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/

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