Timeline of India (E) 2016-Present
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2016
Jan 1, In India more than a million private cars were banned from
New Delhi's roads, as authorities began testing drastic new measures
to cut smog in the world's most polluted capital. For the next 15
days private cars will only be allowed on the city's roads every
other day to try to reduce pollutant levels.
(AFP, 1/1/16)
2016 Jan 2, In northern India 6
gunmen launched a deadly attack on an Air Force base in Pathankot,
Punjab state, exchanging fire with Indian forces who, backed by
tanks and helicopters, battled for over 15 hours before wresting
back control of the compound. All the attackers and at least 7
Indian soldiers were killed. India blamed militants from Pakistan.
(Reuters, 1/2/16)(SSFC, 1/3/16, p.A6)(Econ,
1/9/16, p.34)
2016 Jan 3, Indian troops were
still battling at least two gunmen at the Pathankot air force base
near the border with Pakistan. At least 7 troops and 4 gunmen have
been killed in the fighting so far.
(AP, 1/3/16)
2016 Jan 4, Indian security
forces battled for the third day to clear out militants who attacked
the Pathankot Air Force base in Punjab state and killed 7 soldiers.
(Reuters, 1/4/16)
2016 Jan 4, A powerful
earthquake struck northeast India and Bangladesh, killing at least
11 people and injuring nearly 200, with efforts to reach remote
areas where people may be trapped hampered by severed power lines
and telecommunication links.
(Reuters, 1/4/16)
2016 Jan 5, India said defense
forces have killed the last of the six militants who attacked the
Pathankot Air Force base near the Pakistan border over the weekend.
(AP, 1/5/16)
2016 Jan 6, In northeastern
India a bus fell into a pond in the remote northeast, killing 13
people in Tripura state.
(AP, 1/6/16)
2016 Jan 7, In India Mufti
Mohammed Sayeed (79), a top elected pro-India leader of Kashmir,
died in a New Delhi hospital of pneumonia. He tried to win over
insurgent groups in the troubled region.
(AP, 1/7/16)
2016 Jan 11, An Indian court
sentenced nearly three dozen crew members of an American-owned ship
to five years in prison for illegally entering Indian waters while
carrying weapons and ammunition. The Seaman Guard Ohio was
intercepted in October 2013 by India's coast guard off the southern
state of Tamil Nadu.
(AP, 1/12/16)(Econ, 1/23/16, p.41)
2016 Jan 11, In southeastern
India short-finned pilot whales began washing up on beaches in the
port town of Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu state. Records showed that the
last time whales washed up on the beaches of Tuticorin in large
numbers was in 1973.
(AP, 1/12/16)
2016 Jan 17, Rohith Chakravarti
Vemula (b.1989, an Indian PhD student at the University of
Hyderabad, committed suicide. The University had reportedly stopped
paying him a fellowship of 25,000 rupees per month after he was
found "raising issues under the banner of Ambedkar Students
Association (ASA)." His suicide sparked protests and outrage from
across India and gained widespread media attention as an alleged
case of discrimination against Dalits and low status caste in India.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohith_Vemula)
2016 Jan 23, India's government
started declassifying secret files to settle questions over the
death of Subhash Chandra Bose (1897-1945), a Congress party leader
who formed a national army to fight British colonial rulers with the
help of the Japanese in the 1940s.
(AP, 1/23/16)(Econ, 1/30/16, p.33)
2016 Jan 24, French Pres.
Hollande began a 3-day visit to India.
(SFC, 1/25/16, p.A2)
2016 Jan 25, India signed an
inter-governmental pact to buy 36 French-built Rafale fighter
planes, but the leaders of both countries said there was still work
to do to finalize financial terms after months of talks.
(Reuters, 1/25/16)
2016 Jan 27, In eastern India
suspected Maoist rebels detonated a land mine, killing seven
policemen and injuring six others.
(AP, 1/28/16)
2016 Jan, It was reported some
25k to 50k people in greater New Delhi die prematurely every year
because of air pollution. The WHO has ranked India’s capital as the
world’s most polluted big city.
(Econ, 1/16/16, p.43)
2016 Feb 3, An avalanche hit
the Siachen Glacier in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir
early today, trapping 10 Indian army soldiers in the snow. On Feb 8
soldier Hanamanthappa Koppad was found conscious and disoriented as
the bodies of 9 others were recovered. Koppad died of his injuries
on Feb 11.
(AP, 2/3/16)(AP, 2/9/16)(Reuters, 2/11/16)
2016 Feb 5, In Nepal vehicles
passed through Birgunj, the main border town between Nepal and
India, after frustrated local residents forcefully removed barriers
set up by ethnic protesters who blockaded the border to demand
changes in the new constitution.
(AP, 2/5/16)
2016 Feb 10, In India millions
of children began getting deworming treatment in a massive national
campaign to prevent parasitic worms from infecting them and
impairing their mental and physical development.
(AP, 2/10/16)
2016 Feb 11, Indian authorities
detained dozens of Kashmiri activists and placed separatist leaders
under house arrest to prevent them from holding anti-India protests
to mark the anniversary of a top separatist leader's hanging more
than three decades ago.
(AP, 2/11/16)
2016 Feb 12, Coca-Cola said it
has suspended bottling at three plants in India, including one in
the parched northwest where farmers have been protesting the
company's use of dwindling groundwater reserves.
(AP, 2/12/16)
2016 Feb 15, In India massive
protests paralyzed a top university after the president of the
student union was arrested on charges of sedition. Kanhaiya Kumar
was arrested Feb 12 over a demonstration days earlier at Jawaharlal
Nehru University to mark the anniversary of the 2013 execution of
Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri man convicted of an attack on India's
Parliament.
(AP, 2/15/16)
2016 Feb 16, In India students,
journalists and teachers protested in New Delhi after a student
union leader's arrest and subsequent violence by Hindu nationalists.
(AP, 2/16/16)
2016 Feb 17, In India dozens of
lawyers, many with links to the ruling nationalist party, attacked
protesters in New Delhi who have been demanding the release of a
university student leader arrested under colonial-era sedition laws.
(AP, 2/17/16)
2016 Feb 17, Indian government
officials said said they have halted potash imports for the year to
end-March and delayed negotiations for next year's purchases until
at least June, as droughts have dented demand in one of the world's
biggest fertilizer consumers.
(Reuters, 2/17/16)
2016 Feb 18, In India a protest
that rocked a New Delhi university this week spread across the
country, with students and teachers in at least 10 cities demanding
the release of student leader Kanhaiya Kumar arrested on sedition
charges and accused of being anti-Indian.
(AP, 2/18/16)
2016 Feb 20, India pledged $250
million for post-earthquake reconstruction in Nepal as the two
countries try to heal strained ties following protests in Nepal over
the country's new constitution.
(AP, 2/20/16)
2016 Feb 20, In northern India
hundreds of army and paramilitary soldiers tried to quell protests
by angry mobs demanding government benefits in Haryana state, with
at least 10 people killed in clashes between security forces and
protesters.
(AP, 2/20/16)(AFP, 2/21/16)
2016 Feb 21, India deployed
thousands of troops in Haryana state to quell protests that have
severely hit water supplies to Delhi, a city of more than 20 million
people. Rioting and looting by the Jats, a rural caste, is
symptomatic of increasingly fierce competition for government jobs
and educational openings.
(Reuters, 2/21/16)
2016 Feb 22, Rural Indian
protesters paralyzed northern Haryana state despite a deal giving
them more government jobs, but there was relief for New Delhi's 20
million residents as the army retook control of their main water
source. Days of riots killed at least 28 people.
(Reuters, 2/22/16)(AFP, 2/22/16)(Econ, 2/27/16,
p.29)
2016 Feb 22, Indian security
forces battled for a third day amid heavy gunfire to clear militants
who stormed a government building in the disputed Kashmir region and
killed six people.
(Reuters, 2/22/16)
2016 Feb 23, In India thousands
of students and teachers marched through the heart of New Delhi to
protest the recent death of a student who faced caste discrimination
and the arrest of a student leader on sedition
charges.
(AP, 2/23/16)
2016 Feb 28, In India Hasnain
Warekar (35) stabbed 14 members of his own family to death,
including seven children, before hanging himself in Thane.
(Reuters, 2/28/16)(SFC, 1/29/16, p.A2)
2016 Feb 29, India introduced
an additional 'green' tax on car sales, aimed at helping fight high
levels of air pollution and congestion but hitting car makers that
fear this could stall a fragile recovery in the market for their
products.
(Reuters, 2/29/16)
2016 Feb, Chandrasekhar Reddy’s
film 'Fireflies in the Abyss' won the award for Best Film in the
Mumbai International Film Festival. It focused on children working
in coal mines in Meghalaya state, many of which are illegal.
(Reuters, 7/6/16)
2016 Mar 1, In central India
security forces killed 8 suspected Maoist militants, including five
women, in a raid on a rebel training camp in Chhattisgarh state.
(Reuters, 3/1/16)
2016 Mar 2, An Indian court
said a university student leader can be freed on bail more than two
weeks after he was detained for alleged sedition in a case that has
sparked nationwide protests and accusations of government
intolerance of dissent. The court said Kanhaiya Kumar could be
released if he pays about $148 bail, refrains from political
activity and is supervised by a faculty member at Jawaharlal Nehru
University.
(AP, 3/2/16)
2016 Mar 3, In India a Tibetan
(16) died in a New Delhi hospital three days after he set himself on
fire in a protest against Chinese rule. He set himself on fire on
Feb 29 in the northern city of Dehradun and was brought to New Delhi
for treatment.
(AP, 3/4/16)
2016 Mar 4, The Geneva-based
World Trade Organization said India has filed a complaint against
the United States over its measures raising fees on some applicants
for temporary work visas, mostly involving the tech sector.
(AP, 3/4/16)
2016 Mar 7, In India thousands
of dead fish washed up on the banks of the polluted Ulsoor Lake in
the southern technology hub of Bangalore. Sewage has been flowing
into the lake, depleting its oxygen, and has been choked with water
hyacinth with no effort by authorities to clear it.
(AP, 3/7/16)
2016 Mar 7, In India a
15-year-old girl was fighting for her life in a New Delhi hospital
after being raped and set on fire on the rooftop terrace of her
family's home in a village outside the city. Police soon arrested a
20-year-old man and charged him with raping and burning the girl.
The girl died on March 9.
(AP, 3/8/16)(AP, 3/9/16)
2016 Mar 7, In the Netherlands
the Marshall Islands began legal proceedings against India at the
International Court of Justice, as part of cases against three of
the world's nuclear powers aimed at breathing new life into
disarmament negotiations.
(AP, 3/7/16)
2016 Mar 9, The Indian arm of
global consumer giant Unilever said it has reached a settlement with
hundreds of former employees 15 years after its thermometer plant in
southern India was shut following accusations of mercury
contamination.
(AP, 3/10/16)
2016 Mar 11, In India a massive
cultural festival opened on the banks of the Yamuna River in the
Indian capital despite concerns the sprawling construction of roads,
ramps and pontoon bridges would irreparably damage the river's
floodplains. The festival celebrating the Art of Living Foundation's
35th anniversary is expected to draw some 3.5 million visitors.
(AP, 3/11/16)
2016 Mar 20, In eastern India
three elephants killed 4 people. One elephant in the group, a male,
was tranquilized and later died.
(AP, 3/21/16)
2016 Mar 20, In India the prime
minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile called for China to
engage in dialogue on autonomy for his people's homeland, as tens of
thousands of Tibetans around the world voted for new leaders of a
government that Beijing does not recognize.
(AP, 3/20/16)
2016 Mar 21, In India one man
was after he walked out of his home in a village in Burdwan district
of West Bengal state. The man encountered five elephants, and was
tossed in the air and trampled by one of them.
(AP, 3/21/16)
2016 Mar 24, Pakistan arrested
an Indian intelligence officer for his involvement in "subversive
activities" in southwestern Baluchistan province and lodged a
protest with India's envoy over the case. Kulbhushan Jadhav of India
was arrested by Pakistan after he allegedly entered the country from
Iran. Pakistani officials say he has been linked to 1,345 deaths in
acts of terrorism in Pakistan, making secret trips to the country
from Iran. The alleged spy was later sentenced to death by a
Pakistani military court.
(AP, 3/25/16)(AP, 2/18/19)
2016 Mar 30, In central India
Maoist rebels killed at least 7 paramilitary soldiers by blowing up
their armored vehicle in Chhattisgarh state.
(AP, 3/30/16)
2016 Mar 30, Indian giant Tata
Steel put its British business up for sale, sparking calls for the
government to intervene and safeguard thousands of jobs in the
crisis-hit industry.
(AFP, 3/30/16)
2016 Mar 31, In India an
overpass under construction in Kolkata collapsed on to vehicles and
street vendors below, killing 23 people with more than 100 people
injured.
(Reuters, 4/1/16)
2016 Apr 2, In western India
around 25 female activists were prevented from entering the Shani
Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra state, traditionally open only to
men, a day after a Mumbai court ruled that women have a fundamental
right to enter and pray inside temples.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 5, The Indian state of
Bihar completely banned the sale of alcohol in a surprise move,
including liquor at bars and hotels.
(AP, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 10, In southern India
108 people were killed and nearly 400 injured when a massive fire
swept through a Hindu temple during an unauthorized fireworks
display in the Kerala state village of Paravoor. Five employees of a
fireworks manufacturer who was given the contract for running the
show were soon taken into custody.
(AP, 4/10/16)(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 11, India launched its
Unified Payment Interface (UPI), an electronic payments network. It
is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and works by instantly
transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface)(Econ.,
5/9/20, p.59)
2016 Apr 11, In India 10 people
were electrocuted by an overhead high-voltage wire that fell on them
during a demonstration outside a police station in the northeastern
state of Assam. Police bullets hit the overhead cable, which came
crashing down on the demonstrators demanding that police hand them
two suspects arrested for the murder of two members of their tea
workers community last week.
(AP, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 12, In Kashmir 2 young
men were killed in firing by Indian government forces at
rock-throwing protesters, who were demanding the arrest of an Indian
soldier for assaulting a girl (16) in a restroom.
(AP, 4/12/16)(Econ, 4/16/16, p.33)
2016 Apr 13, Indian authorities
imposed a curfew in parts of Kashmir to stop fresh anti-India
demonstrations following the killings of four people by Indian
troops and a general strike called by separatists.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 15, India said it had
suspended the diplomatic passport of embattled tycoon and lawmaker
Vijay Mallya, who left the country last March 2 amid pressure from
lenders to repay about $1.4 billion in debt owed by his defunct
Kingfisher Airlines. On April 18 a Mumbai court issued a warrant for
his arrest. In July the airline said its books had vanished.
(Reuters, 4/15/16)(Econ, 4/23/16, p.56)(Econ,
7/9/16, p.55)
2016 Apr 15, New Delhi imposed
driving restrictions that will take around a million cars off its
roads for the second time this year, seeking to improve air quality
in the world's most polluted capital.
(AFP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 16, Conservationists
said representatives from 13 Asian countries, meeting in New Delhi
this week, have agreed to do more to protect tiger habitats.
(SFC, 4/16/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 17, In India statewide
marches in Gujarat calling for the freeing of Hardik Patel (22), a
community leader who has been in jail since last October on sedition
charges, turned violent in the town of Mehsana. Across the state
more than 400 protesters were detained. Patel emerged overnight last
year as leader of a mass movement demanding more government jobs and
college places for the Patel -- or Patidar – community.
(Reuters, 4/17/16)
2016 Apr 17, In India a bus
carrying members of an opera troupe plunged into a gorge killing at
least 25 people in Orissa state.
(SFC, 4/18/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 18, It was reported
that India's capital has banned chewing tobacco in an effort to
lower the high incidence of mouth and throat cancers. The ban was
welcomed by health activists and doctors after it was announced last
week.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 19, Indian officials
said weeks of sweltering temperatures have caused more than 160
deaths in southern and eastern India.
(AP, 4/20/16)
2016 Apr 22, In northeastern
India torrential rains triggered a mudslide that buried a labor camp
bordering China in Arunachal Pradesh state, killing 17 people.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 22, In eastern India a
fire killed 12 people who were sleeping after they attended a
wedding in a village in Bihar state.
(AP, 4/22/16)
2016 Apr 28, India’s eastern
state of Bihar issued an advisory asking people not to cook or
conduct religious ceremonies between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. after 10
children and five adults were killed in a fire sparked during a
Hindu prayer ceremony in the Aurangabad district. Accidental fires
exacerbated by dry, hot and windy weather had swept through
shantytowns and thatched-roof houses in villages killing 79 people.
At least 300 people have died of heat-related illness this month
including 110 in Orissa state, 137 in Telangana state and another 45
in Andhra Pradesh state.
(AP, 4/30/16)(http://tinyurl.com/znslygz)(SFC,
4/30/16, p.A4)
2016 Apr 28, In southern India
a female law student (30) was sexually penetrated by sharp objects
before being murdered in her home in Perumbavoor, Kerala state. On
May 3 police detained three men for questioning in the rape and
murder.
(AP, 5/3/16)
2016 Apr, India's Maharashtra
state became the first in the country to ban village councils from
imposing "social boycotts" that ostracize individuals or families
for defying tradition.
(Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016 Apr, In India an American
tourist was drugged and raped in her hotel room. On Dec 26 police
said they have arrested four suspects including a tour guide, his
associate, a car driver and a hotel worker. The suspects denied the
accusations.
(SFC, 12/27/16, p.A2)
2016 May 2, In northern India
dozens of fires were spreading unpredictably in the states of
Uttarakhand and neighboring Himachal Pradesh. Massive wildfires in
the two states have killed at least seven people in recent weeks.
The fires extended into Nepal where 11 people have died fighting
fires across the country, the worst in six years.
(AP, 5/2/16)(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 2, A UN arbitration
court ruled that India should release Italian marine Salvatore
Girone, who has been detained in Delhi for more than four years, and
allow him to return home.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 4, India's highest
court ordered cigarette manufacturers to comply with controversial
new rules requiring bigger health warnings on packets that sparked
weeks-long factory shutdowns.
(AFP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 4, In central India a
passenger bus fell into a dry river bed after crashing through the
railing of a bridge, killing 16 people in Chhattisgarh state.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, In central India a
heavy rainstorm collapsed tents and gates at a sprawling Hindu
pilgrimage site, killing at least 6 people and injuring 30 in the
town of Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh state. The festival is held every 12
years in Ujjain.
(AP, 5/5/16)
2016 May 11, Indian officials
announced plans to close a tax loophole that allows its citizens to
channel income through the tropical island of Mauritius and avoid
paying taxes.
(AP, 5/11/16)
2016 May 11, India's government
said South Asian nations will set up a toll-free helpline and online
platform to fight human trafficking, and trace the thousands of
children who go missing in the region annually. Ministers from
India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the
Maldives and Nepal came to the agreement after a conference on child
protection held under the auspices of the South Asian Association
for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
(Reuters, 5/12/16)
2016 May 12, In India
television journalist Akhilesh Pratap Singh was also shot dead by
unknown assailants as he returned home on a motorbike in restive
Jharkhand state.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 12, The World Health
Organization said air pollution causes more than 3 million premature
deaths worldwide every year. The worst air pollution was recorded at
Zabol in Iran. The WHO said India has four of the 10 cities in the
world with the worst air pollution and Saudi Arabia had two.
(Reuters, 5/12/16)(SFC, 5/13/16, p.A2)
2016 May 13, In India Rajdeo
Ranjan, the local bureau chief for Hindi-language daily Hindustan,
was travelling on his motorcycle in Bihar state when a group of
unknown assailants shot him five times.
(AFP, 5/14/16)
2016 May 14, In southern India
a truck and an overcrowded motorized rickshaw collided in Telangana
state killing 16 people, half of them from a single family.
(AP, 5/15/16)
2016 May 14, In India an
overcrowded boat sank following a village fair in West Bengal state.
Rescuers soon recovered 18 bodies from the Hooghly river.
(AP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 19, Indian PM Narendra
Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won power for the first
time in the northeastern state of Assam.
(Reuters, 5/19/16)
2016 May 19, In northern India
Phalodi wilted as the mercury reached a new high of 51 degrees
Celsius, equivalent to 123.8 Fahrenheit, beating a 60-year-old
record.
(AFP, 5/20/16)
2016 May 20, In India Masunda
Kitada Oliver, a Congolese graduate student who had lived in India
for over six years, hailed an auto rickshaw in New Delhi when three
men insisted they had hired the vehicle. The men beat him up and hit
him on the head with a stone, and he died later that night. India on
May 25 promised swift punishment.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 21, In India Apple CEO
Tim Cook laid out his company's plans for the vast Indian market in
a meeting with PM Narendra Modi, who in turn sought Apple's support
for his "Digital India" initiative focusing on e-education, health
and increasing farmers' incomes.
(AP, 5/21/16)
2016 May 22, In northeastern
India heavily armed rebels ambushed and killed 6 Indian paramilitary
soldiers, including one officer. The soldiers were on their way for
rescue work after a rain-triggered mudslide hit Chandel district in
Manipur state.
(AP, 5/22/16)
2016 May 23, India said it will
invest up to $500 million in a deal to develop a strategic port in
Iran and both countries planned a number of projects they say are
worth hundreds of millions of dollars as Indian PM Narendra Modi
visited Tehran.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 23, The Indian Space
Research Organization launched a small space shuttle on a rocket in
southern India and completed a successful 13-minute test flight.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 26, In India a
powerful blast in a chemical factory located near a residential area
in a Mumbai suburb killed five people and left 92 injured.
(Reuters, 5/26/16)
2016 May 27, In Dharmsala,
India, Lobsang Sangay was sworn in for his second term as prime
minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile and said he will make
maximum efforts to achieve regional autonomy for Tibet during his
five-year term, but will prepare a strategy for the next 50 years if
it's unsuccessful.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 29, Indian police in
New Delhi said that they have arrested five people who assaulted six
Africans in the Indian capital last week, as African diplomatic
missions urged India's government to ensure the safety of Africans
living in the country.
(AP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 31, In western India a
fire broke out at a major ammunition depot, killing at least 17 army
personnel at the Pulgaon ammunitions depot, Maharashtra state.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 31, In London the Walk
Free Foundation's Global Slavery Index said about 45.8 million
people around the world are trapped in modern slavery. India
reportedly had the largest number of modern slaves, 18.35 million,
followed by China with 3.39 million and Pakistan with 2.13 million.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 May, India passed a new
bankruptcy law. It will allow banks from next year onward to
foreclose on insolvent firms.
(Econ, 7/16/16, p.56)
2016 Jun 2, An Indian court
convicted 24 Hindu men for their role in one of the many deadly
religious riots that swept across the western state of Gujarat for
three months in 2002, leaving more than 1,000 dead.
(AP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 3, Indian officials
said overnight slashes between police and followers of a
revolutionary sect have left at least 24 dead after an operation
in Uttar Pradesh to evict thousands of people from parkland
erupted into violence.
(AFP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 3, Rebels in the
Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir ambushed a convoy of Indian
paramilitary soldiers in a busy market, killing at least 3 and
injuring three others.
(AP, 6/3/16)
2016 Jun 4, Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani and Indian PM Narendra Modi inaugurated a
multi-million-dollar dam in western Afghanistan that will bring
power and irrigation to vast tracts of the war-torn country. The
Afghan-India Friendship Dam in Herat province, which borders Iran,
was built with Indian aid at a cost of $300 million and was under
construction for about a decade.
(AP, 6/4/16)
2016 Jun 5, India's PM Narendra
Modi and Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who visited
India in March 2015, signed seven agreements to strengthen ties.
Modi had arrived June 4 and met with Indian laborers that evening.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 5, In western India a
speeding bus struck two cars on the Navi Mumbai highway in a crash
that killed at least 17 people and injured 35 others.
(AP, 6/5/16)
2016 Jun 7, The members of the
Missile Technology Control Regime, a key anti-proliferation
grouping, agreed to admit India as a deadline for members of the
34-nation group to object to India's admission expired a day earlier
without any of them raising objections. Later today PM Narendra Modi
met with US Pres. Obama in Washington.
(Reuters, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 8, In southern India
annual monsoon rains arrived at the Kerala coast, a day later than
forecast, easing fears over farm and economic growth after two
straight droughts hit rural income and agricultural output.
(Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 14, In northeastern
India a passenger bus skidded off a mountain road and fell into a
gorge in Meghalaya state, killing at least 25 people near Sonapur
town.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 17, Indian PM Narendra
Modi and Thailand’s PM Prayuth Chan-ocha agreed in New Delhi to
increase cooperation in tackling terrorism, threats to
cybersecurity, narcotics, transnational economic offenses and human
trafficking.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 17, In India the film
“Udta Punjab” was released. It dramatized the state’s struggle with
drugs. A recent study found that 20% of the young men in Punjab use
opioids. Injectable heroine appeared about five years ago and
quickly became the drug of choice.
(Econ, 6/25/16, p.34)
2016 Jun 21, India's PM
Narendra Modi joined a crowd of 30,000 schoolchildren and other
residents of the northern city of Chandigarh for a mass yoga session
as millions of people twisted their bodies in complex positions in
celebration of International Yoga Day.
(AP, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 22, Indian officials
said lightning has killed 74 people, mostly farm laborers working in
fields, across eastern and northern India over the past 24 hours.
(AP, 6/22/16)
2016 Jun 28, In India Isak
Chishi Swu (87), a militant leader of the Naga tribal insurgency,
died in New Delhi without being able to see his people reach a
long-negotiated peace accord with the Indian government.
(AP, 6/28/16)
2016 Jul 1, In northern India
torrential rains triggered heavy floods and landslides that poured
down hills in Uttarakhand state, killing at least 18 people and
destroying dozens of homes. At least 25 people were missing in seven
villages in Pithoragarh.
(AP, 7/1/16)
2016 Jul 3, An Indian official
said at least 40 people were feared dead following a weekend
downpour that triggered flash floods and landslides in Uttarakhand
state.
(Reuters, 7/3/16)
2016 Jul 4, US intelligence
group SITE said a regional branch of al Qaeda has urged Muslims in
India to revolt and carry out lone wolf attacks.
(Reuters, 7/4/16)
2016 Jul 8, Indian PM Narendra
Modi took his Africa tour to South Africa, seeking to boost trade
between two countries.
(AFP, 7/8/16)
2016 Jul 8, Indian security
services Jammu and Kashmir state shot dead Burhan Wani (22), a
militant known for his calls to arms on social media and leader of
Hizb-ul Mujahideen, one of a number of groups fighting Indian
control of the Muslim-majority region.
(Reuters, 7/9/16)
2016 Jul 9, In India’s Jammu
and Kashmir state at least 9 protesters died as crowds angered by
the killing of a separatist militant clashed with armed police,
torching buildings and blocking streets. Over 20,000 people had
gathered for the funeral of Burhan Wani, killed a day earlier.
(AP, 7/9/16)(Econ, 7/16/16, p.33)
2016 Jul 10, The death toll in
India's northern Jammu and Kashmir state rose to 20 as clashes
between Indian troops and protesters killed 4 protesters and a
police officer, despite a curfew imposed in the to suppress
anti-India anger following the killing of a popular rebel commander.
(Reuters, 7/10/16)
2016 Jul 10, In Tanzania
visiting Indian PM Narendra Modi and President John Pombe Magufuli
signed five agreements, including one to provide credit $92 million
to improve water accessibility on the island of Zanzibar.
(AP, 7/10/16)
2016 Jul 11, Indian authorities
struggled to contain street protests by Kashmiris defying patrols
and a stringent curfew after at least 25 people died in clashes that
followed the killing of a top rebel leader.
(AP, 7/11/16)
2016 Jul 11, Indian PM Narendra
Modi Monday held talks with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in
Nairobi and agreed to further expand investment ties between the two
countries and diversify trade.
(AP, 7/11/16)
2016 Jul 12, India's PM
Narendra Modi called an emergency meeting over escalating anti-India
protests in Kashmir, where at least 29 people have died in clashes
and hospitals are struggling with hundreds of injured.
(AP, 7/12/16)
2016 Jul 15, In Kashmir
widespread anti-India protests and clashes erupted in dozens of
places, even as authorities prevented tens of thousands of people
from offering prayers in big mosques with a lockdown in place for a
seventh straight day.
(AP, 7/15/16)
2016 Jul 15, UNESCO put four
new sites on its World Heritage List. The new sites, announced in
Istanbul, include China's Zuojiang Huashan rock art cultural
landscape, Iran's ancient aqueducts known as Qanat, and India's
archaeological site of Nalanda Mahavihara. The World Heritage
Committee also selected Micronesia's artificial islets of Nan Madol
and simultaneously placed it on the List of World Heritage in
Danger.
(AP, 7/15/16)
2016 Jul 17, Police in India
said at least 19 people died and six others were blinded after
drinking toxic bootleg liquor. Another 50 people fell ill after
consuming the home-brewed liquor on July 15 and were being treated
in hospitals in Etah district in Uttar Pradesh state.
(AP, 7/17/16)
2016 Jul 18, India's top
environmental court ordered authorities to remove all diesel
vehicles at least 10 years old off the capital city's streets in a
bid to help clean New Delhi's polluted air.
(Reuters, 7/18/16)
2016 Jul 18, Police in eastern
India said at least 8 paramilitary soldiers were killed in an attack
by Maoist rebels.
(SFC, 7/19/16, p.A2)
2016 Jul 19, India's top court
ordered Rahul Gandhi, a scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, to express
regret or face defamation charges for blaming the country's top
Hindu nationalist organization for the 1948 assassination of
independence leader Mohandas Gandhi.
(AP, 7/19/16)
2016 Jul 19, In India a police
officer was killed during clashes in Una, 340 km (210 miles) from
Gujarat's main city, Ahmedabad, where tannery workers were attacked
by self-styled hardline Hindu cow protectors.
(Reuters, 7/20/16)
2016 Jul 19, Authorities lifted
a three-day publication ban in the Indian-controlled portion of
Kashmir, but newspapers delayed print runs due to uncertainties
about the media restrictions.
(AP, 7/19/16)
2016 Jul 20, In India
protesters from the low-caste Dalit community blocked roads and
attacked government buses in PM Narendra Modi's home state in a
third day of demonstrations over the flogging of four men accused of
skinning a cow. Opposition lawmakers disrupted parliament to protest
against the floggings in Gujarat and demanded that PM Modi apologize
to the victims.
(Reuters, 7/20/16)
2016 Jul 20, Police in northern
India said that they have arrested two men for raping a young woman
for the second time in three years. The woman told police that she
was gang-raped again on July 13 because she was unwilling to
withdraw the case.
(AP, 7/20/16)
2016 Jul 20, Government forces
in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir removed dozens of black
and Pakistani flags hoisted by residents observing a "black day" to
protest the killing of a top rebel leader.
(AP, 7/20/16)
2016 Jul 22, The Indian air
force lost contact with a transport plane carrying 29 people to
islands in the Bay of Bengal.
(AP, 7/22/16)
2016 Jul 22, Two more people
died in Indian-controlled Kashmir, as anti-India protests and
clashes with government forces persisted despite a strict curfew in
place for a 14th straight day.
(AP, 7/22/16)
2016 Jul 24, In India an
Israeli tourist (25) was raped after she accepted a car ride while
traveling in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. Police
soon arrested two of six men and a search was on for the other
four.
(AP, 7/25/16)
2016 Jul 26, In northeast India
local authorities in Assam state said more than 1.2 million people
have been hit by floods which have submerged hundreds of villages,
inundated large swathes of farmland and damaged roads, bridges and
telecommunications services. At least 7 people were reported killed.
(Reuters, 7/26/16)(AP, 7/26/16)
2016 Jul 27, India signed a
contract to buy four maritime spy planes from Boeing Co for about $1
billion, aiming to bolster the navy as it tries to check China's
presence in the Indian Ocean.
(Reuters, 7/27/16)
2016 Jul 28, In India a
shopkeeper of the Brahmin caste axed to death a couple from the
lower Dalit caste for not promptly paying a meager debt of 15 rupees
(22 cents) for groceries in Mainpuri town, Uttar Pradesh state. The
couple left behind five children. The shopkeeper fled but was soon
arrested.
(AP, 7/29/16)
2016 Jul 28, India's upper
house of parliament passed a bill late that would give state
governments more than 60 billion rupees ($895 million) a year to
conserve and protect forests and wildlife. Analysts and activists
said the bill ignores the importance of indigenous people in
conserving land and tramples on their rights.
(Reuters, 7/29/16)
2016 Jul 29, Indian police in
Bihar state arrested Hindu nationalist leader Dayashankar Singh on
charges alleging he insulted a senior female politician by
describing her as "worse than a prostitute." Singh was expelled last
week from PM Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party for making the
remark against Mayawati, a leader representing millions of
lower-caste Dalits.
(AP, 7/29/16)
2016 Jul 29, India’s government
said persistent heavy rains have caused widespread disruption in
major cities and severe floods in the rugged northeast have killed
at least 12 people.
(AP, 7/29/16)
2016 Jul 29, In India a portion
of a 13-story building under construction in the western city of
Pune collapsed, killing at least 8 workers.
(AP, 7/29/16)
2016 Jul 29, In northern
India a woman and her 14-year-old daughter were gang-raped off
a busy highway near the town of Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh state,
after their car was stopped by a gang of men. 15 suspects were soon
detained.
(AP, 7/31/16)
2016 Jul 30, India's army said
that two rebels and two soldiers were killed in an overnight
gunbattle close to the cease-fire line dividing Kashmir between
India and Pakistan, as a curfew continued to be enforced in parts of
Indian-held Kashmir.
(AP, 7/30/16)
2016 Jul 30, Indian authorities
tried to rescue thousands of people stranded in flooded villages
after a week of heavy rain killed at least 52 people and uprooted
tens of thousands of others from their homes in the states of Assam
in the remote northeast and Bihar in the east.
(AP, 7/30/16)
2016 Jul 30, In India 32 people
were killed by lightning in the eastern state of Odisha.
(Reuters, 7/31/16)
2016 Jul 31, In India at least
9 people were killed when a three-storey building collapsed in heavy
rains in a Mumbai suburb.
(Reuters, 7/31/16)
2016 Jul 31, India's foreign
minister said the government is providing food aid to thousands of
Indian workers in Saudi Arabia who are not able to buy food after
losing their jobs in the kingdom.
(AP, 7/31/16)
2016 Aug 1, India's government
said it plans to evacuate thousands of Indian workers who have lost
their jobs in Saudi Arabia and cannot afford to pay for a flight
home. The workers were mostly employed by Saudi construction
companies and were laid off amid a slowdown in the industry caused
by low global oil prices.
(AP, 8/1/16)
2016 Aug 1, An Indian bank
issued the first ever offshore rupee-denominated bond in London, a
landmark celebrated by officials keen to highlight Britain's
international business prowess despite Brexit.
(AFP, 8/1/16)
2016 Aug 1, In India man walked
into the house of a girl (17) in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu state, set
himself on fire and hugged her, all the while saying that he would
not let her live for spurning him. He had stalked her for over a
year and she had said no repeatedly. The girl died three days later.
(Reuters, 8/4/16)
2016 Aug 2, Indian officials
said the death toll in flooding from heavy monsoon rains has climbed
to 96, with about a million people taking shelter in government-run
relief camps. A century-old bridge over the Savitri River between
Mumbai and Goa collapsed killing at least 20 people.
(AP, 8/2/16)(Econ, 10/15/16, p.75)
2016 Aug 5, In northeastern
India 5-6 gunmen opened fire on a busy market in Balajan,
Assam state, killing 12 people and wounding several others.
Authorities blamed the outlawed National Democratic Front of
Bodoland (NDFB). One of the gunmen was killed.
(AFP, 8/5/16)
2016 Aug 10, In India a stream
of cars, motorcycles and pedestrians passed by an injured man struck
by a delivery truck on a New Delhi street, leaving him to die.
(AP, 8/12/16)
2016 Aug 11, An Indian
government panel cleared commercial use for indigenously developed
GM mustard seeds in what would be the country’s first genetically
modified (GM) food crop. Politicians still needed to give final
approvals amid wide-spread public opposition.
(Reuters, 8/25/16)
2016 Aug 13, Authorities in
Indian-controlled Kashmir extended a strict curfew to most parts of
the restive region as separatist leaders called for weekend protests
against Indian rule.
(AP, 8/13/16)
2016 Aug 15, In
Indian-controlled Kashmir at least one paramilitary soldier and four
suspected rebels were killed in a series of gunbattles despite a
security lockdown in the disputed region, as India celebrated the
anniversary of its independence from British rule. Ten government
troops were also wounded.
(AP, 8/15/16)
2016 Aug 17, Militants ambushed
an Indian military convoy in Kashmir, killing three personnel, in an
escalation of violence that officials have blamed on separatist
protests that have tied down security forces for more than a month.
Army soldiers and counterinsurgency police officers raided Khrew
village late today and took Shabir Ahmed and around 30 other people
into custody. The body of Ahmed, a young college teacher, was
returned to his family early the next day.
(Reuters, 8/17/16)(AP, 8/18/16)
2016 Aug 20, India’s PM
Narendra Modi appointed Urjit Patel as head of the Reserve Bank of
India.
(Econ, 8/27/16, p.54)
2016 Aug 21, Indian army
soldiers killed 3 suspected rebels near the heavily militarized line
of control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
(AP, 8/21/16)
2016 Aug 22, Indian officials
said at least 40 people have died and hundreds of thousands have
been evacuated as floods hit vast swathes of central and eastern
India in recent days.
(AP, 8/22/16)
2016 Aug 24, India said it is
investigating the extent to which secrets about French Scorpene
submarines being built in the country have been compromised, after a
leak of documents relating to its combat capabilities. The leak
contains more than 22,000 pages outlining the secret capabilities of
six submarines that French builder DCNS has designed for the Indian
Navy.
(Reuters, 8/24/16)
2016 Aug 24, An Indian official
said heavy monsoon rains have ended two successive drought years
with the Ganges River and its tributaries rising above the danger
level, triggering evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from
flooded homes in the north and east. Drowning, electrocution or
injuries from collapsed houses have killed at least 175 people this
season.
(AP, 8/24/16)
2016 Aug 24, Indian government
forces fired shotguns and tear gas in India's portion of Kashmir to
break up new protests demanding an end to Indian rule in the
disputed region, killing a young man and wounding dozens of other
people.
(AP, 8/24/16)
2016 Aug 25, Authorities in
eastern India struggled to evacuate more than 100,000 people
stranded in villages after floods intensified, killing more than 300
and driving hundreds of thousands from their homes.
(Reuters, 8/25/16)
2016 Aug 26, Police in India's
portion of Kashmir arrested Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, one of the key
separatist leaders spearheading protests against Indian rule.
Farooq, already under house arrest, was locked up in a government
facility in Srinagar. A young man was killed and dozens of civilians
were wounded when Indian government forces fired bullets and
shotguns to quell unrest in over a dozen places including Srinagar.
(AP, 8/27/16)(SFC, 8/27/16, p.A2)
2016 Aug 29, The United States
and India signed an agreement governing the use of each other's
land, air and naval bases for repair and resupply, a step toward
building defense ties as they seek to counter the growing maritime
assertiveness of China.
(Reuters, 8/30/16)
2016 Sep 2, Indian PM Narendra
Modi and visiting Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi agreed to
boost cooperation in security and anti-terror efforts calling
terrorism one of the gravest threats their countries face.
(AP, 9/2/16)
2016 Sep 2, In India millions
of public sector workers across the country went on strike to
protest economic reforms, saying the government's plan for raising
the country's minimum wage for unskilled workers did not go far
enough.
(AP, 9/2/16)
2016 Sep 12, India's technology
hub of Bengaluru deployed riot police and banned public gatherings
to rein in protests as a water dispute turned violent. The violence
erupted after India's Supreme Court ordered Karnataka state, where
Bengaluru is based, to release 12,000 cubic feet of water per second
every day from the Cauvery river to neighboring Tamil Nadu until
Sept. 20. Police gunfire killed one protester and injured another
after rampaging mobs set fire to dozens of buses, trucks and cars
and attacked shops and businesses in Bangalore and other parts of
the state. Police arrested nearly 400 people for looting and
vandalism after the curfew was imposed to quell violence.
(Reuters, 9/12/16)(AP, 9/13/16)(Econ, 9/17/16,
p.40)
2016 Sep 14, In India PM
Narendra Modi and Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghanicalled for
an end to all sponsorship, support and sanctuaries to militants,
including those who have committed violence in the two countries.
India offered a fresh $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan for building
capacity in education, health, agriculture, energy and
infrastructure. They also signed an extradition treaty.
(AP, 9/14/16)
2016 Sep 18, In Kashmir a
separatist attack on an army base in Uri near the disputed frontier
killed 18 soldiers. 4 rebels were killed as the soldiers returned
fire. India accused Pakistan of being behind the attack.
(Reuters, 9/18/16)(SFC, 919/16, p.A4)(AP,
9/24/16)
2016 Sep 20, Indian soldiers
battled two groups of suspected militants along the highly
militarized de facto border dividing the disputed Himalayan region
of Kashmir between India and Pakistan, leaving one soldier dead.
Indian soldiers killed 8 people trying to cross the disputed border.
(AP, 9/20/16)(Reuters, 9/20/16)
2016 Sep 24, India's PM
Narendra Modi said he'll work to isolate Pakistan internationally,
accusing India's archrival of trying to destabilize Asia by
exporting terrorism.
(AP, 9/24/16)
2016 Sep 28, Officials said
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and India have expressed their
"inability" to attend the summit of the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) scheduled for November in Islamabad.
(AP, 9/28/16)
2016 Sep 29, Indian commandos
carried out a series of lightning strikes along the de facto border
with Pakistan in Kashmir, provoking furious charges of "naked
aggression" from its nuclear-armed neighbor. Pakistan said two of
its soldiers had been killed and nine more wounded in what it
described as small arms fire. Pakistan said eight Indian soldiers
died and that one was captured.
(AFP, 9/29/16)(AP, 9/30/16)
2016 Sep, Mukesh Ambani,
India’s richest man, launched Jio, a mobile telecoms network. Over
the next six months it won 100 million customers.
(Econ, 3/11/17, p.66)
2016 Oct 3, Indian and
Pakistani troops fired at each other in disputed Kashmir, as Indian
troops searched an army camp elsewhere in the region where suspected
militants killed an Indian paramilitary soldier.
