In September, the Indian government pulled out all stops to mount a PR extravaganza for an environmental project of dubious value: the reintroduction of the cheetah into the country seven decades after it had become extinct. The animals landed in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on September 17, which was, by complete coincidence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.
A little before this event, Scroll.in’s Vaishnavi Rathore travelled to the area to report on the plight of residents of 24 villages who had been displaced from their homes 25 years ago for a similar project – to relocate lions from Gujarat’s Gir forest to central India.
Despite all the official promises, the 1,500 families have still not been given land rights and daily life is a struggle. (The lions never arrived either.) Read Rathore’s report here.
A similar story of displacement is playing out in Telangana, as Mridula Chari discovered as she reported on the state’s drive to plant two billion trees. Thousands of families engaged in “podu” cultivation have been declared encroachers on land they have long farmed. Read “The cost of Telangana’s drive to plant two billion trees”.
Our Common Ground series of in-depth reportage featured two other stories – Johanna Deeksha’s “How caste certificates in India make or break dreams” and Nolina Minj on “The horrors of queer conversion therapy in India”.
Meanwhile, six months after bulldozers razed homes and businesses of Muslims in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone shortly after Ram Navmi violence, the authorities moved again in September to demolish two units of a bakery. The owner, Amjad Khan, claimed that this was because he had taken officials to court against the original demolitions in April.
Other businessman from the town who had also moved court claimed that their attempts to rebuild their properties were being smothered in red tape – officials told them permissions would be forthcoming if these cases were withdrawn. Read Aishwarya Iyer’s reports here and here.
From Kashmir, Safwat Zargar reported on the prospects for Ghulam Nabi Azad’s new party. He also considered the ramifications of the government’s crackdown on shrines in Kashmir: many fear this signals a tightening of official control on these institutions.
September saw a host of fascinating cultural features on Scroll.in. These included “Neither embraced at concerts nor at weddings, the shehnai is fighting for survival”; “Bengali food is deeply influenced by Tagore, but not the one you think” and “When a temple in southern Laos was a major Hindu pilgrimage centre”.
On The Reel, Rudradeep Bhattacharjee explained why 1992 is the year the song changed in India, while Nandini Ramnath caught up with director Mani Ratnam ahead of the release of Ponniyin Selvan.
Among the questions explored by our colleagues at the Eco India team that makes videos on sustainable futures: “Could aquaponics be the answer to poison-free fish and vegetables?” and “How can our farmers be better equipped to tackle climate change?”
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