GENRE: Voices

Fertile lands, adorned with lush paddy and coconut trees -- this is the picture that would flash before my eyes at the very thought of the Cauvery Delta districts in Tamil Nadu. But after I saw the impact of Cyclone Gaja’s wrath on these districts, the scene has changed completely. Uprooted trees and structures, damaged crops and inaccessible roads -- the aftermath of the cyclone has changed the geography of the delta, leaving thousands of citizens homeless. Cyclone Gaja swirled through Vedaranyam on November 16th, leaving the districts of Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Tiruchy and Dindigul in disarray. In a…

Translocation of trees has been hitting headlines these days a lot. The recent public statement by the Managing Director of Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) Ajay Seth that BMRCL will prioritise translocation, before deciding to fell any tree, is a ray of hope for citizens, at least along Metro alignments. Before going into the merits of translocation, compensatory planting and other issues, the question to ask is: does Bengaluru have enough trees for its size and population? No physical count of trees in the whole city has been done as yet, so we must look for other sources to…

When we think of development prospects in our country, our minds immediately go to urban development projects and recent missions like Smart City Mission, JNNURM and the like. Cities are described as growth engines of a country’s economy. However, what the urban-centric approach of development fails to acknowledge is the role of rural areas in the sustainable development of our nation. Most urban development projects provide for infrastructural needs of the cities but do not address the underlying issue. The ever increasing population of our country, and the increasing urbanization rate accompanied by increasing migration trends from rural areas has…

The recent movie Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shale Kasaragod gives an excellent insight into what’s wrong with the government education system. The infrastructure is under stress, teachers are underpaid, and the quality of learning is dismal. With the Right to Education process in place, admission to private schools is being preferred, resulting in limited demand for state-sponsored education. India may be spending 3% of its gross domestic product on education, but the impact of this expenditure is rarely seen. Karnataka government, over the past decade, has implemented many schemes to improve its schools. Through these schemes, spending on school infrastructure and…

Through a flurry of tweets recently, senior IPS officer Bhaskar Rao, affirmed that e-autos were the way forward to combat pollution and address the issue of last mile connectivity. Rao, who previously held the post of Transport Commissioner and Director, Security, Vigilance and Operations at the KSRTC  (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation) says that a lack of imagination, coupled with a centralised approach, is what stops the administration from finding effective solutions to the transport nightmare of Bengalureans. Excerpts from his interview with Citizen Matters. How do you see electric technology working in the context of public transport? I have been…

In 2017, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) reported that 425 million adults have diabetes worldwide and India alone harbours 73 million adults with diabetes. November 14 is observed as World Diabetes Day aimed at raising diabetes awareness and calling for urgent action to tackle the diabetes epidemic. Since 1991, each year World Diabetes Day is centered on a theme related to diabetes. The theme for World Diabetes Day 2018 (and 2019) is Family and Diabetes. A two-year timeframe has been chosen to best facilitate the two following aims through vigorous public campaigns: a) To raise awareness about the impact of diabetes…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship In September 2018, the Karnataka State Government announced an increase in ticket fares by 18 percent for both Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). The reason cited: Hikes in fuel price. This met with strong opposition from civil society groups, with the Bengaluru Bus Prayanikare Vedike (BBVP), a coalition of organizations working for commuter rights, holding a ‘Commuter Ballot’ campaign at Kempegowda Bus station. 95 percent of the commuters voted against the fare hike. This was accompanied by the ‘Call Your MLA’ campaign, with citizens…

"Ee kai hidkoli" (hold this hand) She asked me to hold her right hand instead of the left one and gave a slight push. I moved from her left to right and held her hand. She held my palm this time and, yes, the hand grip was firm. A grip that indicated she trusted me now. I looked at the clock in front of me - it read 4:15:50 The Bangalore Marathon 42.2 k race had started and we were about 20 meters from the start point at that time. All the regular runners were already out and I was just…

The elevated road corridor from Maduravoyal to the Harbour is back in the news. A Committee recently reviewed progress on the project with particular reference to the issues of land acquisition. Earlier in the year, it was decided that the road, planned originally for four lanes, will now be expanded to six. With all this, it appears that the project will take off once more, five years after it was stalled ostensibly for environmental reasons, while it was an open secret that the actual cause was political. The story then given out was that the piers for the elevated road…

Recently, the Karnataka police found itself in a rather embarrassing situation after its DGP for internal security division AM Prasad, was conned by fraudsters of  Rs 2 lakh through vishing (fake call fraud). In mid-June this year, Assam legislator Utpal Dutta was defrauded Rs. 14 lakh from SBI bank by cyber criminals. Former IAS officer C V Ananda Bose lost Rs. 3 lakh, an ex-Income tax officer from Nagpur lost Rs. 68 lakh from his retirement fund. A 16-year old Delhiite hanged himself after losing Rs. 29,000 to a fraud from an e-linked account, while a 49-year-old homemaker from Bengaluru…