Articles by Revathi Siva Kumar

As school reopens after a break, Arjun is rather upset for still being in the first bench. "Why am I so short?" he asks, "Others in the class who are younger than me are taller. They sit behind me." What Arjun does not realise, perhaps, is that he is among the many short children who, by 2022, will comprise almost 31.4% of the under-fives in the country. But why are so many kids so short? Is it just genetics? Not really. Arjun is stunted rather than short. His physical stature is a key indicator of child malnutrition, indicating that a boy…

The slew of announcements by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech on incentives for electric vehicle manufacturing and adoption in India marked the most recent thrust of the Centre on clean mobility and alternative energy in transport. Earlier in June, the government had called for proposals from state transport departments for the deployment of 5,000 electric buses under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric vehicles (FAME-II) scheme.  For the first time, the Centre  has issued a large tender for such buses. Selected cities will be offered 40 per cent on the costs. The Department of Heavy Industries…

After years of public demand for a suburban rail network in Bengaluru, the project seems to be rolling out slowly. But there is much confusion as authorities are still working out the details. Just last week, the state government gave its consent to register a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that would implement the project worth Rs 22,242 crore. The SPV named B-RIDE (Bangalore Integrated Rail Infrastructure Development Enterprises Limited), is expected to be registered within a month. It will be a joint venture between the state and the centre. After years of delay, it was this February that the state…

Plastics are elastic tics. They last, even if they know they aren't wanted. They were banned, but never went away because they weren't told about the law and didn't care if they did. You might think that India makes a lot of plastic and you are wrong. It makes a lot More than you think or the states report. Much more plastics are made than said. According to a report by the Central Pollution Control Board, just 14 out of 35 regional pollution boards really came out with how much plastic they generated in 2017-18. That itself worked out to…

"Cutting down trees to build the Metro line just cannot happen without the permission of the Tree Officer," affirms M K Cholarajappa, Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) and Tree Officer, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Cholarajappa's response is a firm and surprising counter to a press note released by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) on Friday. The note had announced that the construction of the Vellara Junction station in Richmond Town would not be stopped. This station is along Metro's Red Line, from Gottigere to Nagawara. Activists had opposed Metro construction here, claiming that it would involve cutting of…

Jaipur (Rural) is a comparatively new parliamentary constituency, brought into existence by the delimitation exercise in 2008. Currently, it has eight legislative assembly segments under it, including Kotpuli, Viratnagar, Shahpura, Phulera, Jhotwera, Amber, Jamwa Ramgarh and Bansur. In 2014, the dominant Modi wave had brought Rajyavardhan Rathore to power, as he defeated INC candidate Lal Chand Kataria, who had won the seat in 2009. This time, the sitting MP is also minister with independent charge of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) and sports, and is poised for a close fight again. [flexiblemap src="http://data.opencity.in/Data/Rajasthan-Parliament-Constituency-Jaipur-Rural-Map-V-1.kml" width="100%" height="400px" ] Note – Map for representation…

The largest city of Rajasthan is the capital, 'pink city' Jaipur. Number 7 among the 25 parliamentary constituencies of the state, Jaipur is all set to go to polls on May 6th. Jaipur parliamentary constituency comprises eight assembly constituencies: Hawa Mahal, Vidhyadhar Nagar, Civil Lines, Kishan Pole, Adarsh Nagar, Malviya Nagar, Sanganer and Bagru. Jaipur is seen to be a BJP bastion, with the Congress winning this seat just thrice in the last 16 polls, since 1952. The BJP won the seat eight times. In 2014, the city had 19,57,820 electors, of which 1,047,468 were male and 910,350 were female.…

Mumbai North-East was formed prior to the 1967 elections. The region is a symbol of the city's dichotomous development. Even though it is reputed for prime real estate and some important infrastructure projects, this is also the region where massive rehabilitation projects are being pursued to compensate those who have given up their land and homes. The constituency consists of Mulund, Vikhroli, Bhandup West, Ghatkopar West, Ghatkopar East and Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar assembly constituencies. In 2014, Mumbai North East had 16,68,357 registered electors. The winner, Kirit Somaiya got 5,25,285 or 60.9 percent of the votes, while the runner-up, Sanjay Dina…

Mumbai North-East was formed prior to the 1967 elections. The region is a symbol of the city's dichotomous development. Even though it is reputed for prime real estate and some important infrastructure projects, this is also the region where massive rehabilitation projects are being pursued to compensate those who have given up their land and homes. The constituency consists of Mulund, Vikhroli, Bhandup West, Ghatkopar West, Ghatkopar East and Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar assembly constituencies. In 2014, Mumbai North East had 16,68,357 registered electors. The winner, Kirit Somaiya got 5,25,285 or 60.9 percent of the votes, while the runner-up, Sanjay Dina…

Mumbai South constituency is relatively new, having been constituted from a Presidential notification on delimitation on February 2008. This Lok Sabha constituency has six Vidhan Sabha legislative assembly segments, comprising Worli, Shivadi, Byculla, Malabar Hill, Mumbadevi and Colaba. Mumbai South before delimitation was dominated by Gujaratis, Marwaris and some minority vote pockets. However, after delimitation, it is almost seen to be a microcosm of the city's diversity. It is called 'mini Mumbai', as it reflects the diversity of the main city. Since 1996, Mumbai South has been firmly turning the tide in favour of the party that would rule the…