The State of Smoking country profiles include limited data from the Foundation’s 2018 Global Survey and other sources. Note: tax, price, and population data change regularly. The below information is based on the latest available data. Additional content and expanded country profiles will be provided in conjunction with a series of in-country symposia which we plan to host in the coming months. Please contact us if you would like to receive more information on these upcoming events.
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Thursday, May 25, 2023
The State of Smoking in India
Oct 10, 2018 | The State of Smoking is designed to provide a snapshot of progress, challenges, and circumstances facing smokers as they struggle to quit and as we work to end smoking worldwide. We’ve examined the tobacco control environment, trends, and key data points in 13 countries and provided profiles for each (9 are also translated into native languages). We hope that the State of Smoking provides useful information to all those interested in smoking cessation, harm reduction, and ultimately ending smoking worldwide within our generation.
The State of Smoking country profiles include limited data from the Foundation’s 2018 Global Survey and other sources. Note: tax, price, and population data change regularly. The below information is based on the latest available data. Additional content and expanded country profiles will be provided in conjunction with a series of in-country symposia which we plan to host in the coming months. Please contact us if you would like to receive more information on these upcoming events.
The State of Smoking country profiles include limited data from the Foundation’s 2018 Global Survey and other sources. Note: tax, price, and population data change regularly. The below information is based on the latest available data. Additional content and expanded country profiles will be provided in conjunction with a series of in-country symposia which we plan to host in the coming months. Please contact us if you would like to receive more information on these upcoming events.
Monday, April 24, 2023
India Overtakes China to Become World’s Most Populous Country
THE GUARDIAN: Milestone marks the first time since 1950 that China has dropped to second place in global population ranks
India has overtaken China as the world’s most populous country, according to UN population estimates, the most significant shift in global demographics since records began.
According to the UN’s projections, which are calculated through a variety of factors including census data and birth and death rates, India now has a population of 1,425,775,850, surpassing China for the first time.
It is also the first time since 1950, when the UN first began keeping global population records, that China has been knocked off the top spot.
China’s population decline follows decades of strict laws to bring the country’s booming birthrate under control, including the introduction of a one-child policy in the 1980s. This included fines for having extra children, forced abortions and sterilisations. While initially highly effective in controlling the population, these policies became a victim of their own success, and the country is now grappling with an ageing population in steep decline, which could have severe economic implications.
Part of the problem is that because of a traditional preference for boys, the one-child policy led to a massive gender imbalance. Men now outnumber women by about 32 million. “How can the country now shore up birth rates, with millions of missing women?” asks Mei Fong, the author of One Child, a book about the impact of the policy. » | Hannah Ellis-Petersen | South Asia correspondent | Monday, April 24, 2023
India has overtaken China as the world’s most populous country, according to UN population estimates, the most significant shift in global demographics since records began.
According to the UN’s projections, which are calculated through a variety of factors including census data and birth and death rates, India now has a population of 1,425,775,850, surpassing China for the first time.
It is also the first time since 1950, when the UN first began keeping global population records, that China has been knocked off the top spot.
China’s population decline follows decades of strict laws to bring the country’s booming birthrate under control, including the introduction of a one-child policy in the 1980s. This included fines for having extra children, forced abortions and sterilisations. While initially highly effective in controlling the population, these policies became a victim of their own success, and the country is now grappling with an ageing population in steep decline, which could have severe economic implications.
Part of the problem is that because of a traditional preference for boys, the one-child policy led to a massive gender imbalance. Men now outnumber women by about 32 million. “How can the country now shore up birth rates, with millions of missing women?” asks Mei Fong, the author of One Child, a book about the impact of the policy. » | Hannah Ellis-Petersen | South Asia correspondent | Monday, April 24, 2023
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
India's Top Court Opens Landmark Hearings on Same-sex Marriage | DW News
Friday, January 06, 2023
Gay Couples in India Take Same-sex Marriage to Court | DW News
Sunday, November 20, 2022
India Expands Digitization amid Worrying Trends | DW News
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Tech Layoffs Crash Hard into Indian Workers I DW News
Nov 17, 2022 | Online-retailer Amazon has confirmed a coming round of mass layoffs, making it the latest tech-giant to slash jobs amid slowing global-growth. On Tuesday the company filed notice to California regulators that it would scrap jobs in that state. It is expected to shed as many as 10-thousand positions in the coming days, following similar measures by tech giants Meta and Twitter. Amazon employs 1.5 million workers around the world.
