India
Modi clamps down on Kashmir, and India loves him for it
By Tim Sullivan — August 15, 2019
(AP) — To his critics, Modi is an authoritarian who wants to turn India into a Hindu nation. To supporters, he is an incorruptible ascetic unafraid to tell the truth.
How South Asian Americans are reckoning with Partition’s legacy 72 years later
By Harmeet Kamboj — August 14, 2019
(RNS) — While we often talk about the calamity of 9/11, it's impossible to ignore the legacy of the 1947 Partition of India, whose 72nd anniversary is this week, in the sometimes troubled relations between South Asian American communities today.
Kashmiri Americans organize to put a human face to the crisis in their homeland
By Aysha Khan — August 13, 2019
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (RNS) – As Kashmir faces a security lockdown and widespread media blackout, U.S. Kashmiris are kicking up a new wave of activism focused on 'azaadi.'
Troops let Muslims go to mosques in locked-down Kashmir
By Aijaz Hussain — August 12, 2019
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Muslims walked to local mosques for the Eid al-Adha festival during an unprecedented security lockdown in the disputed region that has gone on for eight straight days.
India to bring supplies to Kashmir; Pakistan to go to UN
By Sheikh Saaliq — August 10, 2019
NEW DELHI (AP) — Authorities enforcing a strict curfew in Indian-administered Kashmir will bring in trucks of essential supplies for an Islamic festival next week, as the divided Himalayan region remained in a lockdown Saturday
Curfew eased partially in Kashmir for Friday prayers
By Associated Press — August 9, 2019
NEW DELHI (AP) — The mostly Muslim region has been under a security lockdown since India's Hindu nationalist-led government announced it was revoking its special constitutional status.
Ravaged by age, shrunk by immigration, India’s remaining Jews hang on
By Briana Trujillo — August 7, 2019
KOCHI, India (RNS) — The last Jew of childbearing age moved to Israel just months ago, leaving behind a small community of about two dozen elderly people beset daily by tourists.
Indian celebrities protest attacks on dissent, minorities
By Ashok Sharma — July 25, 2019
NEW DELHI (AP) — Several celebrities protested such killings in 2016 and some of them returned the national awards given to them by the government honoring their works in the field of art and culture.
Raising a progressive Hindu voice to counter Indian Modi’s increasing power
By Simran Jeet Singh — July 8, 2019
(RNS) — Sunita Viswanath founded Sadhana in 2011 to counter those in India and abroad who she believes are co-opting Hinduism for political gain.
In Kashmir’s war-torn landscape, imams take up the environmental cause
By Priyadarshini Sen — July 8, 2019
SRINAGAR, India (RNS) — After years of conflict that have harmed the Kashmir Valley’s natural beauty, locals here have more faith in religious leaders to protect their heritage than they do the government.
Hindu pilgrimage begins amid high security in Indian Kashmir
By Associated Press — July 1, 2019
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Thousands of Hindu pilgrims began the arduous trek to an icy Himalayan cave in disputed Kashmir on Monday, with tens of thousands of Indian government forces guarding roads and mountain passes.
Atheist ashram on Lord Krishna’s home turf roils India’s Hindu nationalists
By Priyadarshini Sen — June 19, 2019
(RNS) — Two brothers who once devoutly supported the Hindu nationalist agenda have turned to rationalism, attracting attacks from religious leaders and politicians.
India’s Prime Minister Modi pursues politics of Hindu nationalism – what does that mean?
By Sumit Ganguly — May 28, 2019
(The Conversation) — Modi's win is also a victory for Hindutva, an ideology that states that India is the homeland of the Hindus. According to believers, those who profess other faiths can live in the country only at the sufferance of Hindus.
In India, charges against a Catholic bishop a victory for abused nuns
By Brooke Thames — May 1, 2019
KOCHI, India (RNS) — Only after five of the victim's fellow nuns staged a 15-day protest outside Kerala’s high court building in Kochi last summer was the bishop, who denies the charges, arrested and eventually charged.
Refurbishing holy site, India’s Modi levels ancient spiritual landscape
By Priyadarshini Sen — April 22, 2019
VARANASI, India (RNS) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 'dream project' at an 18th-century shrine to Lord Shiva has swept up monasteries, old-age homes and shops that had existed for generations.
