Articles by Harshitha Padmavinod

Groundwater is a vital resource in Chennai, especially given the city's water scarcity challenges. Of the 51 revenue blocks in Chennai where groundwater is extracted, 46 were overexploited in 2024, as reported by Citizen Matters. That's why strict rules are in place to ensure sustainable usage and to prevent over-extraction. Chennai is the first Indian city to have a comprehensive automatic groundwater monitoring system, introduced in 2021, with 200 groundwater monitoring devices and 20 rain gauges across 15 zones, to assess the groundwater level across the city. However, experts point out that not much is being done with this data.…

The dependency on the Cauvery River for water and the depleting groundwater levels, keep Bengaluru on the edge of a crisis every summer. As the city expands rapidly, it faces a significant challenge – how to manage groundwater sustainably, while meeting the growing demand. Borewells are a common solution for water needs, but strict regulations govern their digging and usage. Bengaluru is classified as a 'notified area', due to overextraction in many places, so borewell digging and extraction are strictly regulated.  However, poor implementation of rules by civic utility bodies undermines their effectiveness. So, how can a Bengalurean dig a…

Every summer, Bengaluru grapples with its recurring water crisis, despite increased allocation of Cauvery water by the Supreme Court. The city currently has access to 24 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of Cauvery water, but even with this supply, the Chief Minister admitted last summer that Bengaluru still faces a shortage of 500 million litres per day (MLD).   So, will Bengaluru reach water sufficiency this year? Or will the struggles of 2024 — when some areas of the city faced acute water shortage — be repeated? Speaking to Citizen Matters, Ram Prasath Manohar, Chairman, Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage…

“Air pollution is never recorded as a direct cause of death. It’s always a contributing factor,” says Dr Aparna Birajdar, a consultant pulmonologist in Pune. She adds that it is difficult to get data on the impact of air pollution in India because doctors are overworked and have little time to research, while most lung infections are multi-factorial. This is why air pollution and its health consequences are rarely addressed with the urgency they demand.  Moreover, studies of air pollution's effects largely focus on adults, with data on children scarce. In 2019, air pollution caused about 6.7 million deaths globally,…

“My child’s commute to school is a half-hour ride, but it takes an hour for her to reach home everyday. The commute itself makes her so tired and the dust is so high during the after-school hour that her cough almost always worsens when she comes back home,” says Tanu, worried mother of a second-grade child in Bengaluru. Tanu is just one parent among the vast numbers across our cities, as air pollution puts their children's health and well-being at grave risk. In 2021, 15% of all global deaths in children under five were linked to air pollution. As per…

Despite enabling over eight crore hospital admissions, the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) remains riddled with challenges that make accessing its benefits a daunting ordeal for many. For countless eligible citizens, the promise of free healthcare often gets entangled in a web of bureaucratic hurdles, unclear eligibility criteria, and implementation gaps. The first part of this series explained how people can apply for benefits under AB-PMJAY. In Part 2, we dive into the systemic gaps and the struggles beneficiaries face in accessing the scheme's medical benefits. Proving your eligibility for Ayushman Bharat As per provisions of the…

“I used the Ayushman Bharat card twice, as I had to undergo a procedure to remove water from my lungs. My entire expense was covered by the scheme. It would have been a burden to arrange ₹2 lakh on my own, but thankfully, all expenses were taken care of through this scheme," says Chikkamaregowda, a resident of Yelahanka. He opines that the Ayushman Bharat Scheme has been beneficial for people who fall below the poverty line. The Ayushman Bharat (AB) scheme is a key initiative of the Central government, launched with a vision to achieve 'Universal Health Coverage' as recommended…

It has been over ten years since the Revised Master Plan of 2015 (RMP) proposed a shortcut from the Ejipura junction on the Intermediate Ring Road (IRR) to the Agara Lake signal on the Outer Ring Road (ORR). Intended to decongest Koramangala and provide a signal-free connection between ORR and IRR, the 3-kilometre road was supposed to allow commuters to reach ORR directly without passing through Koramangala.  However, the Revised Master Plan of 2031 introduced a realignment, extending the route to 6.9 km, now connecting Lower Agaram Road through the Ejipura signal to Iblur. The work on this realigned road…

“I have always been fascinated by trees. This long journey of documenting Bengaluru’s trees was addictive. The more I documented them, the more I wanted to do it,” remarked K Sankara Rao, author of Trees of Bangalore. Rao, a former professor at the Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc.), has a long and varied experience in the field of Plant Biology with profound reverence and love for nature. Published in two volumes, Trees of Bangalore is a one-time documentation depicting the rich ecology of Bengaluru and works as a road map for policymakers to preserve this richness. Read…

Through the month of June, we had a sort of extended celebration of World Environment Day (June 5th) by highlighting organisations and collectives that are actively trying to make a change. In case you missed their stories on our social media channels, here's another hat tip to these changemakers, who are fighting to protect natural spaces and ensuring environmental justice in our increasingly chaotic, expanding cities. Nizhal, Chennai We start off in Chennai with Nizhal. Nizhal, which means shade in Tamil, is a non-profit organisation that promotes urban greening with a focus on indigenous tree species and biodiversity regeneration. The…