South Asia Citizens Web

In a joint letter the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the International Press Institute (IPI), urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “to take immediate steps to ensure that journalists can work without harassment and fear of reprisal..and to direct the state governments to drop all charges against journalists, including those under the draconian sedition laws, that have been imposed on them for their work”.

The prestigious Char Dham Pariyojana to widen roads to Uttarakhand’s pilgrimage sites is being rapidly pushed forward without heed to the environmental and social consequences. Several laws have been bypassed in the process.

Around the world, forest areas tend to be haunted by violent conflict. In the Amazon basin, settlers are displacing indigenous communities. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, various militias thrive on the exploitation of natural resources. In central India, a Maoist rebellion has taken hold. Nandini Sundar of the Delhi School of Economics explained the background in an interview.