KumKum Dasgupta is with the opinion section of Hindustan Times. She writes on education, environment, gender, urbanisation and civil society.
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Articles by KumKum Dasgupta
Insensitivity, dark humour: The Gaur school of crisis management
Babulal Gaur is Madhya Pradesh’s home minister, and a legendary motormouth. Gaur, who is responsible for law and order in the state, is following in the BJP’s senior leadership’s manual on how to tackle scam allegations.
Updated on Jun 30, 2015 05:06 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi
Karachi heat wave shows how urban centres are becoming death traps
The Karachi heat wave, which has killed more than 1,000, shows how urban centres are slowly becoming death traps.
Updated on Jun 30, 2015 07:23 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
Salwa Judum's rebirth will mean walking into minefields again
Chhattisgarh must stop supporting attempts to restart campaigns that are inspired by the banned and discredited Salwa Judum
Updated on Jun 05, 2015 03:07 AM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
Need a foreign hand here: India can't wish away pollution problem
The New York Times’ South Asia correspondent Gardiner Harris’ piece on moving back to the US because of Delhi’s killer air pollution was one of the most widely read pieces on the web over the weekend, though many panned it as “over-the-top” and “extremely patronising”.
Updated on Jun 04, 2015 12:35 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi
Ticking time bomb: The catastrophe that awaits Uttarakhand
Public memory is short, the government’s memory’s shorter. Either it is this syndrome or hubris which has been making successive Indian governments so moon-eyed about building hydroelectric power projects (HEP) in seismically active Himalayan states, despite several warnings by experts.
Updated on May 11, 2015 09:04 AM IST
Earthquakes don't kill, poorly constructed buildings do
Last Saturday, I was at home watching a movie when my 20-floor apartment building began swaying wildly. Okay, wildly is an exaggeration, but believe me at that point I really felt so. “Earthquake, move down”, a neighbour sent a BBM message.
Updated on Apr 29, 2015 12:56 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi
Why the state is losing the battle against Maoists
Surprise attacks have been the hallmark of Maoists. Yet what is surprising is that despite years of experience and training, the security forces more often than not find themselves on the losing side in these assaults.
Updated on Apr 14, 2015 09:47 AM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi
The woods are lovely, dark — and dangerous
The killing of 20 woodcutters inside the red sanders-rich Seshachalam Hills in Chittoor last week was not a one-off episode. Clashes between forest protection forces and tribals over forest resources, especially the commercially lucrative ones, take place often in India’s forests.
Updated on Apr 12, 2015 10:21 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
Lopsided forest protection laws force poor people into illegal logging
Twenty suspected red sander (red sandalwood) “smugglers/loggers/woodcutters” were killed by the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district on Tuesday. The police claim that its men were attacked by a group of 100 smugglers with stones and sickles and their response was purely in “self-defence”. But activists are refusing to buy this theory and are demanding an inquiry into the deaths.
Updated on Apr 09, 2015 12:48 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
Red sanders case: Proper investigation into encounter is the next step
During an encounter in Seshachalam hills in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district on Tuesday, they killed 20 woodcutters, the highest toll in a single encounter in the history of red sandalwood smuggling.
Updated on Apr 07, 2015 10:27 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi
Hindus, Muslims: Why saffron groups shouldn't colour the numbers
Pew Research Centre's report give radical Hindu organisations an opportunity to rake up their pet theme: 'Hindus must reproduce more'.
Updated on Apr 04, 2015 11:49 AM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
EU pins hopes on Modi to boost ties with India, but obstacles remain
Even though the sun may have finally come out in Brussels, the headquarters of the 28-member European Union (EU), the current mood remains somewhat gloomy. There are several reasons for it: The euro crisis, unemployment, terror attacks, illegal immigration and the persisting crisis in Ukraine.
Updated on Mar 15, 2015 11:59 AM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, Brussels
A move that can backfire: Why BJP should not rush the land bill
The Narendra Modi government has decided to introduce the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015, in Lok Sabha today.
Updated on Feb 24, 2015 11:16 AM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi
Rich-poor gap, inequality: What govt must take note of ahead of budget
The Oxfam India CEO, who has been working on poverty, inequality and development issues for more than two decades and has a doctorate in economics from the University of Virginia, says that instead of curtailing the MGNREGA and other social sector schemes, the government must strengthen them, and if need be, redesign them and use technology to plug corruption.
Updated on Feb 09, 2015 03:17 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi
Obama's statement on tolerance for the right ears in India
'Religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other peoples of faith,' says US president.
