GENRE: In Focus

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) began the demolition of illegal structures inside the 800-year-old Mahim fort on October 13th to begin restoration work. However, not all of the 267 families are happy about the decision of the civic body to rehabilitate them to Malad or Kurla. Many believe leaving the G/North ward, under which Mahim fort falls, would deprive them of their livelihoods and make access to schools difficult for their children. 38-year-old Samir Sheikh, who has been living in the area all his life, points at a demolished house inside the Mahim fort and says his family lived there…

The Right to Information Act of 2005 allows individuals to seek information from elected governing bodies. However, another facet under Section 4(1)(b) of the Act signifies the disclosure of particulars of organisations, including their functions and duties. This includes details concerning the duties and functions, roles and responsibilities of its officers and employees and the decision-making process of the organisation. Section 2 of the RTI Act defines public authorities as “any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted by or under the Constitution, any other law made by Parliament, any other law made by the State Legislature and…

This is the second and final part of the series on the impact of the total ban on use of diesel gen sets by residential, commercial and industrial establishments in Delhi and NCR. In an earlier article, we discussed the revised rules under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) that has been formulated to tackle Delhi and NCR's infamous winter pollution issue. The ban on diesel gensets is one component, though everybody has to do their bit. In the very first stage, the 24 actions to be taken will begin with the strict vigilance and enforcement of Pollution Under Check…

If someone from the city were playing Pictionary, and they had to guess from a drawing of floods or inundation, they would probably guess "Chennai" and be right. Flooding and Chennai have become synonymous with each other. No wonder the civic body is hurrying up with storm water drain (SWD) work in Chennai. Will SWDs be the panacea for urban floods? "No city in the world can rule out inundation [due to rains]. However, it will be much lesser than before in Chennai," says Gagandeep Singh Bedi, the Commissioner of the Greater Chennai Corporation, when questioned if the current monsoon…

Translated by Sandhya Raju “எனக்கு ஒரு வீடு வேண்டும்,” என்கிறார் ஒன்பதாம் வகுப்பு படிக்கும் தனஸ்ரீ. “கதவு வைத்த கழிப்பறை, கால் நீட்டி தூங்கக்கூடிய அளவிலான ஒரு அறை மற்றும் ஒரு சமையலறை,” என மேலும் அவரது விருப்பத்தை கூறுகிறார். இது அவர் கனவு மட்டும் இல்லை, கண்ணப்பர் திடலில் உள்ள நூற்றுக்கணக்கான குடும்பங்களின் விருப்பமும் ஆகும். இவர்கள் இருபது ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன் ரிப்பன் மாளிகை அருகில் உள்ள தெருக்களிலிருந்து வெளியேற்றப்பட்டவர்கள். ஆக்கிரமிப்பு, நீதிமன்ற ஆணை, வளர்ச்சி திட்டங்கள் என பல்வேறு காரணங்களை சுட்டிக்காட்டி, சென்னையில் ஆக்கிரமிப்பு அகற்றல் அமல்படுத்தப்படுகிறது. பல வருடங்களாக வசித்த இருப்பிடங்களை விட்டு சென்னையின் புறநகர் பகுதிகளில் இவர்கள் வசிக்கின்றனர். இந்த வெளியேற்றம் இவர்கள் வாழ்க்கையில் பல இன்னல்களை உருவாக்குகிறது, ஆனால் இதைப் பற்றி அதிகாரிகள் அதிகம் அக்கறை கொள்வதில்லை. Read more: Life beyond the murals in Chennai’s Kannagi Nagar நிறைவேற்றப்படாத…

There is an emerging policy consensus around promoting cities as engines of economic growth (XV Finance Commission, 2020, pg. 169). NITI Aayog, in its May 2022 report, proposed developing comprehensive economic plans for Indian cities. The 74th amendment also allows Urban Local Bodies to integrate and implement economic development schemes through the master plan. Cities across the world use economic data to understand and identify target areas for investment in transportation or economic infrastructure (for example, Sao Paulo) or setting up targeted investment funds (such as London’s Regeneration Fund and Growing Places Fund) or improving poor neighbourhoods’ access to better…

This is the first of a two-part series on the impact of the total ban under the new GRAP rules on use of diesel gensets by residential, commercial and industrial establishments in Delhi and NCR. Shiv Dayal, an electrician in charge of a few high rise buildings in the Ghaziabad area of East Delhi is these days focussed for most of the day on a website on his phone. But then, that is part of his job now — he is keeping track of the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital city, Delhi. The minute the AQI goes…

For the last ten years, Sunita Sutar has been looking after the well-being of slum dwellers near Bandra (West) railway station. From September 26th to October 12th, Sutar and nearly 4,000 Community Health Workers (CHW) like her were on the ground conducting door-to-door tuberculosis and leprosy survey for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) health department. The survey is part of India’s plan to eliminate TB and leprosy by 2025 and 2030 respectively. It covered over 49 lakh people in 9 lakh houses across 24 wards under BMC. "When this area was initially assigned to me, it was difficult to navigate.…

Chennai’s swirling mass of two-wheelers and cars could technically make the Greater Chennai Corporation a wealthy civic body through parking fees, but the current realisation of revenues is only of the order of Rs.1.2 lakh a day, going up from a low Rs.80,000 after parking lots were “improved.” The GCC plans to double the number of street parking sites to 88 locations and provide 12,000 spaces.As of April 2021, there were 9.99 lakh cars and 49 lakh two-wheelers registered in the State capital as per official data. For Tamil Nadu as a whole, the vehicle population grew sharply since 2001,…

Are you a Chennaite who has been to Marina beach since your childhood? Does the sight of the sea hold many happy memories for you? But how many of us know that Marina beach also has a fraught past, which counts as part of its history a police gun firing against fisherfolk who protested against beach beautification? For many youngsters of this generation, the Jallikattu protests were the first time they saw a very different image of the beach - one as a site of protest. But that's not the only point of contention that has seen protests. Over the…