EDITORS' PICK

Shilpa, a fellow educator, and I have been teaching at an under-resourced government school in Thyagaraya Nagar for the past two years. We started in August 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic. The students we teach are first generation learners from an urban slum community in Thyagaraya Nagar, and their parents are daily wage workers, house help and roadside vendors. One of the things we noticed was that there is hardly any parental involvement in the child’s educational journey. The only time parents are called in is to hand over documents, sign applications, or for one-way parent-teacher meetings,…

As Mumbai returns to normal after the COVID pandemic, offices and schools have reopened. With them, the number of commuters travelling through public transport is steadily approaching pre-pandemic levels. 30 lakh people boarded the BEST buses daily in April 2022, and the number will soon cross 35 lakh. 70-72 lakh passengers travelled on the suburban railway every day, just 6-8 lakh shy of the 2019 figures. The familiar scenes of congestion have returned. Mumbai’s suburban railways are known for the often dangerous rush hour, for which the term ‘super dense crush load’ was coined. Over 16 people stand chest-to-chest on each square…

Even as we write this, the blaze at Delhi's Bhalswa waste dump — a colossal mountain of unsorted and unsegregated waste in the national capital — continues to thwart the efforts of the Delhi Fire Services personnel as they fight the flames raging since April 26th. Of course, such fires at waste dump sites are not uncommon; this is already the third such incident this summer after earlier outbreaks at the Ghazipur landfill site. Methane gas emissions during decomposition of the dumped waste in unaerobic conditions, combined with high air temperatures, make these sites veritable tinderboxes. Sometimes, reckless or deliberate…

In July 2021, Brookefields Layout, a community East of Marathahalli in Bengaluru, finally got its roads asphalted. Within a month, BESCOM - the electric utility, informed the community that they wanted to dig a beautiful, brand-new road to lay their 11KV lines. Prior to asphalting, we had asked several utilities (including BESCOM) if they had any pending work on the road. Many took the opportunity to lay their lines; the road asphalting itself was delayed to accommodate new gas lines, optical cables, telephone cables, water lines, and more. BESCOM said they had no plans; for them to now say they…

Many areas that were merged with the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) in 2011 are yet to receive many civic amenities and services. The residents of Ullagaram-Puzhuthivakkam’s Srinivasa Nagar and Ram Nagar have been experiencing issues with water supply and sewage. Many in the area do not have what should be basic civic amenities and have been raising the issue with great fervour over the past few months. There are a few reasons for the problems faced by residents with water supply and sewage connections, as we have understood from our talks with city officials and engineers. These include improper and…

Rising temperatures have engulfed the country. On April 28th, Mumbai recorded the highest daily temperature at 37 degrees Celsius, creating unbearable circumstances for those uniquely vulnerable to the heat, particularly informal workers. The lack of a comprehensive Heat Action Plan (HAP) in the city is increasing the effects of the heatwave on the health of those directly exposed to the sun for long hours. To be able to conduct their businesses, street vendors in Mumbai adapt to these conditions and find unique ways to cope with the heat. Citizen Matters spoke to different vendors to understand their methods. Deepak and…

Heat waves are not unusual at this time of the year in north and central India. Delhi faces heat wave conditions during April-June every year. What is unusual this year is that the first round of heat wave conditions hit Delhi and neighbouring states in end March and early April. And is likely to hit a peak in May. Climate experts have been increasingly warning of unusual weather events, including extreme heat, across the globe. And the dire projections all seem to be coming true. “In the Himalayas too, temperatures rose by a few degrees,” said Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director…

‘Dirt, debris, highly acidic black water and the pungent smell,’ is the description of Otteri Nullah given by the residents living along the canal. Otteri Nullah is one of the 32 naturally formed canals in Chennai. Due to neglect over years, the canal has gone from being a vital part of the local waterway system that drains flood waters into the Buckingham Canal to a dumping ground for debris and waste.  Memories of the 2015 floods haunt many citizens of Chennai to the day. However, for residents living along the stretch of the 10.2 km-long Otteri Nullah, similar instances of…

Stressed out with having to chase that perfect 100% in her 12th class board exams in a few days “to get into the best colleges of Delhi,” Mrinalini, a student of a private school in Ghaziabad, would like nothing better than to give this “chase” a miss. Which she now can, following the recent announcement by the University Grants Commission (UGC) that the performance in the newly introduced Common University Entrance Test (CUET), not the board exam, will decide the college in which she gets admission. Especially after seven Delhi University colleges had reportedly set 100% marks in the 12th board…

Any initiative for last-mile connectivity has to be safe, reliable and cost-effective. One of the most promising ideas to come up in recent months that satisfies these requirements is electric-autos (E-autos). Last-mile connectivity has always been an issue that all public transport entities, especially metro and bus systems, have to deal with. Bengaluru metro, for instance, with its extension to Kengeri and Anjanapura, now has a total of 51 metro stations which require last mile connectivity. An issue that will only become more widespread as the metro expands to other areas.  Bengaluru Metro Transport Corporation (BMTC), which handles the city’s…