(AP, 10/3/16)
2016 Oct 6, Indian soldiers
shot dead seven suspected militants who tried to attack two army
bases in northern Kashmir, prompting anger from Pakistan as a crisis
between the two neighbors over the disputed region grows.
(Reuters, 10/6/16)
2016 Oct 19, In Kashmir firing
by Indian troops along the Line of Control, a ceasefire violation,
killed one Pakistani and wounded 12.
(AP, 10/20/16)
2016 Oct 20, In India the
celebration of Bollywood and international film kicked off amid the
sober announcement that at least one screening was canceled. The
Pakistani classic "Jago Hua Savera," or "Awake, It's Dawn," was
dropped from the Mumbai Film Festival schedule after a local
organization claimed it would cause public outrage.
(AP, 10/21/16)
2016 Oct 23, In Kashmir
shelling across the border between India and Pakistan killed two
Pakistani civilians, an Indian soldier and a boy.
(Reuters, 10/24/16)
2016 Oct 24, In eastern India
police killed 24 rebels in a shoot-out near the border of Odisha and
Andhra Pradesh states, one of the heaviest casualties inflicted in
recent years on the Maoists who are waging a long-running
insurgency.
(AFP, 10/24/16)
2016 Oct 24, In India Ratan
Tata orchestrated the firing of Cyrus Mistry from the Tata Holding
Group holding company. Mistry continued to have support from some of
the operating companies.
(Econ, 11/19/16, p.12)
2016 Oct 28, In Kashmir
soldiers from India and Pakistan continued to shell villages and
border posts. An Indian paramilitary officer said a civilian and a
soldier were killed by Pakistani firing.
(AP, 10/28/16)
2016 Oct 29, In Kashmir two
Indian soldiers were killed in fighting with Pakistani soldiers and
suspected militants along the volatile frontier.
(AP, 10/29/16)
2016 Nov 3, Pakistan named
eight Indian diplomats it accuses of espionage and terrorism, as
tension mounted between the nuclear-armed rivals following days of
artillery duels and skirmishes on the border dividing the disputed
Kashmir region.
(Reuters, 11/3/16)
2016 Nov 5, In
Indian-controlled Kashmir at least 30 people were injured after
government forces fired shotgun pellets and tear gas as a funeral
procession for a teenager turned into a protest against Indian rule.
(AP, 11/5/16)
2016 Nov 6, In India the Delhi
state government said that schools in the capital will be closed for
the next three days, as the city struggles with one of the worst
spells of air pollution in recent years.
(AFP, 11/6/16)
2016 Nov 6, The Indian army
said Pakistani shelling killed two of its soldiers at posts along
the border of Indian-administered Kashmir. Five others including
three civilians were injured.
(Reuters, 11/6/16)
2016 Nov 7, Pakistani officials
said Indian troops have opened fire across the Line of Control in
the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing three civilians
and wounding six others as Indian and Pakistani troops continue to
trade heavy fire.
(AP, 11/7/16)
2016 Nov 8, Indian PM Narendra
Modi announced that 500 and 1000 rupee banknotes would be withdrawn
from the financial system at midnight, saying it was part of a
crackdown on rampant corruption. He added that new 500 and 2,000
rupee denomination notes will be issued later. The discontinued
tender represented 86% of all currency in circulation in India.
(Reuters, 11/8/16)(Econ, 11/12/16, p.68)
2016 Nov 8, Indian officials
worked to restore the websites of seven Indian embassies in Europe
and Africa that were hacked and had data dumped online. The security
of the websites of Indian embassies in Italy, Switzerland, South
Africa, Libya, Malawi, Mali and Romania was breached by hackers who
identified themselves to the media as Kaputsky and Kasimierz L.
(AP, 11/8/16)
2016 Nov 8, Indian and
Pakistani troops once again traded fire across the Line of Control
in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing three civilians
and wounding four others on the Pakistani side, and killing one
Indian soldier.
(AP, 11/8/16)
2016 Nov 8, In India
authorities in New Delhi began revoking licenses for thousands of
older diesel vehicles and halted construction work on the
underground rail network, as air pollution remained several times
over the safety limit.
(Reuters, 11/8/16)
2016 Nov 9, In India the
Maharashtra State Child Rights Protection Commission launched the
Child Helpline for Information on Rights and Address Grievances
(Chirag), a mobile app for people to report child abuse.
(Reuters, 11/10/16)
2016 Nov 14, Pakistan’s
military said Indian troops fired on its soldiers in Kashmir killing
seven and prompting return fire.
(SFC, 11/15/16, p.A2)
2016 Nov 19, In northeastern
India rebels ambushed two army vehicles and killed at least three
soldiers and critically wounded four others in Assam state.
(AP, 11/19/16)
2016 Nov 19, Pakistan's
military announced that it has shot down a small Indian drone after
it allegedly trespassed into the country's part of Kashmir amid
daylong cross-border firing that killed four villagers, including
two sisters and their brother.
(AP, 11/19/16)
2016 Nov 20, In northern India
at least 146 people were killed close to 200 injured when an express
train derailed in Uttar Pradesh state. The death toll soon climbed
to 148 after two more people died from their injuries.
(Reuters, 11/21/16)(AP, 11/22/16)
2016 Nov 21, Pakistan's
military said Indian shelling has targeted several villages in
Kashmir, killing four civilians and wounding 10.
(AP, 11/21/16)
2016 Nov 22, India's central
bank relaxed rules on loans to farmers, asking the National Bank for
Agriculture and Rural Development to disburse up to 230 billion
rupees ($3.36 bln) to district cooperative banks for crop loans. The
recent demonetization scheme has badly hit farmers, leaving them
without cash just ahead of sowing winter crops.
(Reuters, 11/22/16)
2016 Nov 22, Three Indian
soldiers were killed along the highly militarized de facto border
that divides the disputed region of Kashmir between India and
Pakistan.
(AP, 11/22/16)
2016 Nov 23, Police in India
said eleven people have been arrested on suspicion of duping single
women into selling their newborn babies and trafficking the infants
inside biscuit containers to an adoption center to be sold on to
childless couples. The Crime Investigation Department (CID) in West
Bengal said more arrests were likely.
(Reuters, 11/23/16)
2016 Nov 23, India’s Jharkhand
state assembly approved changes to two laws that will allow the
state to buy protected tribal land to lease to investors, and use
agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. The approval
sparked immediate protests.
(Reuters, 11/24/16)
2016 Nov 23, Indian troops
fired on a Pakistani passenger bus in Kashmir, killing 10 civilians
in one of the deadliest incidents in weeks of violence in the
disputed region.
(AP, 11/23/16)
2016 Nov 24, In eastern India
protests over land rights flared for a second day in the Jharkhand
state, as activists and indigenous people took to the streets after
the state assembly approved amendments to colonial-era land laws
despite strong opposition.
(AP, 11/24/16)
2016 Nov 25, India's top court
stopped firecracker sales in and around New Delhi as the worst
season for air pollution began.
(AP, 11/25/16)
2016 Nov 25, Rebels fighting
against Indian rule in Kashmir ambushed a police patrol, killing two
officers. Two militants and an Indian soldier died in a separate
gunfight in the disputed region.
(AP, 11/25/16)
2016 Nov 27, In India hundreds
of gay rights activists marched in a parade in New Delhi,
highlighting the continuing discrimination India's LGBT community
faces and demanding the repeal of a law criminalizing homosexual
acts.
(AP, 11/27/16)
2016 Nov 29, In northern India
militants attacked an army base near the city of Jammu, Jammu and
Kashmir state, killing at least seven security personnel and taking
hostages in the boldest assault on a military base in the region in
recent months. Three militants were also reported killed in the
gunbattle. In another part of Kashmir Indian border forces exchanged
fire with three suspected militants from Pakistan. All three were
killed.
(Reuters, 11/29/16)(SFC, 11/30/16, p.A2)
2016 Nov 30, Authorities in
Indian-controlled Kashmir released prominent human rights activist
Khurram Parvez (39) from prison after a court in the disputed region
ruled that his 76-day detention under a controversial security law
was illegal.
(AP, 11/30/16)
2016 Nov, India mandated that
all moviegoers stand during the playing of the national anthem at
all the country’s cinemas.
(SFC, 12/13/16, p.A2)
2016 Dec 5, Jayaram
Jayalalithaa (68), chief minister of India’s Tamil Nadu state, died
in Chennai following a massive weekend cardiac arrest. The former
movie star who enjoyed god-like status was buried the next day
alongside her on-screen lover. V.K. Sasikala, Jayalithaa’s live-in
assistant soon claimed the mantle of chief minister forcing out O.
Paneerselvam (OPS). On Feb 7 OPS declared that he had been unfairly
forced from office by Sasikala.
(AP, 12/6/16)(Econ, 2/11/17, p.33)
2016 Dec 8, In Kashmir at least
one civilian was killed and dozens of others injured in protests
against Indian rule that erupted following a gunbattle between
rebels and government forces.
(AP, 12/8/16)
2016 Dec 11, In India a
helicopter crashed and caught fire in Mumbai, killing the pilot and
injuring three passengers. The Robinson R-44 helicopter belonged to
Aman Aviation, a company that offers aerial viewing of the city.
(AP, 12/11/16)
2016 Dec 11, In India police
arrested moviegoer S. Viji in Chennai for failing to stand during
the playing of the national anthem.
(SFC, 12/13/16, p.A2)
2016 Dec 12, A cyclone barreled
into the southeast coast of India, killing at least four people and
bringing down trees and power lines as authorities moved tens of
thousands of people from low-lying areas.
(Reuters, 12/12/16)
2016 Dec 17, In Kashmir
militants attacked an Indian army convoy, killing 3 soldiers.
(Reuters, 12/17/16)
2016 Dec 19, In India five men
were sentenced to death by an Indian court for their role in two
deadly bombings in February 2013 in the city of Hyderabad. They
included Yasin Bhatkal, the co-founder of the outlawed Indian
Mujahideen Islamist group accused of involvement in a series of
attacks.
(Reuters, 12/19/16)
2016 Dec 19, Human Rights Watch
said nearly 600 people have died in Indian police custody from
2009-2015, many of them after being tortured.
(AP, 12/19/16)
2016 Dec 19, Pakistani movie
theaters began screening Bollywood films again, ending an 11-week
boycott in response to political and military tensions with India.
(Reuters, 12/19/16)
2016 Dec 21, In India leading
opposition figure Rahul Gandhi demanded an investigation into
allegations that two Indian conglomerates paid millions of rupees as
bribes to PM Narendra Modi in 2013-14 when he was governing a
western state.
(AP, 12/21/16)
2016 Dec 23, In India an
18-month study, led by the My Choices Foundation in partnership with
major anti-trafficking groups across India, found the average age of
girls being trafficked had fallen to age 10 to 14 in recent years
from 14 to 16 in the past.
(Reuters, 12/23/16)
2016 Dec 24, Indian PM Narendra
Modi laid the foundation stone for a massive memorial of a medieval
warrior king that's expected to cost $530 million and has come under
criticism from environmental activists and others. The memorial
includes a proposed 192-meter (630-foot) -tall statue of Shivaji, a
16th century ruler from western India and will be built off the
coast of Mumbai on land reclaimed from the Arabian Sea.
(AP, 12/24/16)
2016 Dec 25, Pakistani
officials said 220 Indian fishermen have been released from a jail
in Karachi and will be handed over to Indian authorities on Dec 26.
(AP, 12/25/16)
2016 Dec 29, In eastern India a
coal mine collapse killed at least 10 workers and 13 others may be
trapped by the mound of fallen earth at the Rajmahal Open Cast Mines
in Jharkhand state. By Dec 31 the bodies of 16 of 23 trapped workers
were recovered.
(AP, 12/30/16)(AP, 12/31/16)
2016 Dec 30, Indian PM Narendra
Modi announced a slew of incentives to the poor, farmers, women and
small businesses in a special New Year's address. He defended his
shock decision to abolish high denomination bank notes as the window
to exchange old notes closed.
(Reuters, 12/31/16)(Econ, 1/7/17, p.53)
2016 Dec 30, In western India
six migrant workers, who had been locked inside a bakery by their
employer, suffocated to death in a fire. This triggered calls for
decades-old labor laws to be implemented to crack down on worker
exploitation and abuse.
(Reuters, 1/3/17)
2016 Dec 31, In India several
women were groped and assaulted by a mob in the Bangalore central
business district as they celebrated New Year's Eve. The assaults
spurred women's rights activists to demand that police investigate.
On Dec 4 police detained six suspects in relation to the assaults.
(Reuters, 1/3/17)(SFC, 1/5/17, p.A3)
2016 Berenice Guyot-Richard,
historian at London’s King’s College, authored “Shadow States:
India, China and the Eastern Himalayas: 1910-1962.”
(http://tinyurl.com/ybwfkqkb)(Econ 7/29/17, p.34)
2016 Nandian Nilekani a
co-founder of IT giant Infosys, and Viral Shah authored “Rebooting
India: Realising a Billion Aspirations.”
(Econ, 3/12/16, p.79)
2016 Somini Sengupta authored
“The End of Karma: Hope and Fury Among India’s Young.”
(Econ, 3/19/16, p.89)
2016 Vinay Sitapati authored
“Half-Lion: How P.V. Narasimha Rao Transformed India.”
(Econ, 9/3/16, p.71)
2016 India’s Muslim population
numbered about 172 million.
(Econ, 10/29/16, p.32)
2017 Jan 2, India's top court
prohibited politicians from using religion and caste to garner
votes, a verdict that could force political parties to change their
strategy in upcoming elections.
(Reuters, 1/2/17)
2017 Jan 2, India and Sri Lanka
agreed to release fishermen in each others' custody, a move that is
likely to ease tensions between the countries which have held
fishermen captive for crossing territorial waters.
(Reuters, 1/2/17)
2017 Jan 4, Indian officials
said police have rescued nearly 200 children, most of them under the
age of 14, who had been found working in a brick kiln in the
southern state of Telangana in one of the biggest operations in the
region.
(Reuters, 1/4/17)
2017 Jan 4, In India a
24-year-old housemaid died in hospital, two weeks after she was
admitted with multiple fractures and injuries. She had said she was
abused by her New Delhi employers after being lured to the city with
the promise of a job.
(Reuters, 1/6/17)
2017 Jan 14, In eastern India
at least 19 people drowned and others were missing after their
overcrowded boat capsized in a river near Patna, Bihar state. The
next day five more bodies were recovered from the Ganges river after
as rescuers ended search operations.
(AP, 1/14/17)(Reuters, 1/15/17)
2017 Jan 14, In India Sunil
Rastogi (38), a tailor, was arrested by police investigating sexual
assaults on three girls aged between nine and ten in eastern Delhi
in January and December. Rastogi confessed to abducting "hundreds"
of girls since 2004 -- luring them with new clothes, and taking them
to secluded places such as derelict buildings, where he would
sexually assault and rape them.
(Reuters, 1/17/17)
2017 Jan 15, In eastern India
at least six people were killed in a stampede during a Hindu
religious festival.
(AP, 1/15/17)
2017 Jan 16, India's election
commission backed Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, in
his battle with his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, for control of
their party, a feud PM Narendra Modi wants to exploit in a crucial
election.
(Reuters, 1/16/17)
2017 Jan 16, In southern India
police arrested an American man (42) in Hyderabad on suspicion of
circulating child pornography on the internet.
(Reuters, 1/19/17)
2017 Jan 17, An Indian court
sentenced 39 people to 10 years in prison each for buying and
selling girls in Karnataka state, signaling a rare victory for
prosecutors in a country where fewer than two in five trafficking
cases ends in a conviction.
(Reuters, 1/18/17)
2017 Jan 19, In northern India
a truck loaded with sand collided with a school bus early today,
killing at least 24 young children in Uttar Pradesh state.
(AP, 1/19/17)
2017 Jan 21, In India a train
crash late today killed 39 passengers in Andhra Pradesh state.
(AFP, 1/22/17)
2017 Jan 22, In northeastern
India rebels ambushed a patrol vehicle in Assam state, killing two
paramilitary soldiers. An ongoing government counterattack has
killed several rebels. Rebels participating in the attack included
the United Liberation Front of Assam and groups from neighboring
Manipur state.
(AP, 1/22/17)
2017 Jan 22, In India lawmakers
in Tamil Nadu state passed an emergency order allowing bull-taming
festivals (Jallikattu) to resume after a court ban on the
traditional events led to mass protests. The Supreme Court had
banned Jallikattu in 2014 and upheld the ban earlier this month.
(Reuters, 1/23/17)(Econ, 1/28/17, p.36)
2017 Jan 26, In Kashmir two
separate avalanches buried a military post and swept away a patrol
in Gurez, burying a total of 21 Indian soldiers. Seven soldiers were
rescued. Over the next two days the remaining 14 bodies were
recovered. Five of the rescued soldiers died on Jan 30.
(AP, 1/27/17)(SFC, 1/28/17, p.A2)(AP, 1/30/17)
2017 Jan 28, In India the BW
Maple, with a total capacity of 82,000 cubic meters of liquefied
petroleum gas, was half full when it collided near Chennai with the
Indian ship Dawn Kanchipuram. Days later port authorities impounded
the two ships and detained their crews after the collision caused an
oil spill affecting marine life and local fishing.
(Reuters, 2/3/17)
2017 Jan 28, Bharati Mukherjee
(76), Indian-American writer, died at NY Univ. Hospital. Her books
included “The Tiger’s Daughter” (1972).
(SFC, 2/3/17, p.D3)
2017 Feb 1, In northern India a
six-story tannery building under construction collapsed, killing at
least five workers and possibly trapping up to 50 others in Kanpur
city, Uttar Pradesh state.
(AP, 2/1/17)
2017 Feb 2, In northeastern
India hundreds of protesters marched in the Nagaland state capital
after setting ablaze half a dozen government buildings to protest a
court decision. The protesters opposed a court ruling that would
reserve 33 percent of seats for women in local municipal elections.
(AP, 2/2/17)
2017 Feb 6, In India Cyrus
Mistry, the boss of Tata until last October, was finally booted out
of the company. Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the boss of Tata
Consultancy Services, took over as chairman on Feb 21. Mistry’s
family held an 18% stake in Tata Sons, the main holding company.
(Econ, 2/11/17, p.54)
2017 Feb 11, Millions of voters
in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, cast their ballots in
a contest seen as a key test for Narendra Modi halfway through his
first term as prime minister.
(AFP, 2/11/17)
2017 Feb 12, In Kashmir a
protester was killed and dozens of others wounded as government
forces fired at demonstrators demanding an end to Indian rule
following a gunbattle that killed four suspected rebels, two
soldiers and a civilian.
(AP, 2/12/17)
2017 Feb 14, India's top court
upheld the corruption conviction of Sasikala Natarajan, the head of
the ruling party in Tamil Nadu state, ending her chances of becoming
the southern state's next chief minister.
(AP, 2/14/17)
2017 Feb 14, In northern
Kashmir four Indian soldiers and four militants were killed in
gunbattles in Bandipora district, in the second outbreak of violence
between security forces and separatists in three days.
(Reuters, 2/14/17)
2017 Feb 15, The Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle, built by the Indian Space Research
Organization, was launched with a record 104 satellites, 88 of which
were made by Planet, a San Francisco-based company founded in 2010.
(Econ, 2/18/17, p.57)
2017 Feb 23, In the disputed
region of Kashmir three Indian soldiers and a woman were killed when
rebels ambushed soldiers in the southern Shopian area.
(AP, 2/23/17)
2017 Feb 26, In northeastern
India at least 16 people were killed and 50 injured when a truck
taking them to a church service overturned after hitting a concrete
barricade on a highway in Meghalaya state.
(AP, 2/26/17)
2017 Mar 5, Anti-India protests
erupted in Indian-controlled Kashmir following a fierce gunbattle in
which two rebels and a counterinsurgency policeman were killed.
(AP, 3/5/17)
2017 Mar 7, An Indian court
sentenced university professor G.N. Saibaba and four others to life
imprisonment on charges of belonging to a banned communist rebel
group and recruiting others to join them. Saibaba, arrested in 2014,
is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair. He has
denied the charges.
(AP, 3/7/17)
2017 Mar 11, Narendra Modi's
party won a landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh, India's most
populous state, in a massive vote of confidence for the prime
minister halfway into his first term. The BJP won 311 of the total
403 seats.
(AP, 3/11/17)
2017 Mar 11, In eastern India
Maoist rebels ambushed a paramilitary patrol in Chhattisgarh state,
killing 11 policemen.
(Reuters, 3/11/17)
2017 Mar 14, In India the body
of an Irish woman (28) was found by a farmer on an isolated beach
near Canacona village in the western beach state of Goa. She had
been raped and strangled. A local criminal was arrested the next day
and faced rape and murder charges.
(AP, 3/16/17)
2017 Mar 15, New Zealand
approved a law that declared the Whanganui River to be a legal
person, in the sense that it can own property, incur debts and
petition the courts. Days later an Indian court declared the Ganges
and Yamuna rivers to be people too.
(Econ, 3/25/17, p.34)
2017 Mar 16, In India Farook
Hameed (31) was murdered in Coimbatore, allegedly by members of a
Muslim radical group, for having repudiated Islam and declaring
himself an atheist. Six people were soon arrested in the case.
(http://tinyurl.com/n22lnau)(Econ 7/22/17, SR
p.11)
2017 Mar 18, India’s PM
Narendra Modi picked Hindu hardliner Yogi Adityanath to lead Uttar
Pradesh, the country’s most populous state, after his party won a
landslide victory last week. Adityanath has been accused of inciting
violence against India's Muslim minority.
(Reuters, 3/18/17)
2017 Mar 19, In India Yogi
Adityanath (44), hard-line Hindu religious leader, took the oath of
office as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state.
(AP, 3/19/17)
2017 Mar 20, British mobile
phone giant Vodafone said it will merge its Indian unit with Idea
Cellular to create India's largest telecoms operator, to help fend
off the Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Jio, whose recent arrival has
shaken up India's ultra-competitive mobile network market.
(AFP, 3/20/17)
2017 Mar 22, An Indian court
sentenced two Hindu hard-liners to life in prison for triggering an
explosion in Ajmer, a Muslim pilgrimage center in Rajasthan, that
killed three people and injured more than a dozen in 2007.
(AP, 3/22/17)
2017 Mar 25, In India one
person was killed and about 14 injured when violence erupted
following a scuffle between Muslim and Hindu school students in PM
Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat.
(Reuters, 3/26/17)
2017 Mar, India slipped a new
rule into the annual budget bill that frees taxmen to raid or seize
any property at any time with no need to explain why.
(Econ, 4/8/17, p.34)
2017 Apr 1, In India a mob of
Hindus stopped trucks carrying dairy cows in Behror town, Rajasthan
state. Muslim men en route to Haryana state were pulled from the
trucks and beaten with sticks and iron rods. Pehlu Kahn died of his
wounds on April 4.
(SFC, 4/6/17, p.A4)
2017 Apr 2, Indian PM Narendra
Modi inaugurated an 11-km (7-mile) tunnel through the Himalayan
terrain to help ease travel on a highway linking the troubled
Kashmir Valley with the rest of India. Separatist leaders fighting
for the region's independence from India or its merger with
neighboring Pakistan shut businesses and public transport in the
region and said the construction of tunnels and roads would not
succeed in appeasing them.
(AP, 4/2/17)
2017 Apr 2, In southern India a
German tourist was raped in the beach town of Mamallapuram, Tamil
Nadu state. Police searched for two men suspected in the rape.
(AP, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 6, In northeastern
India the Dalai Lama consecrated a Buddhist monastery in Arunachal
Pradesh state, amid Chinese warnings that the exiled Tibetan
spiritual leader's visit to a disputed border region would damage
bilateral relations with India.
(AP, 4/6/17)
2017 Apr 6, Retired Pakistani
Lt. Col. Mohammad Habib went missing after arriving in Nepal.
Pakistani officials later said he was seized by Indian intelligence
and that the abduction was aimed at pressuring Pakistan to release
Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian naval officer convicted of espionage
who was sentenced to death on April 10.
(AP, 4/18/17)
2017 Apr 8, India offered a
$4.5 billion line of credit to neighboring Bangladesh to help it
implement projects in priority areas such as the energy sector, and
a separate $500 million credit line to support defense related
procurements.
(Reuters, 4/8/17)
2017 Apr 8, Indian police
arrested Sagar Thakkar (24), aka Shaggy, the suspected mastermind
behind a call center scam run out of a Mumbai suburb that targeted
thousands of Americans and netted more than $300 million.
(Reuters, 4/8/17)
2017 Apr 9, In the
Indian-controlled part of Kashmir six people were killed and more
than 100 injured when police clashed with protesters during a
by-election in Srinagar.
(Reuters, 4/9/17)
2017 Apr 9, The navies of India
and China carried out a joint operation to rescue the bulk carrier,
OS 35, a merchant ship hijacked the previous evening by Somali
pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The pirates had fled overnight.
(AFP, 4/9/17)
2017 Apr 10, In Kashmir four
suspected rebels were killed overnight in fighting with the Indian
army, as businesses and schools shut in the disputed region in
response to a separatists' call to protest the killing of eight
civilians by government forces during a weekend by-election.
(AP, 4/9/17)
2017 Apr 10, Pakistan's
military sentenced an Indian naval officer to death on charges of
espionage and sabotage. Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was arrested in March
2016, had been convicted by a military tribunal. Jadhav was
kidnapped last year from Iran and his subsequent presence in
Pakistan was never explained credibly.
(AP, 4/9/17)
2017 Apr 18, British police
arrested Indian business tycoon Vijay Mallya in London on behalf of
authorities in India, where he is wanted on charges of money
laundering and bank demands that he pay back more than a billion
dollars in loans extended to his now-defunct airline.
(AP, 4/18/17)
2017 Apr 19, In northern India
a bus swerved off a mountain road and plunged into a deep ravine,
killing at least 44 people in Himachal Pradesh state.
(AFP, 4/19/17)
2017 Apr 20, India’s government
blocked the Public Health Foundation of India from accepting money
from foreign donors. Under PM Narendra Modi over 11,000 NGOs have
lost their licenses to accept foreign financing.
(SFC, 4/21/17, p.A2)
2017 Apr 21, In southern India
at least 20 people were killed and several others seriously injured
after a truck driver lost control and plowed into a group of
protesting farmers. The farmers were gathered outside the main
police station in the town of Yerpedu protesting against illegal
sand mining in their area.
(AP, 4/21/17)
2017 Apr 24, In central India
Maoist guerrillas ambushed a paramilitary patrol, killing at least
24 policemen and wounding six in Chhattisgarh state.
(Reuters, 4/24/17)
2017 Apr 24, Six people were
awarded the annual Goldman Environmental Prize. They included Mark
Lopez of southern California for work focusing on contamination from
a battery recycling plant; Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo of Congo DRC
for efforts to protect the Virunga National Park from oil
extraction; Prafulla Samantara of India for efforts to halt an
open-pit bauxite mine in Odisha state; Uros Maceri of Slovenia for
efforts to halt pollution by the Lafarge Cement Co.; Wendy Bowman of
Australia for her efforts to halt coal mining and pollution in the
Hunter Valley; and Rodrigo Tot of Guatemala for efforts to halt
evictions and government corruption related to nickel mining in El
Estor and Agua Caliente.
(SFC, 4/24/17, p.A10)
2017 Apr 26, Pakistan's
military released a video in which Liaquat Ali, better known by his
nom de guerre, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said Afghan and Indian intelligence
agencies gave funds and other assistance to Pakistani Taliban
militants to fight Islamabad. Ehsan, the group's former spokesman,
surrendered last week.
(Reuters, 4/26/17)
2017 Apr 30, In northeastern
India two Muslim teenagers were beaten to death by a mob over
allegations of cow theft in Assam state. This was the third
cow-related death in the country in the past month.
(AP, 5/1/17)(SFC, 5/2/17, p.A2)
2017 Apr, India’s Supreme Court
upheld an earlier decision to deny licenses to sell alcohol within
500 meters of a state or national highway and extended from retail
outlets to embrace any place serving alcohol.
(Econ, 4/8/17, p.35)
2017 May 1, In Kashmir
militants fighting Indian rule ambushed a van carrying cash for the
state-run Jammu and Kashmir Bank, killing five policemen and two
bank officials. India's army accused Pakistani troops of killing two
of its soldiers paroling the de facto border in the disputed Kashmir
region before mutilating their bodies, and vowed to exact revenge.
Pakistan's military denied the allegations.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
2017 May 2, In India Ghulam
Mohammad, a Muslim man, was beaten to death in Uttar Pradesh state's
Bulandshahar district for helping an interfaith couple elope. Police
soon detained three members of Yuva Vahini, a Hindu militia, for
suspected involvement in the killing.
(AP, 5/3/17)
2017 May 4, Thousands of Indian
government forces cordoned off at least two dozen villages in
southern Kashmir while they hunted for separatist militants believed
to be hiding in the area, but called off the operation after about
10 hours without finding any.
(AP, 5/4/17)
2017 May 5, In France the
Cartooning for Peace group, founded by French cartoonist Plantu,
said cartoonists were increasingly becoming the victims of
repressive crackdowns on free speech. Ten countries including
Russia, Turkey and India were condemned for censoring, locking up or
threatening cartoonists in a new report published by the group.
(AP, 5/5/17)
2017 May 5, The Norwegian
central bank said Norway's wealth fund has excluded Bharat Heavy
Electricals from its investment portfolio because of concerns over
the environmental impact of a plant the Indian company is building.
BHEL was building a coal-fired power plant close to the Sundarbans,
the world's largest mangrove forest, in Bangladesh.
(Reuters, 5/5/17)
2017 May 7, In India
anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal's government in New Delhi
plunged into a crisis as a minister he fired over the weekend
accused him of accepting 20 million rupees ($300,000) in cash as a
bribe. His Aam Admi Party spokesman, Kumar Viswas, rejected the
allegation by party lawmaker Kapil Mishra, describing it as an
attack by rivals.
(AP, 5/7/17)
2017 May 8, Japan and India
affirmed plans to strengthen their military cooperation amid rising
tension in the Asian region.
(AP, 5/8/17)
2017 May 9, Kashmiri militants
kidnapped an Indian army officer (23) who was visiting home in the
disputed Himalayan region. His bullet-riddled body was recovered the
next morning.
(AP, 5/10/17)
2017 May 11, Indian PM Narendra
Modi arrived in Sri Lanka o attend a UN celebration of Buddha's
birth and hold talks with leaders of the island nation.
(AP, 5/11/17)
2017 May 11, In Kashmir two
civilians were killed and three others injured when Indian and
Pakistani soldiers traded gunfire and shelled each other's border
posts in the disputed region.
(AP, 5/11/17)
2017 May 12, In India the
Allahabad High Court ruled that the state should start re-issuing
licenses to the abattoirs in Uttar Pradesh, allowing them to
re-open. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state had ordered the
closure of unlicensed slaughter houses after he was appointed by PM
Narendra Modi in March.
(Reuters, 5/12/17)
2017 May 12, The western Indian
city of Ahmadabad, a city of more than 7 million people, launched
its first air quality monitoring system that will be used to send
out pollution alerts.
(AP, 5/12/17)
2017 May 13, In Kashmir Indian
and Pakistani troops traded fire, killing two civilians and wounding
six others.
(AP, 5/13/17)
2017 May 15, India reported
three cases of Zika virus to the WHO. They were detected through
routine blood surveillance in a hospital in Ahmadabad. Two cases
were detected in February and November last year, while a third case
was detected in January this year.
(AP, 5/28/17)
2017 May 16, An Indian court in
New Delhi ruled that doctors were free to carry out an abortion on a
girl (10) who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather.
(SFC, 5/17/17, p.A2)
2017 May 18, The UN
International Court of Justice ordered Pakistan not to execute
Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, convicted of espionage and
terrorism, in a case that has further strained relations between the
Asian neighbors.
(AP, 5/18/17)
2017 May 19, In southern India
a woman (24) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala state, cut off the
genitals of a Hindu holy man who tried to rape her and who she
alleged has been sexually assaulting her for the past eight years.
Gangeshananda Theerthapada (54) was reported to be in stable
condition after reconstructive surgery.
(AP, 5/20/17)
2017 May 20, India finalized a
policy that would allow local private companies to work with foreign
players to make high-tech defense equipment, in a boost to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's bid to cut reliance on imports.
(Reuters, 5/20/17)
2017 May 23, India said it had
attacked and damaged Pakistani army posts in Kashmir as it sought to
prevent militants infiltrating from the Pakistani side of the
disputed region, but Pakistan denied the assertion.
(Reuters, 5/23/17)
2017 May 23, India’s government
issued notification regarding changes to the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals Act. The environment ministry said that animal markets
will only be able to trade in cattle meant for agricultural
purposes. Animals for slaughter will have to be bought from farmers
directly, a big blow to the meat business run mainly by Muslims.
(AP, 5/27/17)
2017 May 25, Indian police
arrested around 150 people protesting against a breakdown in law and
order in the eastern city of Kolkata, after street battles broke out
during a march to police headquarters and police cars were set
ablaze. Regional and national leaders from PM Narendra Modi's
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged the march to protest against a
perceived deterioration in security in the state of West Bengal,
which is ruled by a rival left-wing party.
(Reuters, 5/25/17)
2017 May 26, In India rules
took effect requiring that cattle traders pledge that any cows or
buffalos sold are not intended for slaughter. At least one state
government is planning a challenge in court.
(AP, 5/29/17)
2017 May 27, In
Indian-controlled Kashmir one civilian was killed and dozens of
others injured after massive anti-India protests and clashes erupted
following the killing of a prominent rebel commander and his
associate in a gunbattle with government forces. Rebel leader Sabzar
Ahmed Bhat and a fellow militant were killed after troops cordoned
off the southern Tral area overnight following a tip that rebels
were hiding there.
(AP, 5/27/17)
2017 May 30, A court in
southern India ordered a four-week stay on the federal government's
decision to ban the sale of cows and buffaloes for slaughter.
(AP, 5/30/17)
2017 May 31, The Trump
administration cancelled preferential trading rules for India.
(Econ, 6/8/19, p.13)
2017 Jun 1, India's troops
fired mortars and used small arms to target civilians in border
towns in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing a
villager. Another four civilians were wounded in the shelling, which
the Pakistani military said was in violation of a cease-fire
agreement. Pakistani troops returned fire.
(AP, 6/1/17)
2017 Jun 3, French President
Emmanuel Macron and India’s PM Narendra Modi put forth a common
front on the need to fight climate change, with the French leader
saying he would travel to India before year's end for a summit on
promoting solar energy.
(AP, 6/3/17)
2017 Jun 3, The Pakistani
military said its troops had killed five Indian soldiers in
retaliation to Indian firing along the Line of Control in disputed
Kashmir. The Indian army said two of its soldiers were killed in an
ambush by suspected insurgents.
(Reuters, 6/3/17)(AP, 6/3/17)
2017 Jun 5, India successfully
launched its most powerful home-produced rocket, another milestone
for its indigenous space program which one day hopes to put a human
into orbit. The GSLV Mk III rocket carried a satellite weighing more
than three tons into a high orbit above Earth.
(AFP, 6/5/17)
2017 Jun 6, In India five
farmers were killed by gunshots at a rally in Madhya Pradesh.
Farmers there have protested for several weeks demanding better
prices for crops and waivers from the state government for repayment
of farm loans.
(AP, 6/7/17)
2017 Jun 6, Arundhati Roy's
eagerly-awaited second novel, "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness,"
went on sale, two decades after her prize-winning debut "The God of
Small Things" propelled her to global fame and launched her career
as an outspoken critic of injustice in her native India. Roy (55)
became the first Indian woman to win the prestigious Booker Prize
with her 1997 work, which sold around eight million copies and
turned the young author into a star of the literary world.
(AFP, 6/6/17)
2017 Jun 9, In northeastern
India S.S. Khaplang (77), head of a faction of the separatist
National Socialist Council of Nagaland, died of renal failure in
Taga region, his outfit's headquarters. Khaplang called off peace
talks with India in 2015 after 14 years of futile negotiations and
resumed his fight for an independent Naga homeland.
(AP, 6/10/17)
2017 Jun 10, The Indian army
said it has foiled infiltration bids by suspected militants from the
Pakistani side along a heavily militarized de facto border dividing
Kashmir between the two countries and killed six intruders over the
24 hours.
(AP, 6/10/17)
2017 Jun 12, Indian and
Pakistani troops traded fire in the disputed Himalayan region of
Kashmir, killing two civilians and wounding three others on the
Pakistani side.
(AP, 6/12/17)
2017 Jun 19, Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani inaugurated the first Afghanistan-India air corridor
during a ceremony at the Kabul International Airport — a direct
route that bypasses Pakistan and is meant to improve commerce.
(AP, 6/19/17)
2017 Jun 20, The London-based
group World Animal Protection said dried penises of endangered
Bengal monitor lizards and yellow monitor lizards look similar to a
rare plant root sought by people who believe it brings good luck.
Wildlife authorities conducted raids in five Indian states last
month and some raids were continuing.
(AP, 6/20/17)
2017 Jun 22, In Kashmir
government forces killed three suspected rebels in fighting in the
disputed region and fatally shot a rock-throwing protester during an
ensuing rally demanding an end to Indian rule.
(AP, 6/22/17)
2017 Jun 23, In India a Muslim
man was killed following a knife attack on a running train near New
Delhi. An arrested man told reporters the next day that he was drunk
when he attacked four men on the train after he was told by his
friends that they were "beef-eaters."
(AP, 6/25/17)
2017 Jun 24, In Kashmir
insurgents attacked a paramilitary patrol vehicle with gunfire on a
key highway connecting the Kashmir Valley to the rest of India. They
were killed in gunbattles that raged until late the next day.
(AP, 6/25/17)
2017 Jun 25, In Kashmir Indian
security forces put an outskirt of Srinagar under security lockdown
as they battled two rebels who took shelter in a school building
after killing one paramilitary officer and wounding another soldier.
(AP, 6/25/17)
2017 Jun 26, In Washington, DC,
US President Donald Trump met for the first time with India's PM
Narendra Modi. The two countries pledged to work together to try to
end global terrorism.
(AP, 6/26/17)(AP, 6/27/17)
2017 Jun 27, A Swiss government
information technology agency said ransomware known as Petya seems
to have re-emerged to affect computer systems across Europe, causing
issues primarily in Ukraine, Russia, England and India. In 2018
Britain blamed the Russian government for the NotPetya cyber-attack.
(Reuters, 6/27/17)(Econ 7/1/17, p.72)(SFC,
2/16/18, p.A4)
2017 Jun 28, In India thousands
of people gathered in several cities to protest recent violent
attacks across the country targeting minority Muslims.
(AP, 6/28/17)
2017 Jun 29, Indian PM Narendra
Modi condemned a rise in deadly mob attacks on cattle traders, beef
eaters and dairy farmers, saying that killing people in the name of
protecting cows is unacceptable.
(AP, 6/29/17)
2017 Jul 1, India launched its
biggest ever fiscal reform with the government promising that a new
nationwide tax would make the economy stronger and less corrupt. The
new goods and services tax (GST) replaces more than a dozen levies
imposed nationally and by the 29 states.
(AFP, 7/1/17)`
2017 Jul 1, Indian security
forces shot dead Bashir Ahmad, alias Bashir Lashkari, a top Islamist
militant during a seven-hour gun battle in Dialgam, in the disputed
Kashmir region. He was accused of killing six police officers last
month. Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant Azad Malik was also killed as
well as a woman caught in the crossfire. A young man was killed and
several other people injured during anti-India protests that
followed.
(Reuters, 7/1/17)
2017 Jul 4, India’s PM Narendra
Modi arrived in Israel for the first ever visit by an Indian
premier, amid growing ties between the two countries including
billions of dollars in defence deals.
(AFP, 7/4/17)
2017 Jul 5, Indian authorities
said heavy rains since the start of the monsoon season have
triggered floods and landslides in parts of the remote northeastern
region, causing at least 20 deaths in Assam state.
(AP, 7/5/17)
2017 Jul 5, Israel and India
signed several agreements on cooperation in the fields of
technology, water and agriculture on the second day of a landmark
visit by the Indian PM Narendra Modi to the Jewish state.
(AP, 7/5/17)
2017 Jul 7, In India Tashi
Bhutia (31), a supporter of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF),
was killed during a protest. Violence followed and two people were
killed in the protests over Bhutia’s killing.
(Reuters, 7/9/17)
2017 Jul 8, In Kashmir seven
people were killed in cross-border shelling by both Pakistan and
India as hundreds of militants and political activists took to the
streets in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir to commemorate the 2016 death
of Burhan Wani.
(Reuters, 7/8/17)
2017 Jul 9, Pakistan summoned
India's deputy high commissioner in Islamabad after five civilians
were killed by "unprovoked" Indian fire across the Line of Control
in the disputed Kashmir region. In a separate 'goodwill gesture' it
also released scores of Indian fishermen held for illegal fishing in
its territorial waters.
(AP, 7/9/17)
2017 Jul 10, In Kashmir gunmen
sprayed bullets on a passenger bus as it returned Hindu pilgrims
from the Amarnath cave shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Seven
Hindu pilgrims were killed and 19 wounded.
(AP, 7/12/17)(SFC, 7/12/17, p.A2)
2017 Jul 11, India's Supreme
Court suspended a government ban on the trade of cattle for
slaughter, a boost for the multi-billion dollar beef and leather
industries mostly run by members of the Muslim minority.
(Reuters, 7/11/17)
2017 Jul 11, In India at least
14 people were killed after a mudslide swept through a village
Arunachal Pradesh. Since mid-June flooding in Assam state has left
some 45 people dead.
(SFC, 7/14/17, p.A2)
2017 Jul 16, In Indian Kashmir
at least 16 Hindu pilgrims were killed and 27 injured after a bus
they were traveling in skidded off a mountain road and fell into a
gorge.
(Reuters, 7/16/17)
2017 Jul 17, Lawmakers voted to
choose India's next president. Hindu nationalist Ram Nath Kovind
(71), a little-known member of a political group closely allied to
India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was elected by the Parliament
and state legislatures as the country’s new president, a largely
ceremonial position.
(AP, 7/17/17)(AP, 7/20/17)
2017 Jul 17, In Kashmir four
Pakistani soldiers, one Indian soldier and a child were killed as
Indian and Pakistani troops traded fire across a cease-fire line
dividing the troubled region between the two countries.
