New Delhi: Over 2 months after the Pahalgam terror attack, the Amarnath pilgrimage has resumed. On the surface, it’s business as usual—but things have clearly changed, report Shams Irfan and Joshua Yang in The Washington Post.
“Around 42,000 members of Indian security forces have been dispatched to Indian-administered Kashmir, according to local media reports, in what appeared to be the heaviest security deployment for the pilgrimage,” the report says.
“Fears over a security incident have worsened but are long-standing: The Amarnath Yatra has been the target of militant attacks in the past, including as recently as 2017, and gunmen attacked a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir last summer,” it also notes.
SEBI’s investigation into American Trading firm and its “unsophisticated” fraud practices has left even former Jane Streeters shell shocked, writes Robin Wigglesworth in The Financial Times.
“In India, what could have started out as perfectly normal arbitrage in a massive and inefficient options market morphed into large de facto prop bets against Indian retail traders who overwhelmingly lose money. And the index arb conveniently happened to help that bet, while also helping Indian market pricing converge,” he writes.
A statement issued by X’s Global Governance highlights “serious concerns” when it comes to overreach by the Indian government, which has asked for thousands of accounts to be blocked, reports Swati Gupta in Bloomberg.
“Two international accounts belonging to Reuters were blocked in India on Sunday, with an ‘account withheld’ notification. According to X, after a ‘public outcry’, the Indian government issued a request to unblock the two handles,” the report says.
In an interview with the BBC’s Soutik Biswas, DGCA Chief Faiz Ahmed Kidwai says that India’s skies “have always been safe—in the past and even today”.
“We looked at the data to assess whether it had any impact on domestic or international operations. There was no significant drop in traffic. At most, we observed a very marginal dip for a short period, affecting both domestic and international flights, along with a few cancellations,” he told the BBC, referring to fall-out from the crash that killed 242 people.
Also, in the BBC, there are only 5,000 artisans in Kolhapur who are creating the Kolhapuri chappal. the Indian slipper that is the global talk of town following Italian retailer Prada’s Kolhapuri inspired “flat sandals”. The industry is described as bogged down by “dismal working conditions and low wages”.
“It’s no surprise then that when Italian luxury brand Prada released a new line of footwear that bore a striking resemblance to the Kolhapuri sandals – but didn’t mention the design origins – local artisans were up in arms,” the report says.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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