One country in which this wave of job cuts is particularly crashing into is India. Twitter cut off half its work force there, and education technology firms Byju and Unacademy laid off hundreds of workers. Workers in India are also among those affected by "Meta" cuts. Ironically, many of them are using those same platforms, including social media, to air their grievances and protests against the unceremonious firings.
One country in which this wave of job cuts is particularly crashing into is India. Twitter cut off half its work force there, and education technology firms Byju and Unacademy laid off hundreds of workers. Workers in India are also among those affected by "Meta" cuts. Ironically, many of them are using those same platforms, including social media, to air their grievances and protests against the unceremonious firings.
Wednesday, November 09, 2022
India Pursues 'Advantages' with Russia Visit I DW News
Nov 9, 2022 | Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the fifth time this year. It was Jaishankar's first visit to Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Jaishankar has stressed that his country would continue buying oil from Russia. India has become Russia's largest oil customer after China as Western buyers seek to wean themselves off fuel from Moscow.
"As the third largest consumer of oil and gas and a country with not very high incomes, we have to look for affordable sources, so the India-Russia relationship is to our advantage," Jaishankar said.
Russia's share of India's oil imports has surged from around 2% before the invasion of Ukraine to an all-time high of 23% in September. For decades, India has relied on Russia for its military equipment. Russia is also the fourth-biggest market for Indian pharmaceutical products.
India has close ties to both Moscow and the West and is one of the few countries not to have condemned Russia's war in Ukraine. New Delhi also does not support Western sanctions against Russia and instead favors dialogue as a way to resolve conflict.
Jaishankar has stressed that his country would continue buying oil from Russia. India has become Russia's largest oil customer after China as Western buyers seek to wean themselves off fuel from Moscow.
"As the third largest consumer of oil and gas and a country with not very high incomes, we have to look for affordable sources, so the India-Russia relationship is to our advantage," Jaishankar said.
Russia's share of India's oil imports has surged from around 2% before the invasion of Ukraine to an all-time high of 23% in September. For decades, India has relied on Russia for its military equipment. Russia is also the fourth-biggest market for Indian pharmaceutical products.
India has close ties to both Moscow and the West and is one of the few countries not to have condemned Russia's war in Ukraine. New Delhi also does not support Western sanctions against Russia and instead favors dialogue as a way to resolve conflict.
Thursday, October 13, 2022
Kerala's TJ Joseph: The Indian Teacher Whose Hand Was Cut Off for an Exam Paper
BBC: In 2010, the hand of a professor in India was cut off by extremists after he was accused of insulting Islam in an exam paper. Last month, the government banned the controversial Muslim group Popular Front of India (PFI), whose members had carried out the attack. The BBC travelled to Kerala to piece together the grisly incident and its aftermath.
Warning: This article contains details some readers may find distressing.
TJ Joseph remembers the attack from 12 years ago vividly.
It was a rainy July morning. Prof Joseph, then a 52-year-old teacher of Malayalam language at a local college, was driving home with his mother and sister after Sunday Mass in Muvattupuzha, an idyllic town in the southern state of Kerala set on the banks of a river by the same name.
Barely 100m from his house in a leafy, undulating lane, a Suzuki minivan barrelled down, took a sharp turn and blocked his hatchback.
The door of the minivan opened, and six men burst out. One of them ran up to Prof Joseph's car. He was carrying an axe.
As the man approached the driver's door and tried to yank it open, another man, brandishing a dagger, brought up the rear. Three others reached the passenger's side where his sister was sitting.
Cowering at the wheel of his four-year-old Wagon R, his engine switched off and the driver's side window smashed into pieces by a blow of the axe, Prof Joseph realised he was trapped. » | Soutik Biswas, India correspondent | Thursday, October 13, 2022
Warning: This article contains details some readers may find distressing.
TJ Joseph remembers the attack from 12 years ago vividly.
