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Police fire tear gas on Indian farmers marching to capital, government offers talks

Police fire tear gas on Indian farmers marching to capital, government offers talks

INDIAN farmers demanding higher prices for their produce paused their protest after the government made a new offer to resume talks, hours after police fired tear gas and used water cannons to scatter thousands staging a march to Delhi. The farmers, mostly from the northern state of Punjab, have been demanding higher prices backed by law for their crops. They form an influential bloc of voters Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot afford to anger ahead of general elections due by May. Farmers' leader Sarwan Singh Pandher told reporters they would pause their protest for two days and deliberate their next…
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Hindus throng Ram temple in India’s Ayodhya as it opens to the public

Hindus throng Ram temple in India’s Ayodhya as it opens to the public

TENS of thousands of Hindus braved biting cold to pray at a new temple to Lord Ram in India's northern city of Ayodhya, a day after its inaugural by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a site believed to be the god-king's birthplace. Hindu groups, Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliates have portrayed the opening as part of a Hindu renaissance after past centuries of subjugation by Muslim invaders and colonial powers. "I was adamant about this ... I will only leave after I have seen my Lord Ram," one of the visitors, Guddu Shukla, who queued at the…
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Ayodhya: Religious spectacle to mark Modi’s opening of Ram temple

Ayodhya: Religious spectacle to mark Modi’s opening of Ram temple

A grand temple to Hindu god Lord Ram opens on a site in India millions believe is his birthplace, in a religious spectacle led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi months before he seeks a rare third term in elections. The construction of the temple is a 35-year-old, central promise of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a contentious political issue that helped catapult the party to prominence and power. Hindu groups are portraying the inauguration ceremony in the northern city of Ayodhya as the peak of Hindu awakening after centuries of subjugation by Muslim and colonial powers. It…
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India’s top court upholds end of special status for Kashmir, orders polls

India’s top court upholds end of special status for Kashmir, orders polls

INDIA'S Supreme Court upheld a 2019 decision by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revoke special status for the state of Jammu and Kashmir and set a deadline of September 30 next year for local polls to be held. India's only Muslim-majority region, Jammu and Kashmir has been at the heart of more than 75 years of animosity with neighbouring Pakistan since the birth of the two nations in 1947 at independence from colonial rule by Britain. The unanimous order by a panel of five judges followed more than a dozen petitions challenging the revocation and a subsequent decision…
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India PM Modi’s Sikh separatist fight driven by security, politics

India PM Modi’s Sikh separatist fight driven by security, politics

INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focussed on combating Sikh separatism, despite its scant support among the country's small religious minority, due to security and political concerns, officials and experts say. The movement for a Sikh homeland in northern India, crushed decades ago, has burst onto the global stage in recent months as the United States and Canada accused Indian officials of involvement in assassination plots against Sikh separatist leaders in North America. New Delhi denies any connection to a June murder in a Vancouver suburb but has announced an investigation into U.S. concerns about an alleged plot in New York. It says such plots were not government…
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Egypt and India bolster ties as Modi makes first trip to Cairo

Egypt and India bolster ties as Modi makes first trip to Cairo

EGYPT and India discussed strengthening ties in areas including trade, food security and defence during a state visit to Cairo by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two countries said. On his first trip to Egypt, Modi met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Egyptian ministers appointed to an "India unit" after a state visit by Sisi to India in January during which a "strategic partnership" was announced. Both sides said talks on Sunday covered areas including trade and investment, renewable energy, information technology and pharmaceuticals. "Prime Minister (Modi) and President Sisi also discussed further cooperation in G-20, highlighting the…
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Indian PM Modi meets tech CEOs as Washington visit concludes

Indian PM Modi meets tech CEOs as Washington visit concludes

STEVE HOLLAND and SIMON LEWIS INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with U.S. and Indian technology CEOs in Washington, the final day of a state visit marked by pledges of deeper U.S.-India cooperation on areas including space, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. President Joe Biden rolled out the red carpet for Modi on Thursday, declaring after about 2 -1/2 hours of talks that their countries' economic relationship was "booming." Trade has more than doubled over the past decade. Biden and Modi gathered with CEOs including Apple's Tim Cook, Google's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella. Also present were Sam Altman of OpenAI, NASA astronaut Sunita…
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India’s Modi seeks African Union’s full membership in G20

India’s Modi seeks African Union’s full membership in G20

INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written to the leaders of the G20 nations proposing the African Union be given full, permanent membership of the diplomatic group at its upcoming summit in India, an official source said. Modi's proposal to grant the African Union full membership in the G20 demonstrates India's commitment to strengthening Africa's representation and partnership in shaping global affairs, the source said. The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies. The members represent around 85% of global GDP, over 75% of global trade, and about two-thirds of…
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Indian court orders Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail for Modi comment

Indian court orders Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail for Modi comment

SUMIT KHANNA and ARPAN CHATURVEDI A lower court in India sentenced opposition leader Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail on charges of defamation for a 2019 speech in which he referred to thieves as having the surname Modi. Gandhi will appeal against the order in a higher court, but any jailing for him or his disqualification from parliament would be a blow to his Congress party ahead of the 2024 general election, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party is widely expected to win. The judgment was passed by a magistrate's court in the city of Surat, located in Modi's…
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India tax officers search BBC offices weeks after critical Modi documentary

India tax officers search BBC offices weeks after critical Modi documentary

KRISHNA N. DAS and KYLIE MACLELLAN INDIAN tax officers searched the BBC's bureaus in New Delhi and Mumbai, the British broadcaster said, weeks after the government banned as propaganda a BBC documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role in the 2002 riots. The documentary focused on the Hindu nationalist politician's leadership as chief minister of the western state of Gujarat during the riots in which at least 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims, though activists put the toll at more than twice that number. The government last month dismissed the documentary, "India: The Modi Question", as propaganda and blocked its streaming…
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