The Nation Newspaper

Tag: India

  • India seeks to hike Africa trade volume

    The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in conjunction with Government of India in a report, yesterday shared its goals of hiking up India-Africa bilateral trade volume to $150 billion and strengthening business and trade ties with the states of West Africa through the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

    The Confederation of Indian Industry said this at the CII-Exim Bank Regional Conclave on India-West Africa Project Partnership conference which took place at Abuja, yesterday.

    Amongst other goals, they also aim to enable African manufacturing to move up the value chain by enhanced collaboration between Indian and African enterprises, and also enhance Africa’s exports to India by optimal utilisation of Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme.

    The Project Partnership focuses on sustainable and inclusive financing, infrastructure, manufacturing and connectivity, mining, agriculture and food processing, services trade, and power and energy cooperation as sustainable development programs.

    The Chair, CII Taskforce on Asia-Africa Growth Corridor and former Ambassador of India to Germany, Indonesia and Ethiopia, Gurjit Singh, during the occasion expressed the need for India and West Africa to form and develop partnerships to enhance bilateral trade and benefits associated with it.

  • Nigeria, India trade hits $12b

    The trade volume between India and Nigeria hit $12 billion between April 2017and March 2018, Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Nagabhushana Reddy, has said.

    Reddy said this while speaking with newsmen at a flag hoisting ceremony to mark the 72nd Independence of India in Abuja.

    It would be recalled that the trade figures between both countries as at January 2018 was $10 billion.

    The High Commissioner, however, said the current figures represented a 26 per cent increase from the previous financial year.

    He said: “Looking at the bilateral relations, our financial year is from April last year to March this year. We have been able to register $12 billion of bilateral trade, which marked an increase of 26 per cent from the previous year.”

    He reiterated that Nigeria remained one of India’s major exporters of crude oil, adding that both countries were exploring other areas of bilateral relations.

    “We are looking at bringing more Indian companies here and looking at not just a buyer-seller arrangement but to do more investments.

    As of today, Indian companies have invested about $10 billion and I think there are about 135 Indian companies in Nigeria,” Reddy said.

    He stated that Indian investments are in the field of pharmaceuticals, electrical manufacturing, assembly lines for automobiles particularly agricultural related.

    The envoy further stated that 2018 also marked 60 years of diplomatic relations between both countries, adding that several programmes were being organised to harness various areas of cooperation.

    Reddy said the upcoming India-West Africa conclave was one of such programmes being organised to bring together chambers of commerce, business people and policy makers.

    “We will be inviting all the 15 West African countries at the trade ministers’ level to review existing arrangements and to see how we can harness the complementarities that exist between our two regions.

    With a number of planned events, we are looking at within the year, I am very confident that we will be able to take the already existing strategic partnership that India has with Nigeria to the next high level, he added.

    Reddy further said the recently announced 10 guiding principles for deepening India’s engagement with Africa would foster future relations with Nigeria in line with the Federal Government’s economic growth plan.

  • India approves death penalty for piracy

    India’s cabinet has approved a bill that will punish piracy at sea with death penalty or life in prison, local media reported.

    The draft law seeks to improve the safety of the nation’s navigation after a rise in attacks on vessels along critical sea routes, official sources told the NDTV television.

    Read Also:Rape: Indian court upholds death sentence for three men

    India has reportedly been working since 2017 on boosting maritime patrols on key sea lanes.

    Its Navy has been increasingly protecting Indian sea traffic and crews in the Indian Ocean.

    NAN

  • 78 women prisoners hospitalised, food poisoning suspected

    Some 78 female inmates of a jail in India’s financial capital have been hospitalised due to suspected food poisoning on Friday, hospital dean said.

    “The prisoners of Byculla jail were rushed to the state-run J.J. Hospital when they complained of stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea a few hours after having their breakfast in the morning,’’ Mukund Tayade told newsmen.

    Tayade added that the hospital has, however, confirmed the admission of the prisoners.

    “Seventy-eight patients have so far been admitted to the hospital.

    “Though a few more are likely to be brought to the hospital.

    “However, none is in serious condition,’’ Tayade noted.

    A high-level probe has been ordered into the incident.

    This is the second such incident in the past three months.

