CITIZEN JOURNALISM

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…

In the sweltering Chennai summer heat, Amala endearingly helps her friend Pavithra who is fretting and nervous about riding a bicycle through the busiest roads of Arumbakkam. To add to her stress, the ordeal is unfolding at 9 pm, a time highly unusual for women to commute casually in Chennai. While Pavithra anxiously pedals, constantly shifting uncomfortably in her seat, with several eyes watching her every move, Amala and her friends join Pavithra in solidarity. They cheer her on, as she slowly and gradually adjusts her eyes to the dizzying traffic and steadies herself to a comfortable pace.  Cycling in…

The slow but certain deterioration of cognitive functions that comes with the onset of Alzheimer's Disease is unimaginable for most. We are rooted in a culture where it is simply assumed that a sick person can rely heavily on family or relatives and is entitled to a certain amount of help and benefits. While it might get uncomfortable getting into the details of a caregiving role, these are important aspects to consider and discuss from the very beginning. Setting up personal boundaries are extremely important in order to safeguard mental and physical health of patients and caregivers as well. It…

Mumbai city celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi with great splendour after almost two years of low-key celebrations. During COVID lockdowns, social distancing meant the absence of large gatherings, even on festival days. This year’s vigorous celebrations included banjos, metal cylinders beaten with metal hammers and loudspeakers during processions for Ganesh Visarjan in Sarvajanik pandals of the city. These instruments inevitably raised noise levels. It became a cause for concern for all Mumbai residents as they grappled with the health impacts of noise. In 2016, the Bombay High Court passed a comprehensive Judgement and Order to enforce the Noise Pollution Rules. The Court also monitored the implementation…

Life with animals offers a bit of peace in today’s fast-paced, individualised world, where we often feel there is no time for family, community and care. Pets often give us company in these increasingly isolating times. However, raising pets in a city like Chennai comes with its own difficulties, especially when you raise them in urban spaces, which can often be unkind and dangerous to animals.  Over time, Chennai has seen numerous initiatives that rescue, rehabilitate and take care of animals in the city. The most well-known initiative is Blue Cross, which mainly deals with abandoned, injured and sick animals.…

"The house feels like a furnace during summers. We live in a very congested space which makes it difficult to sit inside the house and even more difficult for me to cook due to the heat. I get headaches and my kids experience skin problems too," says Guna, a resident of Jyothipura, an urban poor settlement in Bengaluru. Heat stress is not a new concept given the realities of rising local temperatures in India. But Guna’s plight, faced by every family living in tin-roofed houses in informal settlements, reflects the inequitable realities of heat stress in urban India. Houses of…