Journalist Fellow at Reuters Institute, University of Oxford | Senior Correspondent at Hindustan Times, New Delhi | furquan.sid@gmail.com | twitter.com/furquansid | instagram.com/furquanameen
Manipur’s Churachandpur became known as the ‘town that refused to bury its dead.’ Nine people were killed in 2015 in a protest for the rights of hill tribes. This month, after 632 days, the bodies were laid to rest.
Hindustan Times / May 2017
Even as the government targets the social sciences, it is encouraging the growth of engineering colleges – despite the fact that engineering jobs (particularly in IT) are shrinking, in India and abroad.
Hindustan Times / May 2017
Floods, displacement and conflict, a tale of the people vulnerable to the effects of climate change on the mighty Brahmaputra
Hindustan Times / September 2016
Eighteenth century Sufi poet Waris Shah’s rendition of the legendary Heer-Ranjha story completes 250 years. Delhi pays tribute to an epic that’s inspired generations
Hindustan Times / August 2016
A documentary by filmmaker Mohi-ud-Din Mirza, Begum Hazrat Mahal: The Last Queen of Avadh, celebrates the legendary journey of one of the unsung heroines of the First war of Independence
Hindustan Times / August 2016
Is India Asia’s deadliest country for journalists? From legal harassment and state repression to murder, scribes now work amid increasing danger.
Hindustan Times / July 2016
He may not be as blunt as his predecessor but Justice CK Prasad, the chairman of PCI, has strong opinions about journalism in India. In an interview, Prasad talks about threats to journalists, the state of Indian media.
Hindustan Times / July 2016
The recent spate of suicides in Kota, the heart of India’s coaching industry, has forced the country to confront the unrealistic expectations it imposes on the young. I speak to students about the pressures and the anxiety that cloud their lives
Hindustan Times / May 2016
Through photos, art, documents and personal stories, an exhibition on Partition evokes poignant memories of 1947
Hindustan Times / May 2016
Gandhi fought for the indigo farmers in Champaran, but does he still survive in the region’s collective memory? I visit Bihar as it celebrates 100 years of the Champaran satyagraha
Hindustan Times / May 2016
All along the river Brahmaputra, the river banks and islands are dotted with stories of loss and displacement but seems to be missing from election debates.
Hindustan Times / April 2016
Politics over identity has plagued Assam for over three-decades and is exploited every election. D-voters are people who can’t prove Indian citizenship and are barred from voting.
Hindustan Times / April 2016
Prime Minister refrained from mentioning the plight of Assam’s tea garden workers, the work force behind his favourite tea
Hindustan Times / April 2016
Locals’ discontent over the delayed construction of the Bogibeel bridge is being used by the BJP to target Congress in Assam
Hindustan Times / April 2016
160 days after they died in alleged police firing, the bodies of nine people remain unburied in the state. At the crux, the issue of who exactly is Manipuri
Hindustan Times / February 2016
The picture presented by American activist and Vice columnist Molly Crabapple at the session entitled Eyeless in Gaza at the Jaipur Literature Festival in Jaipur on Monday gave the audience a fair idea of the situation in Gaza, which has only got worse af
Hindustan Times / January 2016
In Manipur locals refuse to bury nine killed 147 days ago in protests that sought laws to protect tribal interests
Hindustan Times / January 2016
The arrest of two journalists which their supporters see as unlawful and an act of intimidation, is snowballing into a face off between journalists and the administration
Hindustan Times / December 2015
Six months after the earthquake that devastated Nepal, HT finds out how people are dealing with disaster and displacement amid the changing climate
Hindustan Times / October 2015
Recent attacks on journalists in mofussil towns are indicative of the dangers they face on the job. A look at the challenges they face and the temptations they fight
Hindustan Times / July 2015
Nearly 70 years after Partition, the people of the enclaves along the Indo-Bangladesh border, can finally access schools, healthcare, have an identity and a country
Hindustan Times / June 2015
Tribal and Dalit villagers protesting against the loss of their lands by the revival of the 40-year-old Kanhar dam project in UP's Sonbhadra district have been silenced by brute force
Hindustan Times / May 2015
There is an end-of-the-world feel as one takes the road to Turtuk that snakes through the Nubra valley along the turquoise-blue Shyok river and majestic Karakoram range on the side. A visit to a Baltistani hamlet on the India Pakistan border
Roads & Kingdoms / May 2015
Unscientific coal mining has destroyed parts of Meghalaya. Despite this locals still root for the industry. A visit to the coal belt reveals both dependence and devastation
Hindustan Times / March 2015
The Seven Sister states of the north east have always attracted proselytizers but the battle seems to intensify with the growing presence of the RSS in the region, who are working to further their Hindutva agenda and converting animist tribals
Hindustan Times / December 2014
As if finding a piece of land to live on wasn't difficult enough, the search for an eternal resting place is making many Muslims lose their sleep. How illegal land deals have made Muslim burial a costly affair
Hindustan Times / November 2014
For eight years, some Kerala orphanages have been raising funding by enrolling children from impoverished states. Few are actually orphans though all are poor. A trail from destitution to profiteering, from Jharkhand to Kerala.
Hindustan Times / June 2014 / [Pdf , 7.76 MB]
India under PM Narendra Modi is set to clean up the Ganga. A look at the challenges that the government will have to tackle if it is serious about saving the holy river.
Hindustan Times / June 2014
A recent kidnapping puts the spotlight on the festering conflict between the Mizos and the Brus that has displaced thousands.
Hindustan Times / February 2014
The ethnic conflict between the Rengmas and the Karbis in the remote forests of Assam has displaced many, caused suffering and turned the region into a political tinderbox.
Hindustan Times / January 2014
Three months after the Muzaffarnagar riots, gang-rape victims lived under constant threat while the accused roamed free and the SIC deliberately delayed investigation.
Hindustan Times / December 2013
Over 700 weddings took place in the relief camps of Muzaffarnagar. Underage girls were married away in a desperate attempt to fetch an extra ‘compensation’ or as protection against sexual harassment and assault in the relief camps.
Hindustan Times / December 2013
First part of a series of ground reports from the relief camps of Muzaffarnagar. A grave humanitarian crisis unfolded as the bitter north Indian cold claimed almost as many lives as the riots.
Hindustan Times / December 2013
A spot report from Ayodhya after Vishwa Hindu Parishad's political gimmick to start a 84 kos parikrama failed.
Hindustan Times / August 2013
Our television news networks have often been criticised for sensationalism, frenzied debates and biased reportage. Their policies of self-regulation don’t seem to be working either. A close look at India’s TV news industry.
Hindustan Times / May 2013
A lacunae in mainstream politics led to an emergence of regional parties representing minorities.
Hindustan Times / January 2013
We hit the streets at night to see how things pan out for the homeless in the capital and how adequate are the night shelters put up by the government.
Hindustan Times / December 2012
Forty years on, a pilot recalls how he captured images of the Bangladesh Liberation War
The Caravan / December 2011
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