India-Canada relations: Carney invites Modi to G7 summit, signalling thaw in tensions
A diplomatic reset between New Delhi and Ottawa could be on the cards. India's last-minute surprise invitation by Canada to attend the G7 summit this week is raising hopes that both countries could mend their ties. Relations soured over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil in 2023. Neha Poonia reports from New Delhi.
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CNA
2 days ago
- CNA
India-Canada relations: Carney invites Modi to G7 summit, signalling thaw in tensions
A diplomatic reset between New Delhi and Ottawa could be on the cards. India's last-minute surprise invitation by Canada to attend the G7 summit this week is raising hopes that both countries could mend their ties. Relations soured over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil in 2023. Neha Poonia reports from New Delhi.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Straits Times
Climate change heightens risk of Indian farmer suicides
The agricultural industry has been in a persistent crisis for decades, with high suicide rates being a nationwide problem. PHOTO: AFP BEED, India - On a small farm in India's Maharashtra state, Ms Mirabai Khindkar said the only thing her land grew was debt, after crops failed in drought and her husband killed himself. Farmer suicides have a long history in India, where many are one crop failure away from disaster, but extreme weather caused by climate change is adding fresh pressure. Dwindling yields due to water shortages, floods, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall, coupled with crippling debt, have taken a heavy toll on a sector that employs 45 per cent of India's 1.4 billion people. Ms Mirabhai's husband Amol was left with debts to loan sharks worth hundreds of times their farm's annual income, after the 1ha soybean, millet and cotton plot withered in scorching heat. He swallowed poison in 2024. 'When he was in the hospital, I prayed to all the gods to save him,' said 30-year-old Mirabai, her voice breaking. Mr Amol died a week later, leaving behind Ms Mirabai and three children. Her last conversation with him was about debt. Their personal tragedy is replicated daily across Marathwada, a region in Maharashtra of 18 million, once known for fertile farmland. In 2024, extreme weather events across India affected 3.2 million hectares of cropland – an area bigger than Belgium – according to the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment research group. Over 60 per cent of that was in Maharashtra. 'Summers are extreme, and even if we do what is necessary, the yield is not enough,' said Mr Amol's brother and fellow farmer Balaji Khindkar. 'There is not enough water to irrigate the fields. It doesn't rain properly.' 'Increase the risk' Between 2022 and 2024, 3,090 farmers took their own lives in Marathwada, an average of nearly three a day, according to India's Minister of Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Government statistics do not specify what drove the farmers to kill themselves, but analysts point to several likely factors. 'Farmer suicides in India are a consequence of the crisis of incomes, investment and productivity that you have in agriculture,' said Professor R Ramakumar, professor of development studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Farming across many Indian smallholdings is done largely as it has been for centuries, and is highly dependent on the right weather at the correct time. 'What climate change and its vulnerabilities and variabilities have done is to increase the risks in farming,' Professor Ramakumar said. This 'is leading to crop failures, uncertainties... which is further weakening the economics of cultivation for small and marginal farmers.' The government could support farmers with better insurance schemes to cope with extreme weather events, as well as investments in agricultural research, Professor Ramakumar said. 'Agriculture should not be a gamble with the monsoon.' 'Make ends meet' Faced with uncertain weather, farmers often look to stem falling yields by investing in fertilisers or irrigation systems. But banks can be reluctant to offer credit to such uncertain borrowers. Some turn to loan sharks offering quick cash at exorbitant interest rates, and risking catastrophe if crops fail. 'It is difficult to make ends meet with just farming,' Ms Mirabai said, standing outside her home, a tin-roofed hut with patch-cloth walls. Her husband's loans soared to over US$8,000 (S$10,290), a huge sum in India, where the average monthly income of a farming household is around US$120. Ms Mirabai works on other farms as a labourer but could not pay back the debt. 'The loan instalments piled up,' she said, adding that she wants her children to find jobs outside of farming when they grow up. 'Nothing comes out of the farm.' The agricultural industry has been in a persistent crisis for decades. And while Maharashtra has some of the highest suicide rates, the problem is nationwide. Thirty people in the farming sector killed themselves every day in 2022, according to national crime records bureau statistics. At another farm in Marathwada, 32-year-old farmer Shaikh Imran took over the running of the family smallholding in 2024 after his brother took his own life. He is already more than US$1,100 in debt after borrowing to plant soybean. The crop failed. Meanwhile, the pop of explosives echoes around as farmers blast wells, hoping to hit water. 'There's no water to drink,' said family matriarch Khatijabi. 'Where shall we get water to irrigate the farm?' AFP Find out more about climate change and how it could affect you on the ST microsite here.
CNA
4 days ago
- CNA
Restive Indian state orders curfew after fresh violence
IMPHAL: An Indian state riven by ethnic tensions imposed an internet shutdown and curfew after protesters clashed with security forces over the arrest of some members of a radical group, police said on Sunday (Jun 8). Manipur in India's northeast has been rocked by periodic clashes for more than two years between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community that have killed more than 250 people. The latest violence was triggered on Saturday after reports of the arrest of five members, including a commander, of Arambai Tenggol, a radical Meitei group. Incensed mobs demanding their release stormed a police post, set fire to a bus and blocked roads in parts of the state capital Imphal. Manipur police announced a curfew in five districts, including Imphal West and Bishnupur, due to the "developing law and order situation". "Prohibitory orders have been issued by District Magistrates. Citizens are requested to cooperate with the orders," the police said in a statement. Arambai Tenggol, which is alleged to have orchestrated the violence against the Kuki community, has also announced a 10-day shutdown in the valley districts. The state's home ministry has ordered all internet and mobile data services in volatile districts to be shut off for five days in order to bring the latest unrest under control. Internet services were shut down for months in Manipur during the initial outbreak of violence in 2023, which displaced around 60,000 people from their homes according to government figures. Thousands of the state's residents are still unable to return home owing to ongoing tensions. Long-standing tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolve around competition for land and public jobs.