(AP, 7/17/17)
2017 Jul 21, Indian soldiers
fired at worshippers outside a mosque in disputed Kashmir, killing
one man and wounding another after some threw rocks. Residents said
only a few rocks were thrown and none hit any soldier.
(AP, 7/22/17)
2017 Jul 25, In India Ram Nath
Kovind (71) was sworn in as the country’s 14th president, becoming
the first member of a powerful Hindu nationalist movement to assume
the highest public office in the world's largest democracy. His
elevation boosted the representation of his Dalit community, which
ranks at the lower end of India's ancient caste hierarchy.
(Reuters, 7/25/17)
2017 Jul 25, In India a
five-story building came crashing down in Mumbai killing 17 people
and injuring nine others. The next day police arrested the owner of
several apartments in the four-storey building.
(AP, 7/25/17)(Reuters, 7/26/17)
2017 Jul 25, Indian officials
said least 16 people have been killed this week in heavy monsoon
rains that have lashed western India, including the desert state of
Rajasthan, with more than 24,000 villagers evacuated to higher
ground.
(AP, 7/25/17)
2017 Jul 26, In India Nitish
Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar state and once seen as a
potential challenger to PM Narendra Modi, quit in a move that could
shake up national politics.
(Reuters, 7/26/17)
2017 Jul 26, Indian officials
said at least 48 people have been killed as large swaths of Gujarat
and Rajasthan states were lashed by heavy monsoon rains and flooding
over the last week.
(AP, 7/26/17)
2017 Jul 29, India's navy
seized a ship carrying about 1,500 kg of heroin worth 35 billion
rupees ($545 million) in what it said was its biggest ever drugs
haul.
(Reuters, 7/30/17)(AP, 7/31/17)
2017 Aug 1, Indian forces
killed Abu Dujana, a top militant commander in Kashmir, triggering
clashes in which one protester was killed and dozens injured. Large
anti-India protests and clashes spearheaded mostly by students
erupted in disputed Kashmir after government forces killed two
senior militants in a gunbattle and fatally shot a protester during
an ensuing demonstration demanding an end to Indian rule.
(AFP, 8/1/17)(AP, 8/1/17)
2017 Aug 1, India released data
this week data showing that about one person has been killed every
day for the past three years by roaming tigers or rampaging
elephants.
(AP, 8/1/17)
2017 Aug 2, In Kashmir a fresh
strike called by anti-India separatists to protest the killings of
two top rebels and a civilian shut down the disputed region while
Akeel Ahmed Bhat, a teenage boy, died a day after he was wounded by
government forces.
(AP, 8/2/17)
2017 Aug 3, China's Foreign
Ministry said India has been building up troops and repairing roads
along its side of the border amid an increasingly tense stand-off in
a remote frontier region beside the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.
(Reuters, 8/3/17)
2017 Aug 3, In Kashmir a pair
of ambushes by Indian government forces and Kashmiri rebels killed
two soldiers and two militants in the disputed Himalayan region.
(AP, 8/3/17)
2017 Aug 5, In southern India
four Spanish nationals and their Indian driver were killed in a
collision between their bus and a trailer truck on a highway.
(AP, 8/5/17)
2017 Aug 5, In Kashmir a
gunbattle between Indian troops and Kashmiri rebels killed three
insurgents in the disputed Himalayan region and triggered a new
round of anti-India protests and clashes.
(AP, 8/5/17)
2017 Aug 9, In India at least
half a million protesters brought Mumbai to a standstill as they
pressed their demands for reserved quotas in government jobs and
college places amid a slumping rural economy.
(Reuters, 8/9/17)
2017 Aug 9, In Kashmir a
teenage boy was killed during anti-India protests following a
gunbattle that killed three rebels near Tral town.
(AP, 8/9/17)
2017 Aug 11, In India an
elephant blamed for killing more than a dozen people in the eastern
states of Jharkhand and Bihar was shot dead, after an elaborate hunt
that involved dozens of forest officials and a sharpshooter.
(Reuters, 8/12/17)
2017 Aug 11, In Nepal seven
South Asian and Southeast Asian nations (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar,
Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal) agreed to conclude early a
free trade accord, implement the Paris agreement on climate change
and step up cooperation among their security agencies to combat
terrorism.
(AP, 8/11/17)
2017 Aug 12, Indian officials
said at least 64 children suffering from encephalitis have died over
six days at the government run Baba Raghav Das Hospital in
Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh state, as it suffered oxygen shortages.
State health minister Sidharth Nath Singh denied that any of the
deaths were linked to the oxygen shortage.
(AFP, 8/12/17)(Econ, 3/21/20, p.34)
2017 Aug 13, In India two
packed buses were swept into a gorge overnight by a landslide so
powerful it destroyed an entire stretch of highway in Himachal
Pradesh state. 17 bodies were recovered from the site, but dozens
remained missing.
(AFP, 8/13/17)
2017 Aug 13, In south Kashmir
two Indian soldiers and three militants were killed in a 12-hour
overnight gunfight in the Shopian district.
(Reuters, 8/13/17)
2017 Aug 14, Officials said
heavy monsoon rains have unleashed landslides and floods that killed
at least 173 people in recent days and displaced millions more
across Bangladesh, northern India and southern Nepal.
(AP, 8/14/17)
2017 Aug 14, Officials said
heavy monsoon rains have unleashed landslides and floods that killed
at least 173 people in recent days and displaced millions more
across Bangladesh, northern India and southern Nepal.
(AP, 8/14/17)
2017 Aug 15, Officials said the
death toll in flooding and landslides that devastated parts of
Bangladesh, northern India and southern Nepal over the past few days
has risen to 245, while millions of others have been displaced.
(AP, 8/15/17)
2017 Aug 17, In India a girl
(10), raped by an uncle, gave birth to a 5-pound girl by cesarean
section in Chandigarh. She had lost a legal battle to have an
abortion.
(SFC, 8/18/17, p.A2)
2017 Aug 19, In northern India
a crowded train went off the tracks, killing 23 people and injuring
more than 80 others in Uttar Pradesh state.
(AP, 8/20/17)
2017 Aug 19, In India park
director Satyendra Singh said rising floodwaters have inundated
large parts of Kaziranga National Park in Assam state, killing more
than 225 animals and forcing hundreds of other animals to flee.
(AP, 8/19/17)
2017 Aug 19, Officials said the
death toll in flooding and landslides that devastated parts of
Bangladesh, northern India and southern Nepal over the last week has
risen to 600, while millions of others have been displaced.
(AFP, 8/19/17)
2017 Aug 22, India's Supreme
Court struck down “triple talaq” as unconstitutional. The Muslim
practice allowed men to instantly divorce their wives by saying “I
divorce you” three times. The judgement did not ban other forms of
Muslim divorce that favor men.
(AP, 8/22/17)(Econ, 8/26/17, p.34)
2017 Aug 22, McDonald's India
announced it will close nearly 170 McDonald's outlets in northern
and eastern India after the American fast food giant decided to
terminate a franchise agreement with its Indian partner.
(AP, 8/22/17)
2017 Aug 24, India's Supreme
Court ruled that citizens have a constitutional right to privacy, a
landmark decision that could jeopardize Aadhaar, a government
program holding biometric data on over a billion people.
(AFP, 8/24/17)
2017 Aug 24, Officials said
more than 950 people have been killed in floods triggered by
seasonal monsoon rains in Bangladesh, India and Nepal.
(SFC, 8/25/17, p.A4)
2017 Aug 25, In India violent
protests erupted, leaving at least 38 people dead, after a court
convicted self-styled "godman" Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insaan of
raping two women, angering thousands of his supporters who said he
was innocent. Singh, the head of a social welfare and spiritual
group, was found guilty of raping two followers in a case dating
back to 2002 at the headquarters of his Dera Sacha Sauda group in
the northern town of Sirsa.
(Reuters, 8/25/17)(AP, 8/25/17)(AP, 8/26/17)(AP,
8/27/17)
2017 Aug 26, In Kashmir four
police officials, four paramilitary soldiers and two suspected
militants were killed after anti-India rebels stormed a heavily
guarded police camp in the disputed Himalayan region, triggering
daylong fighting.
(AP, 8/26/17)
2017 Aug 28, India's foreign
ministry said India and China have agreed to an "expeditious
disengagement" of troops in a disputed border area where their
soldiers have been locked in a stand-off for more than two months.
(Reuters, 8/28/17)
2017 Aug 28, In India the
popular and flamboyant Indian spiritual guru, who calls himself Dr.
Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan (Insaan), was sentenced by a
judge to 20 years in prison on charges dating from 2002 of raping
two female followers. His Dera Sacha Sauda sect claims to have about
50 million followers and campaigns for vegetarianism and against
drug addiction. It also organizes blood-donation and tree-planting
drives. 38 people died in riots after his conviction.
(AP, 8/28/17)(Econ, 9/2/17, p.33)
2017 Aug 29, In India heavy
monsoon rains brought Mumbai, a city with a population of more than
20 million people, to a halt with authorities struggling to evacuate
people with the scheduled high tide adding to the chaos.
(Reuters, 8/29/17)
2017 Aug 30, In India police
said two toddlers were among 14 people killed in Mumbai after floods
caused by heavy monsoon rains destroyed homes and disrupted traffic.
(Reuters, 8/30/17)
2017 Aug 31, In India
torrential rains caused a five-story apartment building to collapse
in Mumbai, killing at least 33 people and possibly burying more than
a dozen others.
(Reuters, 8/31/17)(AP, 8/31/17)(AP, 9/1/17)
2017 Sep 1, In India at least
two people were killed when part of a huge mountain of garbage came
crashing down in a landfill on the eastern outskirts of New Delhi.
Media reports said about 2,800 tons of garbage are dumped at the
site every day. The garbage comes from east Delhi, home to more than
4 million of the capital's 21 million people.
(AP, 9/1/17)
2017 Aug, India barred state
authorities from unilaterally cancelling or modifying solar power
purchase agreements (PPAs) after six state governments in last two
months pushed developers to lower tariffs, threatening to derail
projects worth $7.5 billion.
(Reuters, 8/30/17)
2017 Aug, India’s federal
finance ministry renewed the National Health Mission with $20
billion of funding between 2017-20, against the health ministry's
estimated requirement of $25 billion.
{India, Medical}
(Reuters, 11/23/17)
2017 Sep 4, In India Murray
Dennis Ward, a 54-year-old British man, was arrested for allegedly
sexually abusing three blind students at a school in New Delhi.
(AP, 9/5/17)
2017 Sep 5, In India Gauri
Lankesh (55), the editor and publisher of the Kannada-language
“Gauri Lankesh Patrike” newspaper, was shot dead by unidentified
assailants near her home in the southern city of Bengaluru. She had
recently published an essay arguing the Lingayatism should be
considered a distinct faith.
(Reuters, 9/6/17)(Econ, 9/23/17, p.34)
2017 Sep 6, Indian journalists
and rights activists protested against the murder a day earlier of
Gauri Lankesh, an outspoken publisher of a weekly tabloid, amid
growing concerns about freedom of the press at a time of rising
nationalism and intolerance of dissent.
(Reuters, 9/6/17)
2017 Sep 6, India's top court
allowed a 13-year-old rape survivor to have a late abortion after
lawyers said carrying the baby to full term would cause her trauma
and agony.
(AFP, 9/6/17)
2017 Sep 6, The Vatican
declared Mother Teresa a patron saint of the Archdiocese of Calcutta
at a Mass in the city where she dedicated her life to the poorest of
the poor.
(AP, 9/6/17)
2017 Sep 10, In eastern India
at least one person was killed and several others injured when an
under-construction flyover bridge collapsed in Bhubaneswar, the
capital of Odisha state.
(Reuters, 9/10/17)
2017 Sep 14, The leaders of
India and Japan met in Gujarat state and agreed to deepen defense
ties and push for more cooperation with Australia and the United
States, as they seek to counter growing Chinese influence across
Asia. Abe flew to Gujarat to lay the foundation stone of a $17
billion bullet train project, India's first, that was made possible
by a huge Japanese loan.
(Reuters, 9/14/17)
2017 Sep 17, India’s PM
Narendra Modi inaugurated India's biggest dam, the Sardar Sarovar
Dam on the Narmada river, ignoring warnings from environment groups
that hundreds of thousands of people will lose their livelihoods.
The foundation stone was laid by PM Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961.
Construction of the project began in 1987.
(Reuters, 9/17/17)
2017 Sep 18, India's government
said that it has evidence there are extremists who pose a threat to
the country's security among the Rohingya Muslims who have fled
Myanmar and settled in many Indian cities.
(AP, 9/18/17)
2017 Sep 22, Indian officials
said security along the largely porous eastern border with
Bangladesh has been stepped up and that "chilli and stun grenades"
were being used to block the entry of Rohingya Muslims fleeing from
violence in Myanmar.
(Reuters, 9/22/17)
2017 Sep 22, Pakistan's
military said at least six Pakistani villagers were killed and 26
were wounded in an overnight attack by India in the disputed
Himalayan region of Kashmir, adding that hundreds of villagers were
forced to move to safer places.
(AP, 9/22/17)
2017 Sep 23, Police in western
India arrested popular spiritual guru Kaushlendra Prapannacharya
Falahari Maharaja (70), the second in the past month, for allegedly
raping a 21-year-old woman in Rajashtan state.
(AP, 9/23/17)
2017 Sep 23, Indian troops,
according to Pakistan, fired across the Line of Control in the
disputed Kashmir region, killing a young girl and wounding two other
people.
(AP, 9/24/17)
2017 Sep 27, Indian troops
exchanged gunfire with separatist guerrillas in a remote
northeastern region bordering Myanmar, killing or wounding several
of the insurgents.
(Reuters, 9/27/17)
2017 Sep 27, Pakistan's army
said Indian troops have fired across the frontier in the disputed
region of Kashmir, killing a young man and wounding four people.
(AP, 9/27/17)
2017 Sep 29, In India a
stampede broke out on a crowded pedestrian bridge connecting two
railway stations in Mumbai during the morning rush, killing at least
22 people and injuring 32 others.
(AP, 9/29/17)
2017 Sep 29, Indian troops with
heavy weapons reportedly targeted civilians from across the frontier
in the disputed region of Kashmir, killing two villagers and a
Pakistani soldier.
(AP, 9/30/17)
2017 Oct 2, In Kashmir Indian
and Pakistani troops fired at each other, killing a boy (10) and a
girl (15) and injuring 12 other civilians on the Indian side.
(AP, 10/2/17)
2017 Oct 3, In Kashmir Indian
police killed three suspected militants in army uniforms after they
infiltrated a security camp beside the main airport in the disputed
region. One Indian security official was killed and three wounded in
a gun fight that followed. Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammad took
responsibility for the attack.
(Reuters, 10/3/17)
2017 Oct 6, The European Union
and India agreed to step up cooperation in countering violent
extremism and radicalization, particularly online, and in enhancing
maritime security in the Indian Ocean and beyond in a joint
declaration issued at the end of the 14th EU-India Summit.
(AP, 10/6/17)
2017 Oct 9, Indian officials
said twenty farmers have died since August and hundreds of others
are in hospital after inhaling poisonous pesticides while spraying
crops. The farmers in the western state of Maharashtra died after
using the dangerous pesticides without wearing protective gear.
(AFP, 10/9/17)
2017 Oct 11, India’s Supreme
Court ruled that having sexual intercourse with a wife younger than
18 is rape. A 2011 government census indicated that the percentage
of below-18 marriages in India was as high as 47%.
(SFC, 10/13/17, p.A3)
2017 Oct 11, In Kashmir two
Indian air force commandos and two rebels were killed in a fierce
gunbattle following an anti-militant operation in northern Hajin
town.
(AP, 10/11/17)
2017 Oct 14, In Kashmir a young
man was killed during anti-India protests following a gunbattle that
killed two rebels. Indian troops had cordoned off southern Litter
village on a tip that militants were hiding in a civilian home.
Later in the day a police officer was killed and another injured
after rebels sprayed gunfire at two police vehicles passing through
the southern Kulgam area. The next day Pakistan said Indian fire
across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region had killed
two children.
(AP, 10/14/17)(AP, 10/15/17)
2017 Oct 17, The Indian
government ordered diesel generators and a power plant in Delhi to
be shut down as air quality in the capital deteriorated ahead of the
Hindu festival of lights, when a night of firecrackers sends
pollution levels rocketing.
(Reuters, 10/17/17)
2017 Oct 18, In eastern India
flames swept through an illegal firecracker workshop in the state of
Odisha, killing at least eight workers.
(AP, 10/18/17)(SFC, 10/19/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 21, India's central
bank dismissed media reports that it was not necessary to link
national identity card numbers, known as Aadhar numbers, to bank
accounts. It said the requirement remained in force under anti-money
laundering rules.
(Reuters, 10/21/17)
2017 Oct 24, India’s top court
banned the use of petroleum coke, a dirtier alternative to coal, in
and around New Delhi in a bid to clean the air in one of the world's
most polluted cities. The court also ordered a ban on the sale and
use of furnace oil, another dirty refinery by-product, in and around
the capital and ordered implementation of strict emission norms by
the end of December.
(Reuters, 10/24/17)
2017 Oct 29, India shipped its
first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan by sea through Iran's
strategic Chahbahar Port, launching a trade route bypassing longtime
rival Pakistan.
(AP, 10/29/17)
2017 Oct 29, Pakistan released
68 Indian fishermen held for trespassing into its territorial
waters. 380 Indian fishermen remained behind bars in the country.
(AFP, 10/29/17)
2017 Oct 30, The leaders of
India and Italy held talks in New Delhi and signed a slew of
agreements that mark a thaw in their relations following the fatal
2012 shootings of two Indian fishermen by Italian marines who
mistook them for pirates.
(AP, 10/30/17)
2017 Nov 1, In India an
explosion at a power plant in Uttar Pradesh state killed at least 16
workers and seriously burned dozens of others. Preliminary findings
suggested that ash had collected in the furnace below the boiler,
causing the explosion at the coal-fired plant run by the
government-owned National Thermal Power Corporation.
(AFP, 11/1/17)
2017 Nov 4, In India
participants from 20 countries took part in the three-day World Food
India exhibition in New Delhi.
(AP, 11/4/17)
2017 Nov 4, India’s government
said thousands of people have taken refuge in relief camps as
torrential monsoon rains flooded parts of southern Indian state of
Tamil Nadu, killing at least 12 people this week.
(AP, 11/4/17)
2017 Nov 4, In India at least
three people were killed and another six injured when a stampede
broke out during a Hindu religious ritual on a crowded bank of the
Ganges River in Begusarai, Bihar state.
(AP, 11/4/17)
2017 Nov 4, Officials said smog
has enveloped much of Pakistan and neighboring India, causing
highway accidents and respiratory problems, and forcing many
residents to stay home.
(AP, 11/5/17)
2017 Nov 5, In India five boys
aged 9-12 and one woman, all from a single extended family, drowned
in the Ganges River while on a picnic near Patna. Three other people
drowned when their boat capsized in the Sarswati River in the
state's Samastipur district.
(AP, 11/5/17)
2017 Nov 7, Pollution in the
Indian capital hit a dangerous level, putting residents at risk,
forcing the closure of schools, and bringing calls from doctors for
the city's half marathon to be canceled.
(Reuters, 11/7/17)
2017 Nov 7, In disputed Kashmir
three militants and an Indian army soldier were killed in a
gunbattle in southern Aglar village following a tip that militants
were hiding there.
(AP, 11/7/17)
2017 Nov 8, In India Delhi's
government ordered schools shut for the rest of the week as air
pollution worsened and criticism mounted over the failure of
authorities to tackle the public health crisis.
(Reuters, 11/8/17)
2017 Nov 10, Officials said
India plans to spray water over its capital, New Delhi, to combat
toxic smog that has triggered a pollution emergency, with conditions
expected to worsen over the weekend.
(Reuters, 11/10/17)
2017 Nov 12, In India hundreds
of gay rights activists and supporters, marched through New Delhi in
celebration but also defiance in a nation that continues to outlaw
homosexual acts. This was New Delhi's 10th annual Queer Pride march.
(AP, 11/12/17)
2017 Nov 12, In India at least
11 people died when a tourist boat capsized in the Krishna River in
southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
(Reuters, 11/12/17)
2017 Nov 18, In China an Indian
medical student was crowned Miss World at a glitzy event Hainan
Island, making her country the joint-most successful in the beauty
pageant's history. Her win brings India level with Venezuela as the
countries with most victories in the history of the pageant, now in
its 67th edition.
(AFP, 11/18/17)
2017 Nov 18, In disputed
Kashmir at least five suspected militants and an Indian air force
commando were killed in a fierce gunbattle in northern Hajin
village. Thousands of residents in Srinagar participated in the
funeral of a local militant who police said was killed overnight in
a shootout with troops.
(AP, 11/18/17)
2017 Nov 19, A member of
India's Hindu nationalist ruling party offered a 100 million rupee
($1.5 million) reward to anyone who beheads lead actress Deepika
Padukone and filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali of the yet-to-be
released Bollywood film "Padmavati" over its alleged handling of the
relationship between a Hindu queen and a Muslim ruler. The film is
based on a 16th century Sufi epic poem, "Padmavat," a fictional
account of a brave and beautiful Rajput queen who chose to kill
herself rather than be captured by the Muslim sultan of Delhi,
Allaudin Khilji.
(AP, 11/20/17)
2017 Nov 19, In northeastern
India two endangered Asian elephants were hit and killed by a
passenger train near the city of Gauhati.
(AP, 11/19/17)
2017 Nov 27, An Indian appeals
court acquitted 35 crewmembers and security guards of the private US
ship MV Seaman Guard Ohio, including six former British soldiers and
10 Indians, who were sentenced last year to five years in prison on
charges of illegally transporting weapons and ammunition in Indian
waters in October, 2013.
(AP, 11/27/17)
2017 Nov 27, In India police in
Assam state used elephants and tear gas in an attempt to evict
hundreds of people living illegally in the Amchang forest, an
elephant habitat threatened by unauthorized settlements.
(SFC, 11/28/17, p.A2)
2017 Nov 28, In India Ivanka
Trump described the hurdles faced by women during a speech at a
business conference in Hyderabad. The city had cleared away beggars
and filled potholes ahead of her visit.
(AP, 11/28/17)
2017 Nov 30, Officials in
Indian-administered Kashmir said five suspected rebels were shot
dead by government forces.
(AFP, 11/30/17)
2017 Dec 1, In India former
President Barack Obama spoke to a leadership forum in New Delhi at
the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, as part of a three-country
tour Obama is undertaking in one of his first global outings as a
private citizen.
(AP, 12/1/17)
2017 Dec 1, An Associated Press
investigation found that US oil refineries that are unable to sell a
dirty fuel waste product at home are exporting vast quantities of it
to India instead.
(AP, 12/1/17)
2017 Dec 2, In southern India a
strong cyclone over the southeast Arabian Sea triggered heavy rains
and strong winds, damaging hundreds of huts, power lines and trees
and killing at least 12 people.
(AP, 12/2/17)
2017 Dec 4, In India Shashi
Kapoor (79), a leading Bollywood actor and producer from the 1970s
and '80s, died after a long illness. Kapoor acted in more than 100
Hindi films and was also a key theater personality.
(AP, 12/4/17)
2017 Dec 4, In London Indian
tycoon Vijay Mallya (61) insisted he was innocent of
money-laundering accusations after the evacuation of a London court
building forced him to face a swarm of journalists he had sought to
avoid.
(AP, 12/4/17)
2017 Dec 9, Indian PM Narendra
Modi's home state of Gujarat went to the polls, in a key electoral
test of his popularity after a series of controversial economic
reforms.
(AFP, 12/9/17)
2017 Dec 11, India's main
opposition Congress party named Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the
country's Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, as party president.
(AP, 12/11/17)
2017 Dec 15, Indian police
arrested a Christian priest and were questioning members of a
seminary after a hardline Hindu group accused them of trying to
convert villagers to Christianity by distributing Bibles and singing
carols.
(Reuters, 12/16/17)
2017 Dec 16, In India Rahul
Gandhi, the scion of India's most famous political dynasty, took
over as president of the main opposition Congress party while facing
a stiff challenge from PM Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalists.
(AP, 12/16/17)
2017 Dec 20, India’s Foreign
Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar held talks with Myanmar leaders
and signed a memorandum of understanding to support development of
Rakhine and help create jobs. India will provide Myanmar with $25
million for development projects including prefabricated houses in
troubled Rakhine state to enable the return of Rohingya Muslims who
have fled the area.
(Reuters, 12/21/17)
2017 Dec 22, India and China
discussed ways to prevent a repeat of a recent face-off between
their armed forces at a Himalayan plateau where their borders meet
and agreed that resolving their boundary disagreements served the
interests of both countries.
(AP, 12/22/17)
2017 Dec 23, An Indian court
convicted Laloo Prasad Yadav, former Bihar state chief minister, a
second time for embezzling state government funds as a top elected
official two decades ago. In 2013, another court sentenced him to
five years in prison for fraudulently withdrawing 378 million rupees
($5.8 million) from the Bihar state government treasury for
fictitious medicines and fodder for cattle over a period of 20
years.
(AP, 12/23/17)
2017 Dec 23, In western India
at least 33 people were killed after a passenger bus veered off a
bridge and plunged into the Banas river in Rajasthan state.
(AP, 12/23/17)
2017 Dec 23, India officials
said least four Indian soldiers were killed in Pakistani firing
along the highly militarized de facto border that divides the
disputed region of Kashmir between the nuclear-armed rivals.
(AP, 12/23/17)
2017 Dec 25, India's capital
launched a metro train with driverless technology, though officials
said it would operate with a driver for at least a year or two.
(AP, 12/25/17)
2017 Dec 28, India's lower
house of parliament passed a bill aimed at prosecuting Muslim men
who divorce their wives through the "triple talaq", or instant
divorce. The bill moved to the upper house of parliament, where it
was likely to be approved.
(Reuters, 12/28/17)
2017 Dec 29, In India a fire
engulfed an upscale rooftop restaurant in Mumbai, killing 15 people
and sending others fleeing for their lives.
(AP, 12/29/17)
2017 Dec 29, A Pakistani
official said 145 Indian fishermen have been handed over to Indian
authorities at a border crossing near the eastern city of Lahore.
(AP, 12/29/17)
2017 Dec 31, India’s movie
superstar Rajinikanth said he is entering politics in Tamil Nadu
state with a plan to launch his own party, calling it his duty.
(AP, 12/31/17)
2017 Dec 31, Five Indian
soldiers and three suspected militants were killed after rebels
stormed a paramilitary camp in disputed Kashmir, triggering a
daylong battle. Separately, Indian and Pakistani soldiers traded
gunfire along the highly militarized line dividing Kashmir between
the two rivals, killing an Indian soldier.
(AP, 12/31/17)
2017 The Indian film “Baahubali
2: The Conclusion” became the first Indian film to break through the
$156 million mark for worldwide box office takings.
(Econ 5/20/17, p.59)
2017 India spent about 2.7% of
its GDP on education.
(Econ 6/10/17, p.18)
2018 Jan 1, In India
celebrations by Dalits in Pune, 150 km (95 miles) from Mumbai, of
the 200th anniversary of a battle they won, fighting alongside
British colonial forces, against an upper caste ruler, were marred
by clashes with right-wing Hindu groups. The clashes resulted in the
death of one man (28).
(Reuters, 1/2/18)
2018 Jan 2, India’s defense
ministry announced it is to buy 131 surface-to-air missiles from
Israel in a $70 million deal, ahead of a visit by Israeli PM
Benjamin Netanyahu. An Israeli arms company said India has cancelled
a $500 million deal ahead of a visit by pm Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. said in a statement the Indian
Defense Ministry cancelled the Spike missile deal.
(AFP, 1/2/18)(AP, 1/3/18)
2018 Jan 2, In India thousands
of Dalits, who rank at the lower end of the country’s ancient caste
hierarchy, disrupted traffic and threw stones at buses in Mumbai as
they protested against violence in Pune in which one man was killed.
(Reuters, 1/2/18)
2018 Jan 2, In India some
200,000 Hindu pilgrims arrived at Allahabad, where the Yamuna river
meets the Ganges as well as the mythical Saraswati river, on the
first major bathing day of a 45-day annual ritual known as the Magh
Mela.
(AP, 1/2/18)
2018 Jan 3, In India
demonstrators from the lowest caste blocked roads and railways
across Mumbai in protest against violence involving Hindu
nationalist groups at an event commemorating a 200-year-old battle.
(AFP, 1/3/18)
2018 Jan 4, India began
investigating a report that access to its database of the identity
details of more than 1 billion citizens was being sold for just $8
on social media, in what could be one of the giant program's biggest
security breaches.
(Reuters, 1/4/18)
2018 Jan 4, A New Delhi court
declared India's flamboyant tycoon Vijay Mallya a "proclaimed
offender" for failing to appear to answer allegations of money
laundering by flouting foreign currency laws. The order paved the
way for the government to take over Mallya's businesses and real
estate holdings.
(AP, 1/4/18)
2018 Jan 6, An Indian court
sentenced a powerful regional politician to 3 1/2 years in prison on
a second conviction of embezzling state government funds as a top
elected official two decades ago. The court found Laloo Prasad Yadav
and 15 others guilty of conspiracy to defraud the Bihar state
government of 8.45 million rupees ($130,000).
(AP, 1/6/18)
2018 Jan 8, In India a fire in
a restaurant early today killed five workers who were sleeping
inside the building in the southern city of Bangalore.
(AP, 1/8/18)
2018 Jan 8, Pakistan released
147 Indians, detained for fishing illegally, from prison and handed
over to Indian authorities.
(AP, 1/8/18)
2018 Jan 13, In India a
helicopter carrying employees of the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas
Commission to an off-shore rig in the Arabian Sea crashed, killing
five people and leaving another two missing.
(AP, 1/13/18)
2018 Jan 13, In India a ferry
boat carrying mostly teenage schoolchildren sank in the Arabian Sea
off the western coast, killing three students.
(AP, 1/13/18)
2018 Jan 14, Israeli PM
Benjamin Netanyahu arrived for his first visit to India to expand
defense, trade and energy ties. During his six-day stay the two
countries are expected to sign agreements on cybersecurity, energy
and space cooperation and film production.
(AP, 1/14/18)
2018 Jan 15, In Kashmir four
Pakistani soldiers were reported killed in shelling by Indian forces
in the disputed region. Pakistan said its forces responded, killing
three Indian soldiers and wounding several others. India's military
said that Pakistani forces fired first and no casualties were
recorded on the Indian side. India said its forces killed five
members of a pro-Pakistan militant group trying to slip into Indian
Kashmir.
(Reuters, 1/15/18)
2018 Jan 18, India's Supreme
Court cleared the way for the release of the film "Padmaavat,” a
controversial Bollywood movie based on an epic poem about a
14th-century queen, a day after its producers went to court to fight
bans by several states.
(Reuters, 1/18/18)
2018 Jan 18, India successfully
test-fired a long-range nuclear-capable missile from an island in
the Bay of Bengal.
(AP, 1/18/18)
2018 Jan 19, India's
environment ministry placed restrictions on the use of imported
petroleum coke in the capital Delhi and its surrounding region, in
the latest effort to curb rising air pollution.
(Reuters, 1/20/18)
2018 Jan 19, In India nearly
five thousand troops battled for hours a huge fire emanating from
the highly polluted Bellandur Lake., causing panic among thousands
of people in the southern city of Bangalore.
(AP, 1/20/18)
2018 Jan 19, In Kashmir
tensions soared along the volatile frontier between India and
Pakistan, as rival troops shelled villages and border posts for a
third day. Officials in the two countries said 3 civilians and 2
soldiers were killed on both sides in the latest clash.
(AP, 1/19/18)
2018 Jan 20, Indian and
Pakistani troops traded fire along their volatile frontier in
Kashmir, killing at least five civilians and a soldier in the latest
escalation of violence in the disputed region.
(AP, 1/20/18)
2018 Jan 20, In India 17 people
died after a fire broke out at a warehouse in an industrial area on
the outskirts of New Delhi.
(Reuters, 1/21/18)
2018 Jan 21, France called for
an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over Syria following
a Turkish incursion into northern Syria's Afrin province.
(Reuters, 1/21/18)
2018 Jan 22, Indian and
Pakistani soldiers again targeted each other's posts and villages
along their volatile frontier in disputed Kashmir after a day's
lull, killing at least one civilian and wounding three others. The
recent flare-up has left 13 civilians and nine soldiers dead and
dozens injured on the two sides.
(AP, 1/22/18)
2018 Jan 23, India's Supreme
Court rejected bids by two states to re-instate a ban on the release
of controversial Bollywood film "Padmaavat", saying it stood by its
previous ruling clearing the way for the movie to be shown in
theaters.
(Reuters, 1/23/18)
2018 Jan 24, In India
right-wing Hindu groups stepped up protests against the release of a
controversial Bollywood film, as several states boosted police
patrols a day after the Supreme Court refused to allow bans on the
movie.
(AP, 1/24/18)
2018 Jan 26, In northern India
two groups shot guns and attacked each other with rocks in Kasganj,
a small town in Uttar Pradesh state. The clash between Hindu and
Muslim groups left one person dead and three others injured during
India's National Day celebrations.
(AP, 1/27/18)
2018 Jan 27, The leaders of
India and Cambodia agreed in New Delhi to work toward a bilateral
investment treaty that could see tens of millions of dollars pour
into the Southeast Asian nation.
(AP, 1/27/18)
2018 Jan 27, Indian soldiers
opened fire on protesters in the disputed region of Kashmir, killing
two young men and wounding several others in southern Shopian.
(AP, 1/27/18)
2018 Jan 27, India and the
Seychelles amended a 2015 pact to build a military base on
Assumption Island. The government of the Seychelles said the base
will help coastguards to patrol its 1.3 million square km (500,000
square mile) exclusive economic zone for illegal fishing, drug
trafficking and piracy.
(AFP, 3/3/18)
2018 Jan 29, India’s annual
economic survey was released with statistics indicating that India
has 63 million fewer women than it should have, a "missing"
population explained by sex-selective abortions and a range of other
issues.
(AP, 1/30/18)
2018 Jan 29, In India bus
plunged nine meters (30 feet) into the canal in Murshidabad district
in West Bengal state. At least 43 people were killed and 4 remained
missing.
(AP, 1/31/18)
2018 Jan, The oil tanker MT
Barret went missing off the coast of Benin. Pirates released the
crew of 22, mostly Indians, within days after a ransom was paid.
(SFC, 2/6/18, p.A2)
2018 Feb 1, India's finance
minister Arun Jaitley announced a federal budget with a string of
populist giveaways, from affordable housing to a health plan for
millions of the poor, in an attempt to woo voters ahead of national
elections next year. Jaitley also announced a 10 percent tax on some
long-term capital gains.
(AP, 2/1/18)
2018 Feb 5, In India survivors
of female genital mutilation (FGM) called on the government to ban
female genital mutilation, an age-old ritual practiced by the small
Dawoodi Bohra Muslim sect in the country.
(AFP, 2/5/18)
2018 Feb 6, It was reported
that India is seeking the help of the navies of Benin and Nigeria to
find the Marine Express oil tanker that has gone missing in the Gulf
of Guinea with 22 Indian crew members.
(SFC, 2/6/18, p.A2)
2018 Feb 10, In
Indian-controlled Kashmir two soldiers were killed and three others
wounded as soldiers traded fire with armed militants who were holed
up inside an army camp on the outskirts of the city of Jammu. Two
militants were also killed.
(AP, 2/10/18)(Reuters, 2/10/18)
2018 Feb 10, Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas told visiting Indian PM Narendra Modi that
he is counting on India's support for a multi-country sponsorship of
any future Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
(AP, 2/10/18)
2018 Feb 11, In Abu Dhabi
Indian PM Narendra Modi started the second day of his visit to the
United Arab Emirates by unveiling a model of the first Hindu temple
that will be built in the UAE capital.
(AP, 2/11/18)
2018 Feb 12, India's defense
minister said gunmen belonging to the Pakistan-based militant group
Jaish-e-Mohammed were behind a weekend attack on an army camp in
Indian-controlled Kashmir.
(AP, 2/12/18)
2018 Feb 12, In
Indian-controlled Kashmir at least one paramilitary soldier was
killed when two gunmen opened fire near a camp in Srinagar.
(AP, 2/12/18)
2018 Feb 15, In southern India
a five-story building under construction collapsed, killing at least
three workers and trapping several others.
(AP, 2/15/18)
2018 Feb 15, An Indian air
force helicopter crashed in the remote northeast, killing both
crewmembers on board.
(AP, 2/15/18)
2018 Feb 15, Pakistan's army
accused neighboring Indian soldiers of targeting a school van from
across the frontier in Kashmir, killing the driver, leaving the
students "severely traumatized" and forcing local residents to flee
to safety.
(AP, 2/15/18)
2018 Feb 16, India said it had
suspended the passports of a billionaire jeweler and a diamond
merchant accused of defrauding a state-run bank after reports they
had left the country. India's financial crimes agency is
investigating allegations that Nirav Modi and his business partner
Mehul Choksi were involved in defrauding the Punjab National Bank
(PNB) of almost $1.8 billion.
(AFP, 2/16/18)
2018 Feb 16, Indian
investigators arrested three people who allegedly helped billionaire
jeweler Nirav Modi obtain fake documents for overseas loans in one
of the country's biggest bank scams.
(AFP, 2/17/18)
2018 Feb 16, In southern India
seven workers died of suffocation while cleaning an underground
drainage pit at a poultry farm in Morem village, Andhra Pradesh
state.
(AP, 2/16/18)
2018 Feb 17, India and Iran
said that they would step up cooperation in combatting extremism,
terrorism and drug trafficking in Afghanistan in an effort to
restore peace and stability to the war-wracked country. India and
Iran also signed agreements including Tehran leasing to New Delhi
operational control of part of the Iranian east coast port of
Chabahar for 18 months.
(AP, 2/17/18)(Reuters, 2/17/18)
2018 Feb 17, Canadian PM Justin
Trudeau arrived in India for a weeklong visit aimed at enhancing
business ties between the two countries.
(AP, 2/17/18)
2018 Feb 21, India handed
Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau a list of nine people in Canada who are
suspected of trying to revive a Sikh separatist movement in the
Indian state of Punjab.
(Reuters, 2/22/18)
2018 Feb 22, Pakistan’s foreign
ministry said Indian troops have opened fire in the disputed Kashmir
region, killing a laborer on the Pakistani side of the boundary.
(AP, 2/22/18)
2018 Feb 23, In India Donald
Trump Jr., the US president's eldest son, heaped praise on the local
media, and accused American journalists of unfair criticism, as he
neared the end of a whirlwind trip across India promoting
Trump-brand luxury real estate.
(AP, 2/23/18)
2018 Feb 24, In eastern India a
speeding jeep plowed through a group of schoolchildren crossing a
road, killing nine and injuring 10 of them on the outskirts of
Muzzafarpur, Bihar state. The jeep driver sped away after the
accident.
(AP, 2/24/18)
2018 Feb 24, Sridevi (54),
Bollywood's leading lady of the 1980s and '90s, died in Dubai. She
had redefined stardom for actresses in India. Her famous roles
included "Mr. India," in which she played a reporter, and "Lamhe,"
or "Moments," a 1991 film in which she played dual roles of mother
and teenage daughter.
(AP, 2/25/18)
2018 Feb 24, India and Pakistan
exchanged artillery fire in the disputed Kashmir region forcing
hundreds of people to flee in the Uri area.
(AP, 2/25/18)
2018 Mar 1, Pakistan said an
"unprovoked" Indian attack killed two soldiers and a 70-year-old
villager in the disputed Kashmir region.
(AP, 3/1/18)
2018 Mar 3, Indian PM Narendra
Modi's Hindu nationalist party ended the 25-year uninterrupted rule
of a communist party in a northeastern state and consolidated its
position in two other states in key provincial elections.
(AP, 3/3/18)
2018 Mar 5, In Kashmir tens of
thousands of angry protesters poured into the streets of Shopian
more than a dozen times, hurling rocks and shouting anti-India
slogans after soldiers killed four civilians and two suspected
militants. Government forces responded with tear gas.
(AP, 3/5/18)
2018 Mar 7, India said it has
imposed new restrictions on trade with North Korea, in line with UN
Security Council sanctions slapped on the reclusive country for its
nuclear and missile programs.
(Reuters, 3/7/18)
2018 Mar 7, Air India said
Saudi Arabia has given it permission to fly between New Delhi and
Tel Aviv over Saudi airspace, ending a 70-year ban and marking a
diplomatic shift.
(Reuters, 3/7/18)
2018 Mar 7, Tom Pritzker of the
Chicago-based Hyatt Foundation announced that architect and educator
Balkrishna Doshi has been awarded the 2018 Pritzker Architecture
Prize, the first Indian to win architecture’s highest honor in its
40-year history.
(AP, 3/7/18)
2018 Mar 7, Pakistan’s said it
has approved India’s proposals for exchanges of civilian detainees,
in a statement believed to also cover some of those held over the
Kashmir conflict.
(AP, 3/7/18)
2018 Mar 9, India's Supreme
Court said individuals have a right to die with dignity, in a
landmark verdict that permits the removal of life-support systems
for the terminally ill or those in incurable comas. Passive
euthanasia, as it is called, will apply only to a terminally ill
person with no hope of recovery.
(Reuters, 3/9/18)
2018 Mar 10, Indian PM Narendra
Modi met with French President Emmanuel Macron in New Delhi. They
pledged to work together to ensure freedom of navigation in the
Indian Ocean and signed an agreement to expedite construction of a
major nuclear power plant in India by a French company. Modi
highlighted a solar alliance and cooperation between the two
countries in defense, security, technology, space and
counterterrorism.
(AP, 3/10/18)
2018 Mar 11, In India French
President Emmanuel Macron said his country will commit 700 million
euros to the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at the founding
conference of the organization, reiterating the European country's
commitment to the alliance and clean energy. The treaty-based
organization, launched by India's PM Narendra Modi in 2015, aims to
promote solar energy in 121 countries.
(Reuters, 3/11/18)
2018 Mar 12, In India tens of
thousands of protesting farmers from Maharashtra state marched into
the state capital of Mumbai to demand government support to address
hardship in a sector that employs the majority of the country's
workforce.
(Reuters, 3/12/18)
2018 Mar 12, In Kashmir a
gunbattle between Indian troops and rebels killed three insurgents
and triggered more anti-India protests and clashes.
