

☆ Child nutrition drops in Sri Lanka amid economic crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The island nation of 22 million people is struggling with soaring prices, including of food, largely caused by its worst economic crisis since it gained independence in 1948. More than 43.4% of the country's children under 5 years of age are suffering from nutrition problems, according to the report released in October, with 42.9% suffering from some form of undernutrition. Around 1.4 million children under the age of five were registered with the country's Public Health Midwives body and the report surveyed just under that number. In 2021, 8.2% of children below five were found to be wasting away while 7.4% had stunted growth. "In 2022, percentages of children under 5 years with any form of undernutrition (growth faltering, underweight, wasting and stunting) has increased compared to 2021," the report says.

☆ India considers banning news identified as 'fake' by govt on social media
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 18 (Reuters) - India's government will not permit social media platforms to host any information that it identifies as false, according to a draft proposal of the country's IT rules released this week. Any information identified as "fake or false" by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), or by any other agency authorised for fact-checking by the government or "by its department in which such business is transacted", would be prohibited under the draft. Once information was identified as such, social media platforms or other "online intermediaries" would have to "make reasonable efforts" to ensure users do not "host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share" such information, it added. In October, the government announced a panel would be set up to hear complaints from users regarding content moderation decisions of social media firms, which are already required to appoint in-house grievance redressal officers and executives to co-ordinate with law enforcement officials. Reporting by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: India set to overtake China as world's most populous nation
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 17 (Reuters) - India is expected to overtake China as the world's most populous country this year even though its population growth has been slowing down, United Nations says. Following are some key points about India's demography, according to government data:- India estimates its population at 1.38 billion, compared to China's 1.4 billion. - Uttar Pradesh, with a projected population of 230 million people, is the country's most populated state, while Lakshadweep, with only 68,000 people, is the least populated. - India is among the eight countries expected to be responsible for more than half the projected increase in global population upto 2050. - The South Asian nation's annual population growth has averaged 1.2% since 2011, down from 1.7% in the previous 10 years.

☆ India, U.S. establish new trade group to bolster supply chains
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, poses for a picture before the start of their meeting in New Delhi, India, November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/PoolNEW DELHI, Jan 12 (Reuters) - India and the United States have established a new working group to build sustainable supply chains and boost bilateral trade, the governments said in a joint statement on Thursday. The United States will also consider India's interest in the restoration of beneficiary status under the U.S. generalized system of preferences program, the statement added. The Trade Policy Forum, revived in 2021 after a gap for four years, will reconvene on a ministerial level before end of 2023. The two countries said they mean to continue to work together on resolving outstanding trade issues.

☆ India and United States to increase dialogue on food, agricultural trade in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 12 (Reuters) - India and the United States will increase dialogue on food and agricultural trade issues in 2023, both governments said in a joint statement on Thursday after a trade policy forum meeting in Washington D.C. The two countries also decided to create a new trade policy forum working group on resilient trade, and to continue to work together on resolving outstanding trade issues, they added in the statement. Writing by Sakshi Dayal; editing by Sudipto GangulyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Indian maker of syrup linked to Uzbekistan deaths halts production; facility inspected
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Anushree FadnavisNEW DELHI, Dec 29 (Reuters) - India's drug regulator said on Thursday that it had inspected Marion Biotech's production facility and promised more action based on the probe report after the company's cough syrup was linked to death of 18 children in Uzbekistan. A legal representative of Marion Biotech said the Indian maker of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics regretted the deaths and the company has halted production of the Dok-1 Max syrup. The drug regulator reviewed the company's Noida facility in the Uttar Pradesh state and is in regular touch with its Uzbekistan counterpart, the Indian health ministry said in a statement. "The samples of the cough syrup have been taken from the manufacturing premises and sent to Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory, Chandigarh for testing," the ministry said. Uzbekistan's health ministry said on Wednesday that at least 18 children in the country died after consuming the syrup, manufactured by the Indian drugmaker.

☆ Uzbekistan says 18 children die after consuming India-made syrup
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Uzbekistan's health ministry has said at least 18 children have died after consuming a medicinal syrup manufactured by Indian drugmaker Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd. The ministry said 18 out of 21 children who took the Doc-1 Max syrup while suffering from an acute respiratory disease died after consuming it. The syrup was imported into Uzbekistan by Quramax Medical LLC, the ministry said in its statement released on Tuesday. An Indian government source said the health ministry was looking into the matter. The Uzbek health ministry said it had dismissed seven employees for negligence for not analysing the deaths in a timely manner and not taking the necessary measures.

