CITIZEN JOURNALISM

“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…

[This article is part of the Bengaluru Moving series, in which citizens share their vision for BMTC post COVID. This series is pubished in collaboration with Radio Active’s #BengaluruMoving campaign.] Before the onset of COVID, BMTC was already struggling with very low share of traffic, and personal vehicles were clogging Bengaluru roads. Towards the end of this article, I have mentioned a few Key Success Factors (KSFs) that would help BMTC increase ridership. While these KSFs are still important, BMTC has been facing a new set of challenges with the onset of COVID, and hence must think of additional measures…

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it." - Oprah Winfrey I was desperately trying to lose weight, but I wasn’t doing enough. While we all know that nothing is easy in life, I hadn’t applied it to my desire to get fit again.  About a year ago, I was introduced to running by a friend who is a part of the local Pinkathon group. I wasn't much of an athlete in my younger days, so formal running was new to me. The free training sessions were held just once…

The lone Cafe Viibee nestled amidst a rubber plantation, in Kakkanad, Kochi has been silent for months now. With just a few mobile tables and chairs, this cafe had been a buzzing hangout space, frequented by a young crowd of professionals or students in and around the area, but has been closed ever since the COVID-19 pandemic led to a nation-wide lockdown.  Co-owner, actor Byon V K says, “The expectation was that the lockdown would last for a month only, but now after all these months, we have to get back to business somehow. Earlier we did not have home…

Recently, Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) conducted an online dialogue on Chennai’s Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus service. The dialogue was part of a national campaign (Lakh ko 50) by the Sustainable Urban Mobility Network (SUM Net India), which asks the government to ensure that there are at least 50 buses per lakh population in our cities. The idea was to hear from commuters to understand what is needed to improve the bus service. Transportation experts also spoke on how the MTC’s fleet strength is inadequate for the number of passengers it serves, and pointed out that there…