Articles by Navya P K

In Part I and Part II of our focus on urban jobs and livelihoods, we had examined the need for and feasibility of an Urban Work Guarantee scheme. Citizen Matters also spoke to two eminent economists on the various issues concerning creation of such a scheme. Amit Basole, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Employment at APU (Azim Premji University), has been advocating an urban employment guarantee programme since 2019, and particularly since COVID lockdowns. Dr Jos Chathukulam is lead author of an EPW paper about Kerala’s experiment with its Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme. That such a scheme is…

Bengaluru's peripheries - the 110 villages that were added to the city in 2008 - have long depended on private tankers for water supply. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) had promised them water supply by 2023 through its Cauvery Stage V project. Cauvery Stage V project aims to bring in an additional 775 MLD (Million Litres per Day) water from river Cauvery into Bengaluru city. As per the final project report in 2017, the total demand for the 110 villages was calculated to be 350 MLD as of 2024. The report says demand is expected to go…

“There is no blanket figure given as daily COVID testing target,” says Rajendra Cholan, Special Commissioner (Health) at BBMP. “Testing numbers are decided based on a formula given by the state TAC (Technical Advisory Committee) for COVID”. Even as the second wave hit its peak during April-May, Bengaluru urban clocked only around 30,000-40,000 tests per day, (it was 20,000-30,000 before the start of the second wave), despite experts recommending an increase in test numbers which perhaps could have identified and isolated asymptomatic persons quicker and reduced the spread. Cholan added that it was not a question of randomly testing one…

Even as the entire government machinery was deployed to handle the second wave of COVID, we have seen many gaps in how it was managed. Workers have been struggling without income, and thereby, food. Oxygen shortage left several patients dead and their families helpless. The city's crematoriums, at the peak of the second wave, were unable to handle the increasing body count. In almost every aspect of COVID management in the city, voluntary initiatives played a crucial role in identifying shortcomings in the official response and bolstering it with a hands-on approach. Here are some of those initiatives. A DIY…

In Part 1 of this series, we saw how the anxiety, financial loss, lifestyle changes and death, brought on by COVID, is having an effect on the mental health of citizens. In this concluding part, we explore how to cope with what could be a mental health crisis. A 37-year-old software engineer with a major IT company says, "As a mother, I'm under a lot of stress. Everyone is under stress during the lockdown, but I can't vent out or get upset because I have to prioritise the mental health of my 7-year-old daughter who is also stressed." She is…

At the start of the pandemic in 2020, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, started a national helpline for COVID-related mental health issues. The nature of calls in the second wave are different from those in the first. From psycho-social issues in the first wave, callers are now trying to cope with hospitalisation, death, grief and the like. Dr K Sekar heads the Centre for Psychosocial Support in Disaster Management, which runs the helpline (080-4611 0007). He reveals that calls had plateaued by March, but are peaking again. "When we started the helpline in March 2020, we…

Randeep D is currently Special Commissioner for CHBMS (Central Hospital Bed Management System). Pic: Twitter/Randeep D Last week, MP Tejasvi Surya caused a furore when he made allegations of corruption in the allotment of hospital beds to COVID patients. Even before Surya made the allegations, the BBMP, on May 3, had appointed a three-member committee to study and recommend changes in the CHBMS (Central Hospital Bed Management System). The committee was to plug loopholes in the CHBMS software that allowed for its misuse. On May 7, the committee submitted its 33-point recommendations; the very next day, BBMP passed an order…

Since last week, Bengalureans have been bombarded with news that BBMP's COVID bed allocation software has major glitches, leading to corruption in allotment. Even before MP Tejasvi Surya came out with allegations of corruption, the BBMP had appointed a three-member committee on May 3, to study how the bed allotment system can be made "transparent and robust". The committee comprised of: V Ponnuraj, nodal officer for the state COVID war roomKumar Pushkar, nodal officer for CHBMS (Central Hospital Bed Management System)Vipin Singh, nodal officer for 1912 helpline The committee submitted its report to BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta on May…

Bengalureans have a multitude of COVID helplines, but how helpful are these? Those who have called the helplines for beds say it takes hours or even days to get a bed now. When it comes to follow-up for those in home isolation, some say they got calls on time, but some others say the calls came too late to be helpful. "There are simply no beds" Biju Mathews, a resident of Koramangala 3rd block, is part of a volunteer group that supports COVID patients. Last week, his group got requests for hospital beds from two critically-ill patients. Despite calling COVID…

In Part 1 of this series, we saw how BMTC's ridership is affected by the corporation's slashing of services post COVID. In this part, we explore how BMTC can sustain services in these difficult times, despite its severe losses. Across the world, public transport corporations are reeling under losses during COVID. There is hardly a corporation that is recovering without government support, say transport experts. Dr Ashish Verma, Associate Professor, Transportation Systems Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, has been reviewing case studies on the topic from across the world. "The experience is similar everywhere. As long as there…