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Sri Lankan troops were racing to rescue hundreds of people marooned by rising floodwaters on Friday as weather-related deaths rose to 69, with another 34 people declared missing.Helicopters and navy boats carried out multiple rescue operations, plucking residents from tree tops, roofs and villages cut off by floodwaters.The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said the toll had climbed with the recovery of more bodies in the worst affected central region, where most victims had been buried alive as mudslides hit this week.Rain was falling across the island with some regions receiving 360 millimetres in the past 24 hours, the DMC said.The Kelani River, which flows into the Indian Ocean near the capital Colombo, breached its banks on Friday.V. S. A. Ratnayake, 56, said he had to leave his flooded home in Kaduwela, just outside Colombo.”I think this could be the worst flood in our area for three decades,” Ratnayake told AFP. “I remember a flood in the 1990s when my house was under seven feet of water.”Another Kaduwela resident, Kalyani, 48, who uses only one name, said she was sheltering two families whose homes were flooded.At least 3,000 homes were damaged in mudslides and floods, and over 18,000 people had been moved to temporary shelters.In Anuradhapura district in the north, an Air Force Bell 212 helicopter airlifted a man who had climbed a coconut tree to escape rising waters.The DMC said more rain was forecast, with Cyclone Ditwah likely to move away from the north towards the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu by Sunday.- ‘Nowhere to go’ -Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences over the loss of life in Sri Lanka and said New Delhi was rushing aid.”We stand ready to provide more aid and assistance as the situation evolves,” Modi said on X.DMC officials said they expected flood levels to be worse than in 2016, when 71 people were killed nationwide.The Sirasa TV network broadcast an appeal for help from a desperate woman.”We are six people, including a one-and-a-half-year-old child. If the water rises another five steps up the staircase, we will have nowhere to go,” she said by telephone.Dozens of stranded tourists were evacuated to Colombo from the tea-growing central areas on Friday.Sri Lanka is in its northeast monsoon season, but rainfall has intensified because of Cyclone Ditwah, the DMC said.Sri Lanka depends on seasonal monsoon rains for irrigation and hydroelectricity, but experts have warned that the country faces more frequent floods due to climate change.This week’s weather-related toll is the highest since June last year, when 26 people were killed following heavy rains. In December, 17 people died in flooding and landslides.The worst flooding Sri Lanka has experienced since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed.

India’s economy grew faster than expected in the last quarter, official data showed Friday, but the impact from US tariffs is expected to bite in the rest of the financial year.Gross domestic product rose 8.2 percent year-on-year in the July-September period, the statistics ministry said, the fastest rate in over a year.The growth was an acceleration from the 7.8 percent recorded in the previous quarter and soared beyond analysts’ forecasts of 7.4 percent.Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the figures “very encouraging”, hailing in a post on X his government’s “pro-growth policies and reforms”.The latest figures were spurred by higher consumer demand, solid manufacturing sector growth and statistical factors.”Growth has exceeded expectations dramatically,” Madhavi Arora, chief economist at Emkay Global Financial Services, said in a note.She noted the “lagged effects of monetary and regulatory easing” that helped the quarterly performance, as well as a “limited” decline in exports.Friday’s reading reaffirms India’s position as the fastest growing major economy and come as welcome news for policymakers grappling with a weak rupee, falling exports and a pivot away from Russian oil imports.US President Donald Trump has slapped 50-percent tariffs on most Indian products as punishment for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, which Washington claims helps finance Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.Indian shipments largely held up between April and August as exporters rushed to beat the tariff clock. But since then, the tariffs have started to bite, with overall exports falling 11.8 percent year-on-year in October, hurt by a drop in US-bound shipments.- Tariff threat -Some experts expect the economy to lose steam in the coming quarters.”An adverse base, the potential negative impact of US tariffs and limited headroom for capital spending by the government of India may dampen the pace of growth,” said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ratings agency ICRA.India’s press has reported an imminent trade deal with the United States, but neither side has officially announced a breakthrough.Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its forecast for India’s next financial year from 6.4 percent to 6.2 percent, citing a “baseline assumption of prolonged 50-percent US tariffs”.The Global Trade Research Initiative, a New Delhi-based think-tank, estimates that if the harsh tariffs stick, India’s exports could fall to about $49.6 billion in the current fiscal year — a steep drop from the $86.5 billion recorded last fiscal cycle.The world’s fifth-largest economy slowed in the second half of 2024, with annual growth hitting a four-year low in the fiscal year that ended March 31.While growth has rebounded since then, the drop in activity prompted Modi to roll out sweeping income and consumption tax cuts.Modi’s government has since approved $5 billion in relief measures for exporters and pushed through long-awaited labour law reform in an attempt to woo foreign investment and cut red tape for businesses.”Our government will continue to advance reforms and strengthen Ease of Living for every citizen,” the prime minister vowed on Friday.