(AP, 3/12/18)
2018 Mar 16, In Kashmir Indian
government forces killed two militants overnight who tried to snatch
a guard's rifle. Protests against Indian rule and clashes erupted as
word of the killings spread.
(AP, 3/16/18)
2018 Mar 17, It was reported
that more than half of Bangalore's estimated 10 million inhabitants
have to rely on borewells and tankers for their water because there
isn't enough mains supply to go round. An ecologist with the Indian
Institute of Science has predicted the Karnataka state capital could
be the first Indian city to follow Cape Town in running out of
water.
(AFP, 3/17/18)
2018 Mar 17, In eastern India a
speeding bus plunged into a dry river bed, killing at least 12
people and injuring 35 in Bihar state.
(AP, 3/17/18)
2018 Mar 18, In Kashmir five
members of an Indian family were killed and two injured by shelling
from Pakistani troops in the Poonch region along the Line of
Control, the de facto border between India and Pakistan.
(Reuters, 3/18/18)(SFC, 3/19/18, p.A2)
2018 Mar 20, India and China
agreed to consult each other on regional and international issues,
the Indian side said after a phone call between Chinese President Xi
Jinping and Indian PM Narendra Modi.
(Reuters, 3/20/18)
2018 Mar 20, Iraqi and Indian
authorities said they have confirmed that a mass grave outside the
village of Badush contained the bodies of 38 Indian construction
workers abducted when Islamic State militants overran the northern
city of Mosul in 2014.
(AP, 3/20/18)
2018 Mar 21, In Kashmir five
Indian soldiers and five suspected militants were killed in a gun
battle near the de facto border between India and Pakistan.
(Reuters, 3/21/18)
2018 Mar 22, India's health
minister said $1.54 billion has been allocated for an ambitious
health program aimed at providing insurance cover for about half the
population, labeling it the largest such scheme in the world.
(Reuters, 3/22/18)
2018 Mar 22, In Kashmir
officials said government forces have ended a two-day operation
against rebels fighting against Indian rule in which 10 combatants
died.
(AP, 3/22/18)
2018 Mar 23, India set a March
31 deadline for London-based political consultancy Cambridge
Analytica to respond to a query on whether it was engaged to
improperly harvest Facebook data on Indian citizens.
(Reuters, 3/24/18)
2018 Mar 24, Business
technology news website ZDNet reported that India's biometric ID
program, Aadhaar, has been hit by another major security lapse,
allowing access to private information.
(Reuters, 3/24/18)
2018 Mar 24, Powerful Indian
politician Lalu Prasad Yadav was sentenced to 14 years in prison for
embezzling 37 million rupees ($570,000) from Bihar state
government's treasury while he was the state's top elected official
(1990-1997).
(AP, 3/24/18)
2018 Mar 26, Clashes in India
between supporters of PM Narendra Modi's party and those of an
opposition party snowballed into Hindu-Muslim rioting, with three
people killed and dozens injured over two days of violence.
(Reuters, 3/27/18)
2018 Mar 26, In India reporter
Sandeep Sharma was killed in Madhya Pradesh state's Bhind district.
He had been investigating illegal sand mining in the region for a
television station.
(AP, 3/27/18)
2018 Mar 30, Japan's SoftBank
Group Corp, in a filing to the Shenzhen stock exchange, agreed to
launch a $930 million Indian joint solar energy venture with Chinese
firm GCL System Integration Technology Co as part of its India solar
investment roadmap.
(Reuters, 4/2/18)
2018 Mar 31, In northern India
Lobsang Sangay, the prime minister of the self-declared Tibetan
government-in-exile, urged his compatriots to strengthen efforts to
make the return of the Dalai Lama to his native land a reality.
(AP, 3/31/18)
2018 Mar 31, In central India a
four-story rickety hotel building collapsed in Indore, Madhya
Pradesh state, killing at least 10 people and injuring three. A
driver lost control of his vehicle and struck a pillar holding up
the near 100-year-old structure.
(AP, 4/1/18)(AFP, 4/1/18)
2018 Apr 1, In Kashmir at least
four civilians were killed and dozens injured after massive
anti-India protests erupted in several parts of the
Indian-controlled territory amid fierce fighting between rebels and
government forces that left at least 12 militants and three army
soldiers dead.
(AP, 4/1/18)
2018 Apr 2, In India low-caste
Dalits fought street battles with police that left at least six dead
as protests against a Supreme Court rights ruling swept across large
swathes of the country.
(AFP, 4/2/18)
2018 Apr 2, A security
clampdown and a strike sponsored by separatists fighting against
Indian rule shut down most of Indian-administered Kashmir.
(AP, 4/2/18)
2018 Apr 3, India withdrew
rules to control "fake news" less than 24 hours after announcing
them, following an outcry that the regulations could be used by the
government to curb press freedom.
(Reuters, 4/3/18)
2018 Apr 5, In India Bollywood
superstar Salman Khan was convicted of poaching rare deer in a
wildlife preserve two decades ago and sentenced to five years in
prison.
(AP, 4/5/18)
2018 Apr 5, In India Subhabrata
Majumdar (46) was arrested after his mother's body was found in the
large freezer during a police raid on their home in the city of
Kolkata. He allegedly kept his mother's body in the freezer for
almost three years while collecting her monthly pension payments,
about $460.
(AP, 4/6/18)
2018 Apr 5, In India a girl
(11) was sexually assaulted and murdered in the western Gujarat city
of Surat. Her body was found the next day. The case was made public
on April 15.
(Reuters, 4/15/18)
2018 Apr 5, Students protesting
Indian rule in disputed Kashmir clashed with government forces after
authorities reopened schools following the killings of 13 rebels and
five civilians. Government forces fired tear gas to stop students
from marching at several colleges in Indian-controlled Kashmir's
main city of Srinagar.
(AP, 4/5/18)
2018 Apr 7, India agreed to
construct a rail link to Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, and to open up
inland waterways in the landlocked Himalayan nation. Analysts said
the latest Indian move was spurred by China's expansive
infrastructure projects in Nepal as both Asian giants jostle for
influence.
(Reuters, 4/7/18)
2018 Apr 7, In India a court in
Jodhpur granted bail to Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who will be
allowed to remain free while he appeals his conviction on charges of
poaching rare deer in a wildlife preserve two decades ago.
(AP, 4/7/18)
2018 Apr 7, A Pakistani
government official says Indian troops have fired across the Line of
Control in the disputed Kashmir region, killing a woman and wounding
six others.
(AP, 4/7/18)
2018 Apr 9, In India at least
27 children were killed when their school bus skidded off a mountain
road into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh state in the foothills of the
Himalayas.
(AP, 4/9/18)
2018 Apr 11, In Kashmir at
least four men were killed when government forces fired on
anti-India protesters who thronged Khudwani village where soldiers
battled a group of militants. One soldier was also killed.
(AP, 4/11/18)
2018 Apr 11, Saudi Aramco
announced a $44-billion deal to build a giant refinery complex in
India with three Indian firms that will become a crucial new outlet
for the world's biggest supplier.
(AFP, 4/11/18)
2018 Apr 13, In India lawmaker
Kuldeep Singh Sengar from the ruling Hindu nationalist party was
arrested after being accused of abducting and raping a teenage girl
last year. Sengar was arrested after being questioned by authorities
in Lucknow, the capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state.
(AP, 4/14/18)
2018 Apr 15, In India thousands
of people protested across the country to seek an end to sexual
violence against women.
(AP, 4/15/18)
2018 Apr 18, In London Indian
PM Narendra Modi signed 1 billion pound ($1.42 billion, 1.14 billion
euros) of investment deals with Britain during a visit, where he was
met by hundreds of religious protesters. Modi also confirmed the new
India-UK Trade Partnership, to improve the accessibility of trade
for businesses in both countries.
(AFP, 4/18/18)
2018 Apr 17, In Sweden Indian
PM Narendra Modi and Swedish PM Stefan Lofven held talks that
focused on trade, growth, global security and climate. Later in the
day Modi met with the five Nordic prime ministers for the first
India-Nordic Summit.
(AP, 4/17/18)
2018 Apr 20, In India Leaders
of the opposition Congress party and six other parties presented a
notice to the chairman of Parliament's upper house seeking an
inquiry into Chief Justice Deepak Misra's conduct, to be followed by
a vote on impeachment. They also accused Misra of providing false
information when he bought land before becoming chief justice.
(AP, 4/20/18)
2018 Apr 20, A Indian court
overturned the conviction of Maya Kodnani, a former state minister
from PM Narendra Modi's party, for involvement in riots in Gujarat
state 16 years ago, citing lack of consistency in witness
testimonies.
(Reuters, 4/20/18)
2018 Apr 21, India's government
prescribed the death penalty for people convicted of raping children
under 12 to help combat an increase in violent crime against women.
The ordinance will require the approval of Parliament within six
months in order to become law. In the meantime, suspects can be
prosecuted using the ordinance.
(AP, 4/21/18)
2018 Apr 22, In western India
government forces killed at least 14 Maoist rebels during a raid on
their hideout in a forested area of Gadchilori district, Maharashtra
state.
(AP, 4/22/18)
2018 Apr 23, India's VP M.
Venkaiah Naidu rejected a move by a group of opposition parties to
impeach the country's top judge on grounds of misusing his office
and bowing to government pressure.
(AP, 4/23/18)
2018 Apr 24, Police in western
India said at least 37 Maoist rebels were killed in two gunbattles
between troops and insurgents over the last three days.
(AP, 4/24/18)
2018 Apr 25, An Indian court
jailed a self-styled religious preacher (77) for life for raping a
teenage girl, the latest sexual abuse case against a so-called
"godman." Asumal Harpalani, commonly known as Asaram Bapu, has been
held since September 2013.
(Reuters, 4/25/18)
2018 Apr 26, In India thirteen
children were killed when a train hit their school van at an
unmanned crossing in Uttar Pradesh state.
(Reuters, 4/26/18)
2018 Apr 27, Chinese President
Xi Jinping called for stepped-up cooperation with India during an
informal summit with PM Narendra Modi, amid tensions along their
contested border and a rivalry for influence with their smaller
neighbors that could determine dominance in Asia.
(AP, 4/27/18)
2018 Apr 28, The leaders of
China and India stressed the importance of close ties in talks,
against the background of their rivalry for leadership in Asia and
the potential for cooperation on economic and security matters.
(AP, 4/28/18)
2018 Apr 28, India's government
electrified all of its villages 12 days ahead of a deadline set by
PM Narendra Modi.
(Reuters, 4/29/18)
2018 Apr 29, In India
bridegroom Sunil Verma (25) was hit in the chest late today as he
performed Hindu wedding rituals. Indian police on May 1 arrested a
man accused of killing Verma when he marked his friend's wedding
with gunfire.
(AFP, 5/1/18)
2018 Apr 30, Police in India
arrested four teenagers after a video of them allegedly tearing the
clothes off a girl in the village of Bharthura, Bihar state, was
shared widely on social media.
(AP, 4/30/18)
2018 Apr 30, In India a
16-year-old girl committed suicide after being raped a day earlier
by eight men in the Nuh district of the northern state of Haryana.
(Reuters, 5/3/18)
2018 Apr 30, In
Indian-controlled Kashmir a young man was killed and at least 14
others wounded when government forces fired at anti-India protesters
who were trying to help rebels escape during a gunbattle. Two rebels
were killed.
(AP, 4/30/18)
2018 May 1, In northern India a
19-year-old woman was raped by five men, including the driver of an
autorickshaw she hailed in near Gurugram town, Haryana state.
(AP, 5/3/18)
2018 May 2, Residents of Kanpur
reacted with dismay after the Indian city was found to have the
worst air quality in a global World Health Organization survey that
urged the nation to clean up its act. 14 Indian cities feature in
the 15 cities with the dirtiest air in the WHO's global list.
(AP, 5/2/18)
2018 May 2, India's southern
state of Andhra Pradesh was hammered by more than 41,000 lightning
strikes in a matter of hours. At least 14 people were killed.
(AFP, 5/3/18)
2018 May 3, In India a mob
blocked highways and sat on railway tracks near Guntur, in the state
of Andhra Pradesh, demanding public punishment for a rickshaw puller
accused of raping a girl (9). The accused, said to be around 55, was
found hanging in a wood the next day. Police said he had likely
committed suicide.
(Reuters, 5/4/18)
2018 May 3, A powerful dust
storm and rain swept parts of north and western India overnight,
causing house collapses, toppling trees and leaving at least 134
people dead and more than 160 injured.
(AP, 5/3/18)(AFP, 5/3/18)(SFC, 5/15/18, p.A4)
2018 May 3, In eastern India a
bus caught fire after falling into a ditch along a highway in Bihar
state. The Press Trust of India news agency said 20 people were
feared dead.
(AP, 5/3/18)
2018 May 4, In eastern India a
girl (17) was raped, doused in kerosene and set alight. Police soon
arrested a 19-year-old man who lives in the same neighbourhood as
the girl struggled to survive. On the same day another girl (16) was
raped and burned to death, both in the state of Jharkhand. Fifteen
people were soon detained in the case of the 16-year-old, who was
torched to death in the state's Chatra district.
(AFP, 5/7/18)
2018 May 5, Indian police
arrested 14 people suspected of kidnapping, raping and burning to
death a teenage girl. The girl was raped on May 3 while attending a
wedding ceremony in Jharkhand state. Suspects beat up the girl's
family members for complaining against them and burned her to death
after finding her at home alone on May 4.
(AP, 5/5/18)
2018 May 5, Indian troops
killed three suspected rebels during a gunbattle in Srinagar. Police
blamed insurgents for killing three other men during a day of
violence and protests in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
(AP, 5/5/18)
2018 May 6, Indian soldiers
shot dead five Kashmir militants including a rebel university
teacher in a gunfight that triggered violent protests in which five
civilians were killed. A top commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, a key
rebel group, was also among the dead.
(AFP, 5/6/18)
2018 May 7, India's Supreme
Court ordered the trial of eight men accused of the January rape and
murder of an eight-year-old girl to be moved from Kashmir to another
state after her family and lawyer said they faced death threats.
(Reuters, 5/7/18)
2018 May 7, Indian officials
said 12 children between the ages 5 and 12 have been killed in dog
attacks in and around the northern town of Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh
state, since November. Roaming packs of feral dogs killed six
children in the area last week.
(AP, 5/7/18)
2018 May 8, In Kashmir an
Indian tourist was killed overnight during a stone-throwing protest.
A teenage boy who had been shot by Indian troops May 6 died in a
hospital, triggering protests and clashes in his southern village.
(AP, 5/8/18)
2018 May 9, In northeastern
India a homemade bomb exploded, killing two paramilitary soldiers
and wounding two civilians in Manipur state.
(AP, 5/9/18)
2018 May 9, In northern India a
powerful dust and rain storm demolished homes and downed power lines
late today, killing at least 14 people in Uttar Pradesh state.
(AP, 5/10/18)
2018 May 9, It was reported
that Walmart is breaking into India's massive and growing consumer
market with its biggest acquisition yet, spending $16 billion for a
controlling stake in the online retailer Flipkart, whose delivery
drivers, with their motorcycles and oversized backpacks, have become
ubiquitous across the nation of 1.3 billion people.
(AP, 5/9/18)
2018 May 14, Officials in India
said powerful winds and rainstorms that have swept across a crowded
swath of northern India left 43 people dead. 42 were killed in Uttar
Pradesh state and at least one person in New Delhi.
(AP, 5/14/18)(SFC, 5/15/18, p.A4)
2018 May 15, In northern India
a highway overpass being built collapsed in Varanasi. Disaster
officials said at least 16 people were killed when an immense
concrete slab slammed down onto the road below. More people were
feared trapped beneath the slab.
(AP, 5/15/18)
2018 May 15, In southern India
a ferry capsized on the Godavari River leaving at least 40 people
missing in Andhra Pradesh state.. 20 people swam to safety.
(SFC, 5/16/18, p.A3)
2018 May 16, India announced
that its troops will halt counterinsurgency operations in disputed
Kashmir during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, its first such
declaration in 18 years.
(AP, 5/16/18)
2018 May 17, In Kashmir an
Indian paramilitary soldier was killed by a Pakistani sniper late
today, leading to cross-border firing and shelling at several
forward posts. Eight civilians, including an Indian husband and wife
and four members of a Pakistani family, were killed when Indian and
Pakistani soldiers fired at border posts and villages along the
highly militarized frontier.
(AP, 5/18/18)
2018 May 19, In India B.S.
Yeddyurappa, BJP leader of southern Karnataka state, quit after just
two days in office, rather than face a confidence vote his minority
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was unlikely to win.
(AP, 5/19/18)
2018 May 20, In eastern India
at least six police officials were killed and another was critically
injured when Maoist rebels targeted their vehicle with a bomb in
Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh state.
(AP, 5/20/18)
2018 May 22, In southern India
at least nine were killed after police fired at protesters calling
for the closure of a Vedanta Resources-controlled copper smelter.
Residents of the port city of Thootukudi in Tamil Nadu state and
environmentalists have been demonstrating against one of India's
biggest copper plants for more than three months, alleging it is a
major source of pollution and a risk to fisheries. Autopsy reports
later showed that 12 of the 13 protesters killed when police opened
fire on a demonstration against Vedanta's copper smelter were hit by
bullets in the head or chest, and half of those were shot from
behind.
(Reuters, 5/22/18)(Reuters, 12/22/18)
2018 May 22, Indian health
officials said at least 10 people have died of Nipah since an
outbreak began earlier this month in Kerala. There is no vaccine for
the virus, which can cause raging fevers, convulsions and vomiting,
and kills up to 75 percent of people who come down with it.
(AP, 5/22/18)
2018 May 23, In southern India
a protester was killed by a rubber bullet, a day after 10 were shot
dead when police opened fire on a rally demanding the closure of a
copper plant in the port city of Tuticorin.
(AP, 5/23/18)
2018 May 23, The Bosnian unit
of Indian renewable energy developer Suzlon Energy won the right to
build a 25.2 megawatt (MW) wind farm in Bosnia to help it cut
greenhouse gas emissions and meet the EU renewable energy standards.
(Reuters, 5/23/18)
2018 May 23, In Kashmir Indian
and Pakistani soldiers shelled dozens of villages and border posts
for a sixth straight day. Officials said a total of six civilians
and a soldier were killed on the two sides. The fighting followed
days of confrontations that left four civilians on each side and two
Indian soldiers dead.
(AP, 5/23/18)
2018 May 24, India's Tamil Nadu
state said that it was seeking a permanent closure of a big copper
smelter run by London-listed Vedanta Resources after 13 people died
in protests demanding the closure of the plant on environmental
grounds.
(Reuters, 5/24/18)
2018 May 26, In Kashmir at
least four suspected militants were killed in a gunbattle with
government troops after crossing into the Indian-controlled part of
Kashmir from the Pakistani side of the disputed territory.
(AP, 5/26/18)
2018 May 27, Indian PM Narendra
Modi said he expected around a 30 percent drop in the number of
vehicles entering Delhi, as he opened two new expressways around the
capital aimed at decongesting its streets and reducing deadly
pollution.
(Reuters, 5/27/18)
2018 May 27, Indian authorities
said another patient has died from the Nipah virus, taking the
number of fatalities from an outbreak of the rare disease in Kerala
state to 13. Nipah is named after the Malaysian village where it
first appeared in 1998. The bat-borne pathogen ended up killing 21
out of 23 people infected. In 2019 the film "Virus," the true story
of the struggle to contain the virus, won critical acclaim in
Mollywood.
(AFP, 5/27/18)(Econ., 5/9/20, p.25)
2018 May 28, India's southern
Tamil Nadu state ordered the permanent closure of a copper smelter
run by London-listed Vedanta Resources after 13 people protesting to
demand its shutdown on environmental concerns were killed last week.
(Reuters, 5/28/18)
2018 May 28, In
Indian-administered Kashmir rebels attacked an Indian army camp and
an armored vehicle overnight. A soldier and a civilian were killed
and three soldiers were wounded.
(AP, 5/28/18)
2018 May 29, Indian disaster
management officials in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
Jharkhand said 47 people had died in night-time storms that swept
across the region.
(AP, 5/29/18)
2018 May 29, Pakistan's
military said that local generals using a special hotline have
reached an understanding to stop trading artillery fire in the
disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
(AP, 5/30/18)
2018 May 31, Indian PM Narendra
Modi held talks with new Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad in a
brief visit aimed at bolstering bilateral ties.
(AP, 5/31/18)
2018 Jun 2, Government forces
in Indian-controlled Kashmir fired shotgun pellets and tear gas at
hundreds of mourners during a funeral march for a man killed when he
was run over by a paramilitary vehicle during a protest.
(AP, 6/2/18)
2018 Jun 3, Indian officials
said two paramilitary soldiers were killed and eight civilians
wounded today when Pakistani soldiers attacked dozens of forward
posts along the highly militarized frontier in disputed Kashmir.
(AP, 6/3/18)
2018 Jun 6, India's central
bank raised its benchmark lending rate to 6.25 percent to tamp down
rising inflation following an increase in oil prices.
(AP, 6/6/18)
2018 Jun 10, A group of
militants sneaked into the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir from
the Pakistani side of the disputed territory, sparking a gunbattle
that left at least six suspected rebels dead.
(AP, 6/10/18)
2018 Jun 11, India requested an
international arrest warrant for fugitive billionaire jeweler Nirav
Modi, hours after reports claimed he had sought asylum in Britain.
(AFP, 6/11/18)
2018 Jun 13, Indian and
Pakistani forces traded fire along the highly militarized frontier
in disputed Kashmir after Pakistani firing killed at least four
Indian paramilitary soldiers and injured three others on border
patrol.
(AP, 6/13/18)
2018 Jun 15, In India New Delhi
officials ordered a two-day halt to construction in an attempt to
reduce choking pollution that has cloaked the city in smog and dust.
(AP, 6/15/18)
2018 Jun 17, In northeastern
India insurgents attacked a passing security convoy with automatic
weapons and hand grenades leaving four paramilitary soldiers dead.
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) soon claimed
responsibility.
(AP, 6/18/18)
2018 Jun 19, India's governing
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) quit the ruling coalition in Jammu and
Kashmir state and called for federal control over the disputed
Himalayan region, citing a deterioration in security that could
herald a new crackdown.
(Reuters, 6/19/18)
2018 Jun 19, Indian officials
said police in northern India have broken up a gang that promised
professional test-takers and high-tech listening devices to help
applicants pass a two-day test to become police constables.
(AP, 6/19/18)
2018 Jun 20, India's federal
government took direct control of Kashmir state after the ruling
Hindu nationalist party ended its long-troubled alliance there with
a Kashmiri political party.
(AP, 6/20/18)
2018 Jun 20, Vedanta Ltd said a
sulphuric acid leak from a tank at its southern Indian copper
smelter was severe and inaction could lead to serious environmental
consequences. The Tamil Nadu state government ordered a permanent
closure of the plant and disconnected the power supply last month
following protests over alleged pollution.
(Reuters, 6/20/18)
2018 Jun 21, Indian PM Narendra
Modi traveled to the hill town of Dehradun for the fourth
International Day of Yoga, and shortly after sunrise was doing yoga
exercises with about 50,000 people.
(AP, 6/21/18)
2018 Jun 23, In India a new ban
on single-use plastics in Mumbai went into effect. Over the next few
days 132 premises were issued with penalties including outlets of
Burger King, McDonald's and Starbucks.
(AFP, 6/26/18)
2018 Jun 26, In India a girl
(7) was abducted and raped while waiting to be picked up from school
by her parents in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh state. Two suspects were
soon arrested on suspicion of raping the girl and trying to slit her
throat with a knife.
(AP, 6/30/18)
2018 Jun 26, GE and French
utility EDF said they have agreed to team to build six reactors for
a nuclear power project in western India, which is due to be the
world's biggest when finished.
(Reuters, 6/26/18)
2018 Jun 28, In northeastern
India crazed mobs in Tripura beat three people to death in lynchings
sparked by rumors spread on smartphones.
(AFP, 6/29/18)
2018 Jun 28, Industry sources
said India, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil after China, will be
forced to take action to protect its exposure to the US financial
system. They said India's oil ministry has asked refiners to prepare
for a 'drastic reduction or zero' imports of Iranian oil from
November.
(Reuters, 6/28/18)
2018 Jun 28, In India a small
chartered plane crashed in a busy area of Mumbai, killing at least
six people including two on the ground.
(AP, 6/28/18)
2018 Jun 29, In India thousands
of people held a street protest in northeastern Assam state against
a decision by the government to grant citizenship mainly to Hindus
who have fled neighboring Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan,
alleging persecution by the Muslim majority there. The protest was
led by the All Assam Students Union, which demands deportation of
thousands of illegal migrants, both Hindus and Muslims, from
neighboring Bangladesh.
(AP, 6/29/18)
2018 Jun 29, Authorities in
northeastern India cut internet access after crazed mobs, sparked by
rumors spread on smartphones, beat three people to death in Tripura.
More than 25 similar killings in recent months across India have
been ignited by false information spread on messaging service
WhatsApp.
(AFP, 6/29/18)
2018 Jun 29, In northeastern
India five paramilitary soldiers were killed and another six injured
as huge boulders rolled down on their bus following a mudslide
triggered by monsoon rains in Arunachal Pradesh state.
(AP, 6/30/18)
2018 Jun 30, In central India
hundreds of people blocked streets and shut down businesses to
protest the June 26 rape of a 7-year-old girl in Mandsaur, Madhya
Pradesh state. Protesters demanded the death penalty for two
suspects arrested on suspicion of rape and trying to slit her
throat.
(SSFC, 7/1/18, p.A4)
2018 Jun 30, India's
Maharashtra state eased a ban against single-use plastic, imposed on
June 23, following what sources said was intense lobbying by
multinational companies and plastic industry bodies for softer rules
and extensions. Maharashtra allowed e-commerce companies to use
plastic packaging for three more months.
(Reuters, 7/3/18)
2018 Jul 1, Police in India's
capital found 11 bodies at a home under mysterious circumstances,
including 10 that were blindfolded and hanging. The victims were all
from the same family and most had lived in the home in Burari
village in the northern part of New Delhi.
(AP, 7/1/18)
2018 Jul 1, In India five men
were bludgeoned to death in a remote, mountainous village in
Maharashtra state. Villagers pounced on the men when one of them
tried to speak to a child at a weekly market.
(AP, 7/2/18)
2018 Jul 1, In northern India
at least 48 people were killed when an overcrowded bus plunged off a
mountain road into a gorge in Uttarakhand state.
(AP, 7/1/18)
2018 Jul 2, Police in western
India said that they have arrested 23 people who took part in the
weekend lynching of five men suspected of being members of a gang of
child kidnappers.
(AP, 7/2/18)
2018 Jul 4, India's government
said it has asked WhatsApp to take "immediate action" to prevent the
social media platform from being misused to spread rumors and
irresponsible statements like those blamed for recent deadly mob
attacks in the country.
(AP, 7/4/18)
2018 Jul 4, India's Supreme
Court upheld the powers of Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of
Delhi, in a win for his Aam Aadmi Party, embroiled in a protracted
fight with PM Narendra Modi's government that has compounded the
capital city's problems.
(Reuters, 7/4/18)
2018 Jul 4, In eastern India a
nun and another worker at a shelter for unwed mothers run by Mother
Teresa's charity were over the last 24 hours for allegedly selling a
baby.
(AP, 7/5/18)
2018 Jul 6, Police in eastern
India arrested a school principal, two teachers and three students
after a teenage girl blamed them and another 13 schoolmates for
repeatedly raping her for the last seven months.
(AP, 7/7/18)
2018 Jul 7, Indian police
charged five people, including the brother of a lawmaker from the
ruling party, in relation to the death of the father of a teenage
girl raped last year. The rape victim's father died in April while
in the custody of police in northern Uttar Pradesh state. Police
arrested Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a BJP member of the state legislature
of Uttar Pradesh, in April in connection with the rape of the
teenager.
(Reuters, 7/7/18)
2018 Jul 10, Indian police
arrested seven people in Bihar state, including a school principal
and a teacher, on suspicion of raping and blackmailing a teenage
girl over several months. The girl (15) had told police she was
raped by students in a school lavatory in December 2017 and that the
abuse continued for seven months.
(Reuters, 7/10/18)
2018 Jul 11, in northeastern
India a mudslide triggered by monsoon rains demolished tin-roofed
homes on a hillside, killing at least eight children and one woman
while they were sleeping in Tamenglong village, Manipur state.
(AP, 7/11/18)
2018 Jul 11, In southern India
a suspected carbon monoxide gas leak killed at least six workers at
a steel mill in Padipari, Andhra Pradesh state.
(AP, 7/12/18)
2018 Jul 13, In southern India
a mob armed with sticks and stones lynched Mohammed Azam (32), a
call center employee, and wounded three men late today in
Karnataka's Bidar district after rumors spread over WhatsApp that
the victims were members of a gang of child kidnappers. Nearly three
dozen people were soon arrested for participating in the attack.
(AP, 7/15/18)(Reuters, 7/15/18)
2018 Jul 14, In India a woman
(35) was gang raped and burned alive in the northern city of
Sambhal. A police case was soon filed against five men involved.
(Reuters, 7/15/18)
2018 Jul 15, In eastern India
Maoist rebels ambushed a unit of government forces, leaving two
soldiers dead and another wounded in Chhattisgarh state.
(AP, 7/15/18)
2018 Jul 16, India's government
said it has ordered inspections of all centers run by Mother
Teresa's charity following the arrest of a nun and a worker at one
of its shelters for unwed mothers for allegedly selling a baby.
(AP, 7/17/18)
2018 Jul 17, India's highest
court asked the federal government to consider enacting a law to
deal with an increase in lynchings and mob violence fueled mostly by
rumors that the victims either belonged to members of child
kidnapping gangs or were beef eaters and cow slaughterers.
(AP, 7/17/18)
2018 Jul 17, In India a
six-story building under construction collapsed onto an adjacent
building east of New Delhi, killing at least three people and
trapping several others under the debris.
(AP, 7/18/18)
2018 Jul 19, In central India
security forces killed eight Maoist insurgents, including four
women, in an exchange of gunfire early today in Chhattisgarh state.
(AP, 7/19/18)
2018 Jul 19, India's lower
house of parliament approved a bill that would allow authorities to
seize assets of fugitives accused of crimes involving sums over 1
billion rupees ($14 million). The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill
law will go to the upper house and the president in the coming days.
(Reuters, 7/19/18)
2018 Jul 21, In western India a
Muslim man was beaten to death by a mob overnight over allegations
of smuggling cows in Rajasthan state.
(AP, 7/21/18)
2018 Jul 21, In central India a
woman was found dead after being lynched on rumors that she was part
of a gang that kidnapped children. At least 14 people were arrested
in Madhya Pradesh state's Singrauli district following the killing.
(AP, 7/23/18)
2018 Jul 22, India said people
whose names are missing from a list of citizens to be issued by
Assam state this month will not be detained, amid concerns that
Muslims will be targeted under the guise of detecting illegal
immigrants from Bangladesh.
(Reuters, 7/22/18)
2018 Jul 22, In Kashmir three
rebels were killed in a gunbattle with Indian troops early today in
southern Khudwani village.
(AP, 7/22/18)
2018 Jul 24, Indian police
admitted they made a mistake in handling a deadly vigilante attack
on a man suspected of cow smuggling by tending to his cows before
taking him to hospital on July 21.
(Reuters, 7/24/18)
2018 Jul 24, Indian PM Narendra
Modi stopped in Rwanda, where he signed a number of bilateral
agreements and visited a model farm to which he donated 200 cows.
(AP, 7/24/18)
2018 Jul 24, Indian PM Narendra
Modi arrived in Uganda for the second stop in his tour of Africa
ahead of this week's summit of the BRICS emerging economies.
(AP, 7/24/18)
2018 Jul 25, Speaking in Uganda
Indian PM Narendra Modi pledged to "intensify and deepen" his
country's engagement with Africa, saying his government will do more
to support governments across the continent.
(AP, 7/25/18)
2018 Jul 25, In South Africa
leaders of the BRICS emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa) began an annual three-day summit, with
attention focused on the threat of a US-led global trade war. The
meeting opened with a business forum.
(AFP, 7/25/18)
2018 Jul 26, In the Philippines
the six winners of this year's Ramon Magsaysay Awards, regarded as
Asia's version of the Nobel Prize, were announced. The recipients
included a Cambodian genocide survivor (Youk Chhang) who helped
document the Khmer Rouge atrocities, an Indian psychiatrist (Bharat
Vatwani ) who led the rescue of thousands of mentally ill street
paupers to treat and reunite them with their families, a Filipino
(Howard Dee ) who led peace talks with communist insurgents, a
polio-stricken Vietnamese (Vo Thi Hoang Yen) who fought
discrimination against the disabled, an East Timorese (Maria de
Lourdes Martins Cruz) who built care centers for the poor amid civil
strife and an Indian (Sonam Wangchuk) who tutored village students
to help them pass exams.
(AP, 7/26/18)
2018 Jul 26, In South Africa
the leaders of the BRICS bloc of emerging economies, meeting in the
wake of tariff threats by US President Donald Trump, signed a
declaration supporting an open and inclusive multilateral trading
system under World Trade Organization rules at their summit. Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa agreed at the three-day
meeting to fight unilateralism and protectionism.
(Reuters, 7/26/18)
2018 Jul 28, Indian officials
said at least 58 people have been killed in the past two days as
monsoon rains in the north triggered house collapses and flooded
wide swaths of land.
(AP, 7/28/18)
2018 Jul 28, In western India
33 people were feared dead after a bus fell into a deep gorge in
Maharashtra state.
(AP, 7/28/18)
2018 Jul 30, In India more than
4 million people were excluded from a draft list of citizens
released by a census official for the northeastern border state of
Assam, in a long-running campaign against immigrants. Thousands of
Bengali-speaking Muslims worried about being sent to detention
centers or deported.
(Reuters, 7/30/18)
2018 Jul 30, In eastern India
heavy rains flooded a hospital critical care unit in Bihar state, as
annual monsoon rains destroyed homes in several parts of the country
and forced others to flee to higher ground. More than 1,500 people
have died so far this year across the country due to storms, floods
and landslides.
(Reuters, 7/30/18)
2018 Aug 4, In Kashmir a young
man was killed and two other people wounded when India's army fired
at a funeral of a rebel in the suburbs of southern Shopian town.
(AP, 8/4/18)
2018 Aug 6, In northern India
police rescued 24 girls and shut down a care home that had been
operating illegally in Uttar Pradesh state, after a youngster living
there fled and complained to officers about sexual exploitation.
(AP, 8/7/18)
2018 Aug 7, In India Muthuvel
Karunanidhi (94), a highly popular scriptwriter-turned-politician in
the southern state of Tamil Nadu, died after a prolonged illness. He
became the state's chief minister in 1969 and held that position
five times for a total of 19 years.
(AP, 8/7/18)
2018 Aug 8, In India a stampede
among thousands of mourners at the funeral of a powerful southern
Indian politician killed two people and injured 47.
(Reuters, 8/8/18)
2018 Aug 9, Indian authorities
arrested Neeraj Singhal, a former managing director of Bhushan Steel
Ltd, over an alleged fraud, after a probe found billions of rupees
had been siphoned off by the firm's founders from funds borrowed
from state-run banks.
(Reuters, 8/9/18)
2018 Aug 9, In India torrential
monsoon rains killed at least 26 people in flooding, landslides and
house collapses in the southern state of Kerala in the last 24 hours
with more than 15,500 people taking shelter in state-run relief
camps.
(AP, 8/9/18)
2018 Aug 9, Swedish home
furnishings giant IKEA opened its first store in India in the
southern city of Hyderabad.
(AP, 8/9/18)
2018 Aug 11, In southern India
more than half of the 14 districts in Kerala state were put on high
alert, as the death toll from one of the worst floods in the state
reached 34.
(Reuters, 8/11/18)
2018 Aug 14, The Indian rupee
fell to an all-time low against the US dollar amid worries that
Turkey's growing financial crisis could spread to other
developing-world economies.
(AP, 8/14/18)
2018 Aug 14, An explosion
struck the MT Desh Vaibhav in the Gulf of Oman while it was en route
to Fujairah on the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates. The
explosion on the Shipping Corporation of India crude oil tanker
caused "two casualties" and injured one sailor.
(AP, 8/15/18)
2018 Aug 15, PM Narendra Modi
said that India will send a manned flight into space by 2022. The
announcement was made as part of India's independence day
celebrations.
(AP, 8/15/18)
2018 Aug 15, Indian officials
said torrential monsoon rains have disrupted air and train services
in the southern Indian state of Kerala, where flooding, landslides
and bridge collapses have killed at least 67 people in the past
week.
(AP, 8/15/18)
2018 Aug 16, Former Indian PM
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (93) died after a prolonged illness. The Hindu
nationalist had set off a nuclear arms race with rival Pakistan but
later reached across the border to begin a groundbreaking peace
process.
(AP, 8/16/18)
2018 Aug 17, Indian authorities
said the death toll from floods that have triggered landslides and
sent torrents sweeping through villages in Kerala state trebled to
324. Rescuers moved quickly to take those marooned by floods to
1,500 state-run camps.
(AFP, 8/17/18)
2018 Aug 18, In India thousands
of stranded people were waiting for rescue and officials pleaded for
more help as relentless monsoon floods battered the southern state
of Kerala, where more than 190 have died in a little over a week.
(AP, 8/18/18)
2018 Aug 19, Indian officials
said some 800,000 people have been displaced and over 350 have died
in the worst flooding in a century in southern Kerala state.
(AP, 8/19/18)
2018 Aug 20, In southern India
floodwaters receded in Kerala state, leaving rescuers the grim task
of retrieving bodies as the death toll from the worst monsoon rains
in a century rose above 400.
(AFP, 8/20/18)
2018 Aug 21, Pakistan's newly
installed PM Imran Khan offered to start a dialogue with archrival
India to resolve conflicts between the two nuclear armed nations,
including the long-standing dispute over the Kashmir region.
(AP, 8/21/18)
2018 Aug 22, In India a fire in
the financial hub of Mumbai killed four people and injured 16, as
the blaze spread quickly through a tall, residential building.
(Reuters, 8/22/18)
2018 Aug 23, In India the
ruling party in Kerala state, run by the Communist Party of India
(Marxist), protested the central government's refusal to accept $100
million in relief offered by foreign governments.
(AP, 8/23/18)
2018 Aug 28, In India police
raided the homes of at least half a dozen activists, writers and
lawyers across the country, known for supporting resistance
movements and marginalized groups, or for speaking out against the
government.
(SFC, 8/31/18, p.A4)
2018 Aug 29, India's Supreme
Court ordered police to put five prominent rights campaigners
suspected of links to Maoist guerrillas under house arrest as
outrage grew over their detention a day earlier.
(Reuters, 8/29/18)
2018 Aug 29, Indian police
arrested Bangladeshi monk Bhante Sangh Priya on suspicion of
sexually abusing children at the Bodh Gaya Buddhist shelter and
meditation center in Bihar state.
(AP, 8/30/18)
2018 Aug 30, India's main
opposition Congress party lashed out at PM Narendra Modi after
central bank data showed that his shock 2016 move to ban high-value
notes failed to meet his key objective of flushing out money hidden
from the tax man.
(Reuters, 8/30/18)
2018 Aug 30, In Nepal a two-day
summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical
and Economic Cooperation began in Kathmandu. Leaders of seven South
and Southeast Asian nations (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal,
Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand) met to discuss regional trade,
economic cooperation, security and peace.
(AP, 8/30/18)
2018 Aug 31, In Nepal an
agreement to study the feasibility of a rail line linking India and
Nepal was signed by officials during a meeting between Nepal's PM
K.P. Sharma Oli and Indian premier Narendra Modi on the sidelines of
a regional summit of seven South and East Asian countries.
(Reuters, 8/31/18)
2018 Sep 2, In India there were
nearly 200 confirmed cases of what is locally called rat fever in
Kerala state following the worst flooding in a century. The
waterborne disease leptospirosis is transmitted via the urine of
infected animals, with symptoms including muscle pain and fever.
(Reuters, 9/3/18)
2018 Sep 4, In India a highway
overpass collapsed in the crowded city of Kolkata, and some injured
people were being treated at a nearby hospital.
(AP, 9/4/18)
2018 Sep 5, In India thousands
of farmers and laborers paralyzed central New Delhi in a protest
against what they called the anti-people policies of PM Narendra
Modi's government, as opposition parties step up pressure ahead of
key elections.
(Reuters, 9/5/18)
2018 Sep 5, In India police
searched for 22 people who were missing after a motorized boat
capsized in the flooded Brahmaputra River in the remote northeast.
Three bodies were recovered and 11 people were rescued.
(AP, 9/5/18)
2018 Sep 6, India and the
United States signed an accord on secure military communications
that both sides hailed as a breakthrough. The Communications
Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) had been stalled for
years because of India's concerns that it would open up its
communications network to the US military.
(Reuters, 9/6/18)
2018 Sep 6, India's top court
scrapped Section 377, a colonial-era ban on gay sex, in a landmark
judgment that sparked celebrations across India and elsewhere in
South Asia, where activists hope to push for similar reform.
(Reuters, 9/6/18)
2018 Sep 7, In the Czech Rep.
Indian President Ram Nath Kovind called on Czech defense firms to
come to India to create joint venture companies after meeting his
Czech counterpart Milos Zeman in Prague.
(AP, 9/7/18)
2018 Sep 9, In India five men
asphyxiated by toxic fumes while cleaning a septic tank at a housing
complex in New Delhi. Four men were declared dead on arrival at a
nearby hospital, and the fifth man died at the hospital the next
day.
(AP, 9/10/18)
2018 Sep 11, In southern India
a bus carrying pilgrims from a Hindu temple in the hills of
Telangana state plunged off a road, killing at least 55 people
including four children.
(AP, 9/11/18)
2018 Sep 12, In northern India
three men reportedly drugged, kidnapped and raped a teenage girl
while she was on her way to a test-preparation course. The girl was
able to name the suspects.
(AP, 9/15/18)
2018 Sep 13, In India a group
of Indian Catholic nuns staged a rare street protest in the southern
state of Kerala demanding justice after an alleged sexual assault of
a nun by a bishop. The protest, now in its sixth day in Kochi,
Kerala's financial hub, gathered momentum as the locals, activists,
writers and politicians came out in support.
