The Maharashta government declared an outbreak of Leptospirosis in the municipal areas of Mumbai and Kalyan-Dombivali today after the disease claimed a number of lives following the Mumbai floods. Thirty-seven Mumbaikars died from the disease since the flood, as well as 29 people in neighboring Thane.
The outbreak is reminiscent of the recent Streptoccocus [...]
Lisbon High Court has agreed to Abu Salem’s extradition to India so the underworld don can face trial for his part in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. Salem is currently in a Portuguese jail serving a four-and-a-half year term for possessing forged passports along with Bollywood actress Monica Bedi. The High Court in Portugal [...]
Reports show that only 40 percent of Mumbai’s residents have access to sewers, leaving 50 percent of its residents in sewerless slums, and 15 percent still using obsolete septic tanks. Most of the city depends on the Mithri river for drainage, except it’s now clogged with debris and waste, forcing residents to deal with the [...]
A compilation of links regarding the JAAG India PIL against the government’s substandard flood relief operations:
Film biggies to file PIL against Gov’t - Midday
Bollywood Personalities’ P.I.L. Against State Govt. - Sify.com
Bollywood v. Maharashta Government - Boulevard India (first report)
Flights grounded in rain replay - The Telegraph, Calcutta
Celebs ready to sue state for flood - [...]
Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has proposed that Indians who do not have a toilet in their house will not be able to participate in elections, in an attempt to “eradicate the practice of open defecation by 2010.” Singh remarked, “If you cannot build a toilet in your own home, what use can you [...]
The torrential downpour was ultimately responsible for the Mumbai floods that killed 406 of the city’s residents and caused millions of dollars of losses in industry, agriculture, and commerce, but Mumbai residents are wondering if the damage was unnecessarily high. Mumbai’s century-old sewer system is clogged with garbage, prohibiting street drainage. The shantys of the [...]
According to Overseas Indians Minister Jagdish Tytler, the Indian government is proposing a bill that will allow Non-Resident Indians holding Indian passports to participate in elections in the country. The bill will provide People of Indian Origin with dual citizenship, facilitating entry into the country and permitting participation in elections as long as the NRI [...]
Though they’ve become somewhat commonplace in America, interracial marriages are still a rarity in India. Zofeen Maqsood reports on Indian interracial marriages in the July 2005 issue of Little India, focusing on relationships such as Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chief executive of Biocon, and her marriage with her American husband John Shaw. Interracial couples say the [...]
An Indian and two other immigrants living in British Columbia, Canada built a sophisticated $1 million tunnel extending from the Canadian province to Lynden, Washington in the United States for the purposes of smuggling marijuana, but were caught before they really even got started. Francis Devandra Raj and his two accomplices were charged with conspiracy [...]
The U.S. has officially recognized India as a nuclear-weapon state, extending all nuclear priviliges to the country including fuel for civilian nuclear reactors. The announcement comes after a summit meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House on Monday. In response, India has stated that it [...]