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As outrage grows over cases of sexual violence, activists are demanding a shift from controlling women to confronting men’s behaviour. Plus, Tony Klor’s ‘hella dope’ city vlogs • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here As an Indian woman, I often feel myself oscillating between states of anxiety or anger. The anxiety is about doing the mental maths of how to stay safe – thinking about what I’m wearing, where I am going and how I’ll get there, and so on. The anger is at the sheer absurdity of this, and the stories of of sexual violence and harassment I read about every day. I am not the only one. Last week, two particularly enraging incidents captured national attention. First, a video showing a group of men accused of harassing and molesting two teenagers at night in Bihar’s Jamui went viral. Then, a 17-year-old, out with a friend in Delhi, was allegedly gang-raped in a park by men posing as police. After, women in Bihar told Outlook how the incident in Jamui triggers greater controls and pressure on them. In Delhi, authorities curbed access to public parks and a premier women’s college, Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), briefly moved classes online. Continue reading...
Locals say Google’s $15bn project in Andhra Pradesh has resulted in smallholdings being taken back off them by the government When the government officials arrived in Tarluvada last year, they came with abundant promises. Google, one of the world’s richest and most powerful tech companies, would soon be bringing a “golden opportunity” to this tiny village in south India: a $15bn AI datacentre. Continue reading...
Area’s second-most intense hurricane on record being fuelled by exceptionally warm Pacific waters Hurricane Polo is barreling towards the Baja California region of Mexico, the latest system in a Pacific hurricane season that has been notably active in recent months. On 22 September, a measurement of 892 millibars was registered for Hurricane Polo, making it the second-most intense hurricane on record in the east Pacific. It is fuelled by exceptionally warm waters across the Pacific Ocean, providing favourable conditions for the system to maintain its considerable strength. Polo is expected to turn towards the west-north-west, before taking a more north-westerly trajectory on Saturday. It has maximum sustained winds of around 150mph, with even stronger gusts occurring within the most intense parts of the hurricane. Hurricane-force winds extend outward for approximately 40 miles from the centre, while tropical storm-force winds reach as far as 125 miles. These powerful winds, combined with torrential rainfall and dangerous seas, could have significant impacts. Although some fluctuations in intensity are possible over the coming days, Polo is expected to remain powerful as it tracks north-westwards. Continue reading...
Role for Anant Ambani, son of India’s richest person, who also runs a controversial mega-zoo, met with incredulity Newcastle University is facing a backlash from conservationists over the appointment of the heir to an Indian oil and gas fortune who runs a controversial mega-zoo as a professor of sustainability. The university announced that Anant Ambani had been given a professorship of practice for “his work in conservation, biodiversity protection, animal welfare and environmental stewardship” and “significant contributions to advancing a more sustainable future”. Continue reading...
Warren and Blumenthal raise concerns about case against Gautam Adani, who promised to invest $10bn in US The Trump administration is facing growing questions over its decision to abandon a fraud and bribery case against the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani after he promised to invest $10bn in the US. For the second time this year, two Democratic senators have demanded that the US attorney general, Todd Blanche, answer questions about the Department of Justice’s handling of the case – and raised concerns over its judgment under Donald Trump. Continue reading...
Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Airtel Money targets $9bn IPO in boost for ailing UK stock market Nils Pratley: Does this mark the end of London’s listing drought? Not yet A payments business that operates across Africa and is ultimately controlled by an Indian billionaire has announced its intention to float on the struggling London Stock Exchange. Airtel Money, the mobile money arm of Airtel Africa, is planning one of the biggest UK listings in years, in a boost for the shrinking London market that has faced a string of recent departures. Continue reading...
In a country where politicians are increasingly polarised and angry, thousands of rural Indians have been gathering to enjoy debate tournaments where the discussions are respectful and no one gets personal The setting for perhaps the country’s biggest exercise in public debate was quintessential rural India: fields of green paddy, a pond, a temple. On a normal day, as dusk falls in the village of Ajgara, in Uttar Pradesh, people gather beside the pond to chat about the price of crops, the weather, or the theft of a goat. But for more than a month, metaphysics and ethical dilemmas replaced the usual topics. Is it permissible to use deceit to defeat an evil enemy? Is a lie justified to save a life? What is the nature of reality? Continue reading...
Generations of artisans from Mumbai to Lucknow have shaped the world’s most coveted designs. Plus, the gen Z memes giving classic Bollywood a new life The zardozi embroidery on a Dior dress, the T-strap leather sandals at a Prada show, the mirror-work technique used on a Fendi bag – for decades, the skill of Indian artisans has been an invisible force behind some of the world’s most coveted fashion. Now, that work is beginning to claim its own place in the spotlight, and the Mumbai-based textile and embroidery atelier Chanakya International is at the forefront. Continue reading...
Jagtar Singh Johal, from Scotland, was arrested after wedding in Punjab on alleged terrorism offences Jagtar Singh Johal, a British Sikh man who was arrested in India in 2017 in connection with alleged terrorism offences, has been granted bail by a Delhi court. Johal, from Scotland, was arrested for his alleged role in funding the Khalistan Liberation Force, which had carried out targeted killings in India’s Punjab region. Continue reading...
Modi’s bid to ‘purify’ voter lists has affected a third of the city’s residents. In the GB Road red light district, those who lack permanent homes and documents are among the hardest hit Rows of hardware and car-part shops line Garstin Bastion Road, with faded signs crammed together above their shutters. By day, the street is one of Old Delhi’s busiest commercial thoroughfares. But as dusk falls, GB Road, as it is known locally, transforms into one of the city’s most notorious red-light districts. An estimated 2,800 sex workers live and work in brothels that occupy the upper floors of the dilapidated buildings, their entrances tucked behind narrow stairways and unmarked doors. Women sit on plastic stools beneath the stairways, calling out to men passing on the street, while others watch from windows above, their eyes following the movement below before customers are directed upstairs. Continue reading...
From Sri Lanka to South Korea, governments are preparing for droughts, wildfires, typhoons and floods – with climate plans facing their biggest challenge to date Asian governments are rushing preparations for the most severe El Niño weather event on record, with hundreds of millions of people bracing for multiple crises at once as extreme heat, heavy rain and food shortages hit the region. Fuelled by exceptionally warm ocean conditions across the tropical Pacific – and developing alongside the human-driven climate crisis – El Niño is virtually guaranteed to grow to a very strong intensity towards the end of this year and into 2027. Continue reading...
Bush theatre, London Titas Halder’s coming-of-age monologue is set against the 1984 Bhopal toxic gas leak – but the poetic script doesn’t quite capture the horror Ominousness permeates Darkling. In Titas Halder’s dramatic monologue, we witness a young girl’s coming of age set against the backdrop of the 1984 toxic gas leak in the Indian city of Bhopal, an environmental catastrophe that remains one of the worst industrial disasters in global history, leading to thousands of deaths. Actor Linnea Berthelsen – best known for her role as Kali in Netflix series Stranger Things – makes her UK stage debut and gamely takes on the singular role in a tightly wound, physical performance. Leaping across Simon Kenny’s artful, soil-filled set, Berthelsen embodies childlike wonder as she recounts her early years playing in the rain, savouring bowlfuls of plain rice and idolising her older sister. Continue reading...
