City: Mumbai

We are standing ankle-deep in muck mixed with construction debris on the banks of the Ulhas River on a grey, cloudy day with rain lashing down. I am with Vicky Patil of the environmental NGO Vanashakti. Mounds of construction waste surround us. This is a Coastal Regulation I Zone (CRZ I). Vicky explains that Vanashakti filed a complaint with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) about dumping debris in a CRZ I zone and even visited the site with them. During the visit, a local informed them that the waste was coming from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), which was…

According to the 2016 Comprehensive Mobility Plan by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, 51% of trips in Mumbai are by walking. Notably, 72.5% of trips to educational institutions and 60% of trips involving public transport start and end with walking. Despite these figures, Mumbai's infrastructure is not pedestrian-friendly, and road safety remains a significant concern. Recent projects like the coastal road and the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link prioritise cars over pedestrians. Elections and pedestrians' needs With the assembly elections approaching, the Walking Project, an NGO that works towards creating a safe, convenient, and enjoyable walking experience, has released its…

“Before we knew it, the truck had started, and it hit me. I was on the side where it hit, and it dragged us. There were big rocks kept as dividers on the road. Thankfully we didn’t hit those. Luckily, the truck stopped because it was not in full speed. The glass which was on my side fully shattered,” narrates Jyotsna Morris. In 2019, Jyotsna was coming from Navi Mumbai to Kandivali by an Uber cab. The road was badly jammed, and the driver decided taking the service road would be quicker, though on the wrong side. While trying to cross…

Table of contents Introduction Eligibility for applying for a learner's licence How to obtain a learner’s licence? How to apply for an LL using Aadhaar Card linked to mobile, if you are forty years or below If you are over forty years of age and use Aadhaar for authentication If you do not use Aadhaar card for authentication What is asked in the LL test? How long is the LL valid? Applying for a permanent driving licence (DL) Renewal of DL Also read Introduction Maharashtra, which has seen a spate of road accidents in the past few months, had the…

Mehul Patel is a harrowed commuter working at the Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai’s central business district (CBD) stretched over four sq km that was supposed to be an alternative to Nariman Point. Every evening, he stands in a long serpentine queue waiting for a bus that would allow him at least standing space. Bumper to bumper evening traffic is a daily reality for him. And it has only gotten worse since the work on the bullet train commenced, not to mention the ongoing metro construction work.  What upsets him is the lack of practical solutions. A few years ago, he…

After any major event, more often than not, the next day’s news is about how much waste was collected and cleaned up from the city. For example, after Ganpati Visarjan on September 17th around 550 metric tonnes of waste was collected. Few months before that, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) cleared 11,000 kg of garbage after the victory parade at Marine Drive celebrating India’s T20 world cup win.  This is just to illustrate that Mumbai has a major garbage problem. But it is not only on such events that waste management is a challenge. With 6300 metric tonnes of garbage…

The surge in student suicides in India has reached an alarming level, with counsellors describing it as an epidemic. Between 2019 and 2021, 35,000 young lives were tragically lost to suicide, as revealed in Parliament. The numbers paint a grim picture, escalating from 10,335 in 2019 to 12,526 in 2020, reaching 13,089 in 2021.  The 2022 NCRB report recorded a total of 13,044 student suicides and stated that over the last decade (2013-22), a total of 103,961 student suicides were recorded. This was a 64% increase compared to the prior decade (2003-12). A report, Student Suicides: An Epidemic Sweeping India,…

As a very young working professional at my first job, I was once required to take a long leave to be care-giver to two family members. A much older male colleague, knowing my situation, started calling me every day, making me feel highly uncomfortable. Each time the landline rang, my heart would thud in my chest, and my legs would get wobbly. I had no one to turn to, to ask for help or advice. Finally, gathering all the courage I could muster, and summoning my sternest voice, I told him I did not want to talk to him. In my…

One of the most important goals under NEP 2020  is to achieve universal foundational literacy and numeracy in primary schools by the year 2025. The Ministry of Education started the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat in July 2021. The goal is to enable children to attain basic foundational skills by the time they reach Class III. The Ministry aims to achieve this by 2026-27. Read more: Students detained in spare classroom: Who pays when school fees become unaffordable? Pratham's Leader Mother for NIPUN Maharashtra programme Pratham, an NGO established in 1995, has been working…

Nilesh Shinde, the organiser of the Mumbaicha Samrat Ganpati at Khetwadi, is confused. Just as many other organisers of Mumbai's famed Ganeshotsav, he has also been preoccupied with the Bombay High Court's recent order. The Court, in its order, asked all civic bodies to intimate sarvajanik Ganesh mandals that they have to mandatorily follow the Central Pollution Control Board  (CPCB) guidelines of 2020 and shun PoP idols altogether. Yet, not all are aware of the rationale behind this."Why didn’t they put a ban on PoP for the past so many years? It is not as if people have started celebrating…