City: Delhi / NCR

On the night of November 24th, a fire broke out at the Ghazipur landfill site in the capital, burning for over 24 hours till it could be brought under control and choking an already severely polluted city. As citizens coughed and struggled to breathe, we called Dr Ajay Nagpure, Head, Air Quality and Sustainable Urbanisation, World Resources Institute Ross Centre for Sustainable Cities, and this is what he said: “The air pollution caused by gases emitted from the landfill affects the birth weight of children born to those residing in the vicinity of the landfill. Even child mortality will be very…

On a busy noon last week, as Kavya, 63, was scouting for medicine for her husband at the Yusuf Sarai market in south Delhi, she noticed that salesmen in many drug stores were either without masks, or were not covering their nose and mouth. The elbowing crowd of customers, too, were not wearing masks. “I got terribly scared and was virtually in tears,” says a frightened Kavya as she rushed out of the shop. This market is lined with more than 50 drug stores as two big hospitals—AIIMS and the Safdarjung—are in proximity.  At the giant commercial-cum-office complex at Nehru…

 The silvery reflection of moonlight on the waterway, lined on both sides with shops and havelis, gave the stretch its name—Chandni Chowk. That was 17th century Shahjanabad, the city built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The water has long receded, but the name remains.   Today’s Chandni Chowk is a far cry from what it had been before the pandemic struck. The few intrepid citizens who ventured to that heritage street in recent weeks were pleasantly surprised and totally thrilled by what they saw. Vloggers, particularly, had a field time capturing the bustling 17th century market in Old Delhi in its Kejriwal-times avatar. Chandni Chowk…

“I was thrilled when the government issued an ordinance to control air quality in the NCR,” says 76-year old Mithilesh Kumar of Seemantak Vihar near the Delhi-Ghaziabad border. But as crackers shattered the relative quiet of his area, Mithilesh, an asthma patient who thought he was safe this year from cracker smoke polluted air, wanted to lodge a complaint with the new commission. “But I did not know whom to complain to. My grandson tried to find out from the net, but could not.” Not far away, Chandra Aggarwal, 43, was so gung-ho, she had hoped her use of nebulizer…

We are nearing the end of a year that none of us ever imagined we’d have to live through. So much of what we practiced, what we believed to be ‘normal’, has proved to be as vulnerable as a reed in a storm. Our lives have changed radically and so have our festivals, with restrictions galore on traditional customs, rituals and celebrations. But surely, we do not need COVID to tell us that we ought to move away from celebrations with firecrackers?  Yes, the coronavirus has indeed made that move much more pressing, creating as it does a lethal mix…

Having set a four-year time-frame to achieve the target of 25 per cent electrification of new vehicle fleet in Delhi, the Arvind Kejriwal government may have just bitten off more than it can chew. Despite the slew of incentives offered -- waiver of registration fee and road tax and subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh for new electric cars and up to Rs 30,000 for electric two-wheelers, e-rickshaws and freight vehicles, widespread public acceptance of electric vehicles is uncertain. Though the e-vehicle policy announcement on August 7th, based on wide-ranging consultations with experts from across the country and study of EV policies…

The clampdown on all non-essential activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant decline in air pollution levels in major cities across India. Researchers from Respirer Living Sciences and Carbon Copy have analysed average air quality during all four lockdown phases in India as well as concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), and Benzene during individual phases for Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, as part of their on-going National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) Tracker project to monitor the implementation of the NCAP. Four cities witness clean air From March 25 to…

  “Art is art for all of us. It is high time that artistes, organizations which give them a platform and other stakeholders come together and chalk out an action plan.” So spoke Dr. Sonal Mansingh, Padma Vibhushan and Rajya Sabha MP at a recent Webinar on ‘Economics of Performing Arts’, hosted by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Art (IGNCA) on Art and Culture in today’s Coronavirus affected scenario.  COVID-19 is undoubtedly going to have an indelible impact on the country’s art and culture scene. Amongst the worst-hit, besides migrant labourers, are the folk, tribal and casual artists…

Delhi 6, or Old Delhi, is famous for its street food. And every foodie who visits stops at Ashok Chat Corner, at the corner of Chowk Hauz Qazi. But while ordering their pick, customers often ask the man making the chats about the downed shutter in the tiny shop next door. “He has stopped coming,” the chatwala would reply. “He will be at home, it is just a few minutes’ walk. Take the straight road…..”, and would give directions to the home of Satya Narain Saxena – 2983, the tenth generation of a family of deed writers, today the last…

Of all the headlines made by the state visit of US President, Donald Trump, the one that caught my attention was a news report about five langurs being included in his security detail during his visit to Agra to deal with the monkey menace. It provided great fodder to social media and meme makers as the jokes wrote themselves. But now that the noise has died down after the return of the President, it is time we looked at the magnitude of the problem, because as the residents of these cities will tell you, it is no laughing matter. So,…