Documentary director Orlando von Einsiedel on how the real life tale of a man who cycles 6,000 miles from India to Sweden to find his true love will warm your heart New Delhi, December 1975. It was love at first sight when a Swedish hippy called Lotta von Schedvin sat down to be sketched by an Indian street artist, Pradyumna Kumar Mahanandia, known to everyone as PK. In the 10 minutes it took PK to complete her portrait, everything clicked into place for the pair. They were swept headlong in a whirlwind romance, and PK took Lotta to his village in the east of India to meet his family. But soon after, the time came for Lotta to pack up her VW campervan and head back home with her friends. Heart-stricken PK promised to follow, but a plane ticket to Sweden was an impossible dream. Determined not to lose the love of his life, PK bought a secondhand Raleigh bike, and with $80 sewn into the waistband of his trousers, set off to cycle 6,000 miles to Lotta. He knew the sun set in the west, so that was the direction he took. His plan was to follow the hippy trail, cycling through India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, crossing Europe, finally arriving in Sweden. Continue reading...
One Oscar-winning director, one horoscope-prompted meet-cute and a continent-crossing cyclist – is this the start of documentaries that make you happy-cry? Here is a story that on the face of it seems so wildly unlikely it can only be true. Indeed, the very concept of a romantic documentary sounds almost oxymoronic, an indication of how much nonfiction films have become synonymous with grim histories full of suffering and injustice. Let’s hope this sweet work, directed by Orlando von Einsiedel (who’s made his share of hardcore, suffering-intensive docs including Oscar-winning short The White Helmets) launches a new trend in nonfiction film-making for stuff that makes you happy-cry. The basic meet-cute happened in 1975, when PK (played by Chirag Lobo in the film’s extensive re-enactments) met Lotta (Mina Dale) in Delhi. He was a poor street artist, a Dalit, the lowest possible caste, once called Untouchables. The real PK Mahanandia appears on screen to explain how he had left his rural village for Delhi in order to get away from all that caste hierarchy. When he met Lotta he pretty much knew he’d met the woman of his dreams because he’d been carrying a horoscope his father had commissioned for him when he was a baby that prophesised he’d fall in love with a woman whose family owned a jungle. Lotta, a backpacker from Sweden, hailed from a clan back home that owned a forest, so that was good enough for PK to believe he’d met his fate. After a chaste holiday romance bloomed between these two crazy kids, she went back to Sweden and he decided to bicycle the 6,000 miles all the way there from India to prove his love. Continue reading...
After a five-storey building collapsed in Delhi, focus is on how urban areas can adapt to growing populations. Plus, Ahmedabad’s ace newspaper delivery driver goes viral • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Recently, I may have saved a woman’s life on the road. Somehow, this was something I had expected to happen. On that day, I saw a truck leave a construction site with a tangled wire trailing behind. I frantically looked to see what the wire was attached to and spotted the scaffolding a few meters ahead. I shrieked and grabbed the hand of the woman walking in front of me just as the metal pipes came crashing down. We hugged for a brief second, and then walked our separate ways. Continue reading...
Flooding in West Bengal has led to three deaths, while severe beach erosion has been witnessed in Orange county Flooding around the city of Malda in the Indian state of West Bengal since Thursday has had a devastating effect. So far, three deaths have been recorded and many areas are still flooded, with numerous villages affected, along with the region of Bhutni. Erosion from the flooding, reported from Khaskol, led to a disruption in river flow which led to a more severe impact in Bhutni. More than 100 boats have been sent out for evacuation. At East Basudevpur, a 20ft (6-metre) embankment collapsed, reducing the channel from 550ft to under 150ft, which could lead to further flooding unless repaired. This flooding resulted after the Ganges River rose about 75cm above its “extreme danger” level owing to heavy rainfall. Continue reading...
Chinese president’s arrival in Delhi seen as step towards reconciliation after deadly 2020 military clash The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has received a red-carpet welcome in India for a summit of Brics developing nations, as regional rivals Beijing and Delhi make a public display of thawing relations while quietly competing to lead at a time of shaky US global dominance. As Xi stepped off the plane, he was walked past an honour guard of Indian soldiers and traditional dancers in colourful dresses. Later on Saturday, he was due to attend a gala dinner for the two-day summit. Continue reading...
Russian president is due to meet his Iranian counterpart during visit, while Chinese leader Xi Jinping also set to attend summit Vladimir Putin has arrived in India’s capital of Delhi ahead of an 11-member Brics summit set to be dominated by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as economic challenges. The Russian president and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, were due to hold talks with India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, while Chinese leader Xi Jinping was also expected to attend the two-day meeting. Continue reading...
Following six years of talks, Pitt Rivers Museum will return body parts collected by British colonial administrators to north-east India Anthropologists and community leaders from Nagaland, a remote state in north-eastern India bordering Myanmar, have expressed joy and relief that human remains belonging to their ancestors that had been on display in a British museum for nearly a century are finally being returned. On Monday, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford announced that 39 pieces of human remains – including parts of skulls, a finger and a piece of skin with hair – belonging to the Naga tribes, will be returned to Nagaland after six years of negotiation between the community and the museum. Continue reading...
Native only to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the rare apes were found thousands of kilometres away in Odisha state Five baby orangutans have been found in a forest in India, prompting authorities to investigate if they were trafficked into the country from south-east Asia. The orangutans, native only to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and known for their shaggy red fur, were found in Balasore district of Odisha state, thousands of kilometres away from their natural habitat. Continue reading...
One-day strike called after Paris landmark agreed to keep women out of sight for visit by Hindu group The Eiffel Tower has reopened after a one-day strike was called in response to the landmark’s management ordering female staff to keep out of sight at the request of a visiting religious group. City Hall, which operates the Paris landmark, has apologised for breaching France’s republican principle of equality and ordered a full inquiry. Continue reading...
India’s statistical system once commanded respect, and its data on economic and social indicators was considered rigorous – that appears to have eroded • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here There isn’t much that we Indians agree on these days. GDP numbers are no exception. Last week, India released glowing GDP numbers for the latest quarter – 7.8% growth – higher than the forecast 7%. It sparked a furore. Subhash Garg, a former finance secretary under Narendra Modi’s government and now a critic, reframed what Modi called a “herculean feat” as mere smoke and mirrors. According to Garg, the government revised last year’s current-price GDP downwards to inflate this year’s number – he believes the real growth is only 2.6%. Continue reading...
The activist said her two years studying and travelling in country ‘made me who I am’ ‘We badly need to raise our boys more like our girls’: Gloria Steinem – a life in quotes Gloria Steinem: A life in pictures When Gloria Steinem’s plane touched down in Bombay in 1957, she could not have known that her stay in India would become what she later called a “pivotal, life-dividing event [that] made me who I am”. She was 22, with a degree in government from Smith college and was travelling on a Chester Bowles fellowship. Continue reading...