It was a rainy July morning. Prof Joseph, then a 52-year-old teacher of Malayalam language at a local college, was driving home with his mother and sister after Sunday Mass in Muvattupuzha, an idyllic town in the southern state of Kerala set on the banks of a river by the same name.
Barely 100m from his house in a leafy, undulating lane, a Suzuki minivan barrelled down, took a sharp turn and blocked his hatchback.
The door of the minivan opened, and six men burst out. One of them ran up to Prof Joseph's car. He was carrying an axe.
As the man approached the driver's door and tried to yank it open, another man, brandishing a dagger, brought up the rear. Three others reached the passenger's side where his sister was sitting.
Cowering at the wheel of his four-year-old Wagon R, his engine switched off and the driver's side window smashed into pieces by a blow of the axe, Prof Joseph realised he was trapped. » | Soutik Biswas, India correspondent | Thursday, October 13, 2022
Sunday, June 12, 2022
Protests Over Prophet Muhammad Comments Turn Deadly in India
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Two young protesters were killed in eastern India on Friday amid demonstrations by Muslims across South Asia.
Muslim protestors threw stones at the police on Friday in Prayagraj, India. Demonstrations across the country were set off by remarks that some Muslims found offensive. | Ritesh Shukla/Reuters
NEW DELHI — Two young demonstrators were killed on Friday in India’s eastern Jharkhand State amid protests across South Asia by Muslims angered by a comment from an official in India’s governing party that they believe profaned the Prophet Muhammad.
The protesters were shot during demonstrations that erupted after Friday Prayers in Ranchi, Jharkhand’s capital. Protesters there called for the arrest of Nupur Sharma, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, who last week made speculative comments on a television talk show about the relationship between the prophet and his youngest wife.
That comment, along with another about the prophet, made by Naveen Kumar Jindal, also an official in the governing Bharatiya Janata Party, prompted outrage across the Muslim world, forcing the government to try to contain the growing diplomatic fallout.
Since taking office in 2014, Mr. Modi has often been accused of stirring anti-Muslim sentiment or remaining silent when Hindu nationalists attacked Muslims, but his government appeared to take swift action after 17 Muslim nations condemned the remarks and lodged official diplomatic protests. Iran and Saudi Arabia, which often cannot agree on anything, both summoned India’s envoys in their capitals to complain. » | Emily Schmall and Suhasini Raj | Saturday, June 11, 2022
Le Prophète plutôt que les musulmans : Les dirigeants qui se réclament de l’islam sont plus prompts à dénoncer le blasphème du prophète Mahomet que les persécutions infligées à leurs coreligionnaires. »
NEW DELHI — Two young demonstrators were killed on Friday in India’s eastern Jharkhand State amid protests across South Asia by Muslims angered by a comment from an official in India’s governing party that they believe profaned the Prophet Muhammad.
The protesters were shot during demonstrations that erupted after Friday Prayers in Ranchi, Jharkhand’s capital. Protesters there called for the arrest of Nupur Sharma, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, who last week made speculative comments on a television talk show about the relationship between the prophet and his youngest wife.
That comment, along with another about the prophet, made by Naveen Kumar Jindal, also an official in the governing Bharatiya Janata Party, prompted outrage across the Muslim world, forcing the government to try to contain the growing diplomatic fallout.
Since taking office in 2014, Mr. Modi has often been accused of stirring anti-Muslim sentiment or remaining silent when Hindu nationalists attacked Muslims, but his government appeared to take swift action after 17 Muslim nations condemned the remarks and lodged official diplomatic protests. Iran and Saudi Arabia, which often cannot agree on anything, both summoned India’s envoys in their capitals to complain. » | Emily Schmall and Suhasini Raj | Saturday, June 11, 2022
Le Prophète plutôt que les musulmans : Les dirigeants qui se réclament de l’islam sont plus prompts à dénoncer le blasphème du prophète Mahomet que les persécutions infligées à leurs coreligionnaires. »
Sunday, April 24, 2022
Not Quite Your Thing, Mr. Johnson; and Certainly Not Your Colour!
