City: Mumbai

Maximum City, Glamour City, City of Dreams, City of Struggles — Mumbai wears many names and identities. One of the world's most populous cities, it houses a staggering 2.17 crore people in just 603 square kilometres. Its carrying capacity in terms of accommodating a workforce was exceeded a decade ago, yet the daily inflow continues. Sky-high, artificially inflated real estate prices have pushed many to the distant suburbs, making the daily commute for work or study an arduous struggle. And yet the mobility solutions that the city administration and other powers that be come up with are not only inadequate,…

“For the last five years, I’ve only come to Govandi to report on crime or garbage,” admitted a reporter from a national newspaper during the Govandi Arts Festival 2023. “This is the first time I’m here to cover a story about art, and it’s one created by the youth themselves.” He went on to publish an article titled Govandi Arts Festival: Reimagining Inadequately Built Spaces Through Art and Creativity. It featured young artists who dared to tell their stories using their own voices and mediums. One might wonder why a place like Govandi, home to Mumbai’s largest resettlement population, burdened…

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has released the draft Zonal Master Plan for the eco-sensitive zone of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). The civic body is inviting suggestions and objections till October 17. However, environmentalists have raised concerns about potential ecological damage in the name of development, through the master plan. They allege that commercial activities are planned very close to sensitive ecosystems. Meanwhile, communities living in and around the park fear displacement, loss of livelihood and erosion of their cultural identity. They are also finding it difficult to submit their feedback, as the draft plan is in English. Background SGNP…

Anagha Satam's* son was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at the age of six and a half, following a suggestion from his private writing tutor to get him evaluated. But Anagha's initial attempts to share the results with her son's school were dismissed. Though the school authorities eventually acknowledged her concerns, Anagha found that the special educators there lacked the right approach and were focused on the child reaching a certain rank in class. “He has ADHD,” she says, “and the special educator's job is to help him manage his symptoms and to teach him that it is…

Mumbai recently witnessed unprecedented protests that brought its road and rail services to a standstill, disrupting daily life. Around 60,000 protesters from across Maharashtra converged in the city between August 29 and September 2, demanding Maratha caste reservations under the Other Backward Class (OBC) category. For five days, protestors blocked trains and roads, affecting lives and livelihoods across the metropolis. As the capital and political nerve centre of Maharashtra, Mumbai regularly draws protestors from all corners of the state. This is especially true around Azad Maidan, the city’s designated protest site. Those residing and working in South Mumbai, where the…

Mumbai's P/North Ward is a climate paradox. On a map, it looks green, boasting significant cover from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park to the east and vital mangroves to the west. Yet, the reality on the ground for its nearly one million residents is one of scorching heat. The surfaces people walk and live on have heated dramatically, with land surface temperatures soaring by over 5°C in much of this ward between 2015 and 2024. The reason is a familiar story of urban expansion: rapid, unplanned growth has replaced cooling ecosystems with a dense fabric of concrete, tin, and asphalt,…

Mumbai's M/East Ward, a sprawling peripheral area including Mankhurd, Govandi, Deonar, Trombay and Chembur, embodies a tale of two cities. It is a vital economic engine, home to major industrial facilities such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Tata Power, RCF and HPCL. At the same time, it lies on the city's fringe where its unseen have been pushed over decades, from the mountains of waste at the Deonar landfill to the marginalised communities resettled in its cramped colonies. Our study on the impact of rising urban temperatures reveals just how this deep-seated inequality is baked into the very…

As the monsoon continues to wreak havoc in Mumbai, residents of Appa Pada, living along the slopes of the Malad hillocks within the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), are among the worst affected. As soon as the rainy season begins, they find eviction notices pasted on their doors. The Forest Department also erects banners warning residents to vacate the area because of monsoon-related hazards. These notices seem to absolve the government of any responsibility in the event of an accident.   Appa Pada continues to be susceptible to landslides, posing danger to the hillock’s inhabitants. Despite this, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation…

In the western suburbs of Mumbai, the Mount Mary and Kane Road areas in Bandra comprise a diverse neighbourhood of 38 high-rise apartments, bungalows, four religious institutions, a school, an orphanage, a hospice, and a women’s hostel. Since 1998, this locality has been actively served by ALM 33 — an Advanced Locality Management unit recognised by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for its proactive resident group, working to improve the quality of life in the area. For years, the BMC did not have a consistent waste management programme in ALM 33. This led to sanitation issues, including overflowing bins, clogged…

Several Marathi poets have captured the beauty of the month of Shravan: the gentle, short spells of silken raindrops, playing hide-and-seek with the sun, and etching rainbows in the sky. After one and a half to two months of dark skies and consistent rainfall in Mumbai, Shravan, when it starts around August, is seen as a time for Mumbaikars to enjoy the rains, as the monsoon wanes in intensity towards the end of the season. At least, that used to be the case.Over the past couple of years, however, rains have started to visit Mumbai at the beginning of June. Then it…