    Two prisoners died and over 50 had to be hospitalised for diarrhoea due to suspected food or water poisoning in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh in May.

  • Police arrest 18 men for raping 11-year-old in India

    Police said 18 men have been arrested for raping an 11-year-old school girl for several months in an apartment complex in the eastern Indian city of Chennai.

    The hearing-impaired girl was allegedly sedated and given spiked soft drinks by the accused, which include the building’s security guard and lift operator.

    The men, aged between 23 and 66 years old, made videos of the crime, blackmailed the girl and threatened her with dire consequences if she approached the police.

    Read Also:Rape: Indian court upholds death sentence for three men

    The girl’s parents lodged a complaint with the city police on Sunday after the girl narrated her ordeal to her elder sister.

    “We arrested all the 18 accused for the heinous crime,” a local police office said on condition of anonymity.

    “They sexually assaulted [her] multiple times in a storage room on the building terrace over the past seven months.”

    The accused appeared before a court that sent them to jail pending trial.

    They have been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

    The Indian government recently approved stringent punishments for sexual violence against children, including the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls younger than 12 years.

    The decision came amid spiralling outrage over the rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir and several other cases of sexual assault involving minors in recent months.

     

  • Mob kills five over suspicion of child kidnapping

    Five people were lynched in India’s western state of Maharashtra on suspicion of being child kidnappers, police said Monday.

    The lynchings took place on Sunday in a tribal village of Dhule district, about 323 km north of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra.

    “The victims arrived in Rainpada village on Sunday in view of the weekly market. After coming down from the passenger bus one of the men started talking to a girl child there, following which people became suspicious,” a police official said.

    “No sooner the word went across a huge crowd gathered and thrashed the five men and hacked them with stones and brickbats.”

    According to police officials, three policemen who tried to intervene were thrashed by the mob.

    “Police took the injured persons to the gram panchayat (village committee) office, more villagers gathered there lynched the five.”

    Police said they have detained 23 people in connection with the Sunday’s lynching.

    “Twenty-three people have been detained,” senior police official M. Ramkumar told media.

    Read Also: Three children raped, murdered at family weddings – Police

    “We have also identified some more accused in this case and formed five teams to identify the accused.”

    The deceased were identified as tribesmen belonging to nomadic community from Solapur district.

    Locals said rumours about a gang of child kidnappers active in the area had been doing the rounds for the last few days.

    Videos aired by television news channels show people capturing the lynching on their mobile phone.

    Reports said in a separate incident police in adjacent Nasik district rescued five people from a house who were kept hostage on suspicion of child theft.

    Concerned over the deaths a junior minister in local government, Deepak Kesarkar has appealed to people not to believe in rumors being circulated on social media.

    In June, two persons were killed by a mob in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra on the suspicion of being robbers.

    This year social media-fuelled hysteria about gangs out on the streets to kidnap children has claimed many lives in several states across India.

    At least eight people were lynched in June in different states of India over the rumors of child kidnapping.

    Analysts said mob justice seems to highlight the deteriorating law and order in India and points at the inefficiency of police force in the country.

  • Healthcare company seeks partnership with African firms

    Fast rising American healthcare company Izzycare says it is seeking partnership with African institutions as it set sights on improving healthy living ‘that comes with a reward’ across the continent.

    The firm developed an app based consultations which will give enrollees an unlimited access to teams of high level doctors, psychologists and wellness coaches with their services costing only $10 for adults and $5 for teenagers and babies getting a free pass if parents are enrollees.

    Co- founder Joswell Valdez says they are looking for mostly partnerships with systems already on the ground, hospitals and health maintenance organisations (HMOs)

    “We are serious about improving the healthcare of Africans in terms of accessibility to world class doctors and other health experts from the U.S.A, China, India or wherever, we will bring the patient and specialist together under one platform.” Valdez said.

    He also called on investors to take advantage of their ICO to invest in the firm saying they welcome both big institutions and individual investors to be part of the plan to move the continent’s healthcare forward.

    Observers say, this development is coming at a time when Nigerian healthcare is in need of a major boost considering how thousands of patients suffered a great deal during the recent joint health workers ( JOHESU ) strike which shut down hospitals for weeks.

