Safina Nabi

A New Legal Challenge Emerges for Journalism Digital Refuge
Following the government's crackdown on media and free press in India, journalists sought refuge in platforms like YouTube and social media to uphold the principles of independent journalism. The emergence of a new generation of tech-savvy journalists turned these digital spaces into their primary arenas for disseminating news and analysis.
However, the optimism surrounding these alternative platforms is now facing a formidable chall...

Fisherfolk in India and Pakistan are the victims of a turbulent mix of politics, economic crises, and climate change.

It was a windy but warm September morning, and crowds were gathered outside the outpatient department (OPD) of the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar, Kashmir. Navigating past the lengthy queues, this writer entered the government-established drug rehabilitation centre. There were long lines of young men clutching prescriptions, awaiting their weekly medications. They were all patients grappling with drug addiction, primarily intravenous heroin use.
Going past the corridor and up a...

Governmental policies in India are increasingly being digitised, making large amounts of personal data available to the ruling party, in particular. Such access potentially allows them to develop targeted campaigns before the 2024 elections. This article examines a few of these data collection systems, including the Aadhaar card, examining their original purpose, their creeping scope and their potential impact on democratic elections.
In the past decade, increasing Internet penetration, the s...

In India’s agricultural economy, the harvesting seasons are traditionally marked with festivities. But the December cotton harvest in central India’s Maharashtra State has become a somber time in recent years.
Around 50 miles from the city of Nagpur, near the center of the subcontinent, the village of Wabgaon looked like a ghost town during a visit at the peak of last year’s reaping. Houses appeared deserted, their doors and windows closed. The only signs of life were in the fields outside th...

Have a story to tell, nuanced insights or expert analysis to share with a regional (i.e. Asia), even global, audience? Want to weigh in on specific issues afflicting humanity while the deadly virus rages on and wreaks havoc on our old ‘normal’? We’d love to hear from you.
We run features, op-eds, analyses, and other original contents that probe issues around human rights and civil liberties, and illuminate the challenges of democratic governance in Asia as states and societies cope with the C...

India’s hosting of the G20 Summit in the Indian-administered region of Kashmir brings both anticipation and concern, particularly regarding the region’s environment. This event will serve as the third G20 working group meeting on tourism held in Kashmir and will bring dignitaries from across the globe. While tourism promises substantial economic benefits and a needed boost to the region’s economy, there are legitimate concerns about its potential impact on the local environment.
India current...

I met a group of young women acid attack survivors who live together in Delhi’s Noida area. These women have not only endured pain but have faced rejection and humiliation from the public and their own families after they were attacked with acid. Their determination and efforts to rebuild their lives are impressive.
Together these girls support each other in their tough times and run a small cafe. This cafe is not only a business but a ray of hope for those acid attack survivors who have lost...

bout three hours of arduous driving and hiking from Nepal’s capital is a village nearly bereft of men. In Bethan Chowk, which is part of the municipality of Bethanchowk southeast of Kathmandu (see interactive map below), Madan Parihar is the only male resident who is no longer a teenager and who is always around. In truth, if he hadn’t suffered a stroke three years ago, chances are the 63-year-old, whose wife had died while he was in India, would be working far from the village, like the rest...

The deaths of children and young people related to contaminated cough syrups made by Indian companies have exposed India’s lack of regulation, which is also enabling the over-consumption of over-the-counter cough syrups in the country.
After completing her household chores, 42-year-old Shameema Akhter was tending to a cow outside her home in Shangas village in southern Kashmir. It was drizzling but the January sun had started to come out after a heavy snowfall. Akhter crossed the apple orchar...

On a frigid January afternoon, I traveled through the narrow lanes of downtown Srinagar in Kashmir to meet Shaista Bano. As I crossed tiny lanes filled with dirt, I asked people to direct me to her house. After following the flurry of instructions, I reached her house and knocked on the door. Bano peeped out of a small kitchen window, then stepped out to talk to me. Sitting on a parapet on the banks of the Jhelum River, the woman in her late 30s started speaking slowly about how she had sudde...

Social media and complex AI newsroom tools are combining to produce a toxic environment in which dangerous misinformation is flourishing
Two decades ago, science researchers and journalists would receive hard copies of professional journals and browse through them regularly to keep up with developments and the latest science news.
These days, anyone interested in science can find articles online using search engines and social media. The result has been a worrying rise in misinformation, whic...

These survivors have gotten tough — because their former traffickers remain free, and are lurking close by.
The road to Canning, a town in the southernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal, is narrow and lined on both sides with small ponds where residents breed fish. The houses along the route are mostly single-story mud dwellings with thatched roofs.
Canning is the site of a compound belonging to the NGO Goranbose Gram Bikash Kendra, which fights human trafficking and is known loca...

The Drop

Want to get the drop on the new and next? OZY's Daily Dose becomes the The Drop. New Name. New Look. Bold Content and Global Stories.

;

Facing wicked problems in the environment and global health, these rising scientists have their eyes on solutions.

When 27-year-old doctoral candidate Ayushi Chauhan first heard of the Falling Walls Science Summit held in the vicinity of the old Berlin Wall, she knew she had to participate. Held annually since the 20th anniversary of the wall's histo...