Siddharth Bharath

Ecologist and community organiser interested in grasslands, environmental justice and education. Father. Learning to advance justice in a complex world.

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

Wonderful to see. The old India still survives...

[Siddharth Bharath @selfrooting]

The Bill in discussion at the Indian Parliament tomorrow will criminalise NGOs, Doctors & gharanas who help trans people: Indian Express

No going back on the rights granted to transgender persons!

#RejectTransBill2026

[Dr. Simon @goddek]

> 70 years ago, Iran looked just like any Western country.
> Short skirts, rock’n’roll, open universities.
> It’s 1953. Iran elects a secular socialist: Mohammad Mossadegh.
> He nationalizes oil. That pisses off BP.
> Cold War excuse.
> CIA and MI6 stage a coup. Operation Ajax.
> Mossadegh is overthrown.
> They install the Shah, a brutal US-backed dictator.
> Secret police. Torture chambers.
> Iran turns into a puppet state.
> People are that desperate, they turn to Khomeini, an exiled cleric, promising independence and dignity.
> 1979: Islamic Revolution.
> The Shah flees.
> US embassy stormed. Hostage crisis.
> America never forgives.
> Arms Saddam Hussein.
> Iraq invades Iran.
> US provides chemical weapons, satellite intel, logistics.
> 1 million Iranians die.
> Iranian kids sent into minefields with plastic keys around their necks.
> US shoots down Iran Air Flight 655
> 290 civilians dead.
> No apology.
> Fast forward today, Israel attacks Iran.
> The U.S. immediately says “we stand with Israel.”
> They talk about “regime change.”
> They say that Iranians “deserve freedom.”
> No mention of the coup they started.
> No mention of the dictator they installed.
> No mention of the war they fueled.
> No mention of the decades of sanctions and sabotage.
> They created the monster, and now they attacked it because it was still breathing.
> Watch who they try to put on the throne next.
> The son of the Shah is already being presented as the “alternative.”
> The same dynasty.
> The same foreign backing.
>The same promises of stability.
> History will repeats itself.
> And it’s not gonna end well.

[Rana Ayyub @RanaAyyub]

Benjamin Netanyahu says: Tehran targets civilians, and Israel only target tyrants

In the last two years, Israel has killed more than 50 thousand children in the Gaza strip.

[Nitin Sethi @nit_set]

Modi gov't has 'temporarily suspended' the forced feeding of Fortified Rice to 80 cr poor Indians.

Context:
In May 2023 my @reporters_co colleague @shreegireesh unearthed the scam called Modi govt's Fortified Rice Scheme.

Based on spurious science and failed pilot projects, against warnings by its own experts, Modi gov't had pressed ahead to force feed fortified rice to all of 80 crore poor in India. The orders to do so had come from the top.

There were foreign business interests backing the scheme. They stood to earn thousands of crores annually from this move. Modi gov't, which otherwise makes such a hue and cry over 'foreign interests', had played into their hands to force the poor in India to consume something untested.

Across the country, Shreegireesh found, the poor were complaining of this 'plastic rice' making it to their plates.

He brought out a complete set of internal gov't documents to demolish the governments propaganda around the scheme. And showed who the real beneficiaries of the scheme were - Corporates backed by dubious NGOs working for the corporate interests.

Now, the government has 'temporarily suspended' the scheme claiming its now learnt that fortified rice is not doing any good.

We still don't know the real reasons why it has done so. We will dig those out too.

Shreegireesh's reports and evidence was used in the courts.

It was picked up, plagiarised, copy pasted and replicated by others in media, sometimes with and sometimes without due credit.

Our reports were shortlisted for the world's biggest award for investigative journalism, the Fetisov award.

We were grateful for the straight and the backhanded compliments. But, most of all, we were happy that our work had put the truth out bluntly and with hard evidence.

I write this to explain, why investigative journalism is central to keeping those in power accountable. It is the essential form of journalism. It is effective, even if the wheels take time to turn.

We don't know why yet the government has finally stopped the distribution of the spurious artificial rice grain. We are glad it has.

Such journalism requires immense courage and resources. When you support it, you empower yourselves as citizens, to defend your rights and that of the poorest who have the least ability t hold the powerful to account.

Democracies need public-funded journalism to be better democracies.

