CITIZEN JOURNALISM

About eight and half years ago, Roshni* noticed that her toddler, Karan*, had started to fall back on his milestones. A visit to the paediatrician led to Karan being diagnosed with mild autism. “From then on, it’s been a long journey,” says Roshni. The dedicated parents have taken Karan to numerous intervention centres and therapists, but keeping this going financially was proving to be a burden. That is when someone referred Roshni to The Association of People with Disability (APD), an NGO that has been working for underprivileged people with disability since 1959. Roshni approached APD in March this year,…

When we first moved to Kasturba Nagar in Adyar in 2003, the builders of our apartment told us that a few shops located near the apartment complex, including a wine shop, would be demolished shortly as they had been functioning illegally. But two decades have passed, and the wine shop remains in business, continuing to pose all sorts of trouble for residents. The wine shop, which was called Lakshmi Wines, is now an authorised TASMAC outlet bearing the number 953.  Over the past few years, residents have made multiple attempts to have the shop shut down or moved as it is…

The growth of Chennai has been fuelled by the construction of new buildings and the expansion of the city in all directions. The mandate of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) is to keep erring builders in line and control illegal construction. However, collusion by builders with officials of the CMDA and civic agencies results in unauthorised construction mushrooming across Chennai. Recognising the need to regulate such development and prevent illegal construction, a Monitoring Committee was appointed by an order of the Madras High Court almost two decades ago. But in all these years of its existence not even a…

Parks seem like uncontroversial public spaces, but dig a little deeper, and you will find that even these apparently benign spaces are deeply political. They are often the settings for decisions and manoeuvrings that become evident only when you probe into their provenance, functioning and upkeep. These three examples serve to demonstrate how public spaces have been taken over by political forces. Unfortunately, most of us citizens prefer to demur to the situation, forgetting that it is our money that is used to create and run these amenities. We forget to question, or to wonder, if there were a different…

Many key players in the space of Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services (IT & ITES) in Chennai are located in OMR, Perungudi, Thoraipakkam, Navalur and Siruseri. Over the past few decades, the number of offices in the area has grown exponentially. With many jobs available, large apartment complexes began to be built to cater to the needs of the people. The population along the IT corridor now runs into lakhs. Unfortunately for the residents, the area is also home to the Perungudi dump yard, one of the city’s two dump yards. Much of the solid waste from all…

For years, the environment and earth have slowly been decaying, slipping away from our grasp little by little. A few noticed, and many didn't.  The global surface temperature has been measured since 1880 at a network of ground-based and ocean-based sites. Over the last century, the Earth's average surface temperature has risen by about 1⁰C. The eleven warmest years this century have all occurred since 1980, with 2016 being the warmest on record. Coastal regions are getting warmer in summers and colder in winters as the years pass. The average temperature margin between summers and winters is increasing everywhere. Hundreds…

Bengaluru has been ranked the least liveable city, among Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Ahmedabad, in the 2022 Global Liveability Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). While the parameters of such surveys are contested, living conditions in Bengaluru slums certainly comes close to such characterisation. For example, the high price of liquified petroleum gas (LPG), a key household need, provided by Indian oil companies, has impacted people living in slums. The reality on the ground As one moves through the neighbourhood of Rajendra Nagar slum, large vessels are seen outside people’s houses. On asking the residents of the purpose of…

Tracing the truth behind the claims made by the previous government that "47 lakes had been developed under the Nava Nagarothana scheme at the cost of Rs 317.25 crore”, the author of this series, in a ground report, examines the state of Bengaluru's lakes. In the first part, he provides a detailed insight into the actual condition of three lakes, where rejuvenation was supposedly carried out. These were: Doddakallasandra lake, Kothanur Lake, Chunchaghatta lake, and Yelachenahalli lake. In the second part, the author--who is a birdwatcher, a naturalist, and a passionate conservationist--gives detailed reports on the status of two other lakes: Gowdanapalya…

For nearly eight to nine months in a year, the mangrove swamps by Thane creek become a sojourn for the seasonal exodus of flamingoes that migrate from Kutch. It is said that Rann of Kutch is the breeding ground and Mumbai, the feeding ground of these majestic birds. Mumbai Metropolitan Region has two IBAs (Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas) in Sewri Mudflat and Thane Creek. According to Deepak Apte, former Director at Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), these areas sustain about 70,000 waders and 1,20,000 flamingoes during peak ‘wintering’ months. These hotspots are well-known, but there are lesser known ‘sanctuaries’…

Editor's Note: The previous BJP government had announced its Bengaluru Mission 2022, under which 25 lakes were identified and funds were granted by the BBMP and CM’s Nava Nagarothana scheme in December 2020. Three years after the announcement, with an eye on the Karnataka Elections 2023 on January 25th, the BJP government claimed in an advertisement that “47 lakes had been developed under the Nava Nagarothana scheme at the cost of 317.25 crores.” The reality, however, is in contrast to the claims, as a citizen found out. The author, a birdwatcher, a naturalist, and a passionate conservationist did the rounds…