India’s Parliament passes law that will reserve a third of legislature seats for women from 2029
India’s Parliament has approved landmark legislation that reserves one-third of the seats in its powerful lower house and in state legislatures for women to ensure more equal representation, ending a 27-year impasse over the bill amid a lack of consensus among political parties.
India's opposition parties team up to challenge Modi's Hindu nationalist party in 2024 elections
India’s splintered opposition parties have decided to contest the 2024 national elections in their bid to unseat Prime Minister Narendra Modi and prevent his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party from achieving a third straight win.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi reinstated to India's Parliament days after top court's order
India’s top opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has been reinstated as a lawmaker in Parliament three days after the country’s top court halted his criminal defamation conviction for mocking the prime minister’s surname.
Indian opposition leader to avoid prison during appeal
An Indian court has suspended a two-year prison sentence for Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi as he appeals his criminal conviction for mocking the prime minister’s surname which resulted in his expulsion from Parliament, dealing a huge blow to his Congress party ahead of general elections next year.
Opposition disrupts Indian Parliament after Gandhi's ouster
Members of opposition parties dressed in black disrupted India's Parliament and protested in the capital after Rahul Gandhi, a key opposition leader and fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was expelled from the legislature last week.
India opposition’s ‘unity march’ against hate enters capital
Members of India’s main opposition Congress party and thousands of supporters have walked into New Delhi as part of a cross-country “unity march” seeking to challenge what they say is a “hate-filled” version of the country under the Hindu nationalist government.
Indian woman condemns release of her convicted rapists
A Muslim woman who was gang raped while pregnant during India’s devastating 2002 religious riots has appealed to the government to rescind its decision to free 11 men who had been jailed for life for committing the crime, after they were released on suspended sentences.
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India, China soldiers brawl again along disputed frontier
FILE- In this Sept. 14, 2017, file photo, Indian army trucks drive near Pangong Tso lake near the India China border in India's Ladakh area. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)SRINAGAR – Indian and Chinese soldiers brawled last week along the countries' disputed border, Indian officials said Monday, as a monthslong standoff between the nuclear-armed rivals continued. Two Indian security officials said at least 18 Chinese soldiers tried to cross into Indian-claimed territory at Naku La last Wednesday night and were blocked by Indian soldiers, leading to clashes with sticks and stones. The two officials said over a dozen Indian soldiers and at least eight Chinese soldiers received minor injuries. The frontier is broken in parts where the Himalayan nations of Nepal and Bhutan border China, and where Sikkim, the site of the latest brawl, is sandwiched.
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Modi makes outreach effort to placate angry Indian farmers
The protesting farmers say the laws will dismantle regulated markets, favor big corporations, and make family-owned farms unviable, eventually leaving them landless. Protesting farmers fear the government will stop buying grain at minimum guaranteed prices and corporations will then push down prices. “Through these agricultural reforms, we have given better options to the farmers,” Modi said in his live address. On Thursday, the government again invited protesting farmers to further talks. Farmers union leaders have also accused the government of trying to weaken and discredit them by describing protesting farmers as “anti-nationals."
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Many world leaders express hope, relief after Biden win
A passer-by takes a selfie with an extra newspaper reporting on President-elect Joe Biden's win in the U.S. presidential election, in Tokyo Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. Other leaders who sent congratulations included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Prime Minister Janez Jansa was the only world leader who congratulated Trump even before all the votes were counted, and showed support after Biden’s win was announced. Many people, particularly in nations with turbulent politics, took Biden's win as improving the outlook for respect of democracy. In Egypt, where the government is cracking down on dissent, pro-democracy activists welcomed Biden’s win.
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Hundreds in India protest government handling of fatal rape
Awasthi also said the police officers, the four suspects in the case and the victim's family will also undergo lie-detector tests as part of investigation. Bhaskar said the hasty cremation of the victim’s body without the family's approval showed the callousness by the state government. Videos on social media showed the family weeping as police insisted on cremating the body without allowing them to take it home. Dalits — formerly known as “untouchables” and at the bottom of India’s Hindu caste hierarchy — are victims of thousands of attacks each year. In India, rape and sexual violence have been under the spotlight since the 2012 gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus.