(Reuters, 9/13/18)
2018 Sep 13, Indian health
authorities rushed medical supplies to northern towns and villages
where at least 50 people have died from fever over the past two
weeks in the Rohilkhand region of Uttar Pradesh state.
(AP, 9/13/18)
2018 Sep 14, An Indian court
ruled there is enough evidence to send former UN climate chief
Rajendra Pachauri to trial on sexual harassment charges in a case
filed by a former female colleague in New Delhi. Police registered
the case against Pachauri after the 29-year-old female colleague
accused him three years ago of sexual harassment and criminal
intimidation.
(AP, 9/15/18)
2018 Sep 16, In India four
police officers were suspended, three days after a mob beat a Muslim
business-school graduate to death near Imphal. A video showed armed
policemen standing around the man as he lay on his side in a field.
(AP, 9/17/18)
2018 Sep 18, Bollywood actress
and former porn star Sunny Leone (37) appeared in New Delhi for the
unveiling of her wax likeness at the city's Madame Tussauds museum.
She made a name for herself in the porn industry before breaking
into Bollywood in 2012, starring in the sequel to the hit movie
"Jism" (Hindi for body).
(AP, 9/18/18)
2018 Sep 19, India's government
approved an ordinance to implement a top court ruling striking down
the Muslim practice that allows men to instantly divorce.
(AP, 9/19/18)
2018 Sep 19, Police in
Indian-controlled Kashmir fired tear gas and used batons to break up
religious processions marking the Muslim month of Muharram.
(AP, 9/19/18)
2018 Sep 20, A Pakistani
official said PM Imran Khan has written to his Indian counterpart
Narendra Modi, seeking to resolve outstanding disputes between the
two nuclear-armed nations, including the issue of the divided region
of Kashmir.
(AP, 9/20/18)
2018 Sep 20, The Vatican
accepted a request from a bishop in India to be temporarily relieved
of his pastoral duties as police questioned him for a second day. A
nun from the southern state of Kerala has accused Bishop Franco
Mulakkal, who heads the Diocese of Jalandhar, of raping her
repeatedly over a period of two years.
(Reuters, 9/20/18)
2018 Sep 21, India called off a
planned meeting between its foreign minister and her Pakistani
counterpart on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in
New York this month following the killing of an Indian border guard
in Kashmir and Pakistan's glorification of insurgents fighting
Indian rule in the Himalayan territory.
(AP, 9/21/18)
2018 Sep 22, Pakistani PM Imran
Khan labeled India arrogant for cancelling what would have been the
countries' first high-level talks in years.
(Reuters, 9/22/18)
2018 Sep 23, India's PM
Narendra Modi launched the world's biggest health insurance scheme,
dubbed "Modicare," promising free coverage for half a billion of
India's poorest citizens ahead of national elections next year.
(AFP, 9/23/18)
2018 Sep 23, In India at least
40 Maoist rebels were involved in the fatal shooting of lawmaker
Kidari Sarveshwara Rao, an Andhra Pradesh state assembly member from
the ruling Telugu Desam party, while he visited with constituents of
a tribal area about 700 km (435 miles) northeast of Hyderabad. His
supporters attacked two police stations in anger over the killing,
setting fire to one and vandalizing the other.
(AP, 9/23/18)
2018 Sep 24, India's army said
five suspected militants and a soldier have been killed in two days
of fighting near the highly militarized de facto frontier that
divides the disputed region of Kashmir.
(AP, 9/24/18)
2018 Sep 25, In India the
relatives of thousands of workers who died cleaning sewers protested
in New Delhi, aiming to stop the practice of workers entering
underground conduits to unclog drains and remove waste with their
bare hands.
(Reuters, 9/25/18)
2018 Sep 26, India's top court
upheld the government's policy of issuing a 12-digit identification
number to every citizen, but said it can't be made mandatory for
services such as bank accounts, cellphone connections and school
admissions.
(AP, 9/26/18)
2018 Sep 27, India's Chief
Justice Dipak Misra and the rest of the five-member court struck
down a 158-year-old law that treated adultery in certain cases as a
criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison. The court
called the law unconstitutional and noted that a "husband is not the
master of woman." The law did not allow wives to prosecute
adulterous husbands.
(AP, 9/27/18)
2018 Sep 27, Anti-India
protests and clashes erupted in several places in disputed Kashmir
after Indian troops killed a young shepherd who was tending his
sheep. An Indian soldier and three rebels were killed in two
separate gunbattles.
(AP, 9/27/18)
2018 Sep 28, India's Supreme
Court lifted a temple's ban on women of menstruating age, holding
that equality is supreme irrespective of age and gender. The
historic Sabarimala temple had barred women age 10 to 50 from
entering the temple, one of the largest Hindu pilgrimage centers in
the world.
(AP, 9/28/18)
2018 Sep 29, In India Vivek
Tiwari, a sales manager for Apple, was shot dead early today by a
police constable in the Gomti Nagar neighborhood in Uttar Pradesh
state. State police soon arrested two constables over the shooting.
(Reuters, 9/30/18)
2018 Oct 2, Indian police fired
teargas and water cannons to halt and scatter a march by thousands
of protesting farmers heading for the capital New Delhi to demand
better prices for their produce.
(Reuters, 10/2/18)
2018 Oct 3, India raised
state-mandated prices for winter crops such as wheat and rapeseed,
as PM Narendra Modi tried to defuse discontent among farmers ahead
of elections in 2019.
(Reuters, 10/3/18)
2018 Oct 3, Indian police
bussed seven Rohingya Muslims to the border to be deported to
neighboring Myanmar for illegal entry. An estimated 40,000 Rohingya
live in India after having fled violence and persecution in
Buddhist-majority Myanmar's Rakhine state over the years.
(Reuters, 10/3/18)
2018 Oct 4, India deported
seven Rohingya Muslim men to Myanmar.
(Reuters, 10/4/18)
2018 Oct 4, Russian President
Vladimir Putin arrived in India for a two-day visit during which
India is expected to sign a $5 billion deal to buy Russian S-400 air
defense systems despite a new US law ordering sanctions on any
country trading with Russia's defense and intelligence sectors.
(AP, 10/4/18)
2018 Oct 5, Russia signed a $5
billion deal with India to supply five regiments of S-400
anti-aircraft missiles to India. The contract was signed during
Pres. Vladimir Putin's trip to India.
(Reuters, 10/5/18)(SFC, 10/6/18, p.A3)
2018 Oct 6, In eastern India 34
schoolgirls aged between 12 and 16 were taken to hospital after
being beaten with sticks by a group of boys, along with the boys'
mothers and neighbors, who had harassed them earlier in the day in
the village of Darpakha, Bihar state. Ten people, including four
women, were arrested.
(Reuters, 10/8/18)
2018 Oct 9, In India it was
reported that tens of thousands of workers have fled Gujarat state
in recent days, and many of the small factories and businesses they
work in have come to a standstill. This followed news of violence in
Gujarat against migrant workers from the central states of Bihar,
Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The exodus began after the rape of
a 14-month-old girl last month, allegedly by a man from the state of
Bihar, sparked anger among locals.
(Reuters, 10/9/18)
2018 Oct 10, In northern India
an express train partially derailed, killing five passengers and
injuring dozens more in Uttar Pradesh state.
(AP, 10/10/18)
2018 Oct 11, In eastern India
Cyclone Titli (Butterfly) damaged homes and blew down trees and
power poles, where nine people were killed and about 300,000 forced
to move to higher ground.
(AP, 10/11/18)(SFC, 10/12/18, p.A2)
2018 Oct 11, Manan Wani, a
Kashmiri scholar-turned rebel leader, and his colleague were killed
in a gunbattle with Indian troops.
(AP, 10/11/18)
2018 Oct 12, In eastern India
12 people were feared dead in a cyclone shelter swamped by a
landslide caused by heavy rains from Cyclone Titli in Orissa state.
(AP, 10/13/18)
2018 Oct 14, India's junior
external affairs minister, M.J. Akbar, denied any wrongdoing after
more than a dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct when he was
a newspaper editor.
(AP, 10/14/18)
2018 Oct 15, Indian government
minister M.J. Akbar filed a defamation suit against one of at least
10 women who have accused him of sexual harassment, calling her
allegations false and malicious.
(Reuters, 10/15/18)
2018 Oct 15, China and India
launched a program to train Afghan diplomats and China's ambassador
said it would likely be followed by joint programs in other fields
to help war-torn Afghanistan. The joint training of 10 Afghan
diplomats will take place at the Indian Foreign Service Institute.
(Reuters, 10/15/18)
2018 Oct 16, In India tensions
rose at the Sabarimala hill temple in Kerala state before an
expected face-off between women of menstrual age who can enter for
the first time in centuries and conservative Hindu groups who want
to stop them.
(Reuters, 10/16/18)
2018 Oct 17, In India
conservative Hindu groups prevented women from entering an Indian
hill temple, in defiance of India's top court which says a
centuries-long ban at the holy site is illegal.
(Reuters, 10/17/18)
2018 Oct 17, Indian government
junior minister M.J. Akbar resigned to fight accusations of sexual
harassment from more than a dozen women during his previous career
as a journalist.
(Reuters, 10/17/18)
2018 Oct 17, Anti-India
protests and clashes erupted in the main city in disputed Kashmir
after a gunbattle between militants and government forces killed at
least two rebels.
(AP, 10/17/18)
2018 Oct 18, In India Hindu
hardliners blocked intersections, threatened drivers, threw stones
at buses and ordered a 12-hour strike to successfully bar women from
the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala for a second day. India's
ruling party and the main opposition both supported the protest
blocking women from entering the pilgrimage site, in what political
observers said is a bid to court voters in the country's south ahead
of a general election due next year.
(AFP, 10/18/18)(AP, 10/18/18)
2018 Oct 19, In India dozens of
Hindu priests joined conservative protesters to block women of
menstruating age from the Sabarimala temple, one of the world's
largest Hindu pilgrimage sites, defying a ruling from India's top
court to let them enter.
(AP, 10/19/18)
2018 Oct 19, In India a train
ran over people in the northern state of Punjab. 59 people watching
fireworks were killed on the outskirts of Amritsar with another 57
injured.
(Reuters, 10/19/18)(AP, 10/19/18)(Reuters,
10/20/18)
2018 Oct 20, An Indian court
ordered the trial of sexual harassment charges against one of
world's leading climate change experts, Rajendra K. Pachauri (78).
(Reuters, 10/20/18)
2018 Oct 21, In disputed
Kashmir three local rebels were killed in a gunbattle with Indian
government forces, and six civilians were killed in an explosion at
the site after the fighting was over. 3 Indian army soldiers and two
suspected militants were killed in a gunbattle along the militarized
line of control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan. The
death toll of civilians climbed to seven as another injured young
man died at a hospital the next day.
(AP, 10/21/18)(AP, 10/22/18)
2018 Oct 22, In India the body
of Kuriakose Kattuthara, a Catholic priest who police said had
spoken to them about Bishop Franco Mulakkal, was found in his room
in a church in the northern state of Punjab. He was witness in a
case involving the alleged rape of a nun by the Roman Catholic
bishop. Mulakkal, bishop of the Diocese of Jalandhar in Punjab, was
arrested in the southern state of Kerala last month on charges of
raping the nun.
(Reuters, 10/22/18)
2018 Oct 22, The Press Trust of
India news agency reported that the number of Zika virus cases has
crossed 100 in the northern state of Rajasthan.
(AP, 10/22/18)
2018 Oct 24, In Kashmir
government forces killed two rebels during a gunbattle on the
outskirts of Srinagar, sparking violent anti-India protests by
residents.
(AP, 10/24/18)
2018 Oct 26, Indian officials
said police have rounded 2,061 people for stopping women from
entering the Sabarimala temple complex, a flashpoint Hindu shrine,
in defiance of a Supreme Court order.
(AFP, 10/26/18)
2018 Oct 26, India's Central
Pollution Control Board said New Delhi's air quality had plummeted
to the worst possible category. The level of PM2.5, tiny particulate
matter that can dangerously clog lungs, was 187, more than six times
higher than the World Health Organization considers safe.
(AP, 10/26/18)
2018 Oct 26, In northern India
a powerful explosion at a fireworks factory in Uttar Pradesh state
killed at least eight people and injured three others, as Hindus
prepare to celebrate the highly popular Diwali festival early next
month.
(AP, 10/26/18)
2018 Oct 26, In Kashmir eight
rebels and two Indian soldiers were killed in gunbattles in
northwestern Sopore area that sparked violent anti-India protests by
residents seeking an end to Indian rule in the region.
(AP, 10/26/18)
2018 Oct 27, In southern India
protesters set fire to a Hindu religious center in Kerala state for
supporting a Supreme Court decision allowing women of menstruating
age at one of the world's largest Hindu pilgrimage sites.
(AP, 10/27/18)
2018 Oct 27, In central India
at least four Indian paramilitary soldiers were killed in a powerful
land mine blast triggered by Maoist rebels in their stronghold in
Chhattisgarh state.
(AP, 10/27/18)
2018 Oct 27, In eastern India
seven elephants in search of food were electrocuted after coming in
contact with loosely hanging electric wires in Orissa state.
(AP, 10/27/18)
2018 Oct 27, Pakistan's top
court reinstated a ban on the broadcast of Indian TV content
following a petition from local producers.
(AP, 10/28/18)
2018 Oct 28, In Japan visiting
Indian PM Narendra Modi met with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe at a resort
area near Mount Fuji reaffirming their ties amid growing worries
about trade and regional stability.
(AP, 10/28/18)
2018 Oct 30, In central India
Maoist rebels killed a cameraman working for a state-run television
channel and two policemen in an ambush in Chhattisgarh state.
(AP, 10/30/18)
2018 Oct 31, India's PM
Narendra Modi unveiled a towering bronze statue of Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel, a key independence leader being promoted as a
national icon in the ruling party's campaign ahead of next year's
general elections.
(AP, 10/31/18)
2018 Nov 1, India's environment
minister blamed the Delhi government and its neighboring states for
failing in their efforts to check air pollution which today was six
times above the recommended limit, posing severe health risks.
(Reuters, 11/1/18)
2018 Nov 2, In India a
man-eating tiger that stalked the hills of Maharashtra state was
killed after an attempt to tranquilize her failed. She was suspected
of killing at least 13 villagers.
(SSFC, 11/4/18, p.A6)
2018 Nov 4, Police in India
said that they are investigating allegations that a 4-year-old girl
was gang-raped the previous evening while being treated for a snake
bite in an intensive care unit at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh state.
One man was in custody and police were looking for others.
(AP, 11/4/18)
2018 Nov 4, In India villagers
circled around the female tiger after it killed the farmer late
today in Uttar Pradesh state. When the tiger tried to escape, the
villagers crushed it under the wheels of a tractor. Villagers said
the tiger injured another person in an attack about 10 days ago.
(AP, 11/5/18)
2018 Nov 6, In India the
northern city of Ayodhya broke a Guinness World Record by lighting
300,150 earthen lamps and keeping them lit for at least 45 minutes
as part of the annual celebration of Diwali.
(SFC, 11/7/18, p.A2)
2018 Nov 7, In India Yogi
Adityanath, a robe-wearing Hindu priest who is the BJP chief
minister of Uttar Pradesh, changed the name of Faizabad district to
Ayodhya, the place where Hindus believe Lord Ram was born thousands
of years ago. Before the change, Ayodhya was the name of a town in
Faizabad. Last month PM Narendra Modi changed the name of Allahabad,
where three rivers considered holy by Hindus meet, to the Hindu name
Prayagraj.
(Reuters, 11/8/18)
2018 Nov 8, In India Maoist
rebels blew up a bus, killing four civilians and a paramilitary
soldier in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh state.
(AP, 11/8/18)
2018 Nov 8, In India pollution
levels in New Delhi that shot up to 681, as reported by the US
Embassy from 200 a day earlier after tens of thousands of people set
off a multitude of firecrackers to celebrate the major Hindu
festival of Diwali.
(AP, 11/8/18)
2018 Nov 10, As pollution in
India's capital hit "severe" on the air quality scale, the New Delhi
chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, came under fire following reports
he had left the city for an overseas family trip to Dubai.
(Reuters, 11/10/18)
2018 Nov 11, In central India
Maoist rebels triggered a blast and exchanged gunfire with
government forces in Chhattisgarh state on the eve of legislative
elections. One suspected rebel was killed.
(AP, 11/11/18)
2018 Nov 11, In disputed
Kashmir two Indian soldiers were killed over the last 24 hours when
Pakistani soldiers fired along the highly militarized de facto
frontier.
(AP, 11/11/18)
2018 Nov 14, Police in India
said a monkey has snatched a 12-day-old boy from his mother and
killed him in Runkata town on the outskirts of Agra.
(Reuters, 11/14/18)
2018 Nov 16, In India thousands
of protesters blocked all the exits at a southern airport for more
than 14 hours, stopping rights activist Trupti Desai from heading to
a Hindu temple to defy a centuries-old ban on most women entering.
Desai has led a successful campaign to give women the right to enter
the inner sanctums of three temples in the western state of
Maharashtra under the slogan "Right to Pray".
(Reuters, 11/16/18)
2018 Nov 16, Cyclone Gaya made
landfall in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, killing at
least 11 people, uprooting trees and knocking down electricity poles
after more than 80,000 people were moved out of its path to safety.
(Reuters, 11/16/18)
2018 Nov 18, Indian officials
said Cyclone Gaya has killed at least 33 people in Tamil Nadu state,
caused massive damage to homes and roads and drove tens of thousands
of people into relief camps.
(AP, 11/18/18)
2018 Nov 18, In northern India
three people were killed and over a dozen injured when two men on a
motorbike targeted a prayer hall with a grenade on the outskirts of
Amritsar, Punjab state.
(AP, 11/18/18)
2018 Nov 21, Indian police
officer Vijay Singh said seven fishermen have been arrested for
facilitating a visit by American John Allen Chau to North Sentinel
Island, where he was apparently killed. North Sentinel is in the
Andaman Islands, a group of islands at the juncture of the Bay of
Bengal and Andaman Sea. Chau had reached the vicinity of the island
on Nov. 16, before transferring to a canoe. His body was spotted the
following day by the fishermen on their return.
(AP, 11/21/18)
2018 Nov 22, India approved the
building of a new border entry point and road connecting the
northern state of Punjab to the border with arch rival Pakistan,
making it quicker and easier for Sikh pilgrims to visit a holy site.
(Reuters, 11/22/18)
2018 Nov 23, Indian security
forces killed six suspected insurgents in a fierce exchange of
gunfire early today in the Indian portion of disputed Kashmir.
(AP, 11/23/18)
2018 Nov 24, In southern India
at least 25 people, many of them schoolchildren, were killed when a
speeding bus fell into a canal in Karnataka state.
(AP, 11/24/18)
2018 Nov 24, In Ethiopia seven
employees of Indian company Infrastructure Leasing & Financial
Services (IL&FS) were taken hostage by local staff due to
non-payment of salaries by the debt-laden firm. The Indian
government took control of IL&FS in October after it defaulted
on some of its debt. On Dec. 1 Two of the 7 employees were reported
released.
(Reuters, 12/1/18)
2018 Nov 25, In northern India
tens of thousands of Hindus gathered in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh
state, and renewed calls to build a Hindu temple on a site where a
16th century mosque was attacked and demolished by Hindu hard-liners
in 1992, sparking deadly Hindu-Muslim violence.
(AFP, 11/25/18)
2018 Nov 25, In
Indian-controlled Kashmir six rebels and an army soldier were killed
in a gunbattle, sparking violent protests by residents seeking an
end to Indian rule over the disputed region and leaving a teenage
boy dead and 20 people injured.
(AP, 11/25/18)
2018 Nov 29, Indian police said
they have arrested nearly two dozen people on suspicion of
defrauding people around the world by sending fake pop-up messages
warning them that their computers were infected with a virus and
offering to fix the problem at a price. Those arrested over the last
two days posed as representatives of Microsoft and other companies
and used their logos.
(AP, 11/29/18)
2018 Nov 30, In India thousands
of farmers marched to the Parliament in New Delhi demanding higher
prices for their produce and a government waiver on their farm loans
to alleviate hardships.
(AP, 11/30/18)
2018 Dec 1, Controversial
Islamic preacher Zakir Naik (53), wanted in his home country of
India, said he has not broken any Indian law and was being targeted
by the "enemies of Islam," in a rare public speech in Malaysia where
he has sought refuge. Naik faced charges in India of money
laundering and hate speech.
(Reuters, 12/2/18)
2018 Dec 3, In India a senior
policeman and another man were killed in violent protests over a
dead cow in Uttar Pradesh state.
(Reuters, 12/3/18)
2018 Dec 3, Indian authorities
said two men accused of trying to molest a woman (20) in northern
India set her on fire two days later after she lodged a complaint
with police. Her suspected attackers have been arrested and three
policemen suspended for dereliction of duties.
(Reuters, 12/3/18)
2018 Dec 4, Authorities in
northern India said they have arrested four people for their alleged
involvement in an attack on police over rumors of cow slaughter that
left two people dead, including a police official, a day earlier. A
case was filed against 28 people who allegedly set a police outpost
on fire and killed a local police inspector.
(AP, 12/4/18)
2018 Dec 5, An Indian court
remanded to custody British businessman Christian Michel accused of
paying bribes to Indian officials to win a helicopter deal for
Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland, following a rare extradition.
(Reuters, 12/5/18)
2018 Dec 9, In India dozens of
Hindu monks and tens of thousands of followers, gathered under the
banner of groups linked to PM Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist
party, urged the Indian government to help build a temple on the
ruins of a 16th-century mosque, torn down in 1992, in the northern
town of Ayodhya.
(Reuters, 12/9/18)
2018 Dec 9, In Kashmir Indian
troops killed three rebels on the outskirts of Srinagar, ending a
nearly 18-hour-long gunbattle. Mudasir Rashid Parray (14) and Saqib
Bilal Sheikh (17) were killed in the gunbattle.
(AP, 12/9/18)(AP, 12/10/18)
2018 Dec 9, Gerald Cotton (30),
the CEO of Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX, died of
complications from Crohn's disease while traveling to an orphanage
in India. He was the only person who knew the security keys and
passwords needed to access at least $250 million in client accounts.
(SFC, 2/7/19, p.D2)
2018 Dec 10, Reserve Bank of
India Gov. Urjit Patel resigned amid a growing split between the
Indian government and the independent monetary policy authority. The
government of PM Narendra Modi has disagreed with some of the
central bank's decisions under Patel, including a move to restrict
lending by debt-ridden banks.
(AP, 12/10/18)
2018 Dec 10, A British court
handed charismatic Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya a substantial setback
by ruling he should be extradited to India to face financial fraud
allegations.
(AP, 12/10/18)
2018 Dec 10, Pope Francis
accepted the resignation of Indian Bishop Prasad Gallela (56) of
Cuddapah who, according to news reports, was accused of
misappropriating church funds to support a secret family.
(AP, 12/10/18)
2018 Dec 11, India's ruling
party lost power in three key states, dealing PM Narendra Modi his
biggest defeat since he took office in 2014 and boosting the
opposition ahead of national polls next year. The opposition
Congress party was a clear winner in Chhattisgarh state, and fell
one seat short of a majority in both Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
(Reuters, 12/11/18)(AP, 12/12/18)
2018 Dec 12, In India Isha
Ambani, the Ivy League-educated daughter of industrialist Mukesh
Ambani, thought to be India's richest man, married Anand Piramal,
whose father is industrialist Ajay Piramal, thought to be worth $10
billion.
(AP, 12/12/18)
2018 Dec 13, In northeastern
India at least 15 young miners went missing and were feared dead
following the collapse of a shaft and flooding of a coal mine they
were digging illegally in the state of Meghalaya. Three weeks later
rescuers trying to reach the miners struggled to pump out water from
the 370-foot-deep pit, further dimming their chances of survival. On
Jan. 26 rescuers located a second body from the site of a "rat-hole"
mining accident, two days after recovering the first body.
(AP, 12/14/18)(Reuters, 1/4/19)(Reuters, 1/26/19)
2018 Dec 15, In southern India
police arrested three people after at least 11 died of suspected
food poisoning following a ceremony to celebrate the construction of
a new Hindu temple in Karnataka state. Laboratory tests later showed
the presence of monocrotophos, a pesticide which attacks the nerves,
in food and vomit samples.
(AP, 12/15/18)(AP, 12/18/18)
2018 Dec 15, In Kashmir seven
civilians died and dozens were injured when Indian security forces
opened fire at people protesting the killing of three militants in a
gun battle in a village in Pulwama district. The gunfight also left
three armed rebels and a soldier dead. The separatist group Hurriyat
Conference called for a three-day strike and protests across
Kashmir.
(Reuters, 12/15/18)(AFP, 12/15/18)
2018 Dec 16, In India a New
Delhi security guard allegedly raped a three-year-old girl after
luring her with sweets. The girl was hospitalized and her suspected
attacker was soon arrested.
(Reuters, 12/17/18)
2018 Dec 17, PM Narendra Modi
said India will give financial assistance of $1.4 billion to the
Maldives, the biggest aid yet to the Indian Ocean island nation that
is grappling with debt from a Chinese building spree.
(Reuters, 12/17/18)
2018 Dec 17, An Indian court
jailed for life Sajjan Kumar, a leader of the main opposition
Congress party, for his role in anti-Sikh riots that erupted after
the 1984 murder of the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, and
killed nearly 3,000 people.
(Reuters, 12/17/18)
2018 Dec 17, In India at least
six people died and 129 others were injured in a fire that broke out
in the five-story government-run ESIC Kamgar Hospital in the
suburban Andheri area of Mumbai. The death toll soon rose to eight.
(AP, 12/17/18)(AP, 12/18/18)
2018 Dec 17, Pakistan's foreign
ministry spokesman, Mohammad Faisal, said that Indian national Hamid
Nehal Ansari is being repatriated to New Delhi after serving a
three-year prison sentence for spying.
(AP, 12/17/18)
2018 Dec 19, In India Swaroop
Raj (35), an assistant vice president at Genpact India, committed
suicide following accusations of sexual misconduct.
(http://tinyurl.com/ya8cj4a2)(Reuters, 12/21/18)
2018 Dec 20, An Indian
schoolgirl (15) died in a Delhi hospital of severe burns after two
men set fire to her on a busy street earlier this week in the
tourist city of Agra.
(Reuters, 12/21/18)
2018 Dec 21, Indian police
arrested 126 people working for a allegedly fake call center making
up to $50,000 a day by duping US citizens.
(AFP, 12/21/18)
2018 Dec 21, In India boulders
crashed down on Indian workers who were widening a mountainous road
leading to a Hindu temple in the Himalayas, killing seven of them in
Uttarakhand state.
(AP, 12/21/18)
2018 Dec 21, Pakistan
reportedly opened fire in the Keran sector of Kashmir, killing two
Indian army officers.
(AP, 12/22/18)
2018 Dec 22, In Kashmir a
gunbattle between Indian troops and rebels early today left six
militants dead and triggered a new round of anti-India protests in
the disputed Himalayan region.
(AP, 12/22/18)
2018 Dec 25, In India many
Delhi residents were forced to spend Christmas indoors as air
quality remained at "severe to emergency" levels for a fourth day,
in the capital's worst smog crisis this year.
(Reuters, 12/25/18)
2018 Dec 25, In India a woman
(42) attacked her alleged stalker (25) and cut off his genitals
before rushing him to a Mumbai hospital to save his life. The woman
and her two alleged acquaintances were taken into police custody as
investigations continued.
(Reuters, 12/27/18)
2018 Dec 27, India's lower
house of Parliament approved a bill to implement the Supreme Court's
ruling that found the Muslim practice of instant divorce was
unconstitutional.
(AP, 12/27/18)
2018 Dec 28, In India a top
official at Purvanchal University urged his students to "murder"
fellow students if confronted instead of complaining to him, amid a
wave of violence being reported from across Uttar Pradesh where the
school is based.
(Reuters, 12/30/18)
2018 Dec 28, It was reported
that steep price drops in India in recent weeks for onions and
potatoes have badly hit the rural economy in large states.
(Reuters, 12/28/18)
2018 Dec 29, In India a police
officer was stoned to death during violent protests in Ghazipur,
Uttar Pradesh state.
(Reuters, 12/30/18)
2018 Dec 29, In Kashmir
anti-India protests and clashes erupted after a gunbattle between
militants and government forces killed four rebels in the Pulwama
area.
(AP, 12/29/18)
2018 Dec 31, Indian troops
fired at Pakistani forces across the two countries' line of control
in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing a woman and
wounding nine civilians.
(AP, 12/31/18)
2018 India applied to the EU
for "geographical indication" status for basmati rice. Pakistan,
which also produced basmati rice, rejected the claim.
(SSFC, 11/29/20, p.A6)
2019 Jan 1, In southern India
millions of women stood should to shoulder along highways in Kerala
state creating a human wall 300 miles long standing fast against
sexism and oppression.
(SFC, 1/3/19, p.A4)
2019 Jan 2, In India two women
entered the Sabarimala temple in Kerala state, one of the country's
largest Hindu pilgrimage sites that had been forbidden to females
between the ages of 10 and 50, sparking protests across the state.
(AP, 1/2/19)
2019 Jan 2, In India Hindu
nationalists linked to PM Narendra Modi’s ruling party urged him to
push through laws to allow the building of a temple on the ruins of
a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya.
(Reuters, 1/2/19)
2019 Jan 3, India deported a
second small group of Rohingya Muslims, five members of a family, to
Myanmar after ordering the expulsion of members of the Myanmar
minority group and others who entered the country illegally.
(AP, 1/3/19)
2019 Jan 3, In southern India
Hindu hard-liners shut shops and businesses and clashed with police
in Kerala state to protest the entry of two women into the
Sabarimala hill temple, one of India's largest Hindu pilgrimage
sites.
(AP, 1/3/19)
2019 Jan 4, In India the office
of the chief minister of Kerala state said a woman (46) has become
the third to enter the Sabarimala Hindu temple in defiance of an
ancient ban on females of menstruating age. Temple management denied
that the Sri Lankan woman had in fact entered. Only small protests
were reported from across the state.
(Reuters, 1/4/19)
2019 Jan 5, In southern India
twin arson and bomb attacks rocked Kerala state, continuing a
violent backlash that followed the entry of two women into the
Sabarimala Hindu temple that forbids female devotees.
(AFP, 1/5/19)
2019 Jan 5, An Indian court
declared tycoon Vijay Mallya (62) a "fugitive economic offender," a
ruling that empowers authorities to confiscate his properties and
other assets. Mallya, who left India in 2016, is accused of money
laundering and cheating Indian banks out of hundreds of millions of
dollars.
(AP, 1/5/19)
2019 Jan 5, In northern India
six schoolchildren and their bus driver were killed as the vehicle
rolled down a gorge on a hilly road in Himachal Pradesh state.
(AP, 1/6/19)
2019 Jan 7, In India a small
regional party quit PM Narendra Modi's ruling coalition, protesting
against his bid to give citizenship to hundreds of thousands of
non-Muslims from neighboring countries such as Bangladesh. The Asom
Gana Parishad (AGP), based in the border state of Assam in the
northeast, has become the fourth ally to quit the ruling National
Democratic Alliance in the past year.
(Reuters, 1/7/19)
2019 Jan 8, India's lower house
of Parliament approved a bill that would grant residency and
citizenship rights to non-Muslims who entered India illegally,
allegedly after fleeing persecution in several neighboring nations,
despite protests against the legislation in the populous northeast
that brought the region to a near standstill.
(AP, 1/8/19)
2019 Jan 8, India's Supreme
Court cleared the way for Vedanta to reopen its south Indian copper
smelter by refusing to stay an order from the country's
environmental court.
(Reuters, 1/8/19)
2019 Jan 9, India's upper house
of Parliament approved a bill providing a 10 percent quota in
government jobs for the poor members of upper castes who have been
excluded from existing quotas for low-ranking castes. The bill now
only needs the approval of India's president, a formality, to become
law.
(AP, 1/10/19)
2019 Jan 10, India's federal
police chief was ousted by a panel led by PM Narendra Modi, drawing
criticism from the main opposition Congress party. Alok Verma, chief
of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), was suspended in
October along with his deputy after they accused each other of
bribery and interfering in investigations.
(Reuters, 1/10/19)
2019 Jan 11, In India leaders
of two political rivals in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh said
they will form an alliance in a bid to defeat PM Narendra Modi's
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in national election scheduled for May.
(Reuters, 1/11/19)
2019 Jan 12, In Kashmir rebel
commander Zeenatul Islam was killed along with his associate late
today in a gunbattle with Indian troops.
(AP, 1/13/19)
2019 Jan 13, In Kashmir massive
anti-India protests and clashes erupted, leading to injuries to at
least 16 people after a gunbattle between militants and government
forces overnight killed two rebels.
(AP, 1/13/19)
2019 Jan 15, In India Kanaka
Durga (39), one of two Indian women who entered an ancient Hindu
Sabarimala temple hill temple earlier this month in defiance of a
centuries-old ban on women of menstruating age, alleged she was
beaten up by her mother-in-law.
(Reuters, 1/15/19)
2019 Jan 17, An Indian court
sentenced a popular and flamboyant spiritual guru and three
followers to life in prison in the murder 16 years ago of a
journalist who published a letter about the guru's alleged sexual
exploitation of women. Dr. Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan and
his three followers were convicted on Jan. 11 on murder charges.
(AP, 1/17/19)
2019 Jan 18, Germany-based
Volkswagen Group said that it will pay a fine of 1 billion rupees
($14.2 million) imposed by India for installing software on vehicles
that allegedly cheated pollution testing devices, though it is still
appealing the order.
(AP, 1/18/19)
2019 Jan 19, India's main
opposition parties joined forces against PM Narendra Modi at a rally
in Kolkata which attracted hundreds of thousands of people months
ahead of elections.
(Reuters, 1/19/19)
2019 Jan 21, An Indian official
said police in Kerala state are investigating a suspected attempt to
illegally transport more than 100 Indians by boat to New Zealand.
The boat had reportedly left Munambam harbor in Kerala on Jan. 12.
(AP, 1/21/19)(Reuters, 1/21/19)
2019 Jan 21, In southern India
at least eight people drowned when their boat capsized in a river as
they were returning home from a religious festival on a nearby
island in Karnataka state.
(AP, 1/21/19)
2019 Jan 21, In India police
arrested 30 Rohingya, including 12 children, who were found
traveling on a bus to Gauhati, the capital of Assam state.
(AP, 1/22/19)
2019 Jan 22, In northeastern
India police arrested 31 Rohingya In Tripura state after they spent
two days in the open in a no man's land along the border with
Bangladesh.
(AP, 1/22/19)
2019 Jan 24, In northern India
at least six people were killed when a building collapsed as workers
were adding an additional floor to it in Haryana state.
(AP, 1/24/19)
2019 Jan 24, Scientists
prepared to embark on an unprecedented, years-long mission to
explore the Indian Ocean and document changes taking place beneath
the waves that could affect billions of people in the surrounding
region over the coming decades.
(AP, 1/24/19)
2019 Jan 25, Indian PM Narendra
Modi and visiting South African Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa announced they
will boost ties in key areas such as defense, maritime security,
information technology and trade under a 3-year strategic exchange
program.
(AP, 1/25/19)
2019 Jan 26, India held
national day celebrations. Thousands of Indians converged on a
ceremonial boulevard in New Delhi to watch a display of the
country's military power and cultural diversity amid tight security.
(AP, 1/26/19)
2019 Feb 1, An Indian air force
Mirage 2000 trainer aircraft crashed in Bangalore while taking off
after being upgraded by a state aerospace company, killing the two
pilots.
(AP, 2/1/19)
2019 Feb 3, India's PM Narendra
Modi paid a daylong visit to disputed Kashmir to review development
work as separatists fighting Indian rule called for a shutdown in
the Himalayan region.
(AP, 2/3/19)
2019 Feb 3, Indian news reports
said as many as 129 Indians were among those detained Jan. 30 by US
immigration authorities in connection with enrollment at a fake
university.
(AP, 2/3/19)
2019 Feb 3, In eastern India
seven people were killed and 29 injured when nine coaches of a New
Delhi-bound train derailed early today.
(AP, 2/3/19)
2019 Feb 4, A report by the
International Center for Integrated Mountain Development said that
one-third of Himalayan glaciers will melt by the end of the century
due to climate change, threatening water sources for 1.9 billion
people, even if current efforts to reduce climate change succeed.
(AP, 2/5/19)
2019 Feb 4, A British official
signed an order that paves the way for tycoon Vijay Mallya's
extradition to India to face financial fraud allegations. Mallya has
14 days to appeal.
(AP, 2/5/19)
2019 Feb 6, India's Petroleum
Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that imports of liquefied petroleum
gas (LPG) grew 12.5 percent over the past five years to 12 million
metric tons (13 million tons) in 2018-19, surpassing Japan and
putting India in second place behind China.
(AP, 2/6/19)
2019 Feb 6, In southern India
the board of the ancient Hindu Sabarimala hill temple said it now
favored allowing female worshippers of menstruating age to enter,
reversing its previous support for a centuries-old ban.
(Reuters, 2/6/19)
2019 Feb 8, An Indian court
sentenced seven Muslim men to life in prison for the murder of two
Hindu men on Aug. 27, 2013, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
The incident had sparked religious riots killing about 65 people and
displacing thousands.
(Reuters, 2/8/19)
2019 Feb 9, Indian officials
said at least 39 people have died and another 27 fallen sick from
drinking cheap spurious liquor containing toxic methanol in several
villages in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand states.
(AP, 2/9/19)
2019 Feb 9, China's foreign
ministry condemned Indian PM Narendra Modi's visit to the disputed
northeastern border state of Arunachal Pradesh, saying it
"resolutely opposes" activities by Indian leaders in the region.
(AP, 2/9/19)
2019 Feb 12, In India a fire
engulfed the Arpit Palace Hotel, a shoddily built budget hotel in
central New Delhi, killing 17 people and injuring at least four
others. The general manager of the Arpit Palace Hotel, Rajender
Singh, and manager, Vikar Kumar, were booked on suspicion of
culpable homicide for the fire.
(AP, 2/12/19)(AP, 2/13/19)
2019 Feb 13, India's Supreme
Court issued an order to remove forest dwellers in 21 states where
about 1.3 million land claims, each potentially representing a
household, were rejected.
(Reuters, 2/25/19)
2019 Feb 14, In Kashmir at
least 41 soldiers were killed and more than two dozen others wounded
in a car bomb attack on a paramilitary convoy along a key highway on
the outskirts of Srinagar. Adil Ahmad Dar (20) from the village of
Lethipora in Indian Kashmir, rammed a car full of explosives into
the convoy. His parents said he had been beaten by Indian troops a
few years back when he was returning from school. Pakistan-based
Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed
responsibility for the car bomb attack. India's PM Narendra Modi
soon placed the blame for the bombing squarely on neighboring
Pakistan.
(AP, 2/14/19)(AP, 2/15/19)(Reuters, 2/15/19)
2019 Feb 15, Indian activist S
Mugilan, who released a video critical of the police shooting of
protesters at Vedanta's south Indian copper smelter in May, killing
13 and injuring many others, went missing following a press
conference in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state. He released
an analysis of publicly available video footage that he said showed
the police had escalated the situation, leading to unnecessary
deaths.
(Reuters, 2/26/19)
2019 Feb 16, India's first
locally built semi high-speed train broke down early today on its
way back to New Delhi from Varanasi in northern Uttar Pradesh, a day
after its inauguration by PM Narendra Modi. The railway ministry
said the disruption was possibly due to cattle run over.
(Reuters, 2/16/19)
2019 Feb 17, Indian police said
authorities have detained 23 men suspected of links to the
Pakistan-based militant group that masterminded the Feb. 14 bombing
of an Indian security convoy in Kashmir that killed 44 paramilitary
police.
(Reuters, 2/17/19)
2019 Feb 17, Hundreds of Indian
soldiers descended on the village of Pinglan, which is surrounded by
south Kashmir's apple and apricot orchards, just before midnight. By
the time they left 18 hours later, one civilian, three armed
militants, and five members of the security forces were dead, a row
of houses was reduced to rubble, an unexploded missile had been
planted in a rice paddy, and more than 120 villagers had sought
treatment for exposure to tear gas, alleged beatings, and in some
cases mental trauma.
(Reuters, 4/30/19)
2019 Feb 18, Indian troops
suffered new losses in a battle with Kashmir militants that left
nine dead. Officials said four soldiers, a policeman, three
militants and a civilian were killed in the latest clash. The
suspected organizer of last week's suicide bombing was said to be
among the dead.
(AP, 2/18/19)(Reuters, 2/18/19)
2019 Feb 19, Pakistan accused
India of sponsoring terrorism and of using the United Nations'
highest court for "political theater" as it urged judges to dismiss
an Indian case seeking to save alleged spy Kulbhushan Jadhav from
execution.
(AP, 2/19/19)
2019 Feb 19, Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman arrived in India after visiting Pakistan.
(AP, 2/19/19)
2019 Feb 20, In India Saudi
Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Indian leader Narendra
Modi vowed to increase pressure on countries that fuel terrorism.
(AFP, 2/20/19)
2019 Feb 20, India's Supreme
Court found Anil Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Communications,
and two of his directors guilty of contempt of court and ordered
them to pay 5.5 billion rupees ($77.29 million) owed to Swedish
telecom equipment maker Ericsson.
(AP, 2/20/19)
2019 Feb 20, India's top court
ordered more than a dozen states to evict nearly 1 million people
from forest land as they have their failed to prove ownership
claims. The court says the eviction must be carried out within five
months.
(AP, 2/22/19)
2019 Feb 20, Pakistani and
Indian officials said that India has halted a key bus service with
the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir, cutting the only land
route linking the divided Himalayan region.
(AP, 2/20/19)
2019 Feb 21, An Indian
government minister said India has decided to stop the flow of water
to Pakistan from its share in the rivers under the Indus Water
Treaty regulating river flows between the two nations.
(Reuters, 2/21/19)
2019 Feb 21, Pakistan's PM
Imran Khan authorized the armed forces to "respond decisively and
comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure" by neighboring
India.
(AP, 2/21/19)
2019 Feb 22, India's top court
ordered state authorities to stop threats, assaults and social
boycotts of thousands of Kashmiri students, traders and
professionals in an apparent retaliation for the killing of 40
paramilitary soldiers in a suicide attack in the Indian portion of
Kashmir last week.
