Articles by Shruti Gokarn

I have to start with a confession — all my life I have never segregated my garbage. I had convinced myself that I was doing my bit for the environment by carrying a cloth tote bag, that ubiquitous flagbearer of environment conservation, that all-encompassing solution to multiple environmental problems. So, imagine my shock when I realised that carrying a tote bag everywhere — from the market to a meeting to a concert — wasn’t enough! I was hit by this revelation when I was assigned a story by my editor — an explainer on 'What happens to the garbage we…

“Panchhi nadiya pawan ke jhonke, koi sarhad na inhe roke…”  (Birds can fly where they want/ water can take its course/ the wind blows in every direction/ no barrier can stop them) — thus go the Javed Akhtar penned lyrics of the song from the movie Refugee (2000, J. P Dutta). As I read about the Panje wetlands in Uran, I wondered if these lyrics hold true today, when human interference is wreaking such havoc on natural environments, and keeping these very elements out. But then, I also wondered if I should refer to Panje, a 289-hectare inter-tidal zone, as…

Visitors to Mumbai are often surprised by the city's lax attitude towards household waste segregation. Despite being aware of the importance of segregating garbage at its source, many residents fail to practise it because of various reasons. Meanwhile, Mumbai's dumping grounds are overflowing, and the situation worsens every year. Proposed solutions like waste remediation and waste-to-energy plants come with their challenges.creative Achieving real, on-ground change depends significantly on behavioural shifts. Moreover, experts have repeatedly pointed out that source segregation and decentralised processing are crucial to addressing waste issues. Can targeted interventions help? One major issue of legacy waste in the…

Scorching heat waves, devastating floods, a yearly increase in temperature, high AQI levels, Mumbai has seen it all over the past few decades, with no sign that the vagaries of climate will let up anytime soon. If the island city is to weather the storm of climate change, it requires a concrete map to navigate the next couple of decades. The Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP), created by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with the World Resources Institute (WRI) as a knowledge partner, is such a map. In 2020, Mumbai became a part of the global C40 network, pledging  a…

In October 2021 Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared a plan to make Indian cities garbage-free under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0,  with the Government of India allocating Rs. 3,400 crore to Maharashtra for the implementation of the  Swachh Bharat Mission. According to the Environment Status Report (ESR) for 2022-23, released by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Mumbai generated 6330 metric tonnes (MT) of waste per day in 2022. With the two dumping sites in Mumbai — Deonar and Kanjurmarg — overflowing, a radical change in our approach to solid waste management is urgently needed. As Maharashtra gets ready to go to…

The past five years have seen public health crises, not only locally but globally. Considering this, it is only fair to expect that budgetary allocations for public health would be made more robust. But an analysis shows that the allocation of funds for public health has dropped, though the number of people seeking medical care from the public healthcare system has increased. Experts have pointed out that the public health budget for 2024-2025 is less than that for 2023-2024. Jan Arogya Abhiyan, a group of NGOs and healthcare professionals has released a health report card assessing the performance of the…

Several infrastructure projects have been launched or inaugurated in Mumbai over the last five years, in the backdrop of huge political upheavals in Maharashtra with unexpected alliances, fractured coalitions, and the overthrow of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) by the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti. Celebrated as an engineering feat, the Mumbai Coastal Road, named Dharmveer Swarajya Rakshak Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Coastal Road, was inaugurated by chief minister Eknath Shinde with deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar on 11th March. This is amongst the major infrastructure projects that have been completed in the past five years and being counted as one…

We are standing ankle-deep in muck mixed with construction debris on the banks of the Ulhas River on a grey, cloudy day with rain lashing down. I am with Vicky Patil of the environmental NGO Vanashakti. Mounds of construction waste surround us. This is a Coastal Regulation I Zone (CRZ I). Vicky explains that Vanashakti filed a complaint with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) about dumping debris in a CRZ I zone and even visited the site with them. During the visit, a local informed them that the waste was coming from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), which was…

“Before we knew it, the truck had started, and it hit me. I was on the side where it hit, and it dragged us. There were big rocks kept as dividers on the road. Thankfully we didn’t hit those. Luckily, the truck stopped because it was not in full speed. The glass which was on my side fully shattered,” narrates Jyotsna Morris. In 2019, Jyotsna was coming from Navi Mumbai to Kandivali by an Uber cab. The road was badly jammed, and the driver decided taking the service road would be quicker, though on the wrong side. While trying to cross…

Table of contents Introduction Eligibility for applying for a learner's licence How to obtain a learner’s licence? How to apply for an LL using Aadhaar Card linked to mobile, if you are forty years or below If you are over forty years of age and use Aadhaar for authentication If you do not use Aadhaar card for authentication What is asked in the LL test? How long is the LL valid? Applying for a permanent driving licence (DL) Renewal of DL Also read Introduction Maharashtra, which has seen a spate of road accidents in the past few months, had the…