City: Mumbai

On October 22nd, Citizen Matters hosted a tweet chat with Kaveri Medappa, DeliveryBhoy (an anonymous Twitter handle of a former delivery worker), and Abhishek Sekharan to discuss the issues delivery workers deal with on a daily basis. Kaveri is a researcher at University of Sussex, she is known for her work studying the experiences of delivery workers in Bangalore. DeliveryBhoy is an anonymous food delivery worker who brings focus to poor working conditions of gig workers in the country. Abhishek Sekharan, is a Researcher with Centre for Internet and Society CIS India doing interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies…

Juned Shaikh’s Outcaste Bombay: City Making and the Politics of the Poor traces the history of Bombay, from the plague epidemic and rise of the textile mills to their dissolution. Assembled together from government archives, poetry, fiction, and translated Marxist literature, the book chronicles Dalit lives, identity, culture and politics in the city. The book challenges the notion that Bombay is devoid of caste, and instead, reveals that it is the orchestrating force facilitating the city’s industries, landscape and culture. Juned is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Below is an…

By March 2020, along with the rest of the country, Mumbai went into a severe lockdown. Social distancing, wearing a mask and hand washing were necessary precautions, and access to them, the need of the hour. A majority of the population did not - and still doesn’t - have access to safe water or sanitation, nor the privilege of technology.  This exclusion in the time of a public health crisis is not new. Bombay has seen several epidemics in the past, but what is often overlooked in the discourse on public health is that many such diseases are waterborne. Furthermore,…

Mumbai registers zero COVID-19 deaths for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic After 18 months and 3 weeks, Mumbai recorded no COVID-19 deaths on a single day on October 17th. "Mumbai recorded zero Covid deaths after March 26, 2020. This is great news for all of us in Mumbai. I salute Team MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) for their spectacular performance," I S Chahal, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner told news agency ANI. Even before the second wave of the pandemic hit the country, Mumbai had already reported more than 25% of the country’s total number…

With less than five months for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election in February 2022, political workers from across parties face uncertainties. It is unclear which section of the local population will be able to vote for them, causing confusion on the ground as citizens await clearance from Maharashtra’s State Election Commission. Why are constituencies being redrawn now?  Electoral constituencies or electoral wards are altered according to changes in sizes of local populations, to ensure equal representation and a fair division of geographical areas so that no political party has an advantage. “Each corporator has an average population of around…

Parcham Collective, an organisation that facilitates football practice sessions for adolescent girls in Mumbra, Thane, organised a wall painting event in the area on October 2nd in the Fatima Bi Savitri Bai sports ground for girls, as an inauguration of the ground that the girls will now use for training officially. “The ground was reserved for the girls by the Thane municipal corporation, and the opposition party arranged for appropriate landscaping of the ground, a first by local authorities and the opposition.” said Sabah Khan, co-founder of Parcham. The name of the ground was an ode to Fatima Shaikh and Savitri…

Birds in India migrate from Northern latitudes to escape cold temperatures during winter. Some arrive during monsoons to breed and some are passage migrants that take a pit stop in the country around October-November and March-April, during their journeys elsewhere. Some are local migrants that move within the country according to their breeding cycle.  We should appreciate the long journeys which migratory birds take in order to complete their life cycle. In terms of migration routes of birds, Navi Mumbai lies near one of the paths of the Central Asian Flyway.  Starling, Buntings, Rosefinch, Stonechat and Pipits migrate to Mumbai…

Everyday from 12 am to 3 pm, Mayank* works for Tokree, a grocery delivery app. He then switches to the ubiquitous black-and-orange Swiggy t-shirt, and from 3 pm to 12 am delivers food from restaurants to homes. “For every Tokree delivery, I get paid Rs 35. But with Swiggy, I only get a minimum of Rs 20 per trip,” he says. Mayank is one of the 3+ lakh strong workforce in the country suffering the brunt of low wages and poor working conditions in the food delivery and e-commerce industries. Unable to make ends meet, many of them are switching…

Mumbai sees highest COVID-19 cases since July 26 Cases of COVID-19 have gradually increased in Mumbai since the festive season began with Ganesh Chaturthi. On Thursday, the number hit 5,317, the highest in the city since July 26. Officials from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s health department said they are anticipating a spike post-Dussehra as more people step out. However, officials said the rise in cases is not a cause for concern. They say the situation is under control since most of Mumbai’s population has taken at least one dose of the and nearly half have taken both doses. Source: The…

The threats induced by COVID-19 continue to warn the masses against large crowds and uncovered faces. Since masking became the norm, cases of flu viruses and common colds saw a rapid decline, but have resurfaced with the onset of the monsoon season. This might bring confusions in diagnoses, and people might wonder if they have COVID-19 or a viral fever. With so many viruses in the air, it is important to understand the differences between them for an accurate diagnosis and preventive practice. Read more: Walk-ins introduced in Mumbai’s vaccination centres to help local residents Mumbai | Masking norms had reduced…