GENRE: In Focus

In the first part of this series, we explained how compensatory afforestation is a sham - compensatory saplings are not tracked or cared for, or are planted way outside the city. In this part, we explore why trees are felled in the first place without public consultations. Environmentalists in Bengaluru have pointed out the curious trend of tree-cutting packages awarded in bunches of 49 trees or lesser. Why is this? Section 8 (3)(vii) of the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976, stipulates that if more than 50 trees need to be cut for any infrastructure purpose like road construction or…

‘Whitefield phase BMRCL gets over 44 acres from central ministry,’ said a recent headline in the Economic Times. The news report said that the state Revenue Department had agreed to hand over 16 acres of land in Thippagondanahalli and another 30 acres from six villages in Kali Tiger Reserve forest, to the Forest Department. The land transfer was on behalf of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). With this, the “hurdle” that delayed BMRCL from acquiring forest land was cleared, making way for Metro construction in Whitefield. What was the “hurdle”? BMRCL had identified 45.18 acres of forest land…

It was in March 2018, that the Delhi government while presenting its ‘Green Budget’ for the financial year 2018-19 committed to procuring 1000 electric buses for the roads of Delhi and outlined a timeline for its implementation. A year later, the first set of global tenders for 375 buses have just been issued, following a pilot project in the latter half of 2018. In the meantime, we have heard of several other cities launching e-buses, though any major city-wide transition or significant breakthrough in terms of adoption is yet to be reported. When will Delhi commuters finally see electric buses…

For 700 years, the Yamuna river was a thriving entity around which Delhi grew. This historic connect has been severed in just a few decades. Today, Delhi’s citizens are so detached from the river, and have polluted it to such an extent, that the Yamuna has become incapable of supporting any form of life. The subject of several orders from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on efforts to clean it, the river flows through the heart of the capital dark, murky and giving off the most horrible of smells. Despite an expenditure of Rs 2000 crore in recent years on…

In the financial year 2016 -17, the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC), a liquor entity owned by the state government had a turnover of Rs 31, 247.53 Crore and earned a profit of Rs 25.23 crores as mentioned in its annual report. This was after temporarily closing 3321 TASMAC outlets following the Supreme Court’s order of relocating the shops, situated within a distance of 220 meters from the highways. But while the government that is reaping crores of rupees in profits from liquor sales, is it doing quite enough to rehabilitate addicts? Tamil Nadu is among the top…

In the narrow alleys of Pusta road in Khajuri Khas, near New Delhi’s Kashmiri Gate Metro station, a group of elderly people discuss the upcoming elections, standing near a rickety house not far from a pile of garbage disposed of by the locals. In these bylanes of Khajuri Khas, this is not an uncommon scene -- elderly, retired or unemployed people huddling together, discussing everything -- from neighbourhood issues to the government’s failures. As a reporter in search of a Mohalla Clinic, I approach one of them, Mohammad Ismail. Ismail is in his seventies and happy to talk. According to…

At Mamata Gharana, Bhubaneswar’s first community home for members of the transgender community, Madhuri Kinnar, 38, is happy that she and her mates -- over 70 others who stay here -- now have access to clean water in their own slum for consumption. “Over the last two decades, we have faced lots of problems in getting water. We had to go to Vani Vihar or Rasulgarh, both kilometres away from the Kinnar Basti (transgender slum) to collect water for our consumption and other daily uses,” Madhuri said, “You can imagine how difficult it is to fetch the entire amount of…

Pushing a green-coloured tricycle in the blazing humid sun, Raju (name changed), a conservancy worker, blows the whistle at Prashanti Colony of Madambakkam. The high pitched sound is an alarm for the residents to wake up from their afternoon nap and bring their waste out to the tricycle. Men and women rush out of their houses, with at least four bags of rotten waste each and start screaming at the worker. “You haven’t showed up in four days. There are no bins in the locality. What do you expect me to do with the waste,” screams one lady. What this…

“There has been a 20 percent increase in patients admitted for alcohol and drug abuse this year, as compared to 2007,” says Dr Poorna Chandrika, Deputy Superintendent, Institute of Mental Health. “Alcohol and drug related crimes are on the rise in Chennai. In over 25 percent of criminal cases in Chennai, the offender was inebriated during or before the crime,” says V Kannadasan, a criminal lawyer, practising in Madras High Court. The above data signify two things: one, the number of citizens falling prey to alcoholism and other substance abuse is clearly on the rise and that this may well…

Riding on the wave of riverfront development as exemplified by the Gujarat Sabarmati Riverfront project, the Uttar Pradesh government approved the Gomti Riverfront Development Project (GRDP) at an estimated cost of Rs 656.58 crore in March 2015.  By September 2017, Rs 1447.84 crore had already been spent, though the project still remains incomplete. Now, in a CAG audit report tabled on February 7 this year, the project has come under scathing criticism, on various grounds as outlined below: The case of the missing tender invites The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India examined files of the project…