-TheWire.in As Rohingyas in India face rising Islamophobia, a strong tide of Hindu nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment, the view that fires in refugees camps are due to accidents is rather unconvincing. Rohingya refugee camps in India witnessed four fires in 2021 alone, higher than any other year prior. Between 2016 and 2021, 12 mysterious fires broke out in Rohingya camps alone. Most of these conflagrations demonstrated a peculiar trend – they catalyse...

-TheWire.in The manifestoes of major political parties in the fray in all five states promise both great infrastructure development and greater environmental safeguards. Kochi: In February and March, people in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur will vote to elect their next chief ministers and ruling parties. If not at any other time of the year, the public consciousness of environmental issues is heightened in these states today, as both the...

-The Hindu Menace threatens to blunt BJP’s narrative among farmers this election Reacting to the stray cattle menace, which threatens to blunt the BJP’s narrative among farmers this election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday promised voters in Uttar Pradesh that after March 10 (election result) a new policy would be introduced to deal with the issue. Mr. Modi, without giving any specifics, said the government would make the dung (gobar) of stray...

-The Wire Science * Several houses along the eastern Indian coast have been impacted by constant sea erosion, cyclones and other environmental factors. Those living there have abandoned these houses. * Some living in these vulnerable areas, close to the Bay of Bengal, voluntarily moved as the tidal waves hit their homes, while others were resettled by the government. * Inter-state migration from such coastal hotspots has also been reported from Odisha, Andhra...

-Citizens for Justice and Peace and The Wire Data suggests that areas in eastern Uttar Pradesh, especially PM Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi, had 60% excess deaths during the pandemic relative to 2019. The Wire is grateful to Murad Banaji for his help with preparing this report. Data collected and analysed by Citizens for Justice and Peace, a human rights organisation, and independent experts shows deaths in the Purvanchal region of eastern...