Sri Lanka deployed the military for relief and rescue operations on Friday as the death toll from floods and landslides across the island rose to 56, with another 21 people missing.Helicopters, navy boats and thousands of troops are being used to evacuate stranded villagers in several parts of the country, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said.Rain was falling across the island’s entire 65,000-square-kilometre (25,000-square-mile) area, with some regions receiving 360 millimetres in the past 24 hours, the DMC said.The Kelani River, which flows into the Indian Ocean near the capital Colombo, was expected to breach its banks later on Friday and residents were warned to move to higher ground. Resident V. S. A. Ratnayake, 56, said he had to leave his flooded home in Kaduwela, just outside Colombo.”I think this could be the worst flood in our area for three decades,” Ratnayake told AFP. “I remember a flood in the 1990s when my house was under seven feet of water.”The army has deployed more than 20,000 troops, while the navy was using boats to evacuate villagers and to help clear debris.Of the 56 people confirmed dead, 26 were buried alive in mudslides in the tea-growing Badulla district in the central region, the DMC said. Another 21 are missing, with 14 more in hospital.Nearly 3,000 homes were damaged in mudslides and floods, and almost 15,000 people had been moved to temporary shelters.- Climbed a coconut tree -In Anuradhapura district in the north, an Air Force Bell 212 helicopter airlifted a man who had climbed a coconut tree to escape rising waters.Video footage released by the military showed similar rescues taking place across the country.The DMC said more rain was forecast, with Cyclone Ditwah likely to move away from the north towards the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu by Sunday.Officials from the agency said they expected flood levels to be worse than in 2016, when 71 people were killed nationwide.Another resident, M. A. Madushantha, 38, said floodwaters rose before his eyes and inundated his home on the banks of the Kelani.”I sent my children and wife to her sister’s house last night because we expected this,” Madushantha told AFP.- ‘Nowhere to go’ -The Sirasa TV network broadcast an appeal for help from a stranded woman in the central region of Ruwanwella.The woman, identified only as Akma, said she was upstairs in a two-storey home, with the ground floor completely flooded.”We are six people, including a one-and-a-half-year-old child. If the water rises another five steps up the staircase, we will have nowhere to go,” she said by telephone.Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake said 60 Indian tourists who were stranded in central Sri Lanka were taken to Colombo on Friday.Sri Lanka is in its northeast monsoon season, but rainfall has intensified because of Cyclone Ditwah, the DMC said.Sri Lanka depends on seasonal monsoon rains for irrigation and hydroelectricity, but experts have warned that the country faces more frequent floods due to climate change.The government has suspended final-year school examinations nationwide for two days because of the weather, while civil servants were given a day off.Parliament also suspended its budget debate so that legislators could return to their constituencies to deal with the damage.This week’s weather-related toll is the highest since June last year, when 26 people were killed following heavy rains. In December, 17 people died in flooding and landslides.The worst flooding this century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed.

