Environmental, Social Justice & Governance Initiatives
A crisis of hunger, and consequent malnutrition, is growing within the Covid-19 pandemic. Even as vulnerable communities were trying to recover from the economic hardships of last year’s lockdown, countless families now find themselves exhausting whatever meager savings they had on food. And they have run out of money already.
The ‘smart city’ projects have skewed relationships between intent and impact, with massive investments being made in gentrified neighborhoods to the neglect of most other areas of the metropolis. Meanwhile, investments in essential social, education and health infrastructure remain stagnant and are even declining. Would turning planning and development into deeply democratic and decentralised processes and promoting self-sufficient neighborhoods be the answer to reducing the carbon footprint of the metropolis and adapting Bengaluru to climate change impacts?
Karbi and Adivasi farmers belonging to Mikir Bamuni Grant village in Nagaon district of Assam reported that about 93 acres of the land they were cultivating was taken over forcibly during 2020 by Azure Power Forty Private Limited, a subsidiary of international power corporation Azure Power Global Ltd. The farmers reported that their land was taken for establishing a 15 MW solar power plant by the company. In the process, ripened paddy crop raised on over 200 bighas of land was razed to the ground on 8th October, 2020 by the company. Villagers report that the local police and district authorities backed this forced dislocation of the farmers and forcible takeover of their lands.
Noted actress Parvathy Thiruvothu, Leo Saldanha of Environment Support Group and Manju Menon of Centre for Policy Research discuss with Anna Isaac and Megha Sreeram of The News Minute, the irreversible and disastrous implications to India’s security, human rights and environment, if EIA Notification 2020 ever became a reality. See the discussion on TNM Facebook page Also read Parvathy’s letter to MoEF&CC demanding withdrawal of Draft EIA Notification 2020. ‘A terrible piece of law’: Parvathy
We invite you to join this campaign to save Loktak Wetland Region for posterity by signing the Statement initiated by Ngaamee Lup, Indigenous Perspectives and Environment Support Group.
Find a compiled list of reports on the various aspects of protecting lakes in Bengaluru.
