In an age dominated by information flow, understanding how a nation is portrayed on the global stage becomes paramount. The “India in Global Media” weekly digest serves as a compass, guiding readers through the diverse lenses of international news agencies from January 7 to January 13.

DW – Why India welcomes Bangladesh election result

• A fourth consecutive term in office for Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will provide India a sense of continuity and stability for regional security, despite criticism of democratic backsliding, analysts say.
• Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party won a landslide victory in Bangladesh’s general election last Sunday, a result that was widely expected as the polls were boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies.
• India has welcomed the results, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulating Hasina on her victory. “We are committed to further strengthen our enduring and people-centric partnership with Bangladesh,” Modi wrote on X, formerly Twitter, earlier this week.
• Hasina’s election means “continuity and stability and there will be a momentum in bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh that have huge potential going forward,” said Veena Sikri, a former Indian high commissioner in Bangladesh.

For detailed report click on : https://www.dw.com/en/why-india-welcomes-bangladesh-election-result/a-67950471

BBC – Annapoorani: Netflix removes Nayanthara film after backlash from Hindu groups

• An Indian film that received backlash for “hurting Hindu religious sentiments” has been removed from Netflix, days after it began streaming. Netflix said the Tamil-language film – Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food – was removed at its “licensor’s request”.
• The movie stars actor Nayanthara as a Hindu Brahmin woman who aspires to become a chef. She is shown going against her family’s religious beliefs and eating meat and learning to cook it.
• Members of hard-line Hindu organisations had objected to this and other scenes in the movie, including one where the actress is shown offering namaz, or Muslim prayers, before cooking biriyani.
• Some Hindus also took offence at a scene where a Muslim character says that Hindu god Ram ate meat. A police case has also been filed in Madhya Pradesh state against Nayanthara and two others associated with the film.

For detailed report click on : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-67911167

BBC – Maldives: Maldivians debate India’s ‘boycott’ of their nation

• Following the “derogatory” comments made by three Maldivian junior ministers against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the tourism paradise is in danger of facing a boycott by Indian tourists – who are one of the largest contributors to the country’s income.
• Indians were the largest group of tourists by nationality that visited the Maldives last year. Tourism accounts for almost one third of the country’s economy.
• The controversial posts were deleted following the uproar and the Maldivian foreign ministry put out a statement saying the comments made by the ministers were personal and did not represent the views of the government.
• The Maldives consists of about 1,200 coral islands and atolls located in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The archipelago has a population of about 520,000. As a small island nation, the country depends on its giant neighbour India for most of its food, infrastructure building, and technological advancement.

For detailed report click on : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-67942642

Gulf News – Mumbai gets a makeover as India binges on bridges, roads and rail

• India’s longest bridge, the 22-km (14-mile) Atal Setu linking central Mumbai with a fast-growing commercial hub across the Arabian Sea, will open on Friday in a ceremony by Prime Minister Narenda Modi as a centrepiece of his government’s infrastructure drive.
• Modi’s five-year, $1 trillion infrastructure push across the country, a key part of his pitch for a third term ahead of this year’s general election, aims both to boost jobs and to keep up with China and other modernising economies.
• “For years, the lack of modern infrastructure was a real barrier in our development,” Modi said in a speech late last year.
• “Today, the world’s largest infrastructure building drive is under way in India.” RK Jain, who owns three industrial components factories in the Navi Mumbai area south and east of the city centre, says the Atal Setu bridge and other infrastructure – including a new airport and light rail line – will help to turn the region from a “backward area” into a “premium suburb”.

For detailed report click on : https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/mumbai-gets-a-makeover-as-india-binges-on-bridges-roads-and-rail-1.1704968479710

Gulf News – Swachh Suvekshan 2023: These are the cleanest cities of India

• Surat has moved up from second rank to catch up with Indore in being adjudged the joint winner as the ‘cleanest cities’ in the country in the ‘Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023’ announced on Thursday.
• Navi Mumbai has retained the third position in the Central government’s annual cleanliness survey.
• Indore won the cleanest city title for the seventh consecutive time. Among the states, Maharashtra was adjudged the cleanest followed by Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the second and third ranks, respectively.

For detailed report click on : https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/swachh-suvekshan-2023-these-are-the-cleanest-cities-of-india-1.1704970138160

BBC – How some Indian hospitals are cutting cancer drug costs

• Scores of patients quietly fill a modest tin shed which serves as a waiting area at a cancer hospital in Silchar, in north-eastern India. Over the last few months, Cachar Cancer Centre in the state of Assam has seen an unusually high number of patients from nearby towns and villages.
• The reason: a quiet revolution that is making cancer drugs more affordable. The hospital is part of the National Cancer Grid, a group of treatment centres that have clubbed together to bulk buy drugs and bring down costs by more than 85%.
• It is a modest start but, literally, a lifesaver for some of the country’s poorest people. Expensive, protracted treatments often put families under immense financial strain or are simply out of reach.

For detailed report click on : https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67678707

Gulf News – UAE President Sheikh Mohamed, India PM Narendra Modi discuss ways to enhance ties

• President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, met on Tuesday to discuss the strong, historic ties between the UAE and India.
• The two leaders explored ways to further these relations to advance the progress and prosperity of both nations and their people, within the framework of their comprehensive strategic and economic partnership.
• During the talks, both sides emphasised their mutual commitment to expanding the scope of bilateral relations, particularly in the areas of the economy, energy, technology, climate action, and sustainable development. They also agreed to leverage all available opportunities to achieve the objectives of their developmental partnerships.
• Sheikh Mohamed and the Indian Prime Minister discussed a number of regional and international issues of mutual interest, and underscored their support for all efforts that promote peace, cooperation, stability, and the resolution of conflicts through dialogue and understanding. They reiterated the importance of collective international action in addressing shared challenges and accelerating the wellbeing and prosperity of all peoples worldwide.

For detailed report click on : https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/uae-president-sheikh-mohamed-india-pm-narendra-modi-discuss-ways-to-enhance-ties-1.1704816648688

Associated Press – Pope confirms new leader of India’s Syro-Malabar Church, divided for decades over liturgy dispute

• Pope Francis on Wednesday confirmed a new leader for India’s Syro-Malabar Church in a step toward healing a decades-long liturgical dispute that became so dire that Francis recently threatened to excommunicate hundreds of priests.
• Francis confirmed the election of His Beatitude Mar Raphael Thattil as major archbishop of the arch-eparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, located in southern Kerala state where many of India’s Christians live.
• Thattil had been elected to the position by the synod of bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church, one of the 23 autonomous eastern rite churches in communion with the Holy See. Francis confirmed the choice as called for under church law.

For detailed report click on : https://apnews.com/article/pope-syromalabar-india-kerala-christian-thattil-francis-3361454b50afb2b11edfee346d3598a5

Gulf News – India-Maldives row escalates, travel agency suspends flight bookings to islands

• One of India’s largest travel platforms suspended flight bookings to the tourism-dependent Maldives on Monday after disparaging social media posts against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embittered relations between the South Asian neighbours.
• India and Russia send the largest number of visitors to the Maldives, a chain of sun-kissed islands in the Indian Ocean that is home to many luxury resorts. Tourism accounts for almost one-third of its economy, according to the World Bank.
• EaseMyTrip co-founder and Executive Director Prashant Pitti said bookings to the Maldives were suspended “indefinitely”.
• Even though New Delhi and Male have traditionally had close ties, relations have been tense since President Mohamed Muizzu came to power in November winning the election on an ‘India Out’ campaign.

For detailed report click on : https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/india-maldives-row-escalates-travel-agency-suspends-flight-bookings-to-islands-1.100290518

New York Times – India and Maldives Trade Barbs After Modi’s Beach Visit

• Some in the Maldives were critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to nearby Indian islands to promote tourism, seeing it as an attempt to draw visitors away from their nation.
• It started with a postcard-perfect snapshot. An image of India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, lounging in a chair on a secluded white-sand beach, provoked heated words from officials in the Maldives, a tiny archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean.
• Indians on social media reacted with a ferocious wave of indignation, causing ripples all the way to Beijing.
• Mr. Modi had been posing for a series of pictures to highlight the beachy natural beauty of the islands called Lakshadweep, an Indian territory 150 miles from the mainland and just 100 miles north of the Maldives.
• Lakshadweep is like a mini Maldives, with barely a tenth of the landmass of the more famous atolls to its south. The people on Minicoy, its southernmost island, speak the same language as they do in the Maldives, and preserve some of its oldest customs.

For detailed report click on the link : https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/world/asia/india-maldives-modi.html

The Guardian – Every day’s a school day: the great-grandmother who goes to primary school

• A 92-year-old woman, in an area of India with low literacy rates, is inspiring others to learn how to read and write. The age range at Chawli primary school in Bulandshahr, northern India, has been wider than at other schools since the 92-year-old Salima Khan enrolled. The great-grandmother – who is known as Amma – struggles to walk far these days but for the past two years she has turned up as often as she can to the school in Uttar Pradesh, alongside her great-granddaughter-in-law, Firdaus, 35, and has learned to read and write.
• Her enthusiasm for learning has motivated many young girls as well as married women in the area to enrol in school, including two of her daughter-in-laws. “I have been going to school for the last two years. I have studied for the most part,” says Amma, grinning as she says she was first attracted to the school by the free lunches that were supplied.

For detailed report click on : https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/jan/10/every-days-a-school-day-the-great-grandmother-who-goes-to-primary-school

(The Report is curated by Dr Vinay Nalwa)