Organisers are confident they can avoid the calamities of last time when India hosts the Commonwealth Games but there are many challenges for a country that also has Olympic ambitions.Ahmedabad, in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, was confirmed Wednesday as the venue for the 2030 Commonwealth Games.It is seen in India as a stepping stone towards the goal of hosting the 2036 Olympics and authorities hope it will establish the world’s most populous nation as a sporting destination.A successful Commonwealth Games will also help erase the memories of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, which were marred by accusations of corruption and construction delays.Ahmedabad already boasts the world’s largest cricket stadium, a 130,000-seat arena named after Modi, which most likely will stage the opening and closing ceremonies. But beyond that, massive investment in roads, subway lines and sporting facilities are needed to reshape the city of more than seven million people.Barely five years until the competition is a comparatively short timeframe to get it all done.Ashwani Kumar, a senior Gujarat official who looks after sports, said Ahmedabad’s existing venues were capable of hosting the Games “with some modifications”.New arenas will also be built by “late 2028 or early 2029″.”We are very confident and we have done good homework as a team,” Kumar told reporters, adding that a budget had been worked out already, without giving figures.- Manpower issue -Aside from competition venues, India will need to boost infrastructure for the thousands of athletes, spectators and officials flooding into the city.Hotels are expected to add thousands of new rooms while the local airport will start construction on a new terminal next year.”Five years is enough for building our capacity,” said Narendra Somani, president of the Hotels and Restaurants’ Association of Gujarat.”Also, we expect the government to come up with some industry-friendly policies that would boost the outlook further.”Somani admitted personnel challenges.”We have a shortage of skilled workers in the hotel industry in Gujarat. We will have to hire workers from other states like Assam and Punjab,” he told AFP on Friday.- Bad memories -The spectre of the 2010 Commonwealth Games looms large.At the time the Games were meant to showcase India’s status as an emerging global power but headlines were instead about delays, shoddy construction and budget overruns.English and Australian swimmers blamed Delhi’s swimming pool for contracting a stomach virus while some athletes complained of finding a cobra in the Games village accommodation.India’s national auditor accused the Delhi government of wasteful spending to the tune of at least $29 million during its “ill-conceived and ill-planned” programme to beautify the city in the run-up to the Games.A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General also listed several examples of alleged rigged bidding for lucrative contracts to supply timekeeping equipment, lighting fixtures for the glitzy opening ceremony and catering services.The auditors blamed the organising committee for hyping up projected revenues from the Games to an astronomical 17.8 billion rupees.”In reality the total committed revenues amounted to just 6.8 billion rupees,” the report said.- ‘Well prepared’ -The Gujarat government official Kumar admitted that there were “some challenges” in 2010, but said this time was different.”We all are well prepared. We are very confident that we will deliver the Games which would be remembered in years to come,” said Kumar.But he also added a note of caution: “We don’t want to overcommit on anything, and would rather learn from the past editions of the Games elsewhere in the world.”

