The issue has made headlines internationally, with papers like The Guardian in the UK covering it in detail. But closer to home, the threat that the Mollem National Park is facing after the government sanctioned railway tracks and highways to cut through it has found muted mention in the media, with local activists staging a fight instead.

Mollem marta ulle, a Konkani track that 17-year-old rapper Kabir Naik has written and performed, takes up the cudgel on their behalf. The title translates to 'Mollem calling' and Naik tells us that the song acts as an appeal that the forest is making to citizens to utilise whatever talent they have to save their heritage, land and identity. "The most dangerous thing [about the government's plan] is the fragmentation of the national park into different parts, which will be devastating for the wildlife there and lead to about 60,000 trees being felled," the rapper says about the issues he brings up in the track, the video for which is intersected with a Q&A session where he delves into them in further detail. But he is not the only artiste to have highlighted social injustices in this eventful year.