Kolkata, once the “City of Joy,” now faces climate fragility from rising seas, cyclones, and severe pollution. Festivals throughout the year amplify this crisis with high-decibel firecrackers, DJ systems, dazzling lights, and toxic idol immersions, worsening air, noise, and water quality. Despite strong laws and repeated court orders, lax enforcement and state subsidies for festival committees deepen unsustainable practices. The toll is stark—over 18,000 premature deaths annually from air pollution, alongside cardiovascular, respiratory, and mental health harms. This Fridays For Future (FFF) India petition calls for urgent enforcement of pollution laws, ending arbitrary state funding, ensuring just transition for firecracker workers, and promoting sustainable, culturally rooted celebrations that protect citizens, animals, and ecosystems.
Category Archives: Ecosophy
OBMA’s initiative “Ecotopians of Alternity” (EOA) responds to the contemporary crises of the natural environment, crises that expose the deepened hyper-separation of human beings from the natural world and/or other-than-human life forms. EOA underscores how the Global South disproportionately bears the burden of a so-called first-world consumerist lifestyle, alongside a debt-ridden developmental paradigm that enslaves minds, bodies, and ecologies. Rather than the term ecology, EOA activists adopt the concept of ecosophy—coined by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss—to signify the interrelated and (w)holistic nature of today’s polycrisis, encompassing environmental, social, political, and psychological dimensions. In place of extractivist modernity/coloniality, EOA envisions localized, small-scale, decentralized, low-energy societies—ecological utopias or ecotopias—as the ideals to be cherished and pursued.
Shut Down Arms Factories to Stop Wars: Dismantling the Global War Profiteering Machine
The global arms industry—worth nearly $95 billion annually—is both a driver of human suffering and a silent engine of ecological collapse. Wars claim over 2,000 lives daily, displace millions, and shatter societies, while leaving behind poisoned aquifers, fragmented habitats, and toxic soils contaminated by unexploded ordnance and chemical residues. Arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and RTX thrive on this devastation, rewarded by soaring stock prices whenever conflict erupts, while shadowy brokers such as Viktor Bout and Aboubakar Hima profit from prolonging wars that ravage both communities and ecosystems. India exemplifies this global dilemma, channeling vast sums into defense while underfunding water, health, education, and environmental resilience. The campaign “Shut Down Arms Factories to Stop Wars” demands dismantling this war economy by halting weapons production, regulating brokers with ecological due diligence, mandating transparency of emissions and toxic legacies, and reallocating resources toward human well-being and planetary stewardship. Peace cannot be defined as the mere absence of war—it must mean fertile soils, clean water, healthy bodies, and thriving ecosystems within Earth’s limits. Yet even the green transition carries risks: critical mineral extraction for renewables, if pursued without justice, threatens to replicate the violence and exploitation of fossil fuel regimes. A just future requires confronting militarism, curbing extractivism, and investing in life over destruction. Only by linking disarmament with ecological restoration can humanity secure genuine peace within planetary boundaries.
Fortifying India: Reading Between the Lines of the 2025 Defence Budget
In the shadow of escalating geopolitical tensions, India’s defense strategy for the fiscal year 2025-26, with a staggering Rs 681,210 crore budget (13.45% of the Union Budget), perpetuates a militaristic paradigm that prioritizes arms over human and ecological well-being. This allocation, blending indigenous manufacturing (e.g., Tejas, BrahMos) with heavy reliance on imports (e.g., Rafale, S-400), is marred by historical corruption scandals (Bofors, Coffin, Rafale) and shrouded covert operations via entities like the Special Frontier Force (SFF) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Meanwhile, external debt servicing at USD 682.2 billion (19.2% of GDP) drains fiscal resources, exacerbating economic distress marked by bankruptcies, rising poverty, and wealth concentration among crony elites. Findings reveal that this defense-centric approach ignores profound ecological devastation, agrarian crises, and hunger epidemics, diverting public taxes to fuel a predatory military-industrial complex. War-mongering, akin to manufactured religious pogroms by the current political executive, fosters a false nationalistic fervor, sustaining a debt-ridden global techno-economic system that benefits tycoons while neglecting climate resilience, public health, and equitable flourishing.
Of Size and Suffering: Challenging the Illusion of “Progress”
India’s emergence as the world’s fourth-largest economy masks deep ethical and structural crises. This article critiques the country’s development model, which prioritizes GDP growth while perpetuating informal labour, systemic inequality, environmental degradation, and authoritarian neoliberal governance. It highlights the disjunction between economic scale and human well-being, exposing how neoliberal globalization erodes local economies, social cohesion, and democratic participation. Persistent gender and social inequities, ecological injustices, and increasing external debt trap India in a cycle of “pre-debtor” capitalism, undermining sovereignty and welfare. Drawing on critical political economy, postcolonial theory, and alternative frameworks such as degrowth and localization, the article calls for transcending growth-centric paradigms to pursue justice, sustainability, and pluralistic development rooted in dignity and ecological balance.
