GENRE: In Focus

In April 2018, a teenage student from a reputed girls’ school in Gopalapuram Chennai typed out a long answer to a question on ‘the first crush you’ve had’ on a social media site. Just that in this case, her first crush happened to be a girl classmate. Soon, a couple of other girls from her class had taken a screenshot and started circulating it. The girls were teased, ridiculed, and labelled. Worse, several teachers of the school got to know about the post and allegedly censured and verbally abused the girl, even calling her a prostitute. The situation was aggravated…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship In the last few years, have you found yourself perspiring more than usual, while walking in core areas of Bengaluru city like Kalasipalaya?  Well, it's not just you. These are effects of the ‘urban heat island’ becoming more commonplace in the ‘Garden City’. This graphic by Raj Bhagath Palanichamy, a researcher at the World Resources Institute (WRI), as part of the City Water Assessment Tool, shows temperature ranges in core Bengaluru. Neighbourhoods like Jayanagar (the green section in the top left of the image) and Basavangudi are facing less exposure…

Come June 5 and all eyes across the world will be on India, the global host of World Environment Day, 2018. A country with a recycling economy predominantly driven by informal waste-pickers, India has imposed a complete ban on plastic in several states so far, setting the stage for this year’s theme, “Beat Plastic Pollution”. In March 2016, the erstwhile Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011 were replaced by the Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016, notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC). This provides a regulatory framework for management of plastic waste by urban…

Bhubaneswar municipal corporation has been razing down dozens of land encroachments ahead of the Hockey World Cup to be held there in November 2018. About 250 families living in slums around Kalinga stadium where the world cup would be held are facing the threat of eviction. Municipal authorities are trying to use police support to do it, but the residents are insisting on proper rehabilitation before eviction. The land freed after all evictions will be used to create a land bank for development projects, say municipal authorities. As per a recent report ‘Forced evictions in India in 2017’ by the…

Will Indian cities heed a global wake-up call at least now? This year’s air pollution list is unprecedented, with 14 Indian cities ranked as the most contaminated among the top 15 international urban centres in the WHO database comprising 4,300 hotspots. Kanpur tops the list with the highest concentration of PM 2.5, according to information from the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is followed by Faridabad, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Delhi, Lucknow, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur. PM2.5 refers to fine inhale-able particle pollutants that have diameters of 2.5 micrometres or smaller. These are comprised of microscopic solids or liquid droplets…

“Modi Modi! Modi Modi!” “Twinkle twinkle little star, Yeddyurappa superstar!” Activists belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) kept chanting and demonstrating, even as the initial trends showed BJP leading in 112 and more seats, on the counting of Karnataka Vidhan Sabha Elections 2018, on May 15, 2018. https://youtu.be/4ttqO4v-lMs  The members were ecstatic about their party’s perceived majority. Temple Street in Malleshwaram, where Jagannatha Bhavan, BJP’s State Headquarters is located, was full of a sea of flags. Cardboard cutouts of Modi and Yeddyurappa were raised and the party members danced with pride and joy, leading to road blockage near the office.…

Human rights activists and eminent members of civil society have come together to raise deep concerns and unequivocally condemn the recent police action against protesters in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin), who had been demanding the closure of a plant owned by Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of mining giant Vedanta Resources.  Police violence has left several people dead and many more injured. In a public statement, citizens point out that not only was this tragedy totally avoidable, it appears that the police have even given hot pursuit and shot at women and others in fishing hamlets like Theresepuram. The sheer brutality of the…

Amid incessant protests by the fishermen community against the draft Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Plan (TNCZMP), the state government had organised a public hearing a month ago.  The hearing, which was organised at Chennai Port during the last week of April was nothing but a waste of taxpayers' money, say environmentalists.  What is CZMP The Government of India has issued a direction to all the coastal states and union territories to prepare a plan for protection of zones with rich marine biodiversity, from developmental activities. The plan should be drafted, based on the rules prescribed in the Coastal Regulatory…

Roughly a couple of days from now, Karnataka will be voting to elect its next Assembly. One of the most conspicuous features of the high profile state election this year has been the participation of several new players other than the traditional big names, one among them being the Swaraj India party led by psephologist-turned-politician Yogendra Yadav. But how does a party, founded on the premise of alternative politics and with its origins largely in the political narrative of the northern part of the country, plan to make a mark in a southern state, where the dominant dialogue has been…

It is that season in democracy when every politician talks about "clean politics", and paints oneself clean. But how does the voter know whether one is really clean? One yardstick is to look at the legal cases slapped against them. The existence of a case on a person doesn't mean he or she is tainted or guilty. Sometimes they drag for years. Sometimes cases are slapped for frivolous reasons, and sometimes they are slapped for political reasons. Some cases might get withdrawn, or get decided in favour of the candidate. However, there are serious cases too, which might result in…