Articles by Nithi Shetty

Nithi is a student of Regulatory Policy and Governance at TATA Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. She is also a Maha Youth for Climate Action Fellow with UNICEF. She has a keen interest towards biodiversity conservation and environmental protection, and professionally works at the intersection of policy, communities, and the environment. She may be contacted at nithishetty500@gmail.com.

Fisherfolk of Hanuman Koliwada struggle without land or livelihood

by and March 15, 2023

On February 7, 2023, 30 fishermen from Uran Koliwada were arrested for opposing work on the Uran bypass bridge. The grounds for the FIR against them was that the accused were causing "danger to the nation," as the project is of "national importance." While they were given bail, the arrests are emblematic of fisherfolk's fight to oppose the rampant and widespread destruction of their fishing areas by development far and wide. Fishermen from Uran Koliwada have been protesting against various projects carried out by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO), Navi Mumbai Special…

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The destruction of the Ulhas river: can we reverse it?

by February 20, 2023

You've probably seen the Ulhas river on your escape from the city, as it flows through Mumbai’s favourite holiday haunt in Khandala valley in interior Karjat. But there is a lot more to the river, which originates in the Sahyadri hill ranges of Raigad district to the south of Mumbai. It is fed by multiple small rivers, rivulets, and streams and then flows through Neral, Badlapur, Ambernath, Ulhasnagar, and Kalyan. Before joining the Arabian sea, it splits at Balkum, one going to Vasai creek and the other to Thane creek. The river supplies drinking water to 45 lakh people in…

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