City: Bengaluru

For restaurateur Abhilash VK’s seven-year-old and four-year-old children, the idea of waking up every morning, running up to their balcony, and picking fresh strawberries from their kitchen garden has been an exciting one. Their breakfast was incomplete without them.  Abhilash, a home gardening enthusiast, plans to create an aviary to his terrace garden. Pic courtesy: Abhilash VK Abhilash started his terrace gardening project a little before the pandemic. He enlisted the service of a gardening firm to set up the garden. They took care of the soil and other infrastructure, and provide monthly service for applying fertiliser and managing pests.…

“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…

This is a time of immense grief and loss for me. Unable to face the harsh reality of my mother gasping for each breath in the ICU, I was drowning myself in work. Coincidentally or so I think, I was working on a report analysing asphyxiation of Vrishabhavathi, Arkavathi, and Cauvery rivers, and suffocation of aquatic lifeforms the rivers supported. As the dissolved oxygen graph took shape, I realised: The million times I had held the dissolved oxygen meter underwater to measure oxygen saturation levels across rivers was no different from the million times we plugged the oximeter to my mother’s…

Partial lockdown lift Post June 14, the lockdown will continue  in 11 districts, including Bengaluru Rural which has test positivity rate (TPR) above 5%. However, it will be eased for other districts including Bengaluru Urban. In Bengaluru Urban district, the following rules will be in effect: Essential shops will open from 6 am to 2 pmParks will be open from 5 am to 10 amStreet vendors can operate from 6 am to 2 pmAutos and taxis with only two persons can operateGarment industry can function with 30% capacityFactories can open at 50% capacityAll construction activities are allowed to start. Shops…

Healthcare facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes normally see a continuous flow of people. Almost all of them operate on a 24x7 basis. Hospitals are not only required to take care of patients but must ensure that their safety is prioritised. Fire accidents at healthcare facilities should not force anyone to run for their life. Ever since COVID-19 made an appearance, medical facilities have been stretched beyond their capacity. Right in the middle of the pandemic, when work load of hospitals has been on an all-time high, there have been several instances of hospital fires resulting in tragedies, across…

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…

Lockdown extended On Thursday, the Karnataka government announced extending the lockdown across the State by a week, from June 7 to June 14. This is in accordance with the Technical Advisory Committee's recommendation that the lockdown should be continued till the case positivity rate drops to 5%. The CPR presently is around 11%. On Thursday, Bengaluru Urban recorded 3,533 new cases of COVID, 7,672 discharges and 347 deaths. The State government also spelt out a second relief package of Rs 323 crore to give ASHA, Anganwadi workers, weavers, film and TV industry workers, Muzrai temple priests, Maulvis and fishermen Rs…

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…

With ever growing and rapidly changing Indian cities, the gamut of issues that are affecting them are not only growing, but are becoming very specific to the local context. Decision-makers and designers are rethinking urban design to make cities more liveable and public spaces more accessible and safe. Tactical urbanism is gaining popularity as a method to tackle these issues. What's tactical urbanism?  Tactical urbanism is all about action. It is also known as DIY urbanism, Planning-by-Doing, Urban Acupuncture, or Urban Prototyping. This approach refers to a city, organisational, and/or citizen-led approach to building neighbourhoods by using short-term, low-cost, and…

In Part 1, we saw how those who cannot negotiate the digital world are severely handicapped in accessing COVID care. In this concluding part, we examine how the digital divide is impacting the immunisation drive, and explore how it can be bridged. Experts are equating digital handicap with vaccine hesitancy. They believe the digital divide is mystifying and complicating the vaccination process. Social technologist Kiran Jonnalagadda observes, “You can combine misinformation and unavailability and create hesitancy out of it. Imagine if you are told that there is no chance getting the vaccination, that slots are full and so on; then…