Shivam Patel

Recent articles

Reuters • 29th January 2024

Hindu group toughens stance on India's mosque-temple disputes

NEW DELHI, Jan 27 (Reuters) - A powerful Hindu group said several mosques in India were built over demolished Hindu temples, apparently hardening its stance in a decades-long sectarian dispute just days after a huge temple was inaugurated on the site of a razed mosque.

Reuters • 4th December 2023

India finds quality issues with cough syrup linked to Cameroon deaths - sources

Indian tests of a cough syrup linked to the deaths of at least six children in Cameroon have found unidentified quality issues in at least one of the five samples picked up by authorities, two people familiar with the investigation told Reuters.

Reuters • 29th November 2023

How 'rat miners' rescued trapped workers from India tunnel

SILKYARA, India, Nov 28 (Reuters) - When heavy machinery broke down trying to break through the debris trapping 41 workers in a tunnel in the Indian Himalayas, authorities called in a group of people whose profession is effectively banned in the country - "rat-hole mining".

While augur machines managed to horizontally drill through nearly three-quarters of the debris, it fell on half a dozen miners adept at burrowing in tight spaces to reach the trapped workers on Tuesday.

"It was a difficult

Reuters • 23rd November 2023

US thwarted plot to kill Sikh separatist in America

United States authorities thwarted a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in the United States and issued a warning to India over concerns the government in New Delhi was involved.

Reuters • 9th November 2023

Indian scientists hope cloud seeding can clean Delhi's toxic air

NEW DELHI, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Indian scientists plan to seed clouds for the first time to trigger heavy rain in some areas of New Delhi, hoping this will be enough to tackle the smog gripping the world's most polluted capital for a week, the project's head said on Thursday.

Air quality dips in Delhi ahead of winter every year, when cold air traps pollutants from a variety of sources including vehicles, industries, construction dust, and agricultural waste burning.

Scientists expect some cloud c

Reuters • 6th October 2023

Exclusive: Indian glacial lake that flooded was poised to get early warning system

NEW DELHI, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Scientists and government authorities were working on an early warning system for glacial floods at a Himalayan lake in northeast India when it broke its banks this week with deadly consequences.

Mountainous Sikkim state plunged into chaos on Wednesday as floods spurred by heavy rain and an avalanche killed at least 40 people. It was one of the worst disasters in the region in 50 years, and dozens remained missing on Friday.

The first part of the system, a camera t

Reuters • 11th September 2023

G20 agrees to pursue tripling renewables capacity but stop short of major goals

NEW DELHI, Sept 9 (Reuters) - G20 leaders on Saturday agreed to pursue tripling renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 and accepted the need to phase-down unabated coal power, but stopped short of setting major climate goals.

Reuters • 22nd May 2023

Insight: Heat insurance offers climate change lifeline to poor workers

One of the world's first insurance schemes for extreme heat launched in India's Gujarat state in May aims to help about 21,000 self employed women when rising temperatures makes it difficult to work outdoors.

Reuters • 10th May 2023

India builds more hospitals as population surges but doctors in short supply

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has built more than a dozen medical institutes for specialised treatment since he took office in 2014, but the country is facing shortage of doctors, a problem that is reaching crucial levels as India becomes the world's most populous nation.

Reuters • 3rd February 2023

Adani crisis ignites Indian contagion fears, credit warnings

NEW DELHI, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Financial contagion fears spread in India on Friday as the Adani Group's crisis worsened, with ratings agency Moody's warning the conglomerate may struggle to raise capital and S&P cutting the outlook on two of its businesses.

Chaotic scenes in both houses of India's parliament led to their adjournment on Friday as some lawmakers demanded an inquiry after a dramatic meltdown in the stock market values of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's companies.

The crisis was t

Reuters • 3rd February 2023

Gautam Adani, one of India's most powerful men, suffers a rare defeat

India's Gautam Adani, the school dropout who rose to become one of the world's richest men, suffered a stunning defeat when his flagship firm withdrew a blockbuster share sale after an attack by a small U.S. investment firm over his business practices.

Reuters • 19th January 2023

As India debates demographics, small mountain state wants more babies

India is set to overtake China as the world's most populous country this year, but a small state in the South Asian nation's mountainous northeast is worried about its shrinking indigenous communities and urging them to have more babies.

Reuters • 1st November 2022

Guards on India bridge struggled to control crowd before collapse, witnesses say

A security guard stood at either end of a 145-year-old footbridge in the Indian town of Morbi, blowing whistles and repeatedly asking surging crowds to get off the structure before it collapsed, plunging hundreds of people in the murky Machchhu river below.

