The princely state of Cooch Behar merged with the Dominion of India on August 8, 1949 and became a part of the State of West Bengal on January 1, 1950. To go to Cooch Behar, one has to cross Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, which were also once part of other neighbouring hill kingdoms and annexed by the British. During my[Read More...]
Roads are crumbling, bridges are collapsing and railway lines are flooded . The surging waters from the rivers are drowning entire villages all around. It has rained so much that even where there is no flood, the kutcha houses have become wet and some are falling apart. Schools have declared holidays and public transport is closed. People are unable to[Read More...]
Sometimes it was a rise in pig iron prices due to disruption of supply chains due to the Covid pandemic. Now you can find the Ukraine War as a reason for the increase in the price of coke used in the steel industry. Not so long ago it was GST and demonetisation. Whatever be the real reason life is surely[Read More...]
In Maharashtra, the administration has been claiming that there is a steady decline in the number of malnutrition and child deaths in the state. But, in recent figures that have come out, questions are being raised on the claims of the administration. In the last 17 months, from January 2021 to May 2022, over 22,751 children in the age group[Read More...]
With the horrors of the deadly virus still in the air, this would appear to be like a remarkable fairy tale in the post-Covid pandemic scenario, almost like a dream come true, almost like the Sound of Music multiplied many times over. It is quite unbelievable, but true. Across the dense forests and zigzag hilly terrain, full of water bodies,[Read More...]
In the last few years, we have been witnessing erratic, unpredictable and unexpected changes in climate, which are more perceptible in the Himalayan region of the country. These changes are threatening agriculture productivity as well as livelihood security of rural communities. If ignored, climate variability and climate change can disrupt food supply chains, reduce access to food, and affect food[Read More...]
The world may have come to a standstill due to the Covid epidemic, but it turns out human trafficking smugglers never stopped their work. They continued to prey on children and women. Yes, when Corona was at its peak, the smugglers slowed down for a while, as they were also afraid of getting infected. Now that the impact of the[Read More...]
The lingering and fractured memories of three decades of CPM rule in Tripura are not so rosy anymore, even as the people today seem totally distraught and disgusted with the current regime of the BJP ruling the state. The latest source of discontent is what the tribal communities in the deep interiors call ‘Miking’ — announcements on a mike by[Read More...]
The Modi government’s publicity blitzkrieg around the 75th anniversary of independence masks a steadily worsening hunger and livelihood crisis. Recent research has revealed growing numbers of severely malnourished children – the majority of them Dalit or tribal – which calls for urgent intervention. Yet, the government is perversely placing fresh hurdles before India’s severely malnourished children and the rations that[Read More...]
Sarmishtha, a mother of two is a homemaker in the Cachar area of Assam. She says that though none in her family were infected during the second Covid wave in mid-2021, life has become tough since then. “I am not at all able to cope with the workload, because life has changed” she laments. “The children, who are studying in[Read More...]