Sweeping legal reforms and regional conflict have consolidated the Pakistani military’s grip on power in the past year, diluting the role of the civilian government while offering an unprecedented legal shield to the army chief, experts say.Widely seen as Pakistan’s most powerful institution, the military has governed the country for nearly half its existence via a series of coups since independence in 1947.One of those military rulers, General Pervez Musharraf, was found guilty of treason while living in exile after an almost decade-long rule, which began in a 1999 coup. But experts say a repeat of that scenario is increasingly unlikely.Constitutional changes rushed through parliament in November gave sweeping new powers to top officials including the current army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, already considered the most powerful man in the country.Munir’s Field Marshal rank, granted after the deadly conflict in May with arch-rival India, now also includes lifelong immunity from legal prosecution. “Lifelong immunity means that tomorrow, if Asim Munir imposes a martial law, he will never be tried for committing an act of treason,” said defence analyst Ayesha Siddiqa. “So theoretically, a coup is possible,” she told AFP.Islamabad-based legal expert Osama Malik believes the constitutional amendment means “this time is different”.”The constitution itself is being disfigured during a civilian government, and not when a martial law is imposed,” he told AFP.After the May conflict with India — which Munir claims to have won — and amid escalating clashes with neigbouring Afghanistan, some of the resentment expressed by Pakistanis after last year’s heated election brought a surge of anti-military rhetoric has also eased. Despite some opposition parties denouncing Munir’s new role and legal immunity, few people dared to protest openly and there was only a short flash of social media outrage. The military has not officially commented on the constitutional amendments, and neither it nor the government responded to requests for comment.- ‘Hybrid’ model – No prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term in Pakistan’s history, and civilian governments have acknowledged the military’s role in state affairs.Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has called the situation a “hybrid” model and signalled key decisions are influenced by both civilian and military leaders.”It is by consensus, whatever is taking place,” he told digital media outlet Zeteo in September, though he denied that the army chief held more authority than elected ministers.Even during periods of civilian rule, most Pakistanis consider the army chief the country’s real kingmaker — meaning Munir’s new powers are freighted with huge political significance as the country navigates a sensitive geopolitical period following armed conflict with both its neighbours. Munir previously led Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency.Yet he was ousted from that post in 2019 after just eight months under previous prime minister Imran Khan, for reasons that have never been made public.Khan himself was later pushed out by a no-confidence vote in the country’s legislature in 2022, which analysts say was the result of falling out with the army. His successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif elevated Munir to army chief.The military has long denied the involvement in elections or political affairs. Khan is now languishing in jail on corruption charges he denies, with his many supporters accusing the army of fostering his rival coalition government while pushing through two constitutional amendments in a year to tighten its oversight of courts and judges. Resentment among Khan supporters boiled over into mass nationwide protests in 2023 ahead of elections he ultimately lost, and a march on the capital last year that turned into a violent standoff with authorities. “Everything that is being done in Pakistan, let it be constitutional amendments or new parallel forces, is out of fear of Imran Khan and his popularity,” said Zulfikar Bukhari, spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.- ‘Favourite field marshal’ – The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said the constitutional change “further weakens essential checks and balances at a time when public trust in state institutions is fragile”.The changes elevate Munir to ‘Chief of Defence Forces’, expanding his oversight to include the air force and the navy.Initially set to retire in 2027, Munir can now also remain in office until 2030, giving him “an opportunity to oversee the next elections”, Siddiqa said.Munir has also bolstered his international standing, recently making two official visits to the United States, where President Donald Trump called him “his favourite field marshal”.In photos released by the White House, Munir stands by Sharif and Trump in a suit and tie, raising eyebrows at home given army chiefs have in the past worn uniform during official visits.

Sri Lankan authorities deployed the military for relief and rescue operations Friday as the death toll from floods and landslides rose to 56, with another 21 people listed as missing.Helicopters, navy boats and armoured personnel carriers are being used to evacuate marooned villagers in several parts of the country, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said, as the rain continued.The island’s entire 65,000-square-kilometre (25,000-square-mile) area is experiencing rainfall, with some regions seeing 360 millimetres in the past 24 hours, the DMC said.Of the 56 people confirmed dead, 26 were buried alive in mudslides in the tea-growing Badulla district in the central region of the island, it added.Twenty-one people were listed as missing, while another 14 were hospitalised.The DMC said a cyclonic storm named “Ditwah” was moving across the island’s eastern region, resulting in heavy rains across the country.The system is expected to move northwards towards neighbouring Tamil Nadu state in India by Sunday.”Due to the influence of this system, the prevailing heavy showers and strong winds over the island are expected to continue,” the DMC said.Nearly 700 homes were damaged in mudslides and floods, with almost 1,800 families moved to temporary shelters.The DMC said river levels were rising across Sri Lanka and warned residents in low-lying areas to move to higher ground.Sri Lanka is currently experiencing the northeast monsoon season, but rainfall has intensified due to the cyclone, it added.The government suspended final-year school examinations nationwide for two days because of the weather. Civil servants were given a day off.Sri Lanka’s parliament also suspended its budget debate so that legislators could return to their constituencies to deal with the damage.This week’s weather-related toll is the highest since June last year, when 26 people were killed following heavy rains. In December, 17 people were killed by flooding and landslides.The worst flooding this century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed.Sri Lanka depends on seasonal monsoon rains for irrigation and hydroelectricity, but experts have warned that the country faces more frequent floods due to climate change.

