Locals light firecrackers on the occasion of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in Chennai, India on November 12, 2023. (Photo by Idrees Mohammed/EPA/EFE)

Cadets prepare to take part in a full dress rehearsal for the upcoming Republic Day parade, in Chennai on January 24, 2024. (Photo by R. Satish Babu/AFP Photo)

Protesters shield themselves as police beat them with sticks during a violent demonstration near the India Gate against a gang rape and brutal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus last week, in New Delhi, India, December 23, 2012. The attack last Sunday has sparked days of protests across the country. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Associated Press)

An Indian bride, sits during a mass marriage of 162 Muslim couples in Ahmadabad, India, Sunday, March 3, 2013. Mass marriages in India are organized by social organizations primarily to help the economically backward families who cannot afford the high ceremony costs as well as the customary dowry and expensive gifts that are still prevalent in many communities. (Photo by Ajit Solanki/AP Photo/LaPresse)

Hindu devotees play with coloured powders during Holi celebrations at the Bankey Bihari Temple on March 21, 2011 in Vrindavan, India. Holi, the spring festival of colours, is celebrated by Hindus around the world in an explosion of colour to mark the end of the winter. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

A woman shields her face from the sun as she rides her scooter in Ahmedabad, India May 20, 2016. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

Some 300 girls and women in India still practise open defecation. Over half the country’s population, 800 million people, do not have access to a toilet that meets basic standards. (Photo by Poulomi Basu/WaterAid)

Prospective flight attendants listen to their instructor during an etiquette training course at Indigo Airlines' Ifly training centre in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi November 18, 2014. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)