Updated on Feb 06, 2015 05:29 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
R-Day ad row: BJP must ask Shiv Sena to shut up
The 2015 Republic Day celebrations will be remembered for a long time for a variety of reasons: US President Barack Obama’s visit, the controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Modi’-striped bandhgala, the decision to give lady officers certain key ceremonial roles during the Obama visit and a series of glitches that included missing glasses and umbrellas and over-the-top security arrangements.
Updated on Jan 29, 2015 02:12 AM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
Target NGOs: Why Greenpeace got the rough treatment
The view that NGOs and Left activists are stopping India's development is quite pervasive in India's administration. The process of stifling the voice of NGOs actually began during the UPA regime when the then government strengthened the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act in 2010.
Updated on Jan 21, 2015 03:54 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
Mamata’s lost the most in the Jadavpur drama
Four months after a students’ agitation broke out at Jadavpur University (JU) in Calcutta, peace returned to the campus on Monday thanks to an unexpected visit of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, writes Kumkum Dasgupta.
Updated on Jan 14, 2015 11:33 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
Varsity blues: Zafar Sareshwala, Modi's choice to lead univ
Controversy breaks out after industrialist is made chancellor of Maulana Azad National University. He doesn't have an academic career and 2 years ago the SEBI cancelled the broker registration of his company.
Updated on Jan 08, 2015 05:19 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
Dead tell tales: skeletons expose Manipur's dark secrets
Human parts unearthed at a school in Imphal point to a period when hundreds of youths either disappeared or were arrested by security forces for their alleged links with militants. A probe could bring closure to families of those who disappeared.
Updated on Dec 29, 2014 08:45 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
Ten years after the tsunami, we still don’t have any real port in a storm
Ten years after the tsunami, community preparedness has nowhere near kept pace with warning systems for risk reduction, writes KumKum Dasgupta.
Updated on Dec 26, 2014 06:54 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi
Now, 'development' threat to coastal hamlets
The fishing communities of Nagapattinam and Cuddalore don’t talk much about the 2004 tsunami anymore. They now have a new problem on their hands: development projects like power plants, an oil refinery, ports and chemical plants that could hit their livelihood and also make their villages vulnerable to natural disasters.
Updated on Dec 26, 2014 09:35 AM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, Nagapattinam/cuddalore
10yrs after tsunami, India still needs to fill in disaster management gaps
Then, tsunamis were missing from the mandate of the Met department. There was no warning system. Ten years later, India looks better prepared although some serious gaps remain. Asian tsunami
Updated on Dec 26, 2014 01:28 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zia Haq, Binayak Dasgupta, KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi/nagapattinam/cuddalore
New-age ‘gurus’ have edge over the old-timers, enjoy different markets
Rampal Dass, an engineer-turned-religious leader, who was arrested on Wednesday from his 12-acre ashram in Barwala, Haryana, after days of stubborn resistance, is part of India’s flourishing tribe of new-age religious gurus.
Updated on Nov 21, 2014 12:00 AM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi
Delhi 'honour' killing: Punish Bhawna's murderers swiftly
Bhawna Yadav's parents strangled her to death for marrying outside her caste: a sign that so-called honour killings continue unabated in the country. Legislation against honour killing must be swiftly brought in.
Updated on Nov 20, 2014 11:33 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
'Rampal is a fraudster who exploits the gullible common man'
Sanal Edamaruku, president of Indian Rationalist Association and the Rationalist Internationalist, says the quick rise of sect leaders shows that our common people have to be immunised against such dangerous influences.
Updated on Nov 20, 2014 12:56 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi
Incest and child abuse, our worst kept secrets
People think that incest is increasing in India thanks to the influence of western culture and the expansion of social media. These two are the easiest of excuses to trot out when you don’t want to face an unpleasant truth that clashes with your belief system.
Updated on Nov 19, 2014 12:46 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta
Let’s beat the drums of change harder
Many governments in the developing world, including the Indian government, have so far focused only on women to achieve gender parity. But now there is a growing realisation that men and boys cannot be left behind because they are also a crucial part of the story if gender discrimination has to end.
Updated on Nov 16, 2014 11:34 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi
Silent suffering: India's women are on their own
Patriarchal mindsets that treat women as second-class citizens will not change unless and until families change their own belief systems, and society and govt find ways to engage men for advancing women's rights.
Updated on Nov 12, 2014 12:49 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, Mumbai
Bappaditya Paul writes of the rebel who never returned in The First Naxal
Bappaditya Paul's biography of Kanu Sanyal, The First Naxal, presents the evolution of the Communist rebel while also highlighting the stages of the Naxalite movement in India.
Updated on Nov 08, 2014 01:25 PM IST
Hindustan Times | KumKum Dasgupta, New Delhi