Seven people including five policemen were killed Monday when suspected militants attacked a bank van carrying cash in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said. “All the seven in the van, five policemen and two bank employees, were killed,” director general of police S. P. Vaid told AFP. The van was returning to a bank in the village … Read more
Two men accused of fundraising and recruiting for the Islamic State group in India were sentenced to seven years in jail Friday, an official said. Azhar-ul-Islam and Mohammad Farhan Shaikh were arrested by India’s counterterrorism body the National Investigation Agency (NIA) last year after being deported from the United Arab Emirates for illegal fundraising activities. … Read more
India said Wednesday it will ban ministers and senior officials from using red beacons on their cars to cut through traffic, a longstanding privilege that has caused resentment and accusations of elitism. From May 1 only emergency services will be allowed to use the flashing beacons to move swiftly through India’s notoriously congested streets. “We … Read more
The riots that followed killed nearly 2,000 people. India’s top court has ruled that senior figures in the governing BJP will be tried for criminal conspiracy over the destruction of a 16th Century mosque. The order is seen as a huge setback for former party chief Lal Krishna Advani and his colleagues. The court said … Read more
Three senior members of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party including a government minister should face trial over the demolition of a mosque a quarter of a century ago, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday. The three are accused of inciting Hindu zealots to pull down the 16th century Babri mosque in 1992, igniting one of … Read more
India will buy nearly $2 billion worth of weapons technology from Israel in what’s being described as the ‘largest defence contract’ ever signed by the military exporting giant. The deal will see state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries provide India with an advanced defence system of medium-range surface-to-air missiles, launchers and communications technology, the company said in … Read more
Police said Thursday they have arrested three people for murder over the death of a Muslim man attacked while transporting cows in northern India, where vigilantes patrol the streets to protect the animal Hindus consider sacred. Pehlu Khan, a 55-year-old farmer, died of his injuries on Monday after hundreds of vigilantes attacked his cattle trucks … Read more
Indian newspapers have reported that five people have been arrested over the attack Four Nigerian students have been wounded in India following an attack on them in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, in the latest violence against Africans in the country. India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Sharawaj said in a tweet that the chief minister … Read more
An Indian politician brazenly admitted on Thursday that he hit a steward on an Air India flight 25 times with his slipper during a row over a seat. Ravindra Gaikwad, an MP in India’s lower house for the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party, claimed that the attendant had insulted him first on the Pune to … Read more
Mansions owned by maids, gardeners and drivers until now have aroused little suspicion in India, where the wealthy have long hidden fortunes in the names of lowly-paid staff to avoid paying tax. But as the government broadens its crackdown on corruption, a new law promises to end the widespread practise and hundreds of suspicious bank … Read more
India’s defence minister resigned Monday to lead the coastal state of Goa after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party secured enough support from minor parties to retain power in the popular tourist region. Manohar Parrikar will be sworn in as Goa’s chief minister on Tuesday — the fourth time he has held the position in his … Read more
Rebounding from a self-inflicted banknote crisis to deliver his party a stunning victory in state polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dominance mirrors that of India’s early independence leaders and bodes well for his re-election in 2019, analysts say. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won a surprise absolute majority in Uttar Pradesh at the weekend, a result … Read more
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi looked set to tighten his grip on power Saturday with early trends from a string of state elections showing his nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party leading in the key battleground of Uttar Pradesh. Polling trends on the Election Commission of India website showed the BJP storming ahead in 221 seats out … Read more
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hoping to tighten his grip on power Saturday when results are announced from a string of state elections, including the key battleground of Uttar Pradesh. Exit polls show Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning most seats in at least three of the five contests while the beleaguered opposition … Read more
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hoping to tighten his grip on power Saturday when results are announced from a string of state elections, including the key battleground of Uttar Pradesh. Exit polls show Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning most seats in at least three of the five contests while the beleaguered opposition … Read more
India’s economic growth rate fell to seven percent in the third quarter of the financial year after the controversial ban on high-value banks notes in November, the government said Tuesday. Gross domestic product in one of the world’s fastest growing economies expanded 7.0 percent year-on-year in the three months to the end of December, down … Read more
India’s rapid economic growth has lifted 140 million people out of poverty in the past decade but many of its people still lack access to elecricity and toilets, the OECD said Tuesday. GDP per capita has risen by more than five percent per year since the mid-1990s and reforms introduced since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s … Read more
New Delhi’s top diplomat will travel to Washington this week for talks with US officials as anger grows over the death of an Indian expatriate in a suspected hate crime. Thousands of Indians visit the United States every year for work or study, and the killing of 32-year-old engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla in a Kansas bar … Read more
India has expressed shock after the fatal shooting of an Indian national in the US, amid reports that the attack may have been racially motivated. Srinivas Kuchibhotla died shortly after Wednesday’s attack at a bar in Olathe, Kansas. His friend Alok Madasani, also from India, and an American were hurt. Adam Purinton has been charged … Read more
Half a million Indians have set a new world record by performing a mass rendition of their national anthem, as patriotic sentiment rises under a nationalist government. The “Jana Gana Mana” anthem was sung by 509,261 people in Gujarat, the home state of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the opening of a Hindu … Read more