In this week’s newsletter: The full scale of the disaster is still emerging, but as rescue efforts continue, scientists warn that a warming Himalayas could mean more deadly hazards • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here At 8.37am local time last Wednesday, a huge mass of rock and ice sheared free from a mountain, sliding 1,200 metres to the valley floor in Nepal’s Langtang national park, about 60km north of the country’s capital, Kathmandu. Horrifying images and videos soon emerged of a torrent of mud, water and debris that swept down the Lhende Khola valley at speeds approaching 150km/h. Flowing down the Lhende Khola, Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers that run between Tibet and Nepal, the flood water swept away homes, roads, bridges and power plants. Along the Trishuli, water levels rose by as much as nine metres in half an hour. As of the time of writing, the death toll of the disaster approached 1,000 people, with more than 4,400 on both sides of the border missing. Continue reading...
Visual storytelling is helping dismantle patriarchal norms that perpetuate child marriage in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, writes Ravi Baral Regarding your editorial (The Guardian view on child marriage: girls should not be wives, 26 August), every year, 12 million girls are married under the age of 18, while more than 70 million more are estimated to be at risk of child marriage between 2025 and 2030. Yet, as international development budgets face unprecedented contractions, traditional field programming alone cannot keep pace. At current funding levels, international funding for ending child marriage amounts to less than $1 per girl at risk per year – a level of investment that cannot match the scale or urgency of the problem Continue reading...
El Niño is associated with weaker monsoons in India – but research suggests it can also bring more extreme rainfall The world is bracing for a “super” El Niño, and its effects are already being felt in India, where the monsoon has brought less rain than average but more intense downpours. Meteorologists predict that the current El Niño, which is developing over the Pacific, could be one of the strongest in living memory. India is likely to be heavily affected, particularly later in the monsoon, when El Niño’s influence tends to strengthen. Continue reading...
Bangladeshi complainants allege Rampal power station’s pollution and climate risks threaten the Sunderbans, a world heritage site Barclays Bank is facing a formal complaint over its financial links to a coal-fired power station near the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and home to millions of people in Bangladesh and India. Three complainants from the region have submitted a case to the UK government’s Office for Responsible Business Conduct, alleging that the British bank breached international guidelines by underwriting companies involved in the emission-heavy Maitree super thermal power project, also known as the Rampal power plant. Continue reading...
Study reveals that pesticide poisoning kills 11,000 people each year, with India accounting for nearly 60% of fatalities Almost half of the world’s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year, a study has found. Using publicly available data from 2006-2023, the study, which was commissioned by Pesticide Action Network, found there to be an estimated 402-433m cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning of farmers and farm workers every year. Continue reading...
As families await news of missing loved ones, the disaster is a stark reminder of how the climate crisis is creating a fast-growing threat. Plus, the town considered India’s ‘Jurassic Park’ • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here It has been hard not to despair while watching the ruinous floods swallow parts of Nepal, and harder, still knowing that the agony compounds each passing day for dozens of Indian families whose members remain unaccounted for. Social media is awash with desperate pleas, photos and details of the young and old, men and women, from Mumbai to Kolkata, posted by families searching for traces of life. The disaster unfolded when a melting glacier slammed into the valley below, unleashing a deadly cascade of rock and ice down the Bhote Kashi River, which flows from Tibet into Nepal. Continue reading...
Richer countries might have more resources to deal with catastrophe, but this problem grips the entire planet, however much leaders may want to deny it Climate breakdown is happening on one Earth, but two different worlds. In one, its impacts increasingly encroach on everyday life; longer periods of discomfort and shorter periods of sharp pain. Endless, hotter summers, and within them sudden wildfires, evacuations, homes burned to cinders in a matter of hours. In another, catastrophe. This summer has been a snapshot of that split-screen. The hottest day on record in parts of Europe, and a wave of water, mud and ice in Nepal that so far has claimed more than 750 lives. Thousands of people are still missing. The difference is also one of resources. The climate crisis has an economic cost, but some places can absorb it better than others. Responses to this summer of wildfires in Europe included a rapid scrambling by the French government to provide everything from tax breaks for businesses affected by the fires to relocation costs and aid to rebuild homes. The UK government had deployed almost £100m before the summer to strengthen wildfire resilience. Continue reading...
Searches continue as mass burials of unidentified victims begin days after floods and landslides hit Nepal-Tibet border ‘The river has taken everything’: people return to remains of homes Death toll rises amid new flood fears and race to free group trapped in tunnel Nepal’s Chitwan district has become the site of mass burials for hundreds of unidentified victims whose bodies were swept away by the devastating flash floods on Wednesday. Authorities have dug hundreds of graves in the district’s Devghat forest, with the forest trials serving as a temporary burial ground for bodies too badly decomposed to be identified. Continue reading...
Nepal requests foreign help in identification and storing of bodies, DNA testing and rescuing people from tunnels Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded New flood fears and a race to free group trapped in tunnel Poor weather temporarily hampered aerial rescue operations in Nepal on Saturday as the search for thousands of missing people in areas devastated by catastrophic flash floods along the border with China continued. The combined toll in Nepal and Tibet rose to 691 dead and more than 3,000 people missing after China’s latest update on Sunday. Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing, while Nepal’s disaster agency said late Saturday that the death toll had climbed to 675 with 2,498 people missing. Continue reading...
This blog is now closed. ‘The flood took everything I have’: survivors grieve for relatives and homes swept away in Nepal Chinese rescuers find ‘nothing but ruins’ at border crossing as Nepal seeks help to ID and store the dead Outside the army camp in the Nuwakot district of Nepal, people run their fingers down the sheets of paper pinned to the wall, scanning the growing list of those reported missing for news of loved ones. Nepali authorities said nearly 3,000 people are missing, while China reported more than 550 people unaccounted for. Nepal’s foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, has appealed for international support to help rebuild the country after the floods, saying reconstruction efforts could run into “billions of dollars” AFP reports. Continue reading...
Hundreds of foreigners were in area to work, take guided treks or make pilgrimages when disaster struck Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates Flash floods at the Nepal-Tibet border have killed at least 543 people and more than 1,500 are missing. Hundreds were foreigners in the area to work, take guided treks or make pilgrimages. Thousands have been rescued, with some of the injured taken to hospitals in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu. The number of missing may vary because of progress in the ongoing rescue efforts and differences in how data has been collected and verified among agencies. Continue reading...
The flagship environmental initiative has achieved ‘negligible’ results. Why so little progress, and what are the risks as the planet gets hotter? Plus, fusion dance pioneer Usha Jey • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here India set out to expand its forested areas a decade ago. Last week, however, we learned that the forest cover programme had barely taken root when the government’s auditors released their findings of the flagship Green India Mission. The shortfall of 97.57% from India’s initial pledge in 2014 was stark enough to alarm the government’s own auditor, who described the progress as “negligible”. Yet if you ask the government about forest cover, you’ll get a far greener picture. Continue reading...
Sonam Wangchuk’s fast was spark that drove youth protest movement – and now he wants to cleanse the political system For 26 days, India watched as Sonam Wangchuk wasted away. His hunger strike, held in solidarity with India’s “Cockroach” youth protest movement, would prove to be one of the most politically consequential fasts held in the country’s modern history. Many in the country view the gruelling fast, which began on 28 June, as the crucial spark that helped propel the Cockroach movement into one of the most formidable challenges to the government of prime minister, Narendra Modi, in more than a decade. Continue reading...
