Good afternoon! We’re back after a wee week’s break - things are getting hectic on our end. So in this newsletter, we bring to you news about other facts you should know about Bihar’s elections, info on the RDF in Punjab, protests to save Mollem, green fireworks, COVID vaccine updates, and mink farms, among other stories.
Happy reading!
Rural
The Bihar assembly elections finished in a nail-biting race, with a BJP-majority win for the NDA. However, RJD had one seat over them in the Mahagathbandhan, making it the largest party. Nitish Kumar looks to start off his fourth term as CM, despite JD(U)’s few seats. This, even after the migrant workers scandal took place in the lockdown. However, they did get much fewer seats than last time, coming in at 43.
This article focuses on some of the other highlights from the election - such as more women voting this election than men, and the Left parties tallying up to 16.
On the topic of migrant workers, Digital Empowerment Foundation has put together a resource, ethnographically documenting the plight of migrant workers in the lockdown. Over 60 migrant labourers were video interviewed collectively in three states. There are some films coming up on the topic as well. You can check it out over here.
More than half the arrests under the National Security Act in UP in 2020 have involved cow-slaughter suspects, per government data reported in September 2020. While cow slaughter in UP has been banned since the law of 1955, there is no set mandate to prohibit beef consumption, sale, purchase or transportation. Yet this isn’t taken into account in the case of those arrested, who have been interviewed for this piece.
The Haryana Assembly last week passed a Bill which allows for the right to recall members of Panchayati raj institutions and gives women 50 percent reservation in the rural bodies. It also proposed 8 percent reservation to the Backward Classes. People in rural areas will now have the right to remove a sarpanch even before their tenure is over.
Bad blood between the Center and Punjab continues, as the government has now withheld the Rural Development Fund for the state, as we spoke about in our previous newsletter. The RDF is the 3 percent tax levied on the purchase or sale of agricultural produce, and it is mandated with the promotion of better agriculture, granting relief for the loss and damage to agricultural produce, and further development in rural areas. Read more on the issue in this piece.
In spite of the harvest season kicking in, India’s rural unemployment rate increased in October to 6.9% compared to the previous month’s 5.86% per MNEGRA data. Yet urban unemployment went down from 8.45% in September to 7.15% in October. This could be due to the harvest season not having picked up, a lack of jobs, and surplus workers. Find out more in this piece by LiveMint.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s press conference on the third leg of relief to a variety of sectors is on today, and you can see the live updates on here. Rs 1.46 lakh crore are to be allotted to boost 10 sectors.
Police in Gaya, Bihar has registered their first FIR against the siphoning of the Centrally funded pre-Matric scholarship meant for poor minority students by an alleged nexus of middlemen, bank correspondents, officials and school staff in Bihar and Jharkhand. In Assam, the Criminal Investigation Department reported that it had arrested 21 people. The Indian Express investigated this, which you can read here.
The Karnataka Land Reforms (Second) Amendment Bill 2020, was passed in the Legislative Assembly on Saturday, which would enable non-agriculturists to purchase farm land. However, the ceiling of land ownership remains the same. The purchaser of agricultural land should use the land for agricultural purposes only. While it did ban sale of lands granted to the SC/ST, protests have been rampant against the ruling.
Environment
Three projects threaten the forests in and around Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park in Goa. Upto 30 projects were cleared by the Ministry for Environment during the lockdown without a cumulative impact assessment on the region. Activists and protesters gathered peacefully at Chandor to protest these projects and save Mollem, yet had FIRs filed against them. To understand the depth of what’s happening in Goa, read this piece by a lawyer and artist based in the city.
India has prided itself on its rich flora and fauna, yet still manages to allow for meddling into some of the world’s most precious landscapes with diluting environment laws. The Indian government has been reportedly misleading the Parliament about the state of the natural world and providing inaccurate, confusing data about its wildlife. For example, there are 159 species of freshwater fish threatened by extinction in India, yet none of them are listed under the Wildlife Protection Act per an expert.
The Sillahalla Pumped Storage Hydro-Electric Project in the Kundah region of Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiri district aims to construct two reservoirs, to generate electricity and address peak time deficiency. Environmentalists and local communities oppose the project since it would be an environmental and livelihood disaster, submerging nearly 800 acres of forests and agricultural lands, while also displacing over 10,000 people.
This article talks about how the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, created to enable the “preservation of the quality of air and control of air pollution,” is all bark and no bite. Close to no cases have been filed under it from northern Indian states in recent years, even though they face the worst pollution. Experts also highlight the need to bring the Air Act up to date with modern sources of pollution.
