GENRE: Solutions

Vishwanath Srikantaiah, popularly known as the 'Rainman', has been in the news recently for his ambitious project to build one million recharge wells in Bengaluru. Given the dire situation we find ourselves in vis-à-vis water, the initiative could not have come at a better time. While Vishwanath has been the face of this project, a tiny community has been helping with the groundwork - the Bovi community who are the traditional well-diggers of Bengaluru. Our guest on Citizens Live this week is Ramakrishna Bovi, who has been working with Vishwanath to recharge Bengaluru's groundwater. So why is this important? While…

Bengaluru has found a love for microbreweries that brew their own beer on small scales, thanks to the influx of well-traveled young tech workers. Known as the pub capital of India, the city now has an estimated 60-plus micro breweries. What you may not know, is the amount of water needed to brew a pint of beer in these craft breweries. On average, it takes seven litres of water to brew a litre of beer. That number becomes many times higher when you factor in the entire water footprint of beer, including water required to grow the grain and water…

It's a pleasant dawn in early June; however, 52-year-old Zareena is fidgety and keeps checking the time. It's just 6.30 am. Before long, a teenage boy opens a gate and hordes of people make their way through it to the massive well at Easwari Nagar of Zamin Pallavaram. In a firm voice, Muthu, the caretaker of the well asks people to follow the queue according to their token number. Zareena’s number is sixteen, which means she has to wait for all the fifteen members to get their share of water. The tokens are distributed on lottery basis every Sunday, and…

With its population growing at the rate of 4.45 percent annually, Bengaluru is now the largest city in India after Delhi and Mumbai. The city shelters about half of Karnataka’s urban population. The administration of such a huge, expanding population calls for a structure with a holistic approach, which the BBMP (Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) lacks. An alternative administration that will overcome the shortcomings of BBMP and address the city's issues, is the need of the hour. An expanding city Bengaluru has been expanding rapidly over the last three decades. In 1991, the then-BMP (Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) expanded to include…

At a time when Chennai must make pressing choices for environmental conservation, some residents have set heartening examples to be emulated. In recognition of their efforts, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) have conferred them with Green Awards. The awards were presented by the Chief Minister to five Resident Welfare Associations in the city for their pioneering efforts in waste management, water and energy conservation and greening. The winners Sabari Terrace Sabari Terrace Apartment Owners Association was one of the five victorious RWAs. The residents here have a successful model of waste segregation, composting and rainwater harvesting. Harsha Koda,…

Cyclone Fani blew in and out of Orissa nearly two weeks back. But relief and rehabilitation of lakhs of affected people in Puri, Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar is yet to pick up pace. Pitching in, mainly in Bhubaneshwar, with the aim of getting local communities involved in the restoration works is Civil Society Responds to Fani (CSRF), an initiative by a group of state-based not-for-profit organisations. While the state and central government’s disaster response teams are busy clearing roads and rebuilding the electricity and other infrastructure networks, CSRF volunteers are trying to mobilise residents to participate in the work being done…

Cyclone Fani has had a sizzling impact on Chennai. Temperatures are hovering around 40 degrees Celsius in the city, a departure of four degrees from the normal. On May 3rd, Chennai Airport recorded the hottest day of the year touching 42.5°C. There seems to be no respite for Chennai, as weather experts predict no fall in temperatures.  “Heatwave in Chennai will continue for the next two to three days. Cyclone Fani has changed the wind direction from east to west, the reason why the sea breeze is not being set early,” said Srikanth K, who blogs at Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikkalam.…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship Bengaluru has always grappled with migration and population explosion. As a result, the city produces more than 5,000 tonnes of waste every day. With a faulty garbage transport system and contractor mafia, the city runs into garbage problem every now and then. The identified landfills around the city keep filling fast. Bengalureans have always tried to come up with waste-management systems, starting from garbage bins to clean up drives and from a no-bin to a three-bin system. Even so, garbage dumps became rampant in Bengaluru. Indiscriminate burning of garbage also became…

Come summer and Bengalureans can be seen obsessively discussing water, or rather the lack of it. While water tankers bring momentary relief, residents can’t help pondering over the long-term implications of water shortage. To find solutions to the water crisis, the third water workshop organised by ADDA, a company that offers an integrated apartment management software for gated communities, brought to light several ongoing sustainable water management initiatives. On March 23rd, representatives of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), citizen groups and activists met at the The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) campus to seek solutions to the ongoing water crisis in…

In the narrow alleys of Pusta road in Khajuri Khas, near New Delhi’s Kashmiri Gate Metro station, a group of elderly people discuss the upcoming elections, standing near a rickety house not far from a pile of garbage disposed of by the locals. In these bylanes of Khajuri Khas, this is not an uncommon scene -- elderly, retired or unemployed people huddling together, discussing everything -- from neighbourhood issues to the government’s failures. As a reporter in search of a Mohalla Clinic, I approach one of them, Mohammad Ismail. Ismail is in his seventies and happy to talk. According to…