Sohel Sarkar

Bangalore

Freelance Writer and Editor at Freelance

Freelance writer-editor | ✍🏽@newlinesmag @newhumanist @sourcedjourneys @GoyaJournal @femfoodjournal @Himalistan @proteanmag | Alum @CGS_SOAS | @cheveningfcdo

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Articles

Can Darjeeling Tea Hope for a Climate-Resilient Future?

1 week ago | freshcup.com | Sohel Sarkar

When techie-turned-planter Rishi Saria acquired Darjeeling’s Rohini and Gopaldhara tea estates in 2004, one of the first things he did was set up an irrigation system. Saria’s decision was prompted by the substandard soil at Rohini, but proved wise given the climate challenges that the northeastern Indian hill district—famed for producing the so-called “Champagne of teas”—would face in the subsequent decades.
Climate Change Hits India’s ‘Champagne of Teas’ Where It Hurts

2 weeks ago | freshcup.com | Sohel Sarkar |Sourced Journeys

For two years in a row, Anshuman Kanoria has seen yields decline at his Goomtee tea estate. Located in the hill district of Darjeeling in northeastern India, Goomtee is a 500-acre estate that produces about 70,000 kilograms of tea per year. When Goomtee’s previous owner was looking to sell in 2021, Kanoria, a veteran of the Darjeeling tea industry, readily took the plunge. But less than two years later, he was dealing with significant crop losses.
Non-violent vegetarianism, holy cows and other myths

2 months ago | himalmag.com | Sohel Sarkar

The widow (center) of a Muslim man murdered by a cow-protection group in Jharkhand in 2017. The rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party in India has come with a surge in violence against Muslim and Dalit communities by cow-protection vigilantes. IN SEPTEMBER LAST YEAR, a 72-year-old Muslim man was taunted and beaten by young Hindu men on a train in the state of Maharashtra for carrying meat.
India’s Plans to ‘Develop’ Great Nicobar Island Threatens Its Unique Wildlife and Indigenous Peoples

Nov 4, 2024 | therevelator.org | Sohel Sarkar

To most of the world, Great Nicobar Island doesn’t seem to exist. Few photos from this remote, fragile island in the Indian Ocean have been posted online. The citizen science site iNaturalist contains no uploads about the island’s wildlife. The tourism site TripAdvisor only lists one restaurant on the island, with just two reviews. But India sees the potential for something huge on Great Nicobar: profits.
The Revelator - Sohel Sarkar

Nov 4, 2024 | therevelator.org | Sohel Sarkar

India’s Plans to ‘Develop’ Great Nicobar Island Threatens Its Unique Wildlife and Indigenous Peoples Critics argue the authoritarian government has rammed the project through with minimal environmental oversight and in violation of several laws. Critics argue the authoritarian government has rammed the project through with minimal environmental oversight and in violation of several laws.
India’s Abortion Laws Offer Pregnant Women an Illusion of Choice

Sep 9, 2024 | newlinesmag.com | Sohel Sarkar

Complicated, overlapping and contradictory legislation places decisions in the hands of the medical and judicial establishments In October 2023, a 27-year-old woman approached the Supreme Court in India with a petition to terminate her pregnancy, which was over 24 weeks.
Book review: Smoke and Ashes by Amitav Ghosh

Jul 30, 2024 | newhumanist.org.uk | Sohel Sarkar

Smoke and Ashes (John Murray) by Amitav Ghosh As the UK gears up for elections, the Conservative Party is doubling down on their “tough on drugs” approach, including banning the sale of nitrous oxide (laughing gas), despite warnings from policy experts that it will increase health and social harms associated with the substance.
The incomplete histories of women migrant caregivers under the British Empire

Jun 20, 2024 | himalmag.com | Sohel Sarkar

A sitting room in an Ayahs’ Home in East London in 1910. Women’s transnational labour and mobility have been overlooked within histories of Southasia and the British Empire, a gap that new works like Arunima Datta’s ‘Waiting on Empire’ seek to fill.
Reviews Archives • Protean Magazine

Dec 15, 2023 | proteanmag.com | Madeline Lane- McKinley |Sohel Sarkar |Ryan Moore |Dylan Saba

Jared Marcel Pollen reviews Benjamin Labatut’s latest work, “The Maniac”—a polyphonic account of the life of scientist John von Neumann, of genius and our awe and terror at minds beyond our comprehension.
Opiate Imperialism: The U.S. Drug Industry, Past and Present

Sep 15, 2023 | proteanmag.com | Sohel Sarkar

This summer, United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that the U.S. will spearhead a coalition of nations taking up the fight against synthetic drugs—the powerful opioid fentanyl chief among them. Blinken was keen to point to “transnational criminal enterprises” as the culprit for fentanyl’s proliferation. Though the effort is international in nature, Blinken’s crusade will go forth with the notable absence of China, which pointedly declined to participate.