GENRE: In Focus

This article is part of our special series Environmental Sustainability & Climate Change in Tier II cities supported by Climate Trends. Chandigarh: The Beautiful City, located in the foothills of Shivalik range, was originally a cluster of 58 villages. When the site was chosen to build a modern capital for the then state of Punjab in 1948, it resulted in relocation of 21,000 people, mainly farmers cultivating crops such as wheat, corn, and maize. The city lies in the Indo-Gangetic plains, between two seasonal hill torrents – the Sukhna and Patiali rivers. Presumably, back then it was a much cooler…

Five or more people cooped up for 24 hours in a room 10x10 sq ft. The children barely catch a sliver of the sky above their heads. The women deprived of any kind of interaction with their neighbours and friends, which had been the only respite from their usual grueling, monotonous domestic schedules. The men, caught in the confines of four walls 24x7, more dour and impatient than usual. As the spread of COVID-19 and the effort to curb it resulted in India enforcing one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, this was the reality for thousands of families…

After a gap of over five months, Chennai Metro trains is back on track. The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has decided to resume rail services in different phases. In the first phase, the Blue Line, between Airport Metro Station and Washermenpet Metro Station, resumed on September 7th. In the second phase, the Green line, plying between St Thomas Mount and Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M G Ramachandran Central Metro), will be operational from September 9th. Train services will run at 5-minute frequency during peak hours and 10-minute frequency during non-peak hours. The CMRL has introduced several measures for ensuring the…

Until about four months back, if one were to walk through the small by-lanes of the Savda Ghevra resettlement colony in North-west Delhi, it was common to find women sitting at their doorsteps alone or in groups, assembling toys from sacks of colourful plastic pieces. Others would be deftly cutting out sandal straps from long rubber sheets and bunching them up in sets of a dozen pairs each, while again others would be doing intricate bead work in a manner that seemed almost effortless. With the onset of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdown measures announced to curb spread, they can no…

All it takes for Bharani (name changed), a social work student at Madras Christian College (MCC) to take part in her department's webinar is a mobile phone with a good internet connection.  Happy to save three hours of commuting time from her home in Avadi to her college in Nungambakkam, M Varsha, a Journalism student from MOP Vaishnav  College attends classes online. A BSc Maths student at Loyola College, Anto Nelson doesn't miss the class; he listens to the live online class and notes down the sum as instructed by the professor.  These instances clearly portray the evolution of college…

At least one pedestrian life in Hyderabad was lost every other day in 2019.   In total, 602 pedestrians lost their lives on the roads of Hyderabad between 2017 and 2019. More than half of them (52.4%) were hit by vehicles while crossing the road. A few others were victims of road crashes as they went about their morning walk, or while waiting for a bus or other modes of transport by the side of the road. And at least 14 children, all under 10 years of age, got hit by vehicles while playing by the roadside during this period.  The…

On August 24, five months after Cubbon Park was made traffic-free, the Horticulture Department said that traffic would be allowed here again. This was despite BBMP passing the traffic-free Cubbon Park proposal on June 30 and the impassioned appeals of citizen groups like Heritage Beku. For years, activists have been striving for a pedestrian-friendly Bengaluru but evidence suggests there is a long way to go. With its ill-equipped infrastructure for pedestrians, Bengaluru has the third-highest number of pedestrian fatalities among the top eight Indian metros. Pedestrian injuries and fatalities also account for the majority of road accidents in the city.…

“Getting a customer who can afford to pay at least Rs 50 for a night is a big deal now. A week ago, I had a customer who offered only Rs 30, but I could not deny him. Every single penny counts today,” 32-year-old Christina, a transgender and sex worker in Chennai, tells me. The threat of coronavirus has acutely affected the livelihood of transgender persons in Chennai. The city is home to around 4,000 trans people, most of whom have been rendered jobless and penniless ever since the nation went into lockdown. The only financial aid that the community…

This article is part of our special series Environmental Sustainability & Climate Change in Tier II cities supported by Climate Trends. In May 2018, 51-year old Shail Bala Sharma, an Assistant Town Planner (ATP) was shot dead at Kasauli –a popular hill station and cantonment in Solan district, known for its quaint colonial buildings and landmarks. She was out to enforce a Supreme Court order to demolish half a dozen illegal constructions in the town, mainly hotels, lodges and guest houses. Hotelier Vijay Singh, whose hotel was slated for demolition, allegedly opened fire on her and the accompanying town and country…

Having set a four-year time-frame to achieve the target of 25 per cent electrification of new vehicle fleet in Delhi, the Arvind Kejriwal government may have just bitten off more than it can chew. Despite the slew of incentives offered -- waiver of registration fee and road tax and subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh for new electric cars and up to Rs 30,000 for electric two-wheelers, e-rickshaws and freight vehicles, widespread public acceptance of electric vehicles is uncertain. Though the e-vehicle policy announcement on August 7th, based on wide-ranging consultations with experts from across the country and study of EV policies…