ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Articles by Shruti JainSubscribe to Shruti Jain

Repudiating Chipko Village’s Identity and Existence

Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan-led division bench of the High Court of Uttarakhand in its judgment of 14 July 2021 dismissed the petition of villagers of Reini, known for the Chipko movement, expressing doubts about their identity and integrity. Unmindful of the fact that the distressed petitioners had approached the court seeking protection of their lives and ecology, the court penalised them for the “abuse of PIL jurisdiction.” The judiciary and government have continued to ignore the repeated attempts of the people to seek relief and frequent warn-offs in the form of disasters in this region.

 

Construction of Calamities in the Uttarakhand Himalaya

Hydropower projects on the Uttarakhand rivers have proven to aggravate the severity of floods, making them calamitous. In addition, these projects have also increased the vulnerability of the mountain villagers towards disasters, while giving these an unsettling everydayness and a spiralling effect. Projects have evaded accountability and responsibility for such disasters by opportunistically deeming these as devi aapda, or natural calamities, even as the line between natural and human-made calamities has become more blurred than ever.

Adding Meaning to ‘Democracy’

Claiming India from Below: Activism and Democratic Transformation edited by Vipul Mudgal, Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2016; pp xxi + 329, ₹ 995.

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