India’s cricket World Cup-winning star Deepti Sharma became the joint second-most expensive player in the Women’s Premier League history after a winning bid of $358,000 by UP Warriorz on Thursday.The mega auction in New Delhi opened with a surprise after Australia skipper Alyssa Healy went unsold, as franchises finalised their teams for the fourth edition of the women’s T20 tournament.New Zealand all-rounder Amelia Kerr was the most expensive foreign buy with current champions Mumbai Indians getting the White Ferns star back in the franchise for $335,000.Women’s cricket came of age in the ODI World Cup with hosts India crowned champions after they beat South Africa at a packed DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai earlier this month.Warriorz brought back Deepti, a right-arm spinner and left-hand batter who was the player of the tournament with 22 wickets and 215 runs.The most expensive player ever sold at the WPL auction is India’s Smriti Mandhana, who was bought by Royal Challengers Bengaluru for 34 million rupees ($380,000) in 2023.Second on the list are Australia all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner and England’s Nat-Sciver Brunt who were sold for $358,000 in the 2023 auction.Warriorz also got back England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone for $95,000.Warriorz used the right-to-match card — a rule that allows franchises to retain a player who was released by matching the highest bid — for both Deepti and Ecclestone.Another big signing for Warriorz was Australia legend Meg Lanning, who went to the franchise for $212,000 and is seen as a potential captain.Some other notable foreign picks included New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine ($223,000 – Gujarat Giants), Australia batter Phoebe Litchfield ($134,000 – Warriorz) and South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt ($123,000 – Delhi Capitals).The most shocking outcome of the auction was that 35-year-old Healy had no takers after she missed this year’s edition due to injury.Next year’s WPL begins on January 9 with the final scheduled for February 5.The WPL, staged first in 2023, delivered the Indian cricket board roughly $700 million in franchise and media rights alone.The deals made the WPL the world’s second-most valuable women’s sports league after WNBA women’s basketball in the United States.

A key aide to Myanmar’s deposed democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi was among hundreds of political prisoners freed by the junta in a pre-election amnesty on Thursday, AFP reporters saw.Myanmar’s military snatched power in a 2021 coup — toppling Suu Kyi’s civilian government, jailing the Nobel laureate and making unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud after her party won national polls by a landslide.The coup prompted a devastating civil war, but the military has scheduled phased elections beginning December 28, touting the polls as an opportunity for reconciliation.The junta announced Wednesday its most significant amnesty of political prisoners in years, saying 3,085 prosecuted under post-coup legislation restricting free speech would have their sentences dropped.It is unclear whether that full number will be released as many may have additional convictions.But AFP reporters outside Yangon’s Insein Prison saw around 200 prisoners freed on Thursday morning.Families holding placards bearing their relatives’ names waited as white minibuses ferried out prisoners before they locked in tearful embraces.Among them was Kyi Toe, the former information committee chief of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party who was jailed since 2021.He largely avoided the topic of politics in a post-release interview, but pledged “to be strong to work together” with Suu Kyi — who remains sequestered in military detention in the capital Naypyidaw.Her NLD party which won 2020 polls has been dissolved by the junta and is not eligible to participate in the elections which are expected to last around a month.Several rights monitors and a UN expert have dismissed the vote as a fig leaf to conceal continuing military rule, but the pre-election prisoner amnesty is a rare backtrack of political prosecutions.Those released had been prosecuted under a post-coup penal code amendment punishing comments that “cause fear” or spread “false news” with up to three years in prison.The clause is frequently cited by media freedom groups as one of many speech curbs the junta has used to cudgel dissent.But the military government said prisoners were freed to ensure “every eligible person” would be able to “freely and fairly cast a vote” in the upcoming election.A 60-year-old man from Yangon whose daughter was released after her arrest in March 2024 told AFP she had been jailed for her social media activism with the NLD.”I don’t think such releases should be related to the election,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Every political prisoner should be released.”While the junta has forgiven past speech law breaches, it has also introduced new legislation punishing criticism or protest against the election with up to a decade in prison.More than 22,000 people are currently in junta detention, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group. 

