-Newsclick.in It remains to be seen how many political parties pledge to protect the urban poor from eviction and homelessness and work for inclusive ‘Smart Cities’. Over 30 civil society groups consisting of slum dwellers, civil society organisations, women groups, other groups working amongst the urban poor, disabled women groups, street vendors, housing rights activists and so on assembled in Delhi on February 28 to set a new discourse for 2019. This...

-The Hindu Business Line Helps combat malnutrition and climate change The global food system faces major challenges and trends related to rapid Urbanisation, changing diets, climate change, political uncertainties, and anti-globalisation sentiments. At the same time, there has been growing recognition that, in addition to addressing multiple burdens of malnutrition, there is an increasing need to seek an environmentally sustainable food system in light of climate change. The new EAT-Lancet report on healthy...

-The Hindu Business Line It is vital to cover the important and vulnerable section of tenant farmers with credit and insurance Tenant farmers rarely get bank credit. They don’t get any subsidies. Money lenders thrive on them because their loans cannot be waived. They also account for 80 per cent of farmers’ suicides in the country. With farmers taking to the streets to highlight their issues these problems should be addressed. State level...

-Down to Earth Life of a Dongria Kondh tribal offers insights on Indian government’s reckless interventions into the lives of indigenous people When 30-year-old Lakshman Huika returned to his village Manda of Munikhol Panchayat in Muniguda block of Rayagada district in Odisha, he had already seen the life in big cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai. Manda lies deep inside Niyamgiri Hills and is accessible only by foot—at least three hours walk from the...

-The Hindu The Coastal Regulation Zone notification of 2018 increases the vulnerability of coastal people to climate disasters The National Democratic Alliance government has unleashed several extremely unimaginative developmental policies that target areas that have retained some degree of ecological value to turn them into sites for industrial production. This is despite evidence of the damaging effects of such policies. The latest instance of this is the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification...