Author: Paraminta Chopade

The operation to rescue 41 workers trapped inside a tunnel in India’s Uttarakhand state has resumed after hitting a snag, officials say. They hope to free the workers in the next 10-12 hours if things go to plan. The workers have been inside the tunnel since 12 November after a part of it caved in due to a landslide. Late on Wednesday, the operation to rescue them was slowed down after a drilling machine encountered a steel structure it could not cut through. Rescuers had drilled through three-quarters of the debris trapping the workers by that point, and hopes had…

Copenhagen (13/11 – 37.5) When Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as Sri Lanka’s president in July after a popular uprising ousted his predecessor, the South Asian island nation was engulfed in its worst economic meltdown in 75 years. Since then, President Wickremesinghe has managed to a keep a lid on mass protests, improve supplies of essentials and on Monday, secured a nearly $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that opens the door to restructuring about $58 billion of debt and receive funding from other lenders. He has done that despite a deeply unpopular government, his own party commanding just one…

Six months after they were stripped, paraded naked and allegedly gang raped by a mob in north-east India, two women, whose ordeal was made public in a viral video, talk to the BBC in their first face-to-face interview. They speak about living in hiding, their fight for justice and their call for a separate administration for their community. Warning: This article includes descriptions of sexual violence. At first, all I see is their lowered eyes. Big black masks hide Glory and Mercy’s faces and scarves cover their foreheads. The two Kuki-Zomi women do not want to be seen. But they…

India has said it is exploring all legal options after a court in Qatar sentenced eight former Indian naval officers to death 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. On Thursday, the Indian government said it was “deeply shocked” and would take up the verdict with Qatari authorities. India’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it was awaiting the detailed judgment and attached “high importance to this case”. “We are in touch…

The administration of United States President Joe Biden is getting closer to providing Ukraine with ATACMS missiles, which Kyiv has long requested. The decision to transfer the missiles could be made as early as this fall. Biden has not yet approved the missile transfer. However, administration officials said they are again considering delivery of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) this fall to bolster Ukraine’s counteroffensive. The Pentagon has long been reluctant to provide the system, which can be launched from a HIMARS launcher provided by the US last year, arguing that the US military has a limited supply of the weapon.…

Tuesday’s police raids on the homes of prominent journalists in India are an attempt by the government to “muzzle” free speech, campaigners have said. The founder of news website NewsClick was arrested under an anti-terror law as part of an investigation into its funding. Human rights campaigners said the move was a “ruthless crackdown” against independent journalists. Ministers have insisted police are simply doing their job. The co-ordinated raids at 30 locations on Tuesday were some of the largest and most extensive on India’s media in recent years. Police later confirmed they had arrested NewsClick’s founder Prabir Purkayastha, as well as Amit…

Canada has accused India of involvement in the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader, an allegation strongly denied by Delhi. On Monday PM Justin Trudeau said Canada was looking at “credible allegations potentially linking” the Indian state to Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder. Mr Nijjar was was shot dead outside a Sikh temple on 18 June in Canada. India has expelled a Canadian diplomat after Canada expelled Indian diplomat Pavan Kumar Rai over the case. Mr Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in his vehicle by two masked gunmen in the busy car park of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey,…

On 5 April 2022 a sense of joy pervaded the Sultan household in Batamaloo in central Srinagar. It was a sunny spring day in Indian-administered Kashmir, and after more than three and a half years of visits to courts and police stations, they had received good news – Asif Sultan, a journalist, husband, father and son, had been granted bail. Relatives gathered waiting for him to return home. When hours turned to days, Asif’s family began to get anxious. On 10 April, another charge was brought against Asif. He wasn’t released and was moved to a jail outside Kashmir, making…

Exactly a week ago, India set down a robotic probe on the Moon, becoming the first country to land near the lunar south pole. Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander – carrying a rover in its belly – touched down on the lunar soil after a 20-minute, nail-biting finale watched by millions of people across the world. Hours later, the Pragyaan rover – Pragyaan is the Sanskrit word for wisdom – exited the lander and took its first steps on the Moon. The Indian space agency has been providing regular updates on the rover’s findings, the photos it’s taking, distance it is covering and how…

The Indian government has brought in new rules that allow it to cancel pensions of retired bureaucrats who have served as high-ranking officers in some of the most coveted government jobs. In the first week of July, the federal government amended the All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958, giving itself more power to withhold or withdraw the pension of retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officers convicted of a “serious crime” or found guilty of “grave misconduct”. These three services are among the most sought-after jobs in the country, partly due to their…