GENRE: Report

Kakul Sharma was in class 8 in 2020 when the Delhi riots occurred. Although she was safe at home, her school was attacked by a mob. "I thought I would never be able to go back to school. We believed that the world was ending. My sister cried all day when she saw a news channel telecasting the rubble of our school.” For the children of Northeast Delhi, like Kakul, the riot meant a school blackened by smoke, a charred library, broken benches, and a playground that looked like it was hit by a tornado. This was the shape in…

Delhi often stands for India, more specifically, the Government of India. Come May 25, perhaps the fiercest electoral battle to win and form the next government at the Centre will take place in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. But why 'fiercest'? That’s because in the 16th and 17th Lok Sabha elections, the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party won a majority and formed the government, but was swept aside in the National Capital Territory of Delhi assembly elections by a ‘toddler’ Aam Aadmi Party.  It’s also the fiercest because of the constant tussle between the two — since Delhi is…

October 2023 was a shocker for Mumbai. The coastal city has historically recorded lower AQI levels as compared to Delhi, which is notorious for its poor air quality. But the tables turned in October 2023, with AQI in Mumbai reaching dangerously high levels of up to 300, surpassing Delhi for several days. This led to a slew of respiratory ailments, more so among the vulnerable populations. PM2.5 levels have, in fact, seen a consistent increase in Mumbai over the past three years. Dr Jui Mandke, a paediatric surgeon practising in Mumbai, says, “In October 2023, we encountered the maximum number…

With India witnessing one of the most scorching summers, water crisis is looming across many cities in the country. India's main reservoirs have hit their lowest March levels in five years, according to government data, indicating a strain on drinking water and power availability this summer. As per Central Water Commission (CWC) data, the 150 reservoirs monitored by the central government, which supply water for drinking and irrigation and are the country's key source of hydroelectricity, were filled to just 40% of capacity in March 2024.  India's hydro generation in the last 10 months from last April is down by…

Chanda Pravin Katkari, who lives in Panvel on the outskirts of Mumbai, applied for a free LPG connection under the PM Ujjwala Yojana one-and-half years ago, but has yet to get a response. She still uses the traditional chulha, most of the time. Chanda and her sister-in-law share the cost and occasionally use their mother-in-law’s Ujjwala LPG cylinder though. “The cylinder lasts only one-and-half months if the three of us, living in separate households, use it regularly. Since we can’t afford this, we use it sparingly so that it lasts us about three months,” she says. Chanda’s experience outlines the…

A collective of 34 civil society organisations and more than 200 individuals from Tamil Nadu and across the country have written to the Thiruvallur District Collector, Additional Chief Secretary of Environment, Climate Change and Forests, Chief Wildlife Warden, and the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Cell to protect the Pulicat Bird Sanctuary for ecological and social reasons and settle the rights of people without reducing the sanctuary's boundary. The voluntary groups have urged the government to initiate the settlement of claims of local communities residing in the 13 revenue villages within the Pulicat Birds Sanctuary boundary limits. Excerpts from the letter:…

Bengaluru goes to polls on April 26th. As candidates ramp up their campaigning efforts, discussions centre on issues like infrastructure and mobility. Even as political parties have released their manifestos, residents and civic groups from a cross-section of society too have expressed their demands from their MPs. Civic group manifestos include environmental, mobility, employment and healthcare issues. Here is a compilation of a few citizen manifestos from Bengaluru: Bangalore Apartments' Federation (BAF) BAF is a Federation of Apartment Owners’ Associations (AOA) and Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWA) in Bengaluru. Their demands include:  Commitment to lobby for immediate and high priority conduct…

As the first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections concluded on April 19th, Tamil Nadu recorded a voter turnout of 69.46 % with the three constituencies in Chennai — Chennai North, Chennai South and Chennai Central — having an overall voter percentage of 55.94% according to the Chief Electoral Officer in Tamil Nadu. Many people voiced their disappointment at the apparent lack of enthusiasm among voters in the city to exercise their franchise. The numbers are lower compared to the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and 2014, when the voter percentages were 72.47% and 73.74% respectively. Often, after the…

The annual DLN Rao Foundation Seminar, titled Road to Environmental Justice, will be held on April 13, 2024, Saturday, from 3 30 pm to 5 30pm at the NGO Hall, Cubbon Park. Citizen Matters is proud to be the media partner for this event. The seminar will host Supreme Court Justice, Abhay S Oka and Karnataka High Court Justice Sunil Dutt Yadav. Justice Abhay Oka will deliver the Keynote address. He is well known to citizens in Bengaluru from his tenure at the Karnataka HIgh Court. He pronounced landmark judgements and orders to protect the city’s lakes from encroachments, reiterated…

Traffic congestion and mobility are among Bengaluru's topmost concerns today. In the run-up to the elections, as the spotlight turns on how the city's sitting MPs have performed over the last five years, their actions and stance on this issue certainly deserve some scrutiny. How have they engaged with the issue? Did they propose any solutions? The major traffic & mobility issues In 2019, Bengaluru recorded the second highest number of vehicle, with over 80 lakh. Nearly 84% of households have motor vehicles. Lack of first and last mile connectivity, reduced bus ridership, under-completion of metro connectivity across the city,…