GENRE: Solutions

Migrant workers from Bihar wait at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, only to be turned back by the BBMP after three days, in early May. Pic Credit: Senthil S Although construction activity in Bengaluru got a go-ahead, Ramachandra returned to his family in Bihar during that brief window when the government ran trains for migrant workers. He had started work at a construction site six months ago. His new home was in a labour camp in Ulsoor, with 400 other workers. Though he had worked through March, he was not paid. The contractor said the builder had not paid him.…

https://soundcloud.com/citizenmatters/trailer-lessons-from-bengaluru-cm 'Lessons from Bengaluru' is a special, limited-series podcast from Citizen Matters, exploring four different issues that Bengaluru faces and what citizens have been doing about those. The city, in the last few decades, has seen a new phenomenon in urban governance. Its rapid development has rendered existing modes of governance ineffective, and numerous citizen groups have emerged, aiming to bridge this gap. Bengaluru is a unique city where such citizen groups are more active and have engaged with matters ranging from misallocation of funds to environmental causes. This, in turn, has engaged a larger number of people in policy…

Construction of a recharge well in progress. Pic: Biome In 2018, Raghuram C G, a software program manager at Adobe, got a recharge well dug in his plot in Vidyaranyapura. “Rainwater falling in the plot gets channelised into the recharge well. The 15-ft well is now filled up to 10-11 ft, and has around 2000 litres of water. I’ve been building a house in the plot, and water from the well is used for all construction needs.” Raghuram built the well after being inspired by ‘A Million Wells for Bengaluru’ movement. The design firm Biome Environmental Solutions, along with the…

Locked Down and Hungry In the days following the lockdown, Gauramma’s kitchen in their small house in Whitefield’s Garudacharpalya, ran out of food. As irony would have it, she used to cook in other people’s homes before the lockdown. Hunger was imminent for her and her three children aged between 10 and 13 years.  Gauramma’s family arrived in Bengaluru two years ago. They knew nobody in the big city. And, when the lockdown was imposed, her husband, a taxi driver, was away in his home town Chitradurga.  “I hadn’t got my salary over the past month, and I didn’t have…

Today, as the entire world is fighting the war against COVID-19, one debate has constantly risen. How will the developing world shape up over this period? One thing has clearly emerged as our cities and systems fight this pandemic: we need better sanitation services – both solid and liquid waste management as much as we need effective health care systems. By 2050, two thirds of us will live in cities. However, our urban centres are grappling with the effects of our current take-make-waste economy. Under this linear system, cities consume over 75 per cent of natural resources, produce over 50…

Used masks, gloves and tissues are hazardous sanitary waste, but most Bengalureans are not segregating these. Pic Credit: Radio Active 90.4MHz The movie Contagion’s grim visuals of uncollected garbage lining deserted streets haunts me, as I consume media reports about increasing COVID-19 cases. The lesson from 1918 flu pandemic was a mirror image of the movie Contagion as the flu did not differentiate between class. Waste Management and people who work in and with waste are extremely vulnerable, so how do we draw up a framework to fortify systems, sensitise citizens and protect frontline workers?  Challenges are varied depending on…

Dhananjay, a grape farmer from Chikkaballapur, had 50 tonnes of grapes when the Indian government announced the unprecedented nationwide lockdown on March 24, to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Another farmer Nagesh, had harvested bananas in February. When the lockdown started, he was stuck with 5 tonnes of raw bananas that were beginning to ripen. The mandi where he would sell it in normal circumstances was closed. Dhananjay and Nagesh are among the lucky ones, as this story will reveal. A majority of farmers around Bengaluru and even those who are further away and depend on this city’s markets –…

India’s COVID-19 lockdown, one of the strictest in human history, was recently extended by the Prime Minister of India until the 3rd of May. Many stranded migrants waiting for public transport to take them back home or for production activities and markets to resume functioning were disappointed one more time, after the PM’s announcement on April 14th.  Along with poor migrants, other economically weaker sections in the city have been struggling for survival in the slums of cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Surat and Bangalore. This extension would seem like a terrible fait accompli and a final nail in the coffin…

India’s COVID-19 lockdown, one of the strictest in human history, was recently extended by the Prime Minister of India until the 3rd of May. Many stranded migrants waiting for public transport to take them back home or for production activities and markets to resume functioning were disappointed one more time, after the PM’s announcement on April 14th.  Along with poor migrants, other economically weaker sections in the city have been struggling for survival in the slums of cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Surat and Bangalore. This extension would seem like a terrible fait accompli and a final nail in the coffin…

Senior citizens everywhere are a particularly vulnerable section of society in these times of COVID-19 lockdown. Not only has this made it difficult for them to manage their day-to-day needs, their age and related health conditions make them more vulnerable to contracting the virus. A number of initiatives have sprung up in Bengaluru to specifically help senior citizens get medicines, groceries, mental health counselling, and help with hospital visits. We give below a list of such ongoing initiatives that senior citizens and those who know of seniors in need, can reach out to. 1. Relief Riders: “We carry supplies, not…