GENRE: In Focus

On June 11th, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah boarded a BMTC bus, turned conductor for a few minutes, and issued the first free tickets to women passengers as part of the Shakti scheme. Free bus travel is one of the five guarantees of the newly formed Congress government and the first to be fulfilled. While the scheme has been appreciated by many women, several issues need to be resolved to sustain it in the long term, according to public transport advocates. Launch of the Shakti scheme. Pic: Twitter/BMTC_Bengaluru Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV), a group lobbying for better bus service in the…

It is that time of the year again when students of grade 10 are scrambling to secure admissions in junior colleges. The application process is in full swing, and they're eager to move onto the 11th grade. There is a large number of students, who are not at all bothered to apply to junior colleges. Instead, they are trying to secure a place in the top coaching institutes for JEE and NEET training. This is what is widely known as the 'integrated coaching' structure. In a practice that has been going on for years, students who want to appear for…

In part one of this series, we looked at how parking and riding vehicles on footpaths is hazardous to pedestrians, and the legal provisions addressing this. This article will explore the budgetary allocation to footpaths and the possible solutions to improving footpath infrastructure. Bad footpaths invariably have a larger impact on certain vulnerable groups, like senior citizens, children and persons with disabilities. Infact, footpaths are never designed for pedestrians such as pregnant women, or women taking their newborn babies out on a pram, toddlers or senior citizens, eliminating the most vulnerable from using and accessing public spaces. Most footpaths in…

Crowding and congestion on Bengaluru roads push pedestrians to the narrow, potholed and often non-existent footpaths. Footpaths are one of the most critical prerequisites for a more liveable Bengaluru, but they continue to be a neglected priority. A large number of citizens who die in road accidents are pedestrians. With an increasing number of pedestrian deaths, it becomes imperative to address the lack of walkable footpaths and the necessity to maintain them. Vehicles on footpaths Of all the issues plaguing footpaths in Bengaluru, the most prominent is the indiscriminate parking of vehicles. Parking of two-wheelers on footpaths has been a…

In a bid to increase the green cover in Chennai, the Greater Chennai Corporation started setting up Miyawaki forests in different parts of the city in 2020. It has been three years since these green spaces cropped up. As per the last Annual Forest Report in 2021, Chennai has 7.24% of forest cover out of its total geographical area. The report also notes that the forest cover has increased by 26% from 2011 to 2021 in Chennai. What is a Miyawaki forest? It is a Japanese method of creating a forest by planting native trees close to each other to…

A recent post by the Greater Chennai Corporation on Instagram read: "Avoid stepping out between 12 pm and 3 pm" to escape the harsh effects of the heat wave. However, Raasathi*, a GCC conservancy worker, says that she begins at 5.30 am and ends work at 2 pm. There has been no intervention to change their work timings from the civic body. She is forced to go to work during these hours, failing which she will not get that day's wages. Many of the civic body's own projects have workers working during these hours, under the menacing stare of the…

For more than eight years, food waste has been the main contributor towards the 6300+ metric tonnes of trash that Mumbai generates every single day. The food waste, that includes fruits, vegetables, plant waste, dairy products, grains, egg shells, meat, newspapers, is called wet waste, which is bio-degradable, that is, it’s capable of getting decomposed naturally. Food waste comprises of more than 70% of the total waste each year, says the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s latest Environment Status Report (ESR). Decentralising of waste - managing the waste at its source instead of taking it to landfills - is the ’need…

On May 25, the Maharashtra government cleared the decks for the first-ever departure from Mumbai’s free rehousing scheme for residents of informal settlements since its inception nearly 28 years ago.  With elections due to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), and also to the state Assembly and Parliament next year, the state government announced that slum structures built between 2000 and 2011 would now also be eligible for rehousing under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects—only, this category of slum structure owners would not get free houses, but would pay Rs 2.5 lakh each. Until now, structures built after 2000 were…

Translated by Aruna Natarajan "வெப்பமான நாட்களில் MTC பேருந்துக்காக காத்திருக்கவேண்டிய அவகாசம் என்னை ஆட்டோவைப் பயன்படுத்தத் தூண்டுகிறது" என்கிறார் எம் பிரியங்கா. “கே.கே.நகரில் இருந்து மயிலாப்பூரில் உள்ள எனது அலுவலகத்திற்கு செல்ல 12ஜி பேருந்தில் செல்கிறேன். நான் பஸ் ஏறும் இடத்தில் கே.கே.நகர் முனுசாமி சாலையில் பஸ் நிழற்குடை இல்லை. நிறுத்தத்தைச் சுற்றியுள்ள மரங்கள் வெட்டப்பட்டன. அவை மீண்டும் நடப்படவில்லை. பேருந்துகளுக்கான காத்திருப்பு வெயிலால் மிகவும் கடினமாக உள்ளதால் நான் ஆட்டோக்களை பயன்படுத்துகிறேன்." மாநில அரசு பெண்களுக்கு பேருந்து போக்குவரத்து இலவசமாக்கப்பட்டதனால் MTC பேருந்தில் பயணிக்க பிரியங்கா பணம் ஏதும் கொடுக்கத் தேவையில்லை. இருப்பினும், அவள் இப்போது போக்குவரத்துக்கு ஒரு நாளைக்கு 500 ரூபாய் செலவு செய்யும் நிலை உள்ளது. "எனது வருமானத்தில் மூன்றில் ஒரு பங்கு பயணத்திற்காக செலவிடப்படுகிறது," என்று அவர் கூறுகிறார். சென்னையின் பொதுப் போக்குவரத்து மற்றும் அது தொடர்பான உள்கட்டமைப்பு ஆகியவை வெப்பநிலை கடுமையாக இருக்கும்போது அல்லது மழை அதிகமாக பயணிகள் பயன்படுத்த…

Earlier this month, when 48-year-old Pralhad Kale parked his rickshaw near his residence in Ambujwadi, he noticed an unattended shovel kept on the road next to a hole that was being dug. When he picked it up and kept it aside, a police constable came swaggering, assuming that Kale was the man digging the hole as he looked like a member of the Pardhi community and snapped at him saying, “Just by looking at your face I can tell the number of criminal cases registered against you.”  Pralhad felt infuriated but controlled his anger and informed the cop that he…