Thread by @Raksha_Kumar

After getting a good rap on the knuckles by editors for being a lazy lurker on social media, here's course correction. I am now doing a thread of all my reportage in 2018. (@sree and @prempanicker had encouraged me to do this many years ago 🙈) Please read and share.

While urbanisation is a global trend, villagers around #Ahmedabad don't want to live in cities. Since 2012, #Gujarat government has encouraged 12 cities to swallow up some 800 villages. And now, most of them are resisting. A take on the 'Gujarat Model'.
theguardian.com/cities/2018/fe…

The two main problems for the new state of #Telangana are exemplified in
Vemulaghat, a village off #Hyderabad. I went there to understand their conflict over land and #water for irrigation. CC: @Landesa_Global @LandConflicts thewire.in/politics/despi…

Will #Ahemdabad eat up these dozen or so villages? A follow up to the story on how the Gujarat Model is based on a flawed and frenzied urbanisation drive.
CC: @_AdilHussain @newslaundry @NavsarjanTrust @jigneshmevani80 newslaundry.com/2018/02/12/guj…

#Hyderabad is the “bulk drug capital of India”. But, its not enough. 75% of bulk drugs are still imported from #China. To reduce this, a pharmacuitical hub is coming up on 20,000 acres of land next to the city. With disasterous consequences. CC: @MAKAAM9 scmp.com/week-asia/busi…

East Champaran, #Bihar has one of the most skewed land ownership ratios in the country. Very few people own vast tracts of land. A programme to redistribute lands was working – until Nitish Kumar allied with the BJP.
CC: @LandConflicts @jigneshmevani80 scroll.in/article/868266…

Part 1 of a series on the twists and turns Land Acquisition Act 2013 has taken. Four states passing laws to render it useless, compensation and rehabilitation are a pipe dream for many small land owners. #FromPolicyToPeople
CC: @dhruv_rathee @Memeghnad
barandbench.com/policy-people-…

Part 2 of the report on the Land Acquisition Act 2013, reported from six states and 12 districts. Is it a good law? How has it been abused? And what is being done to check its abuse? #FromPolicyToPeople
CC: @Landesa_Global @napmindia
barandbench.com/policy-people-…

More than 20 years after #Gujarat acquired over 2,000 hectares of land in Ghogha but built nothing on it, the High Court will decide if the land should be returned to the people. CC: @napmindia newslaundry.com/2018/04/05/guj…

Does the Indian Constitution have a Basic Structure? Should it be up for review?I interviewed three people to highlight the fault lines in the 'separation of powers' debate between the legislature and the judiciary.
CC: @SundeepDougal
scroll.in/article/877059…

[VIDEO] In 2010, many 10,000 acres of grazing lands were diverted for a "secret nuclear city". Lands taken, livelihoods affected and an ecological disaster waiting to happen. I went there to follow up on a 2015 story by @AdrianMLevy facebook.com/TheNewsMinute/…

Read about how an entire village was planning to press NOTA on their ballots because successive Karnataka governments ignored their concerns on land ownership and employment. #nuclear thenewsminute.com/article/how-pe…

#Maharashtra police claimed credit for the ‘biggest Maoist encounter’ in history. But, a trek to the 'encounter' site raises many questions on human rights violations. Where civilians killed? Were they killed in Chhattisgarh?CC: @editorsunil @thealokputul
scroll.in/article/878469…

Adivasis in Gadchiroli complain that the state treats ordinary villagers who oppose #mining in the Surjagarh forest no different than it does the #Maoists. Killing, violence, looting etc.
CC: @hrw @UNHumanRights
scroll.in/article/878610…

#UrbanNaxals is being deliberately used to curb dissent. @Sudhabharadwaj is the latest example.
scroll.in/article/885664…

"The divide between the majority communities and the minority Muslims is becoming so deep it may be impossible to bridge... But the most chilling similarity is that the state might be compliant in violence against Muslims in both India and Sri Lanka"
truthdig.com/articles/south…

If fighting corruption is the government's goal, why does it want to weaken the RTI? Here's why:
barandbench.com/frompolicytope…

Even with the cost of renewables dropping 50% in recent years, public banks loan money to the dirty coal industry, adding to.... you guessed it! NPAs.
scmp.com/week-asia/busi…

As Pathalgadi movement in #Jharkhand spreads beyond Khunti district, here's a story from #Chhattisgarh, where the movement seems very limited in scope and impact #ChhattisgarhAssemblyElections
barandbench.com/policy-people-…

Vernon Gonsalves Arun Ferreira and @Sudhabharadwaj were sent to police custody yesterday. Here's a piece I did in August which talks about why we should care. #UrbanNaxals newslaundry.com/2018/08/29/bhi…

At a time when there is a constitutional crisis in #SriLanka, we'd do good to know its religoius faultlines in context. Esp since #mahindarajapaksa has rather extreme views. I was in the country earlier this year and this is what I found.
truthdig.com/articles/south…

How important is it to debate #landrights with children? Turns out, very. Here's one author who has been doing that consistently. And effectively.
CC: @ForestRightsAct @Landesa_Global thehindu.com/books/tales-of…

In this small Himachali village, women are driving its economy. Almost single handedly. After I did this story, @RahulGandhi wrote them a letter to appreciate their efforts. CC: @the_hindu @BhuiraJams @genderlogindia thehindu.com/society/it-tak…

I had an opportunity to understand the lives of Kashmiri women suffering from PTSD and depression in detail. Over many months. #Mentalhealth
#HumanRights #conflict #gender #Kashmir
truthdig.com/articles/a-clo…

Why are women who suffer from mental illnesses abaondoned? Reporting from Thane and Chennai, I tried to answer the question. There is a lot that remains unanswered though. #Mentalhealth #gender CC: @mentalhealth @genderlogindia @FeminismInIndia
bbc.com/news/world-asi…

Suicides are not about dying. They are about ending excrutiating pain.
At least 10 women kill themselves every hour in India, I heard some of their stories in detail. Here they are. CC: @NIMHgov #Mentalhealth #MentalHealthMatters #gender
trtworld.com/magazine/why-a…

"Although women attend rehabilitation centres, they are at risk of relapse because of family, social and work pressures." How Indian women escape addiction, if at all.
#Mentalhealth #gender
CC: @IWMF
aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

How citizens expressed their support to the nun who "shook the foundations of the Catholic Church" by accusing a bishop of #rape. I met a few of them in Trivandrum.
#MeToo #MeTooIndia CC: @TheRestlessQuil
aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…