South Asia Citizens Web

I have been to many countries. I have seen many borders. I know of the Palestinian border, but outside of that this is certainly the most imposing, dominating, scary, border post that I have come across. I’ve gone across the Germany-Poland border, where you’ve had surveillance equipment, you’ve had people with night shooting guns, but in none of those situations have I seen anything that looks as scary as this particular fence.

We are profoundly disturbed by the massive Central and state armed police operation in Lalgarh-Jangalmahal in West Bengal. This was launched without exploring a negotiated settlement of genuine popular grievances and by blurring the crucial distinction between violent Maoists and peace-minded civilians. The operation is taking an unacceptable toll of civilian life and safety in an extremely backward area with sub-human living conditions and absence of public services and social opportunity worsened by unremitting police atrocities.

As women activists and women’s groups who have for long fought for women’s rights and their place in Indian society, we wish to register our strong protest on the incidents at Shopian and extend our solidarity and friendship to the women of Kashmir in the struggle for justice and the rule of law, and for an end to all forms of immunity that obstruct the prosecution of the guilty

Every day more than 90m domestic workers oil the wheels of contemporary India. They clean, fetch, tend, serve and make it possible for many upwardly mobile women to pursue their careers without worrying about domestic chores. Yet this work is referred to as the ’informal sector’ as if it were scarcely work at all.

For almost a century, Jharia coal fields have been on fire in the Indian state of Jharkhand because of poor mining techniques. Many of the people who live on the burning fields survive by collecting coal illegally. The coal is burned and then transported to nearby markets for very little money. A resettlement plan has been put in place, but the area’s residents are reluctant to move to safer grounds because the coal earns them their livelihood.

Bombay Flying Club is an independent audio-visual production house in Denmark consisting of three photojournalists. Their recently-launched Wasteland project is a series of web documentaries about industrial pollution, and the story from Jharia is the first chapter of this ongoing project.