EDITORS' PICK

A few days ago, Tejasvi Surya, MP for Bangalore South, created news when he worked with various stakeholders - BBMP, BWSSB, BMRCL etc - to help clear the mess that was Bannerghatta Road. He coordinated a joint meeting with these departments and relatively eased life for thousands of commuters who use this road. A lot of people were impressed that an MP got down into the grit of solving the basic infrastructure problems that plague our city. But that's just the point here. Dealing with a bad road isn't his job as an MP! Just so we are clear, this…

October 11, 2019: Nida Shaikh, 25, died on the spot after she was run over by a truck. She was riding pillion with her cousin, and both fell off when the scooter hit a pothole causing her cousin to lose control of the vehicle. While her cousin was injured, Nida, a doctor, was crushed by the truck. October 13, 2019: Ramprasad Goswni, 56, died on the spot after a truck hit him as the driver was trying to dodge a pothole. It was in the same place where Nida Shaikh lost her life. October 29, 2019: Ranjendra Dongre, 42, was…

“The roads of my colony have been damaged to such an extent due to rains that our friends avoid visiting us,” said Ajay Kumar, an engineering student, who lives in Meenakshi Planet Colony on Hoshangabad Road. “Many residents here have been injured in accidents because of the poor condition of roads. Last month my room-mate Satish ran onto a water-filled pothole and his bike got stuck. Luckily, he escaped with minor bruises”. It’s a story many of Bhopal’s residents narrate. Continuous rains in the state have destroyed crops and washed away roads and culverts in the city and on the…

The leaves of the chinar trees were still green, signalling winter was yet to arrive. The chinar trees normally signal winter and snow when its leaves turn yellow and start falling. The people, and the administration, were thus totally unprepared for any unseasonal weather vagaries. But on November 5th, the weatherman in Srinagar issued an alert—possibility of heavy rain and widespread snow on November 7th across the region. The prediction was right on the nose. As the clock struck 9 am on November 7th, the crisp morning air was covered with thick snowflakes and within just two hours, Srinagar witnessed…

For several years now, ordinary citizens across the country with no end to their woes around poor roads and potholes have taken creative routes and come up with the most innovative ideas to make their dissent heard. For instance, Bengaluru-based artiste Baadal Najundaswamy has, since 2014, been planting fake crocodiles, organizing non-commercial modeling-shoots or etching art around sunken or unattended manholes to attract government attention. In another instance, a truck driver ‘buried himself’ in a pothole, in September 2019 to protest against bad roads and potholes on ‘Greenland Chowkadi’, a service road adjacent to National Highway 27. The Rajkot-based man…

Co-authored by C S Sharada Prasad and Isha Ray November 19 is World Toilet Day. India's massive five-year all-hands-on-deck Clean India Mission to construct latrines for all has just ended. The Government reports that 100 million additional toilets have been constructed via this campaign; these are mostly not connected to waterborne sewer systems. Just over 30% of India's urban population has access to sewers, though most city plans include elaborate plans for sewerage. Sewers are supposed to be underground and unseen, and are not supposed to need manual labour to dispose of the waste. But sewers get blocked and have…

The big money plans for waste treatment remain on paper. But a small community-oriented scheme for waste treatment, which was a small part of that big plan, is showing promise. Trash to cash is not just a cliché for this diverse group of poor women in Shillong. Earning a livelihood as waste pickers earlier, these women have banded together as a self-help group to sift and convert bio degradable waste dumped at a nearby landfill into saleable compost. Shillong, as most of Meghalaya today, faces an ugly garbage crisis that threatens to wipe out her claim as the queen of…

While we are comfortably snuggled in bed, perhaps listening to some calming music to relieve the stress of the day, there's a fellow citizen out there on the streets, plugging in his earphones so that he doesn't fall asleep! Sometimes, just when he thinks he can retire for the night, the phone beeps and he's on his way again. It's true the city never sleeps -- and among the myriad workers who keep the nocturnal economy of the city running,  food delivery executives constitute a prominent group today. It was 1:30 AM on this particular night and a troop of…

The clampdown in Kashmir following abrogation of Article 370 has adversely impacted the traditional textile industry in the holy city of Amritsar. Kashmir used to be a major market for Amritsar’s woven textiles, especially the tweeds which are used for making phiran, the long cloak like dress worn by men and women in Kashmir. Moreover, Amritsar’s shawls and stoles have a big market in the valley, which was virtually cut off from the rest of the country till recently. The recent restoration of communication through post-paid mobile phones and opening of roads has provided some relief but the loss in…

A study by Toxics Link, a Delhi-based environmental research and advocacy non-profit identified 15 e-waste processing hotspots in Delhi operating with impunity without safeguards. These hotspots house over 5,000 illegal e-waste processing units directly and indirectly, employing over 50,000 people. The sheer scale of the violation of environmental norms highlights the failure of the system, especially of the E-waste (Management) Rules 2016. The study states that many authorised dismantlers and recyclers are selling waste to the informal sector, in complete contravention of the law. The CPCB website currently does not provide their list of authorized vendors as mandated by the…