GENRE: Explainers

A little discussed but horrifying statistic is getting lost in all the analysis of the effects of the total lockdown during the 2020-21 pandemic. Over 5000 women had complained to the National Commission for Women (NCW) of facing domestic violence in 2020. As compared to 3369 domestic violence complaints during 2019-2020. An NCW report adds that during 2020-2021, the number of such complaints had risen to 6049. The reason was obvious — more women faced abuse and violence as they were confined to their homes with their abusers. Globally, fewer than 40% of women who experience violence seek help of…

“I really want to begin investing my savings but the thought of losing money in volatile markets really pulls me back,” says Vandana Singh, who works as a senior software engineer at a multinational corporation. “The fact that financial decisions are made by the ‘men’ of the house has intrinsically made women believe that it’s not their cup of tea,” says Veera Jain, research associate at a prestigious educational institution.  Have you ever wondered why, despite it being one of the most important aspects of living a fulfilling and secure life, there has been no inclusion of financial education in…

To achieve targets under the Karnataka Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy, BESCOM has set up electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at 74 locations in Bengaluru, with 136 charging points. It plans to set up 300 more charging stations in collaboration with BMRCL (Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd), BBMP, apartment RWAs (Resident Welfare Associations), etc. GoK is amending the building bylaws to have malls, apartments, and high rise buildings provide dedicated EV charging points in their parking lots. Meanwhile, apartment complexes are already witnessing an increase in EV adoption among residents, leading to a demand for charging stations. To facilitate…

Anu pushes her overloaded trolley past the supermarket door, towards her car. At home, she empties the contents of her bag onto the counter and then goes about emptying packets into her storage containers -  Biscuits, Dry Fruits, Pulses, Spices. She is left with the discarded packets — most of which can be termed plastic packaging waste — that she places in the bag kept aside for recycling. Her bag already contains some takeaway boxes,  yogurt containers, a flour (atta) packet, chocolate wrappers, some personal care and cleaning containers. As a citizen, she has done her job of ensuring that…

The general rule for contesting in a local civic body election is that the person should be more than 21 years of age and should be a resident of Mumbai. Section 14 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888 stipulates that the contesting candidate in the BMC elections must be enrolled as a voter in the jurisdiction of Mumbai. Since 1995, when the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations and Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships (Second Amendment) Act, 1995 came into force, a corporator cannot have more than two children. Gulshan Chouhan, a corporator from South Mumbai, was disqualified in 2011…

This year, the incessant rains has brought the joy of seeing all dams across the state full. Yet it has also been a matter of concern as several low-rise multi dwelling buildings in Bengaluru have collapsed, with residents having had a narrow escape. These recent events of families losing their homes along with their entire life’s hard-earned savings from furniture to food grains has shocked us all. Yet, the question remains. Why do houses collapse this way? While the rain has played its part, there is also another aspect: many buildings do not adhere to the construction standards and regulations.…

At Citizen Matters, we review the promises made in the respective electoral manifestos by all four leading electoral parties, namely, the Shiv Sena (SS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ahead of the BMC elections in February 2022.  We review whether these promises made by them have been delivered, and where Mumbai currently stands on these issues. To kick start the series, we look at the promises made on the issue of providing clean and safe water supply.   Water requirement in Mumbai  Mumbai currently provides 188 litres per capita per…

On Friday, November 12, Citizen Matters hosted a webinar on fire safety in Mumbai’s high rises. Following a story that covered the unfortunate fire incident at the 60-storey Avighna Park in Lower Parel, 3 weeks ago, the panel sought to discuss fire safety in Mumbai’s buildings by including subsequent fire tragedies in the city in recent weeks.  The panel consisted of Hemant Parab, Chief Fire Officer, Mumbai Fire Brigade and Chandrashekhar Prabhu, an Indian politician, architect, professor, urban planner and management expert. Arathi Manay, community anchor at Citizen Matters Mumbai and an experienced market research professional, moderated the discussion.  Read…

The next election for Mumbai's civic body will be held in February 2022. The Brihanmumbai Mumbai Corporation (BMC) plans to conduct special drives to encourage registration in every ward, particularly targetting first time voters, women and sex workers between 13th and 28th November. The final list of voters will be published on 5 January, 2020. The local elections are to appoint corporators of the 24 wards in Mumbai, amounting to 236 seats. The corporator is the closest elected official to the citizen, responsible for overseeing the essential services in their area, allocating budgets and answering citizens’ grievances. In 2019, voter…

HelpAge India, an NGO that provides information on ageing in India, released an annual survey among 3526 senior citizens across six major cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai) in 2021. The survey found elder abuse to be one of the major concerns in Indian households and old age homes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it reported that 62.1% of the elders polled believed that the pandemic increased the risk of elder abuse. What is elder abuse? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), elder abuse is an act of intentional harm, or the failure to act…