Ear To The Ground

Tears jerk from the eyes of 45-year old Jessica Ombassa While seeing off her son, Kalama Ombassa at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi for his flight to New Delhi. This is not the first time, she was emotional and her eyes were drenched. Earlier a few days ago it was wet when her husband, David had to mortgage his small landholding, for getting a loan for Kalama’s graduate studies at Delhi University. Log in for the full story at http://www.activemuse.org/opencalls2018/Tarun_Kanti_Bose.html

Fidel Castro, in full Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, was born on   August 13, 1926, near Birán, Cuba and breathed his last on 25th November 2016 transformed Cuba into the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere. He became a symbol of Communist revolution in Latin America. The full article was published in Hispanic Horizon 2016, ISDN 0970-7522, Issue No.33, Pages 19-27, a journal published by Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU), Centre of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Latin American Studies (CSPILA) Log in for full study at https://www.academia.edu/43032299/FIDEL_CASTRO-_SOCIALISM_OR_DEATH

Whenever there are accidents or leakages in nuclear plants, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) officials try to hush it up as a minor technical defect. But in its aftermath, the findings done by anti-nuclear activists indicate that it had a forewarning of a major disaster in the offing. For years it had been known that the Tarapur and Rajasthan atomic power plants are not fully safe. In May 1994, following the collapse of 300-tonne concrete dome in Kaiga Atomic Power Project, a complete shutdown of N-power plants in the country for the thorough check-up was ordered by Dr. A. Gopalkrishnan, the then Chairman of AERB. He pressed the bosses of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to attend to safety problems. The Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) in Rawatbhata has a dismal track record. In 25 years it had been shut down more than 250 times due to some fault or the other. Coupled with this are reports that daily wage workers at the plant fall sick occasionally.At Trombay and T

Farakka Barrage has compounded land erosion problems in Bhagalpur. Thousands of people living in the eroding embankments in Khairpur and Kahalgaon area of the district had been displaced from their homes due to erosion caused by shifting nature of the Ganges. Now they live in most abysmal condition and are dejected and angry. With the rehabilitation measures are still on the backseat of the governmental plans, they are compelled to live with their families in makeshift polythene tents either on the roadsides or on some government land-even now in the extreme conditions. Log in for full study at  https://www.academia.edu/23768967/GANGES_STILL_IN_FETTERS https://fdocuments.in/download/bhagalpur-and-ganges-erosion

Domestic workers, nearly all of them female, many of them minors being abused and exploited by their employers. The abuses range from withholding of wages to starvation, not allowing time for sleep or rest, to beatings, torture, and sexual exploitation. Responding to such occupational malignancy, domestic workers unions, co-operatives and forums, media and NGOs have raised voice against it, and had been demanding for legislation to regulate the employment of domestic workers and protect their rights. But so far the Indian Government has responded to such calls with little more than apathy. Log in for full story in Finnish & English  https://jumpshare.com/v/59dk7Lb2K2eb3efKNXXn

Nomadic pastoralists being evicted from Sariska Tiger Reserve to conserve tigers introduced from Ranthambore fear the loss of livelihoods and life in relocation settlements with poor amenities . Log in for the full story at  https://www.villagesquare.in/2019/04/17/sariskas-herders-fear-livelihood-loss-with-eviction/ https://thelogicalindian.com/awareness/sariska-tiger-reserve-rajasthan/ https://thewire.in/rights/herders-in-sariska-fear-loss-of-livelihood-as-they-face-eviction

Higher temperatures and prolonged dry spells are leading to increased pest attacks, disease outbreaks and lower yields in sugarcane organic farming could be the best way to cope . Log in for the full story at h ttps://indiaclimatedialogue.net/2019/01/23/sugarcane-farmers-struggle-to-cope-with-climate-change/ https://www.prevention web.net/news/view/63249

Fear of monkeys has gripped cashew farmers and migrant workers in Goa, as the simians have turned cashew plantations into a feeding ground, destroying the crop and transmitting a virus through ticks. Log in for the full story at https://www.villagesquare.in/2019/01/21/monkeys-damage-cashew-plantations-cause-fever-outbreak/ https://scroll.in/pulse/911632/fear-of-monkey-fever-hits-goas-cashew-plantations

