Prabhu Mallikarjunan

A journalist with 12 years of experience in print and digital media. Managed teams in news startups, and reported on various subjects including fintech, start-ups, politics, agriculture, and development topics. Bylines in Nikkei Asia, BBC, Initium Media, Financial Express, The Federal, and New Indian Express among others.

Nikkei Asia •

Sri Lankan fishermen, lacking fuel, stew over India's intentions

MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka -- The boats should have been out on the water off Sri Lanka's northern coast, hauling in nets teeming with fish. Instead, on one bright, recent morning, they were spread on the beach at Mullaitivu, as waves lapped at the shore and a few people milled about under palm trees.

The idyllic scenery masked, for a moment, the pain of a nation. In Mullaitivu, home to a large minority Tamil population, the country's extreme shortage of fuel has wiped out incomes and brought life t
Nikkei Asia •

Sri Lankans chase foreign jobs to help families survive inflation

COLOMBO -- Sri Lankans fed up with the country's economic crisis are increasingly desperate to go abroad, where they can make the most of the rupee's plunge and help their families survive hyperinflation through heftier remittances.

The foreign currency-starved government, in turn, appears all too happy to let them go, though experts warn that the South Asian nation is at risk of worsening brain drain.
The Federal •

The butterfly chase in India is turning exciting. Here’s how

For days, Isaac David Kehimkar would wake up in the morning only to see how butterflies tasted each leaf in the potted plants in his balcony, how they laid eggs and how the young ones evolved over a period of 3-4 weeks.

He had been asked by Bittu Sahgal, the then-editor of new Sanctuary Asia magazine, to write an article on the colourful moths. Kehimkar had joined the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in 1977-78 as a volunteer to pursue his passion in biology. He used to assist in editing l
The Federal •

How app-based lenders are harassing, sucking borrowers dry

Sunil Kumar, a migrant worker from Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh, works as a painter in New Delhi and earns around ₹400 a day. But that is only on days when he gets work.

About nine months ago, Kumar fell short of ₹2,000 required for his brother’s treatment. Banks wouldn’t lend to him since he didn’t have a regular job. So he took a loan from WifiCash, an app-based platform run by Delhi-based non-banking financial company (NBFC) Chadha Finance Ltd.

All he had to do was submit a photo ID, his Aadhaar
The Federal •

On his birthday, let’s see the world through Ruskin Bond’s window

“To me as a writer, the mountains have been kind. They were kind from the beginning, when I left a job in Delhi and rented a small cottage on the outskirts of the hill station. Today, most hill-stations are rich men’s playgrounds, but twenty-five years ago, they were places where people of modest means would live quite cheaply.”

– Ruskin Bond, Rain in the Mountains: Notes from the Himalayas

A small 6ft by 15ft room with big windows opens to the forests on its left, the hills of Mussoorie and i
The Federal •

From coal to solar: How India's energy transition is caught in a fog

A highway leading to Pavadaga—one of the most backward taluks in Karnataka—cuts through swaths of barren land where grass has turned brown on fields that were once fertile. A little away, thousands of blue-grey solar panels glimmer in the sun, as the temperature soars to 35 degrees Celsius in mid-February.

These are not decentralised rooftop panels but expansive solar parks set up by the Karnataka government, that is being fuelled by India’s need to pace renewable energy (RE) production to meet
Mintlounge •

Monkey business

Chained to a stone pillar under a thatched roof by the road in Narsapur village, 400km from Hyderabad, are three grey langurs with distinctive black faces and light grey bodies. Barely two-four years old, they are munching on the leaves and vegetables their owner, Pendrao Bujji, has thrown their way. But they are already formidable allies of farmers, helping them fight off hordes of rhesus and bonnet macaques that raid their fields and plantations, leading to significant losses each year.

Sitti
Indiaspend •

India's Public Health System Is Failing Even Southern States That Produce Most Doctors

The primary health centre at Melkote, in Mandya district, Karnataka, has only one doctor--to serve 20,000 people across 33 villages. The number of medical colleges and seats have almost doubled in India over the past decade. But the doctor-patient ratio in even the most prosperous states, home to the majority of India's private medical colleges, is still way off the WHO requirement of 1:1,000.

Mandya: There is only one doctor at the primary health centre (PHC) in Melkote, in southern Karnataka,