India

Soutik Biswas Published 10 August 2020 Share close Share page Copy link About sharing Related Topics Coronavirus pandemic India must take three steps "immediately" to stem the damage of the coronavirus pandemic, according to its former prime minister Manmohan Singh. Dr Singh, who is widely regarded as the architect of India's economic reforms programme, and is now a senior leader of the main opposition Congress party, spoke to BBC this week in an email exchange. The coronavirus pandemic ruled out a face-to-face interview and Dr Singh declined a video call. During our exchange, he laid out three steps he believes the government has to take to stem the crisis and restore economic normalcy in the coming years. First, the government should "ensure people's livelihoods are protected and they have spending power through a significant direct cash assistance". Second, it should …

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By Shruti Menon Published 22 June Share close Share page Copy link About sharing Related Topics Reality Check India has announced a record eight million jabs on the first day of a new vaccination push, the highest number it's done so far. Under a newly-introduced policy, the federal government now buys Covid-19 jabs directly from manufacturers and supplies them to the state authorities. India is one of the largest vaccine makers in the world. But its own vaccination drive has been moving at a slow pace with just over 5% of the population fully vaccinated. Is this a world record for one day? On the first day of the new policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the pace of India's vaccine programme. Mr Modi had announced earlier this month that everyone would get "free vaccines" from 21 June. Today’s record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening. The …

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An Indian teenager was killed by members of her family and then hung from a bridge because she wore jeans, it has been claimed. Neha Paswan, 17, was allegedly beaten to death by her grandfather and uncles after she refused to change out of jeans and into traditional clothing during a religious festival. Her body was found hanging from a nearby bridge in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh the next morning. Her mother Shakuntala Devi Paswan told the BBC : 'She had kept a day-long religious fast. In the evening, she put on a pair of jeans and a top and performed her rituals. 'When her grandparents objected to her attire, Neha retorted that jeans were made to be worn and that she would wear it.' Neha Paswan, 17, was killed by members of her family and then hung from a bridge because she wore jeans She claimed the extended family had frequently complained of Neha's attire which they deemed 'inappropriate' and were angered when she refused to wear traditional clothing. …

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Soutik Biswas Published 2 hours ago Share close Share page Copy link About sharing In the summer of 1981, a man who called himself a consultant turned up at a young woman's home in India's western city of Mumbai. She was starting a small business and he said he could help her secure a new telephone connection for a bribe. The process usually took up to two decades back then - a government-owned monopoly was the sole source of phone connections. By the mid-1980s, nearly a million people were waiting for a phone. Before July 1991 - when historic reforms threw open the door to India's economy - such "consultants" roamed outside offices in the country, offering out-of-turn phone connections, driving licences and passports for a hefty premium. Otherwise, Indians queued up for everything. They waited 10 years for a scooter and seven years for a car. A columnist wrote of how he had to …

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Prince Charles: Farming can play a big part in protecting planet Sign up for FREE now and never miss the top Royal stories again. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info Charles has spent a large part of his life campaigning for and warning against the dangers of climate change . Last week, he delivered a message to schoolchildren at Five Islands Academy on the Isles of Scilly about how the archipelago faces the greatest risk of climate change in the UK. It came as the island experienced its hottest spell of weather anyone in the region could remember. Related articles Queen has 'insulting' plan for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Meghan and Harry turn on Society of Editors after Oprah criticism …

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WHEN crypto boss Gerald Cotten died in 2018 he took with him a fortune of up to $215million in Bitcoin and other digital currencies. The 30-year-old's sudden death from complications of Crohn's disease shocked the crypto world - but many believe he may have faked his death in an elaborate "exit scam". Cotten took with him to the grave the keys that allowed access to the digital vault containing his investors cash that they had ploughed into trading platform Quadriga CX. His death was kept secret for a month by the firm before it was finally announced - and it was found he had spent millions in investors' money funding his own lavish lifestyle. Living a jet set life, he cruised the world on yachts, flew in private jets and investigators even released photos of piles of cash on his kitchen table. Quadriga CX was left owning its 76,000 investors around $215million (CAD). Criminal probes continue by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the FBI as leading digital …

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NEW YORK (AP) — R.C. Davis is a rising high school senior in Oak Park, Illinois, who uses poetry to explore his feelings about gender and family. Kechi Mbah is a rising senior in Houston who first connected to poetry through a competition she watched on YouTube. Sarah Fathima Mohammed, a rising high school junior in San Jose, California, likes to introduce girls to poetry when she visits her native Kumbakonam, India. They are three of five high school students from around the country who have been named National Student Poets, a one-year position that begins in September. The other students are Aanika Eragam of Milton, Georgia, who edits her high school literary magazine and serves as Atlanta's Youth Poet Laureate, and Kevin Gu of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, whose poetry often focuses on his Chinese American background. The honors were announced Wednesday through the National Student Poets Program, established in 2011 and a partnership of the Institute of Museum and Library Services …

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Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 should go back to wearing masks in indoor public places in regions where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, U.S. health authorities said on Tuesday. In a toughening of guidance issued earlier this month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recommended all students, teachers and staff at schools for kindergarten through 12th grade wear masks regardless of whether they were vaccinated. U.S. coronavirus cases have been rising due to the highly contagious Delta variant, which emerged in India but has quickly spread and now accounts for more than 80% of U.S. coronavirus cases. U.S. President Joe Biden said that increased vaccination and mask wearing would help the United States avoid the pandemic lockdowns, shutdowns and school closures that the country faced in 2020. “We are not going back to that,” Biden said. The CDC said that 63.4% of U.S. counties had transmission rates high enough to warrant indoor …

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Senate of the Philippines. (File photo by EDWIN BACASMAS / Philippine Daily Inquirer) MANILA, Philippines — A number of senators on Wednesday urged the government to listen to experts and impose lockdowns in high-risk areas to curb the imminent spread of the more transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant. Senator Francis Pangilinan said lockdowns should be imposed on areas with a high number of cases based on testing and contact tracing data. “I-lockdown agad-agad at ipagbawal ang papasok o lalabas at hindi ‘yung buong NCR (National Capital Region),” he said in a message to reporters. (We should immediately impose lockdowns in these areas and prevent travel to and from these areas, but not the entire NCR.) “Dun sa maraming kaso dapat tutukan ang lockdown para naka-focus at hindi sabog ang effort. Ibang usapan na kung nahuli ang pag lockdown sa mga nasabing lugar dahil baka NCR lockdown ang kailangan gawin. Daig ng maagap ang masipag ika nga,” he added. (We should have …

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Elizabeth Hurley has shared a throwback picture of the last party dress she wore - 18 months ago. The model and actress, 56, shared a stunning snap of her wearing a sparkly crown and a plunging metallic grey sequin gown as she revealed she's not dressed up for a year and a half. Liz admitted the picture - which was taken during a trip to India - marked the last time she got properly glammed up before the coronavirus outbreak hit. She told her 2.1m followers: "The last time I wore a party dress- February 2020- thatslife india happydays." Fans flocked to the comments section to gush over the model's stunning snap. One fan wrote: "You look stunned by how gorgeous you look." Another commented: "Gorgeous as always, love you Elizabeth." While a third penned: "She’s so sexy and the most beautifully amazing woman." With the UK's so called Freedom Day today marking the easing of many restrictions, the star may well be on the red carpet soon rocking her 'party dresses' once …

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