India news: Cockroach Janta Party organizes more protests

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday jointly inaugurated the Bharat Innovates 2026 conclave in the French city of Nice, highlighting growing cooperation between the two countries.

The three-day event, launched during Modi's visit to France, brings together startups, innovators and venture capital firms from India, France and other countries.

Speaking at the inauguration, Modi said the India-France partnership was driven by "shared interest and shared vision" and would help address global challenges through innovation and technology.

"A decade ago, the world saw India as a technology adopter. Today India is emerging as a technology provider," Modi said, pointing to what he described as a startup revolution in the country.

He said innovation, technology and the aspirations of young people were driving India's transformation and shaping its future.

Modi added that Bharat Innovates 2026 would provide a platform for young Indian entrepreneurs and innovators to collaborate with European expertise and develop solutions to global challenges.

An Indian-flagged vessel carrying 14 Indian crew members suffered an engine failure off the coast of Oman, prompting a search-and-rescue operation, the Indian mission in Oman said on Sunday.

The vessel, MSV Virat 1, lost power at sea, forcing the crew to abandon ship and transfer safely to a lifeboat, according to the mission.

"Rescue operation is presently underway through ships in vicinity, under coordination of Omani authorities," the Indian embassy said in a statement on X.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France next week, a senior US official told Reuters news agency on Saturday.

The two leaders are expected to discuss trade during the June 15-17 gathering in Evian-les-Bains, though no breakthrough is anticipated, the official said.

Following the summit, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will travel to India for a bilateral trade agreement.

"We know that Prime Minister Modi is quite ambitious about the role he sees for India, the importance of the US-India relationship," the official told reporters. "We think a potential trade deal is part of that."

The comments come as New Delhi and Washington seek to improve ties strained by US tariffs on Indian goods and Trump's claims that he helped end last year's India-Pakistan conflict. India has rejected Trump's claims.

India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal recently said the first tranche of the India-US trade agreement announced in February, could be concluded by mid-July.

However, the meeting comes just days after India protested US strikes on commercial vessels that killed three Indian sailors aboard a tanker off the coast of Oman.

The United States on Saturday acknowledged the call between Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and the Secretary of State Marco Rubio but did not mention India's protest against US strike on commercial vessels off the coast of Oman that killed three Indian sailors.

A US State Department statement by spokesperson Tommy Pigott said that the two senior officials "discussed recent events in the Strait of Hormuz."

The statement added that the US "stressed that all commercial vessels should immediately comply with orders from US forces," and that "violations of the US blockade and the illicit transport of Iranian oil will not be tolerated."

Earlier on Saturday, Jaishankar said he had reiterated to Rubio "India's strong protest at the attacks by the US Navy in the Gulf that killed three Indian mariners" in a post on X. "Such lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified."

In India, there was anger over the US response, which made no reference to New Delhi's protest.

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi said that the US has "continued issuing orders." "No remorse, no apology," he said.

Gandhi also called out Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not taking up the issue with Washington.

Member of Parliament and senior Congress Party leader Shashi Tharoor posted on X, saying he was "deeply shocked" by the US statement "which contains absolutely no expression of regret or condolence for the loss of innocent Indian lives."

"How can a 'friend' and strategic partner be so deeply insensitive?" Tharoor wrote.

India Test captain Shubman Gill scored an unbeaten 84 as the hosts beat Afghanistan by seven wickets in a rain-shortened 25-overs-a-side one-day international (ODI) in Dharamsala on Saturday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Chasing 195, India reached 195-3 with 13 balls to spare, led by Gill's 66-ball knock and an unbeaten 39 off 19 balls from KL Rahul.

The Afghan team was all out for 194 in 24.5 overs despite opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz smashing 102.

The wicketkeeper scored the fastest ODI century by an Afghan, reaching three figures off 48 balls, but received little support from the rest of the batting lineup.

"It was kind of a T20 game," said Gill, who was named player of the match. "The way we started, Gurbaz was brilliant and took the game away from us, but we fought back well."

The second ODI will be played in Lucknow on Wednesday.

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is organizing "peaceful" protests in Hyderabad and Bangalore on Sunday as it pushes its demand  for the resignation of India's Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Supporters of the viral "cockroach" movement are calling for Pradhan's ouster over alleged exam irregularities, reflecting deep frustration among young people over corruption and failures in the education system.

This comes after hundreds joined CJP protests in New Delhi, Pune, Lucknow and Amritsar.

Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the satirical political movement, has said that CJP could launch an indefinite sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi from June 20 if the minister does not step down.

Earlier, the CJP gave the government an ultimatum: Either Pradhan resigns or Prime Minister Narendra Modi removes him.

"If no action is taken within seven days, this movement will spread across the country," CJP said in a statement.

A protest is also planned in Jaipur on Monday.

Hello! This is Shakeel from DW's New Delhi studio, once again bringing you all the top updates from across India.

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is protesting in Hyderabad and Bangalore today to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged exam irregularities. This is the latest in its planned protests across the country.

