Tag Archives: Tamil Nadu

Indians erect banners, pray for Kamala Harris to win U.S. election

PAINGANADU, INDIA (Reuters) – Indians in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, which U.S. vice president hopeful Kamala Harris visited as a kid, erected banners, held special prayers and wished her success.

Villagers in Painganadu, Harris’ ancestral village, put up banners of Harris. Harris’ mother, who migrated to the United States to study, traces her roots to this nondescript hamlet in eastern Tamil Nadu.

“They (Kamala Harris) have gone to the level of contesting for a vice-presidential candidate in America. Naturally, the villagers are very happy,” Ramanan, a trustee at a local temple, told Reuters Television.

Harris, born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father who both immigrated to the United States to study, made history last week when U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden picked her as his vice president.

Ramanan, who goes by only one name, said Harris’ maternal grandfather P.V. Gopalan, a former high-ranking Indian government official, donated funds to the temple when he visited.

On annual trips to India as a child, Kamala Harris would go for strolls with her maternal grandfather and his friends. In a speech in 2018, Senator Harris recalled those early visits to her grandparents in India.

Further south, in Tamil Nadu’s Rameswaram town, priests held special rituals and prayed for Harris’ victory.

“Kamala Harris – she is of Indian descent, she should win the election and also should be in favor of India,” said Ananthapadmanaba Sharma, a priest at the Ramanathaswamy temple.

“We will do all kinds of worship and the Lord will answer our prayers for her victory,” Sharma said.

(Reporting by Reuters Television; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

India Death Toll Rises to 270 as Heavy Rains, Floods Continue

The 100-year rains that have brought massive flooding to the coastal Indian state of Tamil Nadu are now to blame for at least 270 deaths, according to the latest reports on Thursday morning.

Al-Jazeera reported the death toll increase, saying that 14 inches of rain fell on the state’s already-waterlogged capital city of Chennai on Tuesday. Forecasts called for more rainfall.

India traditionally receives significant rainfall during its monsoon season, but this year’s rains have been reported to be the heaviest in a century. Al-Jazeera reported Thursday that Tamil Nadu usually only receives less than two inches of rain during the entire month of December.

The flooding was particularly significant in Chennai, one of India’s most populous cities and a major player in the country’s automobile industry. Reuters reported Thursday that 3 million people lacked access to basic services as a result of the floods, with one resident telling the news agency some people had all of their belongings washed away and had gone days without food.

The city’s flooded airport has been closed through at least Sunday, the BBC reported, and some train services have also been suspended. The military was deployed to aid in the relief efforts.

Reuters reported Thursday that Indian military personnel rescued 2,000 Chennai residents and that the country’s prime minister, Narenda Modi, has promised $150 million in relief funding.

But Assocham, an Indian trade association, said in a news release that it believes the flood could cause a financial loss of $2.25 billion as Chennai “has come to a virtual standstill and is in the grip of fear and panic.” In addition to the crippling effects on the city’s auto industry, Assocham said the engineering, tourism, information technology and textile sectors were also badly hit.

Rescue efforts were reportedly continuing, as water levels had not receded. Apart from the heavy rainfall, experts told Reuters that drainage been hampered by faulty design and garbage buildup.

Earlier published reports indicated the rainfall drove at least 200,000 people from their homes, and some unaffected residents were using social media to invite the displaced into their houses.

Modi blamed the significant rainfall on climate change, Reuters reported, and some experts have also said that the El Nino weather pattern could have intensified the monsoon season.

United Nations officials have warned that this year’s El Nino is expected to be one of the three worst in the past 65 years, and may interact with climate change to create unprecedented effects.