CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Within the narrow lanes of Thubarahalli, garbage dumps on one side and tin shacks on the other, a thumping noise is heard. Two trucks make their way into this neighbourhood. About 30 volunteers in yellow shirts, ‘India’ written on them, follow the trucks in cars and vans. After the trucks are parked, people quickly start assembling near the  vehicles. They stand in lines and spots demarcated by the volunteers for better organisation. The trucks have brought packaged food items, which is some relief for the families whose lives have been disrupted by the floods. One by one, queues of people start…

The road accident, in which  former Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry and another passenger, Jehangir Pandole, were killed, was widely reported in the media as it involved a famous businessman. The car was travelling on the state highway in Maharashtra's Palghar district at high speed and hit a divider. The accident also severely injured the driver and the co-passenger in the front, but they survived because they were wearing seatbelts, while Cyrus Mistry and Jehangir Pandole weren’t. The importance of wearing seatbelts for rear seat passengers was highlighted in the news as it is a safety precaution that is either…

George Town in Chennai encompasses NSC Bose Road and many bylanes that bustle with activity at all times. It is a wholesale market where businesses and individuals buy goods in bulk for cheap. The narrow lanes and many shops make navigation of these roads very difficult. While much has changed about the area over the years, the tricycle carts used by cart pullers to transport goods have remained constant. In the din, from dawn to dusk, one can spot men on their tricycles, moving goods to and from the market. They work close to 12-14 hours a day. The cart…

The Kannada movie, 777 Charlie, not only beautifully showcased the relationship between dog and man, but also highlighted the perils of indiscriminate breeding. The film also stressed the essential narrative of ‘adopt, don't shop’. The reality is that dogs are bred indiscriminately, pups and dogs do get abandoned, and there are still many dogs looking for homes.  An abandoned St Bernard. Pic courtesy: Voice of Voiceless Dog Breeding and Marketing (DBM) rules, 2017, and Pet Shop rules, 2018, lay out the broad structure,  regulations and controls to ensure responsible breeding and to avoid cruelty. While the framework exists, does it…

Dear General Public, Corporations, and Decision-makers of Mumbai, I, like many of my fellow students, grew up in a world where our present, future and heritage are under-threat due to climate change. As I discovered more about the social and ecological issues around me, the definitions of eco-angst and climate anxiety became unnervingly familiar.  Growing up in the 21st Century, we hear a lot about the environment—campaigns to “save electricity”, “save water” and  “use paper bags”—but I always felt this approach does not look at the large-scale destruction and the climate disasters caused by it.  We are told to micromanage…

It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that I realised that I must join the fight for clean air. As biomedical waste generation increased manifold at health facilities and inside people’s homes, I saw the connection between increasing biomedical waste and the huge quantities of waste being burnt in the incinerator installed in my area. I live in Govandi, where the life expectancy of the people is at an abysmal 39 years on average. The region has a 132-hectare dumping ground, where waste from the entire city is brought. Govandi was one of the worst hit areas during the pandemic due…

On September 4th, Bengaluru experienced one of its wettest days on record, causing large parts of the city to get severely flooded. This was after weeks of heavy rainfall that turned roads into rivers in some of the city’s rapidly developing ‘high-tech’ areas. This is going to happen again and again unless we fundamentally change how we approach urban planning. We need to proactively work with the assumption that such severe extreme weather events are the new normal and what can be done to prevent flooding in the city under these circumstances. As a sustainable architect and environmental modeller, I…

Mohammad Irshad, a person with a disability and a native of Bengaluru, when asked about the current state of accessibility for the disabled in the city, said: “I have never been to a public washroom”. Irshad, diagnosed with a condition called Spina Bifida, where a  baby's spinal cord fails to develop properly, has been a wheelchair user for as long as he can remember. Irshad believes that the lack of accessibility in Bengaluru stems from the fact that the public and policymakers are unaware of the types of disabilities that exist. He believes accessibility for people with disabilities can only…

River Cauvery is the lifeline of Bengaluru’s economy. But before Cauvery, it was the Arkavathi. Polluted and now running almost dry for around half a century, Arkavathi is biologically dead. It stands as living proof of what is to come for Cauvery. A victim of urban-industrial society, Arkavathi today is a shadowy semblance of a former glorious river. It is a ghost river. This is the story of how the Thippagondanahalli Dam and Thippagondanahalli Reservoir, also known as Chamaraja Sagara, on the Arkavathi river rose to prominence as Bengaluru’s drinking water source and 80 years later, became defunct because of…

Good mobility relies on a number of measures – urban planning, transportation planning and traffic flow control. This section explores various measures related to urban planning. This multi-part series examines the measures needed to sustain and improve urban mobility. For a detailed discussion on each measure, check the following guides: Part 1: Urban planning measures (this article) Part 2: Transportation planning measures  Part 3: Traffic control measures Also see: An action agenda for better mobility The article How to make Bengaluru traffic jams go away analyses these measures in the context of Bengaluru. Half the battle is won when a…