GENRE: Features

Fake ration cards The issue of bogus ration cards is an important concern reported across India, and the central government has announced that ration cards may no longer be used as legitimate proof of identity and residence at the passport offices from April 2016. According to the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, a total of 11.14 lakh new family ration cards have been issued while 3.38 lakh fake cards were identified and cancelled across Tamil Nadu during the period from June 2011 to November 2014. According to a report published in 2012 by the Comptroller and Auditor General of…

File photo. Pic:Christopher Martin Lopaze As the month of fasting—Ramzaan, draws to a close, a sense of humility serenades me. Ramzaan is a month when one is called upon to abstain from not just food, but anything that corrupts the mind and soul. However, when one goes without food and water for 14+ hours a day for 30 days, in the least, it reminds one how blessed we are to be able to afford a basic meal. It is 'hunger' that teaches one the value of 'food'. About a month ago, over a quiet meal, my husband Manivannan and I…

Even as the Tamil Nadu government has introduced digitization of the Public Distribution System (PDS) and smart PDS cards, ration card holders from many parts of the district complain of lack of access to the monthly supply of commodities which points to the discrepancies in the functioning of ration shops.Tamil Nadu, which follows universal PDS system unlike other states, had asked for more time to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013, which is based on targeted PDS. Under NFSA, 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population are entitled to five…

Remember the tragic incident that happened two yeas ago, where a nine-year-old child fell into a gap in the footpath during heavy rains, was carried by the gushing storm water and was found dead in a lake three kilometres away? The incident evoked sharp criticism and responses. A Public Interest Litigation was filed on the issue. The High Court asked the BBMP to repair all the deathtraps on footpaths and clear the encroachment. It's almost two years since then. Has the attitude of the administration changed? And has there been enough precaution this rainy season? Citizen Matters did a reality…

How a transgender from Sikkim is building her life in Chennai She calls herself Rudy, after she fell in love with Rihanna’s ‘Rude Boy ‘when she was 15. She is trans-sexual. And this is her story. Born as Vivek B.K. in a small township in Sikkim, she has come a long way in defining herself. Having identified herself as gay when she was 7 years old and still a boy, the decision to transition to the female gender was a natural progression, an essential step for being completely true to herself. She tells her story over a cup of coffee at…

From taking water for granted, to discovering water scarcity and now managing water sustainably without depending on water tankers, our Sarjapur Road community is very different from the rest of the neighbourhood suffering from water problems. Rainbow Drive (RBD) is a gated community established in 1998-99. Till 2004, no meters in individual houses, water was supplied free. A few houses had private borewells for their own use. After the Residents' Welfare Association was formed in 2004, they started to meter the supplied water at a nominal charge to recover the operational cost. They also decided to ban the digging of…

In a much-awaited move, the Greater Corporation of Chennai (GCC) is all set to launch its bin-less waste transfer process on a pilot basis in a few of the wards in its newly added areas, which would eventually be extended to cover all of the 15 zones. This would mean that GCC is planning to focus on source segregation and waste processing, instead of the current method of street bins being emptied into compactor trucks which transport the garbage to the dumping yards. As discussed in the first part of this story, lack of source segregation and waste processing mechanisms…

Deepanjali Mishra. Pic: Pravir B. Sukanti and Bhagirathi Mishra are on cloud nine. Since May 28, when the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the results for Grade 10 board examination, these Whitefield residents are elated. Their daughter, Deepanjali, has done exceptionally well, securing A1 score in all five subjects. “My parents were really happy because it was their dream that I score well in 10th,” she exclaims when asked for her reaction. Her father is employed as a plumber in a housing complex, where her mother works as a cook. Her uncle is an electrician. “I was able…

I needed that drink after just an hour out in the sun on Saturday morning near the Puttenahalli Lake, at Nataraj Layout in JP Nagar. More labour under what looked like a deceptively dull sky that morning and it quietly saps you. At that point, all resolutions incinerate instantly and the body rejects what appears like salad, fresh though it may be. Instead, the body wants to chill on a mat, or even better, on a seat with liquid much stronger. And voila! Nothing like the kind consideration of my fellow nationals in the thoughtful accompaniment of the glass with…

This is an excerpt introducing the book Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the past, present and future, written by Harini Nagendra, a Professor of Sustainability at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, India. The book is scheduled to be released on June 10th, 2016, at 6.30 pm at Alliance Francaise, Bengaluru. My office is in the peri-urban fringe of Bengaluru. From a place that was fairly rural, in ecology, lifestyle and livelihoods, this area has transformed almost literally in front of my eyes in the past decade into a mess of congested traffic, garbage dumps, slums cheek by jowl with apartment blocks,…