india - The African Mirror

Apr

2022

EXCLUSIVE: India open to additional $2 bln aid for Sri Lanka with eye on China

SWATI BHAT and AFTAB AHMED INDIA is willing to commit up to another $2 billion in financial assistance to Sri Lanka while also supporting the island nation with food and fuel, five sources told Reuters, as New Delhi tries to regain ground lost to China in recent years. Sri Lanka, hit by its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948 and on the brink of its first debt default, has been asking friendly nations including India and China for credit lines, food and energy. The Asian giants have already committed billions of dollars in financial support. "We are definitely looking…

Dec

2021

By The African Mirror

Violence escalates in India’s northeast after forces mistakenly fire on civilians

WORLD

ZARIR HUSSAIN PROTESTERS threw stones and set fire to areas around a camp belonging to Indian forces in the remote northeast, with one civilian shot dead in renewed violence a day after 14 people were killed by defence forces, officials said. At least 14 civilians and one member of the security forces were killed in Nagaland state on Saturday night after Indian forces mistook a group of labourers for militants and opened fire. More than a dozen civilians and some members of the security forces were also wounded in the incident and violence that followed, said a federal defence ministry…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Heavy rain in India triggers floods, landslides; at least 125 dead

WORLD

RAJENDRA JADHAV and MANJO KUMAR RESCUE teams in India struggled through thick sludge and debris on Saturday to reach dozens of submerged homes as the death toll from landslides and accidents caused by torrential monsoon rain rose to 125. Maharashtra state is being hit by the heaviest rain in July in four decades, experts say. Downpours lasting several days have severely affected the lives of hundreds of thousands, while major rivers are in danger of bursting their banks. In Taliye, about 180 km (110 miles) southeast of the financial capital of Mumbai, the death toll rose to 42 with the…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Recipe for disaster’: COVID-19 spreads fear in India’s tea estates

WORLD

ANURADHA NAGARAJ WHEN Indian tea plantation worker Bholanath Natto and his wife tested positive for COVID-19 their biggest worry was not their health, but where they would quarantine and how they could get hold of food and drinking water without his wages. As some of the cities worst hit by India's COVID-19 crisis see a lull in new cases, infections are rising among millions of tea pickers - many of whom live in cramped living quarters where measures to curb the virus's spread are difficult to implement. The positive test result and hospital orders to quarantine have been a logistical…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

India tests drones to take COVID-19 vaccines to rural areas

WORLD

RINA CHANDRAN VILLAGERS in remote corners of rural India could start seeing curious flying objects in the skies as health experts test out drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to isolated communities amid a deadly surge in coronavirus cases. The southern state of Telangana, which is part of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Medicine from the Sky project along with government think-tank NITI Aayog and Apollo Hospitals, will run a trial and then launch COVID-19 vaccine deliveries with drones. Karnataka, another southern state, is also looking at drone deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines, while the Indian Council of Medical Research has been…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

‘We are waiting to die’: Desperation after India halts vaccine exports

COVID-19

NITA BHALLA and BEH LIH YI WHEN John Omondi received his COVID-19 vaccination last month, the Kenyan taxi driver counted himself one of the lucky ones. Now, he's not so sure - victim of a vaccine export freeze by mega-producer India that has dashed hopes of protection for millions of poor people caught in the pandemic. "It was a good day when I got the vaccine. I needed it because of my age and my work," explained Omondi, 59, as he navigated the busy roads of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "I am supposed to get my second dose in June,…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

India COVID cases hold close to record highs as calls widen for national lockdown

WORLD

INDIAN coronavirus infections and deaths held close to record daily highs yesterday, increasing calls for the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lock down the world's second-most populous country. The 366,161 new infections and 3,754 deaths reported by the health ministry were off a little from recent peaks, taking India's tally to 22.66 million with 246,116 deaths as hospitals run out of oxygen and beds and morgues and crematoria overflow. (Graphic on global cases and deaths) https://tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi Experts have said India's actual figures could be far higher than reported. Sunday's 1.47 million tests for COVID-19 were this month's lowest…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria bans travellers from India, Brazil, Turkey over COVID-19 fears

COVID-19

NIGERIA will ban travellers coming from India, Brazil and Turkey because of concerns about the rampant spread of coronavirus in those countries, a presidential committee has announced. "Non-Nigerian passport holders and non-residents who visited Brazil, India or Turkey within Fourteen (14) days preceding travel to Nigeria, shall be denied entry into Nigeria," Boss Mustapha, chairman of the presidential steering committee on COVID-19, said in a statement. The ban will take effect from May 4, the statement said. Nigeria announced 43 confirmed new coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing its total to 165,153, with 2,063 deaths. Indian hospitals, morgues and crematoriums have…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Scientists say India government ignored warnings amid coronavirus surge

WORLD

DEVJYOT GOSHLAL and KRISHNA N. DAS A forum of scientific advisers set up by the government warned Indian officials in early March of a new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus taking hold in the country, five scientists who are part of the forum told Reuters. Despite the warning, four of the scientists said the federal government did not seek to impose major restrictions to stop the spread of the virus. Millions of largely unmasked people attended religious festivals and political rallies that were held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Fear grips India’s vast informal workforce as vaccines run low

WORLD

ANURADHA NAGARAJ and ROLI SRIVASTAVA INDIAN developer Satish Magar has managed to get 700 of his construction workers vaccinated against COVID-19 in the last month, and he hopes to do the same for another 2,000 in May. Magar wants all his workers to have the vaccine as India grapples with a catastrophic surge in coronavirus cases that has overwhelmed hospitals and morgues, with oxygen in short supply. "We have explained the importance of getting vaccinated to them," said Magar, the national president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (CREDAI). "If they don't get vaccinated, one infection…