Category: Environment

Ragiri Sankara is a cab driver based in Bengaluru. “Tackling the heat is a huge task these days,” he says. To be driving all day in the heat is very tiring; the car heats up very fast. “I pack different juices daily to keep myself cool,” he adds.  Gig workers, street vendors, waste pickers, construction labourers, and the urban poor face a higher risk of heat stress than the general population. Now that summer has ended and the monsoon is setting in, the government has once again failed to effectively manage heat stress in Bengaluru. The need for a localised…

Ever stepped out to be hit by a blistering wave of heat? When the surroundings felt like a furnace and the body seemed to give up from exhaustion? This is how it was a week ago, when in many parts of India, including Delhi, the mercury touched 40 degrees Celsius, before sudden rainfall drastically lowered temperatures. The high humidity pushed the 'feel-like temperature' to almost 50 degrees Celsius, and the heat wave disrupted daily life.   Now, imagine a long battle with unrelenting heat for weeks or months, stifling communities and threatening livelihoods. Heat waves and chronic heat stress may…

Migrant workers and their families, street vendors, gig workers, domestic help and many more—where do these people figure in city heat mitigation measures? India's heat action plans (HAPs) are falling short where it matters most. About 95% lack vulnerability assessments, leaving communities ill-prepared for rising temperatures, reveals a Centre for Policy Research study. Most plans fail to account for local contexts, oversimplify the hazards, and overlook the most at-risk populations. Bengaluru does not even have a heat action plan. In 2024, architect and climate researcher Ujjvala Krishna, along with other experts from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and…

Amid the countless wheels lining its roads, the premises of the Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) in Bengaluru's Yelahanka is surprisingly verdant for a government foundry. A spider web-like system of interconnected stormwater drains and water points efficiently directs all water to the pump house or ponds, preventing any runoff. Their rooftop harvesting system allows immediate use of rainwater for production, ensuring zero wastage. Even during the peak of summer 2025, the two main wells, named Damodar and Kandaswamy—essential for production and fire emergencies—remain more than half-full, highlighting RWF’s water efficiency. Rail Wheel Factory uses power-saving ways in which it can…

‘You should also report on Hegondanahalli Kere. A lake has been killed in the name of rejuvenation' — a message that I received from Chetan Gopal, Bengaluru-based lake conservationist and a member of the group ‘Friends of Lakes’, after my earlier story on Mullur Lake, another panchayat lake, was published.  Chetan regularly visits around 14 lakes in Sarjapura Road, Varthur and nearby areas, mostly outside the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limit, and his observations bear out what our article underscored — that lakes on the peripheries of the city face common challenges that have left them in worse condition…

For over seven years, I have lived in a gated community in Thalambur, located behind Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai’s IT Corridor. This rapidly developing suburban area enjoys proximity to some of the city’s best infrastructure, including high-rise buildings and world-class offices. However, like many other suburban neighbourhoods in the city, the local administration lacks an efficient solid waste management system. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed that mixed waste collected from communities was indiscriminately dumped near water bodies or on vacant land. This practice contributes to land, groundwater, and air pollution while releasing harmful greenhouse gases like methane, which contribute…

From the Western Expressway Highway if you turn left, you start to see mangroves beyond which lies the Mithi river. Go further towards the Kala Killa bus depot at Dharavi, and you will see a green fence beyond which lies an urban forest. This is the Maharashtra Nature Park that the Maharashtra Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) built with the support of the NGO World Wide Fund for Nature India, starting from 1983. Architect Shriya Bhatia cites this as an example of blue green infrastructure (BGI). Built on a former garbage dumping ground, the park houses indigenous plant varieties and an…

Every afternoon, Nanda Kumar makes a difficult choice. He parks his bike outside his home in Chennai and suspends work, losing up to ₹800 a day. The 27-year-old Ola and Uber rider isn’t on a break for leisure, though. A brutal heatwave and a recent heat stroke that landed him in the hospital for two days cost him over ₹10,000 in medical bills and lost wages. Since then, he has been forced to stay off the roads during the afternoon hours. “I can’t ride between 12 and 4 pm in the summer months. The heat is just unbearable,” he says. …

Once known for its pleasant climate, Bengaluru now faces a climate crisis. Rapid urbanisation, vehicular emissions, and construction dust have led to hazardous air pollution, with PM2.5 and PM10 levels endangering health. Rising temperatures, water scarcity, vanishing green cover, and rampant concretisation have intensified the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Erratic rainfall and groundwater depletion further threaten a water emergency, affecting households across the city. The Bengaluru Climate Action and Resilience Plan (BCAP) was introduced in November 2023 to build adaptation and resilience against climate change, but implementation gaps persist. The absence of a dedicated climate budget, lack of transparency…