EDITORS' PICK

Children are often under-prioritized or even disregarded in urban planning and design. It’s estimated that up to 500 children die daily in road crashes around the world; thousands more incur injuries and psychological trauma from collisions with vehicles that can affect them for years. Whether on the streets or in public spaces, feeling unsafe or uncomfortable in outdoor spaces also discourages children from physical exercise at a time when 80% of children between ages 11-17 are not physically active, and 38 million children under age five are overweight or obese. The coronavirus pandemic has further highlighted the urgent need for safe outdoor areas for…

We’ve likely seen coloured garbage bins in malls, airports and so on. The bin colour indicates, of course, what kind of trash we should put where, based on whether it's food waste or recyclable waste. Many a time, I have stood in front of these bins and wondered where to put the coffee cup and the little styrofoam container. Are they the same material? Are they both recyclable? Manufacturers must step up! For years the burden of dealing with plastic disposal has been with the consumer. We are told to reduce, reuse, and recycle while the manufacturers who sell us…

Farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are peeved at being blamed for Delhi’s smog. “We have been burning crop residue for the past 50 years now,” said a leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union from Haryana, who does not want to be named. “If anybody is affected it should be the surrounding villages. We don’t face any such problem. So why is this problem in Delhi seen just during these past few years?” Every winter, not just Delhi but the entire northern region is frequently enveloped in a thick blanket of smog, caused by air pollution from vehicular and…

In 2008, Nandini N, professor at the Department of Environmental Science at Bangalore University, started documenting Bengaluru’s biodiversity for its first People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR). She was a member of BBMP’s Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC), which is mandated to prepare a PBR under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. Professor Nandini inaugurated the exercise at JP Park in Mathikere where, she remembered, “very few Matti trees were surviving”. For the next two years, Professor Nandini, then the Director for Student Welfare at Bangalore University, involved approximately 20 colleges across the city to collate information on biodiversity. They first divided the city…

Nagamma and Tirupataiah, a couple hailing from Kurnool district are waste pickers at the Kattedan Industrial Estate (KIE), near Rajendranagar in Hyderabad. Another waste picker, Shantamma took up this activity when she shifted to the area after her marriage.  Spread across 110 hectares, the KIE houses 450 units belonging to manufacturing, oil refining, rewinding machines, food processing industries. The industries provide employment to 10,000 laborers, and the total population of the area is roughly 26000, most of them living in the neighbouring villages. Industrial pollution -- primarily high concentration of mineral oil and metals in the soil, dust, odour and…

A dog snuggling up to you, craving belly rubs, can be a real stress-buster, especially when you are working from home and managing multiple fronts. Of the different trends witnessed during the pandemic-initiated lockdown in Chennai, a notable one is an increase in the demand for puppies. “The demand for apartment dogs such as Labrador, Husky and Golden Retriever has increased by more than fifty per cent during the past six months. People from all walks of life are showing interest in buying or adopting a dog,” says Gokulraj Dharmalingam, a dog breeder.  But how many of us know how…

Manoj Kumar, 34, had lost his job even before the lockdown. With car sales taking a steep dip due to the pandemic, Manoj, a sales agent in the car loan section of the Kotak Mahindra group in Ghaziabad, was not among the lucky few who were offered leave without pay or the option of staying on with a steep pay cut. Initially optimistic about being able to find another job, Manoj soon found his hopes dashed by the countrywide lockdown. “I would read every article on how to make a living in the times of COVID, read posts or watch…

This article is part of our special series Environmental Sustainability & Climate Change in Tier II cities supported by Climate Trends. Chandigarh: The Beautiful City, located in the foothills of Shivalik range, was originally a cluster of 58 villages. When the site was chosen to build a modern capital for the then state of Punjab in 1948, it resulted in relocation of 21,000 people, mainly farmers cultivating crops such as wheat, corn, and maize. The city lies in the Indo-Gangetic plains, between two seasonal hill torrents – the Sukhna and Patiali rivers. Presumably, back then it was a much cooler…

Five or more people cooped up for 24 hours in a room 10x10 sq ft. The children barely catch a sliver of the sky above their heads. The women deprived of any kind of interaction with their neighbours and friends, which had been the only respite from their usual grueling, monotonous domestic schedules. The men, caught in the confines of four walls 24x7, more dour and impatient than usual. As the spread of COVID-19 and the effort to curb it resulted in India enforcing one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, this was the reality for thousands of families…

After a gap of over five months, Chennai Metro trains is back on track. The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has decided to resume rail services in different phases. In the first phase, the Blue Line, between Airport Metro Station and Washermenpet Metro Station, resumed on September 7th. In the second phase, the Green line, plying between St Thomas Mount and Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M G Ramachandran Central Metro), will be operational from September 9th. Train services will run at 5-minute frequency during peak hours and 10-minute frequency during non-peak hours. The CMRL has introduced several measures for ensuring the…