From The Marginlands
From The Marginlands
Podcast Description
In From The Marginlands, we -- Prem Panicker and Arati Kumar Rao-- explore storytelling and making sense of the elemental connections between us and the world around us. We converse with carefully curated guests on the art of telling stories about the environment and on climate change as it manifests around the world.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast centers around themes of storytelling, environmental awareness, and the impacts of climate change, with episodes covering a range of topics such as the effects of pollution on water bodies like the Yamuna, the ecological studies involving fishing cats, and the exploration of narratives through the works of acclaimed journalists like Paul Salopek. Each episode delves into personal and collective stories that connect listeners to pressing global environmental challenges.
In From The Marginlands, we — Prem Panicker and Arati Kumar Rao– explore storytelling and making sense of the elemental connections between us and the world around us. We converse with carefully curated guests on the art of telling stories about the environment and on climate change as it manifests around the world.
Each monsoon, the Himalayas make headlines for floods, landslides, and loss. But what if these aren’t “natural” disasters at all, but the result of choices we keep making? In this episode, Arati and Prem speak with environmental researcher Manshi Asher of Himdhara Collective about disaster justice, flawed development models, and the fight for fair futures in the mountains. Here, a deep dive into how we can — and must — rethink “progress” in fragile landscapes.
Show Notes:
Himdhara Collective home page: https://www.himdhara.org/
An interview on what Himdhara is, and what it does: https://www.himdhara.org/2022/05/30/an-interview-about-himdharas-vision-work/
Mansi's writings and podcasts:
Audio interview with Manshi Asher on the Himalayan ecology: https://harshaneeyam.captivate.fm/episode/manshi
Impacts of Hydropower Development and Compensatory Afforestation on forest ecosystems in the high Himalayas: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264837719315819
Disasters in Himachal and Uttarakhand point to flawed development model: https://frontline.thehindu.com/environment/disasters-in-himachal-pradesh-and-uttarakhand-point-to-flawed-development-model-himalayan-states-indigenous-communities-excluded/article67306462.ece
India's flawed development model leading to disasters in the Himalayas: https://janataweekly.org/indias-flawed-development-model-leading-to-disasters-in-the-himalayas-3-articles/
A mission without a Himalayan vision: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392964158_A_Mission_Without_a_Himalayan_Vision
Video interview with Manshi on the 2025 disaster in Himachal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbFf5WBmVAY
Tunnels as ”temples” of New India: https://repository.nls.ac.in/nlsj/vol17/iss1/1/
Making a molehill out of a mountain (Video interview with Azim Premji University): https://www.youtube.com/live/q5_Zqa4HJmc
Eroding people power — a Himalayan village struggles to assert its forest rights: https://caravanmagazine.in/lede/himalayan-villages-struggle-assert-forest-rights
Conversations on reimagining Pahari futures: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00856401.2025.2518726
Evolution of the Forest Rights Act: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336898561_Evolution_of_the_Forest_Rights_Act_A_Historcial_Perspective
A collection of Manshi's writings in the Economic & Political Weekly: https://www.epw.in/author/manshi-asher
A collection of Manshi's writings from The Wire: https://science.thewire.in/author/manshi-asher/
People in the Himalayas need environmental justice, not sermons: https://thewire.in/environment/people-in-the-mountains-need-disaster-justice-not-sermons-on-environmentalism
Himalayan hydropower is not a green alternative: https://dialogue.earth/en/climate/opinion-himalayan-hydropower-is-not-a-green-alternative/
Keep environmental justice at the core — an in-depth interview with Manshi: https://questionofcities.org/keep-environmental-justice-at-the-core-not-mere-environmentalism/
Contact us:
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Arati Kumar-Rao on Instagram
Prem Panicker on X (Twitter)
Prem on Substack
From The Marginlands on Instagram
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