GENRE: In Focus

During the 2015 floods, civil rights and advocacy group Arappor Iyakkam had carried out relief work for the common man in an organized manner. Once the worst was over, they pondered whether it would be enough to just engage in relief work every single year when disaster strikes or more prudent to work to make sure that such an incident never ever occurs again. Translating thought to action, over 20 volunteers started ground work from March 2016 when they started the social audits on water bodies. A part of the waterbodies team concentrated on sewage issues and more specifically on…

In late May 2017, a big shout out for waste segregation came from none other than the Indian Prime Minister when he announced the introduction of new litter bins for segregated waste in 4000 cities and towns on his monthly radio show, Mann ki Baat. A few days later, on June 5, World Environment Day, a source segregation campaign was launched amid much fanfare by the Minister of Urban Development Shri M Venkaiah Naidu in the National Capital Region as he flagged off segregated waste collection vehicles. However, not much stress on the actual realisation of segregation was noted in…

Once a source of water for irrigation and household use, the Chitlapakkam Lake is now brimming over with all kinds of garbage. It has been 18 years since the local residents first raised an issue over the encroachment of the lake and dumping of garbage in it, but notwithstanding the long struggle,  the freshwater lake has shrunk from 83.89 acre to 33.95 acre! Remembering the lake that once was Chitlapakkam lake receives water from the Pacha Malai Hills. Until the onset of urbanisation, there were agricultural farms in the area and water from the upper catchment area irrigated these farms.…

Whether as “India’s Great Migration Challenge,” or its “landmark tax reform” or the current government’s “most significant legacy,” the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax, in short GST, has hogged media headlines for a considerable while now. There are news flashes about the different tax rates fixed for specific goods and services, various discussions on its likely impact on the Indian economy as well as debates over the basic wisdom of the form in which it is currently going to be implemented. With an overload of information and analysis, the common man cannot be blamed if he feels slightly…

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…

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…

Rajan tried all manner of entrepreneurial enterprises. He sold scrap paper and cardboard to recyclers. He built a street corner chai and cigarette cart, and repaired truck and bus tires. He started an office cleaning service for high-tech companies in the growing IT sector south of the city center. None of these delivered the financial returns and workday flexibility of selling clear, sky blue, 20-litre water “cans” in Chennai’s immense bottled water industry. The 32-year-old business owner, stocky and muscled, fits the enterprise. Every day, Rajan explained through an interpreter, he and a partner purchase some 200, 20-litre water cans…

An impromptu weekend plan landed me in Wonderla Amusement Park in Hyderabad. My fear of heights made me go only on those rides that seemed slower and lower. These happened to be the water rides, as they were my safest bet. Even if all the safety belts and harnesses of the ride failed, I would just end up falling in the water, with all my bones and skull intact. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself. At that point, I never questioned how this park was procuring water for all its rides. Nor did I consider the possibility of water being extracted and…