GENRE: Solutions

Hoskote. East Bengaluru. March 22, 2016. The case of 22-year-old Kishore Kumar, whose bike was hit by an unidentified vehicle and who was turned away by two private hospitals in the city, was reported by several local media. The first hospital reportedly refused treatment to the victim, as he was unaccompanied by family members or any persons known to him and had been taken to the hospital by a good samaritan. Cut to a year later. On March 17, 2017, The Indian Express reported the case of Sunil Patra who was critically injured when a truck rammed into his motorcycle…

Our first reaction when we see litter on the streets, dump yards along our highway or near our home, street animals eating the bits of rubbish along with the plastic covers:  Uuhgghh….!! Can anything at all be done to end this? Can’t the government do something to clean up? Can we stop rampant garbage burning? Only about 25% of the waste generated in Chennai is treated, the rest is merrily added to the waste dumps, creating pollution and in-turn affecting our health. Can we do something about this? Exploring these questions, some of us at Bhumi NGO decided to start by…

Come summer, newspapers across the country faithfully remind us of the dire state of the depleting water-tables in our cities, touching scarier levels each year. Living in our ivory towers as we do, water tankers shield us from reality. Some believe that the rains will naturally resolve matters. The stark reality is that mismanagement of water-resources, illegal bore-wells, rampant misuse of potable water for construction, disrupted storm-water drains/water channels – all ensure that groundwater recharge is severely impacted. With a spiralling demand-supply gap, the water problems of every Indian city are set to assume nightmarish proportions unless immediate action is…

You are a runner. The customary weekend long run is underway, when suddenly it dawns upon you at the 20th kilometre that you were supposed to get your periods today. Hmmmmmm. May be you are getting it right now, but you are sweating, your nose is running and the body is complaining, so you don’t know for sure if it is the monthly disaster that has commenced (so soon?) or whether these are the aches and pains of a long run. If you have never found yourself in the above scenario, you are likely to be a man. Even if…

I had my periods when I was nine, and used mostly disposable sanitary pads and occasionally, homemade cloth pads. My mom experimented and introduced me to tampons when I was in Grade 9 and the freedom was mindblowing! Can’t thank her enough. I became a responsible waste management volunteer in 2011 and it was a full year before I discovered a menstrual cup! Between Grade 9 and 2011, I travelled to more than 30 countries and even lived in the US for three years. I feel menstrual cups are the best kept secret of all times! The system didn’t expose me…

Remember when it was 'that time of the month' and you dreaded the lumpy sanitary pad which left you constantly stressed about staining your pants? Well, the world has moved on from all thing chunky to all things sleek, pads included, but it's still uncomfortable, causes rashes, leaks and leaves you stressed for the week. The biggest problem of the now long sleek pads, with extra absorbents and what-not, is the volume of garbage they generate. This, in addition to being expensive and uncomfortable. There is no safe way to dispose of these pads and tampons. They clog drain pipes,…

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…

Isana Nambiar has always been a great fan of female entrepreneurs, following the stories of many. Her favourite TED talk, “Programming your Mind for Success” by Carrie Green, has been big inspiration for her. With someone as passionate about entrepreneurship as she is, it is no surprise that at age 16, Isana has already started her own initiative and is currently in the process of building HelpEd, an online tool that will connect government schools lacking resources to donors willing to provide for their needs. Isana first came up with the idea in the beginning of summer; “I had a…

E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams and India is the 5th largest generator of e-waste. Bengaluru is the third largest generator of e-waste in the country, producing close to 1,00,000 tons of e-waste annually which is likely to grow by 500% by 2020. Presently in India, more than 90% of e-waste ends up in the informal sector for recycling with serious repercussions on human health and the environment. The informal sector works on small scale with minimal facilities and equipment to take care of the hazardous elements like lead, mercury, cadmium etc. present in the e-waste. E-waste…

A group of 60 students and young professionals in Bengaluru have just embarked on an experiential programme in public policy launched by Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC), an organization that seeks to create transformative learning experiences to equip young people with skills that enable them to lead change in society. The programme cohort of 60 participants, selected from a pool of over 250 applicants from the city, is a diverse mix of lawyers, chartered accountants, artists, start-up evangelists, social sector professionals, and engineers who have had past educational stints in institutes such as IIMs, IITs, BITS Pilani, Azim Premji…