Articles by Anagha Sawant

On January 10th, a 19-year-old teenager shared an incident of domestic violence in Mumbai on the city-based website Safecity, which encourages citizens to report all kinds of violence. “My friend has an abusive household where her mother was always beaten up. It hasn't changed and due to lockdown, things had gotten worse as they couldn't get out,” she said. Like her, many others have been reporting and sharing incidents of violence on the website. So far in 2022, over 20 citizens have reported domestic violence cases in Mumbai anonymously on Safecity. Indeed, domestic violence cases in Mumbai have risen. In the…

The term for Mumbai's corporators closes in March 2022, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai's civic body, has started preparations for the upcoming civic elections. 227 elected corporators from across 24 administrative wards are accountable to represent citizens and their local issues in the city council. This makes it important for Mumbaikars to elect the right candidate in their wards. The BMC, also known as Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), is one of the richest municipal corporations in the world. It is sitting on fixed deposits of over Rs 80,000 crore and has an annual budget of over…

HelpAge India, an NGO that provides information on ageing in India, released an annual survey among 3526 senior citizens across six major cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai) in 2021. The survey found elder abuse to be one of the major concerns in Indian households and old age homes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it reported that 62.1% of the elders polled believed that the pandemic increased the risk of elder abuse. What is elder abuse? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), elder abuse is an act of intentional harm, or the failure to act…

Every local business in Mumbai needs a license from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).  BMC’s License Department issues trade licenses under various categories including food and beverage, wholesale businesses, medical stores etc. These licenses are issued in consultation and with advice from other departments like the Fire Brigade, Health, Engineering, Estate, to name a few. The application for the license must be received from the business establishment three months prior to starting the business. For a business owner to get a trading license in the city, he/she has to approach the nearest Citizen Facilitation Centre (CFC) set up by the civic…

Citizens deciding to take a walk on Mumbai's beach to enjoy the monsoon weather, need to beware of getting stung by Portuguese Man-of-War, a marine species that wash ashore on Mumbai’s beaches. Also known as Blue Bottle, they are usually found on Mumbai’s beach during the monsoon season every year. This year too, citizens have spotted hundreds of them at Versova and Juhu beach. Last year, due to lockdown, there were hardly any cases of residents getting stung by this marine species, reported in the city . A group of marine enthusiasts from Marine Life of Mumbai (MLOM), posted an…

Residents of Mumbai are complaining about potholes via social media platforms like Twitter to the local civic authorities. This monsoon, it seems to have made some difference. Every year in the rainy season, BMC receives major complaints regarding potholes on roads via the control room helpline (1916) and mobile app. But now to reach out faster, the residents of various areas in the city are tagging BMC local wards’ Twitter handles and sometimes the Assistant Municipal Commissioners, local Municipal Corporators of the wards to report potholes in the area. Many times, a before and after photo of potholes complaints are…

On Sunday mornings, various groups of citizens are seen cleaning up water bodies in different parts of Mumbai city. Recently, a new initiative to clean up the Bandra Talao (Swami Vivekananda Talao, Bandra) has been started by a group of residents, who believe that rather than complaining to authorities, they should step forward and help to keep their surroundings clean and plastic-free. A walk at Bandra Talao led to the start of this social initiative by Gauri Kulkarni (26), an architect and a Bandra resident. The #ChakaChakBandraTalav (pond) initiative was started after Kulkarni clicked photos of garbage dumped at the…

The Mumbai civic body – Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) also known as Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) provides municipal services to the city. Divided into 24 administrative wards, it is headed by the Mayor, who is the city’s first citizen and the ceremonial head; and the Municipal Commissioner, who works as the chief executive authority. While the 24 wards are decentralized for the convenience of the city's administration, each ward has its own ward office and ward officers (Assistant Municipal Commissioners). Presently, Mrs. Kishori Pednekar is the Mayor and Iqbal Singh Chahal, a 1989-batch IAS officer is the Municipal…

To report a criminal offence for the police to investigate, a person has to file a First Information Report (FIR) by visiting the nearest police station in the locality where the offence/crime has occurred. An FIR is a written document which is filed by the police. Under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (‘CrPC’), the law gives a choice to a person to give information orally or in writing. If the information is disclosed orally by a person, then the report must be produced in writing by the police officer herself or under her direction. In Mumbai city,…

In the last week of May, a 42-year-old male reached out to mental health experts at BMC's helpline for help. He was sorrowful and was feeling demoralised, he said. “He said that for two-three days he has been hearing news about his neighbours and extended families either falling sick or dying due to the coronavirus," said, Dr. Shubhangi Parkar, a city-based psychiatrist and a former head of the psychiatry department, KEM Hospital. "With all the negativity around, he had completely lost hope in life,” she added. Representational Image (Pic: Canva) Many citizens who are undergoing mental health issues due to…