Read Shreegireesh's work, if you had missed it then.

https://t.co/hLSoEgxj1W

[Assal Rad @AssalRad]

The difference is by design.

[Tithi Bhattacharya @DrTithi1917]

Isn't it interesting how quickly the citizens of Israel reach for their European/US passports and flee the country "God gave them," while Palestinians continue to live and rebuild their land, water their olive trees, no matter the scale of destruction.

[Sincere Dibya @TheSincereDude]

The party that built its entire political career on “Gau Mata” is quietly running a beef export empire out of Nagpur.

Nikhil Gadkari’s company Cian Agro went from ₹18 Cr to ₹523 Cr revenue; right after daddy’s ethanol policy dropped. Rembal Agro, buried inside the same family business web, exports beef internationally.

BJP screams “cow slaughter ban” in every election rally. Their own minister’s family profits from the global beef trade.

Gadkari once said: “I have not taken a single penny.”
The Caravan just showed us exactly what the family has taken.

This isn’t hypocrisy. This is the business model.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

We warned you: the wholesale destruction of Gaza was not an exception, it was a blueprint to crush anyone who opposes the plutocratic imperialism embodied by US/Israel and their global allies.
Act now: defend int'l law from lawlessness, before the rupture becomes irreversible.

[Stanley Cohen @StanleyCohenLaw]

It's interesting to hear a state that exalts Judaism to the exclusion of all other faiths, that has 65 separate laws that, by design, benefit Israeli Jews alone, talk about the theocracy of Iran.

[Siddharth Bharath @selfrooting]

@NGKabra I use it regularly in high volume groups. When there is a message I want to be able to read on a later date. So then when I clear out the group, it deletes everything except starred messages.

[Navin Kabra @NGKabra]

Any middle/high school teachers here? I'm teaching an online course on use of Gen AI in teaching; 5 online sessions, once a week, starting next week. (Also open for parents who're home-schooling or are involved in their child's education.)

cc: @giftedworld_ @GenWise_

[Tongam Rina @tongamrina]

met these grandmothers in Komkar yesterday during the protest rally against the #Siang Upper Multipurpose Project. We can’t even imagine the anxiety and heartbreak they are experiencing right now, having to defend their land from their own state.

[Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar]

Could I ask all television channels streaming #Wayanad non-stop to also cover environmental governance processes? Not once have I seen any of these channels question environment, forest and wildlife clearances granted to the most destructive projects

[Srinivas Alavilli @srinualavilli]

What’s the best school in Bengaluru?

The one that leases @BMTC_BENGALURU buses

Why?

It costs lot less for students.
No need to maintain fleet.
Great for environment as the bus becomes regular city bus - doesn't sit idle & occupy public space

Does your child’s school use BMTC?

[Anusha Ravi Sood @anusharavi10]

Our big story today:

A year since its launch, how has @siddaramaiah govt's #Shakti scheme that provides free bus rides to women & transgender persons has fared.

It's an absolute game changer for poor women but has challenges that needs addressing.

https://t.co/va7oZ9noHm

[True Conservation Alliance @TruConserve]

Here's a video of stray dogs hunting chinkara & blackbuck antelope in Thar, Rajasthan. Note the wolf formation technique. When the lead dog gets tired another takes its place. SHOOT THESE DOGS as per global precedent. @moefcc @byadavbjp @wii_india @manishchandi @BNHSIndia @RajCMO

[Srinivas Alavilli @srinualavilli]

Who manages Chinnaswamy Stadium?
KSCA?

Why are you not harvesting rain water within the stadium & letting it go waste and worse, flood the roads?

Please fix it!

@kscaofficial1 @chairmanbwssb @BBMPCOMM @DKShivakumar @anilkumble1074 @doddaganesha @dp_satish @VedamJaishankar

[Yashraj Chavhan @yashraj_chavhan]

We are looking for PhD students!

Do you want to study evolution?
Do microbes fascinate you?
Do you want to use microbial genetics to understand evolution?

If yes, please apply by 22 April:
https://t.co/hPgBB9VwrP

@joshiamitabhevo @SutirthDey @vishuguttal @_KarishmaK @AthaleLab

[Abi T Vanak @abi_vanak]

Really glad to see that our advocacy has made some difference - The government has tweaked the GCP to focus on restoration of ecosystems, and recognised that Open Natural Ecosystems will require a different approach!

https://t.co/P2FFtbXdz5