Johnson vows to deepen trade ties with India after talks with PM Modi: Boris Johnson says India has agreed a "massive push" towards striking a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK. »
Desperate Boris Johnson Wastes Time Seeking a Trade Deal in India
Apr 24, 2022 • Whilst MP's debated whether Boris Johnson had deliberately misled the House, he flew to India in search of trade deals. With UK exports to India at £7.7 billion as against Belgium’s £18.8 billion, India is hardly a major market for the UK. Further, it appears that little progress was made in talks.
Any trade agreement eventually reached, the Indians have made clear, will require the UK issuing large numbers of visas for Indians wanting to come to the UK to work.
Since India has a large IT sector, it is likely that many of those wanting to visit the UK will be IT technicians who are likely to be prepared to work for much lower pay than current levels. In addition sourcing 'the brightest and the best' from countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria, immigration is almost certain to increase.
Any trade agreement eventually reached, the Indians have made clear, will require the UK issuing large numbers of visas for Indians wanting to come to the UK to work.
Since India has a large IT sector, it is likely that many of those wanting to visit the UK will be IT technicians who are likely to be prepared to work for much lower pay than current levels. In addition sourcing 'the brightest and the best' from countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria, immigration is almost certain to increase.
Wednesday, February 02, 2022
Anti-conversion Laws Stoke Violence in India | DW News
Narendra Modi has traces of god in him, says BJP minister as personality cult grows »
Monday, December 27, 2021
Jesus Statue Smashed in Spate of Attacks on India’s Christian Community
THE GUARDIAN: Amid growing intolerance to India’s Christian minority, several Christmas events were targeted by Hindu right wing groups
Christian devotees pray at a Church to celebrate Christmas in Guwahati, Assam. Violence against Christians is growing in India Photograph: David Talukdar/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
Festive celebrations were disrupted, Jesus statues were smashed and effigies of Santa Claus were burned in a spate of attacks on India’s Christian community over Christmas.
Amid growing intolerance and violence against India’s Christian minority, who make up about 2% of India’s population, several Christmas events were targeted by Hindu right wing groups, who alleged Christians were using festivities to force Hindus to convert.
In recent years, Christians have increasingly faced harassment around Christmas but this year saw a notable surge in attacks.
In Agra in Uttar Pradesh, members of right wing Hindu groups burned effigies of Santa Claus outside missionary-led schools and accused Christian missionaries of using Christmas celebrations to lure people in. » | Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi | Monday, December 27, 2021
Festive celebrations were disrupted, Jesus statues were smashed and effigies of Santa Claus were burned in a spate of attacks on India’s Christian community over Christmas.
Amid growing intolerance and violence against India’s Christian minority, who make up about 2% of India’s population, several Christmas events were targeted by Hindu right wing groups, who alleged Christians were using festivities to force Hindus to convert.
In recent years, Christians have increasingly faced harassment around Christmas but this year saw a notable surge in attacks.
In Agra in Uttar Pradesh, members of right wing Hindu groups burned effigies of Santa Claus outside missionary-led schools and accused Christian missionaries of using Christmas celebrations to lure people in. » | Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi | Monday, December 27, 2021
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Arrests, Beatings and Secret Prayers: Inside the Persecution of India’s Christians
THE NEW YORK TIMES: “They want to remove us from society,” a Christian farmer said of Hindu extremists. Rising attacks on Christians are part of a broader shift in India, in which minorities feel less safe.
INDORE, India — The Christians were mid-hymn when the mob kicked in the door.
A swarm of men dressed in saffron poured inside. They jumped onstage and shouted Hindu supremacist slogans. They punched pastors in the head. They threw women to the ground, sending terrified children scuttling under their chairs.
“They kept beating us, pulling out hair,” said Manish David, one of the pastors who was assaulted. “They yelled: ‘What are you doing here? What songs are you singing? What are you trying to do?’”
The attack unfolded on the morning of Jan. 26 at the Satprakashan Sanchar Kendra Christian center in the city of Indore. The police soon arrived, but the officers did not touch the aggressors. Instead, they arrested and jailed the pastors and other church elders, who were still dizzy from getting punched in the head. The Christians were charged with breaking a newly enforced law that targets religious conversions, one that mirrors at least a dozen other measures across the country that have prompted a surge in mob violence against Indian Christians.
