India

Tuesday, officials from the United States federal government announced plans to rename hundreds of places on federal land whose names contain an anti-Native American slur, having produced five possible replacement names for each site. They plan to hold virtual discussions with Native American groups before recommending replacement names to the Board on Geographic Names later this year. The 13 members of the Derogatory Names Task force includes individuals from the National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, and

After an active year of original content published on the English-language Wikinews, we take a look back at some of the two dozen-plus original reports from our contributors during 2020. March 6th All-women crew steers Tippu Express ahead of International Women's Day As a part of a ten-day celebration of International Women's Day, an all-women crew ran the Mysuru-Bengaluru Tippu Express in the South Western Railway region of Karnataka, India. B Shiva Parvathi and Rangoli Patil were the locomotive and co-locomotive pilots of the train, c

On Friday, Indian officials in Kerala arrested a man in connection with the death of a pregnant female elephant suffering from explosive injuries. Authorities said they believed a fruit filled with firecrackers had exploded in her mouth, damaging her jaw and ultimately leading to her death. According to wildlife officials, the 15-year-old elephant's injuries were discovered on May 25 after she was observed standing in the Velliyar River. Despite attempts by officials to lure her out using two other elephants, the injured elephant remained in t

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Wikinews discusses International Women's Day celebration with Mysore Divisional Railway Manager}} This Thursday, an all-women crew ran the Mysore–Bangalore Tippu Express in the Indian state of Karnataka. The state-run Indian Railways launched this event ahead of International Women's Day, for promoting gender equality at work places. Aparna Garg — who has been the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) for Mysore Division for almost two years — discussed this initiative with Wikinews. International Women's Day is observed on March

On Sunday, R Praggnanandhaa became the youngest Indian chess player to earn the title of Grand Master. At the age of twelve years, ten months and thirteen days, Praggnanandhaa was the second youngest person to earn the title. Praggnanandhaa earned his third norm on Sunday as he faced Dutch Grand Master Roeland Pruijssers with Elo rating of 2514 at the fourth Gredine Open in Italy. Having won the first norm in November and second in April, Praggnanandhaa had to face a player with at least 2482 Elo rating for the third norm. For the Grand Master

On Saturday, India's Union Cabinet approved capital punishment in an ordinance for the rape of girls under the age of twelve. This comes after nationwide protests that took place in various cities after an eight-year-old girl was gang-raped and killed in Kathua city in Jammu and Kashmir. "Government has taken serious note of incidents of rape in various parts of the country [...] while expressing deep anguish over such incidents, it has been decided to devise a comprehensive response to deal with the solution", the special emergency cabinet sa

On Wednesday, various cities in the Indian state of Karnataka observed , as people protested for central government to sort out the dispute of water share for the Mandovi river, also known as Mahadayi, which has been going on for decades. Bus service in Karnataka's capital Bangalore was at a complete halt, however, the bandh was not strictly followed in southern parts of Karnataka, including in Mysore. The 77 kilometer (about 48 mile) river originates in northern Karnataka, and flows through Goa. Almost two thirds of the river's length is in G

On Friday, the supreme court of India overruled a High Court decision which identified rivers Ganga and Yamuna as living entities. The appeal, filed by the state government of Uttarakhand from which these two rivers originate, claimed the decision was "unsustainable in the law". Days after the Whanganui River was identified as living being in New Zealand, Uttarakhand's high court ruled in favour of granting the two rivers — Ganga and Yamuna — status as living persons. The bench of justices Rajeev Sharma and Alok Singh hearing a related case ru

A sixteen-year-old girl from Lakhisarai district, Bihar, India, reported to the police on Sunday that she had been raped multiple times and thrown out of a moving train. She was found unconscious near the tracks not far from Kiul Junction by some locals who took her to a nearby hospital. She was later taken to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH). A PMCH doctor commented anonymously, "She has received at least two dozen stitches in her private parts, both her feet are irrevocably damaged, her thigh bone is fractured and she has seriou

The Indian Supreme Court yesterday formally began a hearing against triple talaq, an Islamic rule which allows men to divorce their wives instantly without the need of a judicial hearing. Activists and Muslim women have filed many petitions against Islamic practices — triple talaq, nikah halala, and polygamy — saying they are unconstitutional and demanding gender equality. A bench of five justices — Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice Kurian Joseph, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, and Justice S Abdul Nazeer, be

More than fifteen people were killed near the police station in Yerpedu, Andhra Pradesh, India after a heavily loaded truck lost control on Friday afternoon at about 1:45 P.M. IST (0815 UTC). People, mostly from the village of Munagalapalem, were gathered to protest local illegal sand mining. The truck hit an electric pole, and destroyed nearby shops and vehicles causing a short-circuit and fire. Tirupati Urban Superintendent of Police R Jayalakshmi said the truck crushed some people under its wheels; six people were killed that way according

Yesterday afternoon, the Supreme Court of India asked Karnataka to release 12000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water from the Kaveri river till September 20 to Tamil Nadu after Karnataka pleaded not to release water. A week ago, the Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to release 15000 cusecs of water for ten days. Various cities in both states faced violent attacks. At least five tourist vehicles with Karnataka registration plate were vandalised in Tamil Nadu. In Bangalore, protestors burned Tamil Nadu vehicles. A Tamil Nadu truck was stoned i