Born in the forest: the women giving birth alone in the Kashmiri mountains

Far from hospitals, nomadic Gujjar women routinely go into labour – and die – on their herder communities’ long seasonal treks Arsalan Bukhari Dawn had just broken across the trail through the Pir Panjal mountains when Fatima Deader felt the first labour pains. She and her family had almost reached the midway point of their… Read More Born in the forest: the women giving birth alone in the Kashmiri mountains

Choking to Death

The scale of the silicosis crisis in India is staggering. A report by the Indian Council of Medical Research in 1999 estimated that, apart from 5.4 million construction workers, 3 million workers in other industries were at high risk of silica exposure. These figures are already over two decades old, but exact current estimates are… Read More Choking to Death

Grains of Life: How Chotanagpur’s Adivasis Are Reviving Native Varieties of Rice

Farmers and local NGOs say the indigenous rice varieties that are fast becoming extinct have unique nutrition, climate-resilience to ensure food security in increasingly unpredictable weather. Anumeha Yadav Sundargarh (Odisha), Latehar (Jharkhand): Deep inside the lush sal forest in Odisha’s Sundargarh, Albisia Lakda, an Adivasi farmer living in Subdega block had divided the rice crop on… Read More Grains of Life: How Chotanagpur’s Adivasis Are Reviving Native Varieties of Rice

In a Delhi heat ward, two workers fight a lonely battle for life

Unconscious, frothing in the mouth, holding ice packs: Migrant workers are the biggest casualty of India’s worst heatwave Anumeha Yadav New Delhi: On Thursday afternoon, the busy campus of Safdarjung hospital had patients and attendants trying to protect themselves from the searing heat in the shade of the building and under trees. A tall security… Read More In a Delhi heat ward, two workers fight a lonely battle for life

‘It’s in our rivers and in our cups. There’s no escape’: the deadly spread of salt water in Bangladesh

Kidney disease is on the rise in coastal communities, where some have no choice but to drink and cook with contaminated water.. The consumption of saline water in coastal Bangladesh has long been associated with various health risks, including hypertension, respiratory problems and pre-eclampsia, but its effect on kidney health remains relatively unknown. Thaslima Begum in Khulna Shadows… Read More ‘It’s in our rivers and in our cups. There’s no escape’: the deadly spread of salt water in Bangladesh

Palestine Economic Update: October November 2023

 Author: Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute – MAS Download attachment at above link ***************************************************** Israel wants to slay the monster next door, but with this lethal bombardment, it is feeding it The Guardian view on Gaza’s devastation: don’t look away. See the bigger picture too Repeal the Exclusionary Nation-state Law, for the Sake of All Israelis A Brief History… Read More Palestine Economic Update: October November 2023

The UK’s nuclear Narnia is a ‘bottomless pit of hell, money and despair’

Described as a nuclear Narnia, the site is a source of economic support for Cumbria – and a longstanding international safety concern Ministers who visit Sellafield for the first time are left with no illusions about the challenge at Europe’s most toxic nuclear site. One former UK secretary of state described it as a “bottomless… Read More The UK’s nuclear Narnia is a ‘bottomless pit of hell, money and despair’

New study warns against risks of ‘time-traveling pathogens’

As the climate warms, scientists have suggested that “time-traveling pathogens” unleashed by thawing Arctic permafrost may pose a risk to modern ecosystems. Permafrost is a hard layer of frozen ground made of soil, sand and rocks in high-latitude or high-altitude areas such as Greenland, Alaska, Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and northern Canada. This icy layer traps microbes that… Read More New study warns against risks of ‘time-traveling pathogens’

A daughter’s fight, a son lost to drugs: families in J&K battle death and despair

Bashaarat Masood , Naveed Iqbal In district after district in the Valley, as The Indian Express found travelling to Srinagar, Anantnag, Kupwara and Baramulla, such stories are playing out in homes, hospital wards and deaddiction centres. Jammu and Kashmir’s drug pandemic which, as the first of this investigative series reported Friday, has seen a record seizure of heroin, an unprecedented… Read More A daughter’s fight, a son lost to drugs: families in J&K battle death and despair