In India’s tech capital Bengaluru, the morning “rush hour” lasts so long it devours half the workday, throttling productivity in a city often viewed as the poster child of a booming economy.Entrepreneur RK Misra, co-founder of a multimillion-dollar start-up, avoids scheduling in-person meetings until nearly noon — then squeezes them in before gridlock returns.The “situation is pretty bad. And it hurts by not being able to plan your day”, Misra said, describing his gruelling 16-kilometre (nine mile) commute, which can take up to two hours at peak times.”It also discourages people from doing anything other than work, because there’s no work-life balance any more.”Bengaluru, home to nearly 12 million people and state capital of Karnataka, is the “Silicon Valley” of the world’s fifth biggest economy — hosting thousands of start-ups, outsourcing firms, and global tech giants from Google to Microsoft.Yet its flagship Outer Ring Road (ORR) business district is clogged with traffic, pocked with potholes, and often flooded during the monsoon. Water shortages plague the summer months.The roughly 20-kilometre (12-mile) ORR corridor, lined with swanky tech parks, hosts dozens of Fortune 500 offices, and more than a million employees.Frustration boiled over in September when Rajesh Yabaji, CEO of digital trucking logistics platform BlackBuck, announced he was moving his company out of ORR.Yabaji said he snapped after the “average commute for my colleagues shot up to 1.5+ hours (one way)”, he wrote on social media, adding that the roads were “full of potholes and dust, coupled with lowest intent to get them rectified”.- ‘Now or never’ -Pharma tycoon Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of Biocon, chimed in.”I had an overseas business visitor to Biocon Park who said; ‘Why are the roads so bad and why is there so much garbage around? Doesn’t the government want to support investment?” she wrote on social media.Bengaluru had the world’s third-slowest traffic in 2024, according to the TomTom Traffic Index — far worse than San Francisco or London.Manas Das, of the Outer Ring Road Companies Association, works with city authorities to resolve infrastructure woes for global tech companies.”Companies would like to get the basics right — and today those basics are getting compromised,” Das said.BS Prahallad, technical director of the government-backed Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Limited, set up to manage major projects, said an average resident needed 90-100 minutes to cover 16 kilometres.”Something has to be done, now or never,” he told AFP.”The next step is, we will decay.”Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar wrote last month on X that “10000+ potholes” had been identified, with half fixed so far.”Instead of tearing Bengaluru down, let’s build it up — together,” he said.”The world sees India through Bengaluru, and we owe it to our city to rise united!”Borrowing a page from London’s playbook, authorities have also decided to split the municipal corporation into five smaller bodies and set up an overarching Greater Bengaluru Authority.Shivakumar said this move would “transform the way Bengaluru is planned and governed”.- ‘Choking on pollution’ -The southern Indian city was not always an overrun metropolis. Once part of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore, it was known as “garden city” or a “pensioner’s paradise”. India’s software boom kicked off in the 1990s, with outsourcing companies striking gold.Waves of investment since then from Silicon Valley companies and start-ups helped quadruple the state’s software exports from 2014 to 2024 to $46 billion.Venture capitalist TV Mohandas Pai, former chief financial officer of Indian IT giant Infosys, said the city’s infrastructure was “possibly three to five years behind”.Rapid expansion clogged waterways, cut trees, and filled wetlands, straining the infrastructure, ecologist Harini Nagendra said.”We have flooding because water has no place to go, drought because the water is not infiltrating into the ground,” she said.”People are choking on pollution, choking on the concrete — and all the dust that comes with the construction, traffic, smog, heatwaves,” she added.Nearly half the city depends on boreholes that run dry in summer, while the rest rely on costly water trucked in — a problem set to worsen with climate change, according to the Water, Environment, Land and Livelihoods (WELL) Labs research centre.Pai, 67, remains optimistic.  “The future is going to be bright, but there is going to be pain,” he said.  “We are suffering the pangs of growth because India knows how to handle poverty, not prosperity.”