The United States released a statement on the recent call between Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but it made no mention of the three Indian sailors killed in a US strike on ships transiting the Gulf of Oman. Earlier, Jaishankar said that India had "strongly protested" the attack on commercial vessels during his call with Rubio.

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India on Friday abstained from a vote as the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Friday adopted the world's first binding labor standards for gig workers.

The UN agency passed the landmark agreement aimed at extending protections to millions of people working in sectors such as ride-hailing and food delivery.

India was among the 36 countries that abstained from the vote. India, along with Bangladesh and the United States, felt that the convention should be applied flexibly, depending on national contexts.

The ILO's Decent Work in the Platform Economy Convention seeks to ensure fair pay, workplace safety, social security coverage and greater transparency for workers managed through digital platforms.

In the vote on employment standards convention, which included delegates representing governments, employers and workers:

• 406 members voted in favor (including the governments of Germany, China and France)
• 8 voted against (including the United States and New Zealand)
• 36 abstained (including Britain and ‌India)

The standards, however, still need ratification by governments, and then enforcement.

Share of gig workforce in India to than triple by 2030

Rights groups and trade unions welcomed the gig economy treaty. They say platform companies often classify workers as independent contractors to avoid paying minimum wages, healthcare and social security contributions.

According to a report by the Indian government released in January, India had 12 million gig workers in 2025. Their share of the workforce is expected to rise from just over 2% to 6.7% by 2029-30.

The report also said that 40% of gig workers earn below Rs. 15,000 (€136) per month.

Twelve months after Air India Flight 171 crashed, killing 260 people, many questions remain. The investigation into the cause is ongoing, while families say they are still waiting for answers, accountability, and justice.

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said he had lodged a "strong protest" with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after three commercial vessels carrying Indian crew were attacked by the US Navy in the Gulf of Oman earlier this week.

Jaishankar said he reiterated to Rubio "India's strong protest at the attacks by the US Navy in the Gulf that killed three Indian mariners" in a post on X. "Such lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified," he wrote.

New Delhi also summoned a top US diplomat, the Charge de Affairs Jason Meeks, to protest the attacks on merchant ships carrying Indian crew.

While the US State Department did not comment on the call between Jaishankar and Rubio, it had earlier said it was in "direct contact" with the Indian government.

An Indian Air Force (IAF) transport aircraft crashed at an air force station in the northeastern city of Jorhat on Saturday, the military said.

The IAF said a Russian-made Antonov An-32 aircraft was involved in an accident during landing.

"A court of inquiry is being constituted, to ascertain the cause of the accident," the IAF statement said on X.

There were no details about casualties or the number of people on board.

The issue of consent is at the forefront of social media discussions in India, triggered by a viral clip from a stand-up comedy show, in which an audience member recounted a date with a woman, saying that after buying her a plate of biryani worth 370 rupees (€3.36), he expected sexual access in return.

"I spent money, so I should get something back," he told the crowd, drawing laughter from audience members, including comedian Pranit More, who was hosting the show.

Following the backlash, the web developer who made the remark was fired from his job, while More issued an apology for not challenging the comment instead joining the laughter.

The incident has sparked a wider debate in India about entitlement, consent, and whether paying for a meal gives a man any claim over a woman's body.

People also said the laughter from the crowd normalized everyday misogyny instead of challenging it.

This comes at a time when there has been persistent violence against women in India.

Nationwide, 29,536 rape cases were reported in 2024, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. There were 441,534 cases of crimes against women reported, the data said.

Fueling a debate on consent

Mrignayanika,* a Delhi-based development sector professional, told DW that this case sparked a discussion about how dating culture can slide into transaction-based thinking.

She said she always found it "exploitative" that men buying women drinks made the men feel "entitled to their time and attention."

She added she always insists on splitting the bill.

"I don't want anyone getting ideas about me owing them time, attention, or sexual favors because they bought me a beverage," she said. "I'd rather have my coffee alone."

Gayathri Sreedharan, applied anthropologist and founder of Izaar, a sexual health discussion group in collaboration with the Hank Nunn Institute, said India's struggle with consent education stems from the fact that "sex talk has a major free speech problem in this country."

"We can make rude jokes, but we can't talk about the basics — the health part, the biology, laws, things like conditional consent, which is at the heart of the issue raised at the Pranit More show."

*Name changed on request

Hello! This is Shakeel from DW's New Delhi studio, bringing you the top news from across India.

Can a plate of the South Asian delicacy biryani, worth €3.36, entitle a man to a woman's body? That's the debate raging on social media in India after a stand-up comedy clip went viral, in which a man said that buying a woman biryani on a date made him feel entitled to sexual access in return.

Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankarcalled US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to protest American strikes off Oman on three largely Indian-crewed merchant vessels. Three Indian sailors were killed in one of the strikes.

Also, the Indian Army laid a trap and nabbed a 21-year-old who was posing as a senior Army official.  

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