GENRE: Explainers

Modern lifestyles in cities often see most of us buying more, despite the acclaimed ‘Refuse, Reuse, Reduce, Repurpose and Recycle’ mantra. When tired of the clutter, we repurpose pre-owned belongings like old clothes and toys by passing them on to domestic help. But, a step further could help support underprivileged communities throughout the country. There are many organisations in Mumbai supporting local communities in need by distributing pre-owned items in the city and rural Maharashtra. “We can’t say we’re solving the poverty crisis, but there’s a need and we’re filling it,” says Pradeep Tripathi, founder of Green Yatra, a foundation…

With different electoral constituencies in Mumbai for national, state and local elections, finding which one you belong to can be a little confusing, but is important to know before exercising your democratic right to vote for an elected representative at different levels of government. What is a constituency? A constituency refers to a geographical area which votes for an elected representative. Each constituency corresponds to a seat in a government body, depending on the election. Given there are three levels - national, state and local - of elections in India, each place falls into three constituencies of different sets. What…

With a growing population of over 12 million, Mumbai generates 2,700 - 3,000 million litres of sewage everyday. But just as water needs to be purified before it is fit for drinking, sewage needs treatment before it re-enters the water cycle. Untreated sewage is a dangerous mix of bacteria and organic matter, making it an excellent breeding ground for diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, gastroenteritis, hepatitis B, etc. Once in water, it also wreaks havoc in the environment of marine organisms, stealing from their oxygen stores, suffocating and eventually feeding on them. At present, sewage treatment in the city is divided…

Municipal councillors in Mumbai are elected officials for a city’s municipal corporation. They play a critical role in the development and functioning of the city as the primary facilitator between citizens and the state government.   What does a councillor do within their constituency? Councillors in Mumbai execute various developmental procedures in their constituency through the Rs 1.5 crore per annum of local area development fund granted to their local ward by the Brihanmumbai Mumbai Corporation (BMC). A further Rs 60 lakhs of discretionary funds are allocated to every councillor to be spent on their constituency for work they deem as…

Have you ever looked closely at the plastic packaging waste that you place in your recycling bin? Whether the bags, containers, bottles, wrappers, toys, packaging materials are branded or unbranded? What are the brand names? How are they classified? Do you know what the numbers on the packaging mean? Do all plastic waste actually get recycled? According to Sowmya Raghavan, Member, Solid Waste Management Focus Group, Bangalore Apartment Federation (BAF), “All recyclables are not recycled, and all items in the recycle bin are not recyclable." So have you ever thought about conducting an audit of your plastic waste? If yes,…

To clear the air over speculation on the status of cryptocurrencies, Budget 2022 imposed a 30% tax on income from virtual digital assets (VDA) and announced the launch of digital rupee later this year. But, a few questions remain unanswered, especially on the definition of cryptocurrency. And what terms like blockchain and NFTs mean. The concepts of fungible and non-fungible have been around for some time now. In economic terms, fungible tokens or assets are products which are non-unique and interchangeable with something of equivalent value. They are transferable, tangible in nature and their value remains constant. For example, a…

To register a marriage in Mumbai, the Maharashtra Regulation of Marriage Bureaus and Registration of Marriages Act, 1998 governs marriages in Maharashtra. There are other Acts, specific to religions, like The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 and the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1972. For inter-faith partnerships, the Special Marriage Act, 1954 is available to those who go in for inter-faith or inter-caste marriage or generally for standard Court marriages without any emphasis on personal beliefs. What is the eligibility criteria for a couple to get married? Men above 21 years of age and women above 18 years of age…

Zone snapshot: Wards -  22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Population - 177148  (2013) Number of polling stations - 191 To locate your polling station - https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php To locate your ward and zone - https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/citizen-details/location-service/find_zone.jsp Issues in the zone: Poor stormwater drain networks area persistent issue in the zone. The recent rain left many areas in the zone marooned after the release of water from the Redhills reservoir. Better, well-connected stormwater drain network would prevent water-logging.Basic civic amenities are not available for residents of the ward who do not have patta despite residing in…

Zone Snapshot Wards– 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 Population– 99359 (2013) Polling Stations– 97 To locate your polling station – https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php To locate your ward and zone – https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/citizen-details/location-service/find_zone.jsp Issues in the Zone Poor bus connectivity is an issue in Manali. With the discontinuation of many small buses, the frequency and number of routes plying in the zone has reduced, leaving residents stranded. Lack of a proper sewage system is an issue in the zone. The underground network is incomplete and the residents see frequent overflowing of sewage. A properly connected sewage system is the need of the hour. The stormwater drain…

Zone snapshot Wards - 127. 128. 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142 Population – 704697 (2013) Number of polling stations – 613 To locate your polling station – https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php To locate your ward and zone – https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/citizen-details/location-service/find_zone.jsp Issues in the zone: Many parts of the zone such as T Nagar, Saidapet, West Mambalam, K.K. Nagar, Ashok Nagar have experienced extreme water logging during last year's rains. In Saidapet, residents cite the example of Thiruvalluvar Street, where water stagnated and rose as rains continued. In T Nagar, despite heavy investments and publicity around the Smart City Project in the area,…