With Diwali just around the corner, alarms were sounded about banning fireworks, yet were soon changed to allowing for the sale of only green fireworks. Most states have allowed them to be used for two hours, between 8 pm to 10 pm, on Diwali. Only 30 manufacturers have received the licence to manufacture these fireworks, which are said to lead to a 30 percent to 35 percent emission reduction. This Firstpost piece gives you all the updates.
The heavy rains this year in Hyderabad caused increased destruction, exposing the faults in the urban infrastructure, along with highlighting the impact of climate change. Hyderabad was built along the river Musi, one of the tributaries of river Krishna, and increasing population led to the city sprawling out without taking into account these factors. Read more about the interplay between the environment and urban development.
Elephant herds moved during the two distinct crop harvesting periods of paddy and maize between the Indo-Nepal border. A 2016 solar-powered fence erected by Nepal abruptly cut off the herds’ movement. This has led to an increase in human-animals interactions and crop raiding. The Asian elephants are an endangered species.
The International Institute of Sustainable Development’s new report on how the G20 countries have been making progress in ending government support to fossil fuels shows the situation to be extremely bleak. In this Twitter thread by IndiaSpend, India is shown to actually have increased its investment into fossil fuels. You can find the main report here.
A study by four research bodies has found that air pollution levels are similar in rural and urban areas in the Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP), which is unlike the trend in industrialised countries. The study also estimates that up to 10.5 lakh people die prematurely of causes that may be attributed to particulate matter in the air. Read about the cause of this over here.
Health
Nearly 48,000 new COVID cases have been reported in the last 24hours in India.
Serum Institute of India said last week that it has made 40 million doses of AstraZeneca's potential Covid-19 vaccine. However, they have not specified if the doses are meant for global supply or only for India.
A new study by IDFC Institute suggests that 44.1% of the population in rural areas and 53.8% in urban areas of Karnataka have developed antibodies to fight the infection, based on data collected from a representative sample of households in 20 districts between mid-June and August.
While there has been great news about the Pfizer vaccine (it’s 90% effective), there are troubles over how it would be transported around the world.
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE's Covid-19, when produced, will be distributed in China for now. Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. will distribute it through a complex and costly system of deep-freeze airport warehouses and refrigerated vehicles. The shots must then be thawed from -70 degrees celsius and injected within five days, if not, they are not effective.
Per an expert, India’s cold storage chains are not able to cope with some districts' need for measles vaccines alone, and would probably not be able to handle the high demand and sub-zero temperature required for the COVID vaccine.
Researchers have also discovered a new 'hidden' gene in the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In a virus that only has about 15 genes in total, knowing more could have a significant impact on how it can be combated. You can read the whole study here.
According to the National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), till September this year, 136 cases of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) were reported in Bihar in which 19 people died. This is still a considerable amount, since in June 2019, an outbreak ofAES in Muzaffarpur and the adjoining districts resulted in deaths of more than 150 children. Bihar has a long way to go in its fight against AES.
The Maharashtra government is waiting for the mobile app, Covin, from the Centre to start the process of registering names of healthcare workers for the upcoming COVID vaccinations. Each healthcare worker will be tracked for vaccine doses, repeat dose and vaccine schedule. The central government has reportedly assured 150 deep freezers to boost storage capacity for the vaccines.
Mink farms pose a serious threat to human health in COVID, given that they can both transmit the virus to humans and other animals, and get infected through humans. There have been talks about culling up to 17 million mink that are bred in these farms, yet it was shelved after political infighting forced Denmark’s minority government to acknowledge it didn’t have parliament’s support to move ahead. So far, six countries — Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the U.S. — have reported COVID infections in farmed minks.
.LIFE
A list of readings that we found insightful over the weeks
'Betrayed': In Jammu, Growing Regret Over Support for Scrapping of Article 370
Menstrual health in India needs more than just distribution of low cost sanitary pads
Schools, girls' rights, Covid relief — what India's top philanthropist Azim Premji spends on
India’s Women Bear the Burden of Unpaid Work – With Costs to Themselves and the Economy
At One of Bhopal's Largest Hospitals, Families Fight To Know How Their Kin Died
Public Voices Increasingly Ignored In Environmentally Sensitive Projects
Demonetisation, Economic Slowdown May Have Led to Rise in Infant Mortality Rate: Study
Explained: What is the new peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan?
That’s it for this week! Get in touch with us to give us tips, info, to write for us, or to just say hi :)