Pastor David was not converting anyone, he said. But the organized assault against his church was propelled by a growing anti-Christian hysteria that is spreading across this vast nation, home to one of Asia’s oldest and largest Christian communities, with more than 30 million adherents. » | Jeffrey Gettleman and Suhasini Raj | Photographs by Atul Loke | Undated
Saturday, November 06, 2021
In a Region in Strife, India’s Moral High Ground Erodes
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The hard-line attitude of Narendra Modi’s ruling party toward Muslims has undermined the nation’s reputation as a voice for tolerance in South Asia.
Hindus in Bangladesh protesting the violent attacks against them in Dhaka last month. | Munir Uz Zaman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
NEW DELHI — The mob rampaged for days, burning homes, breaking into temples and clashing with police, leaving several dead.
The victims were minority Hindus living in Bangladesh, a majority-Muslim nation grappling with increasing extremism, and the violence drew an outcry from politicians in neighboring India. As the region’s traditional center of gravity, India has a history of promoting tolerance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also positioned himself as the champion of Hindus against a history of victimhood.
But the erosion of human rights in India has weakened its moral high ground in a region where ethnic and sectarian tensions are worsening. Sheikh Hasina — Bangladesh’s prime minister and a close ally, who had just sent Mr. Modi 71 red roses on his birthday — had pointed words for India, even as she promised to hunt the culprits.
“We expect that nothing happens there,” Ms. Hasina said, “which could influence any situation in Bangladesh affecting our Hindu community here.” » | Mujib Mashal | Saturday, November 6, 2021
NEW DELHI — The mob rampaged for days, burning homes, breaking into temples and clashing with police, leaving several dead.
The victims were minority Hindus living in Bangladesh, a majority-Muslim nation grappling with increasing extremism, and the violence drew an outcry from politicians in neighboring India. As the region’s traditional center of gravity, India has a history of promoting tolerance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also positioned himself as the champion of Hindus against a history of victimhood.
But the erosion of human rights in India has weakened its moral high ground in a region where ethnic and sectarian tensions are worsening. Sheikh Hasina — Bangladesh’s prime minister and a close ally, who had just sent Mr. Modi 71 red roses on his birthday — had pointed words for India, even as she promised to hunt the culprits.
“We expect that nothing happens there,” Ms. Hasina said, “which could influence any situation in Bangladesh affecting our Hindu community here.” » | Mujib Mashal | Saturday, November 6, 2021
Thursday, October 21, 2021
At Least 180 Killed in India and Nepal Flooding | DW News
Friday, August 20, 2021
Tuesday, August 03, 2021
Zone Interdite - The Most Luxurious Weddings in the World (Dubaï)
Sunday, July 25, 2021
Covid-19: Families Struggle with High Hospital Costs in India | DW News
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
‘I Have Sacrificed a Lot’: Growing Up LGBTQ+ in India
AL JAZEERA: LGBTQ+ Indians who battle family expectations and social pressures to live their authentic lives share their stories.
Like most parents, Sourav’s would like to see him “settled”. In India, however, this is a loaded concept. Being happy, healthy and financially secure are all important, but making a good marriage is the cornerstone of “settling down”. Indeed, 26-year-old Sourav, an IT professional in one of India’s metro cities, would make a wonderful husband to a man of his choice. But that is the problem.
In 2017, when he told his parents he was gay, their illusion of him as the perfect son shattered. He recalled how his mother cried so much, she required emergency hospitalisation for dehydration and low blood pressure. His father did not speak to him for three months.
Unlike Sourav, who confidently asserts himself as a gay man despite the pushback from his loved ones, back in the 1980s and 1990s, I had no terminology to describe what I was. Even growing up in a family that considered itself progressive, I was continually shamed for being non-gender conforming, and coerced to correct myself – forced into feminine clothes, told off for “wanting to be a boy”. It is no surprise, then, that I was convinced I was broken by the time I reached my teens.
Decades of self-hate, low self-esteem and confusion followed. I had zero understanding of sexualities and genders, apart from the fact that to deviate was abnormal and shameful. But just as I paid the price for keeping my inner demons locked inside and pretending to be “normal” – at least “normal enough” – Sourav, who asked that his surname not be used in this article, paid for being honest. » | Payal Dhar | Monday, June 21, 2021
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