GENRE: Features

As we know, a majority of India's underprivileged children are not educated. Even when they do go to school, they are often deprived of the staples for supporting their academic journey. Most urban kids start school with a fresh set of stationery and books each year. If you and I can have it, why can't underprivileged children have the same as well?  Gnawed at by this thought, six of my schoolmates and I, supported by our parents, decided to help the less privileged through charity. We built a mini organisation called "Kids4Kids" where children like us would help other less…

“In Bihar, having your own startup is not a common thing. People mostly want government jobs, because that brings security. According to me, they do not understand. There are many other things out there in the world.” With these words, Ravi Kumar certainly counters the Bihari stereotype. Passionate about technology, he and his friend Anshu Kumari founded “RK Crystal” in Patna, where they provide students with the practical skills necessary to work in the technology industry. They began to consider this when Anshu struggled with her application to a company. “I went there for work experience, but they told me…

Pune has a story similar to many other cities in India that grew exponentially without much warning. The unplanned development hit the water resources badly, increasing the city’s dependence on groundwater. Now, the city experiences water scarcity every year, even when the monsoons have been plentiful. Although the authorities have assured the citizens of adequate water storage in the dams and fewer water cuts this year, long-term, sustainable solutions still evade all political discourses. The good news, however, is that the citizens and the housing societies have now started coming forward to work around the problem and advocate changes at…

In the recently undertaken Swacch Survekshan 2017, a cleanliness ranking of cities published by the Ministry of Urban Development of the Government of India, Chennai’s ranking plummeted from 37 in 2016 to 235! Corporation officials have explained this saying that the “independent observation” was done a few days after Cyclone Vardah, which is why there has been a dip in the rankings. However, even if Chennai had scored the same on all parameters as in 2016, our rank would have been 120 for 2017, after Srikakulam (Rank 119, Marks 1198). Moreover, independent observation had a weight of only 25% in the…

A thriving Puttenahalli Lake full of water is a great sight. If there is one person happier than us at PNLIT, it must be Yellappa, the guy who got the fishing contract for our lake. Yallappa and his people fishing. Pic: Usha Rajagopalan About a year ago he had released fingerlings of several species such as the Indian Catla, Rohu, Mrigal and the Chinese Carp (Common, Silver and Grass). He also introduced Snakehead, called Varal locally which according to the Fisheries Department, is not grown much in our city. It is expensive and is a delicious fish. Snakehead (varal). Pic:…

Bangalore city head constable, Suresh, was born and brought up in a village near Bangalore. He joined as a constable in 2000. Suresh shares about how he and his family used to care for animals and birds in his village, and how his love towards them started when he was a child. He further talks about how he got together volunteers to help him in feeding stray animals and birds. His message is one of compassion towards nature and all living beings.

Shajan has worked with companies like MRF, J K Tyre & Industries, Aptech, Quess Corp Limited, and TeamLease. He was, in fact, the youngest State Head for JK Tyre at the age of 29. He also was the one who launched the first MBA Programme in Media and Entertainment with Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International Institute. Shajan has travelled across India, meeting various people. Somewhere along the way he realised that 'the money in the bank, the car you drive and the house you live in don't account for anything. It is about how many people you manage that can…

If you happened to pass by the State Archaeological Museum in Bengaluru on any day between May 18th and 21st, you would probably have been in for a pleasant surprise. In observance of International Museum Day (May 18th), the venue was host to a variety of informative and interactive events and activities over the weekend--from story-telling sessions to creative writing workshops, bringing together a diverse audience and fostering new connections and relationships not often associated with the Indian museum space. These events were funded by Karnataka Tourism and organised by city-based organisation ReReeti, which seeks to revitalize museums, enabling them…

On a Tuesday morning in early April this year, over a thousand teachers and students at a Kilpauk school were part of an interactive, fun-filled session, that was unlike any other they had ever taken part in. For, while there were fun and games and audio-visual presentations, as there might have been during other school events, the focus on this occasion was different. It was a session meant to raise awareness among those present, as well as break the silence around one of the greatest social evils of the times - child sexual abuse, or CSA. Much as we would…

Feel you waste time at bus stops? Plan your trip with our app, you'll get to the stop just on time for your bus https://t.co/IgAjglMCsC pic.twitter.com/Dq1YOtA2R3 — BMTC (@BMTC_Bangalore) May 22, 2017 Thus said Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Company (BMTC), in a recent tweet. The tweet was obviously about the Intelligent Transport System BMTC has developed spending crores of rupees. But does the ITS actually work as it should? The official ITS mobile application was released in May 2016 with much fanfare. The BMTC claimed that the app would help commuters track their buses in real time. Initial reviews by the consumers…