Kinshuk Surjan’s documentary follows women in dire financial straits whose bereavement compounds their social plight, which they confront together Out in rural India, a crisis casts a dark cloud over the seemingly tranquil vistas of wheat fields and soy farms. Over the past 20 years, more than 400,000 farmers have killed themselves, beset by mounting debts and low market prices for crops. Shot in Maharashtra, the state with the highest rate of farmer suicides in India, Kinshuk Surjan’s documentary sensitively captures another tragedy that lingers after death: left behind by their dead husbands, generations of grieving widows struggle to find their way in a society still burdened by patriarchal values. Sanjivani, a woman in her 30s, is one such case. Eight years after her husband killed himself, she has taken over some of the farming responsibilities, along with other odd jobs, to provide for her two children. The camera rarely finds her at rest; Sanjivani not only works in the fields but also performs domestic labour for her extended family – cooking, cleaning and doing laundry. Her resilience is stunning to witness, but even more impressive is the emotional support provided by a tight-knit network of other widows. Together, the women gather for counselling sessions where they can freely discuss their emotional, physical and financial issues. Continue reading...
A prestigious school in the holy city of Varanasi and its controversial, dogmatic teachings are the subject of this shocking documentary The effect of political and religious indoctrination on young minds resembles a slow-release poison. Unfolding in observational vignettes, Pankaj Johar and Sunaina Kapoor’s thought-provoking documentary centres on Vidya Mutth, a prestigious Hindu school in the holy city of Varanasi, India, where sectarian beliefs are drilled into its students, all in the name of cultural preservation. The film opens with controversial speeches made by the school’s spiritual leader, Guru Avimuktesh, who advocates the abolition of religious freedom, and for Indian Muslims to either convert to Hinduism or leave for Pakistan. A prominent Hindu figure with a large following, he personally oversees the entrance exam, a sequence captured in dynamic handheld shots. While boys take the test, their parents look on with apprehension and anxiety; to be accepted would be an honour, not only for their child but for the whole family. Continue reading...
Indian shipment arrives as Ukrainian strike campaign forces reversal of petroleum flow; Kyiv under missile attack. What we know on day 1,639 Continue reading...
From student organisers to a model-turned-activist, these women are risking their reputations – and sometimes their lives – to fight against injustice. Plus, actor Imran Khan recommends a classic film • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here There is much to be said for the extraordinary women living ordinary lives, who nonetheless shaped India. Women have changed public life in the country far more than their presence in formal politics would suggest. And so, as India marked its 79th birthday over the weekend, I found myself reflecting on the multitude of people’s movements, big and small – as well as the women who helped shape them. During India’s struggle for freedom from British rule, women organised boycotts of British goods, made contraband salt and marched to confront the police, taking on roles usually dominated by men. In the 1970s Chipko movement, protesting deforestation, women put their bodies on the line, wrapping them around trees to stop them being felled, turning a local struggle into a national reckoning over environment and development. More recently, grandmothers in Shaheen Bagh sat to protest the citizenship law, which critics have denounced as discriminatory, creating space for dissent when many thought none existed. Continue reading...
With heatwaves now recognised as disasters, personal testimonies are key to a new project that looks to protect those living in the most cramped districts of India’s capital Every summer evening, Gulshan follows the same routine. She washes the floor of her one-room home several times so it cools a little for her four children to sleep on. Last summer, the family saved enough to buy a desert cooler, which uses evaporation as a cheaper alternative to air conditioning. The family uses the appliance cautiously to save on energy costs. But even when it is on, Gulshan, who does not use a surname, has to dampen everyone’s clothes before sleeping. The 39-year-old and her children now have rashes and one has a skin infection from the wet cloth against their skin. Continue reading...
Student unrest sweeps India, Portugal and Mexico as grievances and pressure for good grades in tough job market collide Families with teenagers in education know the private, hidden pain of exam season. But this year, what might have been a summer of quiet family anxiety has erupted in several countries into public unrest. Exam-related turmoil has led to mass student protests in Mexico after nearly 60,000 university applicants were forced to resit tests amid suspected cheating, while Portugal’s disastrous attempt to digitise school exam marking sparked the country’s worst education crisis in decades. Continue reading...
Campaigners fear deeper diplomatic contacts are undermining demands for improvements in human rights The Taliban in Afghanistan have launched a diplomatic effort to end their isolation as major regional and international powers show a readiness to engage more closely with the repressive regime despite its systematic human rights abuses. Five years after the Taliban took power, an increasing number of countries are renewing ties or scaling up diplomatic contacts with the hardline Islamists, who seized power in Kabul in 2021 after 20 years of brutal insurgent warfare. Continue reading...
England received only 10% of its average July rainfall and some areas may just get the odd shower for rest of August England has experienced its driest July since records began in 1836, receiving only 6.5mm of rainfall – 10% of the country’s long-term meteorological average for the month. Wales also experienced its driest-ever July, while Northern Ireland recorded its eighth driest. Scotland was the only country in the UK not to set new records but still received only 69% of its average rainfall for July compared with the long-term average. Southern England faced the worst of the dry conditions with some areas, including the Sussex coast, receiving less than 0.2mm of rain in July. This resulted in widespread low moisture content within the soil, enabling temperatures to reach the high 30s celsius. Looking ahead, despite notable spells of rain in the north, parts of southern England may receive only the odd shower for the rest of August. Throughout the summer, forecast models have hinted at more unsettled weather reaching the south-east of England at a 10-day range. However, as time edged closer the rain was largely confined to north-western parts of Britain, failing to reach the south-east with any significance. With much uncertainty within forecast models, the risk of this dry period persisting is not out of the question. Continue reading...
More than 2,600 villages have been flooded in Assam this year, in a climate disaster made worse by uncontrolled deforestation and mining in the region It was a normal July morning in the Indian state of Assam. After finishing her chores and eating breakfast, Gitali Phukon, a resident of the town of Gaurisagar, left her home to buy groceries. After two days of rainfall that had made the unpaved roads muddy and slippery, the sun was shining. But less than an hour later, she returned home to a nightmare: the Mitong River, which runs through the town, was overflowing and water was gushing through the streets. Continue reading...
Rise in new mine proposals, mainly in states of Odisha and Jharkhand, comes despite plateau in global demand Enough new coalmining projects were proposed last year to increase global supplies by 2.5bn tonnes a year, an increase of 11% from the year before, even as demand for coal plateaus, according to a new report. Global Energy Monitor, an NGO, found that India ignited a rise in new coalmine proposals in 2025 despite a global slowdown in the number of mine openings because of falling demand for the fossil fuel. Continue reading...
A sex worker and a call centre employee forge an ambiguous relationship in a film of strong feelings In a tiny crumbling Mumbai apartment two women move around each other, squeezing into the kitchen to cook, or past one another in the hallway. The cramped space hems them in – just as society limits their choices. That is surely the point first-time director Anuparna Roy is making in a gentle drama set mostly in the apartment about the closeness that develops between the two women. One of the roommates is Thooya (Naaz Shaikh), an actor and part-time sex worker. The apartment belongs to a client, Nitin (Bushan Shimpi), an arrangement that outrages the neighbours. Thooya doesn’t care what they think, and has rented the second bedroom to a stranger, Shweta (Sumi Baghel), who works from home for an IT call centre. There is an awkwardness between them at first that develops into … what exactly? Romance? It looks that way, although the film’s final scene is ambiguous. Continue reading...
