Reportage on a planet without equitable or sustainable development.
The human cost of misgovernance in the Andamans
I spent much of January in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. I went there to report on the proposed transhipment port on Great Nicobar but, while on the islands, also ended up doing some reporting on how the archipelago itself is doing. This wasn’t by design but, listening to islanders, it seemed as the social contract between them and the administration had decayed from “ignorant paternalism” to something far more colonial.
Not only does the administration not respond to locals, it is taking a set of decisions which actively harm them — while fattening itself and some mainlander firms. Some of the details were actually shocking — not converting the PHC at Campbell Bay into a CHC; unilaterally deciding locals don’t need ships between Port Blair and the mainland; and, above all, the administration’s handling of the Nicobarese after the Tsunami. Those of you working on civil liberties and tribal rights should absolutely read this report. Fully violative of the Indian Constitution, the administration’s actions.
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; five Shriram Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism; and, more recently, been a finalist at the True Story Award and GIJN’s Global Shining Light Awards. 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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