Author: Nakula Barvadekar

Can your religion affect how you feel about climate change? Many would agree that everyone has a responsibility to help limit future damage to the environment, but some people see it as more than that. Faith and how you practise it are deeply personal, but some people say saving the planet is part of their religious duty. As world leaders gather in Dubai at COP28 to discuss ways to limit future environmental harm, BBC Asian Network spoke to Muslim, Hindu and Sikh campaigners to find out how their faith drives them. ‘God made humans stewards over Earth’ Every time Muslims…

The Ladies European Tour season started with an Indian success, and it may well end with one too. Diksha Dagar is one of six players who can win the LET’s overall Race to Costa del Sol. Lying in third place, behind Thailand’s Trichat Cheenglab and France’s Solheim Cup star Celine Boutier, Dagar knows that victory at season-ending Andalucia Costa del Sol Open would see her become the first Indian to clinch the prestigious title, as long as Cheenglab doesn’t finish in outright second. “This sort of opportunity doesn’t come around easily, I have had to earn the chance,” says the…

India has filed an appeal with Qatar over death sentences handed to eight former Indian naval officers on unspecified charges. Reports say the men, who worked with a private company in Qatar, were arrested last year on suspicion of spying. Neither Qatar nor India have revealed the specific charges against them. India’s external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India has “already filed an appeal” against the verdict. The ministry added that it had consular access to the detainees on Tuesday. The Indian government said last month it was “deeply shocked” and would take up the verdict with Qatari authorities. The foreign…

The global political machine grapples with instability. The raging protest-riots in Sri Lanka, the government collapse in Pakistan, the resignation of UK’s Boris Johnson, the resignation of Italy’s Mario Draghi, the assassination of Japan’s Shinzo Abe and the plummeting public approval for America’s Joe Biden are just some of the bad cards on the international table of politics. At present, a new rise of political instability unfolds in Iraq, where protesters backed by ex-militant leaders have stormed the nation’s parliament twice within the last seven days — perhaps repugnant precedence from the Sri Lankan neo-insurrection. Iraq’s politics and national security…

India will resume visa services for Canadians after they ceased in a major diplomatic row in September, India’s High Commission in Ottawa says. At the time, India said the move was due to “security threats” disrupting work at its Canadian missions. But the suspension came amid a serious dispute over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil. Ottawa accused India of being behind the killing – an allegation New Delhi has called “absurd.” On Wednesday, officials said they will resume issuing some visas after reviewing the security situation at their missions, and in light of recent Canadian measures…

London, Dublin (1/11 – 66) Hamas is sheltered in a sea of civilians. Ostensibly a Palestinian political and military organization established in 1987, Hamas “governs” on the basis of having won a majority in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections – defeating Fatah, another Islamist terror combine – before forming a government in the Gaza Strip, described as “…the world’s largest open-air prison” for its Palestinian inhabitants. So why don’t the Palestinians, having been robbed of their ancient lands, simply up and move somewhere else? It is telling that none of the Islamic nations surrounding Israel care to admit any more…

Police in the Indian capital, Delhi, have raided the homes of prominent journalists and authors in connection with an investigation into the funding of news website NewsClick. NewsClick’s founder Prabir Purkayastha and a colleague were arrested. Police also seized laptops and mobile phones. Officials are reportedly investigating allegations that NewsClick got illegal funds from China – a charge it denies. Critics say the move is an intentional attack on press freedom. Started in 2009, NewsClick is an independent news and current affairs website known to be critical of the government. In 2021, it was raided by tax authorities on allegations…

Memories of the decade-long armed Sikh insurgency – which peaked in the 1980s and in which thousands of people died – remain strong in India. So when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Delhi of involvement in the death of a Canadian Sikh leader, many Indians reacted angrily. Mr Trudeau said Canadian intelligence was looking at “credible allegations potentially linking” the Indian state to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent campaigner for a separate Sikh homeland who was shot dead on 18 June in British Columbia (BC). India has rejected the claim as “absurd”. As Delhi and Ottawa…

A prominent Sikh leader was brazenly murdered this summer outside a temple in British Columbia (BC), Canada. The death has outraged his supporters and intensified global tensions between Sikh separatists and the Indian government. On a mid-June evening in the busy parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in the city of Surrey, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in his truck by two masked gunmen. Months later, the unsolved killing continues to reverberate, in Canada and across borders. Hundreds of Sikh separatists took to the streets in Toronto, along with a handful others in cities like London, Melbourne…

They lived in fairy-tale palaces, amassed untold fortunes in diamonds and precious stones, maintained fleets of Rolls-Royces, and travelled in specially appointed train carriages, arriving in the capital Delhi to the sound of thunderous gun salutes. They had the power of life and death over their subjects, and thousands of minions attended to their every need. On the eve of Indian independence in 1947, India’s 562 princes occupied nearly half its landmass and ruled over a third of its population. As Britain’s most loyal allies, they were virtually untouchable – only those who committed the most heinous of crimes were…