Metrics of Denial: A Critical Reading of Indian Indices in the Age of Climate Capitalism
This study interrogates India’s position across major global indices—Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Nature Conservation Index (NCI), Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), ESG fund performance, and climate displacement data—revealing deep contradictions between policy rhetoric and ecological realities. With India ranking near the bottom in EPI and NCI, and topping charts in climate displacement, the report juxtaposes these failures against the optimistic ranking in CCPI and the proliferation of ESG funds. Through a chaosophic lens, the study critiques the reductionism of market-led green capitalism and underscores the need to rethink ecological metrics beyond their statistical form. A comparative global–Indian framework highlights shared vulnerabilities and region-specific crises, especially around resource depletion and climate-induced migration, while resisting technocratic fixes and econometric illusions.
The Suicidal Futility of War: A Mourning for Civilization and a Call for Disarmament
The article “The Suicidal Futility of War: A Mourning for Civilization and a Call for Disarmament” explores the devastating consequences of warfare on humanity, civilization, and the planet, arguing that war represents a self-destructive cycle that undermines progress and moral integrity. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples, the piece examines the immense human cost, environmental destruction, and societal regression caused by armed conflicts. It critiques the perpetuation of war through political, economic, and cultural mechanisms, highlighting the futility of seeking lasting solutions through violence. The author advocates for global disarmament as a moral and practical necessity, emphasizing the need for collective action, diplomacy, and non-violent conflict resolution to safeguard civilization. By mourning the losses inflicted by war, the article issues an urgent call for humanity to reimagine a peaceful future grounded in cooperation and mutual understanding.
Silencing the Digital Dawn: India’s Censorship Crusade vs. Musk, Youth, and the Defrauded
The article explores India’s increasing efforts to regulate online discourse and the pushback it encounters from Elon Musk’s X platform, along with younger generations of climate activists and digitally engaged victims of financial scams. It emphasizes the Indian government’s utilization of the Information Technology Act to enforce extensive content removal, specifically targeting dissent and criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration. Recently, X has filed a lawsuit against these measures in the Karnataka High Court, claiming unlawful censorship. The piece outlines how this crackdown restricts free expression, particularly among tech-savvy youth who depend on platforms like X to articulate political and environmental discontent. Additionally, it connects these efforts to broader issues, such as attempts to silence the voices of defrauded citizens from the DHFL scam, preventing them from raising their grievances online. While Musk positions X as a champion of free speech, this scenario reveals a complicated struggle between state control, corporate interests, and grassroots digital activism against the backdrop of India’s escalating authoritarian tendencies.
Hitting the Economic Hitmen At the Time of Global Heating
The article discusses the role of economic hitmen, as outlined by John Perkins, Eric Toussaint and other theorists, in manipulating developing nations for financial gain. These individuals exploit countries through excessive loans, leading to debt traps and policies favoring multinational corporations. The piece connects these actions to global economic institutions like the World Bank, IMF, and WTO, highlighting their influence in shaping neo-colonial economic systems. It also examines India’s neoliberal policies since the 1990s, citing key figures who facilitated these strategies.
Post-Mortem of Parliamentary Democracy and What Is Still To be Done?
This article, published on June 8, 2024, conducts a critical examination of parliamentary democracy, with a likely focus on India’s post-2024 election landscape. It dissects systemic challenges, such as institutional erosion, political polarization, or governance inefficiencies, that undermine democratic processes. The analysis highlights key events or policies contributing to these issues. Proposing a path forward, the article outlines actionable reforms to strengthen democracy, including enhancing transparency, fostering inclusive dialogue, and reinforcing institutional checks. It underscores the urgency of collective action to revitalize parliamentary democracy’s efficacy and resilience.
Ecology, Economics and Elections: The Night Before…
The article critiques the ecological and political consequences of development under the current Indian regime, especially around the 2024 elections. It highlights fatal heatstroke cases among election officials, linking them to climate change and post-vaccination vulnerabilities. Major projects like the UP pilgrimage road (involving massive deforestation), the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train (destroying mangroves), and the Kashi corridor (erasing heritage for religious tourism) are cited as examples of state-driven environmental destruction. The authors warn of a drift toward electoral autocracy, prioritizing economic-political gains over ecological and democratic well-being.
Once in a Blue Moon Academia 