An Amnesty International report reveals that the country is now a key part of Israel’s weapons supply chain. Plus, Assam floods, student anger spreads and a song to put in rotation • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Hello, and welcome back to This Is India. For this week’s newsletter, I’m looking at India’s evolving relationship with Israel, and how it has deepened as conflict swept across the Middle East. Why is it that India has formed an even closer bond with a country that has faced mounting international isolation and backlash over a military campaign in Gaza that has left the territory in ruins and killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, – many of whom were children? Continue reading...
Shameema and Tanzeela must trek for miles in summer heat to vaccinate children in Kashmir’s highlands as part of a vast national programme Before sunrise, Shameema slips on her worn rubber sandals and checks the insulated box – the ice packs inside must maintain the crucial cold chain at between 2C and 8C (35.6-46.4F). She hoists the container on one shoulder and steps out into the dark. Tanzeela follows with her own pack, after quickly retying the laces of her canvas shoes. Both women live in Pulwama, a district where summer temperatures climb to 37C. Their destination lies higher, out of the valley where asphalt turns to dirt track and then to a barely distinguishable footpath along the floor of the mountain pine forests. Continue reading...
Justice department says it decided to abandon fraud and bribery case in which Adani Group has denied wrongdoing A US judge on Monday dismissed criminal charges against the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, after the justice department said it had decided to abandon the fraud and bribery case. The Brooklyn-based district judge Nicholas Garaufis’s decision to grant federal prosecutors’ rare attempt to toss the case came after he inquired into their reasons for doing so, including by asking Adani whether anything was promised in exchange for the dropping of the case. In November 2024, before the charges were unsealed, Adani had promised to invest $10bn in the United States. Continue reading...
Demonstrators accuse authorities of failing to tackle irregularities in exams for sought-after civil service jobs Thousands of angry young job-seekers clashed with police in Jharkhand, one of India’s poorest states, on Monday as a weeks-long protest over alleged irregularities in recruitment drives for coveted government jobs escalated into a march on the state legislature. Police fired water cannon and teargas and swung batons as they tried to stop flag-waving demonstrators from clambering over barricades and surging towards the assembly in Ranchi, the state capital. Some of the protesters responded by dancing and cheering as jets of water drenched the crowd. Continue reading...
The world’s most populous country needs state-generated demand to industrialise, decarbonise and avoid China’s overcapacity trap India is attempting to do something the world has never seen before. So claimed Niti Aayog, the government of India’s policy thinktank, earlier this year. It said that no major economy has tried to expand GDP nearly eightfold within a generation while simultaneously redirecting its energy and industrial systems to reach net zero within two generations. Hence its detailed report’s claim that there is “no historical precedent”. There is something to this. China industrialised at vast scale, but not on a sustainable net zero path. Korea, Japan and Europe became wealthy by industrialising before decarbonising. Today, rich nations have already satisfied the basic demands of their people and created the infrastructure and high per-capita energy use that India is still trying to build. The world’s most populous country has to do this while also reducing emissions. Continue reading...
The number of student suicides in the country has risen steeply in the past 10 years and many families blame education system mismanagement as a contributing factor When the Indian government announced the resignation of its education minister in late July after weeks of protest, there were widespread celebrations. Students from across the country had joined the mass demonstrations led by the Cockroach Janta party amid growing resentment over repeated examination cancellations and question paper leaks. The pressure of exams in the country has only increased in recent years. The number of student suicides rose from 8,068 in 2014, to 14,488 in 2024 – an increase of roughly 80% – according to the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India report released by the country’s National Crime Records Bureau. After family problems, failure in examinations has been listed as the leading cause of suicides among students. Continue reading...
Every Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it. This week, from January: Universities in Britain rely on overseas applicants paying full fees, which has given rise to some unscrupulous recruiters and left many hopefuls and their families deep in debt By Samira Shackle. Read by Dinita Gohil Read the text version here Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/longreadpod Continue reading...
Dhaka accuses India of giving platform to a ‘convicted genocider’ by allowing Sheikh Hasina to address journalists Bangladesh has lashed out at India for allowing the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to address journalists in New Delhi, plunging already strained bilateral relations to a fresh low. Dhaka accused India of giving a platform to a fugitive it labelled a “convicted genocider” and of undermining efforts to repair ties, after Hasina vowed to return to Bangladesh in December despite facing a death sentence on charges of “crimes against humanity”. Continue reading...
Tarun Tejpal, ex-editor of Tehelka magazine, was initially acquitted in 2021 in case that drew nationwide attention An Indian court has sentenced a high-profile former editor of an investigative news magazine to 10 years in prison after convicting him of raping a junior colleague, overturning his acquittal in a case that drew nationwide attention. Tarun Tejpal, 63, the founder and former editor of Tehelka magazine, was accused of raping a journalist in the lift of a five-star hotel in the western coastal state of Goa during an event in November 2013. He was arrested and spent seven months in jail until the supreme court granted him bail. Continue reading...
Sheikh Hasina plans a December comeback two years after being ousted in a bloody uprising led by students Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to return home by the end of the year, even though she faces a death sentence. “They may put me in a cell. They may kill me. Anything may happen, but still I have to go,” said Hasina, two years after a student-led uprising toppled her government. Continue reading...
In a blow for the league, Tata Steel has pulled the plug on the club saying it wants to ‘focus more intensely on grassroots development’ “Please don’t let this be the final whistle for Jamshedpur FC,” the defender Pratik Chaudhari said, looking into the camera as teammates looked on disconsolately. “We would like to say on behalf of all the players, please do rethink about this. Because if this happens, this is not just a loss for Indian football … this is a big loss for all of India.” In addition, fans of the Indian Super League club marched in protest, petitions were launched, and the Indian football legend Sunil Chhetri said it was a “punch to the gut” and joined others in begging for a rethink. Continue reading...
Increasingly erratic weather patterns due to climate change mean people are losing homes, crops and livestock As rain lashed the Pir Panjal mountains before dawn on 19 July, Haji Mohammad Latief stepped outside his home in Murrah, a remote mountain village in Indian-administered Kashmir. His daughter had asked him to move the family’s car to a safer place as the rain got heavier. “I had only just parked it,” Latief recalled. “When I turned around, I saw the water coming.” Minutes later, a cloudburst sent mud, boulders and water crashing down the hillside. Continue reading...
Opposition parties say nationwide protests that forced resignation of education secretary are beginning to dent BJP support India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party has lost a byelection in a seat it had held for three decades, after the Cockroach movement student protests that have shaken Narendra Modi’s government. Prashant Kishor, a high-profile electoral strategist turned politician, scored a breakthrough win for his fledgling Jan Suraaj (Good Governance) party in the Bankipur constituency in Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar. Continue reading...
Special rapporteurs say ‘transnational repression by Indian authorities’ has put Moninder Singh in danger UN rights experts have urged Canada to take all feasible measures to protect the Sikh activist Moninder Singh, who has been repeatedly warned by the Canadian authorities of credible threats to his life. In a letter to the Canadian government, the five UN experts raised “concerning allegations of foreign intimidation and reprisals” against Singh, a Canadian national. Continue reading...
