Articles by Meera Nair

Have you wondered about the advertisement boards that we see on our roads and medians? Most of the time we curse them silently for spoiling the skyline or worse, blocking our line of vision while crossing the road, and then move on. We assume that some official body gave them an ill-conceived permission. When the number of such boards in Bellandur ward became too much to bear, to the extent that they were causing fatal accidents, we met the Special Commissioner for Property tax and Hoardings - V Rashmi Mahesh on March 27, 2016. And guess what we learnt? Of…

This is a story of hope. Of reclaiming a glorious city that had lost its beauty to the plastic curse. Of standing your ground and sticking your neck out for what you believe. Of collective, affirmative action. Of the power of the people that start from you and me. This story begins with the horrendous image of a beautiful city choking on its own garbage and ends with the reclamation of that same city by its loving citizens and thought leaders, who take on the plastic monster by its horns. A couple of months ago, it seemed like Bangalore city…

  In mid 2013, deeply troubled by the wasted condition of their beloved city, when a group of concerned citizens got together to decode the garbage matrix, little did they expect that less than a year down the line, they would have so much cause for celebration. Their experiment in segregation at source developed into a winning formula, garnering unprecedented popularity as it moved on. Today, this simple formula has translated into saving over 291 trees, 1.4 lakh units of electricity, 1174 liters of fuel and 617 cubic meters of landfill area. Think of how Bangalore could be transformed if…

Public Affairs Centre (PAC), an independent non-government think tank working in the area of governance and service delivery, has recently completed an assessment of the services provided by BESCOM. The study funded by BESCOM, used the Citizen Report Card (CRC) approach to collect feedback from users as well as the BESCOM staff to understand the quality of service delivery and issues faced by both parties. The aim was to use the information generated through the study to find actionable remedies for issues of concern faced by both users and the BESCOM staff. The study covered all the eight Circles and…

This is not the story of someone who fought against an indifferent system and brought it to its knees, rather of someone who made her peace with the system and worked patiently from within, to achieve the best results possible. Pic: Manvel Alur Manvel Alur's connection with the environment seems almost karmic, with her choices in life steering her on the green path quite early on. Even as a child growing up in Bangalore, she was environmentally aware enough to write in to the National Geographic magazine on various issues and it seemed like a natural transition that she went…

Springfields Apartments near the Outer Ring Road junction. Pic: bhooshan Iyer. The kingdom of heaven was discovered at an apartment complex on Sarjapur Road last weekend. We are referring to the Onam celebrations conducted at Springfields Apartments near the Outer Ring Road junction. In this massive complex of over 550 apartments, close to a thousand people turned up to view the festivities that were spread over two days. Lighting of the Lamp & Crowd. Pic: Bhooshan Iyer. The singular event, organised by a handful of people from various walks of life under the banner of Springfields Welfare Association, boasted of…