Spot coverage

Breaking news stories, written by me based on reporting by Reuters correspondents

Reuters • 30th June 2023

Pakistan clinches last-gasp $3 billion IMF bailout

LAHORE, Pakistan, June 30 (Reuters) - Pakistan secured a badly-needed $3 billion short-term financial package from the International Monetary Fund on Friday, giving the South Asian economy a much-awaited respite as it teeters on the brink of default.

The IMF said it had reached an agreement on the deal with the 220 million nation, which will now be subject to approval by its board in July.

The new nine-month standby arrangement was struck hours before a current IMF agreement expires, offering

Reuters • 13th May 2023

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan granted bail, leaves court

ISLAMABAD, May 12 (Reuters) - A Pakistani court ordered former Prime Minister Imran Khan's release on bail for two weeks, his lawyer said on Friday, after his arrest in a land fraud case ignited deadly protests and a tussle with the military.

Khan departed the court premises, headed towards his hometown Lahore, amidst high security. He had remained inside for hours after being granted bail, saying he was not being allowed to leave by security officials.

The arrest, which the Supreme Court rule

Reuters • 21st December 2022

Nepal court to release serial killer Charles 'the serpent' Sobhraj

[1/2] French serial killer Charles Sobhraj leaves Kathmandu district court after his hearing in Kathmandu May 31, 2011. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar/File Photo

KATHMANDU, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Nepal's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release, due to his age, of Charles Sobhraj, a French national known as "the serpent" who police say is responsible for a string of murders in the 1970s and 1980s.

Sobhraj, 78, is accused of killing over 20 young Western backpackers across Asia, usually by drugging

Reuters • 12th December 2022

Kabul hotel attack ends as three gunmen killed; two foreigners injured

KABUL, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Armed men opened fire on Monday inside a hotel in central Kabul popular with Chinese nationals in an attack that ended when at least three gunmen were killed by security forces, the Taliban-run administration said.

Two foreigners were injured while trying to escape by jumping from the hotel balcony, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on Twitter.

Kabul's Emergency Hospital, run by an Italian non-profit near the attacked hotel in the Shahr-e-Naw area, reported r

Covid-19

Stories on the impact of coronavirus pandemic in New Delhi

The Indian Express • 4th May 2021

AIIMS nurse skips grandmother’s funeral for Covid duty: ‘Who else will take care of patients?’

Rakhi John decided that her presence was needed more for patients she was looking after at AIIMS than her grandmother’s funeral in Kerala.

The Indian Express • 29th April 2021

Beds scarce in Delhi, ambulances field calls to take people outstation

Hospital bed and oxygen shortage during the second Covid-19 wave in Delhi resulted in patients hiring ambulances to go to hospitals outside the city.

The Indian Express • 8th June 2020

Family buries the wrong body after mix-up at Lok Nayak mortuary

Kalamuddin buried his father twice. The first time, it was a body that he thought belonged to his father and the second time, it was in fact his father.

The Indian Express • 16th May 2020

Line of migrants outside New Delhi Railway station grows: ‘No help, nowhere to go’

Story on stranded migrant workers who could not buy train tickets when railways resumed operation in May 2020.

The Indian Express • 9th May 2020

Migrant worker helps Delhi resident send medicines to mother

Delhi resident Subhash Singh sought help from migrant workers to send life-saving medicines to his mother in Bihar.

The Indian Express • 6th April 2020

‘If we stop work out of fear, how will people get water?’

A deep-dive into the lives of Delhi water department workers during the Covid-19 lockdown over March and April 2020.

The Indian Express • 27th March 2020

With no water in this slum in South Delhi, residents ask: How do we wash our hands?

A slum in Delhi that ran out of water during Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020.

The Indian Express • 14th March 2020

Relief, joy as second batch of Wuhan evacuees leave quarantine

One of the first few Covid-19 stories. Over 110 people who were quarantined for 14 days at the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) camp in Chawla, Delhi after being evacuated from China’s Wuhan on February 27, leave quarantine after testing negative.

Scoops - The Indian Express

The Indian Express • 30th August 2020

Proposal to cut 17,000 trees for 3rd ring road in Delhi

To make way for Delhi’s third ring road and two connecting spur roads to Haryana, around 17,000 trees, including those in protected forest areas, will need to be cut.

The Indian Express • 29th July 2020

Delhi’s smog tower project delayed as IIT-B backs out

The timeline for setting up two smog towers in Delhi will have to be revised as IIT-Bombay, which was heading the pilot project, has backed out.