The Cockroach movement protesters used memes, mockery and collective action to cut through mainstream media’s refusal to tackle problems plaguing the country’s politics Hello! Welcome to This Is India from the Guardian. I’m Niha Masih and I’ll be writing to you every week about the stories, ideas and news makers of modern India. I’ll do a deep dive into one story – from politics and internet culture to tech and entertainment – and round up key events, trends and debates that are dominating the discourse among Indians, especially the youth. Continue reading...
The recent Cockroach Janta party protests had widespread support, says Bhaskar Mani. Plus a letter from Nand Lal Rathore A crucial point that your editorial on India’s gen Z protests (28 July) missed out was that the protests the Cockroach Janta party (CJP) launched in Delhi, hunger strikes and all, were not just supported by young, restless or unemployed people. It was wholeheartedly supported by their parents and grandparents, the old and the middle-aged, even well-off young adults with good jobs and little children. And this was not just in Delhi, but across the country in the huge metropolises of Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru, as well as smaller towns. And it was all peaceful, for which credit goes to the ethos of the protests and the CJP. All of this was suppressed in the mainstream media, print and TV, and even distorted to suggest that it was violent in parts. This reflects not just the overwhelming angst and fear of young graduates facing poor prospects, but the significant grievances of a people who are seeing and experiencing their democracy fading away. Bhaskar Mani Bengaluru, India Continue reading...
António Guterres says strengthening El Niño will help push the world’s climate crisis into ‘uncharted territory’ India’s monsoon is in danger and hotter, drier conditions are forecast across much of the world as a stronger El Niño weather system is taking hold, weather experts have warned. António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said the strengthening El Niño was “adding fuel to a planet already on fire” and pushing the world into “uncharted territory”. Continue reading...
For the first time in more than a decade, a government minister in India has resigned following pressure from a street protest movement. The demonstrations erupted after the chief justice compared unemployed youths to cockroaches. For many young Indians, the remark became the tipping point after years of high unemployment and repeated exam paper leaks that had shattered the hopes of millions of job seekers. The Guardian spent a week embedded with protesters as they faced police crackdowns, arrests and intimidation, documenting an extraordinary week that culminated in the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. Continue reading...
They turned the news into a Funny or Die video. They cooked up a romcom between PM Modi and Giorgia Meloni. And they fought the police with Lana del Rey memes. Our writer observes the Cockroach party’s bold new strategy I’ve spent 16 years doing standup in India, 10 of them under prime minister Narendra Modi’s government. I’ve learned – especially at corporate events, private shows and turns at various associations, universities and business schools among the English-speaking urban elite – that people are most thrilled when politics doesn’t come up, as if it doesn’t exist. I’m often told: “Anuvab, you can joke about anything – just don’t mention any specific names, places, incidents or events.” You might read that and think I live in some humourless, semi-monarchic stasis. That isn’t true either. Many comedians and influencers joke about the government. Some get into trouble and some don’t, the overall assessment being that it is not worth the risk. In India, whatever is true, the opposite is often true as well. Continue reading...
Raja is normally a celebration of the start of the monsoon, but in the eastern state of Odisha, the rains came so late the seeds were sown under clear skies Kasturi Gamango and Pramila Sabar cannot contain their giggles as they explain one of the big attractions of the Raja festival, which they attended a few days earlier along with 20 other farmer families in Laxmipur, in Odisha’s Ganjam district. “We do no work for three days during the festival,” they say. “Our husbands cook and clean while we enjoy our free time.” Continue reading...
Can India’s strongman eradicate youth discontent? Plus: Wildfires in Europe Get the Guardian Weekly delivered to your home address The news agenda has been so dominated for many months by a few big stories about perennial global hotspots and the biggest figures on the international stage, that one could accuse journalists of missing what was happening outside the US, Middle East or Ukraine. But as our south-east Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, explains for this week’s big story, the rapid rise and sudden explosion on to the streets of India’s Cockroach Janta party took everyone – especially Narendra Modi’s government – by surprise. What began as a satirical protest when the chief justice of India compared the country’s unemployed youth to cockroaches has damaged prime minister Modi’s image as a “strongman” leader and loosened his grip over the media. But as Hannah explains, it’s not just that the joke has “legs” and strong visuals; young people want a viable future and change. Continue reading...
As extreme heat claims the lives of workers in India’s poorest areas, many fear the true mortality rate is being dangerously undercounted The morning air was already hot and cloying when Palli Mahalaxmi rose at about 5am. It was May, and in the summer heatwave that had engulfed this corner of southern India, even night-time did not give the villagers respite. A single ceiling fan hung above Mahalaxmi, her husband and her son as they slept in a small windowless room made of thick concrete. Mahalaxmi set about preparing breakfast, and the family ate together from steel plates, just as they did every morning. Sweat dripped from their foreheads as the sun rose higher. Continue reading...
A youth movement born from exam leaks and online mockery has pierced Narendra Modi’s aura of invincibility and may yet reshape Indian politics “What if all cockroaches come together?” was the question that humbled India’s strongman prime minister, Narendra Modi. It was posted on X by Abhijeet Dipke, an Indian student in the US with a master’s in public relations. Enraged that India’s top judge likened unemployed youths to insects and “parasites”, and that millions saw medical exams compromised by leaks, Mr Dipke lit a fuse. For India’s nearly 400 million gen Z, public exams are often the only ladder to a secure future. When papers leak or tests are cancelled, that ladder is kicked away. By June, young people were protesting peacefully in Delhi as the Cockroach Janta party (CJP), a parody of Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). They demanded the resignation of the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. This weekend, Mr Pradhan became the first senior minister in Mr Modi’s 12 years in power to be forced from office by a mass-protest movement. It came after credible reports suggested police officers attacked protesters marching to parliament. Security sources say it was they who were attacked. This may be just the beginning. The concession has taught the Cockroach movement’s leadership that pressure works. They could have declared victory and gone home. Instead they have accused the government of breaching the terms of the settlement offered by Mr Modi’s government. The CJP claims at least 100 people have been arrested, many on non-bailable charges. Its leaders are now demanding the release of detainees and threatening to remobilise nationally. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Cockroach Janta party says government has broken promise, with detentions in Delhi, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar India’s youth-led “Cockroach” movement, whose nationwide protests forced the resignation of the education minister, has accused the government of backtracking on its promise not to act against student protesters and has threatened to restart demonstrations. The Cockroach Janta party (CJP), which organised mass protests over exam paper leaks and other irregularities, said it had received reports of hundreds of students being detained or “harassed” by police. Continue reading...
The young leaders are eloquent and organised – and now they know what victory looks like. That could be a huge headache for Narendra Modi The rebellion in India of the young, led by the Cockroach Janta party (CJP), unfolded against a backdrop of large, abstract, geometrical structures – arcs, planes, hemispheres – that together make up an observatory called Jantar Mantar, built in the early 18th century to refine almanacs and tell time. Jantar Mantar has been a byword for political protest for decades: it marks the space that the Delhi police assigns to the politically disgruntled so they can vent in a contained way. But it had never before hosted a political insurgency that started from scratch and forced the Indian state to back down in less than eight weeks. When its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, brought the CJP to Jantar Mantar, it was a social media hashtag with 20 million followers. While he was studying in Boston, Dipke took the remarks of chief justice Surya Kant, who is accused of referring to the swathes of unemployed young people and activists as “parasites” and “cockroaches”, and turned them into a here-we-come meme. When he brought the CJP home to Delhi on 6 June to make it real, people were intrigued. Given the mostly dismal fate of civil society movements during prime minister Narendra Modi’s time in office, no one anticipated the David and Goliath contest that came to a head last Saturday. Continue reading...
