City: Bengaluru

“Hum Corona se nahi, bhook se marenge!”  (“I’ll not die of Corona, but will definitely die of hunger!”). This is the poignant cry of many migrant workers left without work, wages and food in labour camps across Bengaluru during the COVID-19 lockdown. After the endless wait for trains to their hometowns as well as the State’s failed promise to deliver them food/ration kits, migrant labourers preferred to walk more than 1000 km home, carrying their elderly, children and meagre belongings. It shows their desperation, as no one, if they had enough to eat, would have embarked on such journeys. One…

Shorter hospital stay for COVID patients COVID-19 patients will have a shorter stay in hospital, with the state government changing its discharge protocols. From now, symptomatic patients staying in isolation facilities will be discharged 10 days after admission if they show no symptoms on the last three consecutive days and test negative. If they test positive, repeat tests will be done after 72 hours. Asymptomatic patients in isolation facilities will be discharged following a test seven days after admission, if the result is negative. Earlier, all patients had to spend a minimum of 14 days in hospital and a patient…

Lockdown has been tough for all, but more so for the hidden and forgotten communities around us. We wanted to create awareness about these communities who badly needed support - the people who have been constructing our apartments and houses, helping us with our domestic work and providing us with other essential services. Many of them have lost their jobs, some of them have not been paid salaries. Our journey began with a small group of migrant families in HSR layout, ward 174. We began by lending a helping hand to the efforts of BBMP and the Labour Department in…

Last week, the Department of Health and Family Welfare Services released new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for travellers entering Karnataka. The new SOPs offer many relaxations, particularly for inter-state and inter-district travellers. Inter-district travellers no longer need to be screened at the point of entry and don’t have to undergo institutional quarantine, while inter-state travellers have been given a way out of it. Here are the new rules for travelling to Karnataka during Lockdown 4.0: Inter-District Travel CategoryQuarantineTestingCategory 1 (Symptomatic)* Screened at point of origin (bus station, railway station)* Symptomatic passengers will be referred to fever clinicsDecided at fever clinicCategory…

Even as it was grappling with increasing COVID-19 cases, on April 21, the Karnataka government swiftly notified the Zonal Regulations (Amendment), 2020 (ZRA). The new regulations are aimed at conserving heritage sites, buildings, precincts and natural features. They will apply to Zonal Regulations/Master Plans of all local planning areas in the state, including Bengaluru. ZRA specifies rules for identifying and preserving the state’s heritage, and conservationists, by large, have welcomed it. With ZRA, Bengaluru would have a dedicated authority to identify and protect a wide range of heritage sites including natural features. However, there are concerns about the composition of…

We met this thin man, sitting on a chair in front of a roadside shop in KR Puram on March 28. He was happy to receive the food packets and water bottles we gave him. We thought he was sitting in that chair to guard his valuable makeshift shop. We kept watching this individual whenever we returned to the same road, after food distribution to needy people in KR Puram Railway station area. He was with another man the first day. His friend didn't accept food from us, but was happy to receive it on the second day, probably due…

Bengaluru’s lakes have been in the news for pollution, froth, fish kill and even fire. Despite the government investing crores of rupees into reviving these lakes, and widespread citizen engagement, not much has changed. While the main reason is the lack of coordination between government departments, the absolute lack of science-based solutions is also a major gap. In this context, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and Biome Environmental Trust (BIOME) have developed the ‘Bangalore Citizen Science Lakes Dashboard’ to share knowledge and best practices for better management of lakes. We created a series of system…

What can history teach us? I am often asked this seemingly old yet enduring question, in various ways: Why should we study old buildings? Why worry about people who lived long ago? The oft repeated quote, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" is obviously not a sufficient answer one can offer. In this article, I draw on Donald Anderson’s biography ‘The Last White Hunter’ by Joshua Mathew to address this question. Donald Anderson (1934 – 2014), belonged to the last of four generations of Scots who made India their home. I was taken aback…

The Bicycle is the simplest solution to the world's most complex problems. As Chris Broadman says in The Guardian, “Pick a crisis and you’ll probably find cycling is a solution”. Cities across the world, including Italy and Spain which have registered high COVID fatalities, are enabling cycling in these troubled times. Berlin, Bogota, Auckland, Budapest, Mexico City are rolling out “emergency” cycleways to boost bicycle use during the COVID pandemic, besides planning an increase in their city’s permanent cycling network. Calgary, Vancouver, Oakland, Philadelphia, Denver, Minneapolis, have opened up some streets only for cycling and walking. In New York, San…

Women workers will be among those worst-affected by the Karnataka government’s notification that allows factories to increase work hours to 10 per day, or 60 per week. In a survey conducted jointly by us at the Alternative Law  Forum and the Garments Mahila Karmikara Munnade between May 16 and 18, 65% of workers said they won't and can't work for longer hours. Given that an overwhelming segment of the workforce in garment industries are women, extending their work hours will likely result in thousands of women dropping out of the workforce or being asked to leave if they can't work…