Dear Reader,

Opportunities in Bihar, especially for women, have, at the best of times, been fraught. Only 20.3% of women in the state participate in its workforce, less than half of their male counterparts. For women, given absent industries and low employment in the private sector, the government becomes the coveted and, for most, the sole employer—a crutch providing a modicum of stability and empowerment.

Now, as Article 14 reports, this dream is souring. A spate of paper leaks and irregularities in the exams for government jobs is symptomatic of the rampant corruption and misgovernance in the state. This has further strengthened the suspicion that government jobs don’t always go to the most deserving or the most industrious. This, in turn, has meant that many young women in the state are now giving up on their aspirations, unsure of what their efforts and time spent preparing for the exams will bring. Their families, already of limited means, are now withdrawing their support to their daughters’ education and are pushing them to domesticity and marriage.

Faced with power shortages, Kerala has been relying on purchasing electricity from other states at relatively inflated prices. Additionally, Kerala’s demand for electricity is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.96% from 2023-24 to 2029-30. Existing capacities are far from being able to meet the state’s demand.

Recent efforts of the state government to augment its power supply have included a recourse to nuclear power through a plant at Cheemani in Kasaragod district. However, the move to tap nuclear power has raised safety concerns and protests. Its opponents have argued that the solution lies in self-sufficiency through community-based solar facilities. One example cited is the Perinjanam Gram Panchayat in Thrissur district, which constructed solar power plants on the rooftops of houses to become self-sufficient in energy generation and distribution, with the assistance of the local government. This is a template that provides a green and sustainable way forward. Keraleeyam Masika brings you the debate.

Two years ago, the sandy banks of the Ganga in Varanasi saw a new addition—a tent city—a settlement comprising five-star cottages and tents intended to boost tourism in the holy city. However, this has come at the cost of a turtle wildlife sanctuary established there in 1989. This seven-kilometre stretch was a key settling ground for freshwater Indian softshell turtles that were introduced into the river as a part of the Ganga Action Plan to help remove organic waste generated by human remains. This stretch of the river is also home to rare and endangered species such as the Gangetic Dolphin.

In a sharply worded rebuke, the National Green Tribunal has now questioned the Uttar Pradesh government on what basis it issued an order to cancel the notification of the sanctuary, allowing the tent city to be built, and defying a Supreme Court order that no wildlife sanctuary could be de-notified without its express permission. The principal bench of the NGT had also imposed an interim fine of Rs 17 lakh on the two companies that had set up the tent city, which the state is yet to collect. Janchowk brings you an exclusive report.

Nestled in the shadow of Jhabua Power Plant, a coal-based thermal facility in Madhya Pradesh's Seoni district, Bineki village lies largely deserted today. Fly ash emitted by the plant—and worryingly, also dumped in its fields without consent—has rendered local farms barren and left the drainage canal heavy with ash. In January, Ground Report travelled to the area to talk to those whose lives have been upturned by the pollution caused by this fly ash. Power plant officials not only claimed that they were following the letter of the law; they also said that dumping fly ash increased the productivity of the soil—a claim belied by many villagers who have been forced to abandon farming entirely after multiple failed crops.

Now, a month after the report was published, the district administration has issued an order to the power plant to transport fly ash only in fully covered vehicles which must be cleaned at their destination. The plant also has to wash roads to reduce dust, install weighbridges to stop overloading vehicles, increase the height of its boundary wall, and sprinkle water regularly within its premises.

For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.

Warmly,

Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF