Pilani, India | AFP | One of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s signature policies has been protecting cows, but for Raghuvir Singh Meena — a Hindu farmer struggling to protect his crop of chickpeas from roaming cattle — it has gone too far. Farmers overwhelmingly supported Modi’s nationalist party when …
Read More »‘Son of the soil’ Modi becomes India’s nationalist powerhouse
New Delhi, India | AFP | Stern, sharp and shrewd, Narendra Modi fought his way off the streets to become one of India’s most popular and polarising prime ministers. There is no middle ground between admirers and adversaries of the man — now running for a second term as leader …
Read More »A tale of two Delhis: Deadly air exposes rich-poor divide
New Delhi, India | AFP | Walls draped in lush vertical gardens and air filtered through purifiers insulate diners at a swanky New Delhi food court from the choking haze outside in one of the most polluted places on earth. But these eco-eateries, offering cleaner air as well as modern …
Read More »Modi or Gandhi? Indian mystics split over poll outcome
Mumbai, India | AFP | Transgender mystic Zoya Lobo turns over three oracle cards, studies them for a minute and looks up. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will definitely win India’s general election this summer, she proclaims. Clairvoyant Larra Shah also predicts a victory for Modi owing to his “extremely powerful …
Read More »Jobless millions to haunt India election
New Delhi, India | AFP | Vishal Chowdhary is young, bright and armed with an MBA. But he has spent two years struggling to find work in India’s sluggish jobs market — a major headache for Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of looming elections. The government’s failure to create enough …
Read More »Modi and Imran bask after ‘good’ Kashmir crisis
New Delhi, India | AFP | As tempers cool after an alarming confrontation between India and Pakistan, analysts say their leaders have emerged stronger — with Narendra Modi burnishing his nationalist credentials and Imran Khan cast as a peacemaker. Some 400,000 people have signed petitions for Khan, the former playboy …
Read More »App-based delivery men highlight India’s growing gig economy
Mumbai, India | AFP | Suraj Nachre works long hours and regularly misses meals but he treasures his job as a driver for a food delivery startup — working in a booming industry that highlights India’s expanding apps-based gig-economy. The 26-year-old is one of hundreds of thousands of young Indians who, …
Read More »India gives drugs worth ugx 5.9 billion to NMS
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Indian Government has donated an assortment of generic drugs worth 5.9 Billion Shillings to the National Medical Stores-NMS. The drugs were handed over on Wednesday to the Minister of Health Ruth Acheng by the Indian High Commissioner to Uganda Ravi Shankar. The donation …
Read More »Thousands protest citizenship bill in India’s Assam
Guwahati, India | AFP | Thousands in northeastern India protested Monday against a proposal to grant citizenship to religious minorities in the region, except Muslims, with critics attacking the bill as prejudiced and a sop to Hindus before elections. Protesters burned copies of the legislation in angry marches across Assam …
Read More »Clashes after women enter flashpoint Indian temple
Thiruvananthapuram, India | AFP | Violence erupted in southern India on Wednesday after two women defied traditionalists to enter one of Hinduism’s holiest temples for the first time since a landmark court ruling. Police fired tear gas, stun grenades and water cannon as protests and clashes between rival groups erupted …
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