EDITORS' PICK

There are cubes and cylinders here. But this is no maths class. There are bugs and a big scorpion too, yet this is no forest. Buddha and Christ almost facing each other, not in any place of worship though. This is Bengaluru’s most famous cake show, that happens at St Joseph’s Grounds every year, in this season. If you are a Bengalurean or have been here for a couple of Christmas seasons now, chances are that you would have visited this show. It was sheer chance that saw me near the gates of St. Joseph's School on a Thursday evening…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship How many people in Bengaluru use Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Company (BMTC) buses, which are perceived to be the lifeline of the city, everyday? BMTC figures say the ridership is 51 lakh. This means BMTC, with its 6650 buses, sells 51 lakh tickets daily from the 70,892 trips it undertakes. Each bus undertakes an average of 5-6 round trips per day. There are demands for increasing BMTC buses. But will more buses help? Look at the city’s roads - the traffic crawls at such a low speed that even walking can…

Hadu Bahera owns a ‘home’ for 12-hours every day. During this time, the 51-year-old loom worker inhabits a six-by-three-feet space in a dingy room on Ved Road in north Surat. His co-worker uses the same space for the other 12 hours – depending on their shifts, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. or the reverse. The occasional ‘holidays’ – when there is a power cut – are days to be dreaded. Nearly 60 workers must then fit into a 500-square feet room at Mahavir Mess, where Bahera is presently space-sharing. The summer months – when temperatures reach 40 degrees Celcius…

Death by food poisoning is back in the news in Karnataka. As of the last report 13 people have died and over 130 people fell ill by consuming the prasad that was served at a temple in Chamarajanagar. This comes just two days after 87  students took ill after finding lizard in their midday meal scheme. And the chief minister’s answer to this is to issue a circular, by the Religious and Endowments or Muzrai department of Karnataka, which states that all food served in temples, including those to be donated by private individuals, should be tested before being distributed…

When Heather Ramaswamy, a resident of Bengaluru, decided to construct her house three years ago, rooftop solar PV was the first thing on her mind. Following days of research over the Internet, Heather zeroed in on an American company. Committing to an upfront cost of Rs 4 lakh, Heather got four solar panels installed on her slanting rooftop and thus began her series of never-ending ordeals. “You think that you did something good for the environment till it backfires on you. We got an off-grid unit, which was supposed to meet our power requirements. We had the on-grid system in…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship When 78-year-old Shyamala (name changed) had a heart attack in the middle of the night, there was no one around to help. Shyamala was widowed, and had no children. “She was wailing from pain all night, but no one heard her. At around 5 am, neighbours came over, and Shyamala had to crawl up to the door to open it,” says Shyamala’s former neighbour G Ramachandra. Shyamala’s condition was critical, and the neighbours took her to a hospital where she was operated on. But afterwards, Shyamala was worried of living…

Mohammad Khan lived in an informal slum near Bellandur lakebed, making a living collecting and segregating waste. When Citizen Matters covered his story five years ago, we found many families who lived off waste, playing a necessary role in the waste management ecosystem. They traversed the neighbourhoods of Sarjapur Road, HSR Layout and Jakkasandra with bicycles stacked with recyclable waste from across the area. Informal squatter settlements with the ubiquitous blue tent dwellings are often at risk of eviction. Recently, about 5000 migrant labourers living in makeshift sheds in Thubarahalli were threatened by the police and asked to vacate, after local…

A migrant belonging to Jharkhand is labelled a rowdy, a person from North East is assumed to be sexually open and those from West Bengal are supposedly ‘dirty.’ From the local tea kadais to the cafeterias, such preconceived notions often form the subject of gossip and casual talk. Migrants who come to cities such as Chennai, are typically at the receiving end of such misplaced bias. A 2013 research report by J Jeyaranjan of Institute of Development Alternatives, based on a survey of 315 migrant workers across three sectors known to employ them in large numbers (namely, Construction, Manufacturing and Services), found…

A fascinated child stands transfixed in the Zoology section of the Government museum in Egmore, her attention drawn by the giant skeleton of a whale on display, spanning the length of the room. This is is just one of many intriguing artefacts in India's second oldest museum. While the museum can boast of a steady stream of visitors, with enough in store for everyone who would like to spend an hour in learning, there are several aspects of the museum that leave plenty of room for improvement and are crying for attention from the state. The massive collections of the…

Come January 1, 2019, the Tamil Nadu government will implement a blanket ban on single use plastic, an unprecedented move in the state, aimed at protecting the environment. Plastic ban has been at the centre of discussion among many citizens who are still confused and worried about life sans plastic. The state government is continuously reminding people about the ban through newspaper ads, but has failed to provide a concrete road map on the implementation of the ban or the alternatives to be adopted. Several  organisations, especially NGOs, have on the other hand been on the field to sensitise the…