India backtracks on support for Rohingya refugees, will deport them
New Delhi, India Reuters India’s home ministry said on Wednesday that Rohingya refugees in the capital New Delhi would be held at a detention centre and then deported, contradicting a minister’s earlier statement promising flats and security to members of the Muslim minority. Hardeep Singh Puri, federal minister for housing and urban affairs, had earlier […]
Demolition near Delhi feared leaving 100,000 Indian villagers homeless
New Delhi, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation Indian authorities began demolishing hundreds of homes in a village on the outskirts of New Delhi on Wednesday, in a move that housing activists said could leave 100,000 people homeless. India’s top court last month ordered the removal of “encroachers including by forcible eviction” from Khori village, which is home […]
“Life is precious” say Indian migrants fleeing COVID-hit cities
Mumbai, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation Amid India’s COVID-19 crisis, migrant workers are abandoning cities and heading for their villages in droves in a repeat of last year’s exodus when the lockdown shut industries and left them jobless – but this time they are worried about safety. India’s toll from the coronavirus surged past 200,000 on Wednesday […]
Air pollution kills thousands in megacities despite COVID lockdowns
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Air pollution caused tens of thousands of deaths in the world’s five most populous cities last year despite coronavirus lockdowns, researchers said on Thursday, urging governments to ditch fossil fuels and invest in a green recovery. Environmental campaign group Greenpeace Southeast Asia and air quality technology company IQAir measured pollution […]
Postcards: Delhi’s illegal colonies await makeover after coronavirus
RINA CHANDRAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how a plan to legalise hitherto illegal settlements in Delhi will benefit millions…
“No man’s land”: Delhi’s urban villages face uncertain future
RINA CHANDRAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from India…
A mob out for blood: India’s protests pit Hindus against Muslims
New Delhi, IndiaReuters Mohammad Zubair was on his way home from a local mosque in north-east New Delhi when he came across a large crowd. He turned towards an underpass to avoid the commotion; it proved to be a mistake. Within seconds, he was cowering on the ground surrounded by more than a dozen young […]
India slum dwellers win property rights, thousands left out
New Delhi, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation India said on Thursday it had ushered in “a wave of change” for millions of slum dwellers – offering them the prize of home ownership – but it barred thousands more whose slums sit near temples, beauty spots and rich neighbourhoods. It is landmark move for more than four million […]
Delhi hawkers to be free from threat of eviction after five-year delay
Mumbai, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation Delhi is set to become the first Indian city to fully implement a law that protects street vendors against the threat of eviction, authorities in the capital said on Thursday, five years after the landmark legislation was first introduced. Delhi government officials have set up Town Vending Committees, which will survey […]
Two years after India’s Supreme Court order, no investigation into “shocking” number of Kandhamal acquittals
World Watch Monitor The man spearheading the campaign for “justice” for the victims of the worst case of anti-Christian violence in India’s history has denounced the failure of the Odisha state government to follow up on a Supreme Court order to investigate why there have been so few criminal convictions despite nearly 6,500 arrests. Almost […]