India

India's newly created infrastructure-financing institution is planning a maiden bond issue of 50 billion rupees ($610 million) in the next quarter, ...

Photographer Sunil Gupta's image of two men embracing besides a New Delhi landmark was a balm to what he called the "repressive atmosphere" of 1980s India.

"People think it was all doom and gloom, and people jumping off buildings. This modern context and the power of hindsight have helped paint the photos in a new light. By the 1990s, however, interest in Gupta's work was growing, as art made by, and about, gay people of color became increasingly visible in the West. "It didn't have any impact when it was first shown," Gupta said of its debut. Homophobia was rife in 1980s Britain, and the photographer said he faced "a lot of hostility" at art school for making work relating to his sexuality. "There was none in the library for reference. "There was quite a bit of horsing around in the pictures," he said of the India Gate shoot. So I picked a somewhat tamer one to put in the series." Concerned about "outing" his subjects, Gupta treated them as collaborators in what he called a "constructed documentary" approach. At a time when homosexuality was more taboo in the country than it is today — and with consensual gay sex then criminalized as an "unnatural offense" — the photographer had found his subjects via the informal networks constituting Delhi's gay scene. In a city where public displays of platonic male affection are relatively commonplace, it was photographer Sunil Gupta who attracted more attention at the time. The pair in question had chosen the war monument's gardens for their photo shoot due to its reputation as a cruising spot.

Author: Shareen Joshi, Georgetown University. Ninety per cent of Indian workers earn their livelihoods in the informal sector, lacking job security, ...

[rules](https://voterportal.eci.gov.in/faq), eligible voters can only vote in their ‘ordinary place of residence’. Evidence [suggests](http://www.igidr.ac.in/pdf/publication/WP-2020-034.pdf) that these safety nets are helpful, but coverage is still an issue — only 24 per cent of Indians [have access](https://www.ilo.org/shinyapps/bulkexplorer9/?lang=en&segment=indicator&id=EAP_DWAP_SEX_AGE_RT_A&ref_area=IND) to even one such scheme. The government is in the midst of launching a new [registration systems](https://eshram.gov.in/) for unorganised workers. It has also rolled out new [health insurance](https://nha.gov.in/PM-JAY) and [social security](https://labour.gov.in/sites/default/files/PIB1797243.pdf) schemes for them. [proposal](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3680034) that would limit the number of unique minimum wage rates to between 4–12 per state has not yet been passed. Analysis from the International Labour Organization [found](https://www.ilo.org/shinyapps/bulkexplorer33/?lang=en&segment=indicator&id=HOW_2LSS_SEX_RT_A) that Indians aged 15–64 lost an average of 14.6 per cent and 6.3 per cent of their work hours in 2020 and 2021 respectively — nearly double the global rate. Another [study](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3680379) showed that formal workers’ wages fell 3.6 per cent and informal workers’ wages fell 22.6 per cent. [expanded](http://164.100.24.220/loksabhaquestions/annex/174/AU197.pdf) welfare programs could discourage migration. Private entities, such as the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, produce [estimates](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-02/india-unemployment-rate-surges-to-16-month-high-cmie-data-shows) of unemployment that seem at odds with the economic trends reported by the government. [welfare schemes](http://164.100.24.220/loksabhaquestions/annex/174/AU197.pdf), including access to free [food grains](https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2022/09/03/craving-indias-food-security-success/), affordable rental housing and opportunities for training. [discontinued](https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-survey-discontinued-centre-clueless-about-unemployment-2591121) in 2016. In March 2020, millions left the cities and returned to the Indian countryside, reeling from lost employment, accommodation and poverty during India’s COVID-19 lockdowns.

GEORGE TOWN: “Little India Penang” has a new attraction. Standing at 12.72m tall, a bright yellow arch now beckons visitors to the busy Market Street.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) Penang president Datuk Seri N. “We would like to thank the state government and MBPP for making the arch project a success as well as for road upgrading work in the area,” Gobalakrishnan added. “The Little India Arch belongs to Indian traders who are Christians, Hindus and Muslims and that is the beauty of Penang. “The arch will not only serve as a structure to welcome visitors and tourists to Little India. “It is nice as now people know this is the entrance to Little India, and it feels symbolic. “Now when I tell tourists to go to Little India, I can tell them to look out for the landmark,” he said.

One month into 2023, and India is well underway with preparations for a pivotal year. In the coming 11 months, India is expected to surpass China as the ...

While India and China view the potential for escalation of clashes on the border to be low — this does increase Indian concerns of facing risks on both its borders (with Pakistan and China). India seeks to manage its tensions with China without escalation, but China is deeply unpopular in India, with only about a quarter of the population viewing Beijing favorably. [wasting asset](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/india/russia-losing-india) and Cold War legacy, or as a [crucial partnership](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/29/indias-military-ties-with-russia-will-endure-for-decades-analyst.html) necessary for achieving its aims of strategic autonomy in a world order increasingly characterized by multipolarity. Despite its disastrous war in Ukraine, Russia is [both](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/india/will-india-ditch-russia) for India and will likely remain so throughout 2023. And although it is possible that India will resolve some of these contradictions in the coming year, there are better reasons to expect persistent ambiguity. India aims to champion the G-20 to unlock money from multinational development banks and international financial institutions and support new climate finance instruments like [blended finance](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/02/the-blended-way-how-to-mobilize-private-capital-to-fight-climate-change/) to mitigate risk. In assuming the presidencies of both the G-20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), India is set to host leaders from across the globe as the country prepares for its own general elections in 2024. As the one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, India is courted by — and can potentially be a bridge to — all sides. At the helm of the G-20, however, India seeks to establish its global leadership bonafides. It has been the darling of the [Davos crowd](https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/19/business/india-economy-world-economic-forum-davos/index.html), sought after by investors because of its growing market, digital economy and digitization of payments, favorable demographics and a government determined to bring in foreign direct investment and move up the value chain manufacturing iPhones and semiconductors. For instance, India and its Quad partners hope to fully implement the [Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness](https://warontherocks.com/2022/05/the-quad-goes-to-sea/) throughout the Indo-Pacific region to fuse multiple intelligence sources to detect illicit activity at sea. India is poised to be one of the fastest-growing economies with the IMF