Dear Reader,

As we marked World Environment Day yesterday (June 05), the conflict between humans and animals has been a vexing issue, especially recently in Kerala, where the depredations of a ‘rogue’ elephant – Arikomban – has played out incessantly in the local media.

TrueCopy Think travels to Idukki in Kerala to produce a documentary that goes beyond mere optics and sensationalism. It delves into how human settlements, the introduction of non-indigenous plant varieties and ill-thought construction in the forests have strangulated the natural relationship between the animals and their habitat. The adverse consequences of this strife also impact the lives and livelihoods of the forest-dwelling tribals in the area.

Even as India’s waste-management market is projected to grow to about $14bn dollars by 2025, traditional waste pickers are being side-lined and invisibilised by the formalisation of the sector. India Development Review analyses the state of the waste-pickers – about forty lakhs of them – and the inability to integrate them into formal structures.

The abysmal state of the healthcare infrastructure, especially in India’s hinterlands, is no secret. However, what comes as a surprise, as The Probe reports, is that just a few kilometres from the national capital, amid Noida’s glam and glitz, public health centres are in an utter state of disrepair and neglect, the system seemingly refusing to learn from the harsh lessons of the recent pandemic.

And, India’s sedition laws have been critiqued for their draconian provisions and their use as a tool to curb dissent. The Supreme Court Observer points out that the recent 279th report of the Law Commission, though suggesting safeguards against misuse, has actually recommended increased punishment and wider application of the Sedition Law.

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

Warmly,

Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF

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അരിക്കൊമ്പനെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള സാങ്കല്‍പിക കഥകള്‍ക്കിടയില്‍ നാമറിയാതെ പോകുന്ന ഹൈറേഞ്ച് ജീവിത സംഘര്‍ഷങ്ങള്‍

TrueCopy Think deep-reports the life and struggles of the families living in the forest colonies, and the human-animal conflicts in the Idukki district of Kerala, which have escalated in recent months.

Watch Here

Is there a role for informal waste pickers in the new waste economy?

As regulations on the disposal of waste tighten, its management is now growing into a significantly large industry. However, India Development Review argues that the informal waste pickers – the backbone of the sector for long years – are being rudely side-lined instead of being integrated into the formal structures.

Read Here

Neglected Public Healthcare Centres in Gautam Buddh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh Expose

The Probe investigates the state of healthcare facilities in Gautam Buddh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh over two years and finds a story of governmental neglect and apathy despite Covid lessons.

Watch Here

Stronger Suppression of ‘Dangerous’ Speech a Must, Says Law Commission

The recent 279th report of the Law Commission, the Supreme Court Observer points out, has recommended broadening the scope of sedition and increasing the quantum of punishment.

Read Here

More from the grantees
Practice of International Labour Laws in India
The India Forum looks at how the Indian labour regulatory regime could be reformed and improved through the greater collaboration of its beneficiaries.
Plastic Pollution Needs Behavioural Solutions
Marking World Environment Day yesterday, Kashmir Observer says that while there is a crisis of plastic pollution in Kashmir, the effort by the state to find remedies have been fledgling and half-baked, whereas strong and effective measures are urgently needed.
ग्राउंड रिपोर्ट: शाम ढलते ही अंधेरे में डूब जाता है यूपी का यह गांव, अब तक नहीं पहुंची बिजली
Janchowk reports from Itwa village in Uttar Pradesh’s Chandauli which has not had an electricity connection for decades now. Umpteen entreaties to the local administration have failed to register.
जर्जर बावर्चीखाने में मिड डे मील बनाने को मजबूर हैं कुक
मैं मीडिया runs a reality check on the condition of schools in the Katihar district of Bihar and finds that, among other shortcomings, the mid-day meals, usually the sole source of nourishment for the children, are cooked in abysmal and unhygienic conditions.

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