An information centre in Nuh district in Haryana that lags in economic and social development has created awareness about government schemes and entitlements and has empowered villagers to claim their rights Log in for the full story at https://www.villagesquare.in/2018/08/10/information-helpline-improves-local-governance-in-nuh-villages/

The despicable practise of untouchability in Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh is keeping the Musahar community from accessing state healthcare facilities and the situation is changing too slowly despite grassroots activism. Log in for the full story  https://www.villagesquare.in/2018/06/29/musahars-denied-healthcare-because-they-are-considered-untouchables / https://scroll.in/article/884644/ups-musahars-face-such-intense-discrimination-that-even-healthcare-is-denied-to- https://thelogicalindian.com/awareness/musahars-denied-healthcare-they-are-considered-untouchables/ http://untouchables.org.in/pages/61

Tired of being denied basic human rights and held to be untouchables, Musahars in some villages of Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh are speaking up with help from community activists, but a decent livelihood is still far away. Log in for the full story https://www.villagesquare.in/2018/06/22/musahars-are-overcoming-fear-but-face-a-long-road-ahead/

With various factors contributing to unchecked erosion of  the  banks of Padma River, villages along its course in Jalangi in Murshidabad District of West Bengal have lost farmlands, forcing women and men to migrate to distant places in search of a livelihood .   Log in for the full story  https://www.villagesquare.in/2017/12/27/hungry-padma-drives-people-homes/ https://medium.com/@newsofking0/hungry-river-padma-is-forcing-people-to-migrate-in-search-of-a-livelihood-f071624b128 https://scroll.in/article/862939/in-an-agrarian-village-in-west-bengal-river-bank-erosion-has-robbed-locals-of-their-livelihood https://www.huffpost.com/archive/in/entry/hungry-river-padma-is-forcing-people-to-migrate-in-search-of-a-livelihood_a_23317997  

Jajor, a sleepy village surrounded by the Aravalli ranges in the Mewat region of Alwar district in Rajasthan has suddenly shot into prominence for defence strategic reasons. DRDO is hastily and clandestinely building 6 underground tunnels for a missile base here, that too, a mere 150 kilometres away from the National Capital. Because of this, thousands of Meo Muslims who have been living here for hundreds of years, peacefully, living a quiet pastoral life are a disturbing lot.   Log in for the full story  http://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/2/12509/Mewati-Meo-Muslims-Under-Threat

Coal mining in the Asansol-Durgapur area in West Bengal has imposed many external costs on its surroundings and people whose living is intrinsically linked with it. Some of these can be quantified by estimates and others are difficult to estimate. As the Central Government is rampantly going for coal extraction in collusion with private players, which would further disturb the nature and prove destructive for the environment. Opencast mining has removed large volumes of soil and rock, which overburdens to get to the workable coal seams, and destroys regional aquifers . Log in for the full study https://www.academia.edu/23552801/SOCIO_ECONOMIC_IMPACT_IN_COAL_MINING_REGION_OF_DURGAPUR_ASANSOL-_A_REPORT

Subarnarekha, meaning ‘streak of gold’ is the lifeline of the tribal and fisher folk communities inhabiting the Chotanagpur belt in Jharkhand, as a section of it, makes a living out of river’s gold. Alluvial gold-washing of artisanal scale is carried on in the sands and gravels of the river. It has flourished since the construction of Subarnarekha dam as displaced tribal oustees had no other options left. Now district/block officials are assiduously trying to regulate artisanal gold mining by pinning down the miners. The situation gets complicated due to lack of quantitative data and the confusion increases. Log in for the full study  http://asmasiapacific.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Eastern-India-Case-Study.pdf https://www.academia.edu/23551849/GOLD_HUNT_IN_THE_SUBARNAREKHA_A_Report

There are 40 million construction workers in India, who are  amongst the most vulnerable segment of the unorganised workforce in the country due to their temporary nature of work and lack of a definite employee-employer relationship. These workers have no fixed working hour, nor any documentation like an employee register, attendance, etc maintained by the employers owing to the temporary nature of the assignment.  The story was published in Finnish Magazine 'Tyomaana Maailma'. Log in for the full story in Finnish & English https://jumpshare.com/v/xYDWZBZQC4WSJXrxEPAY