(AP, 2/22/19)
2019 Feb 22, An Indian
government minister said at least 41 tea plantation workers have
died from drinking toxic bootleg liquor after receiving their weekly
wages, and 20 are critically ill in hospital after nearly 100 people
drank the liquor a day earlier.
(AP, 2/22/19)
2019 Feb 23, Indian authorities
said least 93 people have died and about 200 people have been
hospitalized after drinking tainted liquor in two separate incidents
in Assam state.
(AP, 2/23/19)
2019 Feb 23, Indian authorities
arrested dozens of Muslim leaders in raids across Kashmir and sent
thousands of reinforcements to the troubled territory. Officials in
Kashmir said police have arrested at least 200 activists seeking the
end of Indian rule.
(AFP, 2/23/19)(AP, 2/23/19)
2019 Feb 23, In northern India
10 people died in an explosion at a house where firecrackers were
being illegally manufactured in Uttar Pradesh state.
(AP, 2/23/19)
2019 Feb 23, In India a fire at
the Aero India airshow in Bengaluru, run by the country's defence
ministry, destroyed three hundred cars.
(AP, 2/23/19)
2019 Feb 25, In eastern India
hundreds of indigenous people waved flags and shouted slogans to
protest against an order to evict more than one million indigenous
families accused of encroaching on forest lands.
(Reuters, 2/25/19)
2019 Feb 26, India's air force
carried out air strikes inside Pakistan killing hundreds of
militants in a training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the militant
group that claimed credit for a Feb. 14 suicide bombing attack that
killed Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir. Pakistan said there
had been no casualties at all. Following the air strike India and
Pakistan troops exchanged gunfire across the border in the disputed
region of Kashmir.
(Reuters, 2/26/19)
2019 Feb 27, Pakistani PM Imran
Khan called for talks with India and hoped "better sense" would
prevail to de-escalate the dispute with its nuclear-armed neighbor
following air strikes by both sides.
(Reuters, 2/27/19)
2019 Feb 27, Pakistan's
military said it shot down two Indian warplanes in the disputed
region of Kashmir and captured a pilot, raising tensions between the
nuclear-armed rivals to a level unseen in the last two decades.
Mortar shells fired by Indian troops from across the frontier
dividing the two sectors of Kashmir killed six civilians and wound
several others. A helicopter crash in the region also killed six
Indian air force officials and a civilian on the ground.
(AP, 2/27/19)
2019 Feb 28, Pakistan's PM
Imran Khan pledged his country would release a captured Indian
fighter pilot, a move that could help defuse the most serious
confrontation in two decades between the nuclear-armed neighbors
over the disputed region of Kashmir..
(AP, 2/28/19)
2019 Feb 28, India banned the
largest political and religious group in Indian-controlled Kashmir
in an ongoing crackdown on activists seeking the end of Indian rule.
India's home ministry issued the five-year ban on Jama'at-e-Islami,
or JeI, accusing the group of being an "unlawful association" and
supporting militancy in the region.
(AP, 3/1/19)
2019 Mar 1, Pakistani officials
handed over a captured Indian Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman at
a border crossing with India in a "gesture of peace" promised by PM
Imran Khan amid a dramatic escalation with the country's archrival
over the disputed region of Kashmir. In a heavily edited video
distributed by the Pakistani military just before his release,
Varthaman praised the professionalism of the Pakistani army and
criticized Indian media for creating war hysteria.
(AP, 3/1/19)(AFP, 3/2/19)
2019 Mar 2, Pakistan's military
said two of its soldiers have been killed in an exchange of fire
with Indian forces near the Line of Control that separates the
disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir between the rivals. Over the
last 24 hours a total of at least six civilians have been killed on
both sides of Kashmir.
(AP, 3/2/19)
2019 Mar 4, A key train service
with neighboring India resumed and schools in Pakistani Kashmir
opened in another sign of easing tensions between the two
nuclear-armed rivals since a major escalation last week over the
disputed Kashmir region.
(AP, 3/4/19)
2019 Mar 4, The Trump
administration said Washington will scrap the preferential trade
status of India and Turkey, as President Donald Trump ramped up his
battle against what his administration views as unfair foreign trade
practices.
(AFP, 3/5/19)
2019 Mar 5, Two groups
monitoring air pollution said New Delhi was the world's most
polluted capital city in 2018 in a study of the amount of fine
particulate matter known as PM2.5 in 61 capital cities around the
world. It was followed by the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka and Kabul,
capital of Afghanistan.
(Reuters, 3/5/19)
2019 Mar 5, It was reported
that Nepal has chosen a railway-track gauge used by China for its
network and not the main one India uses citing lower costs, a
setback for India as it tries to limit Chinese involvement in the
Himalayan country.
(Reuters, 3/5/19)
2019 Mar 6, Indian and
Pakistani soldiers shelled military outposts and villages along
their highly militarized frontier in disputed Kashmir, in an
outbreak of new violence despite stepped-up diplomatic efforts by
the rival countries to ease tensions.
(AP, 3/6/19)
2019 Mar 9, India said that it
was returning a key diplomat to Pakistan's capital amid an easing of
tensions between the nuclear neighbors, but also demanded that its
archrival take concrete steps against terrorists operating from its
territory.
(AP, 3/9/19)
2019 Mar 10, In Kashmir Indian
troops shelled the Pakistani-controlled sector, killing a
70-year-old man. India blamed Pakistani troops for the initiating
fire.
(AP, 3/11/19)
2019 Mar 11, Police in India
said they had recovered four videos from four arrested men,
involving other victims in Tamil Nadu state. A woman (19) had said
in a complaint filed with the police that she was traveling with the
four men, two of whom she knew, in a car last month when she was
forcibly disrobed and videotaped. She alleged the men then
threatened to upload the video online if she did not meet them
whenever summoned.
(Reuters, 3/12/19)
2019 Mar 14, India and Pakistan
agreed to go forward with a new border crossing and route for Sikh
pilgrims to visit a holy temple in Pakistan, a rare glimmer of
cooperation after tension flared over the neighbors' decades-old
Kashmir dispute.
(Reuters, 3/14/19)
2019 Mar 14, In India part of a
pedestrian bridge connecting a train station with road has collapsed
in Mumbai, killing at least one person and injuring more than a
dozen others.
(AP, 3/14/19)
2019 Mar 18, An Indian police
official said a protester and a policeman have died in clashes
outside Vedanta Ltd's eastern Indian alumina refinery in Odisha
state.
(Reuters, 3/18/19)
2019 Mar 19, Hundreds of Indian
traders in New Delhi burned Chinese goods and urged the government
to raise import taxes on them to protest against China's trade and
foreign policies. Chinese good were burned in similar protests in
several other cities.
(Reuters, 3/19/19)
2019 Mar 20, An Indian court
acquitted four Hindu men accused of bombing a train between India
and Pakistan on Feb. 19, 2007, that killed 68 people, mostly
Pakistanis, citing a lack of evidence.
(Reuters, 3/20/19)
2019 Mar 20, Diamond tycoon
Nirav Modi, whose jewels once adorned stars from Bollywood to
Hollywood, was ordered held without bail in London, more than a year
after Indian authorities alleged he was involved in a $1.8 billion
bank fraud.
(AP, 3/20/19)
2019 Mar 22, Indian security
forces killed seven militants who they said belonged to
Pakistan-based groups during four gunbattles in Kashmir - the
highest number of clashes in a single day in recent years. Police
said the militants belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad
(JeM).
(Reuters, 3/22/19)
2019 Mar 25, The board of
India's private Jet Airways accepted the resignations of Chairman
Naresh Goyal, his wife and a nominee of Gulf carrier Etihad Airways.
Goyal quit amid mounting financial woes which have forced Jet
Airways to suspend 14 international routes and ground more than 80
planes. The board approved the setting up of an interim management
committee to oversee daily operations and cash flow of the company.
(AP, 3/25/19)
2019 Mar 27, India shot down
one of its satellites in space with an anti-satellite missile. The
government said the test was aimed at protecting India's assets in
space against foreign attacks. The United States ran the first
anti-satellite test in 1959, when satellites themselves were rare
and new.
(Reuters, 3/27/19)
2019 Apr 1, Facebook said it
has deleted 712 accounts and 390 pages in India and Pakistan for
"inauthentic behavior," many of them linked to India's opposition
Congress party days before a general election, and others related to
Pakistan's military.
(Reuters, 4/1/19)
2019 Apr 2, In Kashmir Pakistan
and India traded fire in the disputed Himalayan region, leaving
seven people dead.
(AP, 4/2/19)
2019 Apr 3, India's PM Narendra
Modi staged a massive rally in Kolkata, stepping up the battle with
a local rival who could frustrate his party's return to power.
(AFP, 4/3/19)
2019 Apr 4, India's central
bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to
6%, moving to prop up economic growth ahead of a national election
next week.
(AP, 4/4/19)
2019 Apr 4, In central India
Maoist rebels ambushed and killed four Indian paramilitary soldiers
and wounded another two in the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh
state.
(AP, 4/4/19)
2019 Apr 5, Pakistan's Foreign
Ministry said officials will release 360 Indian prisoners detained
for fishing illegally in the country's territorial waters in the
Arabian sea. The anglers will be freed in four batches starting
April 15.
(AP, 4/5/19)
2019 Apr 7, Authorities in
India's portion of disputed Kashmir began enforcing a ban on the
movement of civilian vehicles on a key highway to keep it open
exclusively for military and paramilitary convoys two days a week.
(AP, 4/7/19)
2019 Apr 9, In India at least
seven people including a state legislator for the ruling Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) were killed in two separate attacks, days before
India begins a general election.
(Reuters, 4/9/19)
2019 Apr 10, British PM Theresa
May expressed regret for a massacre by British troops in India in
1919 but stopped short of a full apology. The April 13, 1919
Jallianwala Bagh massacre, in which British troops opened fire on
thousands of unarmed protesters, remains an enduring scar from
British colonial rule in India.
(AFP, 4/10/19)
2019 Apr 11, In India at least
4 people were killed on the first day of polling in general
elections, which are seen as a referendum on PM Narendra Modi and
his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. The mammoth vote ends
May 19, and counting will he held on May 23.
(AP, 4/11/19)(AP, 4/12/19)
2019 Apr 15, India's election
commission banned Yogi Adityanath, a member of PM Narendra Modi's
ruling party and a Hindu state chief minister, from campaigning for
three days after anti-Muslim comments in an election that will end
next month.
(Reuters, 4/16/19)
2019 Apr 15, In India Jet
Airways pilots demonstrated in Mumbai, saying they had not received
a salary in four months.
(AP, 4/16/19)
2019 Apr 16, India's Supreme
Court agreed to consider a petition from a Muslim couple to allow
women into mosques, seeking to overturn a centuries-old practice
that largely bars women from the places of worship.
(Reuters, 4/16/19)
2019 Apr 16, Indian airline Jet
Airways' stock fell sharply after its former chairman reportedly
withdrew plans to bid for a controlling stake in the company and
news media said its flight operations might be temporarily halted.
Naresh Goyal had founded Jet Airways in 1992. Etihad Aviation Group
purchased a 24% stake in Jet Airways in 2013.
(AP, 4/16/19)
2019 Apr 16, In central and
western India a powerful storm bringing dust, lightning and
unseasonal rain has killed at least 47 people in Madhya Pradesh,
Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan states.
(AP, 4/17/19)
2019 Apr 17, In India Mukesh
Ambani, who heads Reliance Industries, and Uday Kotak, managing
director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, both endorsed Milind Deora, the
Congress candidate for the South Mumbai constituency.
(Reuters, 4/18/19)
2019 Apr 17, India's
debt-stricken Jet Airways halted all of its operations after failing
to secure emergency funding from lenders, leaving it teetering on
the edge of bankruptcy.
(AFP, 4/17/19)
2019 Apr 18, Voting in the
second phase of India's general election remained largely peaceful
amid massive security and a lockdown in parts of the main city in
Indian-controlled Kashmir. Sporadic violence flared in the east and
the insurgency-wracked state of Jammu and Kashmir.
(AP, 4/18/19)(Reuters, 4/18/19)
2019 Apr 19, In India Priyanka
Chaturvedi, a spokeswoman for India's main opposition Congress
party, quit and joined a group allied with PM Narendra Modi's ruling
party, complaining that misbehavior toward her by male Congress
members was ignored.
(Reuters, 4/19/19)
2019 Apr 23, In India one
person was killed as people in the third phase of the country's
general election. A man (52) was hacked to death with a cleaver as
two groups clashed during voting in Murshidabad constituency in West
Bengal state.
(AP, 4/23/19)
2019 Apr 24, An Indian state
court moved to lift a ban on popular video app TikTok in the
country, in a boost for its developer Beijing Bytedance Technology
Co., reversing its April 3 decision pushing for the ban. The
southern state of Tamil Nadu had ordered the federal government to
prohibit TikTok downloads, saying the app was encouraging
pornography and could expose children to sexual predators.
(Reuters, 4/24/19)
2019 Apr 29, The fourth phase
of India's staggered national election was marred by multiple
clashes that injured at least seven people and led to security
forces firing warning shots outside one polling station.
(AP, 4/29/19)
2019 May 1, In western India
Maoist rebels triggered a land mine blast on van carrying police
commandos in the insurgents' stronghold in Maharashtra state and
killed 15 officers and their driver.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, India began
evacuating hundreds of thousands of villagers and shut down
operations at two major ports on its east coast ahead of impending
Cyclonic Storm Fani expected to make landfall on May 3.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 2, In India hundreds
of thousands of people were evacuated along the eastern coast as
authorities braced for Cyclone Fani moving through the Bay of
Bengal.
(AP, 5/2/19)
2019 May 3, Cyclone Fani tore
through India's eastern coast as a grade 5 storm, lashing beaches
with rain and winds gusting up to 205 km (127 miles) per hour and
affecting weather as far away as Mount Everest as it approached the
former imperial capital of Kolkata. At least three people died
Cyclone Fani slammed into eastern India. Media reports put the death
toll at up to six.
(AP, 5/3/19)(AP, 5/3/19)
2019 May 4, Tropical cyclone
Fani, the strongest to hit India in five years, killed at least 12
people in eastern Odisha state before swinging north-eastwards into
Bangladesh where five more people died and more than a million were
moved to safety.
(Reuters, 5/4/19)
2019 May 5, Indian officials
said hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless after a
cyclone packing winds of about 200 km per hour slammed into eastern
India. At least 33 people were killed after cyclone Fani struck the
state of Odisha.
(Reuters, 5/05/19)
2019 May 6, Indian voters cast
ballots in the crucial fifth phase of the country’s marathon
elections.
(AP, 5/06/19)
2019 May 6, In India a panel of
judges dismissed a sexual harassment complaint against chief justice
Ranjan Gogoi. Protesters soon responded carrying placards demanding
a new and impartial investigation.
(Reuters, 5/07/19)
2019 May 6, Officials said
Cyclone Fani, that tore through parts of South Asia, has killed at
least 34 people in India and 15 in neighboring Bangladesh and
smashed thousands of thatched-roof huts.
(AP, 5/06/19)
2019 May 10, Islamic State (IS)
claimed for the first time that it has established a "province" in
India, after a clash between militants and security forces in the
contested Kashmir region killed a militant with alleged ties to the
group. An Indian police statement said that a militant called Ishfaq
Ahmad Sofi was killed in an encounter in Shopian.
(Reuters, 5/11/19)
2019 May 12, Indians voted in
the next-to-last round of a six-week-long national election marked
by a highly acrimonious campaign that has seen PM Narendra Modi
blame opposition party chief Rahul Gandhi's family for the country's
ills.
(AP, 5/12/19)
2019 May 14, Iranian Foreign
Minister Javad Zarif met with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi,
days after India decided to follow US restrictions on buying Iranian
oil. Zarif held discussions with Indian External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj on issues of mutual interest, including the evolving
situation in Afghanistan.
(AP, 5/14/19)
2019 May 16, Indian troops and
separatist militants clashed in Indian-controlled Kashmir and five
people were killed including civilian Rayees Ahmad Dar (32). Three
JeM militants, including a Pakistani commander, and an Indian
soldier were killed in the gun battle in Dalipora, a village in
south Kashmir, which began in the early hours.
(AP, 5/16/19)
2019 May 16, In
Indian-controlled Kashmir a Muslim man was shot and killed and
another injured by Hindu vigilantes over allegations of smuggling
cows.
(AP, 5/16/19)
2019 May 19, Voting in India's
mammoth national election ended with the seventh and final phase of
a grueling poll that lasted more than five weeks. Exit polls
predicted a victory for PM Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party
and its allies. Violent clashes broke out in the eastern state of
West Bengal.
(AP, 5/19/19)(Reuters, 5/19/19)
2019 May 20, The Jammu-Kashmir
Coalition of Civil Society released a detailed report saying India
is using torture as a "matter of policy" and "instrument of control"
in Kashmir, where rebels have been fighting against Indian rule
since 1989.
(AP, 5/20/19)
2019 May 21, An Indian lawmaker
in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh was reported killed
in an ambush by suspected rebels. Legislative Assembly member Tirong
Aboh of the National People's Party and 10 relatives and party
workers were attacked with automatic weapons as they traveled to
Aboh's constituency.
(AP, 5/21/19)
2019 May 23, In India
vote-counting trends showed PM Narendra Modi's ruling party winning
285 seats against just 53 for Congress. PM Modi (68) and his party
declared victory.
(Reuters, 5/23/19)
2019 May 24, In India at least
19 students were killed in a fire that broke out in a four-story
building in the western city of Surat. A youth died in hospital the
next day, increasing the toll to 20. Police soon charged three
owners of the tuition center at the Takshashila Arcade with culpable
homicide not amounting to murder, and attempted culpable homicide.
(AP, 5/24/19)(AP, 5/25/19)(SFC, 5/25/19, p.A2)
2019 May 25, In India Rahul
Gandhi announced his resignation as leader of India's Congress Party
after losing a second general election to PM Narendra Modi.
(Reuters, 7/2/19)
2019 May 26, India's Pres. Ram
Nath Kovind appointed Narendra Modi as the prime minister, soon
after newly elected lawmakers led by Modi's Hindu nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party chose him as their leader following a
thunderous victory in national elections. Modi’s BJP party won 303
seats in the 542-member lower house of Parliament.
(AP, 5/26/19)(SFC, 5/31/19, p.A2)
2019 May 26, In India Surendra
Singh was shot dead overnight in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh state. He was
an aide to Smriti Irani, a former television actress and dogged
minister in PM Narendra Modi's cabinet.
(Reuters, 5/26/19)
2019 May 26, Eight climbers
failed to return after climbing on Nanda Devi East peak, India's
second highest mountain. Officials later said they are all presumed
dead. On June 23, paramilitary soldiers found the bodies of seven of
the eight climbers at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters (16,400
feet).
(AFP, 6/1/19)(AP, 6/24/19)
2019 May 30, In India Narendra
Modi was sworn in for a 2nd term as prime minister.
(SFC, 5/31/19, p.A2)
2019 Jun 3, Indian air force
pilots spotted five bodies in the Himalayas near the border with
China and Nepal while searching for eight climbers who went missing
in an avalanche while attempting to chart a new route on India's
second-highest mountain.
(AP, 6/3/19)
2019 Jun 3, An Indian air force
aircraft with 13 people on board went missing in remote northeastern
mountains bordering China.
(Reuters, 6/3/19)
2019 Jun 3, India issued heat
wave warnings for some places in western Rajasthan and Madhya
Pradesh state following similar extreme weather a day earlier.
(Reuters, 6/3/19)
2019 Jun 4, In India hospitals
across the desert state of Rajasthan reported a surge in heatstroke
cases as fierce temperatures kept up for a fourth day across
northern India.
(AFP, 6/4/19)
2019 Jun 6, India's central
bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to
5.75% with immediate effect to fortify the economy as consumer
spending and corporate investment falter.
(AP, 6/6/19)
2019 Jun 6, In India at least
24 people were killed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh
overnight as raging winds flattened homes, trees and electricity
poles.
(AFP, 6/7/19)
2019 Jun 8, Indian PM Narendra
Modi arrived in the Maldives on his first official overseas trip
since being elected to a second term.
(AP, 6/8/19)
2019 Jun 8, India's annual
monsoon, which delivers about 70 percent of the country's rainfall,
officially arrived on the coast of southern Kerala state, a week
later than usual.
(Reuters, 6/8/19)
2019 Jun 9, In Sri Lanka Indian
PM Narendra Modi paid homage to the more than 250 people killed in
the Easter suicide bombings, and agreed with Sri Lanka's leaders to
step up cooperation to combat terrorism.
(AP, 6/9/19)
2019 Jun 10, India's top court
ordered the release of journalist Prashant Kanojia (26), arrested
for a social media post about a Hindu nationalist state chief
minister, in a case that highlighted growing concerns over free
speech and media freedom.
(Reuters, 6/11/19)
2019 Jun 10, In India a bomb
killed two people in West Bengal, taking the death toll in
post-election violence to 15.
(Reuters, 6/11/19)
2019 Jun 10, In India Girish
Karnad (81), a top playwright, actor and director and a rights
activist, died in Bangalore after a prolonged illness.
(AP, 6/10/19)
2019 Jun 11, The Indian air
force spotted the wreckage of an AN-32 transport plane nine days
after it went missing near the border with China. On June 13
authorities said there were no survivors.
(AP, 6/11/19)(AP, 6/13/19)
2019 Jun 11, In India four
people, ages 69-81, returning from a Hindu pilgrimage died while
traveling in a non-air-conditioned coach on a train during a summer
heat wave.
(AP, 6/12/19)
2019 Jun 12, In India thousands
of supporters of PM Narendra Modi clashed with police as they
marched in Kolkata to protest against weeks of political violence
that has claimed at least 12 lives.
(AFP, 6/12/19)
2019 Jun 12, Indian authorities
raided the home of Mohammed Azarudeen in Tamil Nadu state. Police
later said Azarudeen was friends on Facebook with Zahran Hashim, the
alleged leader of the suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter
that killed more than 250 people. Azarudeen was arrested for
spreading Islamic State group ideology on social media to recruit
young people to participate in a terrorist attack in southern India.
(AP, 6/14/19)
2019 Jun 12, In northern India
two policemen were suspended for beating a TV journalist and
damaging his equipment after he reported on unlicensed vendors at a
railroad station. It was the third incident involving journalists in
Uttar Pradesh state in the past week.
(AP, 6/12/19)
2019 Jun 12, Amnesty
International said the Indian government is widely misusing a law
allowing for detention without trial in the Indian part of the
contested Kashmir region, and fuelling animosity with it.
(Reuters, 6/12/19)
2019 Jun 12, Indian health
officials said at least 31 children have died in northern Bihar
state in the last 10 days from a deadly brain disease believed
linked to a toxic substance found in lychee fruit.
(AP, 6/12/19)
2019 Jun 13, Cyclone Vayu
battered an Indian fishing hub with heavy wind, waves and rain and
was forecast to bring dangerous weather conditions even as it veered
away from the subcontinent's western coast.
(AP, 6/13/19)
2019 Jun 14, In India nearly
30,000 doctors went on a one-day strike, most in West Bengal, New
Delhi and the western state of Maharashtra. The protests were
launched in response to an attack at the NRS Medical College in
Kolkata on June 10 that left three junior doctors seriously injured
after a dispute with a family whose relative had died.
(AP, 6/14/19)
2019 Jun 16, It was reported
that nearly 43% of the new members of India's lower house of
Parliament, that convenes on June 17 for the first time since the
election, won despite facing criminal charges. More than a quarter
of those relate to rape, murder or attempted murder, according to a
report by the civic group Association of Democratic Reforms.
(AP, 6/16/19)
2019 Jun 17, Tens of thousands
of Indian doctors went on strike calling for more protection against
violence by patients and their families, as parliament met for the
first time since national elections.
(AFP, 6/17/19)
2019 Jun 17, Two Indian
soldiers were killed late today after a car bombing targeted an
armored vehicle in disputed Kashmir.
(AP, 6/18/19)
2019 Jun 18, Indian authorities
said more than 100 children have died in an encephalitis outbreak in
the eastern state of Bihar.
(AP, 6/18/19)
2019 Jun 19, Indian authorities
said that 114 children have died in an encephalitis outbreak this
month in eastern Bihar, one of the country's poorest states. There
have been more than 500 cases of encephalitis registered since the
outbreak began June 1.
(AP, 6/19/19)
2019 Jun 19, It was reported
that millions of people are turning to water tank trucks in the
southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu as house and hotel taps run dry
because of an acute water shortage caused by drying lakes and
depleted groundwater.
(AP, 6/19/19)
2019 Jun 20, India's government
created a new ministry to respond to a growing water crisis, with
more than 60% of the country's 1.3 billion people dependent on
farming and favorable monsoon rains. The new Ministry of Water Power
will tackle water conservation and management.
(AP, 6/20/19)
2019 Jun 20, An Indian court
sentenced former police officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who alleged PM
Narendra Modi's complicity in killings of Muslims in 2002, to life
in prison over the 1990 death of a person in custody.
(AP, 6/20/19)
2019 Jun 20, In northern India
a bus plunged down a 1,600-foot gorge killing at least 44 people in
Himachal Pradesh state.
(http://tinyurl.com/yytbqrfc)
2019 Jun 21, India's PM Naredra
Modi practiced various yoga asanas alongside an estimated 40,000
people in Jharkhand state on the 5th Int'l. Yoga Day. In 2014 Modi
successfully lobbied the UN to designate June 21 as Int'l. Yoga Day.
(SFC, 6/22/19, p.A4)
2019 Jun 21, In southern India
pumping stations began lifting Godavari River water toward parched
land in Telangana state in what is said to be the world's largest
such irrigation project.
(AP, 6/21/19)
2019 Jun 21, A US State
Department report said some senior officials from India's PM
Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) last year had made "inflammatory speeches" against religious
minorities.
(Reuters, 6/23/19)
2019 Jun 22, In India Tabrez
Ansari (24), a Muslim man suspected of stealing a motorcycle, died
four days after he was beaten by a Hindu mob for some 12 hours and
forced to chant prayers to Hindu gods in Jharkhand state. Videos of
the attack had circulated widely.
(SFC, 6/26/19, p.A4)
2019 Jun 23, In India at least
14 people died and 50 others were wounded when the tent collapsed
during a Hindu ceremony in Barmer, Rajasthan state.
(AP, 6/23/19)
2019 Jun 23, In eastern India a
medical official said at least 129 children have now died of Acute
Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in the town of Muzaffarpur, Bihar state,
since an outbreak earlier this month.
(Reuters, 6/23/19)
2019 Jun 24, India's Supreme
Court directed state and national authorities to file reports to the
court on an encephalitis outbreak in the eastern state of Bihar this
month in which 152 children have died.
(AP, 6/24/19)
2019 Jun 28, It was reported
that India's government has cut off advertisements to at least three
major newspaper groups in a move that executives and an opposition
leader said was likely retaliation for unfavorable reports.
(Reuters, 6/28/19)
2019 Jun 28, In eastern India
Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh state killed three paramilitary
soldiers patrolling on motorbikes and a young girl who was riding in
a passing bus.
(AP, 6/28/19)
2019 Jun 29, In northern India
customs officials in Punjab seized narcotics worth $390 million that
were smuggled from neighboring Pakistan, in the country's largest
seizure of illegal drugs.
(AP, 7/1/19)
2019 Jun 29, In western India a
4.5-meter (15-foot) high wall collapsed on a cluster of tin-roofed
huts housing migrant workers and their families following heavy
rains, killing at least 16 people in Pune, Maharashtra state.
(AP, 6/29/19)
2019 Jun 30, Indian PM Narendra
Modi pushed for greater grassroots water conservation efforts amid
concerns weak monsoon rains would push millions of drought-hit
people to the edge and hammer agricultural production.
(Reuters, 6/30/19)
2019 Jul 1, In India heavy
rains flooded parts of Mumbai, as the country's four-month summer
monsoon swung into full force.
(AFP, 7/1/19)
2019 Jul 1, Thousands of Hindu
pilgrims began the arduous trek to an icy Himalayan cave in disputed
Kashmir, with tens of thousands of Indian government forces guarding
roads and mountain passes. Hindus worship a stalagmite at the
Amarnath shrine as an incarnation of Shiva, the Hindu god of
destruction and regeneration.
(AP, 7/1/19)
2019 Jul 2, In western India
heavy monsoon rains caused at least four walls to collapse onto huts
and city shanties overnight and into today, killing at least 31
people and injuring dozens of others. Two men died after they were
trapped in a submerged car, raising the overall death toll in
Maharashtra state to 33.
(AP, 7/2/19)
2019 Jul 3, In India Rahul
Gandhi resigned as president of the opposition Congress Party, long
led by his politically powerful family.
(SFC, 7/4/19, p.A2)
2019 Jul 13, Authorities in
India said rain-triggered floods and mudslides have left a trail of
destruction across the northeast killing at least a dozen people.
(SSFC, 7/14/19, p.A4)
2019 Jul 16, In India a
four-story dilapidated residential building collapsed in Mumbai
killing at least ten people.
(SFC, 7/17/19, p.A4)
2019 Jul 17, India's interior
minister said India will identify and deport illegal immigrants from
across the country, stepping up a campaign that critics say could
stoke religious tension and further alienate minority Muslims.
(Reuters, 7/17/19)
2019 Jul 17, Indian officials
said millions of people are stranded by flooding in the northeast
with concern growing about food and water supplies, and that water
levels of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries were rising even
further.
(Reuters, 7/17/19)
2019 Jul 17, In India the Goa
bench of the Bombay High court held Samson D’Souza (36) guilty on
all five counts of drugging, raping and murdering 15-year old
Scarlett Keeling on north Goa’s Anjuna beach, after she had attended
a belated Valentine’s Day party over 11 years ago. A 2nd man was
acquitted.
(The Telegraph, 7/17/19)
2019 Jul 17, In India a village
headman and his supporters allegedly shot at a group of tribal
people who were working a piece of disputed agricultural land in the
state of Uttar Pradesh. 10 tribal people were gunned down over the
land dispute.
(Reuters, 7/19/19)
2019 Jul 20, Officials said the
death toll from south Asian monsoon rains has hit 164 with 90 people
dead in Nepal, 62 in India's Assam state and 12 in Bangladesh.
(SSFC, 7/21/19, p.A2)
2019 Jul 21, In northern India
lightning killed at least 39 people in Uttar Pradesh state.
(SFC, 7/25/19, p.A2)
2019 Jul 22, India launched a
rocket into space in an attempt to safely land a rover on the moon,
its most ambitious mission yet in the effort to establish itself as
a low-cost space power.
(Reuters, 7/22/19)
2019 Jul 23, In India a vote of
no-confidence bought down the government of Karnataka state led by
chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.
(Econ, 7/27/19, p.33)
2019 Jul 23, In eastern India
lightning killed at least 39 people in Bihar state, raising the
number of deaths in the state to 123 from lightning and flooding
since the monsoon season started in June.
(SFC, 7/25/19, p.A2)
2019 Jul 25, India's parliament
passed an amendment to the right to information law despite protests
from activists who say the changes would diminish the independence
of the commissioners who administer it.
(Reuters, 7/25/19)
2019 Jul 28, In India a highway
collision critically injured a woman who had accused Kuldeep Singh
Sengar, a legislator of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of
rape. The woman and her lawyer were in hospital battling for their
lives after a truck hit a car in which they were travelling, killing
the woman's two aunts, who were also in the car. One of the aunts
was a witness in the rape case.
(Reuters, 7/29/19)
2019 Jul 30, Indian and
Pakistani soldiers traded heavy gunfire across a cease fire line
dividing Kashmir leaving one Indian soldier and one Pakistani
civilian dead.
(SFC, 7/31/19, p.A2)
2019 Jul 31, In India the body
of entrepreneur V.G. Siddhartha was fished out of the Netravati
River. He was the head of Coffee Day Enterprises, a firm he had
founded in 1996. His suicide note included the phrases “I have
failed” and “I gave up”.
(Econ, 8/3/19, p.55)
2019 Aug 1, Indian authorities
questioning the former vice president of the Maldives, Ahmed Adeeb
(37), for illegally entering the country after he arrived on a
tugboat in the southern Indian port city of Thoothukudi.
(AP, 8/1/19)
2019 Aug 2, Indian security
officials said they had found evidence of attacks planned by
Pakistani military-backed militants on a major Hindu pilgrimage in
Kashmir. Thousands of Indian tourists, pilgrims and workers soon
started leaving the disputed region.
(Reuters, 8/2/19)(AP, 8/3/19)
2019 Aug 5, India scrapped a
1947 constitutional provision that gave the state of Jammu and
Kashmir its own constitution and broad decision-making rights. The
decision split the state into two territories (Jammu & Kashmir
and Ladakh). Pakistan's foreign ministry rejected India's revocation
of a special status for the portion of disputed Kashmir that it
controls saying the move violates a UN resolution. Music videos soon
began appearing about Indians moving to the Muslim-majority region,
buying land there and marrying Kashmiri women.
(AP, 8/5/19)(SFC, 8/23/19, p.A3)(Econ., 9/12/20,
p.30)
2019 Aug 5, India announced a
strict curfew and communications blackout, with the movement goods
and people in and out of the region also strictly controlled. Panic
buying last week, as rumors circulated of an imminent curfew, saw
shelves stripped of food, ATM's emptied and prices rocket - leaving
many of Kashmir's poorest without key supplies.
(AP, 8/8/19)
2019 Aug 6, Pakistan’s foreign
minister wrote to the United Nations, while its army pledged to go
to “any extent’’ against India’s move to revoke the autonomous
status of Kashmir, that’s claimed in full by the two South Asian
nations.
(Bloomberg, 8/6/19)
2019 Aug 8, It was reported
that as many as 500 people have been rounded up in the latest
crackdown in Indian Kashmir, which has been on the edge since the
right-wing government revoked its autonomy.
(The Telegraph, 8/8/19)
2019 Aug 8, Pakistan halted its
main train service to India and banned Indian films as it kept up
the diplomatic pressure on New Delhi for revoking the special status
of Kashmir, the region at the heart of 70 years of hostility between
them.
(Reuters, 8/8/19)
2019 Aug 9, Indian authorities
said at least 22 people have died in the southern state of Kerala
after torrential monsoon rains caused landslides and flooding that
cut off some areas.
(Reuters, 8/9/19)
2019 Aug 10, India's main
opposition leader Rahul Gandhi demanded a statement from PM Narendra
Modi on the situation in Kashmir, saying there are reports of
violence and people dying.
(AP, 8/10/19)
2019 Aug 10, Officials Indian
figures said the death toll from floods in the states of Karnataka,
Kerala and Maharashtra rose to 95, as heavy rain and landslides
forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate their homes.
(Reuters, 8/10/19)
2019 Aug 10, Pakistan said it
had cancelled a bus linking Lahore with India's capital New Delhi,
the last remaining public transport link between the neighbors
divided by a dispute over the Kashmir region.
(Reuters, 8/10/19)
2019 Aug 11, Authorities
enforcing a strict curfew in Indian-administered Kashmir promised
easing of restrictions and essential supplies for an Islamic
festival, as the divided Himalayan region remained in a lockdown
after India's decision to strip it of its constitutional autonomy.
(AP, 8/11/19)
2019 Aug 12, Large parts of
Kashmir remained cut off from the rest of the world as a
communications blackout entered its eighth day. India said it would
soon begin gradually easing restrictions.
(Bloomberg, 8/12/19)
2019 Aug 12, Saudi Arabia’s
Aramco oil company, the world’s most profitable company, held an
earnings call, its first interaction with public investors.
India-based Reliance industries said Aramco would pay $15 billion or
so for a 20% stake in its refining and petrochemicals business.
(Econ, 8/17/19, p.48)
2019 Aug 13, Pakistan called
for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council, saying India's
decision to strip its part of disputed Kashmir of autonomy poses "an
imminent threat" to international peace and could lead to ethnic
cleansing and genocide in the Muslim-majority region.
(AP, 8/13/19)
2019 Aug 14, Indian authorities
said floods and landslides have killed more than 270 people this
month, displaced one million and inundated thousands of homes across
six states after two weeks of heavy monsoon rains.
(Reuters, 8/14/19)
2019 Aug 15, India's PM
Narendra Modi delivered an Independence Day speech that spotlighted
a decision to remove the special rights of the disputed Himalayan
region of Kashmir among the bold moves of the first 10 weeks of his
second term. Modi also urged people and government agencies to "take
the first big step" on Oct. 2 towards freeing India of single-use
plastic.
(Reuters, 8/15/19)(AP, 9/17/19)
2019 Aug 15, Thousands of
people, many waving Pakistani and Kashmiri flags, protested outside
the Indian High Commission in London in support of the disputed
Himalayan region of Kashmir.
(Reuters, 8/15/19)
2019 Aug 15, Pakistan said
three of its soldiers and five Indian troops were killed in a
cross-border exchange of fire in the contested Kashmir region, one
of the deadliest clashes between the rival armies this year.
(Reuters, 8/15/19)
2019 Aug 16, In
Indian-controlled Kashmir hundreds of people protested an
unprecedented security crackdown and clashed with police, as India's
government said it was constantly reviewing the situation in the
disputed region and the restrictions there will be removed over the
next few days.
(AP, 8/16/19)
2019 Aug 17, Indian authorities
eased restrictions on movement and restored landline telephone links
in some parts of Kashmir, the biggest relaxation in a crippling
lockdown since New Delhi announced it was removing the region's
special status on Aug. 5.
(Reuters, 8/17/19)
2019 Aug 18, Indian authorities
reimposed restrictions on movement in major parts of Kashmir's
biggest city, Srinagar, after violent overnight clashes between
residents and police in which dozens were injured.
(Reuters, 8/18/19)
2019 Aug 19, Schools reopened
in Srinagar, Indian Kashmir's main city, but most classrooms were
empty as parents kept their children home, fearing unrest over the
government's decision two weeks ago to revoke the region's autonomy.
(Reuters, 8/19/19)
2019 Aug 24, Indian PM Narendra
Modi received the Order of Zayed, the United Arab Emirates' highest
civilian honor, during a visit to the oil-rich Gulf nation,
reinforcing ties between the countries even as he pursues stripping
statehood from the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.
(AP, 8/24/19)
2019 Aug 24, Arun Jaitley (66),
the former Indian finance minister and one of PM Narendra Modi’s
closest associates, died in a New Delhi hospital, nearly two weeks
after he was admitted following breathing difficulties.
(Reuters, 8/24/19)
2019 Aug 28, An Indian health
official said Tamil Nadu state has banned sex assignment surgery on
babies whose sex is not clear at birth, in a first to protect
intersex children.
(Reuters, 8/28/19)
2019 Aug 31, Indian authorities
updated the list of so-called “genuine citizens.” About 1.9 million
people risked losing their Indian citizenship as PM Narendra Modi’s
government pushed its Hindu nationalist agenda to target so-called
“illegal migrants” in the northeastern state of Assam.
(Bloomberg, 8/31/19)
2019 Aug 31, In India at least
12 people were killed and around 50 injured after a series of
explosions at a chemical factory in the western state of
Maharashtra.
(Reuters, 8/31/19)
2019 Sep 2, Pakistan granted
rare consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian man facing the
death penalty after being convicted of spying.
(AP, 9/2/19)
2019 Sep 4, India officially
declared that the leaders of two Pakistan-based militant groups are
terrorists under a new law. The Home Ministry named Masood Azhar,
chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, founder of
Lashkar-e-Taiba, as terrorists under the amended Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Amendment Act.
(AP, 9/4/19)
2019 Sep 4, Russian President
Vladimir Putin hosted Indian PM Narendra Modi for talks in
Vladivostok on boosting investment and trade, with a special
emphasis on energy and arms deals.
(AFP, 9/4/19)
2019 Sep 4, Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates sent their top diplomats to Pakistan to
help Islamabad defuse tensions with India over the disputed Kashmir
region.
(AP, 9/4/19)
2019 Sep 5, An Indian court
cleared JSW Steel Ltd's takeover plan for debt-ridden Bhushan Power
and Steel, bringing an end to a bankruptcy case that has dragged on
over two years.
(Reuters, 9/5/19)
2019 Sep 7, India's national
security adviser said more than 200 suspected militants are trying
to cross into Indian Kashmir from Pakistan, accusing Islamabad of
trying to stoke violence in the region.
(Reuters, 9/7/19)
2019 Sep 7, India's space
agency lost contact with a spacecraft it was trying to land on the
moon, in a setback for the nation's ambitious plans to become the
first country to probe the unexplored lunar south pole.
Communication was lost just as it was about to touch down.
(Reuters, 9/7/19)
2019 Sep 8, India imposed
curfews in several parts of the contested Kashmir region, after
clashes between security forces and Shi'ite Muslims taking part in a
procession.
(AP, 9/8/19)
2019 Sep 13, In India at least
11 people drowned when their boat capsized on a lake in Bhopal. More
than 30 Hindu worshippers were reported drowned in swollen rivers
and lakes as thousands participated in religious ceremonies.
(SFC, 9/14/19, p.A2)
2019 Sep 15, In southern India
a sightseeing boat capsized on the Godavari River in Andra Pradesh
state, killing 12 people and leaving 25 others missing.
(SFC, 9/16/19, p.A2)
2019 Sep 18, The Indian
government announced a ban on the production, manufacture, import,
export, transport, sale, distribution and storage of e-cigarettes.
India was the sixth country in the region to ban e-cigarettes after
North Korea, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and East Timor.
(AP, 9/19/19)
2019 Sep 22, Tens of thousands
of Indian-Americans packed into a Houston stadium for a rally with
Indian PM Narendra Modi, joined by US President Donald Trump, in a
rare mass show of support for a foreign leader on US soil.
(Reuters, 9/22/19)
2019 Sep 27, Pakistani PM Imran
Khan has denounced India's crackdown in Kashmir and warned of a
"bloodbath" in the disputed region. Indian PM Narendra Modi earlier
denounced terrorism but avoided any mention of Kashmir.
(AP, 9/27/19)
2019 Sep 28, Indian officials
said dozens of people were killed last week following flooding from
monsoon rains in the north.
(SSFC, 9/29/19, p.A4)
2019 Oct 1, India said it is
holding off imposing a blanket ban on single-use plastics to combat
pollution, a measure seen as too disruptive for industry at a time
when it is coping with an economic slowdown and job losses.
