Appeal to join Campaign to Defend Nature and People amidst large-scale displacements

By Dipak Dholakia*
India has a large number of people, more than 60 crore, who are directly working with and dependent on nature -- land, water, forest and sea. There are 14.6 crore farmers, 14.4 crore agricultural labourers, 27.5 crore forest-dependent people, 2.8 crore fishers and 1.3 crore pastoralists. There are almost 6 crore circular migrants who constantly move out of their villages for work and return.
The livelihoods of nature-dependent communities are under threat by policies that displace them, deprive them of access to their natural resources, or render their productive activities unremunerative. The same set of policies promote large-scale commercial and corporate interests that destroy nature in their relentless quest for capital accumulation, thereby threatening the survival of not just nature-dependent communities, but everyone. The policies and programmes to tackle the resultant environmental and climate crises also threaten the livelihoods of those who work with nature.
At the initiative of the Indian Community Activists Network (ICAN), activists working with nature-dependent communities and unorganised sector workers met at Sevagram on 29th and 30th August 2022 and deliberated on the need for a countrywide “Campaign to Defend Nature and People”. The participants stressed the need for an “Ecosystem-based Human Rights Approach” and spelt out the guidelines underpinning it. They issued the attached declaration drawing on relevant provisions of the Constitution of India and various UN declarations that India is party to.
This Campaign cannot remain confined to a handful of small organisations. It cannot succeed without the support of many co-travellers. We invite you to join the Campaign and request you to forward this appeal and the attachment to like-minded people and organisations.

We look forward to your response and suggestions.
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*Convener, Indian Community Activists Network (ICAN)

Neville Cardus: The man who turned cricket writing into poetry

By Harsh Thakor* Neville Cardus was one of the most remarkable literary figures of the twentieth century. A prolific English writer and critic, he achieved distinction in two vastly different fields: cricket and classical music. Entirely self-taught, Cardus rose from humble beginnings to become both the cricket correspondent and chief music critic of The Manchester Guardian . His achievements in these contrasting disciplines earned him widespread acclaim and established him as one of the foremost critics of his generation. In February 2025, the cricketing and literary world marked the fiftieth anniversary of his death, which occurred in February 1975.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

The politics of dreaming: Savita Singh's feminist imagination

By Ravi Ranjan* In contemporary Hindi poetry, few voices have explored the philosophical and creative possibilities of women's experience as powerfully as Savita Singh. Across collections such as "Svapna Samay" (Dream Time), Aapne Jaisa Jeevan, and "Prem Bhi Ek Yatana" Hai, she has developed a poetic world in which woman is not merely a subject of suffering or social commentary but a creator of knowledge, meaning, and alternative realities.

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