The Indian Express • 19th July 2020

In Central Vista revamp, firm to focus on trees that restore Lutyens era look

Old Jamun trees, predominantly planted in the Central Vista Avenue in the 1920s as part of British architect Edwin Lutyens’ design, are approaching the end of their lifecycle and will be replaced as part of the area revamp.

The Indian Express • 17th September 2019

This is the elephant police and wildlife officials are looking for

A missing elephant that had police and wildlife officials on its tail for over two months in a nation-wide hunt has been kept in hiding in Delhi all along.

The Indian Express • 11th September 2019

Big tech firms had e-waste centres but only on paper, many addresses fake: Delhi probe

How multinational tech firms were found evading electronic waste norms.

The Indian Express • 4th July 2019

Expired meds, indifferent staff: Delhi zoo panel red flags

Findings of a high-powered committee probing allegations of mismanagement at the National Zoological Park.

Features

The Indian Express • 20th March 2021

No funds to maintain it, Nicholson Cemetery slowly falls into disrepair

A plant has come out of the cracks on James Cummins’ grave in Nicholson Cemetery at Kashmere Gate. The 26-year-old telegraph master was killed by lightning on July 28, 1874, in Delhi, leaving behind “a widow and infant daughter to bewail their loss”.

The Indian Express • 30th May 2020

Delhi: Farmers recall a locust attack which left ‘nothing but straw on ground’

Sitting on a cot in his orchard of guavas in a North Delhi village and peeling mangoes on Friday afternoon, 83-year-old Palleram recalled a memory from his youth. “The sky had turned yellow suddenly that day many years ago..."

The Indian Express • 10th March 2020

Delhi 1985 transistor blasts: 30 acquitted, but long case took heavy toll

In 1985, a young Dalvinder Singh was expecting the result of his Class XII examinations to come out soon, hopeful that a promising future lay ahead of him. The result was brought to him while he was in police custody.

The Indian Express • 25th November 2019

Source to tap: How water reaches homes in Delhi

A challenge has been thrown to the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government by the Centre just before the national capital goes to polls early next year, this time over the city’s water quality.

The Indian Express • 4th November 2019

Ground Zero Sangrur: Farmers battle gaps in govt’s subsidy cover

A dispatch from Sangrur district in Punjab, which recorded the highest number of agricultural residue burning cases in a single day in 2019.

The Indian Express • 10th October 2019

AQIS chief killed in Afghanistan: Feels like we never knew him, says family

A dispatch from Sambhal town in Uttar Pradesh, where family of Al-Qaeda leader Maulana Asim Umar lives. His brother spoke about him after security agencies confirmed his death in Afghanistan.

The Indian Express • 9th September 2019

Hardlook: Space programme

“Today, the social fabric of neighbourhoods is being torn asunder because of fights over this most petty issue of parking,” the Supreme Court observed on September 2.

The Indian Express • 28th June 2019

Neetu Solanki murder: Wanted in 2011 killing, he got new identity, job at Gurgaon firm

A quiet man with a professional attitude is how colleagues and employers described Rohan Dahiya. “He was a good performer at work, almost never took leave and never argued with seniors,” said one employer at the Gurgaon e-commerce firm where he worked. A colleague who worked under him said he was “efficient and well respected”.

CAA-NRC protests

The Indian Express • 6th January 2020

JNU violence: Delhi Police watch as ambulances smashed, leaders heckled

A little before 8 pm on Sunday, police gathered outside JNU’s north gate, having been called in following the violence unleashed by masked men on campus that lasted close to three hours.

The Indian Express • 21st December 2019

After daylong peaceful protests at Jama Masjid, violence erupts in Old Delhi

At least 45 people, including 13 police officers, were injured as Walled City protests that had largely remained peaceful till 5 pm turned violent on Friday evening.

The Indian Express • 19th December 2019

80 Students From Jamia, AMU take shelter amid protests: Kerala House opens doors

“They were beating people with lathis on the head, like they’re going to kill them.” — Hisham (20), a student of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), recalled.

The Indian Express • 16th December 2019

Over 100 injured in Jamia protests: ‘We were just praying, they hit me, I fainted’

Two hospitals in South East Delhi’s Sarai Jullena and Okhla saw a steady stream of injured protesters all day after violence erupted in and around Jamia Millia Islamia Sunday.

The New York Times • 15th December 2019

Video: India’s Police Response to Protests Was Swift and Violent, Videos Show

My video featured in The New York Times that I filmed during police crackdown on protests at Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi against a new citizenship law in December 2019.

The Indian Express • 14th December 2019

In Delhi, Jamia protest over Citizenship law turns violent, police use teargas

At least 42 students were detained and over 25 injured Friday after Delhi Police fired tear gas shells and resorted to lathi charge during a protest against the new citizenship law at Jamia Millia Islamia.

Delhi riots

The Indian Express • 3rd March 2020

He wanted to be a doctor, say kin of 21-yr-old found in drain

While 41 out of 47 victims have so far been identified, four decomposed, unidentified bodies as well as a limb and a head remain in the hospitals, with officials looking at next steps to help establish their identities.

The Indian Express • 2nd March 2020

Two more bodies identified at GTB hospital in Delhi: ‘He asked about us in last call’

Naseem Alam (47) broke down as he came out of the mortuary at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital Sunday afternoon, inconsolable despite efforts by his three sons.

The Indian Express • 2nd March 2020

Youngest casualty of riots, 15, was out to buy chowmein

When they brought him to the hospital, he was breathing. They don’t know what hit him, maybe it was a stone, maybe it was a tear gas shell. But they know it killed him.

The Indian Express • 2nd March 2020

Delhi violence: Seven days on, closure lacking for many families

The mortuary at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital Sunday saw a steady flow of families looking for their relatives who went missing during the riots in Northeast Delhi.

Internship work

Articles published in the UK during master's studies, and in Mumbai

Liverpool Echo • 28th July 2018

How Pride grew and blossomed after one of Liverpool's most shocking murders

The organisers of Liverpool Pride told how the city is a much safer place for gay people since the horrific murder of Michael Causer in 2008.

Yorkshire Evening Post • 5th July 2018

Traditional Leeds cafe shuts doors after 40 years

An interview with the owner of The Olympic cafe in Leeds, which closed its doors in July 2018 after 40 years in business.

Press Association • 11th June 2018

Vigil for jailed Briton Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe marks daughter’s birthday

A story I reported while interning at the Press Association in London. Campaigners pushing for jailed Briton Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release held a vigil outside the Foreign Office on June 11 to mark her daughter’s fourth birthday.

JUS News • 2nd May 2018

Will the tree-felling issue cause Labour to lose seats in Sheffield council elections?

The felling of hundreds of trees in Sheffield is among the issues people voting in the upcoming local council elections are concerned about. The Labour-run council has been criticised for its handling of the ‘Streets Ahead’ contract.

JUS News • 7th December 2017

Breaking: Uber's licence suspended in Sheffield

Uber’s licence has been suspended by the Sheffield City Council after its current license holder failed to respond to council requests about its management.

JUS News • 30th November 2017

Sheffield flood prevention plan a waste of money says expert

EXCLUSIVE: An environmental expert has branded Sheffield Council’s flood prevention plan a waste of money likely to damage local heritage and ecology.

Professor Ian D Rotherham, an environmental expert at Sheffield Hallam University, said the proposed engineering would have a detrimental impact on local heritage, ecology and tourism.

A council committee will hear the progress report of the £100m plus project, updated from £83m, today in a meeting where locals and campaigners are planning to voice their c

The Hindu • 16th January 2017

It’s the people of Mumbai who make this marathon different

The Mumbai Marathon is more than a road race and an opportunity for charities to raise funds and awareness. It is also an exuberant celebration of the spirit of city.

The Hindu • 27th November 2016

A life more ordinary

People with learning and intellectual disabilities can find it hard to fit into society. One trust hopes to make a difference for at least a few women

The Hindu • 27th August 2016

Haji Ali Dargah entry ruling a victory for women, say petitioners

Petitioners who crusaded for women’s entry to the inner sanctum of Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai, welcomed the Bombay High Court verdict that ruled in their favour, while opponents readied for the next round of battle in the Supreme Court.

The Hindu • 2nd August 2016

Sardar Gruha, Tilak’s Mumbai home, gets Governor’s aid promise

On the way to the chaotic Crawford Market, a quaint building on your left could be easily overlooked, but for a gleaming bust of freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

The Hindu • 20th July 2016

Ambedkarite, Left protest: BJP attempts damage control

A crowd estimated at over 10,000 people marched from Byculla to Azad Maidan, causing huge traffic snarls.

The Hindu • 29th June 2016

The declining power of Babel

It is a desperate race to record languages that are going extinct in India. Nearly 300 languages have gone extinct in the country since the time of independence.