GENRE: Voices

On December 3rd 2017, Pimple Saudagar, an upmarket suburb under the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (sister city of Pune) hosted a meeting of citizens, apartment associations, shop owners and not-for-profit organisations to commit themselves to a movement that could alter the ecological footprint of the entire area. Come January 1st and Pimple Saudagar has resolved to go plastic bag free, entirely! Today everyone is aware of the impact of plastic pollution; there have been enough campaigns, disincentives for usage (such as imposing additional charges for plastic carry bags), incentives for avoidance (such as distribution of free bags by NGOs ) and…

The alleged abduction and rape of a woman in Anekal area of Bengaluru has left citizens stunned. A group of us, including me, Srinivas Alavilli, Suraj Chabbria, Rini (North east forum), Divya Titus (IwGO) and others met the Home Minister of Karnataka, Ramalinga Reddy last week. We submitted the following letter to him: Dear Minister, We write to you in deep anguish this 5th anniversary of the Delhi Nirbhaya incident. The women of Bengaluru are deeply disturbed and shaken by the gruesome rape about 3 weeks ago in Anekal. We are also outraged and angry that no suspects have been…

I was waiting with Radhika (name changed) for the guests to arrive. She is a 2nd year student studying at a city college. The women and young girls of Shollinganallur slum had invited a group of us to their homes and their community. An initiative by iVolunteer with whom I am associated, called Dine and Dialogue was kicked off, simply to encourage people who may not have otherwise met to mingle, chat and have a good time. An NGO, Centre for Women’s Development and Research (CWDR) has been working with these women in the area for two decades, mostly in…

Several months ago, as I travelled by suburban train passing under the Kodambakkam Road-Over-Bridge, I noticed something amiss about the footsteps on one side of the bridge. There were no handrails to prevent accidental fall from a height, a definite threat to users. Presuming that it was under construction, I kept a watch over it whenever I travelled by train. On the morning of October 23, 2016, I paid a visit to the bridge by road from my residence at West Mambalam, merely out of curiosity. Strangely, the bridge appeared to have been completed nicely with granite steps of good…

This January, Neha Suri, a Delhi resident, got refund and compensation from the builder who took money from her offering an apartment and never handed it over. Neha had paid Rs 46 lakh to the builder in 2007. The builder had promised to hand over the apartment in 2010, but never did. In 2015, Neha filed a complaint at the National Consumer Redressal Commission. This January, the Commission ordered the builder to refund her Rs 46 lakh along with simple interest of 10% per year on this amount, and litigation costs of Rs 10,000. In another consumer case this April,…

50 years ago, a ‘Summer of Love’ in the United States brought together the anti-Vietnam war movement, a desire to create a counter-culture and a generation longing to rid itself of the perceived stifling mores of the earlier generation. The "flower children" of the 1960s didn't just listen to the Beatles and distribute flowers. They were the rebels of the day and they had their own "Beku" and "Beda" philosophy which today most serious observers of the time regard as naive, directionless but well-intentioned. So we had the "We want World Peace", "We want disarmament", "We want Lyndon Johnson to…

Not a civil servant. Not a Councillor. Not a full-time activist. Just another Chennaiite, like any of us. While most of his age prefer to spend time with family, go on vacations and concentrate on personal and professional goals, 50-year-old C R Balaji clicks pictures of badly laid roads and illegally dumped garbage during his commute to and from work and reports it to the appropriate government authorities. If you are a resident of Mylapore, you cannot miss this tall, middle-aged man going around on his bike taking pictures to highlight the various civic issues in the neighbourhood. And his…

When your options for bank deposits are flexible, you need not invest all your funds in FDs, but can spread them out across different instruments. This helps you to diversify your investments and expands the reach of your hand. Moreover, even when you decide to invest in FDs, won’t it help if you reinvest periodically? Invest first in short-term FDs and then as it matures, invest again for longer stretches of time. Keep the process alive even as different FDs mature. This could be an important lever that will enable you to meet your monthly income needs. It is not…

Sanjaynagar Main Road is a key commercial road which has a lot of shops and is the lifeline of commerce for the wards 18, 19, 20 and 35. It has been found that the road has no footpath/sidewalk. It has only drain covers on which people walk. These drain covers are inadequate to provide a safe and continous walking experience. It is unsafe for people especially senior citizens and children. Many people have been hurt on this road by being forced to walk on the road and interfere with the traffic or falling because of bad quality of the surface.…

In 2013, the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) and Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) together started a pioneering effort in the field of wildlife and conservation: training wildlife volunteers who could bridge the gap between the Forest Department and the general public,  helping with various tasks that KFD personnel have to carry out. Here is one account of the programme as it stood in 2013. Several batches of volunteers attended the training programmes across several landscapes: Bandipur, Bhadra, Dandeli, Kudremukh and Nagarhole. About 550 people in all attended the programmes.They were called Eco-volunteers and the government organization in charge was the…