Social movements to protect the Indian forests have so far focussed more on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) than anything else. The ‘new’ struggles view the implementation of the FRA more as a long-drawn people’s struggle for control of forests rather than a statist process. Writes Soumitra Ghosh. Social movements […]
The naïve, uncritical and often absolute belief in state as the ultimate expression of authority, is symptomatic of the all-pervasive capitalistic real we live in. A cursory look at some facts about India’s increasing vulnerability to global warming and the Indian state’s response to the same shows that the state can get away with anything […]
Another June 5, the World Environment Day, is here, and let’s talk about environment, again. Writes Soumitra Ghosh. According to a recent news report, all 15 hottest places in the world on June 3 this year were in the Indian sub-continent—11 in India and the rest in Pakistan. Prolonged heat waves continue […]
গত ২৬ মে, ২০১৯, যশোর রোডের গাছেদের ডাকা প্রথম জনশুনানি হয়ে গেল। এই জনশুনানি ডেকেছিল গাছেদের পরমাত্মীয় ভাবা কিছু তরুণ তরুণীরা। উপস্থিত ছিলেন যশোর রোড গাছ বাঁচাও কমিটির ছেলে মেয়েরা, ছাত্রছাত্রী ও উৎসাহী মানুষেরা, এসেছিলেন পরিবেশকর্মীরা, স্থানীয় মানুষ ও ব্যবসায়ী সমিতির সভ্যরা। পরিবেশকর্মী অমিতাভ আইচ-এর প্রতিবেদন। গত ২৬ মে, ২০১৯, যশোর রোডের গাছেদের […]
While the entire nation was fixated on making sense of the 23rd May election results, Mahul residents had to worry about the 24th May stay order from the Supreme Court on the recent Bombay HC order which directed the state govt to pay rent to Mahul residents who were facing life threats due to pollution. […]
While the entire nation was fixated on making sense of the 23rd May election results, residents of the Mahul slum rehab colony had yet another disturbing development to worry about. The MH Govt on 24th May got a stay order from the Supreme Court on the recent Bombay HC order which directed the state govt […]
On May 22, 2018, Tamil Nadu police opened fire on thousands of people demonstrating against the expansion of Sterlite’s copper smelter plant in Thoothukudi. The residents were protesting against the Vedanta owned unit accusing it of causing severe environmental pollution in the entire region. One year after the violent incident in which 18 persons were shot dead and scores […]
ভারতে এখনো প্রকৃতি-পরিবেশকে একটা মুখ্য বিষয় বলে ভেবে ওঠার জায়গায় রাজনৈতিক শক্তিরা নেই। তাই তাদের যাবতীয় নির্বাচনী প্রচারে কোথাও পরিবেশ বিষয় নিয়ে ন্যূনতম কোনও কথাও আপনি খুঁজে পাবেন না। গত পাঁচ বছরে প্রকৃতি-পরিবেশ এবং বিশ্ব-উষ্ণায়নকে রুখে দিতে মোদি সরকার কী করেছে তার বিষদ বিবরণ নিয়ে নন্দন মিত্র-এর এই লেখা। বিজেপি শাসিত গোয়া সরকার […]
Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuels are causing catastrophic climate change, and threaten to destroy all human life on our planet. Simply, climate change is the single greatest threat facing our species since our emergence as a species a half million years ago. It is a bigger threat than the biggest of our […]
Climate change threatens the very possibility of life on this planet. The dominant narrative of climate change is built around the reduction of emissions and the replacement of energy sources which ultimately goes to serve the interests of the same forces that have created the problem in the first place. The voice of the communities […]
The Sikkim unit of Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd is discharging huge quantities of highly toxic effluents into the Tista river. The contamination of Tista is not only going to adversely affect the state of Sikkim but also downstream areas, including many districts in West Bengal. A GroundXero report. The Sikkim unit of Alembic Pharmaceuticals […]
One of the main peoples to be directly impacted by the fallout of Mumbai’s Coastal Road Project are the Koli fishing communities in the city. These people have sustained themselves on daily small-scale fishing off the city’s coast for centuries, and are amongst the first makers of today’s sprawling metropolis. They had however no prior […]
In order to truly appreciate the magnitude of the student strike, it is important to consider the long-term social history which made it possible.To be more precise, they protested against two of the least-recognized but massively important effects of the long colonial era which ran from 1492 until 1945, namely colonial carbon and colonial demography […]
The #SchoolStrike saw participation in the millions across the globe, making it one of the largest climate change protests in history. Rahul D writes about the various challenges awaiting the youth leaders of the movement. The image of fifteen year old Greta Thunberg standing alone outside the Swedish parliament one and a half […]
The Union government’s proposed amendments to the Indian Forest Act provide unprecedented levels of immunity to forest officials and summarily does away with the presumption of innocence. A GroundXero report. The preamble to the Indian Forest Act (1927) in no uncertain terms clarifies the attitude of British imperialists towards the Indian forests and, […]