Category: Governance

The KEB Junction on 27th Main Road in HSR Layout highlights a typical urban planning failure. The junction prioritises vehicle movement over pedestrians. Resident Sachin Pandith, along with the HSR Community Task Force, has been working to address these issues and make the area safer. According to Sachin, residents have been engaging with officials and filing complaints for more than five years, yet nothing has changed. Encroached footpaths, unclear signage, and unsafe pedestrian crossings have created a hostile environment for walkers. In addition, the poorly located bus stop leaves little space for buses to halt, often turning the stretch into…

In 2015, when her infant daughter began wheezing, Subashini R purchased a machine she had only ever seen in hospitals. Daily trips from Kattukuppam in north Chennai to Tondiarpet Hospital were expensive, costing at least ₹500 then. Although the nebuliser cost four times her daily healthcare expenses, it reduced long-term costs in a region struggling with the lasting effects of pollution. “Every doctor tells locals to leave the region due to the chemicals here,” says the activist, part of the Save Ennore Creek Campaign. A decade later, nearly every household in Ennore has a nebuliser. Her younger daughter now suffers…

“I am not fully convinced that my child's and my personal data will be securely digitised under the APAAR ID initiative. I withheld some information, yet I’m anxious about my child’s safety and how this might affect her future education,” says Chaitra N, parent of a class 3 student in Bengaluru. Many parents share Chaitra's growing unease about providing personal data for APAAR ID generation. Tanuja R, mother of two undergraduate students, also had her reservations. “We place our trust in educational institutions to safeguard our children and their records, which ultimately shape their academic futures. That’s why, despite my hesitation,…

The constant looking over one's shoulder, being followed on the street, inappropriate touch and harassment on public transportation — every woman is familiar with this narrative. It was these issues that were highlighted when groups of young women in Mumbai were asked to create tableaux, depicting their everyday experiences, during a  recent theatre workshop. While the workshop facilitators did not set a specific theme, something striking happened. Group after group independently chose to portray the same issues: street harassment, eve teasing, gender discrimination and domestic violence. These were no longer just abstract concerns but pressing realities shaping how young women…

For years, domestic workers in Bengaluru and other cities in Karnataka have protested the lack of social security or legal mandates to protect them against exploitation. The State government has finally addressed some of their long-standing demands and released the Draft Karnataka Domestic Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2025, on October 15 for public consultation. This move follows the Supreme Court's directive calling for a well-defined legal framework to safeguard and regulate the rights of domestic workers. According to G Manjunath, Additional Labour Commissioner and author of the bill, the goal of the draft bill is to “provide rights-based,…

Meenakshi (name changed), migrated from Tamil Nadu to Bengaluru 18 years ago and now lives in a steel shed in Laggere. During rains, she collects the water leaking through her roof in pots to prevent flooding in the house. The situation is the same with almost all of her neighbours.  “I used to cover the roof with tarpaulins but they wear off soon. And I can’t afford to change them often,” Meenakshi said. She complained that the shed gets unbearably hot during summers and chilly during rains. “I spend most days of summer outside the house as it would be…