(Reuters, 10/1/19)
2019 Oct 1, Ford Motor Co and
Mahindra & Mahindra said they would form a joint venture in
India, in a move aimed at reducing risks for the US automaker's
local business and cutting the cost of developing and producing
vehicles for emerging markets.
(Reuters, 10/1/19)
2019 Oct 2, India announced an
ambitious campaign at eliminating single-use plastics within three
years, but the environment ministry said the government would not
impose a blanket nationwide ban.
(SFC, 10/3/19, p.A4)
2019 Oct 11, Chinese President
Xi Jinping arrived in India for meetings with PM Narendra Modi at a
time of tensions over Beijing's support for Pakistan in opposing
India's downgrading of Kashmir's semi-autonomy and continuing
restrictions on the disputed region.
(AP, 10/11/19)
2019 Oct 12, In India Chinese
President Xi Jinping and Indian PM Narendra Modi agreed to set up a
new mechanism to discuss trade during two days of informal talks in
southern India that were aimed at re-calibrating strained ties
between the nations.
(Bloomberg, 10/12/19)
2019 Oct 16, Indian and
Pakistan troops traded fire in the disputed Kashmir region killing
four civilians and wounding nearly a dozen others.
(SFC, 10/17/19, p.A2)
2019 Oct 20, India and Pakistan
blamed one another for cross-border shelling in the disputed Kashmir
region which killed and injured soldiers and civilians on both sides
and made it one of the deadliest days since New Delhi revoked
Kashmir's special status in August. India said shelling overnight by
Pakistan killed two Indian soldiers and one civilian. Pakistan said
one of its soldiers and three civilians had died and that India had
violated the ceasefire.
(Reuters, 10/20/19)
2019 Oct 21, India's top
vegetable oil trade body asked its members to stop buying palm oil
from Malaysia, an unprecedented call aimed at helping New Delhi
punish the country for criticising India over its policy towards
Kashmir.
(Reuters, 10/21/19)
2019 Oct 22, India's No.2
software services exporter, Infosys Ltd, said it is probing
whistleblower complaints that its top two executives engaged in
"unethical practices" to boost short-term revenue and profit,
sending its shares down 16%.
(AP, 10/22/19)
2019 Oct 22, Indian forces in
Kashmir killed Hamid Lelhari, a top militant commander, and his two
associates in a counter-insurgency operation in the southern
Awantipora area.
(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A2)
2019 Oct 29, Indian budget
carrier IndiGo said it has placed an order for 300 Airbus
A320neo-family jets worth at least $33 billion at recent catalog
prices, handing the European plane maker what could be its biggest
ever order from a single carrier.
(Reuters, 10/29/19)
2019 Oct 31, India formally
implemented legislation approved by Parliament in August that
removed Indian-controlled Kashmir's semi-autonomous status and
begins direct federal rule of the disputed area.
(SFC, 11/1/19, p.A2)
2019 Oct 31, A World Trade
Organization (WTO) panel ruled that Indian export subsidies are
prohibited and should be removed, upholding a complaint brought by
the United States.
(Reuters, 10/31/19)
2019 Nov 1, German Chancellor
Angela Merkel got a toxic welcome to India as PM Narendra Modi
welcomed her in air so polluted that authorities declared a public
health emergency. The two sides signed a series of agreements in
agriculture, maritime technology, "green urban mobility" and even
yoga.
(AFP, 11/1/19)
2019 Nov 2, Indian officials
said more than 100 migrant workers from Kashmir will be moved after
a spate of killings by suspected separatist militants underlined the
threat to outsiders in the restive region.
(Reuters, 11/2/19)
2019 Nov 3, India's main
opposition Congress party said that its general secretary Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra had been informed by messaging service WhatsApp that
her phone was hacked during this year's election campaign by malware
from Israeli surveillance firm NSO.
(Reuters, 11/3/19)
2019 Nov 4, Authorities in
India's capital New Delhi banished from the roads cars with number
plates ending in an odd number in a bid to cut hazardous air
pollution shrouding the city.
(Reuters, 11/4/19)
2019 Nov 4, China joined 14
ASEAN countries meeting in Thailand in agreeing terms for what could
be the world's biggest trade pact. India pulled out at the last
minute on the grounds that the deal would hurt its farmers,
businesses, workers and consumers.
(Reuters, 11/4/19)
2019 Nov 6, India's cabinet
approved 100 billion rupees ($1.41 billion) for a fund to help clear
stalled housing projects. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said
the State Bank of India (SBI) and state-run insurance company Life
Corporation of India will contribute an additional 150 billion
rupees, taking the total size of the fund to 250 billion.
(Reuters, 11/6/19)
2019 Nov 9, India's Supreme
Court awarded a bitterly contested religious site to Hindus, dealing
a defeat to Muslims who also claim the land that has sparked some of
the country's bloodiest riots since independence. The ruling paves
the way for the construction of a Hindu temple on the site in the
northern town of Ayodhya. In 1992 a Hindu mob destroyed the
16th-century Babri Mosque on the site.
(Reuters, 11/9/19)
2019 Nov 10, Police in India
detained dozens of people in Uttar Pradesh state on suspicion of
publishing inflammatory social media posts and setting off
celebratory firecrackers after the Supreme Court a day earlier
awarded a bitterly contested site in the town of Ayodhya to Hindus.
(Reuters, 11/10/19)
2019 Nov 10, Officials said at
least 13 people were killed in Bangladesh and India after cyclone
Bulbul lashed coastal areas this weekend, though prompt evacuations
saved many lives and the worst was over. At least seven people were
killed in India's West Bengal state and another seven in Bangladesh.
(Reuters, 11/10/19)(SFC, 11/11/19, p.A2)
2019 Nov 13, India's top court
censured the federal government for its inaction in fighting
pollution, as poisonous smog choked the streets of the capital New
Delhi forcing schools to shut and half of vehicles to be banned from
the streets.
(Reuters, 11/13/19)
2019 Nov 14, India's capital
Delhi was shrouded in a deeper cover of toxic smoke, as data showed
that PM Narendra Modi's pledge to stamp out the burning of crop
stubble in neighboring states is not working. Schools in the Delhi
area were ordered to close as the city's air quality index hit a
dangerously high 474 on a scale of 500.
(Reuters, 11/14/19)
2019 Nov 19, Tata Steel, the
Indian steel manufacturer, announced that it will be slashing 3,000
jobs across its operations in Europe, citing a global consumption
slowdown and the uncertainty surrounding the UK general elections
and Brexit that is scheduled to follow right after.
(Benzinga, 11/19/19)
2019 Nov 30, In India thousands
of protesters gathered outside a police station on the outskirts of
the city of Hyderabad demanding four men accused of raping and
murdering a 27-year-old woman be handed over to them. The charred
body of the woman, a veterinarian, was found in the town of
Shadnagar, near Hyderabad, on Nov. 28.
(Reuters, 11/30/19)
2019 Dec 2, In India the state
government of Tamil Nadu said at least 25 people have died in recent
monsoon rains.
(SFC, 12/3/19, p.A2)
2019 Dec 6, In southern India
police fatally shot four men being held on suspicion of raping and
killing a woman after investigators took them to the crime scene,
drawing both praise and condemnation in a case that has sparked
protests across the country. The suspects had reportedly seized some
weapons from policemen who had taken them there and started firing.
(AP, 12/6/19)
2019 Dec 6, In India a
23-year-old rape victim set on fire by a gang of men, which included
her alleged rapists, died in a New Delhi hospital. A day earlier the
woman was on her way to board a train in Unnao district of northern
Uttar Pradesh state to attend a court hearing over her rape when she
was doused with kerosene and set on fire. Her death prompted
protests from opposition leaders who blamed the ruling party for
failing to check incidents of violence against women.
(Reuters, 12/7/19)
2019 Dec 8, In India a fire
believed to be caused by an electrical short circuit engulfed a
building New Delhi, where handbags and other items were made by
workers earning as little as 2 dollars per day. At least 43 people
were killed.
(AP, 12/8/19)
2019 Dec 9, In India day
laborers in one of New Delhi's most congested neighborhoods
demonstrated against unsafe working conditions, a day after at least
43 people were killed in a devastating fire at an illegal factory
there.
(AP, 12/9/19)
2019 Dec 11, India's ruling
Hindu nationalist government won parliamentary approval for a
far-reaching citizenship law that critics say undermines the
country's secular constitution, as protests against the legislation
intensified.
(AP, 12/11/19)
2019 Dec 12, In India violent
mobs in the northeastern state of Assam torched buildings and
clashed with police, leaving two dead and 11 with bullet wounds, as
protests grew over a new citizenship law for non-Muslim minorities
from some neighboring countries. Protesters in Assam, which shares a
border with Bangladesh, say the measure would open the region to a
flood of foreign migrants. Tens of thousands rioted in three
northeastern states. Authorities in Assam state shut down the
internet and imposed a curfew. Neighboring Meghalaya state banned
groups of more than four people from assembling.
(Reuters, 12/12/19)(SFC, 12/13/19, p.A2)
2019 Dec 16, India's PM
Narendra Modi appealed for calm today as violent nationwide
student-led protests against "anti-Muslim" citizenship legislation
continued for a fifth day.
(AP, 12/16/19)
2019 Dec 16, It was reported
that mass abuse of the opioid drug tramadol, originally made by
Grumenthal of Germany, is now creating havoc spanning continents
from India, to Africa to the Middle East. Most of the unregulated
drug was coming from India.
(SFC, 12/16/19, p.A4)
2019 Dec 18, In India a
student-led protest movement against a new law that grants
citizenship on the basis of religion spread nationwide despite
efforts by the government to contain it.
(AP, 12/18/19)
2019 Dec 18, The United States
and India agreed to expand defense, science and technology
cooperation following security talks at the US State Department.
(Defense News, 12/19/19)
2019 Dec 19, India's police
detained several hundred protesters in some of the biggest cities as
they defied bans on assembly that authorities imposed to stop
widespread demonstrations against a new citizenship law that
opponents say threatens the country's secular democracy.
(AP, 12/19/19)
2019 Dec 19, Pakistan's foreign
minister said that he has written to the United Nations this month,
warning the world body of what he says are actions by New Delhi to
position missile launchers in the Indian-controlled Kashmir.
(AP, 12/19/19)
2019 Dec 20, India's police
banned public gatherings in parts of New Delhi and other cities for
a third day and cut internet services to try to stop growing
protests against a new citizenship law that have left 11 people dead
and more than 4,000 others detained.
(AP, 12/20/19)
2019 Dec 20, A court in India
sentenced a regional politician to life imprisonment for raping a
teenage girl (17). Kuldeep Singh Sengar had been jailed since last
year on charges of having brutalized the young woman in 2017. The
ruling came a few months after the teenager was critically injured
in a car crash on a rural highway that killed two of her aunts.
(NY Times, 12/21/19)
2019 Dec 21, In northern India
9 people died during clashes between demonstrators and police,
raising the nationwide death toll in protests against a new
citizenship law to 23.
(AP, 12/21/19)
2019 Dec 21, The Times of India
reported that Indian banks may ask depositors and customers to list
their religion. Reserve Bank of India made changes to a banking law
that allows selected non-residents to open bank accounts and own
property. The amendments were made last year but went unnoticed.
(Bloomberg, 12/21/19)
2019 Dec 22, Protesters angered
by India's new citizenship law that excludes Muslims defied a ban
against demonstrations, as PM Narendra Modi used a rally for his
Hindu nationalist party to defend the legislation, accusing the
opposition of pushing the country into a “fear psychosis".
(AP, 12/22/19)
2019 Dec 22, Pakistani
authorities said mortars fired by Indian troops into its portion of
the Kashmir region killed three civilians and damaged nearly a dozen
home in recent days.
(SFC, 12/23/19, p.A2)
2019 Dec 23, India’s main
opposition party staged a silent protest in the capital against a
contentious new citizenship law. The protest was led by opposition
Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi along with other senior leaders,
including former PM Manmohan Singh.
(AP, 12/23/19)
2019 Dec 23, India and Iran
agreed to accelerate the development of an important Iranian port.
Chabahar port, being jointly developed by India, Iran and
Afghanistan, is on the Indian Ocean about 100 km (62 miles) west of
the Pakistan border.
(AFP, 12/23/19)
2019 Dec 25, India and Pakistan
traded fire in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, with the
latest exchanges killing two Pakistani troops, an Indian soldier and
a civilian woman.
(AP, 12/26/19)
2019 Dec 25, In India more than
a thousand students, artists and writers protested in New Delhi and
northeastern Assam state against a new citizenship law introduced by
the Hindu nationalist government that excludes Muslims.
(SFC, 12/26/19, p.A2)
2019 Dec 27, In India a group
of protesters in New Delhi was beaten and shoved into buses by
police as they attempted to demonstrate against a new citizenship
law that has triggered nationwide protests in recent weeks.
(AP, 12/27/19)
2020 Jan 3, In India more that
1,000 members of the LGBTQ community, rights groups and their
supporters marched through New Delhi to protest a new citizenship
law that excludes Muslims. Opposition parties say the Modi
government is trying to consolidate its Hindu base.
(SFC, 1/4/20, p.A2)
2020 Jan 5, In India masked
assailants beat students and teachers with sticks on the campus of a
prestigious university in New Delhi, injuring more than 20 people in
an attack opposition lawmakers are trying to link to the government.
(AP, 1/6/20)
2020 Jan 7, In India a death
warrant was issued for the four men convicted of the 2012 gang rape
and murder of a young woman on a New Delhi bus that galvanized
protests and brought attention to the country's sexual violence
epidemic.
(The Telegraph, 1/7/20)
2020 Jan 8, The World
Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said India has reported an
outbreak of the highly contagious H5N1 bird flu virus on a poultry
farm in the central state of Chhattisgarh.
(Reuters, 1/8/20)
2020 Jan 10, India's top court
ordered the government to review all restrictions in
Indian-controlled Kashmir, saying the measures amount to an abuse of
power.
(SFC, 1/11/20, p.A5)
2020 Jan 13, India's Supreme
Court directed the government's crime fighting agency to seize local
assets of JPMorgan in relation to some transactions the bank engaged
in with a local real estate company in 2010.
(Reuters, 1/13/20)
2020 Jan 14, Amazon.com Inc
founder Jeff Bezos arrived in India for a 3-day visit, as thousands
of small traders across 300 cities planned protests, claiming the
firm is distorting local retail market.
(Reuters, 1/14/20)
2020 Jan 25, In India a
building that was being expanded in New Delhi collapsed killing five
people, including four students. Eight other students were injured.
(SSFC, 1/26/20, p.A4)
2020 Jan 26, In India hundreds
of thousands protested across the country against a citizenship bill
that many fear is discriminatory against the minority Muslim
community. The protests took place as India celebrated Republic Day,
in commemoration of the day the Indian constitution came into
effect.
(Reuters, 1/26/20)
2020 Jan 28, It was reported
that most major railway stations in India will use facial
recognition to fight crime by the end of 2020. Digital rights
campaigners warned the move could breach people's privacy in the
absence of stringent laws.
(Reuters, 1/28/20)
2020 Jan 31, An Indian diplomat
said two Indian sailors were killed and two remain missing after the
Zoya 1 oil tanker caught fire earlier this week off the UAE's
sheikhdom of Sharjah.
(AP, 1/31/20)
2020 Feb 1, Indian Finance
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the budget for fiscal 2020/21,
vowing to boost income of Indians and their purchasing power, in a
bid to revive domestic economic growth. India raised taxes on
imports of goods such as electronic items, toys and furniture,
aiming to give impetus to domestic manufacturing.
(Reuters, 2/1/20)
2020 Feb 8, Voters in New Delhi
began voting in a state election seen as a test of Indian PM
Narendra Modi's popularity following months of deadly
anti-government protests over a new citizenship law.
(Reuters, 2/8/20)
2020 Feb 8, In India seven
people died as a fire swept through the Nandan Denim factory on the
outskires of Ahmedabad, Gujarat state.
(SFC, 2/13/20, p.A4)
2020 Feb 9, In India the
regional Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party held a rally in
Mumbai to support a citizenship law introduced by PM Narendra Modi
last year that has triggered nationwide protests.
(Reuters, 2/9/20)
2020 Feb 13, Indian
environmentalist Rajendra Kumar Pachauri (79) died after recent
heart surgery. He led the Intergovernmental panel on Climate change
from 2002-2015. Under his leadership a UN climate change panel
shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
(AP, 2/14/20)(SSFC, 2/16/20, p.B10)
2020 Feb 17, India's top court
ordered the federal government to grant permanent commission and
command positions to female officers in the army on par with men.
(SFC, 2/18/20, p.A4)
2020 Feb 18, It was reported
that India has hastily built a half-km (1,640-foot) brick wall in
Gujarat state ahead of a visit by US President Donald Trump, with
critics saying it was built to block the view of a slum area
inhabited by more than 2,000 people.
(AP, 2/18/20)
2020 Feb 20, In southern India
a bus collided with a truck killing at least 19 people near
Avanashi, Tamil Nadu state.
(SFC, 2/21/20, p.A2)
2020 Feb 22, India, the world's
second-biggest gold consumer, said it has discovered gold fields
with reserves of over 3,000 tons in northern Uttar Pradesh's
Sonbhadra district.
(Reuters, 2/22/20)
2020 Feb 23, In India police
used tear gas to disperse large crowds in New Delhi in the latest
eruption of violence at protests over a new citizenship law. The
protest comes just a day before US President Donald Trump begins a
two-day visit to India.
(Reuters, 2/23/20)
2020 Feb 24, US Pres. Donald
Trump began a two-day visit to India today, attending a rally of
more than 100,000 people at a cricket stadium in the western city of
Ahmedabad. More than 100,000 people packed the world's largest
cricket stadium to welcome Trump. In New Delhi at least seven were
killed, including a police officer, and nearly 100 others reportedly
injured in clashes between hundreds of supporters and opponents of
the new Indian citizenship.
(NY Times, 2/24/20)(AP, 2/24/20)(AP, 2/25/20)
2020 Feb 25, US President
Donald Trump, speaking in India, said the US stock market will crash
if he loses the election this year.
(Reuters, 2/25/20)
2020 Feb 26, Indian authorities
said at least 24 people were killed and 189 injured in three days of
clashes in New Delhi that coincided with President Donald Trump's
first state visit to India, with the death toll expected to rise as
hospitals continue to take in the wounded. The 72-hour clash between
Hindus and Muslims left at least 40 dead and hundreds injured.
(AP, 2/26/20)(AP, 2/28/20)
2020 Feb 27, Top supplier
Godrej Agrovet Ltd said a false rumour that the coronavirus can be
spread by chickens has slashed Indian poultry sales by almost 50%.
(Reuters, 2/27/20)
2020 Feb, India signed a $3.5
billion arms deal with the US.
(Econ., 6/20/20, p.30)
2020 Feb, The India-based Adani
conglomerate completed a $450 million sale of 25% of its Mumbai
power operations to Qatar's government. It also received a $900
million investment in a 37% stake in its gas operations by Total, a
French oil giant.
(Econ., 7/4/20, p.55)
2020 Mar 2, Indian lawmakers
pushed and shoved each other in parliament after opposition parties
demanded the resignation of interior minister Amit Shah over the
handling of deadly riots triggered by a citizenship law that
excludes Muslims. Officials said the death toll in the capital from
riots last week between Hindus and Muslims rose to 46, a day after
false rumors of new violence led to panicked calls to police in many
parts of the city.
(Reuters, 3/2/20)(AP, 3/2/20)
2020 Mar 2, India reported
three new cases of coronavirus, including an Italian national in the
western Indian state of Rajasthan.
(AP, 3/3/20)
2020 Mar 3, India, the world's
main supplier of generic drugs, said it has restricted the export of
26 pharmaceutical ingredients and the medicines made from them,
including paracetamol, as the coronavirus outbreak plays havoc with
supply chains. The government said it had detected "high viral load"
in six people who had been in contact with a patient who contracted
the coronavirus in the capital New Delhi. 24 people who had come in
contact with the Italian tourist have been moved to a separate
facility for testing. They included 21 Italians and three Indians.
(Reuters, 3/3/20)
2020 Mar 4, India lifted some
restrictions on internet access in Kashmir, including allowing
access to social media websites for the first time since the restive
Himalayan region was locked down and its autonomy revoked in August.
(Reuters, 3/4/20)
2020 Mar 6, India braced for a
potential explosion of coronavirus cases as authorities rushed to
trace, test and quarantine contacts of 31 people confirmed to have
the disease.
(AP, 3/6/20)
2020 Mar 8, In India Rana
Kapoor, CEO and co-founder of Yes Bank, was arrested and formally
charge with money laundering and corruption.
(Econ, 3/14/20, p.60)
2020 Mar 10, In India Hindus
threw colored powder and sprayed water in massive celebrations of
the festival of Holi, but the enthusiasm was subdued compared to
previous years because of fears of the new virus. The number of
confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country rose to 47.
(AP, 3/10/20)
2020 Mar 11, India suspended
most visas in a bid to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
(AP, 3/12/20)
2020 Mar 13, Indian authorities
ordered the release of Kashmir's most prominent politician, Farooq
Abdullah, one of dozens of leaders held since August, when the
federal government withdrew the troubled region's autonomy.
(Reuters, 3/13/20)
2020 Mar 13, Two Indian states
ordered the closure of public buildings, malls, cinemas and bars in
several major cities, with Mumbai and Bengaluru subject to differing
restrictions, after the country reported its first death from the
coronavirus. India had 74 confirmed cases of the virus.
(Reuters, 3/13/20)
2020 Mar 15, India reported
that the number of coronavirus infections had risen to 107, an
increase of 23 from the day before.
(Reuters, 3/15/20)
2020 Mar 17, Indian authorities
expanded the population eligible for testing to health care workers
with symptoms who are treating patients with severe respiratory
illnesses. Authorities have confirmed 126 cases linked to foreign
travel or direct contact with someone who caught the disease abroad.
Indian authorities said that they would not widely expand testing
for the virus, despite mounting criticism from some experts that the
limited tests could mask the true toll of the disease in the world's
second most populous country.
(AP, 3/17/20)
2020 Mar 19, Indian PM Narendra
Modi appealed to citizens to observe a self-curfew on March 22 as
part of a trial-run to test social isolation to curb the spread of
the coronavirus.
(Reuters, 3/19/20)
2020 Mar 20, In India four men
sentenced to death for the gruesome gang rape and murder of a woman
on a New Delhi bus in 2012 were hanged. The case exposed the scope
of sexual violence in India and prompted horrified Indians to demand
swift justice.
(AP, 3/20/20)
2020 Mar 20, India expanded the
criteria for people who should be tested for coronavirus, as the
world’s second-most populous nation aims to limit the outbreak
locally.
(Bloomberg, 3/21/20)
2020 Mar 21, In India thousands
of poor city migrants whose livelihoods have collapsed due to
India's coronavirus measures headed back to their villages, raising
fears that the exodus could carry the virus to the countryside.
About one fifth of India's 271 confirmed coronavirus cases has been
reported in the western state of Maharashtra. So far, India has
registered four deaths due to the virus.
(AP, 3/21/20)
2020 Mar 21, In eastern India
17 policemen were killed and 14 others injured in an attack by
Maoist rebels in Bihar state.
(SFC, 3/23/20, p.A2)
2020 Mar 22, India suspended
passenger train services across the country until March 31 as the
government sought to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
Freight services will continue. coronavirus cases rose to 341, while
the country confirmed its fifth death from the virus.
(AP, 3/22/20)
2020 Mar 23, Ford Motor Co it
has decided to temporarily halt vehicle and engine production at its
factories in India, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam in response
to the growing impact of the coronavirus.
(Reuters, 3/23/20)
2020 Mar 24, India's PM
Narendra Modi decreed that the country of 1.3 billion will go on
lockdown for 21 days.
(AP, 3/24/20)
2020 Mar 25, India began a
21-day lockdown. PM Narendra Modi warned that if he didn't act now,
the coronavirus could set the world's largest democracy back
decades. Everything but essential services like supermarkets were
closed. India has reported only about 512 cases because of limited
testing. At least 9 deaths have been reported.
(AP, 3/24/20)(AP, 3/25/20)
2020 Mar 25, India said it had
banned the export of hydroxychloroquine and formulations of the
malaria drug while experts test its efficacy in helping treat
patients infected with coronavirus.
(AP, 3/25/20)
2020 Mar 26, In India the Jimme
Foundation, an LGBT+ rights group, launched a fundraising appeal for
Mumbai sex workers whose income has been hit by coronavirus, saying
it wanted to help other Indians who faced prejudice.
(Reuters, 3/26/20)
2020 Mar 27, It was reported
that India's coronavirus lockdown is disrupting e-commerce companies
including Amazon and Flipkart, despite government assurances it
would not.
(Reuters, 3/27/20)
2020 Mar 28, India has
confirmed 775 cases of coronavirus and 19 deaths.
(SSFC, 3/29/20, p.A5)
2020 Mar 29, Indian PM Narendra
Modi asked the nation's poor for forgiveness as the economic and
human toll from his 21-day nationwide lockdown deepens and criticism
mounts about a lack of adequate planning ahead of the decision.
(Reuters, 3/29/20)
2020 Mar 30, Indian health
workers caused outrage by spraying a group of migrants with
disinfectant, amid fears that a large scale movement of people from
cities to the countryside risked spreading the coronavirus. India
has registered more than a thousand cases of the new coronavirus, of
whom 29 have died.
(Reuters, 3/30/20)
2020 Apr 4, India banned
exports of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug that US President
Donald Trump has touted as a “game changer” in the fight against
Covid-19.
(Bloomberg, 4/5/20)
2020 Apr 5, Indian soldiers
killed five suspected militants in the Keran sector of Kashmir.
Three Indian soldiers were also killed. Another clash a day earlier
in Kulgam town killed 4 rebels.
(SFC, 4/6/20, p.A2)
2020 Apr 7, India said it will
allow limited exports of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine,
that US President Donald Trump has touted as a potential weapon in
the fight against the virus.
(Reuters, 4/7/20)
2020 Apr 8, India’s most
populous state, Uttar Pradesh, sealed off 15 of its districts worst
affected by infections. The state has so far recorded 326 infections
and three deaths. India has had total infections of 5,360 and 164
deaths.
(Bloomberg, 4/9/20)
2020 Apr 9, Officials in India
said at least three private hospitals in Mumbai have shut their
doors to new patients on concerns of health workers getting exposed
to the coronavirus. India has so far recorded 5,865 cases of
coronavirus, including 169 deaths.
(Reuters, 4/9/20)
2020 Apr 9, Pakistan's military
said its troop have shot down a small Indian spy drone after it
violated the country's airspace along the Line of Control in
Kashmir.
(SFC, 4/10/20, p.A2)
2020 Apr 11, Delhi state's
chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that Indian PM Narendra Modi has
decided to extend a nationwide lockdown to tackle the spread of the
coronavirus, without saying how long the extension would be for. The
number of cases rose to 7,471.
(Reuters, 4/11/20)
2020 Apr 12, In Kashmir three
civilians were reportedly killed when shells fired by the Pakistani
army hit homes at two locations along the Line of Control in the
Kupwara area of Indian controlled Kashmir.
(SFC, 4/14/20, p.A2)
2020 Apr 13, Pakistan summoned
an Indian official to protest over cross-border shelling from its
neighbor that it said had killed a child and wounded four civilians
in Kashmir.
(Reuters, 4/13/20)
2020 Apr 14, India extended a
lockdown for its 1.3 billion people until at least May 3. It was
reported that state-owned banks have barred employees from posting
pictures, video clips or messages on social media on issues such as
overcrowding at bank branches during the coronavirus crisis.
(Reuters, 4/14/20)
2020 Apr 18, India reported 991
new cases and 42 new deaths from the virus, taking the total number
of reported cases to 14,378 and deaths to 480.
(Reuters, 4/18/20)
2020 Apr 18, In Kashmir rebels
fighting Indian rule attacked a paramilitary post killing three
soldiers and wounding two others in the northwestern Sopore area.
(SFC, 4/20/20, p.A2)
2020 Apr 19, India recorded its
largest daily spike in coronavirus cases, adding 1,400 new
infections to its tally of more than 16,000 amid a nationwide
lockdown that’s about to enter its fourth week. Confirmed infections
were up 78% to 16,365, from 9,200 on April 12.
(Bloomberg, 4/19/20)
2020 Apr 20, India recorded
1,553 cases of the coronavirus, its biggest single-day spike. At
least 543 people have died. The government has eased one of the
world’s strictest lockdowns to allow some manufacturing and
agricultural activity to resume. India's government said farms and
factories could resume activity in the hinterland, which has been
less hard-hit by COVID-19.
(AP, 4/20/20)(Reuters, 4/21/20)(SFC, 4/21/20,
p.A4)
2020 Apr 21, Indian authorities
said they have arrested 29 people who participated in an Islamic
missionary meeting last month in New Delhi that resulted in a large
cluster of coronavirus cases. India has 18,601 confirmed cases of
the virus. More than 4,200 cases were linked to the meeting.
(SFC, 4/22/20, p.A6)
2020 Apr 21, Indian government
forces killed four rebels late today in a gun battle in the southern
Shopian district of disputed Kashmir.
(SFC, 4/23/20, p.A2)
2020 Apr 22, India ordered a
pause in testing for antibodies to the coronavirus because of
concern over the accuracy. India has detected 19,983 cases of the
coronavirus. There have been 640 deaths.
(Reuters, 4/22/20)
2020 Apr 22, Facebook agreed to
buy a 9.9% stake of Jio, the telecoms arm of India-based
conglomerate Reliance Industries, as it looked to roll out services
for India's grocers and small businesses.
(Reuters, 4/23/20)(Econ, 4/25/20, p.56)
2020 Apr 23, India froze
inflation-linked increases in salaries and pensions for more than 11
million federal employees and pensioners to generate nearly $10
billion to help combat the COVID-19 outbreak.
(Reuters, 4/23/20)
2020 Apr 23, In India a man
(21) raped and severely damaged the eyes of a six-year-old girl from
his village. Police arrested the man the next day in the Damoh
district of Madhya Pradesh state. Federal data has shown that rape
occurs every 20 minutes, on average, in the country of 1.3 billion
people.
(Reuters, 4/24/20)
2020 Apr 23, An Indian woman
was allegedly gang raped in a school in the desert state of
Rajasthan where she had been quarantined for a night by the police
amid the nationwide coronavirus lockdown. Three local men were soon
arrested.
(Reuters, 4/26/20)
2020 Apr 23, Amazon said its
Indian arm will soon add small local shops as sellers on its
platform as a way to provide them broader online exposure and offer
consumers a greater selection of merchandise.
(Reuters, 4/23/20)
2020 Apr 24, India announced
the relaxation of some aspects of its strict coronavirus pandemic
lockdown measures.
(The Week, 4/25/20)
2020 Apr 25, The Indian
government allowed a limited reopening of shops in neighborhoods and
residential areas, more than a month after the nation went into a
lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
(Reuters, 4/25/20)
2020 Apr 26, Indian PM Narendra
Modi appealed to citizens to strictly comply with a nationwide
lockdown and maintain social distancing norms, as cases of
coronavirus mounted steadily despite over a month-long curfew.
(Reuters, 4/26/20)
2020 Apr 26, In India at least
ten villagers in Bihar state were killed by lightning strikes in the
village of Khalpura.
(SFC, 4/28/20, p.A2)
2020 Apr 27, India's federal
medical research agency asked state government to stop using testing
equipment from China because of conflicting results.
(Reuters, 4/27/20)
2020 Apr 28, In India the
number of people infected with the coronavirus stood at 29,434, a
rise of 1,543 over the previous day. So far 934 people have died.
(Reuters, 4/28/20)
2020 Apr 28, India-based Serum,
the world's largest maker of vaccines by volume, said it is
mass-producing the vaccine candidate developed by the University of
Oxford, which started testing it on humans last week. Trials of the
Oxford vaccine are due to finish in about September.
(Reuters, 4/28/20)
2020 Apr 29, India has recorded
its 1,000th novel coronavirus death, but the head of a government
think-tank said that its 1.3 billion people, strained from weeks of
lockdown, were not experiencing the feared exponential surge in
infections. India has now reported 31,331 cases, including 1,007
deaths.
(Reuters, 4/29/20)
2020 Apr 29, Indian artillery
fire in the disputed Kashmir region hit Pakistani army posts and
villages killing a soldier, a woman and a girl (16). India said
Pakistani troops had attacked Inidan positions with small arms and
mortar shells in at least four places.
(SFC, 5/1/20, p.A2)
2020 Apr 30, It was reported
that India has shipped 50 million tablets of hydroxychloroquine to
the United States. This followed a request by President Donald Trump
for New Delhi to release supplies of the drug as a possible
treatment for the respiratory disease. US regulators have warned the
anti-malarial drug may have harmful side effects in the treatment of
COVID-19.
(AP, 4/30/20)
2020 Apr, India imposed new
rules requiring the central government to vet all direct investments
by Chinese firms.
(Econ., 7/4/20, p.31)
2020 May 1, India's PM Narendra
Modi extended the coronavirus lockdown for two weeks, but some
restrictions were relaxed.
(AP, 5/3/20)
2020 May 2, It was reported
that India has mandated that all public and private sector employees
use a government-backed Bluetooth tracing app and maintain social
distancing in offices as New Delhi begins easing some of its
lockdown measures in lower-risk areas.
(Reuters, 5/2/20)
2020 May 2, Indian troops in
Kashmir entered a house in the Handwara area late today and
successfully extricated a number of hostages held by militants. Five
Indian troops and two militants were killed in the fighting.
(SFC, 5/4/20, p.A2)
2020 May 3, India recorded its
largest single-day jump of 2,600 coronavirus infections. 83 new
deaths raised the death toll to 1,301. Total confirmed cases neared
40,000.
(SFC, 5/4/20, p.A4)
2020 May 5, Chinese troops took
issue with an Indian patrol on the north bank of Pangong Lake in
Ladakh, a region administered by India as a union territory.
Soldiers from both nations engaged in fistfights and stone-pelting
along the Line of Actual Control. Another clash had taken place on
May 10. Both countries had signed agreements in 1996 and 2003
establishing protocols to deal with such incidents, including
promises n ot to use weapons. China occupied a total of forty square
km at Pangong Tso and twenty square km at Galwan River, with smaller
incursions at Hot Springs and Demchok.
(Econ., 5/16/20, p.30)(The Telegraph, 6/11/20)
2020 May 6, In India health
authorities scrambled to contain an outbreak at a huge fruit and
vegetable market in Chennai. Hundreds of Indian police tested
positive for the coronavirus in recent days, raising alarm as it
attempts to enforce the world's largest lockdown.
(AP, 5/6/20)(Reuters, 5/6/20)(SFC, 5/7/20, p.A6)
2020 May 6, Indian southern
state of Karnataka halted trains taking stranded migrant laborers
home so that work on construction sites could restart, a move widely
condemned as amounting to forced labor.
(Reuters, 5/6/20)
2020 May 6, Indian forces
killed Riyaz Naikoo (35), a top commander of the Hizbul Mujahedeen
rebel group, along with his aide in the disputed Kashmir region.
(SFC, 5/7/20, p.A2)
2020 May 7, Coronavirus cases
in India rose past 50,000, with the pace of new infections showing
no signs of abating despite a strict weeks-long lockdown.
(Reuters, 5/7/20)
2020 May 7, In eastern India 12
people died and hundreds were rushed to hospitals after a cloud of
toxic styrene gas escaped from a polymer factory owned by the South
Korean company LG Corp. and located near the city of Visakhapatnam.
Charges of culpable homicide were soon filed against LG Polymers
India.
(SFC, 5/8/20, p.A2)(SFC, 5/9/20, p.A2)(SFC,
5/9/20, p.A2)
2020 May 8, An Indian train
killed 16 migrant workers who had fallen asleep on the track while
heading back to their home village after losing their jobs during
the lockdown.
(Reuters, 5/8/20)
2020 May 8, In Kashmir
anti-India protests and clasehs continued for a third day following
the killing of a top rebel leader by government forces. At least one
man has been killed and 50 others injured in the three days of
clashes.
(SFC, 5/9/20, p.A2)
2020 May 9, In India hundreds
of migrant workers in India's western state of Gujarat clashed for a
second day with authorities, hurling stones at police trying to
enforce a coronavirus lockdown.
(Reuters, 5/9/20)
2020 May 9, In India about 70
people fled a quarantine center in Bihar state's Nawada district,
alleging poor facilities and lack of food. A district magistrate
said some fled after one of the occupants tested positive for
COVID-19.
(SSFC, 5/10/20, p.A6)
2020 May 10, Police in the
Pakistan-ruled part of Kashmir said Indian troops across the
disputed border opened fire with automatic rifles, shooting a women
dead. Shauzia Akhtar was reportedly shot in the head as she prepared
breakfast in her home along the border.
(AP, 5/10/20)(SFC, 5/11/20, p.A2)
2020 May 12, India's PM
Narendra Modi pledged 20 lakh crore rupees, about $265 billion, to
reignite growth.
(Econ., 5/23/20, p.26)
2020 May 13, Indian soldiers
fatally shot a young man at a checkpoint in Kashmir, triggering
anti-India protests and clashes in the disputed region.
(SFC, 5/14/20, p.A2)
2020 May 13, Germany
prosecutors said they have charged an Indian man (Balvir S.) with
spying on the Sikh community and Kashmir activists for his country's
intelligence service for more than two years.
(SFC, 5/14/20, p.A2)
2020 May 16, India's total
novel coronavirus cases rose to 85,940 with 2,752 fatalities.
(Reuters, 5/16/20)
2020 May 16, In northern India
a truck crammed with migrant laborers trying to reach their distant
homes amid a nationwide lockdown crashed, killing at least 23 and
injuring 35.
(Reuters, 5/16/20)
2020 May 17, India's National
Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) requested that a nationwide
lockdown to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus be extended to
May 31. The Health Ministry reported a record jump of nearly 5,000
cases in the past 24 hours.
(Reuters, 5/17/20)(SFC, 5/18/20, p.A5)
2020 May 18, It was reported
that Chinese smartphone maker OPPO has suspended operations at a
recently re-opened plant in India after workers tested positive for
the coronavirus.
(Reuters, 5/18/20)
2020 May 19, India's government
said it will run more special trains and buses to allow millions of
distressed migrant workers to leave big cities. Coronavirus cases in
India reached 100,000, matching its number of intensive care beds,
and the rate of increase of new infections showed little sign of
slowing.
(Reuters, 5/19/20)
2020 May 19, Nepal's PM Khadga
Prasad Sharma Oli asserted that a new Indian-built road passes
through its territory. The 50-mile road cuts through the Lipu Lekh
Himalayan pass to connect India to Kailash-Mansarovar, a sacred area
in Tibet.
(SFC, 5/22/20, p.A2)
2020 May 20, Cyclone Amphan
slammed ashore along the coastline of Bangladesh and India, where
more than 2.6 million people fled to shelters in a frantic
evacuation made all the more challenging by the coronavirus
pandemic.
(AP, 5/20/20)
2020 May 21, Cyclone Amphan,
the most powerful storm to hit the region in more than a decade,
killed 77 people in West Bengal, India, and cut a path of
destruction that is still being assessed. By May 27 the death toll
rose to 100 in India and just over 20 in Bangladesh.
(AP, 5/21/20)(AP, 5/22/20)(Econ., 5/30/20, p.52)
2020 May 21, Indian
pharmaceutical company Strides Pharma Science Ltd received
regulatory approval in India to start clinical trials of antiviral
drug favipiravir, which has been touted as a potential treatment for
COVID-19. Favipiravir is manufactured under the brand name Avigan by
a unit of Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp and was approved for use as
an anti-flu drug in the country in 2014. Kyodo News has reported
that so far there has been no clear evidence of efficacy for Avigan
in treating the novel coronavirus in some clinical trials.
(Reuters, 5/21/20)
2020 May 22, India reported
6,088 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, its biggest
single-day spike. This brought total cases to 118, 447. The death
toll rose to 3,583.
(SFC, 5/23/20, p.A5)
2020 May 23, India reported
6,654 new coronavirus cases bringing the nationwide total to
125,102, including 3,720 deaths.
(SSFC, 5/24/20, p.A9)
2020 May 23, India-based
Reliance Industries Ltd said it has launched an online grocery
service, JioMart, in a move aimed at rivalling Amazon.com's local
unit and Walmart Inc's Flipkart in the huge Indian market.
(AP, 5/24/20)
2020 May 24, India reported
6,767 new coronavirus infections, the country’s biggest one-day
increase. India has confirmed 125,102 coronavirus cases, including
3,867 deaths.
(The Telegraph, 5/24/20)(AP, 5/24/20)
2020 May 25, A resident of the
Kathua district of Indian-administered Kashmir, reported a bird -
painted pink and carrying a coded ring tagged to its foot - flew
into her home late today. The Indian Border Security Force passed
the pigeon on to the police, who launched an investigation and
logged the animal as a ‘Pak Suspected Spy.’
(The Telegraph, 5/26/20)
2020 May 26, India's Ministry
of Health reported that there had been a daily increase of 6,535
coronavirus cases, bringing the toll up to 145,380 cases. In total,
there have been 4,167 officially recorded coronavirus deaths.
(Good Morning America, 5/26/20)
2020 May 26, India-based
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd said it would begin a clinical trial in
India to test a combination of two anti-viral drugs, favipiravir and
umifenovir, as a potential COVID-19 treatment.
(Reuters, 5/26/20)
2020 May 27, India reported
6,387 new coronavirus infections, a new single-day record. A total
of 151,767 cases have been confirmed including 4,337 deaths.
(SFC, 5/28/20, p.A5)
2020 May 27, Novavax Inc said
it is buying Praha Vaccines, a Czech-based manufacturing plant, from
privately held Serum Institute of India, the world's largest maker
of vaccines by volume. The US company aims to produce 1 billion
doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate next year.
(Reuters, 5/27/20)
2020 May 28, India’s top court
ordered state authorities to provide free train rides and proper
food and water to hundreds of thousands of migrant workers returning
to their villages in the blazing heat after being thrown out of
work. India reported another record single-day jump of 6,566
coronavirus cases, pushing up the total to 158,333 confirmed cases
and 4,531 deaths.
(AP, 5/28/20)(Good Morning America, 5/28/20)
2020 May 28, It was reported
that swarms of desert locusts have devastated crops in India’s
heartland, threatening an already vulnerable region that is
struggling with the economic cost of the lockdown.
