City: Kolkata

As I write this, there is a rapid and continuous swell in protests and rallies being organised to demand justice for the 31-year-old junior doctor brutally raped and murdered in Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. Also rising in numbers and volume are the indignant voices demanding answers from the state of West Bengal on the many inconsistencies and procedural lapses following the incident. The crime committed during the wee hours of August 9th invokes memories of another similar incident on the streets of the national capital in December 2012, now infamous as the ‘Nirbhaya incident’. But several…

In recent times, one of the lasting representations of Kolkata in popular culture lies in an iconic scene from the film Piku, where Bhashkor Banerjee, played by Amitabh Bachchan, is seen riding a bicycle around familiar haunts, with an air of euphoria and freedom. Ironically, in spite of the humble bicycle being a symbol of nostalgia and heritage, Kolkata is also the only city in India to have widespread restrictions on cycling. Cycling used to be banned in 178 roads earlier. Presently, the bicycle ban is in place in 62 arterial roads of the city. Despite this, the city records…

Even when the howling wind and torrential rain brought by Cyclone Amphan was causing havoc around her on May 20, Sabita Sardar was not afraid. “We are used to dealing with bad weather. I wasn’t feeling scared. In fact, those who live in concrete homes were more scared,” she said. For 40 years now, Sabita has been living on the streets of Gariahat, a popular market area in south Kolkata. That day, when the super cyclonic storm passed through West Bengal’s capital city, Sabita and a few other homeless women sat huddled together in her tricycle cart under the Gariahat…

The clampdown on all non-essential activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant decline in air pollution levels in major cities across India. Researchers from Respirer Living Sciences and Carbon Copy have analysed average air quality during all four lockdown phases in India as well as concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), and Benzene during individual phases for Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, as part of their on-going National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) Tracker project to monitor the implementation of the NCAP. Four cities witness clean air From March 25 to…

World Environment Day on June 5th this year held a different significance altogether for the city of Kolkata. For the city battered by Cyclone Amphan, one of the worst storms to hit Bengal in over three centuries, the usual observances that mark the day, such as planting of trees, were no longer mere token activities but a critical need, an attempt at reversing the incalculable ecological damage it had suffered just days back.  But will Environment Day pledges and other plantation drives that have since been undertaken in the city prove enough? Are they even advisable as they are being…

“The lockdown may end sooner or later but not our troubles”. Arijit Khan, 32, a wedding photographer by profession, is one of many such people in Kolkata who used to earn their livelihoods from social gatherings and events, which are now banned to contain the COVID pandemic. “Photographers could be eliminated from the curtailed guest lists during wedding and other occasions,” worries Arijit. ““Even payment for completed work is not being cleared, besides cancellation of around 10-12 bookings made prior to lockdown. It is becoming difficult to run the expenses of my family that includes two minor twin sons.” Alternative…

Just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown from March 24, states like Punjab and Telangana were looking forward to a bumper harvest and smiles on the faces of their farmers. And on the faces of the owners and workers in West Bengal’s labour intensive jute mills. But the lockdown dashed everyone’s hopes. Farmers are unsure of how and who will procure their products. Especially given the acute lack of jute bags, given the complete shut down of West Bengal’s jute industry, putting lakhs of its workers out of jobs and income. It is during harvest time…

Sheikh Serafat Hussain is a 70-year-old typist who operates from the footpath outside the Calcutta High Court. Even as the court premises teem with litigants and lawyers, Hussain, who has been sitting outside the high court for over 40 years, finds ample time to talk to visitors over a cup of tea or go for a casual amble during the court’s working hours. Hussain is the last of the typists who were once ubiquitous outside the high court, typing out people's petitions and other documents needed by litigants at the court. “We typists belong to a bygone era that will…

Debashish Mondal looked vacantly at the broken walls of his home. All that remained of the house he was born in 35 years ago was broken bricks, chunks of cement and a shattered roof. On November 11, the colony he lived in, under Tallah bridge in north Kolkata, home to around 60 families, was reduced to rubble. The local municipal authorities and personnel from the Public Works Department (PWD), along with a posse of cops, came around 10:30 that morning. They had brought along labourers for the demolition, and two days later also called in bulldozers for some of the…

Kolkata proposes to introduce biomining for the first time in the city to tackle its Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management challenge and Mollar Bheri in the eastern part of the city will pave the way.  A portion of land in this shallow flat-bottom waste water-fed fishery, located within the East Kolkata Wetlands, was being used by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) as a dumping ground. It was alleged that the Bidhan Nagar Municipal Corporation, the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) and New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) -- all in the greater Kolkata region -- had been disposing of waste in…