인도 뉴스: 폭력에도 불구하고 서벵골 선거에서 높은 투표율 기록

Mamata Banerjee's TMC and Narendra Modi's BJP are locked in a high-stakes battle in the final round of voting. Meanwhile, a Dalit man talks about his experiences with the Indian diaspora in Germany. DW has the latest.

Here is a roundup of the latest developements from India on Wednesday, April 29:

An Indian man exhumed his sister’s body and carried it to a bank branch in the eastern state of Odisha after staff refused him access to her account without a death certificate.

In a post on X, the Indian Overseas Bank said on Tuesday that Jitu Munda had sought to withdraw funds from his deceased sister's account on Monday.

She had 19,403 Rupees (€174.8) in her account, but bank employees told him such third-party withdrawals required proper authorization.

He later returned carrying what the bank described as his sister's remains, creating a "highly distressing situation" at the branch.

Videos online showed Munda carrying what appeared to be a corpse partially wrapped in plastic, with skeletal legs visible and slung over his shoulder.

The bank later said that the government had issued a death certificate and the bank had settled the claim.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated one of the country’s longest expressways, a nearly 600-km (372-mile) highway linking 12 districts in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state.

The Ganga Expressway is a six-lane greenfield corridor that is expected to cut travel time between Meerut and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh.

The project was built at a cost of 362.3 billion rupees ($3.82 billion, €3.26 billion) and part of India’s broader post-pandemic infrastructure push, with a record 12.2 trillion rupees allocated for capital spending in this year's budget.

"Being directly asked about my caste was not unusual in Germany," said Bhim Singh* about his experiences with the Indian diaspora abroad.

Singh, a Dalit professional who studied and worked in Germany, said caste discrimination remained largely confined to sections of the Indian diaspora rather than German society, although he did encounter instances of  institutional racism.

He moved to Germany from India on a scholarship for a Master's degree and later co-founded a company there.

Singh's experiences of caste discrimination often stemmed from other Indians settled there. He recounted how several job applications lost momentum after Indian interviewers joined recruitment processes, despite positive feedback from European interviewers.

"While Germany has strong legal protections against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, and other categories, caste does not feature as a clearly defined or explicitly addressed ground," Singh said, leaving limited awareness and unclear avenues for redress.

However, it was his interactions with the Indian diaspora in Germany where he found caste identity can become more rigid.

"Many in the diaspora benefit from the civil liberties, meritocratic systems, and anti-discrimination norms of European societies," he said, "Yet simultaneously [they] express support for deeply conservative or exclusionary social structures back in India."

Such patterns, according to Singh, risk reproducing old hierarchies even in more egalitarian societies.

Singh said because he never revealed his caste despite the discreet enquiries, Indian in Germany often assumed him to be upper caste. 

"But a couple of times when I raised concerns about increasing atrocities on Muslims and Dalits in India, they would be startled and surprised," he said. "One even told me that he had never met a more self-loathing Brahmin until he met me. I never corrected him."

*name has been changed to protect the interviewee's identity

This feature is a part of DW's special coverage of Dr BR Ambedkar's 135th birth anniversary and Dalit History Month.

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticized a proposed $9 billion (€7.69 billion) port-and-city project on Great Nicobar Island that the government is pushing as of "strategic, defense and national importance."

"What is being done in Great Nicobar is one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against this country's natural and tribal heritage in our lifetime," Gandhi said in a video message posted on X.

Gandhi called it "destruction dressed in development's language" in the video showing him walking through the island's forests.

The island lies near the entrance to the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and the project includes a container port, airport and township.

Critics say it would destroy large areas of rainforest and threaten Indigenous communities, including the Nicobarese and Shompen peoples.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described the development, which India's environmental court approved in February, as strategically important,

But Gandhi said the plan "must be stopped."

About 9,000 people live on the island, including 1,200 Indigenous Nicobarese and Shompen people, the latter largely avoiding outside contact, according to Survival International.

Donald Trump's rhetoric, the Iran war and US tariffs are driving anger in India — even among conservative voices. 

Read our analysis on whether the strain will reshape US-India ties?:

India late on Tuesday proposed amendments to its vehicle regulations to formally allow the use of higher ethanol‑blended fuels, as the government seeks to reduce dependence on costly petroleum imports.

Ethanol is a biofuel derived from agricultural produce or organic waste.

In a statement, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said the draft changes to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules would introduce provisions for E85 fuel — a blend of 85% ethanol and petrol — as well as E100, which would allow vehicles to run on nearly pure ethanol.

The proposals have been opened for public comment before a final decision is taken. India met its target of 20% ethanol blending in petrol in 2025 and is now considering higher blends.

India's E20 ethanol fuel rollout is supposed to boost energy security and cut oil imports, but owners of older petrol cars are reporting engine damage, reduced mileage, and rising maintenance costs.

Rain and dust storms swept through Delhi and the surrounding National Capital Region on Wednesday, bringing relief from a severe heat wave that had pushed temperatures to 44.5 degrees Celsius (112.1 degress Fahrenheit) earlier this week.

Early Wednesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) posted on X saying light to moderate rain, thunderstorms and gusty winds of 40-60 kph (25-37 mph) were likely across Delhi-NCR during the morning hours.

The showers, triggered by a western disturbance, were expected to pull the day’s maximum temperature down to around 38 degrees C from an earlier forecast of 41 degrees C.

Delhi had been under a yellow heat wave alert in recent days.

Voting began on Wednesday in the final phase of assembly elections in West Bengal amid reports of violence and technical glitches at polling stations, media reports said.

In the second phase of the West Bengal polls, 1,448 candidates will be contesting for 142 assembly constituencies across seven districts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to make inroads into the state it has never been in power in and is locked in a fray with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress Party (TMC).

According to The Times of India (ToI), Banerjee alleged widespread interference by central forces and poll observers at the behest of the BJP, the ruling party at the national level.

"The BJP wants to forcefully rig the election," she said while talking to reporters.

Meanwhile, sporadic incidents of violence were reported from parts of the state.

In Bally, clashes broke out over alleged electronic voting machine malfunctions, prompting security forces to use batons, with two people detained, officials said, according to NDTV.

In Nadia district, BJP leaders said a party polling agent was assaulted at a booth in Chapra by alleged supporters of the ruling TMC, the ToI newspaper reported.

In a post on X, Modi urged the people of West Bengal to vote in large numbers.

"It is important that the women and youth of West Bengal, in particular, turnout in large numbers and exercise their franchise," he wrote.

About 32.1 million voters are eligible to cast ballots in the final round, completing polling in West Bengal as well as elections held this season in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry. Votes will be counted on May 4.

This is Shakeel from DW's New Delhi studio, bringing you the latest updates from across India.

Well, rains brought some much-needed  respite from the high temperatures for Delhi residents after the heatwave of the past few days.

At the same time, things are heating up in West Bengal, as the state is voting in the last phase of its assembly elections. Sporadic incidents of violence have been reported across the state.

Stay with us for all this and more. And catch up on all the news from April 28 in our India news blog from Tuesday.