GENRE: Report

"Whenever anyone mentions the word 'cancer,' it makes me feel uneasy. My children don't even say the word in front of me," said 73-year-old Chhabubai Kshirsagar from Govandi, Mumbai, wiping away her tears. Draped in a cotton nine-yard saree with a pallu over her head, Chhabubai once had long, waist-length hair. However, after undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, her hair started falling out and eventually, all of it was gone. This loss has left a deep emotional impact on her. "I’ve carefully preserved my lost hair," Chhabubai said softly, gently running her hand over the short new hair that has…

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22,January 2025, New Delhi: Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC), along with City Sabha, Raahgiri Foundation, and Safetipin, announced the launch of the Delhi Sustainable Mobility Charter, or the Dilli Charter, under the Sustainable Mobility Network — a citizen-driven initiative to reimagine Delhi’s transport system and demand actionable solutions for improving urban mobility, combating air pollution, and fostering inclusivity. Delhi is home to over 33.8 million people—a bustling, historically rich and complex city. Lately, however, this home has increasingly become uninhabitable for many. From suffocating air pollution to rising heatwaves, crumbling transport systems, and unsafe public spaces, the very essence…

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For low-income communities in Bengaluru, buses are a lifeline. The recent hike of 15% in BMTC bus fares has made commuting more expensive, especially for those traveling long distances. Babu V, a clothes vendor, travels everyday by bus from Kengeri to Vijayanagar. “It takes me an hour to commute,” he says. His ticket fare has increased from Rs 25 to Rs 28. “I don’t think this is a good move. I have to pay extra every month from my earnings.” Fayaz Ali, a market vendor, who has seen his daily fare rise from Rs 20 to Rs 23, points out…

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Hazy mornings with the air thickened by vehicular smoke during peak-hour traffic are synonymous with Bengaluru winters. The city may have lower PM2.5 levels overall when compared to other mega cities, but high-density traffic corridors and emissions in industrial hubs are causing localised pollution spikes. A November 2024 study by Respirer Living Sciences, analysing PM2.5 pollution levels across ten Indian cities, revealed this data. The study examined AQI information from 13 Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (CAAQM) sites in Bengaluru that recorded an average of 39 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) of PM2.5 air pollutants in November 2024. This is…

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For Emil Vinayaraj, a resident of Jayamahal, regular commute has changed. “I have to take a different route now, avoiding Pottery Road where Namma Metro construction is happening. The situation in the area is far from livable right now for residents, as the dust and pollution is just too much,” he says. Emil’s house is close to three new metro stations along the Pink Line — Shivaji Nagar, Cantonment Station and Pottery Town — and residents of this entire area have been facing the brunt of the ongoing work. Similarly, Sri Shanthini, who lives near the Electronic City metro construction…

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Visitors to Mumbai are often surprised by the city's lax attitude towards household waste segregation. Despite being aware of the importance of segregating garbage at its source, many residents fail to practise it because of various reasons. Meanwhile, Mumbai's dumping grounds are overflowing, and the situation worsens every year. Proposed solutions like waste remediation and waste-to-energy plants come with their challenges.creative Achieving real, on-ground change depends significantly on behavioural shifts. Moreover, experts have repeatedly pointed out that source segregation and decentralised processing are crucial to addressing waste issues. Can targeted interventions help? One major issue of legacy waste in the…

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In August this year, the Karnataka cabinet approved the construction of a 250-metre high sky deck at Rs 500 crore. The state government claims that this would be the tallest structure in South Asia. The proposed sky deck will give tourism a boost as it will offer a 360-degree view of Bengaluru. The sky deck, as per the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), will offer “breathtaking views of Bengaluru city”. However, in this city struggling with traffic and myriad infrastructural issues, this seems to have aroused excitement among very few. In general, the question on most minds seems to be,…

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Whenever rainstorms hit and the Adyar River swells, the residents living beneath the Saidapet Bridge hold their breath, silently praying for reprieve. The haunting memories of the catastrophic 2015 floods, when the river overflowed and submerged the bridge, still linger. Many homes were inundated and belongings were swept away, leaving a lasting impact on the community. This happened again during the December 2023 floods. That's why, residents here live in constant fear. On Saturday, as Cyclone Fengal brought severe thunderstorms and gusty winds over Chennai, they just clung to hope that the flood waters would not reach their homes. Read…

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Waste collectors and processors report a massive surge in packaging waste, especially plastic packaging, from e-commerce transactions since 2017. In our last article on the topic, a waste worker from Bengaluru put this at 10-15% of all the dry waste they receive. Under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations, brand owners are supposed to be responsible for the life cycle of all the plastic they introduce into the market. Let us say an e-commerce company delivers a packet of potato chips to a consumer, after wrapping it in a compostable plastic bag. Then the chips brand would be responsible for its…

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The extreme levels of air pollution reported in Delhi over the last week are shocking, but have not really taken anyone by surprise. It has become a yearly ritual in India’s capital. November has seen the average air quality index (AQI) hovering around 500 in the recent weeks, at ‘severe plus’ category, prompting the government to invoke several emergency measures.  While most people consider stubble burning a major cause of air pollution, a CSE analysis has revealed that vehicular pollution is the top contributor among combustion sources to Delhi's deteriorating air quality.  “Explosive motorization, choking congestion and inadequate public transport…

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