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“Truth is the casualty”: How Indian fact-checkers debunked false claims during the India-Pakistan crisis

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Who Picks India’s Judges? Inside a Hidden Battle Between the Courts and Modi’s Government

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A closer look at the history of the conflict in Kashmir

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How a Filipino reporter exposed the disinformation networks defending Duterte after his arrest

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What’s Lost if Voice of America Disappears: Watchdog Spirit, Intrepid Reporters, and Focus on the Global South

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A Pakistani Serial That Should Inspire Hindi Filmmakers

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Japanese public broadcaster NHK has monitored misinformation for over a decade. Here’s what they’ve learnt

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Human Rights | Social Injustice | Gender | Geopolitics | Poetry

Raksha Kumar is a multimedia journalist focusing on human rights and social injustice. This website showcases Raksha’s work from 12 countries and across 150 districts in India for The New York Times, BBC, Guardian, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Open Democracy, South China Morning Post, Scroll.in and The Hindu etc.

As a freelance editor and reporter, Raksha has worked on land and forest rights of vulnerable communities and armed conflict around resource extraction.

With a post graduate diploma in international human rights law, Raksha has worked on issues around democracy and development. She was a Fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) in 2021. More on her work here.
This website showcases Raksha’s work from 11 countries and across 23 states in India. Her focus areas are land and forest rights of the most vulnerable communities. Since these issues cannot be looked at in isolation, Raksha found herself increasingly reporting on armed conflict around resource extraction.

In 2015, she wrote, shot and directed a documentary film on Rationalists in Contemporary India, which was aired by India’s public broadcaster, Doordarshan.  READ MORE.

All Things Indian

This newsletter talks about the changes in contemporary India by narrating short stories based on lives of real people.

Latest under Features

Features
July 16, 2025

Who Picks India’s Judges? Inside a Hidden Battle Between the Courts and Modi’s Government

Modi's administration wants more power over courts — but a weakened judiciary means fewer checks on authoritarian overreach. llustration by Matt Haney, GPJ MUMBAI, INDIA — On an unusually warm…
Raksha Kumar
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Features
May 25, 2025

Can India’s State Governments Afford Promised Cash Payouts?

Politicians throughout India give cash, indefinitely, to women who vote for them, but it's not clear whether their state budgets can keep it up. Illustration by Matt Haney, GPJ MUMBAI,…
Raksha Kumar
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Features
May 25, 2025

Women Get Money for Voting. But Are Their Voices Really Heard?

Some women say cash transfer schemes are paternalistic. Others say they're the only way to get the money they need. Illustration by Matt Haney, GPJ BENGALURU, INDIA — Lata. G.…
Raksha Kumar
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Features
May 25, 2025

Indian Political Candidates Pledge Money to Women Voters

Across India, politicians promise that, if they win their elections, women under a certain income threshold in their states will get cash payouts, indefinitely. Illustration by Matt Haney, GPJ BENGALURU,…
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Latest under Media Freedoms

Media Freedoms
May 29, 2025

“Truth is the casualty”: How Indian fact-checkers debunked false claims during the India-Pakistan crisis

“A month’s worth of misinformation bombarded social media within a few hours,” says fact-checker Uzair Rizvi. Many falsehoods were reported on TV as well. People wave Indian flags in support…
Raksha Kumar
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Media Freedoms
April 25, 2025

How a Filipino reporter exposed the disinformation networks defending Duterte after his arrest

“My goal is to make people more aware of coordinated attempts to shape their perception of an issue,” says journalist Cristina Chi Catholic priest Flavie Villanueva and the families of…
Raksha Kumar
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Journalist and filmmaker Amitabh Parashar.Media Freedoms
March 14, 2025

How this Indian journalist followed the story of female infanticide for 30 years

“Female infanticide is still rampant. I still get calls every day about at least one of these incidents in my state,” says journalist Amitabh Parashar Journalist and filmmaker Amitabh Parashar. …
Raksha Kumar
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Latest under Multimedia

Multimedia
May 11, 2025

A closer look at the history of the conflict in Kashmir

Heard on All Things Considered By Raksha Kumar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-ymwkVIC8c Tensions escalated between India and Pakistan in recent weeks after gunmen killed 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. The disputed region has long struggled…
Raksha Kumar
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Multimedia
June 27, 2024

Killing Justice: 1. A Mysterious Death

In This Episode Ravi Gupta is approached with a tip for a story: a prominent Indian judge has died, and his family doesn’t believe the official explanation for his death.…
Raksha Kumar
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Multimedia
September 7, 2023

Many young Indians say they haven’t benefited from the economic growth Modi boasts of

HEARD ON ALL THINGS CONSIDERED By Raksha Kumar Ahead of the G20, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasted about his country's economic growth. But many young Indians say they have not benefited…
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Latest under Land & Forest

124 countries came together to sign the declaration on climate and health vFeaturesLand & Forest
December 11, 2023

Why India opted not to sign COP28 declaration on climate and health

The non-binding declaration calls for nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the health sector “swiftly, sustainably, and substantially.” 124 countries came together to sign the declaration on climate…
Raksha Kumar
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COP28 puts food systems transformation on global climate agenda.@COP28_UAEFeaturesLand & Forest
December 8, 2023

Explained: Why India refused to sign declaration to reduce agri emissions at COP28

Several big emitters such as the United States and China signed the declaration but India, which has a large number of small and marginal farmers, did not. COP28 puts food…
Raksha Kumar
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At the World Climate Action Summit, global leaders announced a cohesive vision to ensure climate finance is more available, accessible and affordable/COP 28FeaturesLand & Forest
December 2, 2023

$475 mn climate disaster fund pledged on COP 28 Day 1: Implementation is the challenge

While many scientists, scholars and activists at the COP which began in Dubai agreed that it was a step in the right direction, they say the challenge towards implementation has…
Raksha Kumar
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