Articles by Raksha Kumar
I am a multimedia journalist focusing on human rights, politics and gender. In the past six years, I have reported for the New York Times, BBC, Guardian, TIME, Foreign Affairs, The Hindu, Caravan and Scroll among others. A Fulbright Scholar, I graduated from Columbia University in 2011. As a Chevening fellow in 2015, I researched right wing ideology among South Asians in the UK. I have reported from 12 countries including Israel and the West Bank. For the past two years, I have worked in Chhattisgarh and Kashmir attempting to uncover the State's overreach and its impact on residents. I filed more than 40 stories from the region including on the impacts of mineral extraction on the Maoist movement; sexual violence by armed forces; effects of crony capitalism in tribal areas and militarisation's impact on local industry in Kashmir etc. I wrote, shot and directed a documentary film on the life of the Rationalists in India that was commissioned by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust. In March 2016, I was awarded the Chameli Devi Jain Award for outstanding media personality.
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers
- Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation
- Poverty and plantations: Nigerian reserve struggles against the odds
- Logging, road construction continue to fuel forest loss in Papua New Guinea
Oceans
- Lebanese youths take up rods and reels to learn sustainable fishing
- Japan prepares to mine its deep seabed by decade’s end
- Communities worry anew as PNG revives seabed mining plans
- Huge new no-fishing zones give Antarctic marine predators and their prey a break
Amazon Conservation
- Agribusiness bill moves to block grassland protections in Brazilian biomes
- Amazon prosecutors get sharper impact tool to charge illegal gold dealers
- How to reward tropical forest conservation: Interview with Tasso Azevedo
- Lula’s deforestation goals threatened by frustrated environmental agents
Endangered Environmentalists
- Indonesian activists face jail over FB posts flagging damage to marine park
- Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
Conservation Effectiveness
- The conservation sector must communicate better (commentary)
- Thailand tries nature-based water management to adapt to climate change
- Forest restoration to boost biomass doesn’t have to sacrifice tree diversity
- How scientists and a community are bringing a Bornean river corridor back to life
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest