GENRE: Voices

In the last few weeks, we have started segregating waste in our apartment complex. Valuable lessons have been learnt on the problems created by thoughtless waste disposal, while understanding how resistant residents can be to change, even if it is for ‘greater good.'But what I did not expect is - insights into gender equation in households. Before you accuse me of bringing in feminist agenda into waste management, hear me out, I do have a point.Firstly, when the entire city was stinking up and grappling with how to dispose garbage safely, it was the women in the apartment who mooted…

“Arey yaar.. in logon ko to kuch kaam dhandha hai nahi, saare aakar yahan baith ke aawaz uthathe hai…. hamare desh mein aise bahut saare hadse hote rehte hai, aise awaaz uthake kya fayda; kuch hone wala to hai nahi” - (These people are not at all serious about the issue, what is the use of protesting on streets then? How are we to benefit from these protests?) - this is what a commuter told me as he stopped his bike for a while to witness people raising their voices at Town Hall – a popular protest spot in Bengaluru.…

I have with me, two news items -- the one dated January 19th reports in prominent, bold type, that the Supreme Court "ordered all states not to give permission for installation of any statue in a public place or road, because citizens' right to move freely must not be obstructed in any manner" and that the government must instead use the money on "ameliorating the plight of the poor and not on showcasing achievements by putting up obstructions on the roads." The Ambedkar statue in front of Vidhan Soudha. File: Meera K The court order specifically mentions statues. Hearing a…

The Chief Electoral Officer published a new set of voters' lists on 28 Jan 2013. Download of the voter lists using a software program, and data extraction from them, was since disabled by converting the files to image files, but Prajalytics, a software company, had already downloaded the files for 27 Bangalore constituencies manually and extracted voter records. The data quoted in succeeding paragraphs is based on the voter lists of 27 constituencies of Bangalore city downloaded on 28th January 2013. Violation of Data ModelThe Instruction Manual for Standardization of Electoral Roll Database (Ver 1.0) published by Election Commission of…

Health is not mere absence of disease. It would be better if we have an understanding of health risks, how do we monitor them, and take actions to prevent them from manifesting as a disease condition. You may ask, "Is it possible?", and I say, the answer is yes. To begin with, take a look at what you have inherited from your parents and family. Typically, if one or both of your parents have heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, cancers, asthma etc, there is a possibility that you may also get it some time or other. Map out your family history,…

The Electoral Rolls of 27 constituencies of Bangalore have serious errors and omissions. When the authorities did not react to repeated feedbacks and request to correct anomalies, a PIL was filed in the High Court of Karnataka. The Chief Justice agreed with the issues raised in the petition and directed the CEO to correct various data errors and also to restore illegitimately deleted voters. After reported efforts at cleansing the lists, the CEO published a new set of voters' lists on 28th January, 2013. However, soon afterwards, download of the voter-lists was disabled. Prajalytics, a software company, had downloaded the…

On Saturday, January 26th, I completed the Oxfam Trailwalker for the second successive year. A start to finish 100-km walk by teams of four, it offered me quality time for reflection, 32 hours to be precise.Oxfam India Trailwalker is a team challenge organised to raise funds for Oxfam India, the 61 year old NGO, for its activities that fight poverty and injustice. Our member teams walk (or run) 100 km in less than 48 hours, it is a test of physical endurance requiring mental strength and team spirit.The Second Oxfam India Trailwalker took us through a 100 km trail from…

If kids could learn their ABCs from mummy's smartphone, communicate with Talking Tom and hone their drawing skills with innumerable doodling apps, could this be far behind? An American firm has unveiled a new gadget at a tech meet called iPotty. Yes, it is very imaginatively named that, lest parents miss the point. iPotty is basically a potty seat with an iPad holder and waterproof cover, which gives the whole game of toilet training a technical spin. Using books to divert your toddler's attention while you make him stay put long enough to do the job? Or are you still…

Subsequent to the judgement on the PIL on December 11th, 2012, the Chief Electoral Officer and BBMP organisations are undertaking intense cleansing activities of electoral rolls of the 27 constituencies of Bangalore Districts.A few steps:They have accepted close to 10 lakh applications for registration and have restored about 1 lakh voters to the rolls by verifying that the deletions were incorrect.They have identified about 12 lakh instances of errors and have corrected about 80% of them.About 65,000 duplicate records have been identified and deleted.More than 30,600 voters who shared their ID with some other voters are now allotted new IDs.Now,…

Manufacturing units (aka factories) come under the purview of various chapters and sections of the Factories Act, 1948 which provides detailed regulations concerning health, disposal of waste and effluents, lighting, drinking water, safety and other aspects relevant to working conditions. The legislation also governs working hours, rests, overtime for extra hours, the welfare officer et al. And the responsibility for compliance is on the ‘Occupier' who should be a director of the company and the factory manager.While the above provisions are grossly inadequate even for today's manufacturing industries, they barely cover the conditions prevailing in Information Technology (IT) and Information…