Giving big corporates free hand in Himalayas is not governance but pure betrayal

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The crisis in the Himalayas cannot be understood without respecting people's rights over natural resources. Denying people who have protected these forests for centuries, the right to access while giving big corporations a 'khuli chhoot to loot' is not governance but pure betrayal of the people's sentiments. How will the environmental protections or save the rivers succeed unless we involve people into them and allow them their traditional rights over these resources.

I interviewed Shri D S Pundir of the Himad organisation at his beautifully located center near Nand Prayag. I feel what he said was extremely important if we really want to protect the Himalayas by engaging with the people and communities.

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Beyond the 'silent relocation' narrative in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts

By Dr. Mohammad Asaduzzaman* In recent years, a narrative has emerged from the rugged and forested terrain of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), portraying the region as the site of a “silent relocation” — a mass forced migration of Bangladesh’s non-Muslim ethnic communities into neighboring India and Myanmar.

The farmer's burden: How oil, war, and climate are rewriting the price of food

By Vikas Meshram The scorching flames of the Middle East conflict are now slowly reaching the kitchens of ordinary people. The true price of this war is paid in daily markets, vegetable shops, and in the shattered minds of farmers. Expensive crude oil, skyrocketing fertilizer prices, and rising agricultural costs are together creating the conditions for global food inflation — and this crisis is directly tied to what people eat and drink every day.

Ram, Bam and Bengal: Memories of a Left turn toward the Right

By Rajiv Shah The BJP ’s massive electoral win in West Bengal is being interpreted across political persuasions — except, of course, by the BJP itself — as the result of the alleged deletion of around 90 lakh voters from the electoral rolls during the controversial intensive revision process. This may well be true, given my own experience in Gujarat regarding the shoddy manner in which electoral revisions have often been conducted. In West Bengal, there also appeared to be a political angle to the exercise. But I am not interested in discussing that here, as enough has already appeared in the media on the subject.

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