Reportage on a planet without equitable or sustainable development.
Change in the Air?
This article was written after attending the hearing where Amicus Harish Salve suggested that the Supreme Court direct the Centre to set up one or more statutory authorities to ensure the country’s forest policy is implemented “in letter and spirit”.
If Mr Salve’s suggestion is accepted by the bench, it would represent nothing less than the apex court returning administrative power over forests to the executive. Fourteen years ago, unhappy with how states and centre were managing forests, the apex court had stepped in. Over the past few weeks, the forest bench, comprising Chief Justice SH Kapadia and Justices Aftab Alam and K S Radhakrishnan, has been rethinking its role.
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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