RESPONDING TO CRISES
Laws for response to crises need reforms

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.

#Livelihoods #Urban Poor #Human Rights #Laws #Women
FLOOD RELIEF DONATION OPTIONS
PMO, NGOs appeal for funds for flood-hit J&K
FLOOD RELIEF DONATION OPTIONS : PMO, NGOs appeal for funds for flood-hit J&K

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.

#J & K
DISASTER AFTERMATH
For distraught Phailin survivors, life is little consolation

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.

#ODISHA
GENDERED TRAGEDIES
An unequal disaster in the land of Chipko

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.

#Ammu Joseph #Women #Voices unheard
RELIEF CAMPS
Repeated mistakes in relief efforts

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.

#Displacement #Human Rights #ASSAM
POST KARNATAKA FLOODS RELIEF
No home to take them in
POST KARNATAKA FLOODS RELIEF : No home to take them in

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.

#KARNATAKA
KARNATAKA FLOOD RELIEF
The unkindest cut of all
KARNATAKA FLOOD RELIEF : The unkindest cut of all

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.

#Caste #Society #KARNATAKA
DISASTER RELIEF IN KARNATAKA
Everybody loves a good flood
DISASTER RELIEF IN KARNATAKA : Everybody loves a good flood

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.

#KARNATAKA
KARNATAKA: SECOND CRISIS AFTER FIRST
Devastated by floods, but drowned by corruption
KARNATAKA: SECOND CRISIS AFTER FIRST : Devastated by floods, but drowned by corruption

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.

#Public Funds #KARNATAKA
KOSI FLOODS RELIEF
If this isn't hell, what is?
KOSI FLOODS RELIEF : If this isn't hell, what is?

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.

#BIHAR
TIGER CONSERVATION
Consent under duress
TIGER CONSERVATION : Consent under duress

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.

#Forests #Environment #MAHARASHTRA
RELIEF/NARMADA SAGA
Scamming the law, pretext of inability

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.

#Government #MADHYA PRADESH
FOREST DWELLERS' RIGHTS
Uttarakhand Gujjars being ousted without compensation

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.

#Forests #Human Rights #UTTARAKHAND
VIDARBHA DISTRESS
'Relief' irrigation increasing worries for farmers

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.

#Water #Environment #MAHARASHTRA
RELIEF PACKAGE AUDIT
CAG report slams Vidarbha waiver package

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.

#Public Funds #Farmer Suicides #Government #MAHARASHTRA
STILL SUFFERING
Insufficient relief for Kerala's endosulfan victims

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.

#KERALA
AGRI CRISIS
Relief cows are milking Vidarbha farmers

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.

#Livestock #Agriculture #MAHARASHTRA
SOCIETY/TSUNAMI RELIEF
Katta panchayats denying relief to women
SOCIETY/TSUNAMI RELIEF : Katta panchayats denying relief to women

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.

#Culture #Society #Women #TAMILNADU
DISASTER MANAGEMENT ACT
Farce follows disaster
DISASTER MANAGEMENT ACT : Farce follows disaster

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.

#Guest Opinions
RELIEF
The princely cow and the crisis

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.

#MAHARASHTRA
HEALTH
In the line of fire

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.

#Environmental Hazards #Mining #Health #JHARKHAND
DEBT RELIEF
Moneylenders harassing Warangal farmers

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.

#Law and Order #ANDHRA PRADESH
RELIEF/VIDARBHA CRISIS
Sermons for the distressed souls
RELIEF/VIDARBHA CRISIS : Sermons for the distressed souls

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.

#Culture #Farmer Suicides #Society #MAHARASHTRA