India

LUCKNOW, July 28 (Reuters) - At least 18 people were killed and 10 injured after a speeding truck rammed into an overcrowded double-decker bus in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh early on Wednesday, a local official said. The incident occurred on a highway near Barabanki in central Uttar Pradesh at around 12:45 am, Barabanki Superintendent of Police (SP) Yamuna Prasad told Reuters. "The bus was overloaded and had about 150 passengers in it. It was hit by an truck on the highway," Prasad said. At least 10 people were injured and sent to the state capital of Lucknow for treatment, he said. Media reports said a number of passengers were labourers and that the bus had broken down on the highway before the accident. Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the deaths on Twitter. Reporting by Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Kim Coghill Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters …

[Read more...] about Eighteen killed in India as truck slams into overcrowded bus

LUCKNOW, India, Aug 26 (Reuters) - India's most populous state will drop legal proceedings against farmers accused of burning crop waste, a major source of pollution, as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party tries to placate growers ahead of elections next year to the state assembly. The action comes at a time when some states have stepped up punishments for crop residue burning to avert an expected spike in air pollution that brings smog every year during the low temperatures of winter. The predominantly agricultural northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which is home to more people than Brazil, is also considering waiving fines imposed on farmers, an influential voting bloc, for burning crop stubble. "The idea was not to punish farmers but to spread awareness about crop stubble burning and its effect on the environment," Navneet Sehgal, the top official in the state's information department, told Reuters. Shiv Kant Dixit, chief of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, or Indian Farmers' …

[Read more...] about India’s most populous state to drop crop burning cases against farmers

NEW DELHI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - India's monsoon has gathered pace in September and seasonal rains are likely to be robust throughout the month, the chief of the state-run weather office said on Thursday, reducing the water deficit after a patchy spell in July and August. Plentiful rains are expected to lash most parts of India until the monsoon starts withdrawing after Sept. 30, a later date than usual, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), told Reuters. "Due to low-pressure areas and cyclonic circulations at regular intervals, we will not see climatic conditions suitable for the monsoon's withdrawal before Sept. 30," he said. Monsoon rains, which are vital for India's farmers, usually arrive at the southernmost Kerala coast around June 1 and start retreating in September from the western state of Rajasthan. Bountiful rains during the tail end of the season and a delayed retreat leave the soil moist and replenish reservoirs, helping …

[Read more...] about India’s monsoon gathers pace in September, set for delayed retreat

MUZAFFARNAGAR, India, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of farmers gathered in India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, the biggest rally yet in a months-long series of demonstrations to press Narendra Modi's government to repeal three new agricultural laws. More than 500,000 farmers attended the rally in the city of Muzaffarnagar, according to local police. The demonstration in Uttar Pradesh, a predominantly agricultural state that's home to 240 million people, will breathe fresh life into the protest movement, said Rakesh Tikait, a prominent farmers' leader. "We'll intensify our protest by going to every single city and town of Uttar Pradesh to convey the message that Modi's government is anti-farmer," he added. Over the past eight months, tens of thousands of farmers have camped on major highways to the capital, New Delhi to oppose the laws, in India's longest-running farmer' protest against the government. The measures, introduced last September, allow …

[Read more...] about Hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers rally against farm laws

NEW DELHI, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Thousands of Indian farmers gathered at a grain market outside New Delhi on Tuesday in protest against new agricultural laws they say threaten their livelihoods, condemning "brutal" actions by police during similar demonstrations last week. "A large number of farmers are attending the meeting to ask the government to punish those responsible for using force against unarmed and elderly farmers," said Balbir Singh Rajewal, a senior farmers' leader. The grain market where farmers met is about 150 km (93 miles) from New Delhi, in neighbouring Haryana state. After initial talks with government officials failed, farmers later marched from the market to the main government office in the Karnal district of Haryana to press their demands, Rajewal said. Some farm union leaders have been arrested by Haryana police, but farmers are going to stay put there, he said. "The use of excess, disproportionate force was not only brutal, but it was also a vengeful …

[Read more...] about Indian farmers stage protest outside Delhi against farm laws

NEW DELHI, Sept 9 (Reuters) - A group of influential farmer leaders ratcheted up pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to roll back three new farm laws by organising a mammoth rally in India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh last week. After the successful mass meeting - the biggest rally yet in a months-long series of demonstrations to press for repeal of the laws - farm union leaders now plan to step up protests in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the state assembly election next year. Protesting farmers say the laws, introduced in September last year, would erode a longstanding mechanism that ensures farmers a minimum guaranteed price for their rice and wheat, but the government says this will help growers get better prices. read more HOW DID FARMERS' PROTEST TURN INTO A PAN-INDIA MOVEMENT? Almost immediately after parliament cleared the farm laws late last year, tens of thousands of farmers from grain-growing Punjab and Haryana states trudged towards the capital …

[Read more...] about Explainer: How Indian farmers’ protest turned into a country-wide movement

After progressives abolished an entrance exam to the nation’s top math high school following concerns that too many of those excelling were Asian, the school’s PTA elected a board that intended to stand up for the interests of their high-performing children. Then the state-wide PTA demanded that the school’s principal be able to vote as part of the board, changing the vote calculus just enough to block action — and when parents cried foul, the state organization on Wednesday threatened to disband the chapter. The drama at Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology (TJ) in northern Virginia highlights the way in which the Parent Teacher Association appears to funnel parents into roles as servants for teachers and administrators, rather than the reverse. The Fairfax County school board voted to do away with an exam that tested whether students seeking admission to the rigorous math and science school excelled at math and science, making them candidates who would benefit …

[Read more...] about State PTA Threatens To Disband Magnet School PTA After Its Asian Parents Reject Anti-Merit Woke Policies | The Daily Wire

England could be set to name a strong squad for this winter’s Ashes tour in Australia after the two boards reportedly agreed favourable conditions surrounding the strict covid-19 restrictions currently in place. Some of England’s stars are reluctant to commit themselves to the two-month long tour Down Under until there are more assurances over the schedule and whether their families are able to come with them. However, Cricket Australia have now shared proposed tour conditions with the ECB and, although the details are yet to be passed onto the players, one source told the Daily Mail that the guidelines are ‘better than expected,’ giving hope that the series will go ahead. The same report says that the players have been emailed telling them that they will be given more information in the next 10 days. Wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, whose wife has just given birth to their second child, is one of several England stars who have threatened to pull out of the tour unless a …

[Read more...] about England’s Ashes tour of Australia given hope after ECB agree ‘better than expected’ conditions

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside Germany's parliament on Friday calling on authorities to take stronger action against climate change. It comes only two days before the country holds a national election that will designate chancellor Angela Merkel's successor after her almost 16 years in power. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, 18, addressed the Berlin crowd from a stage, urging voters to keep politicians under constant pressure over climate change. "We must keep going into the streets and we must keep demanding our leaders to take real climate action. We must never give up. There's no going back now", she said. “We can still turn this around,” she added. “We demand change, and we are the change.” The Berlin protest was part of a string of rallies around the world, from Japan and Italy to India, Austria and Britain . Climate is the key issue for voters. Is that helping Germany's Greens? From healthcare to the environment: …

[Read more...] about ‘There’s no going back’: Thunberg addresses tens of thousands of climate activists outside Reichstag

Climate change could be about to impact a British institution - by changing the taste of a cup of tea, research has warned. Extreme weather and rising temperatures could affect both the amount of land available for growing tea and the climate needed to produce the leaves that are turned into black tea, a report from Christian Aid has said. Latest updates on climate change from the UK and around the world The UK and Ireland drink more tea per person than any other countries in the world, with Kenya alone producing half the black tea drunk in the UK. But Kenya, the world's biggest exporter of black tea, faces more erratic rainfall, making floods and droughts more common, and rising temperatures, Christian Aid has said. Advertisement The charity's report predicts optimal conditions for tea production in the East African country will fall by more than a quarter (26%) by 2050. In areas with only average growing conditions, production will …

[Read more...] about No storm in a teacup as research finds climate change threatens future of the British cuppa