GENRE: Report

It is a site that has inspired poets like Kuvempu and scores of other artists, a beautiful green cover in the heart of Mysuru city that provides recreation and relaxation for the hundreds of city residents who come here every day for their daily walk, run or merely to enjoy the peace and beauty. Such is Kukkurahalli Lake, a calm, naturally scenic place rich in biodiversity, home to more than 150 species of birds, 85 species of butterflies, 20 species of reptiles, 14 species of mammals, 37 species of spiders and many more documented in the lake, leading it to…

Mumbai, a city that grew along the railway tracks is now a city that has surrendered to the lure of cars. With this habit came the need for more roads and flyovers to make space for the city’s cars and parking space for them. One of the many consequences of this trend has been the surrender of open spaces, footpaths and places where children used to play. But adults in the city haven’t managed to destroy childhood. Not yet. It’s unsafe, but children will play in available space and we can ignore them at our own peril. These photos tell…

If you just happen to drive along the wide, tree-lined Southern Avenue -- aptly named for its location in the southern part of the city of Kolkata and the giant trees that form a canopy along much of its stretch -- you may not be able to fully fathom the beauty of the 192-acre lung space of the city that you have just passed by. But if you have a moment to spare and enter the sprawling precincts of the Rabindra Sarobar Lake to the south of the main thoroughfare, you will undoubtedly be drawn forever to this verdant sanctuary…

It’s not every day that you hear of a municipal waste dumping ground that is a tourist attraction. But in Vengurla taluka, a half-hour drive from India’s tourist hub of Goa, it isn’t just the pristine beaches that are drawing people. In 2017 so far, the municipal waste dumping ground, where every piece of waste is recycled, has received 7,000 visitors. They’re travelling to see how the small municipality is recycling 7 tonnes of waste generated each day and transforming their community. It is earning a hefty income, which is being ploughed back into municipal activities. In 2015, under the watchful eye…

In 2015-16 the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had conducted a survey, in which Alappuzha in Kerala came out on top as the cleanest city in the country. Panjim in Goa came second. However, in the recently concluded Swachh Survekshan 2017, the government survey to rank cities on the basis of cleanliness and sanitation, Alappuzha was ranked 380 - among the bottom 100, and the worst among cities in Kerala. Panjim, which has achieved complete segregation and has successfully done without a landfill, was ranked 90. The Alappuzha system Alappuzha, which had a centralised system of waste collection and…

An impromptu weekend plan landed me in Wonderla Amusement Park in Hyderabad. My fear of heights made me go only on those rides that seemed slower and lower. These happened to be the water rides, as they were my safest bet. Even if all the safety belts and harnesses of the ride failed, I would just end up falling in the water, with all my bones and skull intact. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself. At that point, I never questioned how this park was procuring water for all its rides. Nor did I consider the possibility of water being extracted and…

Over the last six months, cab drivers from New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru have held protests against the policies of cab aggregators Uber and Ola. Uber’s India President Amit Jain had denounced the cab drivers protest.“It is the work of a small number of individuals who do not represent the majority of driver community,” he had said according to a news report. “There is this mix between organic and incentives. Incentives might have come down, but what a driver partner takes home is organic money plus incentives." In his blog post, Amit Jain explained, “individual driver earnings vary widely…

A recent workshop on air pollution, which saw participation from IIT Delhi and Kanpur, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, World Health Organisation, as well as the Delhi Pollution Control Board and the Central Pollution Control Board, brought to the fore yet again the fact that there are no policy level interventions to stop farmers from burning crop residue. Experts at the event stated that the state government and the central government need to prepare now for a pollution free winter. However, there seems to be a lackadaisical attitude towards applying existing data into a working and effective policy-level intervention. The implementation…

This city of 11 million, formerly known as Bangalore, is home to India’s software giants and its startups, as well as multinationals such as Samsung, Oracle and Amazon. com. The growing tech sector symbolizes urban India’s upward mobility and economic vigor. But an existential threat hovers over all this new prosperity. Bengaluru is running out of water. A drought that has dropped reservoirs to dangerous levels is only part of the problem. The situation is made worse by rampant and unregulated extraction of groundwater, which is depleting underground aquifers. Anyone who can afford to drill a borewell to tap groundwater has done it, particularly in the…