Reportage on a planet without equitable or sustainable development.
Or what the development mafia could learn from hackers
why do most development programmes result in unforeseen outcomes? because…
Interventions in rural India — by companies and government — are surrounded by tens of thousands (if not lakhs and millions) of people looking for ways to improve their lot in life. As they try to use these interventions in a manner that will maximise personal gain, subversion is one of the outcomes — village elites trying to get family members into position of power , the local grain trader accessing the PDS system by retaining the BPL card of someone he has lent to, a farmer pushing a poor harvest into the government’s procurement machinery by bribing the buyer who, as it were, is similarly seeking to maximise his own private gain.
I am an Indian journalist with interests in energy, environment, climate and India’s ongoing slide into right-wing authoritarianism. My book, Despite the State, an examination of pervasive state failure and democratic decay in India, was published by Westland Publications, India, in January 2021. My work has won the Bala Kailasam Memorial Award; the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award; and five Shriram Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism. Write to me at despitethestate@protonmail.com.
“Westland closure: Titles that are selling fast and a few personal recommendations,” by Chetana Divya Vasudev, Moneycontrol. (Because this happened too. In February, a year after DtS was released, Amazon decided to shutter Westland, which published the book. The announcement saw folks rushing to buy copies of Westland books before stocks run out.)
Fractured/Earth 
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