In Jharkhand, the Adivasis are holding out against the might of the Indian Government. The innocent Adivasis are scrambling all their might to retain the last vestiges of their identity and cultural practices. The Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) has been mining Uranium in this region for the last several decades. Several new mines are being opened up. The Turamdih Mine and Mill, The Banduhurang Open Cast Uranium Mine and Mohuldih Uranium Mine are latest additions to the existing ones in Jaduguda, Narwapahar and Bhatin.   Log in for the full study  h ttps://www.academia.edu/10140481/A_PARADISE_LOST_- _TRIBES_OF_JHARKHAND_FIGHT_AGAINST_URANIUM_MINING https://www.nirs.org/wp-content/uploads/mononline/NM776.pdf

India has become the major outsourcing destination for the developed world, which needs a wide range of back-office and support services for its industries. In India, this new sector provides support services like customer care, data entry, medical transcription, marketing, and sales to developed countries like the USA, the UK and Australia. This sector has been projected as the provider of ‘next-generation jobs’ at international standards to India’s educated, English-speaking youth . The story was published in Finnish magazine in ‘Tyomaana Maailma' ’   Read it at: https://www.academia.edu/3747460/Organising_Business_Process_Outsourcing_BPO_Employees_in_India https://www.ritimo.org/Organiser-les-salaries-du-secteur-de-la-sous-traitance-BPO-en-Inde   (in French) https://www.ritimo.org/Organising-Business-Process-Outsourcing-BPO-Employees-in-India https://jumpshare.com/v/MtvXDv4jGYW6AzdRJuUa

The Indian Government is planning to build the world's largest nuclear plant in Jaitapur in the western state of Maharashtra. The site is a biodiversity hot spot that's also known to have high seismic activity. The plan is an untested, expensive and dangerous gamble with health and land, which is being vehemently opposed. Log in for the full story  https://www.academia.edu/3747530/Jaitapur_Nuclear_Power_Plant_Another_Catastrophe_in_the_Offing https://www.ritimo.org/Centrale-nucleaire-de-Jaitapur-une-nouvelle-catastrophe-a-l-horizon (in French) https://www.ritimo.org/Jaitapur-Nuclear-Power-Plant-Another-Catastrophe-in-the-Offing   https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:51010268

Since August 2011, the state of Tamil Nadu in south India has been witnessing renewed protests against the commissioning of the first of two 1,000 megawatt (MW) power plants as part of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP). While protests against the project have been occurring since the proposal was mooted in 1988, the impending commissioning of the reactors has rightly triggered the wave of concern in Tamil Nadu and throughout India, especially in light of the devastating and uncontrollable nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan. Log in for the full study https://www.academia.edu/3747559/Kudankulam_Nuclear_Power_Plant_Nucleus_of_Disaster https://www.ritimo.org/Centrale-nucleaire-de-Kudankulam-le-coeur-du-desastre (in French) https://www.ritimo.org/Kudankulam-Nuclear-Power-Plant-Nucleus-of-Disaster https://www.coursehero.com/file/64913855/Kudankulam-Nuclear-Power-Plant-Nucleus-opdf/

Contemporary social movements have led to the emergence  of new avenues of volunteerism. Increasing alienation, powerlessness, contradictions and inequalities in the society facilitate the opening up of greater space for volunteer engagement and social activism. These have a major role to play for facilitating people’s participation in human development. The chapter ‘Social Movements in India and Volunteering’ carried in pages 58, 59, 60, 61 & 62 of the book ‘Volunteering in India : Contexts, Perspectives and Discourses’, a flagship publication on volunteerism was launched by UNDP . Log in for the full study  https://www.academia.edu/2560013/SOCIAL_MOVEMENTS_IN_INDIA_AND_VOLUNTEERING

The neo-liberal economic policies, which perpetuate the exploitative economical, political and cultural system, undoubtedly sharpened and exacerbated the perceptions among India's dalits, minority and tribals that their livelihoods, lifestyles and identities are under constant threat. Caste system and the predominantly the patriarchal character of Indian society coupled with vast disparities in the distribution of wealth have accentuated the crisis had pushed the dalits, minority and tribals to the brink of disaster. The severe onslaught of communalism had further deepened the crisis . Log in for the full study https://www.academia.edu/2560102/TESTIMONIAL_THERAPY_A_PATH_TOWARDS_JUSTICE

