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Dear Reader,
In 2020, the Baghjan oil well in Tinsukia, Assam, began to spew gas into the nearby wetland. Thirteen days later, it caught fire. More than 9,000 people had to be evacuated, two firemen died, and there was incalculable ecological damage — the worst hydrocarbon disaster in the state’s history.
The victims took Oil India Limited, the operator of the Baghjan well, to the NGT – a rare case in India of a local community holding an oil company, a PSU, accountable for environmental harm. Four years on, they have not yet found closure. The India Forum travels to Tinsukia to find that despite the delays, local communities are determined to make the case a "benchmark" for environmental justice in the country.
When deadly diseases strike, migrant workers, because of their in-built vulnerabilities — toxic working conditions and malnutrition — are usually among the most vulnerable. With co-morbidities, such as diabetes rampant, they are left with few options – especially when not covered by insurance.
However, as The Migration Story reports, a sanatorium in Goa is making a difference. The TB Hospital at Monte Hill in Margao, Goa, admits migrant workers — who do not have affordable healthcare choices — and provides comprehensive care, including nutrition, medicines, and attention. A template for hospitals in prioritising compassionate care.
The plight of mentally ill patients fit for discharge still languishing in India's mental health establishments (MHEs) is heart-wrenching. Numbering well over a thousand, these citizens have nowhere to go. Abandoned by their families and with very limited recourse to rehabilitation by the states, their situation had been described by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) as "pathetic" and "inhuman".
Article 14 reports that this is a reality even when the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017 mandates that the state provide them with the ability to live "unfettered" through establishing "halfway homes", community support, and accommodation.
Last week, the Centre doubled the fine imposed on farmers for burning stubble after the Supreme Court came down on the government for its slackness in acting against farmers, particularly in Punjab and Haryana.
However, the Ground Report finds that stubble burning is rampant in Madhya Pradesh without any restrictions imposed by the government. This is when the state is second only to Punjab in the quantum of stubble burning. The story, from Khajoori Sadak village, 20 km from Bhopal, reveals that while states bordering the national capital, Delhi, receive central assistance for changing the way stubble is disposed of, Madhya Pradesh is bereft of any financial incentive to clamp down.
For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.
Warmly,
Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF
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