The experience of women street vendors during and after the lock-downs shows that responses to crises mut be bound better by the law and rules, and strike a balance between different vulnerabilities.
For those who want to stand in solidarity with the people of flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir, here are a few options to choose from to make financial contributions.
Their shelters and livelihoods ravaged by the deadly recent cyclone, many women along Odisha's coastline are are so bereft of any hope for the future that they feel it would have been better to be among the dead. Sarada Lahangir meets some of them.
As Uttarakhand reels in the aftermath of devastating floods, Ammu Joseph underlines the need for greater awareness of the gender dimensions of such calamities and recognition of the special and diverse needs of women and other disadvantaged sections of society.
Despite years of conflicts and lakhs of people being housed in relief camps, the Assam government is yet to develop a practical policy of responding to the recurring crises. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.
Notwithstanding these hellholes called shelters, the state government has been going gung-ho about its swift action to resettle the flood victims in North Karnataka. A visit to one such shed revealed the officials heartless rhetoric writes Savita Hiremath.
Post October floods in North Karnataka, Dalits find themselves in a greater predicament. A century of struggle for equal rights and worse, fundamental faith in human progress, is at stake, writes Savita Hiremath.
Sloppy and biased surveys of damaged houses and paltry compensation have made the flood victims in Koppal and Bellary districts run from pillar to post to get what is rightfully theirs, writes Savita Hiremath.
North Karnataka's flood victims feel that it was relatively easier to run away from raging waters than dealing now with a corrupt bureaucracy and eking out a livelihood fraught with imponderables. Savita Hiremath investigates.
When Neelam Devi and her children stepped into their courtyard, the sight that greeted them was a painful reminder of the Kosi river calamity that had forced them to leave in the first place. Manisha Prakash reports.
Consent for relocation given by Jamni village in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra was obtained under duress. Villagers protest against the manner in which the gram sabha had proceeded. Aparna Pallavi investigates.
In late August, the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court ordered a judicial inquiry on allegations of large scale corruption in distribution of compensation to families affected by Sardar Sarovar/Narmada Project. Himanshu Upadhyaya tells the continuing story of a scam.
A large number of Ban Gujjar tribal families remaining within the Rajaji National Park are facing constant harassment from the state forest department. Their rehabilitation is mired in red tape. Aparna Pallavi reports.
Land acquisition from Vidarbha farmers for irrigation projects is become a case of cure worse than the disease. The new projects are being commissioned over the prime minister's relief package. Jaideep Hardikar digs deeper.
The Comptroller and Auditor General's audit of relief packages for Vidarbha's farmers finds that they were tardy in implementation, mindless in conceptualisation and "inconsistent with local needs." The state government has skirted debate. Jaideep Hardikar on the indictment.
For seven-year-old Sandhya and her siblings, totally dependant on their mother who ekes out a living by making beedis, the state government's relief package, announced nearly 18 months ago, is simply not enough. Many more suffer the same fate. P N Venugopal reports.
The Maharashtra government claims that a huge transformation is taking place in Vidarbha; the milk collection has risen 37 per cent. Distressed farmers, who were given the 'princely' cows as relief, feel otherwise. Jaideep Hardikar does a reality check.
The aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami saw an unprecedented outpouring of goodwill. But with the traditional panchayats in Nagapattinam's fishing hamlets controlling relief, single women and dalits were systematically exlcuded. Two and half years later, nothing has changed, reports S Gautham.
The top down approach of the Disaster Managment Act had its advantages but completely ignored local knowledge and ways of living. The need is for a judicious mix of the traditional and technological, argues Max Martin.
Both the Maharashtra Chief Minister's and the Prime Minister's relief packages for Vidarbha included for distribution of thousands of cows to the region's beleagured farmers. Jaideep Hardikar finds out that the measure has hurt, not helped.
The Jharia mines in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district produce the best quality coking coal in India. However, the area, mostly inhabited by tribals, has been smouldering with underground mine fires for several decades now.
A moratorium on loan recoveries is supposed to bring distressed farmers a bit of relief. But in the Parakal region of Warangal district, the Andhra Pradesh government's directive has taken farmers from the fire to the frying pan, says one farmer. Kondal Rao has more.
In response to the mass farmer suicides in Vidarbha, the state government is organising spiritual and counselling sessions, even as there are no signs that the economic roots of the crisis are being tackled. Jaideep Hardikar reports.
India Together is published with support from Oorvani Foundation.
