EDITORS' PICK

43-year-old Saridha from Hongasandra works as housekeeping staff at an apartment complex in HSR Layout, an affluent area in southern Bengaluru. There was a time when her work commute meant a one-hour, 3-km walk from her house to the apartment. And then the same way back after a tiring day's work. Till she came to know of the HSR Feeder bus.  Now, she can take a BMTC bus from her place to Bommanahalli. It's a short 400 metres from there to the Mangammanpalya stop, where she takes the feeder bus, which drops her off right next to where she works.…

80 kilometres south of Chennai stands the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) — one of two big nuclear power plants in Tamil Nadu  — and its affiliate organizations. These organizations employ around 15,000 permanent employees, who mostly live with their families in the Kalpakkam and Anupuram townships, located approximately 5 kms from the nuclear plant. The distance is said to mitigate health risks from radiation. But they are not the only human resources of the plant. More than 4000 workers, hundreds of them migrants to the state, are employed on a contract basis every year in construction, housekeeping, catering, hygiene…

When we discuss urban nature, we often forget about real natural habitats. In Bengaluru, widely called the Garden City, most talks about urban nature focus on landscaped parks, roadside trees, and manicured gardens; in other words, artificial ecosystems designed for looks and human comfort. As lay citizens, we usually notice only such nature as we see around our homes, workplaces or other areas we generally pass by. While these places do have some ecological value, they mostly support a few highly adaptable species. This has strong negative implications for native flora and fauna that depend on open scrublands, grasslands, rocky…

Imagine you’re out on a morning walk, phone in hand, when you spot a butterfly you’ve never seen before. You snap a photo, log it into a citizen science app, and voila! You’ve just contributed to crucial biodiversity monitoring. This isn’t just a hobby; it’s part of a global movement where ordinary people collect, record, and sometimes analyse data about plants, animals, and ecosystems. Citizen science stretches the reach of ecological research. Every observation adds to unique longitudinal datasets that reveal phenology — periodic events in the life cycle of a species — along with species distribution shifts and population…

TMN Deepak, a professor of social work who has a physical disability, commutes from Velachery to Loyola College in Chennai for work every day. He owns a wheelchair cum scooter that allows him to cover short distances comfortably, but he avoids public transport. “Instead, I have had to go for an automatic car, which has increased my overall spend, and I had to shell out an additional ₹2.5 lakh for modifications,” he says. Deepak's monthly petrol costs exceed ₹6,000. “I prefer not to use the bus because of inaccessibility,” he explains, highlighting how the lack of accessible public transport forces…

When fifty-one-year-old Matilda Fonceca first wheeled herself through the gates of the Better World Shelter for women with disabilities in Chennai, she was not looking for transformation. She simply wanted a safe place to stay. The locomotor disability that has shaped her life since childhood has never stopped her from pursuing independence, yet it has often dictated how society has treated her. Much of her youth was spent moving between NGOs, where she learned early that institutions might make space for her, but rarely with her needs in mind. Before arriving here, Matilda lived an ordinary urban life, working night…

The Pune Riverfront Development Project, which aims to beautify the banks of the Mula-Mutha River through concretisation, has been one of the most debated topics in the city. Many citizens have raised concerns about its environmental impact. While the project promises promenades, gardens, and flood control measures, several people believe it comes at the cost of destroying the natural ecosystem that has existed for centuries. Among them is Swapnil Thakur, a Pune-based musician popularly known as the 'One-Man Symphony,' who is using his music to protest against the project. Once a corporate employee, Swapnil’s life took a drastic turn after…

For 17-year-old Jareen Saifi, school is the highlight of her day. Born with multiple disabilities including speech impairment, she eagerly signs to her mother asking if they can go to school. For the past five years, she has been attending the Girls Senior Secondary School in New Delhi’s New Friends Colony — a mainstream institution with a relatively high proportion of children with disabilities. The school offers a special educator, resource room and speech therapy, all of which are crucial for her. The school’s playground is close to her classroom and that is where she truly lights up.  But the…

On August 11 2025, the Supreme Court of India directed all authorities in the National Capital Territory — extending to Delhi, Noida, Gurugram and Ghaziabad — to immediately relocate all stray dogs from all localities in the region. The apex court ordered all street dogs to be shifted to dog shelters, from where they must not be released under any circumstances. Any individual or organisation found to obstruct the work of authorities capturing and moving the dogs shall face legal consequences. The order came from a bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan, hearing a suo moto case…

Following the disastrous deluge that hit Mumbai on July 26, 2005 and claimed 419 lives, the state introduced several measures to prevent such flooding in the future in Mumbai. The Chitale Committee, which was commissioned to find solutions for flooding in Mumbai recommended a series of measures, such as improving Mumbai’s hydrological planning to help the city’s rivers find their way into the sea and prevent them from overflowing into the city and endangering lives during the heavy Mumbai monsoons.  While this exercise mostly called for rejuvenating the rivers, one of the first moves by the authorities involved building retaining…