(AP, 5/28/20)
2020 May 29, India-based
drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said it has received
Indian regulatory approval to start clinical trials of a
pancreatitis drug in COVID-19 patients.
(Reuters, 5/29/20)
2020 May 30, India registered
another record jump with 7,964 coronavirus cases and 265 deaths.
Total cases now stand at 173,763 with 4,971 deaths.
(SSFC, 5/31/20, p.A7)
2020 May 31, India reported
more than 8,000 new coses of the coronavirus. Confirmed infections
have now reached 182,143, with 5,164 fatalities.
(SFC, 6/1/20, p.A5)
2020 May, India police and
soldiers were filmed ransacking a village in northern Kashmir, where
they beat men and women, looted stores and burned goods on the
street.
(Econ., 9/12/20, p.31)
2020 Jun 1, India registered
230 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing that total to
5,394.
(SFC, 6/2/20, p.A3)
2020 Jun 2, Authorities in
India said three mudslides triggered by overnight rains in Assam
state killed 20 people.
(SFC, 6/3/20, p.A2)
2020 Jun 3, In India a pregnant
elephant died in agony in a river in Silent Valley National Park in
Kerala's Palakkad district after eating a firecracker-stuffed
pineapple. Her death caused outrage in the country. Farmers in the
area are known for using explosives in fruit to protect their land
from wild animals.
(https://tinyurl.com/y9t66rxj)
2020 Jun 4, India registered
9,304 new cases of the coronavirus raising its totals to 216,919
cases and 6,075 deaths.
(SFC, 6/5/20, p.A7)
2020 Jun 6, India reported
9,887 new cases of the coronavirus bringing the total to 236,657.
(SSFC, 6/7/20, p.A8)
2020 Jun 7, India reported
9,971 new cases of the coronavirus taking its total to 246,628 with
6,929 fatalities.
(SFC, 6/8/20, p.A4)
2020 Jun 9, In Canada
CitizenLab, a part of the Munk School of Government at the Univ. of
Toronto, said that it had unearthed one of the biggest known
mercenary hackers, which it has dubbed "Dark Basin." CitizenLab
pointed to BellTrox InfoTech Services, a company based in New Delhi,
India.
(Econ., 6/13/20, p.51)
2020 Jun 10, Indian authorities
brought back diamonds, pearls and silver jewelry worth $180 million
as part of an investigation of Nirav Modi, a fugitive diamond
merchant who is being held in London. The valuables were being held
in a logistics company's warehouse in Hong Kong after being taken
there from Dubai in 2018.
(https://tinyurl.com/ybz2kwuf)(SFC, 6/12/20,
p.A2)
2020 Jun 11, In India
coronavirus cases shot up, rising by a record of nearly 10,000,
raising questions about whether authorities have done enough to
avert catastrophe. The total count of infections reached 286,579,
the fifth highest in the world, with 8,102 deaths.
(AP, 6/11/20)
2020 Jun 12, India’s nationwide
caseload overtook Britain to became the fourth highest in the world
with 297,535 confirmed coronavirus cases and 8,498 deaths. The
number of cases had increased by 10,956 from the previous day.
(AP, 6/12/20)(Reuters, 6/12/20)
2020 Jun 12, Indian drugmaker
Zydus Cadila said it signed a non-exclusive licensing pact with
Gilead Sciences Inc to manufacture and market antiviral drug
remdesivir, the first treatment to show improvement in COVID-19
trials.
(Reuters, 6/12/20)
2020 Jun 12, An Indian citizen
was killed by Nepalese border guards, amid a border row between the
two countries.
(Econ., 6/20/20, p.30)
2020 Jun 13, India reported its
biggest single-day jump in coronavirus cases, adding 11,458
confirmed infections and taking its total count to more than
300,000. India has 145,779 active cases, and has recorded 8,884
deaths.
(Reuters, 6/13/20)
2020 Jun 14, In India Bollywood
actor Sushant Singh Rajput (34), was found dead at his home in
Mumbai. Police termed this an "accidental death." Rajput had won
acclaim for his role in the 2016 biopic of then Indian cricket
captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Local media reported that the actor
had been found hanging from the ceiling of his home. In August the
government of Bihar, Rajput's home state, turned the inquiry over to
the federal investigation agency (CBI).
(Reuters, 6/14/20)(Reuters, 8/5/20)
2020 Jun 14, An Indian soldier
was killed by Pakistani shellfire in Kashmir.
(Econ., 6/20/20, p.30)
2020 Jun 15, India's Health
Ministry reported a jump of more than 11,000 infections nationwide
for a third straight day.
(AP, 6/15/20)
2020 Jun 15, An Indian Army
officer and two soldiers were killed by Chinese troops late today in
Galwan Valley in the Ladakh region along the countries’ disputed
border. China's PLA grabbed some 40-60 square km of territory that
India considers to be its own. Preliminary reports indicated that
the soldiers had not been shot, but had been killed in a brawl
involving rocks and wooden clubs. The Indian Army soon raised its
death toll to 20 soldiers.
(NY Times, 6/16/20)(AP, 6/16/20)(SFC, 6/17/20,
p.A3)(Econ., 6/20/20, p.29)
2020 Jun 15, Two Indian
officials in Pakistan were allegedly abducted and tortured by
"Pakistani agencies".
(Econ., 6/20/20, p.30)
2020 Jun 17, China and India
accused each other of instigating deadly border clashes between
their forces along the disputed Himalayan frontier, pledging to
safeguard their territory but also to try to end a standoff that has
dramatically raised the stakes between the nuclear-armed giants.
(AP, 6/17/20)
2020 Jun 18, India reported its
highest one-day increase of 12,281 coronavirus cases. Deaths rose by
334 to 12,237.
(SFC, 6/19/20, p.A7)
2020 Jun 19, Mumbai-based
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd said it has received Indian regulatory
approval to make and sell oral antiviral drug favipiravir for
treating mild-to-moderate COVID-19 infections in the country.
(AP, 6/19/20)
2020 Jun 19, China said the
Galwan Valley high up in the Himalayan border region where Chinese
and Indian troops engaged in a deadly brawl this week falls entirely
within China, boldly renewing claims on the disputed area as the
Asian giants continued using military and diplomatic channels to try
to reduce tensions.
(AP, 6/20/20)
2020 Jun 19, US prosecutors
said that Tahawwur Rana, a former Chicago businessman imprisoned for
aiding terrorist groups, has been arrested in Los Angeles to face
murder charges in India for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that
killed more than 160 people. Rana was convicted in Chicago in 2011
of providing material support to the Pakistani terror group
Lashkar-e-Taiba, which planned the 2008 India attack.
(The Telegraph, 6/19/20)
2020 Jun 20, Indian troops
backed by artillery fired on villages along the
Pakistani-administered side of Kashmir killing a girl (13) and
wounding her mother and brother.
(SFC, 6/22/20, p.A2)
2020 Jun 21, It was reported
that poaching in India has become increasingly common amid the
coronavirus pandemic, as people left jobless turn to wildlife to
make money and feed their families. The problem extended into Nepal,
southeast Asia and parts of Africa.
(AP, 6/21/20)
2020 Jun 21, Indian drugmaker
Cipla Ltd. and privately held Hetero Labs gained approval to sell
generic versions of Gilead Sciences Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir
in India.
(Reuters, 6/23/20)
2020 Jun 21, The World Health
Organization reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus
cases by its count, at more than 183,000 new cases in the latest 24
hours. The WHO said Brazil led the way with 54,771 cases tallied and
the US next at 36,617. Over 15,400 came in in India.
(NBC News, 6/21/20)
2020 Jun 22, India reported a
record number of new coronavirus cases and a death toll of more than
400 people in the past 24 hours as foreign embassies warned their
citizens in the country that hospitals might not have beds for them.
14,821 new cases brought India's total to more than 425,000. Nearly
14,000 people in India have now died from the disease caused by the
virus since the country reported its first case in January.
(Reuters, 6/22/20)(SFC, 6/23/20, p.A6)
2020 Jun 22, Global cases of
the novel coronavirus surpassed 9 million, as Brazil and India
grappled with a surge in infections, and the United States, China
and other hard-hit countries reported new outbreaks.
(Reuters, 6/22/20)
2020 Jun 23, Indian drugmaker
Cipla Ltd said it will price its generic version of Gilead Sciences
Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir for use in COVID-19 patients at less
than 5,000 rupees ($66).
(AP, 6/23/20)
2020 Jun 23, In southern India
a father and son died while in police custody. The father had been
arrested three days earlier for flouting coronavirus rules by
keeping his mobile phone shop open past curfew. The son went to
check on him and both were severly beaten. Ten police officers were
later arrested following a feceral investigation and charged with
murder.
(SFC, 8/18/20, p.A3)
2020 Jun 24, Indian authorities
launched a massive coronavirus survey taking down health details
from New Delhi's entire population of 29 million, and testing
everyone with symptoms by July 6. In the past 24 hours, 3,788 new
cases were confirmed in Delhi, compared to 1,118 in Mumbai.
(AP, 6/25/20)
2020 Jun 25, India said it will
carry out a survey for the coronavirus targeting the 29 million
population of New Delhi, to be completed by July 6. India registered
another record high of 16,922 cases, taking the total to 473,105.
(AP, 6/25/20)(SFC, 6/26/20, p.A9)
2020 Jun 25, Maharashtra,
India's richest state, banned a "spurious" coronavirus treatment
manufactured by a company founded by popular yoga guru, which he
says has a 100% record in curing patients. Baba Ramdev, co-founder
of Patanjali and a household name in India, launched Coronil to much
fanfare on June 23, but hit a roadblock when New Delhi and some
state governments expressed skepticism.
(Reuters, 6/25/20)
2020 Jun 25, In eastern India
lightning killed 23 people and injured 10 others during
thunderstorms and heavy rain in Bihar state.
(SFC, 6/26/20, p.A2)
2020 Jun 26, India confirmed
17,296 new coronavirus infections bringing its total to 490,401.
Another 407 deaths brought that total to 15,301.
(SFC, 6/27/20, p.A6)
2020 Jun 27, India confirmed
cases of the coronavirus jumped 18,552 raising its total to over
half a million. 384 new deaths raised that total to 15,685.
(SSFC, 6/28/20, p.A10)
2020 Jun 27, US-based Carlyle
Group Inc said it has agreed to buy a 20% stake in the
pharmaceutical unit of Indian conglomerate Piramal Enterprises Ltd
for about $490 million.
(Reuters, 6/27/20)
2020 Jun 28, India reported an
additional 19,906 confirmed cases of the coronavirus taking its
total to 528,859 with 16,095 deaths.
(SFC, 6/29/20, p.A6)
2020 Jun 29, New Delhi said
late today that TikTok was among the 59 apps which it believed posed
a "threat to sovereignty and integrity," following its recent border
clash with China. Some 200 million users soon lost access to the
app. Roposo, a local rival, got 2.2 million sign-ups in 48 hours.
(Reuters, 6/30/20)(Econ., 7/25/20, p.50)
2020 Jun 29, India reported
nearly 20,000 new coronavirus infections. The country has confirmed
548,318 cases with the death toll at 16,475.
(SFC, 6/30/20, p.A6)
2020 Jul 1, India reported
18,653 new cases of the coronavirus and 507 deaths over the last 24
hours. Total cases reached 585,493.
(SFC, 7/2/20, p.A7)
2020 Jul 2, In India the number
of coronavirus infections surpassed 600,000, resulting in 17,834
deaths as authorities battled to contain the pandemic while easing
lockdown rules.
(Reuters, 7/3/20)
2020 Jul 3, India reported
another single-day record high of new coronavirus cases. The new
20,903 cases took the national total to 625,544. Another 379 deaths
took that total to 18,213.
(SFC, 7/4/20, p.A5)
2020 Jul 3, Zydus, part of
Cadila Healthcare Ltd, said it has received approval from Indian
regulators to begin human studies for its COVID-19 vaccine
contender, as the novel coronavirus infections continue to surge in
the world's fourth worst-hit nation.
(Reuters, 7/3/20)
2020 Jul 4, India reported its
highest single-day spike, with 22,771 new confirmed cases for a
total of more than 648,000, including 18,655 deaths.
(AP, 7/4/20)
2020 Jul 6, India reported
24,248 new cases of the coronavirus and has now confirmed over
697,000 cases including 19,693 deaths.
(SFC, 7/7/20, p.A6)
2020 Jul 7, In India 467 people
have died from the coronavirus in the last day, bringing the
nation's death toll to 20,160. Authorities reported a one-day
increase of 22,252, bringing India's total number of coronavirus
cases to 719,665.
(Good Morning America, 7/7/20)
2020 Jul 9, India's Health
Ministry said that India was doing “relatively well” managing
COVID-19, pointing to 13 deaths per 1 million people, compared to
about 400 in the United States and 320 in Brazil. India has tallied
793,802 infections and more than 21,600 deaths, with cases doubling
every three weeks.
(AP, 7/10/20)
2020 Jul 10, India reported
25,506 coronavirus cases, and another 475 deaths in the past 24
hours, raising the total fatality toll to 21,604.
(SFC, 7/11/20, p.A5)
2020 Jul 11, India reported a
new daily high of 27,114, its biggest daily spike as the total
number of coronavirus cases passed 820,916. The death toll rose by
519 for a total of 22,123.
(AP, 7/11/20)(SSFC, 7/12/20, p.A11)
2020 Jul 12, Indian drugmaker
Lupin Ltd shut one of its manufacturing plants in Gujarat state
after at least 17 employees at the site tested positive for
COVID-19.
(Reuters, 7/14/20)
2020 Jul 14, India reported
906,752 cases of the coronavirus with 28,498 new infections, the
third highest total in the world behind Brazil and the United
States.
(Reuters, 7/14/20)
2020 Jul 14, Indian
pharmaceutical company Zydus said it had started human studies for
its potential COVID-19 vaccine, as infections continue to surge in
the world's third worst-hit nation.
(Reuters, 7/14/20)
2020 Jul 14, Indian officials
reported six more deaths in Assam state due to floods and mudslides.
This brought the total death toll to 77 from more than two weeks of
heavy rains.
(SFC, 7/15/20, p.A4)
2020 Jul 16, Indian officials
reported 16 more deaths in Assam state due to floods and mudslides.
This brought the total death toll to 93 from more than two weeks of
heavy rains.
(SFC, 7/17/20, p.A4)
2020 Jul 17, India became the
third country to record one million coronavirus cases, joining
Brazil and the United States. A surge of 34,956 cases in the last 24
hours took the confirmed total to 1,003,832. A record 687 deaths
took that total to 25,602.
(AFP, 7/17/20)(SFC, 7/18/20, p.A6)
2020 Jul 19, India, which has
now confirmed more than 1 million coronavirus infections, reported a
24-hour record of 38,902 new cases.
(AP, 7/19/20)
2020 Jul 20, It was reported
that Indian police have arrested 14 people on suspicion of selling
locally made doses of Gilead Sciences Inc's remdesivir at five times
the maximum retail price as a surge of novel coronavirus cases
boosts demand for the antiviral drug. India's tally of coronavirus
cases has risen to 1.11 million with more than 27,000 deaths.
(Reuters, 7/20/20)
2020 Jul 20, India reported
more than 40,000 new cases of coronavirus, a record daily high,
raising the country's total to 1,118,043 including 27,497 deaths.
(SFC, 7/21/20, p.A6)
2020 Jul 22, India's Glenmark
Pharmaceuticals Ltd said its version of anti-flu drug favipiravir
showed promise in a late-stage study of 150 patients with mild to
moderate coronavirus infection.
(Reuters, 7/22/20)
2020 Jul 24, India-based Cipla
Ltd said it has received Indian regulatory approval to sell
anti-viral drug favipiravir to treat COVID-19. India reported over
49,310 fresh cases of the novel coronavirus with 740 new deaths,
marking the biggest daily surge in cases. Total cases now numbered
1,287,945, the 3rd highest in the world behind the US and Brazil.
(Reuters, 7/24/20)(SFC, 7/25/20, p.A5)
2020 Jul 25, India recorded
nearly 49,000 new coronavirus cases, raising its total to more than
1.3 million. 757 deaths in the last 24 hours riased that total to
31,358.
(SSFC, 7/26/20, p.A6)
2020 Jul 27, India's chemicals
minister outlined plans to boost local manufacturing in the bulk
drugs and medical device industries to reduce India's reliance on
imports, particularly from China.
(Reuters, 7/27/20)
2020 Jul 31, Indian police said
that at least 21 people have died in Punjab state over the last
three days after drinking tainted alcohol. The death toll was later
raised to at least 69. Local media put the number at 86. Police soon
arrested more than two dozen people on suspicion of selling tainted
alcohol.
(SFC, 8/1/20, p.A2)(SFC, 8/3/20, p.A2)
2020 Jul 31, In India monsoon
floods have swamped large parts of densely populated Bihar state and
displaced more than 300,000 people, exacerbating the risk of the
coronavirus and stymieing the state's response to the pandemic. The
floods have killed at least 24 people in the state. Bihar has so far
recorded 48,197 coronavirus cases including 282 deaths.
(AP, 7/31/20)
2020 Jul 31, India recorded
55,079 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours taking its total
to 1,638,871. The death toll rose by 779 taking that total to
35,747.
(SFC, 8/1/20, p.A6)
2020 Aug 1, India recorded its
steepest spike of 57,118 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking its
coronavirus caseload close to 1.7 million.
(AP, 8/1/20)
2020 Aug 1, In India a huge
crane collapsed during load testing at the Hindustan Shipyard in
Andhra Pradesh state, killing at least 11 workers.
(SSFC, 8/2/20, p.A5)
2020 Aug 2, India reported
54,735 new coronavirus cases, down from the previous day's record
57,118. The country's total rose to 1.75 million.
(AP, 8/2/20)
2020 Aug 3, India reported
52,972 new infections in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 1.8
million - the third highest in the world. With 771 new deaths, the
COVID-19 disease has now killed 38,135 people.
(AP, 8/3/20)
2020 Aug 3, Indian drugmaker
Wockhardt Ltd said it will supply millions of doses of multiple
COVID-19 vaccines, including that being developed by AstraZeneca and
Oxford University, under a deal with the UK government.
(AP, 8/3/20)
2020 Aug 5, India's PM Narendra
Modi set the ceremonial cornerstone for a new Hindu temple at the
site of a destroyed mosque in Ayodhya. Hindu devotees had destroyed
the mosque in 1992.
(SFC, 8/6/20, p.A3)
2020 Aug 6, India recorded is
biggest single-day death toll of 904 as new infections surged by
56,282 to nearly 2 million.
(SFC, 8/7/20, p.A5)
2020 Aug 9, India recorded
nearly 64,000 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, raising
its total to 2,153,010. The Indian Medical Association said 196
doctors have died of COVID-19.
(SFC, 8/10/20, p.A5)
2020 Aug 11, India reported
53,601 new cases of the coronavirus as its total neared 2.3 million.
871 new deaths were reported raising total fatalities to 45,257.
(SFC, 8/12/20, p.A5)
2020 Aug 11, South Korea's
Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co Ltd said it received Indian regulatory
approval to test its anti-parasitic niclosamide drug to treat
COVID-19 patients in an early-stage human trial.
(Reuters, 8/11/20)
2020 Aug 12, In southern India
at least three people were killed in Bengaluru when police clashed
with hundreds of Muslims during a protest over a Facebook post
considered offensive to Islam. The person responsible for the post
was arrested and a law prohibiting gatherings was imposed on the
city.
(SFC, 8/13/20, p.A2)
2020 Aug 14, Florida reported
more than 6,200 new coronavirus cases and 200 deaths.
(SFC, 8/15/20, p.A6)
2020 Aug 14, India reported
1,007 coronavirus deaths bringing tis total to 48,040. Confirmed
cases rose by 64,553.
(SFC, 8/15/20, p.A6)
2020 Aug 15, The prime
ministers of India and Nepal spoke over the phone to try to ease
bilateral tensions that have existed since a border dispute erupted
between the two countries in May.
(AP, 8/15/20)
2020 Aug 16, India reported 944
new coronavirus deaths pushing total fatalities to near 50,000.
(SFC, 8/17/20, p.A6)
2020 Aug 19, India's health
ministry recorded 1,092 additional coronavirus-related deaths in the
past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide toll to 52,889. More than 2.7
million people in India have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the
pandemic began.
(Good Morning America, 8/19/20)
2020 Aug 20, India reported
69,652 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, its highest daily
increase yet. There were also an additional 977 coronavirus-related
fatalities recorded within the last day, bringing the national total
to 53,866.
(SFC, 8/20/20, p.A5)
2020 Aug 20, In southern India
a large fire at a government-run hydroelectric plant killed 9
workers in Telangana state.
(SFC, 8/22/20, p.A2)
2020 Aug 23, India’s
coronavirus caseload topped 3 million, with the country leading the
world in new infections as the disease marched through impoverished
rural areas in the north and the wealthier but older populations of
the south. Health authorities reported 69,239 new cases and 912
deaths, bringing the total to 3,044,940.
(AP, 8/23/20)
2020 Aug 25, India's
anti-terrorism agency named a Pakistan-based militant leader as the
prime mastermind of a 2019 car bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir
that killed 40 Indian soldiers and brought the nuclear-armed rivals
to the brink of war. A charge sheet named Masood Azhar, chief of
Jaish-e-Mohammed, and 19 others among the accused.
(AP, 8/26/20)
2020 Aug 27, India recorded its
highest single-day increase with 75,760 new coronavirus cases. The
Health Ministry also reported 1,023 deaths over the last 24 hours,
raising that total to 60,472.
(SFC, 8/28/20, p.A6)
2020 Aug 28, Indian lawmaker H.
Vasanthakumar, from the country's main opposition party Congress,
became the latest high profile figure to die from COVID-19, the
infection caused by the novel coronavirus.
(Reuters, 8/29/20)
2020 Aug 29, India reported
76,472 new coronavirus cases, slightly lower than the record
breaking numbers of the past couple of days, but extending a run
that has made the country's outbreak currently the world's worst.
The death toll rose by 1,021 to 62,550. India has reported a total
of 3.46 million cases during the pandemic.
(Reuters, 8/29/20)
2020 Aug 29, India-based
Reliance said it would pay 3.4 billion for most of the Future Group,
founded by Kishore Biyani (b.1961).
(Econ., 9/5/20, p.55)
2020 Aug 30, India registered
78,761 new coronavirus cases, the biggest single-day spike in the
world since the pandemic began, just as the government began easing
restrictions to help the battered economy. So far, more than 63,000
Indians have died from the disease.
(AP, 8/30/20)
2020 Aug 31, In India Pranab
Mukherjee (b.1935), former president (2012-2017), died in New Delhi
of COVID-19. He had been on a ventilator for the last three weeks.
(Econ., 9/5/20, p.32)
2020 Aug 31, India reported
78,512 novel coronavirus infections, more than any other country but
fewer than the previous day when it posted the world's biggest,
single-day tally, as authorities looked to open more sectors of the
economy. Coronavirus deaths went up by 971 in the past 24 hours,
taking the tally to 64,469.
(Reuters, 8/31/20)
2020 Sep 1, Many Indian states
eased coronavirus lockdown restrictions allowing more businesses and
public areas to reopen as confirmed cases neared 3.7 million.
(SFC, 9/2/20, p.A8)
2020 Sep 4, India reported a
daily jump of 83,341 coronavirus infections, taking its tally to
3.94 million. 1,096 people died from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours,
taking the toll to 68,472.
(Reuters, 9/4/20)
2020 Sep 5, India’s coronavirus
caseload surpassed 4 million, deepening misery in the country's vast
hinterlands, where surges have crippled the underfunded health care
system. The 86,432 cases added in the past 24 hours pushed India’s
total to 4,023,179. The health ministry also reported 1,089 deaths
for a total of 69,561.
(AP, 9/5/20)
2020 Sep 7, Chinese and Indian
troops exchanged fire along the southern coast of Pangong Lake in an
area known in China as Shenpaoshan and in India as Chushul. The
following day both sides accused each other of making provocative
military moves and firing warning shots along their disputed border.
(AP, 9/8/20)
2020 Sep 7, India's coronavirus
cases rose by 90,802 new cases in the last 24 hours raising its
total to 4,204,614, now the 2nd highest in the world after the US.
The death toll rose to 71,642 with 1,016 new deaths.
(SFC, 9/8/20, p.A5)
2020 Sep 9, India reported
89,706 new coronavirus cases and 1,115 deaths over the last 24 hours
taking total fatalities up to 73,890. Total caseload reached 4.37
million.
(SFC, 9/10/20, p.A5)
2020 Sep 10, The Chinese and
Indian foreign ministers agreed that their troops should disengage
from a tense border standoff, maintain proper distance and ease
tensions in the Ladakh region where the two countries in June had
their deadliest clash in decades.
(AP, 9/10/20)
2020 Sep 10, India reported
another record spike of 95,735 coronavirus infections over the last
24 hours as well as 1,172 deaths. Total infections reached 4,465,863
with 75,062 fatalities.
(SFC, 9/11/20, p.A5)
2020 Sep 11, Swami Agnivesh
(Vepa Shyam Rao), champion of India's indentured laborers, died in
new Delhi at age 80.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnivesh)(Econ.,
10/10/20, p.82)
2020 Sep 12, India reported a
record rise in new coronavirus infections for the second consecutive
day after registering 97,570 new cases. The world's second most
populous country now has 4.65 million confirmed cases.
(The Week, 9/12/20)
2020 Sep 14, In India a woman
(19), who belonged to the Dalit community, was raped by four men in
the heartland state of Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district. Her family
found her naked, bleeding and paralyzed with a split tongue and a
broken spine in a field outside their home. She died on Sept. 28.
Four men, all from an upper caste, were arrested.
(AP, 9/30/20)
2020 Sep 15, India's
coronavirus death toll crossed 80,000, swelled by 1,054 in the last
24 hours. The country reported 83,809 new coronavirus infections for
its lowest daily jump in a week. At least 17 members of the Indian
parliament have tested positive for the coronavirus. Total cases
numbered 4.93 million.
(Reuters, 9/15/20)
2020 Sep 17, India reported
another record jump in daily coronavirus infections with 97,894
cases in the last 24 hours. 1,132 people died of COVID-19 in the
last 24 hours, taking total fatalities from the disease to 83,198.
(Reuters, 9/17/20)
2020 Sep 18, India recorded
96,424 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, taking its
tally to 5.2 million. 1,174 people died of COVID-19 in the last 24
hours, taking total mortalities from the disease to 84,372.
(Reuters, 9/18/20)
2020 Sep 21, India reopened its
famed monument to love, the Taj Mahal, with the first visitors
trickling in as authorities reported 86,961 new coronavirus
infections, with no signs of a peak yet.
(Reuters, 9/21/20)
2020 Sep 21, In India a
residential building due for repairs collapsed in a suburb of Mumbai
killing at least 10 people. As many as 25 people were feared
trapped.
(SFC, 9/22/20, p.A2)
2020 Sep 25, Pakistani PM Imran
Khan assailed India’s Hindu nationalist government and its moves to
cement control of Muslim-majority Kashmir, calling India a state
sponsor of hatred and prejudice against Islam.
(AP, 9/25/20)
2020 Sep 26, The Indian health
ministry reported more than 85,000 cases in the last 24 hours. Total
COVID-19 infections hit 5.9 million countrywide. India said it was
capping the price of liquid oxygen used to treat victims of novel
coronavirus and other respiratory diseases after complaints of
hoarding and shortages.
(Reuters, 9/26/20)
2020 Sep 28, India’s confirmed
coronavirus tally reached 6 million, keeping the country second to
the United States in number of reported cases. The Health Ministry
reported 82,170 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, driving
the overall total to 6,074,703. At least 1,039 deaths were recorded
in the same period, taking total fatalities up to 95,542.
(AP, 9/28/20)
2020 Sep 29, Human rights
watchdog Amnesty International said that it is halting its operation
in India, citing reprisals by the government and the freezing of its
bank accounts by Indian authorities.
(AP, 9/29/20)
2020 Sep 30, An Indian court
acquitted all 32 people accused of crimes in the 1992 attack and
demolition of a 16th century mosque.
(SFC, 10/1/20, p.A2)
2020 Sep 30, It was reported
that a large new study in India found that children of all ages can
spread the coronavirus. The study is not the last word in the
debate, but it adds to the evidence that school openings are likely
to lead to new outbreaks.
(NY Times, 10/1/20)
2020 Oct 2, In India hundreds
of protesters demanded the dismissal of the government of northern
Uttar Pradesh state where a woman (19) was raped and died last
month.
(SFC, 10/3/20, p.A2)
2020 Oct 3, India's coronavirus
death toll passed 100,000, only the third country in the world to
reach that milestone, after the US and Brazil, and its epidemic
shows no sign of abating.
(Reuters, 10/3/20)
2020 Oct 5, In India
authorities in New Delhi began an anti-pollution campaign in an
attempt to curb air pollution levels ahead of winter, when the
capital is regularly covered in toxic haze.
(SFC, 10/6/20, p.A2)
2020 Oct 8, India's total
coronavirus cases rose by 78,524 in the last 24 hours to 6.84
million. Deaths from COVID-19 infections rose by 971 to 105,526.
(Reuters, 10/8/20)
2020 Oct 9, India's Glenmark
Pharmaceuticals Ltd said its clinical trial testing a combination of
the antiviral drugs umifenovir and favipiravir in moderate
hospitalized COVID-19 patients did not show any significant benefit.
Total coronavirus cases in India rose to 6.91 million.
(Reuters, 10/9/20)
2020 Oct 11, India’s confirmed
coronavirus toll crossed 7 million with a number of new cases
dipping in recent weeks, even as health experts warn of mask and
distancing fatigue setting in. The Health Ministry registered
another 74,383 infections in the past 24 hours and 918 additional
deaths, taking total fatalities to 108,334.
(AP, 10/11/20)
2020 Oct 15, Movie theatres in
some parts of India opened for the first time in eight months, but
with no major Bollywood releases likely any time soon.
(Reuters, 10/15/20)
2020 Oct 17, It was reported
that the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Dr Reddy's
Laboratories Ltd have received renewed approval to conduct
late-stage clinical trials in India of Sputnik V, the Russian
COVID-19 vaccine.
(Reuters, 10/17/20)
2020 Oct 18, India's health
minister said Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech are
expected to pursue late stage clinical trials of intranasal COVID-19
vaccines in the coming months once they receive regulatory approval.
(Reuters, 10/18/20)
2020 Oct 20, The UN human
rights chief urged India’s government to do more to protect human
rights defenders, who have come under mounting pressure in recent
months in the world’s largest democracy.
(AP, 10/20/20)
2020 Oct 22, Indian PM Narendra
Modi's party promised free doses of any future COVID-19 vaccine for
the residents of eastern Bihar state if it wins local elections
there, drawing accusations of playing politics with the pandemic.
(Reuters, 10/22/20)
2020 Oct 22, Indian drugmaker
Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd said it had isolated all its data center
services as a preventive measure following a cyberattack.
(Reuters, 10/22/20)
2020 Oct 27, India's government
announced a set of new measures for Jammu and Kashmir, unilaterally
revoking a dozen local laws and modifying another 26.
(Econ., 10/31/20, p.35)
2020 Oct 29, India's confirmed
coronavirus caseload surpassed 8 million. The Health Ministry
reported another 49,881 coronavirus infections and 517 fatalities in
the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 120,527.
(AP, 10/29/20)
2020 Nov 1, India's Bharat
Biotech said it is planning to launch its COVID-19 vaccine candidate
in the second quarter of 2021 if it gets approval from Indian
regulatory authorities.
(Reuters, 11/1/20)
2020 Nov 1, In Kashmir Indian
forces killed Saifullah Mir, a top commander of the Hizbul
Mujahideen, during a gunbattle in Srinagar.
(SFC, 11/2/20, p.A2)
2020 Nov 5, India's New Delhi,
the capital city with the worst air quality worldwide, suffered its
most toxic day in a year, recording the concentration of poisonous
PM2.5 particles at 14 times over the World Health Organization safe
limit.
(Reuters, 11/5/20)
2020 Nov 6, India recorded
47,638 new cases of the novel coronavirus, taking its total to 8.41
million. Deaths rose by 670 in the last 24 hours, taking total
mortalities to 124,985.
(Reuters, 11/6/20)
2020 Nov 8, India reported
45,674 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, with the
capital coping with a sharp surge of nearly 7,000 cases a day this
week. The Health Ministry reported 559 deaths in the past 24 hours,
taking total fatalities to 126,121.
(AP, 11/8/20)
2020 Nov 9, India's Tata Group
launched a COVID-19 test kit that it says will process results more
easily and faster than the RT-PCR method considered the gold
standard for detection, at a time when cases are still rising in the
country.
(Reuters, 11/9/20)
2020 Nov 10, India's stock
market roared to a record high after news that a COVID-19 vaccine
developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was proving more effective than
expected.
(Econ., 11/14/20, p.67)
2020 Nov 12, India reported 47,
905 new cases of the coronavirus with a record 8,593 in New Delhi as
people crowd shopping areas ahead of the Diwali holiday.
(SFC, 11/13/20, p.A8)
2020 Nov 12, Serum Institute of
India, the world's largest vaccine producer, said it has made 40
million doses of AstraZeneca's potential COVID-19 vaccine, and would
soon begin making Novavax's rival shot, as they both seek regulatory
approval.
(Reuters, 11/12/20)
2020 Nov 16, New Delhi's top
health official said the latest surge of coronavirus infections in
the Indian capital, that has swamped its intensive care wards and
killed hundreds of people, has passed its peak.
(Reuters, 11/16/20)
2020 Nov 19, India recorded
45,576 new cases of the coronavirus, taking total infections in the
country to 8.96 million. Deaths rose by 585, with the total now at
131,578.
(Reuters, 11/19/20)
2020 Nov 19, In
India-controlled Kashmir four suspected militants were killed and
two Indian police officers were wounded in a gunfight on the
outskirts of Jammu.
(SFC, 11/20/20, p.A2)
2020 Nov 20, India crossed the
grim milestone of 9 million coronavirus cases, with 45,882 new
infections recorded in the last 24 hours. Deaths rose by 584, with
the total now at 132,162.
(Reuters, 11/20/20)
2020 Nov 23, India said it
plans to put off the winter session of parliament due to the rising
number of coronavirus infections. India recorded 44,059 new cases of
the novel coronavirus, taking its total to 9.14 million.
(Reuters, 11/23/20)
2020 Nov 25, India's ruling
Hindu BJP nationalist party approved legislation in Uttar Pradesh
state that lays out a prison term for anyone found guilty of using
marriage to force someone to change religion. The party describes
such marriages as "love jihad," an unproven conspiracy theory used
by its leaders and Hindu hard-line groups to accuse Muslim men of
converting Hindu women by marriage.
(SFC, 11/26/20, p.A2)
2020 Nov 26, Rebels in
India-controled Kashmir killed two soldiers in an attack on the
outskirts of Srinagar.
(SFC, 11/27/20, p.A2)
2020 Nov 27, In India thousands
of angry farmers protesting new agricultural laws were allowed to
enter New Delhi late today after they clashed with police who had
blocked them at the outskirts of the city.
(SFC, 11/28/20, p.A2)
2020 Nov 27, It was reported
that Indian pharmaceutical company Hetero will manufacture over 100
million doses of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine per year
under the terms of a deal unveiled today between it and Russia's
RDIF sovereign wealth fund.
(Reuters, 11/27/20)
2020 Nov 29, In India
protesting farmers rejected a government offer to hold talks if they
end their blockade of key highways. The farmers have been protesting
new agricultural laws they sau that could devastate crop prices.
(SFC, 1/30/19, p.A4)
2020 Dec 2, India's daily
coronavirus cases continued to stay below the 50,000 mark for the
25th straight day, with 36,604 new infections reported.
(Reuters, 12/2/20)
2020 Dec 3, A London ceremony
announced that this year's Global Teacher Prize has been awarded to
Ranjitsinh Disale (32) for his work helping girls, most of then from
poor tribal communities, at a village school in western India.
Disale immediately announced he would share the $1 million prize
money with the nine other finalists.
(Reuters, 12/3/20)
2020 Dec 4, India's daily
coronavirus cases rose by less than 40,000 for the fifth straight
day, with 36,595 new infections reported in the last 24 hours.
(Reuters, 12/4/20)
2020 Dec 5, The Indian
government and protesting farmers failed to break their deadlock in
talks over new agricultural laws. Farmers continued to block key
highways around New Delhi.
(SSFC, 12/6/20, p.A5)
2020 Dec 5, In India an
unidentified infection began causing over 500 people to fall
unconscious following seizures and nausea in Eluru Andhra Pradesh
state.
(AP, 12/8/20)
2020 Dec 7, A senior Indian
health department official said one person has died and more than
400 have been hospitalized in Andhra Pradesh state due to an
unidentified infection that caused many to fall unconscious
following seizures and nausea. Authorities were investigating water
supplies at 20 locations within the city of Eluru where the outbreak
was first reported.
(Reuters, 12/7/20)
2020 Dec 10, It was reported
that top executives of Carlsberg, SABMiller and India's United
Breweries (UB) exchanged commercially sensitive information and
colluded to fix beer prices in India over 11 years.
(Reuters, 12/10/20)
2020 Dec 11, In India around a
million doctors went on a day-long strike amid the coronavirus
pandemic to protest against a new federal government rule that
allows practitioners of the traditional science of Ayurveda to
perform minor surgeries.
(Reuters, 12/11/20)
2020 Dec 11, Pakistan's foreign
minister called for the UN and the EU to investigate a recent report
exposing a 15-year disinformation campaign that Islamabad alleges
was designed to serve India's interests and discredit Pakistan. New
Delhi denied the claims.
(AP, 12/11/20)
2020 Dec 13, Indian workers
smashed windows, broke office furniture, and set fire to a sign at a
Wistron Corp. factory that makes iPhones during a protest over wages
and working hours. Police said that they had detained 100 people.
(The Week, 12/14/20)
2020 Dec 14, Tens of thousands
of protesting Indian farmers called for a national farmers' strike,
the second in a week, to press for the quashing of three new laws on
agricultural reform that they say will drive down crop prices and
devastate their earnings.
(AP, 12/14/20)
2020 Dec 14, Indian
ride-hailing firm Ola, backed by Japan's SoftBank Group, said it
planned to invest 24 billion rupees ($326 million) to set up a
factory in the southern state of Tamil Nadu to produce electric
scooters.
(Reuters, 12/14/20)
2020 Dec 14, Codagenix Inc and
India's Serum Institute said they have received regulatory approval
in the United Kingdom to begin an early-stage trial of their
single-dose, intranasal COVID-19 vaccine.
(AP, 12/14/20)
2020 Dec 15, India reported
22,065 new coronavirus infections, taking its total to 9.9 million,
making it the lowest daily rise since July 4. Deaths rose by 354,
taking the total to 143,709.
(Reuters, 12/15/20)
2020 Dec 16, In India a Sikh
priest (65) committed suicide at an agricultural protest site.
Farmers have called for a 24-hour rotating hunger strike from Dec.
21 among protesters at home and abroad.
(AP, 12/20/20)
2020 Dec 18, India's health
ministry reported 22,890 new coronavirus infections, taking its
total to just shy of 10 million.
(Reuters, 12/18/20)
2020 Dec 18, OneWeb, the
satellite firm rescued by the British government and India's Bharti
Group, resumed flights in its push to provide global broadband
coverage as 36 of its satellites blasted off into orbit from
Russia's Far East. The launch was the first fully commercial flight
from Russia's new Vostochny cosmodrome.
(AP, 12/18/20)
2020 Dec 19, India reported
25,152 new infections and 347 deaths in the past 24 hours. The virus
has so far killed 145,136 people in the country. India took 30 days
to add the last million cases, the second slowest since the start of
the pandemic.
(Reuters, 12/19/20)
2020 Dec 19, Apple Inc placed
supplier Wistron Corp on probation, saying it would not award the
Taiwanese contract manufacturer new business until it addressed the
way workers were treated at its southern India plant.
(AP, 12/19/20)
2020 Dec 22, Drug developer
Ocugen Inc said it had partnered with Bharat Biotech to co-develop
Covaxin, the India-based company's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, for
the US market.
(Reuters, 12/22/20)
2020 Dec 24, India-based
Aurobindo Pharma Ltd said it would make and sell US-based COVAXX's
COVID-19 vaccine candidate for supply in India and to the United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) under a licensing deal.
(Reuters, 12/24/20)
2020 Dec 25, India's PM
Narendra Modi said that protests by farmers against three laws
brought by his government were politically motivated, as he touted
the success of an agricultural scheme launched last year.
(Reuters, 12/25/20)
2020 Dec 28, India's major
grain-growing state of Punjab asked police to crack down on farmers
and sympathizers vandalizing telecommunication masts as they
intensify their weeks-long protests against farm deregulation.
(Reuters, 12/28/20)
2020 Dec 30, Representatives of
the Indian government and tens of thousands of protesting farmers
held talks after a hiatus of three weeks and reached agreement on
two of the four issues that caused the farmers to blockade highways
near the capital.
(AP, 12/30/20)
2021 Jan 1, Experts at India's
drugs regulator recommended for emergency use two coronavirus
vaccines, one developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and the
other backed by a state-run institute.
(AP, 1/2/21)
2021 Jan 3, India's drugs
regulator granted emergency authorization for the AstraZeneca
coronavirus vaccine, but on the condition that Serum Institute
doesn't export the shots to ensure that vulnerable populations in
India are protected. Serum Institute of India has been contracted to
make 1 billion doses of the vaccine for developing nations. COVAXIN,
made by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, received emergency use
approval from India's drugs regulator.
(AP, 1/3/21)(4, 1/4/21)
2021 Jan 3, In India hundreds
of Tibetans in exile voted in Dharmsala for their new political
leader and parliament. A 2nd round will take place in April.
(SFC, 1/4/21, p.A6)
2021 Jan 4, Representatives of
the Indian government and protesting farmers failed again to reach
agreement on the farmers' demand that new agricultural reform laws
be repealed.
(AP, 1/4/21)
2040 In 2006 it was projected
that the total number of cars in India and China could rise from
some 30 million to 750 million.
(Econ, 9/16/06, Survey p.20)
2044 The major rivers of India
could be wiped out by this time based on 2004 estimates from
receding Himalayan glaciers.
(ST, 4/30/04, p.A3)
2065 India’s population was
expected to peak at about 1.64 billion.
(Econ, 5/23/15, SR p.4)
End of file