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Dear Reader, Arun Shourie, a man of many parts - economist, author, former editor and union minister - has just published his memoir 'The Commissioner for Lost Causes'. The book chronicles his stints as an editor, and the crusading and trailblazing journalism he led in the 1970s and 80s. The Antulay case, Bofors scam, Bhagalpur blinding case, battle against the Emergency, amongst others, being his particularly memorable campaigns.
In a conversation with Mojo Story, Shourie bemoans the current emasculation of the ‘mainstream media’ and asserts that it is only the “independent media who are doing path-breaking work, work which has never been done in the past”. He particularly points to the stellar journalism of Alt News, Article 14, ThePrint and Mojo Story - incidentally, all grantees of the Foundation - for their “creative response” to the challenge of independent reporting in recent times.
While India has had a degree of success in inoculating its huge population, its vaccination story is also a tale of diminishing of the once-thriving public-sector vaccine makers who now play second fiddle to the private sector, says The India Forum. This, sadly, is due to the sheer apathy and neglect of the government, which may have implications for vaccine availability and pricing in a future pandemic.
The Probe ground reports from Moolchand Basti, on the banks of the Yamuna in Delhi where the Delhi Development Authority has been conducting demolition drives and bulldozing farmlands of farmers living on the Yamuna flood plains without even a rehabilitation package in place.
And, Down To Earth brings you a story from Chitapur village in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district which measures its "GDP in tamarind" ! As the staple foodgrains are on a path of diminishing returns, the villagers have taken to tamarind as a profitable and remunerative cash crop.
For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.
Warmly,
Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF
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