https://www.scmp.com/rss/507731/feed Evantika Mehta is a journalist based in New Delhi. She covers gender, law, human rights, crime in India. She studied at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and practiced law for six years before switching to journalism. She also writes fiction en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Delhi is home to 253 bird species, and almost all of them are at risk. Rapid industrialisation, construction, shrinking wetlands and human practices such as kite flying are the main reasons. But hope remains. Three men in India’s capital city work tirelessly to remedy the damage done by humans. Saving sparrows Rakesh Khatri, 60, has calloused hands and an easy laugh. His brown eyes sparkle with delight when he talks about birds. Khatri has been making bird nests from coconut shells, discarded... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3167554/bird-men-delhi-saving-sparrows-black-kites-and-all-breathes-one?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3167554/bird-men-delhi-saving-sparrows-black-kites-and-all-breathes-one?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Feb 2022 07:00:18 +0000 A beige sofa, a white reception desk, and a wall painted in the colours of the rainbow greet customers of La Beauté & Style salon. Standing proudly on the desk at reception is an LGBT flag. The salon is a first for New Delhi. It is owned by a transgender duo and staffed entirely by transgender men – people who were assigned the female gender at birth but identify as male. Its co-founder Aryan Pasha is a lawyer, activist, and India’s first transgender man bodybuilder. Pasha opened the parlour... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3156708/new-delhis-first-transgender-salon-men-born-women-find-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3156708/new-delhis-first-transgender-salon-men-born-women-find-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Nov 2021 07:00:23 +0000 Asha, 9, left her tiny, second-floor illegally constructed flat in Old Delhi’s Nangal Village on August 1 to find drinking water. She never returned. Her mother found Asha’s bruised corpse in the grounds of a crematorium. “Her eyes were open but no light in them,” the grieving mother recounted. She said a priest appeared and “told me Asha had been electrocuted while taking water from the crematorium’s electric water cooler. But I didn’t believe him. If she was shocked then why were there so many... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3145002/raped-murdered-burnt-ash-story-dalit-girl-9-modern-indian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3145002/raped-murdered-burnt-ash-story-dalit-girl-9-modern-indian?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Aug 2021 12:19:44 +0000 Munawar Faruqi had not even started his set at the Munroe Café in Indore on January 1 when he and another stand-up comic were arrested, alongside two of the event’s organisers, for violating India’s colonial era anti-blasphemy laws. The 28-year-old Muslim comedian was accused of “intent” to outrage religious sentiments by Aklavya Gaur, a Hindu nationalist activist and son of the city’s mayor. Moments before Faruqi’s arrest – and only seconds after he took to the stage – Gaur had burst into the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3124337/modis-india-comedians-can-now-be-jailed-intent-tell-joke-munawar?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3124337/modis-india-comedians-can-now-be-jailed-intent-tell-joke-munawar?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Mar 2021 11:00:17 +0000 Shakriben works her farm every day, starting at 3am. The 60-year-old stands a touch over 1.62m, and weighs just 38kg – 10kg underweight – and her skeletal arms struggle to control a scythe. On November 2, 10 people assaulted Shakriben, believing her to be a witch. They accused her of eating her mother-in-law’s essence. A widow, Shakriben lives with her two unmarried daughters and her son, Dineshbhai. On the day of the attack, they had all woken before the sun, drunk some water and eaten a meagre... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3111679/unexplained-deaths-how-poor-healthcare-fuelling-indian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3111679/unexplained-deaths-how-poor-healthcare-fuelling-indian?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Nov 2020 04:30:20 +0000