☆ New Delhi fog disrupts air and rail travel
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A man walks across the lawns near India Gate on a cold winter morning in New Delhi, India, December 27, 2022. REUTERS/Anushree FadnavisNEW DELHI, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Low temperatures and fog in New Delhi hit air and rail movement on Tuesday morning as a cold wave gripped the Indian capital with minimum temperatures dipping as low as 5.6 degrees Celsius (42 F). Local media reported that 15 trains to Delhi were also running late because of fog. The IMD also forecast cold wave conditions in some areas over the northwest states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi during the next two days. A cold wave is declared in the plains of India when the minimum temperature dips to 4 degrees Celsius or falls 4.5 degrees Celsius below normal to 10 degrees Celsius or below.

☆ India plans to make COVID-19 negative test mandatory for passengers from high caseload countries
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, Dec 23 (Reuters) - India is planning to make a COVID-19 negative test report mandatory for passengers arriving from countries with a high number of cases, the country's health minister said during an interview with broadcaster NewsX on Friday. "In the next one week, selected countries will be identified where the caseload is higher today," minister Mansukh Mandaviya said. "People from there who come to India will have to upload their (COVID-19) RT-PCR reports and only then come." The passengers will have to upload their reports on a government website and undergo thermal screening upon landing, Mandaviya said. India, which has reported the second highest number of confirmed COVID cases in the world till date, will start randomly testing 2% of international passengers arriving at its airports for COVID-19, Mandaviya told the parliament on Thursday.

☆ Indian EV maker denies allegations of misappropriation of incentives
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Indian government is reimbursing electric vehicle and hybrid vehicle manufacturers for reducing the purchase price of their vehicles under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) programme. Complaints were made against 12 electric vehicle and parts manufacturers, including Avon Cycles, for violating guidelines under the 100 billion rupees ($1.21 billion) programme, Minister for Heavy Industries Mahendra Nath Pandey told parliament on Tuesday. "We do have two number three wheeler models which qualify under FAME – phase 2 scheme which fully meet the eligibility criteria set by the concerned authorities. Also, the sales volumes of these three wheeler models sold under the stated scheme, so far, have been insignificant." ($1 = 82.8300 Indian rupees)Reporting by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly and Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India to step up COVID surveillance as cases increase elsewhere
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, Dec 21 (Reuters) - India's government has asked all states to step up surveillance for any new variants of the coronavirus, citing an increase in COVID-19 cases in China and elsewhere. India has reported the most COVID cases in the world after the United States but its tally of confirmed infections has fallen sharply in the past few months. A recent surge of infections in neighbouring China after it ended its strict COVID restrictions has led to concern that new variants could emerge. Data from the World Health Organization shows that infections have inched up in Japan, Korea, the United States, France and Brazil in recent days. The government has asked all states to ensure that samples of all positive cases are sent to the 54 designated genome sequencing laboratories.

☆ Air quality plummets in Indian capital as temperature falls
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Adnan AbidiNEW DELHI, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Air pollution worsened in New Delhi on Monday to the "very poor" category after a few days of clear skies, as lower temperatures and calmer winds trapped pollutants. The air quality in the city of 20 million was "very poor" overall and sank to "severe" in some areas, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board. The air quality index hit 457 in the Anand Vihar locality - nine times the "good" level. The government's System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research blamed the foul air on a drop in temperatures and reduced wind speeds. Delhi's temperature has been hovering around a low of 6 degrees Celsius (42.8 Fahrenheit) for the past few days, lower than the normal minimum of 8 degrees Celsius for this time of year.

☆ India's wheat stocks to fall further but sufficient, government says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Wheat stocks in India's government warehouses will fall by about 13% by early next month from current levels but will be sufficient for welfare schemes of the country, the ministry of consumer affairs and food said on Thursday. Wheat stocks in government warehouses for December fell to the lowest in six years, as prices jumped to a record high on rising demand and falling inventories. The statement comes as wheat prices in the country have seen a surge due to a drop in yields. Wheat reserves in state stores fell to 19 million tonnes on Dec. 1 from 37.85 million tonnes a year ago, government data showed. The last time stocks for December were this low was in 2016, when droughts in the previous two years had hit wheat output.

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