Latest States and territories of India Stories

An unexpected heavy snowfall in the Ladakh region of India may mean the death of around 90,000 Pashmina goats. These goats are facing a shortage of food, according to Tsering Dorjay, a government official in Ladakh. These goats typically survive on the grass in Ladakh, but with the temperatures at -29 degrees Fahrenheit and such heavy snowfall, they are not expected to survive much longer. The government provisions of winter food have been consumed already, and Dorjay said, "We have requested...

The gharial, a 5 to 10 foot crocodile-like reptile with a long slender snout, nearly became extinct in 1970. The government helped to raise its numbers, but it may be on its way back to extinction. Since early December, between 50 and 80 bodies of dead gharials have been found washed up on the banks of the Chambal River. The Chambal is one of few unpolluted rivers in India, and a safe place for the gharial to live. There are only around 1,500 gharials left in the wild, and the Chambal's...

GAUHATI, India -- Six Asiatic wild elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking rice beer in India's remote northeast, a wildlife official said Tuesday.Nearly 40 elephants came to a village on Friday looking for food. Some found beer, which farmers ferment and keep in plastic and tin drums in their huts, said Sunil Kumar, a state wildlife official.They got drunk, uprooted a utility pole carrying power lines and were electrocuted in Chandan Nukat, a village nearly 150 miles...

NEW DELHI - A new bird species has been found in India, the first time such a discovery has been made here in more than 50 years, an astronomer and keen bird watcher said Tuesday.The multicolored bird, Bugun Liocichla, was spotted in May in the remote Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh near the border with China, said Ramana Athreya, a member of Mumbai's Natural History Society.Athreya, who found the bird, named it after the Bugun tribe, which...

By Krittivas Mukherjee MUMBAI (Reuters) - More than 100 cotton growers killed themselves in India's richest state in August, marking the highest monthly number of suicides in five years by farmers whose mounting crop loans drive them to death, activists said. The spate of suicides in the western state of Maharashtra took the toll to more than 900 this year and the wave has not abated despite highly publicized efforts by New Delhi to ease the financial burdens. Debt-ridden farmers have...

JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Monsoon rains and flooding have killed at least 130 people in India's western state of Rajasthan, officials said on Monday, with huge swathes of desert underwater. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in Barmer, a sprawling district that borders Pakistan and is known for its sand dunes and widely spread villages. Dozens of people are missing. "The desert looks like a sea. There is no place where one can walk," Captain Saurabh Modi, an army officer...

JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Monsoon rains and flooding have killed at least 130 people in India's western state of Rajasthan, officials said on Monday, with huge swathes of desert underwater.Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in Barmer, a sprawling district that borders Pakistan and is known for its sand dunes and widely spread villages. Dozens of people are missing."The desert looks like a sea. There is no place where one can walk," Captain Saurabh Modi, an army officer...

JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Forty-seven people were killed and 30 injured on Sunday when a water storage tank they were sitting on collapsed in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, a government official said. The incident took place about 6 p.m. (1230 GMT) in Kama town of Bharatpur district, about 200 km (125 miles) east of the state capital, Jaipur. The group was using the concrete water tank, meant to store water for the area, as a stand to watch a wrestling match. Eight people were...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A moderate earthquake shook areas along India's northeastern border with Bangladesh early on Sunday, but there were no reports of damage or casualties, the Indian Meteorological Department said. Officials said the 5.0 magnitude quake was recorded at 2:16 a.m. (2046 GMT), with the epicentre in Karimganj district -- 300 km (185 miles) south of Guwahati, the main city in the northeastern Indian state of Assam. (Additional reporting by Biswajyoti Das in GUWAHATI)

By Rupam Jain Nair SURAT, India (Reuters) - Rescuers and residents used bulldozers and plastic buckets to clear debris and hunt for bodies on Saturday in a major commercial center in western India, one of the country's worst-hit areas during week-long floods. At least 350 people have been killed in the floods and millions homeless. While waters have eased in many areas, the respite could be brief with more monsoon rains forecast for some areas. The flooding, mainly in India's south...