Film premiere held on "colossal disaster" hydropower projects are having in Satluj Valley

A screenshot from the film

By A Representative
The Delhi Solidarity Group and the Kriti Film Club held premiere of the film "Ho Gyi Hai Pir Parvat Si" (The Mountains Agonized), directed by Subrat Kumar Sahu, who is known for making films that reflect our social structures and has often been sceptical about the "way of development" through his craft. Held at Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, the film by the independent filmmaker is about the impacts of hydropower development in the Satluj Valley.

The 111 minute film, shot between 2010 and 2017, travels from village to village on the landscape that falls under Seismic Zones IV and V, capturing visuals of colossal disaster and resident testimonies of the already deleterious impacts of many ongoing hydro-power projects on the local farm-based economies, on their precious water sources, causing deforestation, health hazards, landslides, flash floods, leading to desperate situations for the local communities and also threatening to drive them into dispossession and perpetual deprivation.

Comments

The “Dr” debate masks a larger crisis in allied-health education

By Dr P K Gupta* India’s allied-health professions have long operated in a fragmented landscape of universities, hospitals, State authorities and private institutions, each with its own nomenclature, curriculum and standards. The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 was meant to correct this by creating a unified national framework for education, professional regulation and institutional recognition. Few dispute the need for such oversight. The real question is whether standardisation is quietly becoming synonymous with longer courses, additional internships and new professional titles—changes that risk masking deeper gaps in clinical training, institutional capacity and affordability.

Vande Mataram and the politics of distraction: When patriotism replaces performance

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan There is an old saying: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Samuel Johnson was not criticising love for one’s country; he was warning against those who weaponise patriotic symbolism to escape accountability. In India today, that warning feels uncomfortably relevant.

Pilgrimage or pollution? The waste crisis of Indian faith

By Raj Kumar Sinha* In today's times, there are certain issues that are constantly talked about and discussed, yet no visible impact seems to be made. Beyond water, soil, and pollution, one crisis that continues to be overlooked is waste. Like other life-threatening problems, waste too is gradually moving toward burying and obliterating us. After the Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar, approximately 8,000 tonnes of waste were left behind on the riverbanks, including bottles filled with urine.

Counterview

Search This Blog