Rajasthan

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is staring at election losses in big heartland states, polls show, suggesting that farm distress and a lack of jobs for growing numbers of young people could prove stumbling blocks for his re-election bid in May. India counts votes on Tuesday from five states that chose new assemblies over the past month, but exit polls show Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could lose the three most important races, while it has little presence in two smaller states dominated by…

NEW DELHI: At least 77 people have died and more than 143  were injured in fierce dust storms and rainfall that hit the Indian states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.  The storms on Wednesday disrupted electricity, uprooted trees, destroyed houses and killed livestock. Many of the dead were sleeping when their houses collapsed after being struck by intense bursts of lightning. Dust storms are common in this part of India during summer but the loss of life on this scale is unusual. The storms largely affected…

NEW DELHI: The Indian Supreme Court will hear an appeal on Tuesday against a controversial Bollywood film, for the second time in as many weeks, as two states seek to re-impose a ban on the movie, based on an epic poem about a 14th-century queen. The film “Padmaavat” ran into trouble after groups critical of the project accused its director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, of distorting history by portraying a Muslim ruler as the “lover” of Queen Padmavati of the Hindu Rajput warrior clan. Monday’s action comes after the…

The storm surrounding Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavat (formerly Padmavati) refuses to die down despite the fact that the Central Board of Film Certification has given it U/A certificate after suggesting some cuts including i from its name. The film that was slated to release on December 1 got stuck in controversy after some Rajput groups alleged it of distorting history, a claim times and again denied by the director. In a latest development, Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje on Monday said 'Padmavat' won't…

NEW DELHI: Police have arrested two Hindu farmers in connection with the killing of a Muslim man suspected of smuggling cows to a slaughter house, the investigating officer said on Wednesday. Hardline Hindu groups have gained prominence since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014, and the protection of cows, considered holy by many in the Hindu-majority country, is a priority for them. Police found the body of Umar Khan, 35, on Friday on railway tracks in Alwar district…

JAIPUR: A Muslim man transporting cows was allegedly shot dead by cow vigilantes and another was left injured on Friday in Alwar district of Rajasthan, Indian media reported. The deceased was identified as Umar Khan and his aide, Tahir Khan. Both were transporting four cows in a pick-up truck from Alwar to Ghatmika village in Bharatpur district, when they were attacked by a crowd. The two persons were allegedly assaulted and shot at, leading to Umar Khan's death. The cow vigilantes allegedly threw Umar Khan's body…

JAIPUR: An Indian teenager sent to live with a much older husband who she married aged just 11 has returned to school after being rescued by her classmates, a children’s charity said on Thursday. The 16-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was married off by her family in the western state of Rajasthan, where child marriage is particularly prevalent. In May, relatives forced her to leave school and go to a nearby village to live with her husband and his family. But her classmates tracked her down to…

NEW DELHI: A Muslim man has died after he was attacked by hundreds of Hindu vigilantes while transporting cows in India, police said Wednesday, amid rising tensions over the slaughter of the sacred animal. Pehlu Khan, 55, died in hospital late Monday, two days after a mob attacked his cattle truck on a highway in Alwar in the western state of Rajasthan. In parts of northern and western India, squads of vigilantes roam highways inspecting livestock trucks for any trace of the animal. Alwar police chief Rahul Prakash…

MUMBAI: Indian authorities have challenged a court's decision to acquit Bollywood superstar Salman Khan over the use of unlicensed firearms to kill protected wildlife almost two decades ago. In January a court in the northwestern state of Rajasthan cleared the 51-year-old actor of two charges related to the illegal use of firearms citing a lack of evidence. The charges date back to 1998 when Khan was accused of hunting black bucks, a rare native species of antelope, while shooting a film in Rajasthan. But on…