-The India Forum Urban floods as in Bangalore are not just a result of failed governance. They also reflect a failure of our democracy, where the citizen does not participate in decision-making and later sees spectacles like demolitions as signs of action. Neecha Nagar was the first film from India to go to the inaugural Cannes Film Festival in 1946 and win the Palme D’or. Neecha Nagar, or the “Lowly City”, was...

-Press release by Freedom from Bondage movement dated 6 September, 2022 New Delhi: As we mark #75thIndependenceDay & #AzadiKaAmritMahotsav, thousands of people who have been evicted from their homes in slums, Jhuggies, settlement colonies and informal sector workers who have been denied their livelihood without any rehabilitation have gathered at Jantar Mantar to raise their voice against the “Bulldozer Raj”.  The government is forcibly snatching the land of poor Dalits and...

-Newsclick.in Hundreds of residents of Gyaspur Basti are staying under tarpaulin tents after their houses were demolished. New Delhi: Sitting under a tarpaulin tent at Gyaspur Basti, in Sarai Kale Khan, a visibly worried and disturbed Deepu (16) is continuously trying to call a number. A few yards away under a tree, her equally distressed father, mother and brother are discussing something urgent. The family has been staying under the tent since...

-The Telegraph We have raised concerns to Government of India that this seems to really go beyond simply random acts of violence: Balakrishnan Rajagopal Before the latest punitive demolition by the Uttar Pradesh government in Allahabad this month, three United Nations special rapporteurs had written to the Centre criticising similar actions targeting Muslims after communal clashes in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi. This was confirmed by one of the special rapporteurs, Balakrishnan Rajagopal...

-The Telegraph The media’s culpability is damaging India’s interests Media culpability can damage a country’s interests. Two recent instances will suffice to illustrate the point. The media’s role in recent events triggered by a Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson’s remarks on Prophet Mohammed has received less attention than it deserves. The focus has been on the offending spokesperson. There was mayhem across the land on account of a television news show. The tally...