Dear Reader,

The media in India is seemingly under siege. The Committee To Protect Journalists (CPJ) says that since 2014, 23 journalists and ‘media workers’ have been killed. The recent years have seen a spate of assaults on the media, from both state and the non-state actors. The latest assault, as reported by The Caravan, was the second such instance on its reporters in recent months. This, from the guardians of the law in the capital – Delhi Police.

The Indian IT industry is critical to India’s economy, providing livelihoods, and even prosperity, to millions. However, EPW analyses how the restrictions on air travel and on-site migrations are eroding its global competitiveness.

One of the reasons that the poor and the needy in our society are deprived of taking advantage of government schemes and programmes is the lack of access to information. India Development Review reports that this is precisely the ‘information gap’ which the ‘Haqdarshikas’ are trying to fill in Chhattisgarh.

For this and more such selection of stories from our grantees, please read on.

Warmly,

Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF

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The Caravan staffer assaulted by Delhi Police ACP inside Model Town station

The Caravan reports that their staffer Ahan Penkar was detained and assaulted by the Delhi Police when he went to the Model Town police station in north Delhi to report on the alleged rape and murder of a Dalit girl, with the police refusing to file an FIR. The reporter’s phone was snatched, the data deleted, and he was assaulted, sustaining visible injuries. Earlier, On 11 August 2020, three journalists working with The Caravan—Shahid Tantray, Prabhjit Singh and a woman journalist—were beaten, subjected to communal slurs, threatened, and sexually harassed, while reporting in Subhash Mohalla, in northeast Delhi.

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Post-COVID-19 Challenges in the Indian IT Industry

The IT industry is critical for India’s economy. The sector has grown by developing deep global ties based on co-location with clients, enabled by easy and accessible international travel and on-site migrations – ‘cognitive proximity’. However, as the EPW analyses, with the pandemic making global travel and temporary migration restricted and costly, their global competitiveness could be hit.

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Delivering citizens' rights to their doorsteps

India Development Review brings you a first-person account of a grassroots worker, in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur district, helping eligible people know, understand and access government schemes. ‘Haqdarshika’ , as they are called, help people find the schemes they are eligible for and assist in completing application formalities. From gaining people’s trust to working with the village leadership and changing patriarchal attitudes, these women are helping people realise benefits they might otherwise have not known about.

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ग्राउंड रिपोर्ट : नीतीश कुमार के सपनों का अस्पताल का हाल

Janjwar reports from the Brahmapur constituency in Bihar, where a Health and Wellness Centre, a flagship project of the Bihar government, with crores spent, lies in shambles. Most of the rooms of the hospital locked, no beds, broken toilets, and, not even a doctor in sight and garbage strewn all over. This, in the times of one of the biggest healthcare challenges in the form of the pandemic.

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क्या देश को राज्यपालों की जरूरत है?

In view of the recent episodes of conflict between the governors and the state governments - most recently in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Rajasthan - Satyagrah analyses the history and the role of the office of the Governors of Indian states. Once seen as an essential office to buttress the fledgeling Indian Union, immediately after independence, they have been long seen as an appendage of the past, well past their sell-by-date.

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More from the grantees
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The Bastion takes a look at how communities in disaster-prone areas are adapting by building infrastructure that is resilient to extreme weather events.
‘No Food Waste Chennai’ | #WorldFoodDay | Asiaville Tamil Ground Report
Asiaville reports from the ground on the ‘No Food Waste’ initiative in Chennai. Close to 100- 150 volunteers collect leftover unused food from hotels, IT parks and events like weddings and distribute them to the hungry and the poor.
Mental Health during COVID-19: LGBTQI community sees spaces erode, economic distress due to COVID-19
Suno India speaks with queer activists to understand how Covid has deprived them of spaces where they could feel comfortable and forced them to deal with their families who might not be as sensitive to their needs.
How Covid-19 Impacted And Is Changing India's Once-Thriving Aviation Sector
Swarajya reports on the miseries of the aviation industry in the aftermath of Covid. Not only have travel volumes diminished significantly, but aviation is also the sector which may take the longest to recover post the pandemic.
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Alt News fact-checks misleading media reports that a Tanishq store in Gujarat was attacked in response to their recent advertisement. While the reports about the store being attacked were false, the staff were indeed threatened and asked for police assistance.
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Khabar Lahariya reports from the ground on the plight of sex workers in Uttar Pradesh who share their struggles of surviving without an income and livelihood under the pandemic.
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Amidst Pitched Poll Campaigns, Bihar Sees a Parallel Drive For Women's Representation
A citizens’ collective ‘Political Shakti’ has been campaigning and demanding that major political parties give 50 per cent of their tickets to women in the Bihar elections. The Wire reports that the results have been mixed.
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