Articles by Manasi Paresh Kumar

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship “I wanted a job that would pay me well. But more importantly there needed to be some ‘prestige’ attached to it.” says 20 year-old Sathish. His father Pothalu has worked as a pourakarmika for the last 27 years. Sathish grew up watching his father sweeping the streets of Basavangudi. There are countless like Sathish, who come from underprivileged backgrounds, looking for jobs. These youngsters' ambitions face a lot of hurdles - limited opportunities, access to quality education and financial challenges in their homes.  Most of their parents work in the…

The 208th Lal Bagh Flower Show has started in the city to commemorate the 72nd Independence Day. The show is being jointly organised by the Department of Horticulture and Mysore Horticulture Society. With the theme ‘Sevege Gaurvarpane’, the biannual event pays homage to the Armed Forces this time. The chief attraction is the model of Amar Jawan Jyothi, the memorial to the fallen soldiers of the country at India Gate, with the flags of the three branches- Army, Navy and Airforce. Behind it, as an impressive background is a replica of the Siachen Glacier with the models of Indian soldiers…

It has been a week of contrasts for transit in Bengaluru last week. Even as the debate about the proposed elevator corridor heated up, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy announced that a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the Suburban Rail project would be set up in a month to help speed up the project under K-RIDE (Railway Infrastructure Development Company Karnataka Limited). This move was welcomed as a shot in the arm for the project that has been decades in the making - except for one tiny detail. A Special Purpose Vehicle for Suburban Rail already exists for Bengaluru! In…

With Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s maiden budget reviving the pod taxi for five stretches in Bengaluru at a cost of Rs 1445 crores, several eyebrows have been raised in questions over what makes the government favour it as a possible solution to the city’s traffic nightmare. Interestingly, the idea of pod taxis isn't as new as one would imagine. Indian cities have seen similar experiments before: The Chembur - Wadala - Maharaja Chowk monorail project, the airport feeder metro built by the Delhi Metro as a PPP project which was subsequently converted into the orange line. Both have had their…

Travelling within Bengaluru City has become a chronic nightmare for all its citizens. Even as people grapple with never-ending traffic jams, the government has come up with various ideas to solve the issue, including the much debated elevated flyover and the pod taxi project. But are decision makers losing sight of the broader context and framework within which the traffic situation must be viewed? Is there a deep enough understanding of the nuances that need to be considered for the gridlock to be broken and the efficiency of solutions multiplied? Talking to Citizen Matters, Professor Ashish Verma deconstructs the overall…

The Smart Cities Mission project was one of the most ambitious projects launched by the Union Government in 2015. Identifying 100 cities (currently 99) across the country for sustainable development at an estimated cost of Rs 98,000 crore, the project was among the first major efforts launched by the Modi Government with a focus on urban development. Among the cities identified, based on their Mission proposals, seven were in Karnataka – Mangalore, Belgaum, Shimoga, Tumkur, Davangere, Bangalore and the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad in the northern part of the state. As the Ministry as well as the cities chosen acknowledge,…

The 712 meter stretch of Church Street which was opened to the public with much fanfare in March 2018 is back in the news. But this time it is not all good. Touted as the golden standard for pedestrian-centric roads, its fall from grace has been rather quick. Reports of substandard construction and flooding during rains have been making regular appearance in various media outlets. The aspects of the roads which had garnered high praise, like using cobblestones for a road, innovative footpaths which are designed to be disabled-friendly are now being criticised for shoddy work and an impractical design.…

Those familiar with the social structure in the North Karnataka region will tell you, religious mathas in North Karnataka hold a very powerful place. Epicentres of power and faith, they make an appearance on the list of must- visit places for devotees and politicians alike, albeit for different reasons. One of the defining features for many of them are the community kitchens they run, where thousands of people eat everyday. Largely run on donations from devotees, these kitchens could, however, pose a serious challenge for those in the business of waste management. But even as management of kitchen waste from…

In a city where real estate has been soaring and there is a strong timber lobby, Dipika Bajpai has a tough job. The Deputy Conservator of Forests of Bengaluru has the responsibility to protect the forest blocks of the city and to work on the afforestation project to keep the city green. In a telephonic interview with Citizen Matters, the officer spoke about the lack of a green policy, its repercussions and the challenges of protecting land in a city where space it at a premium. Can you summarise the status of urban forests in Bangalore, their preservation and the…

Your first impression of Sethuram Gopal Rao Neginhal is that of a benevolent grandfather - soft spoken and quiet. But don’t let the charming smile fool you from discovering the steely resolve that saw this man pioneer the concept of Urban Forestry in the country. Considered something of a legend in the department, Neginhal is known to have chastised officers for erroneous decisions even after his retirement - and was welcomed for it. Even as the world finds new names for greening the planet, a quick conversation with the elderly man lets you know that it has all been done…