India’s historic city of Ahmedabad will host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, a landmark event for a metropolis that is a power centre for some of the country’s most influential politicians.The event is widely seen as a stepping stone towards India’s ambition to host the 2036 Olympics.The city of more than seven million people is the economic and political heart of Gujarat state, a stronghold of the ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Summer temperatures routinely push past 50C, yet Ahmedabad is one of India’s most dynamic urban centres, home to major industries, political heavyweights and expanding infrastructure.- Sporting dreams -India says that the 2030 Commonwealth Games will be a “full-fledged” multisport event, including disciplines it hopes to push into the Olympic programme, such as tag team sports kabaddi and kho kho.Despite its population of 1.4 billion people, India has won only 10 Olympic gold medals in its history.Beyond cricket — which returns at the 2028 Los Angeles Games — its strongest sports traditionally include hockey and wrestling.”The 2030 Games will also reinforce India’s long-term ambition to become a global sporting hub,” the sports and youth ministry said in a statement. – Power base -Ahmedabad is a political and economic powerhouse — Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister from 2001 to 2014.His close ally and fellow Gujarati, Home Minister Amit Shah, welcomed the Games announcement as “a day of immense joy and pride”.Shah’s son, International Cricket Council chairman Jay Shah, called the decision a “momentous occasion for Indian sports”.The city is home to the Adani Group, the ports-to-power conglomerate led by tycoon Gautam Adani, a longtime associate of Modi, and sponsor of India’s team at the Paris Olympics.Asia’s richest person, Mukesh Ambani, also has deep roots in Gujarat. His Reliance Group operates the world’s largest oil refining complex in the state, as well as a privately run mega-zoo billed as the biggest “wild animal rescue centre”.- Gandhi’s home – Ahmedabad’s old walled city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, preserves its 15th century winding lanes, massive gateways and intricately carved wooden homes.At the heart stands the imposing Bhadra Fort, along with centuries-old mosques, Hindu temples and stepwells — a stair-lined water reservoir.Nearby is Sabarmati Ashram, one of India’s most important heritage sites as Mahatma Gandhi’s residence during the independence movement.It was from here that he launched the 1930 Salt March, a defining moment in the struggle against British rule.- Giant infrastructure -The city already boasts the world’s largest-capacity cricket stadium, the 130,000-seat arena named after Modi.It hosted the 50-over 2023 Cricket World Cup final and is a key venue for the 2026 T20 World Cup.The stadium complex, which includes an Olympic-sized swimming pool, has also been the stage for high-profile political events.These included a 2020 rally for US President Donald Trump and a 2023 spectacle in which Modi circled the ground in a golden chariot alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.India’s previous hosting of the Commonwealth Games, in New Delhi in 2010, was marred by delays and corruption allegations.This time, the government hopes to project an image of a modern, fast-growing nation on track to become the world’s fourth-largest economy.Massive investments in roads, metro lines and sports facilities are planned to reshape the city.- Dark history -Ahmedabad was the epicentre of religious riots in 2002 that resulted in the deaths of at least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, and drew international condemnation.Modi, then Gujarat’s chief minister, faced accusations that he failed to stop the violence, but India’s top court said there was no evidence to support that.More recently, the city was shaken by the June 12 Air India crash in which 241 people on a London-bound flight and 19 people on the ground were killed. One passenger survived.