GENRE: In Focus

Whenever there is a discussion about the process of voter registration, people complain of delays in the registration process and red tapism. In a recent article on Million Voter Rising campaign published on Citizen Matters, the citizen campaigners who are coaxing people in Mahadevapura constituency to get themselves registered said that they have been facing the issue of delay in voter registration. The BBMP officials who handle the voter registration are said to be responsible. How can the voter registration system improve? What is the solution for this problem? ‘Involve Indian Postal Department’ One long-standing demand has been to involve…

The trend of Indian cities hosting car free days, when streets or stretches are closed to motorised vehicles and opened up for the people and various events, has become quite pronounced. But can these really go beyond day-long enjoyment and festivities, and pave the way for more sustainable mobility? According to organisers, open street events have helped change mindsets and do bring about tangible outcomes. A survey by WRI (World Resources Institute) of 185 participants of Gurgaon Raahgiri Day showed that 28% had bought cycles after attending the event, and 87% had started walking or cycling for short trips. Similarly,…

Vaishnavi V M, a South Bengaluru resident, recently recovered from a fever that lasted two full weeks. “I don’t know what it was. It must have been some viral fever that occurs around monsoon due to weather change.” Vaishnavi says that this is the first time she has had a fever lasting so long; usually she recovers in three-four days. Vaishnavi is among the thousands of Bengalureans suffering from fevers this year. As various fevers like dengue, chikungunya and laryngitis are going around, hospitals are filled with patients. Since all viral fevers have similar symptoms, they are difficult to distinguish…

The journey of the Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT) as a governmental agency committed to its cause and enjoying the support of the political establishment has already been documented in an article that describes its setting up of the Adyar Eco-park. The road ahead for this agency promises to be equally eventful as it embarks upon several ambitious projects such as the restoration of the Cooum and Adyar rivers, the Buckingham canal restoration project and the mapping and restoration of all water bodies in Chennai. Monumental as they sound and as they indeed are, these are goals that almost every…

Having lost their significance over the years, Employment Exchanges are in dire need of a revamp that will make them suit the changing employment trends and unemployment patterns. During the course of working on this series, what I gathered from talking to officials is, in Karnataka seemingly there is no full-fledged plan yet to revamp the Employment Exchanges. However, some attempts have been and are being made by governments of the times to make Employment Exchanges relevant. In 2008, Employment Exchange offices were given a major task of organising job fairs. Since then, the Directorate of Employment and Training considers…

With gradual decline in the number of job seekers approaching Bengaluru’s Employment Exchange offices in last two decades, these units which function under the State government’s Directorate of Employment Exchange and Training have started losing the significance that they once enjoyed. Sanath Kumar, Employment Officer at school dropout section in the Bengaluru’s Employment Exchange office recalls the days when the number of job seekers per day in the capital city used to be anywhere between 1,000 and 1,500. That was the kind of registration spree taking place in late 90’s. School drop out section’s live register then used to have…

Imagine a busy street near your home where you have to jostle for every inch of walking space, where the air laden with vehicle emissions bears down heavily on you, and you wish everyday that your round of the shops lining it could be safer and more comfortable. Now imagine, you step out one day to find only adults cycling away in neat lanes along the same street, children playing snakes-and-ladder inside life-size boards on the clean pavements, youngsters dancing to Bollywood music on a makeshift stage on one half of the road! Well, it could happen. And it has…

Mayor is the ‘first citizen’ of a city. But in Bengaluru, as in most municipal corporations in India, the Mayor is more often a figurehead. A ‘one-year wonder intended only for ceremonial purposes’ is how the 2008 Kasturirangan Committee Report ‘Governance in Bengaluru Metropolitan Region and BBMP’ describes the Bengaluru Mayor. This is because Mayor’s powers are restricted by the law itself. According to the KMC (Karnataka Municipal Corporation) Act, 1976, Mayor only has a one-year term, and has no executive powers. As per KMC Act, a Mayor can Preside over BBMP Council meetings, and convene additional meetings. She can…

Nirvana Country in Sector 50, Gurugram, Haryana. A sprawling 108-acre scenic and lush green community comprised of 1100 independent bungalows with independent gardens. When writer Chetan Mahajan and his wife Vanduta moved in here, they had perhaps never imagined that they would eventually be forced to move, and that too for environmental reasons. The vast acres flanking the community was dotted with strewn plastic bags and mounds of waste being burnt at odd times of the day. Pollution levels had risen to unbearable heights and families were moving out with their elderly and children. The Mahajans were among them, as…

In ‘Pratidwandi’, a Bengali movie directed by Satyajit Ray in 1972, there comes a scene almost at the end of the film, where the protagonist Siddhartha Choudhari waits outside the interview room hoping to get a job. The corridor is crowded. There are 75 applicants for four available positions and the applicants end up waiting for more than three hours, most of them standing on the corridors in the absence of chairs. The scene reflected the unemployment problem that plagued India in 70s and how well qualified people had to slog to get a job. Like ‘Pratidwandi,’ several other movies…