South Asia Citizens Web

• India: Why does ’big dams’ model prevail despite adverse social and environmental costs ?

  24 September

  Since Independence, between 25 and 60 million people have been displaced from their homes and uprooted for India’s development projects. Most end up living in abysmal poverty and deprivation. That we do not even know the exact numbers of those affected — in a country that prizes bureaucratic record keeping — is a clear indication of the callous disregard we have for these lives. Big dams such as the Sardar Sarovar have been built on an obsolete belief that the benefits of hydropower outweigh its other costs. But we now know that this is no longer the case

• China’s dystopian push to revolutionize surveillance | Maya Wang

  24 September

  As part of a new multimillion-dollar project in Xinjiang, the Chinese government is attempting to ’build a fortress city with technologies.’ If this sounds Orwellian, that’s because it is. According to the Sina online news portal, the project is supposed to strengthen the authorities’ hands against unexpected social unrest. Using ’big data’ from various sources, including the railway system and visitors’ systems in private residential compounds, its ultimate aim is to ’predict’ individuals and vehicles posing heightened risks to public safety.

• Pakistan: Deradicalising Our Universities

  24 September, by Pervez Hoodbhoy

  Why is terrorism growing by leaps and bounds in Pakistani universities and colleges? Common sense — not rocket science or high erudition — is enough for an answer. What must be done is also pretty clear. First, dismiss the activist preacher-professor. He wields authority over captive audiences and broadcasts his message inside classes and outside. [ . . . ]

• 

  India: Citizen’s Against Hate report on lynchings and religiously motivated vigilante violence

  23 September

  This report by Citizen’s Against Hate is the result of fact finding investigation of lynchings and vigilante violence, conducted through July 2017.

• 

  India: It saddens me that my marriage, spiritual choice are misused to stoke fear, hatred | Stanzin Saldon

  22 September

  I will be 30 years old soon. I am an independent and educated woman and I have made all my choices regarding my life by my own free will — a right granted and guaranteed to every citizen of this country by the Constitution of India. The Constitution gives me a right as an adult individual to choose my life partner. I have married Syed Murtaza Agha because I love him. There is absolutely no other reason. The accusation that I have been “lured” or “coerced” by anybody is an insult to my ability to think for myself. The Ladakh Buddhist Association and random strangers are trying to objectify me by demanding my return as if I am their property and not a human being.

0 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35 | 40 | ...