They sweep, they swab, they wash, they cook, they take care of our children and our pets. We see them every day. Yet they are invisible. Millions of women, men and children, a large force of domestic workers, remain unseen, belittled and denied rights that all workers deserve. In India, domestic workers are bound to have a ubiquitous presence. The fact that their dismal working conditions do not disturb the average middle-class person's conscience is testimony to how plain brutality has become such an integral part of the mainstream Indian psyche . Log in for the full story published in Finnish Magazine 'TYOMAANA MAAILMA' and its English translation at: https://jumpshare.com/v/pHowu96T8YNDnyIPKWjV

Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary has displaced 28 villages, comprising of 1650 families, mainly hunters, gatherers and subsistence cultivators have been subjected to a sudden and poorly planned shift to agriculture-based livelihoods in a drought-prone and highly degraded landscape. Loss of forest-based livelihood has not been compensated adequately through the development of alternative, non-farm employment, and livelihood options. As a result of the inadequacy of the relocation package and gaps in implementation, the largely self-sufficient forest-based livelihoods of the Sahariya have been given to precarious, mainly wage-based, food-insecure and vulnerable livelihoods…   Log in for the fill study h ttps://www.academia.edu/3384333/KUNO_DISPLACES_SAHARIYA_TRIBES_IN_MADHYA_PRADESH https://jumpshare.com/v/DLrYm7XzKsJxjKH0bv7u   (Article published in Finnish Magazine MAAILMAN KUVALEHTI & it's English Translation)

Started by women in Chhattisgarh villages from their personal savings, the Sakhi Mahila Bank has not only boosted rural women’s income but also their confidence and economic independence. Log in for the full story https://www.villagesquare.in/2017/12/04/rural-women-start-bank-economic-transformation/ https://scroll.in/article/860224/starting-with-deposits-of-rs-5-sakhi-mahila-bank-has-become-an-enabler-of-economic-transformation https://yourstory.co m/2017/12/bank-village-women

Breaking long-held taboos and gender biases, girls of conservative Meo Muslim community in Alwar have convinced their parents to put them into school, and the results are showing. Log in for the full story  https://www.villagesquare.in/2017/11/13/meo-girls-step-modern-world-schooling/ https://scroll.in/article/857711/in-a-meo-muslim-village-in-rajasthan-education-has-opened-up-new-possibilities-for-girls https://www.thebetterindia.com/120872/rajasthan-muslim-girls-gender-education/ https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/newsdetail/index/7/12263/meo-girls-in-rajasthan-give-wing-to-dreams

Undeterred by displacement from Pakistan during the 1971 war and resettled in the unforgiving Thar Desert, women now living in Bikaner district of Rajasthan have used their skills of traditional embroidery to earn a living with dignity Log in for the full story at  https://www.villagesquare.in/2017/05/12/women-artisans-thar-desert-overcome-adversity-embroidery/ http://www.thebetterindia.com/100368/women-artisans-thar-desert-embroidery/ https://thewire.in/135073/women-artisans-thar-desert-overcome-adversity-embroidery/ https://www.thequint.com/voices/women/pakistani-women-refugees-in-bikaner-embroidery

The villages in the desert of Rajasthan are notorious for child brides but groups of girls are now banding together to defy and upturn a long-held tradition to assure a new and better future for themselves Log in for the full story  http://www.villagesquare.in/2017/04/26/jaisalsar-bikaner-banishes-child-marriage-homes/ https://thewire.in/128916/jaisalsar-in-bikaner-banishes-child-marriage-from-its-homes/ http://www.thebetterindia.com/97845/rajasthan-jaisalsar-child-brides-ban/ https://www.thequint.com/india/2017/05/23/bikaner-village-jaisalser-rajasthan-bans-child-marriage