  • 6-year-old girl raped in India dies in hospital – Officials

    A six-year-old girl who was raped and strangled at a school a week ago has died after battling for survival in an eastern Indian hospital for more than a week, officials said Monday.

    The girl was found unconscious April 21 at the school in Odisha state’s Cuttack district, with injuries to her head and groin and strangulation marks on her neck, senior district police official Krutibas Jena said.

    “We have arrested a 23-year-old man suspected of the crime,” Jena said.

    According to preliminary investigations, the accused lured the girl into the school premises as she was on her way to buy biscuits, Jena said.

    “It appears after raping her on the school premises he tried to kill her by throttling her,” Jena said.

    The girl was first taken to a local health centre and then to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in the city of Cuttack, where she died on Sunday.

    “The girl died of a cardiac arrest. A team of specialists from various disciples was treating her,” Shyama Kanungo, superintendent of the hospital said. “She was in a deep coma since Saturday.”

    Kanungo said the girl’s body would be handed over to her family after a post-mortem.

    The girl’s sister has demanded a speedy trial and a death sentence for the culprit, IANS news agency reported.

    There has been widespread public anger in India in recent months regarding cases of rape of young girls.

    India’s federal government recently approved stringent punishments for sexual violence against children, including the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls younger than 12.

  • Nigeria, India to renew cultural ties

    The High Commissioner of India to Nigeria, Mr. B. N. Reddy, has stressed the need to consolidate on the long-standing cultural relationship between Nigeria and India.

    The envoy made this known when the National Council for Arts and Culture Director-General, Otunba Segun Runsewe, and his team visited the Indian High Commission in Abuja.

    The duo agreed that both countries shared similarities in terms of culture, music, history and language, stressing that there is a need to leverage the cultural similarities for their benefit.

    During the visit, Reddy took the NCAC team round to see various mosaic artworks on display within the building depicting the rise of India via an artistic rendition of the rising sun.

    According to Reddy, the national flower, the lotus placed in the centre with closed buds, heralds the promise of the blossoms which symbolises hope for the future just as the tiger and peacock represents their national animal and bird.

    He further enlightened the visitors that India has 28 states with various languages and culture, saying they will be explored in the forthcoming cultural event slated for April 28 and May 5 in Abuja.

    In his words, “it is natural we collaborate with Nigeria who also has a very rich cultural heritage in terms of tradition, music, culture, food and languages. He promised to invite renowned artists from India to grace the occasion.”

    Otunba Runsewe praised the High Commissioner for his visionary leadership and his vigor towards repositioning the Indian High Commission in Nigeria. He promised to play vital roles towards reawakening the strong cultural ties between Nigeria and India.

    Otunba said: “Mosaic is a great cultural representation, which is worthy of celebration. Since 1963, Nigeria and India have always had a formidable cultural collaboration which the new management of the Council under my leadership is ready to build on.”

    The meeting was ended with the exchange of gifts and souvenirs between the two parties.

  • Three children raped, murdered at family weddings – Police

    Three girls who were attending weddings in India were allegedly raped before being murdered, police said Friday, amid growing anger over sexual attacks on minors in the South Asian country.

    Area police chief Ajay Bhadauria said a nine-year-old who was attending a function in Uttar Pradesh state’s Etah district was sexually assaulted and strangled by one of the cooks hired to prepare food.

    Bhadauria said the accused drew the girl away from the function to an isolated place where he committed the crime.

    He said that the girl’s body was found in the early hours of Friday and the accused had been arrested.

    Medical tests to confirm the sexual assault were being conducted.

    In a similar crime in the same district on Wednesday, a seven-year-old girl was taken away from a wedding by an inebriated staff member of the tent-decorators, raped and murdered, police said.

    The India Police also said on Wednesday, an 11-year-old girl was raped and murdered at a wedding in Kabirdham district in the central state of Chhattisgarh.

    Local police said the 25-year-old man, who was arrested, admitted to raping the girl and bashing her head with a stone.

    The child rape-murders have been reported as the Indian government faces public anger over the recent cases of rape of young girls.

    In Uttar Pradesh, a 16-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by a ruling party lawmaker, while an eight-year-old girl was gang-raped and murdered in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

    According to the government, there were more than 36,000 cases of rape, sexual assault and similar offences against children recorded in 2016.

    NAN