A US government panel called for India to be put on a religious freedom blacklist. The panel called for it over a “drastic” downturn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggering a sharp rebuttal from New Delhi. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends but does not set policy, and there is virtually no chance the State Department will follow its lead on India, an increasingly close US ally.
India has cancelled orders to import coronavirus rapid testing kits from China after finding them to be “faulty”. The country had placed an order for about half a million kits from two Chinese firms: Wondfo Biotech and Livzon Diagnostic. States in India had refused to use the rapid testing kits, claiming they were only 5% accurate.
The Indian Council of Medical Research has asked states across the country to stop using COVID-19 rapid testing kits after discrepancies in results. The state of Rajasthan has completely halted testing through the kits. According to Rajasthan Medical and Health Minister Raghu Sharma, they did rapid tests on 168 confirmed cases but only 5.4% of them tested positive for antibodies.
The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has yet again warned Indian singers against collaborating with Pakistani artistes. The film body issued a statement after it noticed that a few artistes have recently worked with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan on a digital platform. The statement came after several cross-border collaborations amid the coronavirus pandemic, featuring singers such as Ali Sethi, Farida Khanum and Rekha Bhardwaj.
A recent foreign media report has revealed that the Modi-led government of India is planning to stop Pakistan’s share of river water from flowing into Pakistan by the end of this year. Indian authorities are working on a plan to stop 2 TMC of water from the Ujh River, a branch of Ravi, flowing through the Kathua district of Indian Occupied Kashmir.
Indian firm has turned buses into women’s toilets “washroom on wheels” in a bid to provide hygienic public toilets to women across the country. For a relatively affordable Indian five-rupee-fee, any woman can board the toilet to use the facilities, breastfeed babies or purchase sanitary napkins and diapers. Launched in 2016 by entrepreneurs Ulka Sadalkar and Rajeev Kher, the “Ti Toilet” project — “ti” means “her” in the local Marathi language .
Pakistan beat Afghanistan by six wickets in the U19 Cricket World Cup to secure a place in the semi-final and will now play against India. Pakistan’s bowlers put on a disciplined performance as they dismissed the Afghan side for just 189. Captain Farhan Zakhil was the top-scorer with 40 (55) with seven boundaries to his name while Muhammad Amir Khan was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with figures of 3-58 in 10 overs.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed that India is now capable of defeating Pakistan in less than 10 days. In a speech to military personnel on Tuesday, Modi said “our armed forces will not take more than 7-10 days to make Pakistan bite the dust.” “This is ‘youthful thinking’. We carry out surgical strikes and take on terrorists in their homes,” Modi said.
The King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) recently spoke of how he and his wife Gauri have taught their children that they do not belong to any religion, reported India Today. “We never talked about being Hindu or Muslim. My wife is a Hindu, I’m a Muslim and my children are Hindustani,” said Khan on a show.
The Foreign Office has confirmed that US President Donald Trump will not visit Pakistan during his tour to India next month. President Trump “wants an exclusive visit to Pakistan which is not linked to any other visit in the region because Pakistan has its own distinct place,” FO Spokesperson Aisha Farooqi said at the weekly media briefing.