GENRE: In Focus

In many parts of Bengaluru, cows foraging through heaps of garbage is a common sight. One such long-standing blackspot is in Jayachamarajendra Nagar (JC Nagar) near Benson Town. Neela, who runs a grocery shop right opposite the dump, says it has been there since she moved in three years ago; others claim it has existed for over a decade, while some residents say they’ve seen it all their lives. The locality, a low to middle-income settlement with narrow lanes, does not receive door-to-door garbage collection. Instead, a tipper truck waits at a fixed spot where residents must bring their waste…

Sponge parks are quickly becoming a prominent element of Chennai’s flood mitigation efforts. Spearheaded by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), the project now boasts 78 sponge parks in the city, under the Sponge City initiative. While these structures are designed to manage surface runoff and prevent urban flooding, a closer examination reveals significant deviations from the holistic, nature-based designs that typically define a sponge park. Unlike the sponge park in Porur (Dr MS Swaminathan Wetland Eco Park), that integrates nature-based design and ecosystem restoration, most GCC-implemented sponge parks function more like glorified rainwater harvesting systems. The critical question remains: Are…

“The impact of childhood trauma still haunts me. I was a very extroverted child, but as I began to feel different, I became introverted. This took a serious toll on my self-esteem,” says Shivv Pandey, a trans man and Bengaluru-based activist. Like Shivv, many transgender individuals carry unresolved trauma into adulthood, with limited access to even basic mental health support. As they struggle to survive in a hostile society, their mental health remains neglected, overlooked in policies, support systems, and even within their personal lives. In an earlier article, we highlighted the lack of psychological support for transgender youth in…

“When I reached out to my college counsellor, I was told I was just experiencing hormonal changes and was influenced by my surroundings and the media. It was a deeply traumatic session. I had asked for support, but all I received was dismissal and ignorance,” says Adi Goswami, a trans man and People Consultant at Bengaluru-based firm Zinnov. Adi regrets asking the counsellor for help before transitioning, while pursuing his undergraduate studies in a reputed, previously all-girls college in the city. Like Adi, many transgender students experience isolation, and the lack of mental health support in their institutions may also…

They form the backbone of the country's seafood export industry, worth over ₹60,000 crore. However, Chennai’s coastal communities, especially fisherwomen, remain mostly invisible in policy and pay. Enduring punishing 15-hour days under sweltering heat, they clean, dry, and sell fish for just ₹200 to ₹300 a day. They work on blistering concrete without shade, toilets, or access to safe drinking water. Prolonged exposure to these conditions puts them at risk of sunburn, dehydration, dizziness, eye damage, and kidney issues. These health problems remain largely unaddressed. At sea, rising water temperatures and pollution continue to push fish further offshore. This forces…

Several Marathi poets have captured the beauty of the month of Shravan: the gentle, short spells of silken raindrops, playing hide-and-seek with the sun, and etching rainbows in the sky. After one and a half to two months of dark skies and consistent rainfall in Mumbai, Shravan, when it starts around August, is seen as a time for Mumbaikars to enjoy the rains, as the monsoon wanes in intensity towards the end of the season. At least, that used to be the case.Over the past couple of years, however, rains have started to visit Mumbai at the beginning of June. Then it…

Just a few metres away from the congested traffic bottleneck on Mount Poonamallee Road, near Sri Ramachandra University in Porur, lies Chennai’s first wetland sponge park, named Dr MS Swaminathan Wetland Eco Park. Unlike most parks in Chennai, this one stands out for striking a balance between ecological restoration and community use. Dr MS Swaminathan Wetland Eco Park, Chennai's first sponge park. Pic: Shobana Radhakrishnan What was once a marshy plot of land became a dumping ground and parking lot over the years. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), along with the Sponge Collaborative, has converted this 16.63-acre site, part…

Despite the promise of inclusive healthcare under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, transgender and gender-diverse individuals in India continue to face systemic barriers due to flawed implementation and policy gaps. In an earlier article, we highlighted the struggle of the transgender community to access gender affirmation procedures. Here, we explore the disconnect between international guidelines, legal mandate, and the reality on the ground, and how gender-affirming healthcare can be made safer and inclusive. SOP that is not based on international guidelines The policy framework and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the Ayushman Bharat scheme for transgender persons are not backed by…

Arvinda dreams of becoming a psychologist. But the 21-year-old transwoman from Hyderabad had to discontinue her education in 2023, after finishing her polytechnic diploma, so she could work and raise money for her sex reassignment surgery.   That's the price she had to pay for living as her true self. Arvinda now earns ₹25,000 a month after taking a job at a BPO, of which around ₹12,000 goes towards repaying the loan she took to cover her medical expenses and afford other gender-affirming healthcare, including regular hormone treatments.   “I had to take a loan just to be who I am,”…

Bengaluru's flooding story often circles around its age-old stormwater drainage system conflicting with rapid urbanisation. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been actively utilising data from flood alert systems, but only for rescue and evacuation, and not for mapping flood patterns or preventing floods. Also, though the data is publicly accessible, little is being done to create public awareness about it.  “I was stuck in a traffic jam three kilometres away from my office in Manyata Tech Park when I got an office alert about inundation there. If only flooding information was timely and accessible, it would save so…