GENRE: Solutions

On September 22nd, the playground on the Raosaheb Patwardhan Park resembled a happy space where people gathered to enjoy and chat, children played football, a few played badminton or even hula hoops. A group jived over Zumba dance moves, while others danced to the live percussion music. The crowd had gathered to celebrate the playground being saved from the clutches of cemented development. A cake was cut to celebrate the occasion. Elected representatives from all the major political parties, Varsha Gaikwad, Mumbai head of the Congress, Priyanka Chaturvedi from the Shiv Sena and even Ashish Shelar, the local Bharatiya Janata…

Much of the waste we produce need not go straight to the landfill. With proper management, plastic crisp packets are recycled and repurposed, while banana peels and eggshells become soil. Hygiene waste items, such as used menstrual products, however, are destined for the dump or incinerator. This represents a significant environmental challenge. That's where concerted community efforts can make a big difference. A group in Kannamangala transformed their waste management practices through the support of Stone Soup, an organisation based in Bengaluru. Founded by Malini Parmar, Stone Soup is dedicated to sustainable waste management and menstrual hygiene initiatives, and it…

Bengaluru has numerous parks and lakes, where we all love to walk and run. However, the city lacks proper walking, cycling, and running infrastructure. Daily walking for errands is nearly impossible due to broken sidewalks, exposed wires, and construction debris everywhere. Attempting to use a bicycle or run on the roads puts one at risk from heavy vehicles, cars, and other traffic.  Sheela Sahi, a commuter, on her way to work on her cycle. Pic: Sheela Sahi Climate change and oft-repeated solutions While the weather has traditionally been good, in recent years, due to climate change, it has been worsening.…

Armed with their mobile phones, notebooks and pens, a group of enthusiastic women walk along the lanes of a housing board colony early in the morning. They go door-to-door asking residents pertinent questions about safety, quality of basic amenities and housing infrastructure among other things. While they are generally received warmly, they occasionally encounter hostility, particularly from men. These women, who are community workers, conduct safety audits facilitated by the Information and Resource Centre for Deprived and Urban Communities (IRCDUC), a voluntary organisation focussed on housing for the poor. As residents of the resettlement site where the audit is taking…

Few things are more active than a WhatsApp group used by suburban residents in Chennai to lodge complaints. The group serves as a platform for residents to voice their problems, leading to debates and polls. Loud calls for action often rally the entire online community to react with a series of ‘thumbs-up’ emojis. However, it is rare for these proposed solutions to extend beyond the online realm, and even rarer for residents to take tangible steps towards implementing them. But, here is a group that went beyond registering complaints and solved a long-term traffic issue with collective activism, in Kumarasamy…

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) implemented the Solid Waste Management Rules in 2016. The following year, it passed directions for bulk waste generators (including apartment complexes and gated communities) in Chennai to process their waste inside their premises. "Seven years down the line, very few bulk waste generators in Chennai are following the norms," points out P Natarajan, Founder of Namma Ooru Foundation in our earlier article. KGEYES Homes in Chennai's Besant Nagar is a 25-year-old residential complex with 36 dwelling units. Similar to many other apartment complexes in the neighbourhood, residents here did not adhere to the waste management…

Source segregation of waste was a relatively new phenomenon in Chennai six years ago. Today, awareness and support of the process have only grown, but not without tireless citizen-led efforts. The Residents of Kasturba Nagar Association (ROKA) started its waste segregation programme in 2019, and improved their system, taking lessons from a neighbourhood initiative in Bengaluru. Now, other neighbourhoods in Chennai seek advice from ROKA on how to set up their own waste segregation systems. ROKA launched the ‘We Segregate’ programme in October 2023. The goal is to provide the systems and technology necessary to segregate waste in Kasturba Nagar…

Every year, Chennai experiences severe flooding, with cars being washed away, homes submerged, and residents navigating waterlogged streets. One of the affected areas is Chitlapakkam, situated amidst three lakes — Chitlapakkam, Seliyur, and Rajakilpakkam — on Chengalpettu's agricultural lands. Due to its proximity to these water bodies, Chitlapakkam suffers extensive flooding during Chennai's intense monsoon. We at Chitlapakkam Rising, along with the Water Resources Department (WRD) and Tambaram Corporation have worked on flood mitigation measures such as the construction of  ‘macro cut-and-cover drains’ around the lake, to drain out surplus water during floods. We even initiated the construction of a…

Most of us in Mumbai, eat mangoes daily during summer. In my society at Goregaon East, some of the residents and I decided to collect mango seeds from our neighbours. We gave them to Mission Green Mumbai, an NGO Mumbai, which takes care of planting the seeds for a greener society.  When I first saw the video on saving mango seeds posted by the NGO, almost a year ago, I thought it was a wonderful idea. It has been a year since we started working on this, and so far we have managed to collect around 2500 seeds.  How did we…

A survey conducted in 2021 by Project Mumbai, a non-governmental organisation, and Ministry of Mumbai’s Magic collective in conjunction with MCGM found that there is only 1.24 sqm of open space per person in Mumbai. But, the draft Development Plan 2034, which aims to shape the growth of Mumbai over 20 years, earmarks 2 sqm per person. Public space is a precious resource in the urban realm. According to research conducted by UN-Habitat, well-managed cities have 50% of their area allotted for open spaces — a pipe dream for Mumbai. An environment that fosters recreation, rest and community bonding is hardly…