India yesterday defended its record on religious tolerance and rebuked the United States for its own rights issues after a report accused Indian officials of supporting attacks on minority worshippers.

India has allowed wheat shipments of 469,202 tonnes since banning most exports last month, but at least 1.7 million tonnes is lying at ports and could be damaged by looming monsoon rains, government and industry officials told Reuters.

Suspected rebels yesterday shot dead a bank manager in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said, the seventh in a spate of targeted killings in the disputed territory.

A ruling party spokeswoman whose remarks on Islam embroiled India in a diplomatic row and sparked huge protests should apologise for having “set the country on fire”, New Delhi’s top court said yesterday. 

India imposed a ban on many single-use plastics yesterday in a bid to tackle waste choking rivers and poisoning wildlife, but experts say it faces severe headwinds from unprepared manufacturers and consumers unwilling to pay more.

More than 100 Hindu families have fled Kashmir as panic spread after the killing of a Hindu school teacher in India's only Muslim-majority region, a community leader said on Wednesday.

A 22-year-old Bangladeshi woman swam through the Sundarbans forest for an hour to cross into India and marry her lover in Kolkata. She ended up in jail after the wedding, Indian media reports today said.

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) today summoned opposition Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and her son, lawmaker Rahul Gandhi, for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper, officials said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday questioned how a local TMC leader and chairman of Jhalda municipality in Purulia district develop a “huge, bulging belly” and advised him to “shed the fat”.

India is likely to approve the export of one million tonnes of wheat, with half of it to be sent to Bangladesh, amid restrictions imposed on its export.

At least seven Indian soldiers were killed and 19 others injured in a road accident in the remote Ladakh region, close to the country’s disputed border with China, police said yesterday.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen today (May 27, 2022) left for Guwahati to attend the third edition of international river conference titled, “NADI Conclave”, from May 28-29 that will be inaugurated by his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar.

A court in Kolkata today (May 27, 2022) extended the remand period of former NRB Global Bank MD Prashanta Kumar Halder in a money laundering case.

India’s Supreme Court has directed police forces in all states and federally-run territories to treat sex workers with dignity and not to abuse them, verbally or physically, and observed that every individual in the country has a right to a dignified life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

After capping the export of sugar from June 1, India is likely to consider a similar measure for rice export in order to ensure adequate availability in the domestic market and prevent a price hike, sources said.

Indian security forces have killed six militants in Kashmir in the past 24 hours while militants shot dead a female TV performer and a police officer, officials said

For nearly three centuries, Muslims and Hindus in India’s northern Varanasi city have prayed to their gods in a mosque and a temple that are separated by one wall. Many see it as an example of religious coexistence in a country where bouts of deadly communal violence are common.

A court in Delhi today sentenced Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik to life imprisonment a week after he pleaded guilty to all the charges, including those under stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), in a case relating to terror funding, court sources said.

India’s Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy tonight (May 22, 2022) denied media reports claiming that the Archaeological Survey of India would be conducting an excavation at the iconic Qutub Minar complex Delhi.

The Calcutta High Court has rejected the election petition of West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Alorani Sarkar, who lost last year’s assembly poll from Bangaon Dakshin constituency on the grounds that she has dual citizenship of Bangladesh and India and cannot declare herself as “Indian”, as the law of the country does not allow it.