CITIZEN JOURNALISM

COVID-19 has not only affected us humans, but also stray animals in several ways. For one, though the World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that animals can't transmit COVID to humans, they are ill-treated and not allowed in residential areas. Another issue is that stray animals, especially dogs, are often dependent on leftover food from street vendors and fast food vendors. But with fewer people and shops, and more restrictions since COVID, strays have been left without enough food. In Bengaluru, many individuals such as Rakesh Shukla and Manjari Chaitanya Colaco have taken steps to provide food, shelter and care…

ஆடி அழைக்கும், தை விரட்டும் is an adage in Tamil. The essence of the saying is that every year, starting mid-July and for the next six months, it is a festive season, culminating in Pongal that comes in mid-January. This is the time when a range of festivals bring people together in celebration. Festivals revive and reinforce cultural traits. Togetherness with friends and relatives instills a sense of camaraderie, strengthens personal bonds and helps us build a support system for life. The ambience during festivals and the rituals or practices of each vary from one festival to another and adds variety,…

Patriotism has 3 colours – and green is one of them! So let our celebrations be green! That is the key message of the introductory poster of the #GreenPatriot series we put out this week through Beautiful Bengaluru – a citizens’ initiative which focuses on clean, green, safe living. Our extended name Beautiful Bharat for campaigns of national relevance brings more focus to an important subject for the whole country. With each passing festival and event, there is an urgency to focus on what we can simplify, do better, how we can go greener, and most of all, how our…

In the past few years, most borewells in our apartment The Greens had gone dry due to depleting groundwater levels. We are a 10-year-old apartment community in east Bengaluru, off Outer Ring Road, with 171 flats spread across four blocks. We also have a swimming pool, a small clubhouse and a gym. Our water expenses had skyrocketed, and we had to increase our maintenance charges regularly to cover the cost. So in early 2018, we implemented three measures - water metering, reusing treated water, and rainwater harvesting (RWH) - to reduce our water use. The outcome was that our water…

“No one likes to beg, people have started looking for other work; they will not continue to beg,” says a determined Tasvir, trying to mask the suffering and struggle of months and trying to find hope in the bleakest of situations. But does his community really have alternatives? Tasvir belongs to the ‘Pardhi’ tribe, members of which are scattered across Bhopal and its fringes. In an earlier article, we had described how the COVID-induced lockdown had brought them face to face with hunger and malnourishment, making them entirely dependent on the charity of civil society organisations. Deprived of their livelihoods and…

[This article is part of the Bengaluru Moving series, in which citizens share their vision for BMTC post COVID. The series is published in collaboration with Radio Active’s #BengaluruMoving campaign.] Since the time I moved to Bengaluru almost a decade back, I have found a loyal companion in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (BMTC) bus. BMTC's extensive bus network has helped me and 36 lakh other commuters reach our destinations across the city every day.  Today, public transport has become one of the prime casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, only 4,300 BMTC buses are operating, down from the…

[This article is part of the Bengaluru Moving series, in which citizens share their vision for BMTC post COVID. The series is published in collaboration with Radio Active’s #BengaluruMoving campaign.] The COVID crisis has forced behavioural changes in Indian society that would never have happened in the normal course. It has also taught us three important lessons. The first: Put a pause on our pre-Covid modern lives, and suddenly distant mountains become visible, rivers flow cleaner and hard-to-spot wild animals are seen walking through human habitation.  The second: The scale of inequity and lack of a support net for a…

2020 has been full of uncertainty. The pandemic and subsequent lockdown have had us struggling to adjust to changes like never before. First it was days, then weeks, then months. Now we are not even sure. There’s a meme doing the rounds on social media these days, about the most widely asked questions right now. Received on Whatsapp Those of us who are working from home and attending virtual meetings will be quite familiar with the last two questions. In fact, so will our children, who have been having virtual school for the last several weeks. Every weekday, we ensure…

A recent (2019) survey of mobility practices among India’s urban population by the New-Delhi based Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) found that 37% of respondents used public transport more than once a week. A vast majority of the people travel distances less than 10 km for work and education, and walking continues to be the most dominant mode of transport for urban India.  The study, which captured all the modes used by individuals in a week, revealed that two wheelers were the second most preferred mode of transport, followed by public transport. Strikingly, the share of people relying…

Providing basic services like water to the residents of a city is the responsibility of the municipal corporation. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is keen to fulfil its responsibility and has made arrangements of tanker water in order to supply water to areas such as Sus, Pashan, Narhe, Uruli Devachi, Phursungi, Bavadhan Budruk, Lohegaon, Hadapsar and Mundhawa which have been newly added into the city boundary.  PMC, unfortunately, does not have a supply system infrastructure in these areas. The Corporation owns a few tankers but these are not enough for the job, so it takes the help of private tanker…