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Indian police detain key opposition leaders protesting rape
Indian police detained the party's key leaders after preventing them from visiting a village where a 19-year-old woman from India's lowest caste was gang raped last month and later died in a hospital. Police officer Manoj Dixit said the two party leaders were detained for violating an order banning the assembly of four or more people in the area to prevent any violence by protesters. Police stopped their convoy on a highway on the way to the village, where the party leaders planned to meet with the woman's family. Dozens of Congress party workers scuffled with the police, who used sticks to disperse them. Also Thursday, several dozen students held protests in the Indian capital and in the southern Indian city of Hyderbad demanding protection for women.
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Rape and killing of Dalit woman shocks India, draws outrage
An Indian activist argues with a police officer before being detained by police during a protest in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. The gang rape and killing of the woman from the lowest rung of India's caste system has sparked outrage across the country with several politicians and activists demanding justice and protesters rallying on the streets. The attack of the 19-year-old is the latest gruesome case of sexual violence against women to rile India, where reports of rape are hauntingly familiar. The victim, who belonged to the Dalit community, was raped by four men on Sept. 14 in the heartland state of Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district. The woman was cremated early Wednesday, with the family alleging that police did not allow them to perform her final rites.
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Indian lawmakers pass farm bills amid uproar in Parliament
NEW DELHI – Amid an uproar in Parliament, Indian lawmakers on Sunday approved a pair of controversial agriculture bills that the government says will boost growth in the farming sector through private investments. The bills are also aimed at removing middlemen from the farm trade and making farming market-oriented, the government has said. The upper house passed two out of three bills, amid a war of words between ruling lawmakers and those opposing the legislation. “The prime minister should explain why there’s a hurry to pass the bills amid the pandemic,” he said. More than half of India’s farmers are in debt, with 20,638 killing themselves in 2018 and 2019, according to India’s National Crime Records Bureau.
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India's Modi faces turbulent session as Parliament reopens
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media as he arrives at the Parliament in New Delhi, India, Monday, Sept.14, 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi told reporters before Parliament resumed that he hoped the session will be productive. “Parliament session is beginning in distinct times. The Parliament session is expected to be challenging for Modi and his government. But many opposition lawmakers worry that his government looks like it is not in control.
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India ruling party denies preferential treatment by Facebook
Opposition Congress party lawmaker Shashi Tharoor said the information technology committee he heads in Parliament will take up the findings of the Aug. 14 report in The Wall Street Journal. Since coming to power in 2014, Modi's party has increasingly used Facebook to reach voters across India. The party has vastly outspent its main opposition, the Congress party, on social media ads. Panda and other BJP leaders said the allegation that Facebook was giving the governing party preferential treatment stemmed from the once-dominant Congress party's political misfortunes in recent years. The Congress party denied the whistleblower's allegation.
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This Father's Day, dads have new respect for duties at home
Like millions of dads around the globe, Gandhi has taken on more responsibilities at home during lockdown. The pandemic has reshaped the way fathers are involved with their families and children, he said via email. Stay-at-home orders were issued and schools, child care centers and non-essential businesses were shuttered, putting a strain on families and demolishing barriers between work and home. More than one-quarter of both fathers and mothers reported an increase in the housework and child care that mothers perform. Things that I usually would just do on the weekend are now things that require thought every day."

Indian opposition leaders refused entry to Kashmir
Google Maps(CNN) - A group of Indian opposition party leaders who had traveled from New Delhi to Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday were refused entry into the regional capital on Saturday. The group had decided to travel after local authorities had requested them to stay out of the disputed region. A number of prominent opposition leaders have also been arrested, including three former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir state. In response, Satya Pal Malik, Jammu and Kashmir's governor offered to send a plane for Gandhi and bring him to the region, local media reported. And if the situation is calm then the leaders of so many political parties who want to go and see; help the government.