India's new Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged lawmakers to stop fighting over rape and work together to protect women, in his first comments on the issue since the horrific gang-rape and lynching of two girls.

Modi warned lawmakers against "politicizing rape", saying they were "playing with the dignity of women" in his first speech to parliament since sweeping to power at last month's elections.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has written to his new Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to express satisfaction with their "meaningful" first meeting as the rival neighbors attempt better relations, an official said Wednesday.

Sharif held talks with Modi in New Delhi last month after attending the inauguration of the Hindu nationalist Indian premier who swept to power in a landslide election victory.

Angry protests broke out in India's capital overnight over power blackouts as summer temperatures soar, fueling concerns of a repeat of an electricity crisis two years ago, police said Wednesday.

Residents took to the streets at around midnight on Tuesday in New Delhi's northeast, attacking vehicles as frustration mounts over the power cuts, a senior officer said.

With pinched noses and watery eyes, thousands of Indians have lined up to swallow live fish in a traditional treatment for asthma administered annually in the country's south.

Asthma sufferers gather every June in the southern city of Hyderabad to gulp down the fish stuffed with a yellow herbal paste, in hopes it will help them breathe more easily.

Rescuers found five bodies Monday and were searching for 20 more people feared dead in northern India after they were swept away by a sudden surge of water released from a dam, officials said.

Rescue workers were scouring the Beas river for 19 students and a guide who were missing after being hit by the wall of water on Sunday night in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh.

India's new government pledged Monday to curb violence against women and strengthen the criminal justice system, amid public outrage over the gang-rape and lynching of two girls.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government also promised to provide toilets and electricity in every home in a country where almost half of the population defecates in the open.

Rescuers discovered five bodies on Monday in a river in northern India as they stepped up their search for 24 students washed away in a sudden surge of water released from a dam.

The students were standing on the Beas river's edge on Sunday evening taking photographs in the northeast Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh when they were hit by a wall of water.

China's foreign minister began a two-day visit to India on Sunday for the first high-level talks between the world's two most populous nations since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge.

Wang Yi arrived in New Delhi as a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping to "establish contact with the new government of India", the Indian foreign ministry said.

Japan could be the first foreign destination for new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese media reported Friday, suggesting the trip could happen as early as this month.

Coming top of Modi's travel itinerary would mark a diplomatic coup for Japan, whose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is looking to boost his country's influence on the global stage and shore up regional alliances to counter the growing strength of China.

Clashes broke out between sword-wielding Sikhs on Friday at the Golden Temple in northern India on the 30th anniversary of a notorious army raid on the site.

At least two people were wounded in the violence, according to an Agence France Presse photographer at the temple in the city of Amritsar, which is the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion.