EDITORS' PICK

It is 4:15 a.m. and this is the scene at the gates of the Samta Nagar Post Office in Kandivali East, Mumbai. Men (mostly) just hanging around on the street, doing pretty much nothing. Chances are, they’ve done this before, but not early enough… the reason for this repeat visit. As I approach the group, Hukam Singh greets me. We were among the unlucky ones, not in the “first 20” of the previous morning. “Madam ka naam lick do bhai… athara” (write madam’s name brother… eighteen), said one. Yeah! I was in the first 20. This is probably the scene at…

How many of us remember our 10th and 12th board exam marks? Do they really matter now? Do we know how successful those rankers are, who ceremoniously gave interviews year after year, purporting to become world class doctors to serve the needy? If the parents of all kids, who are about to take the supposedly life-deciding board exams, pause for a second to ponder these questions, we can not only move away from rote learning towards nurturing a knowledge-driven society, but also perhaps ensure a happier, more holistic development of these young minds. Year after year, we focus on the number…

In the year 2017, data collected by Housing and Land Rights Network India (HLRN) reveals that government authorities, at both the central and state levels, demolished over 53,700 homes, thereby forcefully evicting, at a minimum, 260,000 (2.6 lakh) people across urban and rural India. The total number of persons affected has been calculated by multiplying the number of homes demolished by the average household size according to the Census (4.8). However, many demolished houses had more than one family, and most of the affected families have more than five persons. The real number of people displaced is therefore likely to…

Growing up in this beautiful city of gardens and lakes, one does wonder what happened to it over the past two decades. Any plans for the city’s future should carve a path of opportunities towards preserving what already works well, adding progressive and sustainable changes and allow the continuum of livability. The past couple of city development plans have been regressive and have lead this city towards a path of decay. This write up is a citizen’s analysis of what is proposed for a neighborhood (Planning District 07) in RMP 2031. Let’s start with some numbers. Land Use Planning District…

In Part 1 of this series, Citizen Matters had talked about carpooling startups in various cities and how people are availing these facilities. Despite the emergence of a number of players in the field, however, there are various challenges that these companies are grappling with. The biggest challenge carpooling entrepreneurs face is that the concept itself is not yet so popular in India. Concerns about privacy and security are common, so is the general feeling of discomfort in travelling in a stranger’s car. Hence a large part of these entrepreneur’s efforts are invested in popularising the concept and getting the support of…

Step into the lush green campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, and students pedaling away on their bicycles is a common sight. The eco-friendly mode of commute within the precincts of the campus received a special boost when the management of IIT Madras initiated a pilot project on bicycle sharing in December 2017. “For the last 3-4 years, several General Secretaries of the student bodies and Hostel Affairs Secretaries had included ‘cycle-sharing’ in their manifestos but had not been able to implement it. During this term, the Committee for Monitoring General Facilities For Students (CMGFS) jointly took…

Even as the gentle city of soft, light breezes, namma Bengaluru, is getting gritty with particulate matter, there seems to be a disconnect between the citizen and the data. What exactly is blowing around? Is it possible to sense and detect the quality of air? How does Bangalore rate in the Air Quality Index (AQI)? Not too good. It has been found that the biggest air pollutant in the city is particulate matter (PM), specifically PM10 and PM2.5. These are tiny, irritant suspensions in the air that tend to enter and cause respiratory and even cardiovascular diseases. In 2015, Greenpeace…

There has been an uproar in the state, after the Supreme Court delivered its verdict on February 16th in the centuries-long water sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In the latest, the apex court bench has ordered Karnataka to release 177.25 tmcft water to Tamil Nadu, as opposed to 192 tmcft awarded in the earlier Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. Expectedly, farmers from the districts, where groundwater is already running low, are worried that agricultural produce will take a big hit following the reduction of the Cauvery share. But will the verdict also affect those living in Chennai? The problem…

What are we leaving behind for the next generation? If our grandchildren were to question us on the kind of water, river or environment that we have created for them and if that was how we had received it from our previous generations, would you be guilt-ridden? These were some of the questions that hung over the audience, as the Waterman of India, Dr Rajendra Singh, questioned the interest levels of Chennaiites in restoring the city’s river bodies. Dr Rajendra Singh was in the city to talk on Community and River Rejuvenation as part of the DAMned ART festival organised…

On Saturday, February 18th, Prof. Rajeev Gowda, Member of Parliament, spoke on ‘The Regulation of Risk’ at the Beyond Carlton Annual Memorial Lecture. The Carlton Towers Fire on February 23 2010 claimed nine lives and injured over 60 people. Family members of those affected by this accident got together to form Beyond Carlton which focuses on advocacy, accountability and creating awareness about the hazards of fire accidents in India. For the past few years, Beyond Carlton has been conducting an annual Memorial Lecture in February. Speakers in the past have included the likes of Swati Ramanathan, Co-founder Janaagraha;  R.A.Venkitachalam, Managing…