Wind and record-breaking heat are fuelling the continent’s explosive fire season, with Spain and France among worst hit Explainer: what is a ‘fire cloud’, and how have they worsened wildfires in Europe? Europe wildfires live – latest updates A combination of an unusually wet winter, very low rainfall since spring and repeated record-breaking summer heatwaves is likely to explain why wildfires have ignited, spread and resisted control so readily across France and Spain in recent days. About 90% of wildfires are started by human activity, typically igniting “fine fuels” such as vegetation grass, pine needles, litter and twigs. And recent weather has almost certainly made ignition far easier. Drought in western Europe has turned this vegetation – which normally dries after only a few hours of heat and low rainfall – into tinder. Continue reading...
In today’s newsletter: Across the country, a younger generation is turning private disillusionment into public defiance against a government that once felt untouchable Good morning. As flames engulfed parts of France and Spain this weekend, in India, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, was trying to put out a very different kind of fire. Thousands of people arrived in Delhi on Saturday to demand the resignation of his education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. When he stepped down in the early afternoon, the protests turned into a triumphant block party. But the Cockroach protests that have swept through India this summer are about much more than a single minister. They have humiliated Modi and undermined the indomitable power of his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) that has ruled India for the past 12 years. They’re also a lesson in using humour to political advantage. Wild fires | Authorities in France battled to contain a huge wildfire near Bordeaux in the south-west as Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, warned Spain and the Iberian peninsula were suffering the effects of the climate emergency. Germany | A man suspected of driving a van into a crowd near Berlin’s Pride festival then going on a knife rampage in an Islamist terror attack has been shot dead by police, German officials have said. Iran | The US has paused strikes on Iran for a second night as top military officials advised Donald Trump to halt his bombing campaign, and diplomatic negotiations have continued to avoid a return to all-out war. UK politics | Britain’s foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, is to indicate he will put the climate crisis and overseas development at the heart of UK international relations by taking up the country’s seat on the board at the World Bank. UK news | Five Palestine Action activists face being sentenced as terrorists for breaking windows and throwing red paint at a branch of Barclays Bank in Lancashire. Monday | Andrew and Tristan Tate are due back in the Florida court where they’re fighting their extradition to the UK, to face rape and sex-trafficking charges. Tuesday | Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are expected to be among those attending the Washington DC memorial service for the late South Carolina senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham. Thursday | People will go to the polls to elect the next mayor of Greater Manchester, who will replace Andy Burnham. Continue reading...
At a party in Melbourne hosted by a cricket mate we celebrate this summery delight of a fruit that transcends borders I was grabbing my post-workout shake from a juice shop when the lady behind the counter announced, to the delight of everyone, that mangoes were due to arrive soon. I was already surprised to see this place open late in suburban Melbourne – the joy of the crowd intrigued me even more. The following week, I saw boxes of mangoes selling like hotcakes at a price I hesitated to pay. I had a lifelong privilege of enjoying the finest of them back in Pakistan at a much cheaper rate. I asked the lady if they were indeed “chaunsa” mangoes – the ultra-sweet aromatic variety from Pakistan. She checked the labels, replied, “Yes, they are,” and passed one to me – knowing that they are impossible to resist. Continue reading...
Ally forced to resign, with opposition parties reinvigorated and strongman leader’s grip over media channels rocked Even the night before Narendra Modi accepted the resignation of his education minister, India’s prime minister appeared confident that the largest mass uprising to take place in his 12 years in power would do little to rattle his government. Addressing his “young friends” in a late-night Instagram selfie reel on Friday, he thanked the people – who were mobilised en masse across the country, shouting anti-government slogans – for their “thoughtful suggestions”. Continue reading...
Latest edition of one of world’s most influential fashion photography publications is also shot entirely in India Against the ancient, weathered walls of Jaigarh fort, high on the hills above Jaipur, Bhavitha Mandava stood barefoot and draped in gold. Just a few months earlier, the Indian model had been catapulted from a life of obscurity as a student at New York University to become one of the most recognisable and celebrated new faces of fashion. This year, she became the first Indian woman to open the Chanel catwalk at their Métiers d’Art show and her divisive Chanel outfit for the Met Gala, fashion’s most exclusive event, became an international talking point. Continue reading...
Dharmendra Pradhan steps down after demonstrations over exam leak scandal, prompting celebrations among thousands of protesters India’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, has resigned after a week of mass demonstrations, handing a major victory to a new youth movement that has posed an unprecedented challenge to Narendra Modi’s government. In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Pradhan said he had submitted his letter of resignation to the prime minister after student pressure. Continue reading...
Bollywood stars accused of ‘cowardice’ as hundreds of thousands of young Indians take to the streets to challenge government Bollywood stars and other Indian celebrities have faced fierce criticism for staying silent in the face of some of the biggest protests India has seen in years. Hundreds of thousands of young Indians took to the streets this week as part of a new youth movement that calls itself the Cockroach Janata party (CJP), demanding accountability over exam paper leaks in an unprecedented challenge to prime minister Narendra Modi’s government. Many vented their anger against what they saw as “cowardice” from India’s biggest celebrities. Continue reading...
Prime minister’s propaganda machine falters as fiercely secular youth protests reclaim nationalism by Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi As the poster bearing the face of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, was thrown to the floor, a cheer went up. Then came the feet, trampling the image into the muddy ground with gleeful abandon. “Thief, thief,” chanted the crowd. Just a week earlier, such scenes in the heart of India’s capital would have been almost unthinkable. For the 12 years Modi and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) have been in power it was widely acknowledged that you criticised the government at your peril. Dissent was swiftly, routinely and expertly crushed. Continue reading...
Sonam Wangchuk halts strike after receiving assurances parliament will address protesters’ concerns about exam system The Indian “cockroach” activist Sonam Wangchuk has ended a 26-day hunger strike over an exam paper scandal that has spiralled into a wide-ranging, youth-led wave of demonstrations against Narendra Modi’s government. Supporters, meanwhile, have called a nationwide day of protest on Friday. Continue reading...
South Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen on the Cockroach movement – and the students driving India’s biggest protests in years ‘I’ve never seen this many young people out on the streets,’ says Hannah Ellis-Petersen. For days, tens of thousands of Indians have been marching under the banner of the Cockroach Janta party. Continue reading...
The unprecedented expression of dissent against India's government, headed by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, has shown no sign of abating, as protests by the youth-led “cockroach” protest movement entered its fourth day. The Guardian’s south Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen was on the ground in Delhi, where thousands still thronged the streets, many having travelled hundreds of miles to be there. While the Cockroach Janta party has primarily focused on accountability for the devastating recent leaks of exam papers and called for the resignation of the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, the overriding feeling as the week develops is that this is now bigger than one issue. For some, this is the moment that India’s youth – totalling more than 600 million – found its political voice. Continue reading...
