Abstract The dramatic unfolding of the Joshimath crisis in Uttarakhand, India, has brought the world’s attention once again to the Himalaya. The contribution of a 520-megawatt hydropower dam to land subsidence is squarely in the spotlight. River valleys with bumper-to-bumper hydropower dam building, especially in the North Western Himalaya, in the past decade and a […]
Many families who are still landless cannot even buy land because of the state’s policy Article written by Himshi Singh & Prakash Bhandari published on 26/09/23 in Down To Earth Developed with World Bank funding, NH 907A from Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh, to Paonta Sahib is wide and smooth, unlike any typical mountain […]
Indigenous communities in the two ecologically fragile Himalayan States are routinely excluded from this narrative that fuels reckless growth. Article written by Manshi Asher published on 21/09/23 in Frontline The monsoon of 1999 is etched vividly in my memory. At 23, shortly after finishing my master’s, I was to join a project that worked on […]
Himachal Pradesh needs a policy and governance overhaul that prioritizes environmental sustainability and local communities Article written by Manshi Asher published on 16/07/23 in Hindustan Times As swollen rivers in Himachal Pradesh receded this week, and the state began accounting for the losses suffered, a meme began circulating. Barsaton mein pahad ghumne na aayen, kyunki […]
When we arrived at the Aima village ‘waste processing plant’, next to Neugal khad (stream), near Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, there had just been a large downpour. The rubbish strewn all along the riverbank was drenched in dirt, likely worsening the stench – putrid, a little acidic, somehow sludge-like. We tiptoed through it to reach the […]
Q. What does Himdhara do? Why was there a need for it? Himdhara is a Himachal based environment research and action collective that was formed in 2009. The collective has been working with an environmental justice approach, supporting mountain communities asserting their right to access, use and protect their natural landscapes. The support work itself […]
हिमाचल जैसे पहाड़ी राज्य में जहां 2/3 भगौलीक क्षेत्र वन भूमि है वहां का स्थानीय समुदाय अपनी आजीविका के लिए वनों पर निर्भर हैं। कई अध्ययनों मे पाया गया है कि वन के संरक्षण और संवर्धन में वनों पर आश्रित समुदायों की महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका रही है। इन्हीं बातों को ध्यान मे रखते हुए भारतीय संसद […]
Article Manshi Asher published on 07/02/22 in The Wire Science Last year on this day, bone-chilling images emerged from a tragic disaster in the Himalaya. A group of workers desperate to save their lives were huddled under the roof of the Tapovan Dam barrage in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, even as a deluge roared over them. Someone […]
हिमशी सिंह द्वारा लिखित , द वायर द्वारा प्रकाशित किया गया है । दिसंबर, 2021 में वन अधिकार क़ानून को पारित हुए 15 साल पूरे हुए हैं, हालांकि अब भी वन निवासियों को अपने अधिकारों के लिए संघर्ष करना पड़ रहा है. आज जहां पूरे भारत में 20 लाख से अधिक वन अधिकार दावे मंज़ूर […]
by Manshi Asher Sunderlal Bahuguna may have departed, but there are many formidable repositories of diverse oral and embodied knowledge that we could fall back on In the era of irreversible ecological destruction, initiatives to ‘save the environment’ mushroom every day. It is, after all, also the age of ‘solutions’. ‘Green’ is now a pre-fix […]