Not content with just building toilets, the village in Neemrana block of Alwar district has started implementing a solid and liquid waste management plan that includes segregation of trash at source. Majra, a village in Neemrana administrative block on the Mandhan-Behror Road, surrounded by Aravali ranges is fast emerging as the cleanest village of Rajasthan . Log in for the full story https://www.villagesquare.in/2017/02/20/majra-aravallis-sets-cleanliness-standards-rajasthan/ https://www.huffingtonpost.in/village-square/this-village-in-rajasthan-is-gearing-up-to-become-the-cleanest-i_a_21717404/?utm_hp_ref=in-open-defecation-india

Ekawana Rajpur is a village in Belhari administrative block, along the banks of Ganga and 16 kilometres from Ballia town in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, where villagers suffer from afflictions such as itchy skin lesions, changes in skin colours, hardening and thickening of skins into nodules. These afflictions are due to arsenic contamination of their drinking water sources. Log in for the full story at http://www.villagesquare.in/2017/01/27/arsenic-contamination-groundwater-killing-villagers-ballia/ https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/arsenic-contamination-in-groundwater-killing-villagers-in-ballia-tarun-kanti-bose-4681092.html

Many children like Pinky, Montu, Fareed, Suraj, Aslam, Istiyaq, and Savita, pushed by penury are joining the growing army of child labourers. Toiling hard under the scorching sun, they try to share the financial burden of their parents. It goes unabated despite the ban enforced by the Indian Parliament on employing of children expanding the ambit of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 in June 2006. Though the Parliament had passed Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act on 4 August 2009 and enforced it as a law on 1st April 2010 but still, these children are denied education . Log  in for the full story published in Finnish Magazine ' Maailman Kuvalehti' in 2012, with English Translation  https://jumpshare.com/v/SVPDSgMUlhAzfrA4ouw1                                                                                              

Neoliberal economic policies have undoubtedly sharpened and exacerbated the perceptions among India's subalterns; their livelihoods, lifestyles and identities are under further threat. The state is setting up mega projects such as big dams, steel plants, mining projects etc. which in turn deprives tribals in particular and women as well as children in general of their rights over land, home, access to resources. Though these threats were on the lesser scale earlier, they have now been intensified in a globalising era. Log in for the paper https://www.academia.edu/23768664/PERSPECTIVE_PAPER_ON_DISPLACEMENT

Jaduguda, once a place of scenic beauty, dense forest, low mountains, small villages  surrounded by hills, hardworking tribal people, playful and ever-smiling children, open-air and flowing stream --- the place is now a man-made hell. Jaduguda is the heart of the Ho and Santhal tribal belt, which is the site of India’s first uranium mine. Mineworkers are suffering an epidemic of lung cancer, skin disease and other chronic ailments. People are dying daily ... Log in for the full study https://www.academia.edu/3371322/CHALLENGING_THE_NUCLEAR_HEART_THE_MOVEMENT_AGAINST_URANIUM_MINING_IN_JHARKHAND http://jadugoda.jharkhand.org.in/2009/05/adivasi-live-under-nuclear-terror-in.html http://www.cndpindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Peace-Now-Vol7-Issue2-2009.pdf (Pages 47-55) https://fdocuments.in/document/movement-against-jaduguda-uranium-mining.html

The life-giver and provider of sustenance, River Ganges, suddenly starts engulfing those dependent on it and its benign presence becomes a terror. Such as in Munger, Bihar, due to uncontrolled erosion since the construction of Farakka Barrage in the 1970s, thousands of acres of land was swallowed by the river. The continuous erosion of river embankment has led to reduction and changing the river path. It has converted all cultivated land into sand beds and had destroyed the dwelling houses as well as cattle. Villagers languish in poverty as fear and desperation writs large on their faces. Log in for the full study https://www.academia.edu/23769099/HOSTILE_GANGES_IN_MUNGER_DISPLACES_THOUSANDS ...

Allegations of corruption, shoddy workmanship and delays in handing over venues have plunged into crisis just two months before the opening ceremony the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The construction boom sparked by the games, one million migrant workers poured into Delhi from neighbouring areas in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, which are among the poorest in the country. Mostly worked without documentation- usually for much less than Delhi’s minimum wage of Rs. 152 a day- and lived in the squalid makeshift roadside shanties. Log in for the full study  https://www.docdroid.net/scTnBjX/inside-labour-camps-of-delhi-commonwealth-games-pdf