City: Mumbai

“Urbanisation is our opportunity and priority,” said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his speech in Parliament, as he presented the Union Budget 2018, presumably the current government’s last big one before the nation goes for elections in 2019. Cities, per se, however did not see too much exclusive focus except in a few allusions to big-ticket schemes introduced by the current dispensation and a couple of city-specific allocations. Here is a quick round-up of what Budget 2018 had to say about the plans for India's urban future: Air pollution in Delhi and NCR Concern for the alarming levels of pollution…

Media focus on the fire that broke out and killed four in Mumbai’s residential Mamoon Manzil complex has been less compared to that on the fire tragedy in the same city in the end of December. The cause of the fire in this building is yet to be ascertained but no one would be surprised if it was pinned down to faulty management and violation of rules. Barely a week ago, the Kamala Mills tragedy got the Bruhan Mumbai Corporation (BMC) on its toes, throwing them into panic-stricken knee-jerk reaction: suspending five officials, galvanising authorities, managers, health and medical experts…

If you were to ask any commuter in any Indian city about their daily pet peeve, it would be the time spent in traffic. And now, Ola, the new age mobility platform serving 110 cities with 8 lakh vehicles on the roads has presented a year-end glimpse of 'how India commuted' based on their records. Some highlights from the top seven cities - Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, and Chennai: Total average traffic speed dropped by a whopping 2.9km/hr with Bangalore registering the slowest at 17.2km/hour Ola Share has saved 4 times the fuel from last year, telling of the high customer adoption…

Once again it’s that time of the year when we are most prone to looking back and ahead at the same time. Taking stock of the year’s discourse on urbanisation in India, it is evident that some issues have consistently dominated the narrative and been on top of the minds of urban citizens in 2017. These are also issues that we need to sustain focus upon as we move into the new year, since they will continue to play an important role in determining the dynamics and direction of development in the country, and in particular in its cities. As…

It has been just over a week since Mumbai was lashed by the highest 24-hour December rain in a decade due to cyclone Ockhi. Temperatures dropped sharply, schools were shut, and companies issued advisories to employees. But when such a disaster strikes the city, the most vulnerable are invariably its homeless. Brijesh Arya, an activist working with the homeless in Mumbai, mentions many cases from Mumbai’s monsoon floods this year. One is the case of Anju Kharwa, who held her child on her shoulders for as long as the floods raged. The flood that lasted nearly two days had caused…

If recent news reports are to be believed, the Bangalore Metro is set to have coaches for women soon, according to Minister for Bengaluru Development and Town Planning K J George. The facility is expected to be implemented in 2019, when the total number of coaches will be increased from three to six. The demand for reservation had come from a section of women passengers, once the Purple Line (Mysore Road to Byappanahalli) became operational and ridership multiplied. BMRCL currently estimates that 40% of their nearly three lakh daily passengers are women, and plans to hold a survey to find…

As Indian cities expand at breakneck speed, they gobble up surrounding villages at a blistering pace. Mumbai is no different.  However, if you look for it, you will still find traces of several villages, older than the city itself, that have survived the onslaught of urbanisation. Some maintain their way of life, because they are fishing villages and depend on the sea for survival. Others are not so lucky and have become sites for low-income housing in a city where real estate is one of the most expensive in the country. These images bring us snatches of life from a…

India’s largest city, and the eighth largest globally, Mumbai houses more than 1.2 crore people according to Census 2011. The city traffic has a notorious image, with frequent traffic jams being reported routinely in the media. However, the Draft Development Plan for Greater Mumbai 2014-2034 conveys a different story of how the city moves. The plan reveals that more than half of the city uses non-motorised modes of transport such as walking and cycling (51%). 42% of the trips are catered to by public modes of transport, including trains, buses, auto rickshaws etc, while the share of cars, two-wheelers and…

It seemed like a bright sunny day. A working woman in her late thirties, left Powai for Matunga by Uber at 7.30 a.m. The route normally takes 45 minutes. But yesterday it took a little longer than usual, around 75 minutes. The rain gods had by then showcased a trailer of what was going to be an adventurous day. Even then, never had I thought that I would return to the cosy comfort of my home only after more than 24 hours! As a Mumbaikar, you can feel the vibe when rain, or for that matter anything, rises above the…

Mumbai, a city that grew along the railway tracks is now a city that has surrendered to the lure of cars. With this habit came the need for more roads and flyovers to make space for the city’s cars and parking space for them. One of the many consequences of this trend has been the surrender of open spaces, footpaths and places where children used to play. But adults in the city haven’t managed to destroy childhood. Not yet. It’s unsafe, but children will play in available space and we can ignore them at our own peril. These photos tell…