CITIZEN JOURNALISM

“We have been in the business of dry waste management for years but nobody gives us a salary or respects us,” says Nayan Mohammad, a local waste picker in Velachery. Time and again, local waste pickers have been denied recognition for the vital work they do. They lack any kind of safety net and continue to operate informally on the fringes of waste management and are not given an opportunity to step into the formal fold.  This time too, with the Indo-Spanish partnership ‘Urbaser-Sumeet’ bagging the waste management contract with Greater Chennai Corporation, waste pickers in many parts of the…

You walk up to the counter and pick up your serving of piping hot sambar rice and sit in a neat row of chairs under colourful umbrellas. You make a mental note to pick up some coffee from the small kiosk on the premises on your way out. After polishing off your meal, you pay Rs 5, a fraction of what it would cost you anywhere in the city, as you have just eaten at Amma canteen 2.0. This could well be the future of the ubiquitous, government-run, low-cost eateries as its management has been turned over to a trust…

We, the citizens of Mumbai are extremely thankful and grateful to Mumbai's Municipal Commissioner's extraordinary leadership during this Corona Pandemic. In most of the actions, they have taken citizen’s voice at the centre of decision-making and particularly while overseeing the “chase Corona” policy. This piece is regarding the agents responsible for collecting the Mask Penalty of Rs 200. (Read about the penalty here.) Taking strict measures to check on the spread of coronavirus, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) imposed strict rules for people travelling in public transport and visiting shopping malls in September 2020. It also announced that people…

In a world where we produce enough food to feed everyone, 821 million people – one in nine – still go to bed on an empty stomach every night. Even more -- one in three – suffer from some form of malnutrition. Inspired by Sarabjeet Singh of Shimla, I thought of starting something similar on a very small scale in our residential society, Akme Encore, in Kundalahalli. I sent out a video of Sarabjeet's work on our community WhatsApp group and called for volunteers. Around 6-7 people came forward but we were clueless about what to do next.  To gain…

Mass Rapid Transport Systems the world over have transformed the lives of people and the landscape of cities. That’s exactly the magic Namma Metro has weaved, at least for some Bengalurueans. The Metro -- where ever it is operational -- has been a dream-come-true. It has provided respite from traffic snarls, accidents, pollution, wastage of time and money, and liberated us from our "adjust maadkoli" attitude towards these everyday hassles. Read more: Is Bengaluru’s Metro Phase 2 almost ready? Here’s a progress report Namma Metro services towards Yelachenahalli from Nada Prabhu Kempegowda Station in June 2017 came as a boon…

Elections, our festival of democracy, are around the corner in Tamil Nadu. A good indicator of election season of late has been the flurry of activity by the civic body across the city. Roads that citizens have complained about for years with no response get a facelift, potholes are fixed, pavements are laid and any and all grievance is addressed with a swiftness that makes one wish election season lasted longer.  Several infrastructure development projects which had been put on the back burner over the past five years will now be taken up on a war footing and completed in…

Sea Breeze CHS Ltd is one of the oldest and largest societies along the iconic Palm Beach Road, in Sector 16, Nerul. The Society comprises of 10 towers with 28 flats in each, making it a total of 280 flats, with about 1000 residents. (Pic: Sea Breeze CHS) In 2017, when the Swacch Bharat Misson began, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) mandated all housing societies with more than 200 flats to do complete segregation of waste at source - into wet and dry waste, and total in-house wet waste management. The Managing Committee (MC) of the society decided to go full…

When we were moving to Mumbai, one of the major relocation tasks was finding a suitable house to live in. Suitable as in proximity to children’s school and husband’s office, size, furnishing, rent, amenities, and the like… things people look for while choosing a house. We knew a few people who were already living in the area and they indicated that the most efficient way of going about this would be to approach one (or more) of the many real estate agents who had set up shop for people like us (and for owners who had bought the houses but…

Baiyappanahalli Railway Terminal nearing its completion: Pic: Gaurav Sawant The new Baiyappanahalli terminal is fast approaching operational readiness. The various planning departments are still discussing the infrastructure needs to access the terminal and ideas to regulate traffic. Most citizens are not aware that the whole project involves a terminal with a built up area of 26,00,000 square feet, with 21 towers in the complex for both residential and commercial purposes. Many of the towers are 12 floors high. Proposed Master Plan of the upcoming Baiyappanahalli Railway Terminal which is expected to be inaugurated in February 2021. Pic: Shine George In…

“The lockdown around me is making me feel lonely, and I don’t understand how to make myself feel better. I also want to help my parents in some way, but I don’t know how to do so…” Today, we find ourselves in a world which is more overwhelming, challenging and restricted than before. With the COVID-19 pandemic, physical health is on everyone’s mind, and mental health has become an inevitable casualty. Children from low-income communities of India are facing adversities that have long-term psychological, emotional and physical effects; situations have worsened causing economic and financial ramifications, leading to issues such…