GENRE: Solutions

A few years ago, if you were to drive off the airport road towards Bettahalasur, 30 km away from Bengaluru, you would find mounds of garbage littered around. The village did not have a functioning system of waste management. Littering was common practice and waste management was practically unknown. Garbage from approximately 2500 households, totalling about 53 tonnes per month, was dumped or burnt in the panchayat, causing air, water and soil pollution. Kuduregere Cross in Bettahalasur Gram Panchayat earlier. Pic Courtesy: Pinky Chandran But all this changed in June 2016, with the launch of the EcoGram Project, by the…

Bengaluru’s water supply is met either by pipelines that draw water from the Cauvery river several kilometers away, or by pipelines that are sunk several feet underground. It wasn’t always like this. In the past, Bengaluru’s water needs were quenched by the many lakes built across the city. Lake water was used for drinking, agriculture, washing cattle and other purposes. But in recent years, the city’s lakes have become infamous for catching fire, frothing, and becoming dump sites. Many lakes are heavily polluted as the city’s sewage, industrial contaminants and untreated wastewater enter them via stormwater drains, rendering them unusable.…

The onset of COVID -19 cases and the subsequent lockdown that gripped the nation almost two years ago demonstrated the vast inequalities present in our society. While the pandemic disrupted the lives of every individual, the predicaments of already stigmatised/marginalised communities were aggravated. They have had to survive as financial burdens increased and opportunities for work deteriorated. India’s nine lakh sex workers, who were out of work, steeped in debt and at risk of contracting the virus, faced the brunt of the pandemic explicitly. The stigma and discrimination during the pandemic added to their existing challenges that included violence, abuse…

“Primary Education is grass-roots education on which the pillars of the future get built,” says  Raghav Kataliya also known as Raghu Ramakdu (toy) of Mithyala Prathmik Shala in in Saurashtra region in western Gujarat. “I am happy that the concept I started in 2020 is now being implemented across Gujarat.” The 32-year-old math teacher is known for his creative teaching skills. For instance, he uses an umbrella to teach patterns and his shirt to teach multiplication. Worried about his primary school students missing out on their studies during the lockdown, Raghav conducted classes for his students in batches in open…

55% of Mumbai’s population lives in slums, and is routinely excluded from urban planning. Dr Lalitha Kamath, an urban planning expert, has found that it is precisely by design that this structure is created and maintained. The State does not treat all residents of the city equally, and this is just another form of violence. Its instruments are the seemingly technical project and development plans. Lalitha is an associate professor at the Centre for Urban Policy and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. Her work includes Participolis: Consent and Contention in Neoliberal Urban Governance (2013) and the forthcoming…

The redevelopment of historic neighbourhoods, more often than not, are perceived as a threat to culture. This notion is not unfounded, as conservation is a complicated process involving lived experiences and infrastructure that, to many, is home; built through decades of a community’s history and its people. Is it, then, possible to evolve a community through development while preserving its culture entirely? Mumbai's Bhendi Bazaar is an interesting case to study in this regard. Old Bhendi Bazaar. Photo: SBUT Present day Bhendi Bazaar. Photo: SBUT Efforts to rehabilitate South Mumbai’s 150-year-old Bhendi Bazaar is home to more than 20,000 people and 3200…

The recent spate of rains in Chennai has seen the city flooded in large parts. The current Chennai floods are all over social media now, stark in the photos of inundated streets and water logging in many homes, especially those on the ground floor. The chaos has evoked angry and anguished responses from residents. There has been a chorus of demands, asking why the city’s stormwater drain network was unable to handle the rains and how the city would hold up in the event of further downpours that are predicted. As part of a group of residents who suffered a…

Naresh Chandra Singh, 46, is a native of Kharghar who hails from Manipur in the Northeast of India. A childhood endowed with nature allowed him a natural passion for the environment and its preservation. A job in American IT consulting firm Gartner led him to set up a base in Kharghar, which introduced him to the vast natural landscape of the district and Navi Mumbai as a whole. The slow degradation of nature in Navi Mumbai in the context of rapid urbanisation has compelled him to fight for the precious biodiversity that surrounds and sustains the area. In 2018, he…

The coveted St. Stephen Steps, Mahim beach and the Malabar Hills Forest Trail have much in common. Not so long ago, they used to be wastelands: covered in piles of garbage, overgrown with weeds and crumbling infrastructure. Then, a group of citizens decided to change it.  Today they are on their route to becoming, potentially, popular public spaces in the city. Their natural beauty is an open invitation for moments of pause, play and leisure. After months of lockdown, these projects offer some hope for residents, desperately looking for open space in a city as cramped as Mumbai.   Mahim Reti…

As of 6 August, the Mithi river in Mumbai became the first to have booms or 'thrash traps' installed across it. This machinery imported from Finland transfers garbage collected from the river, via a conveyor belt, to another conveyor belt that segregates the waste which is eventually recycled.  Booms are temporary floating barriers made up of light materials like plastic chained across water bodies to prevent and collect floating garbage from flowing into the sea.  Booms obstruct floating debris without affecting marine life in any way.  How will Mithi be cleaned up?  Booms placed near Bandra Kurla Complex on the…