Club chiefs hope that a revitalised setup can help huge interest in this summer’s tournament translate into growth of the Indian domestic game India was not at the World Cup, but the tournament drew huge interest from within the country. This has happened before but now comes with significant, and necessary, changes in the domestic game that could transform a quadrennial passion into perennial interest. After more than a year of negative headlines regarding the Indian Super League, the country’s top tier will kick off on 4 September. “The timing couldn’t be better,” says Ravi Puskur, chief executive of the ISL’s FC Goa who last season won the Super Cup, India’s top knockout competition. “A World Cup that was not ideal in terms of viewing times has drawn strong interest and support from the Indian market. It does something a domestic league alone can’t do; it puts football at the centre of the conversation.” Continue reading...
PM says ‘those who try to harm the future of our youth will not be spared’ as scandal spirals into widespread anger Narendra Modi has vowed to set up “fast-track courts” to speed up the punishment of officials accused of leaking examination papers, as the Indian prime minister seeks to quell a youth-led “cockroach” protest movement that has rocked Delhi and posed one of the biggest challenges to his government. In his first public remarks on the movement, Modi posted on X: “Nothing is more important than the welfare and future of our youth … Those who try to harm the future of our youth will not be spared.” Continue reading...
The Cockroach Junta party began as a joke but rapidly mobilised support from millions of young people angry about the education system and youth unemployment Who are India’s Cockroach Janta party and why are they staging protests? Continue reading...
Tens of thousands of young protesters poured on to the streets of India’s capital, New Delhi, this week amid an explosion of anger over the country’s education system and youth unemployment. The protesters are supporters of the Cockroach Janta party, which started as an online joke but has quickly become an unexpected challenge to the powerful rightwing government of Narendra Modi. Nour Haydar speaks to the Guardian’s south Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, about what’s behind India’s growing protests Read more: Continue reading...
Opposition leader taken away after accusing Narendra Modi of ‘destroying the future of India’s youth’ during protest in solidarity with cockroach movement Indian police briefly detained opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday during protests calling for prime minister Narendra Modi’s resignation, in solidarity with the new youth-led cockroach party movement. Gandhi, the leader of India’s Congress party, staged a sit-in outside Modi’s house on Tuesday afternoon, stating that Modi must resign “for destroying the future of India’s youth”. Continue reading...
Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi is briefly detained in Delhi and driven away on a bus after protesting outside Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's house in New Delhi. He was protesting separately in solidarity with the Cockroach movement, which has called out alleged police brutality against Gen Z protesters on Monday and demanded the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan India’s Rahul Gandhi briefly detained as cockroach protests rock Delhi | India | The Guardian Continue reading...
Thousands of people again on the streets of Delhi calling for education reforms despite police violence on Monday Taru had come to the protest prepared this time. In one hand was an anti-government poster and in the other was a bicycle helmet. “We need to have protection in case Delhi police beat us up again,” said the 25-year-old, who stood among her friends. “We are not scared of them and we won’t run away, no matter what they do. We’ll stay here till they listen.” On Tuesday, central Delhi still thronged with thousands of protesters, as an unprecedented expression of dissent against the powerful ruling Narendra Modi government showed no sign of abating. Continue reading...
Tens of thousands of Cockroach Janta party protesters took to the streets in New Delhi on 20 July in defiance of police orders. The party, largely made up of students and gen-Zers, rose out of frustrations with the country's education system and high unemployment rate. Continue reading...
Tens of thousands of protesters defy police orders and descend on Delhi as demonstrators gather in other cities to demand the resignation of India’s education minister Continue reading...
Explosion of anger over education system and youth unemployment has led to movement’s rapid rise Tens of thousands of Cockroach party protesters defy police with Delhi march Continue reading...
Youth-led group calls on education minister to quit in one of India’s largest anti-government rallies in years Tens of thousands of protesters have defied police orders and descended on Delhi to demand the resignation of India’s education minister in one of the largest anti-government demonstrations in years. A huge crowd, largely made up of students and gen Z-ers, filled the streets in the heart of India’s capital from early Monday morning shouting anti-government slogans. Hundreds had already camped out overnight. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Outdoor workers losing up to 9% of income as weather becomes ‘poverty multiplier’, research says Extreme heat is pushing some of India’s poorest workers further into poverty, with income losses of up to 9% for outdoor workers, new research has found. Analysis done by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and shared exclusively with the Guardian, found that extreme heat is acting as a “poverty multiplier” for hundreds of millions of workers in India’s informal sector. Continue reading...
Sonam Wangchuk has been fasting to demand the resignation of India’s education minister because of alleged irregularities in medical exams Delhi police forcibly moved activist Sonam Wangchuk to a hospital on Saturday because of health concerns after 20 days of his hunger strike to protest against India’s examination system. Wangchuk, 59, has been fasting since 28 June to demand the resignation of India’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, over alleged irregularities in examinations to study medicine. Continue reading...
Director Honey Trehan decries ‘dystopian’ opposition to his film depicting crackdown on Punjab’s separatist movement For as long as he has been a film-maker, there is one story Honey Trehan has wanted to tell above all. Growing up in the Indian state of Punjab, Trehan saw firsthand the devastation wrought by police who carried out tens of thousands of killings and illegal cremations in the 1990s, as they cracked down on a separatist insurgency. To those in Punjab, the period remains one of the darkest in India’s modern history. Jaswant Singh Khalra, the activist who exposed the crimes and was murdered in the process, is a national hero. Continue reading...
The climate activist and engineer Sonam Wangchuk, who has become the figurehead of anti-government protests in Delhi, is resisting calls to end his fast until the education minister resigns As night falls on day 18 of his hunger strike, the lack of any sustenance except water shows. It is 7pm and Sonam Wangchuk looks weak. A physiotherapist sits beside him on the stage massaging his arms to soothe his aching joints. Propped up against pillows and bolsters, Wangchuk whispers: “I’m sorry, but I’m unable to speak.” The activist and engineer has lost close to 9kg from a body that was spare and lean to begin with. Doctors say it is around this stage of a hunger strike that the body enters a state of severe starvation, breaking down fat and muscle, resulting in extreme weakness, impaired brain function and electrolyte imbalance. Continue reading...
The next great climate divide will be between countries that have the resources to adapt and those that don’t This summer, much of the media’s attention has focused on record temperatures across Europe and the United States. Television coverage has been filled with familiar images: heat maps shaded deep red, schools closing, rail lines slowing, wildfires spreading and emergency rooms treating growing numbers of people with heat-related illnesses. Public officials have responded with equally familiar advice: stay indoors, drink plenty of water and, if possible, turn on the air conditioning. Continue reading...
Every few decades mass blooming in Mizoram’s forests causes a rodent boom – and devastation to crops. The cycle is well-known, so why aren’t farmers and authorities better prepared? In the hills of Mizoram state in north-east India, the first thing that farmers notice are the swarms of stink bugs, known locally as thangnang. It can mean only one thing: the rats are coming. And with them, famine. As dawn breaks in Mamit district, Maunsanga, a 62-year-old farmer, walks across his plot, stopping where his rice crop once stood. He bends down to examine a broken stalk. Continue reading...