GENRE: Voices

In Bengaluru, people lose 3-4 hours every day in commute thanks to heavily congested roads. Despite having public transport options including BMTC and Namma Metro, the traffic congestion remains unresolved. The NITI Ayog’s 2018 report estimates that Bengaluru city incurs an avoidable loss of Rs 47,743 crore every year. What is wrong? The real reason is that good mobility relies on a vast number of measures, most of which are missing. A few of these steps were attempted, but they failed due to improper execution. This article explains what these measures are, and suggests how to implement them effectively in…

It is only after paying Rs 10 lakh as fees that one becomes an engineer from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. In contrast to this, I completed my B Tech in 2013 from a government college in Kerala for Rs 26,000. IITs have turned into a gated community of the elites, serving those who can afford their exorbitant fees and filtering out those who can't. The fee hike by IIT-B in July is a testament to that. Soon after the fee hike, the deputy director assured us that all our questions would be answered in an open house…

I wonder what it would be like if protestors stormed Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi, like the protestors who stormed the presidential office in Colombo. It is an unlikely scenario, no doubt. But maybe there are lessons there which governments in India need to learn quickly. Especially prudent management of the economy. Which basically means ensuring easy and affordable access to essential commodities and services, creation of new jobs across the socio-economic spectrum and across skill levels, and constantly renewing hope in people that “ache din aayenge”. To quote from Jawaharlal Nehru’s historic August 15, 1947 ‘Tryst with destiny’ speech in…

Water is an essential part of life and its abundance is necessary for food and livestock security. Safe, adequate and equitable water supply, therefore, is required to conserve biodiversity and the environment. But Mumbai is severely lagging in this. In Thane district particularly, situated next to Mumbai Metropolis, the area is abundant in only water supply issues, no water. For the past few years, Thane’s roughly 22-lakh strong population has struggled with adequate water supply. Many parts of Thane, namely Kolshet, Hiranandani Estate, Mumbra, Diva, Waghbil and Kasarvadavli, are either not receiving proper water supply, or are receiving impure water…

The Karnataka government has of late been mulling a solution to the problem of stray dog attacks. Prabhu Chauhan, Minister for Animal Husbandry, has said they are considering making Bengaluru stray-dog-free through vaccination and sheltering. The Karnataka High Court has also issued a notice to the state government on a PIL seeking effective stray dog management. In this interview with Citizen Matters, animal ecologist and conservation biologist Dr Abi Tamim Vanak weighs in on the issue. Dr Abi Vanak holds a PhD in Wildlife Science from the University of Missouri, USA. He is currently a Professor at ATREE (Asoka Trust…

A cycle and a loudspeaker accompany Ladoo as he makes his way around Chennai’s neighbourhoods, gathering old clothes. He turns off his loudspeaker around certain homes. "They don’t like the noise", he explains to me, as I stop him for a chat. Laddo has been in this business for twenty-five years now. "In all this time, people have not changed", he tells me philosophically. "Only my cycle and loudspeaker have". "They know me by my hat", he says. "You can ask anyone for the ‘bhai’ with a hat". I ask him why the name ‘Ladoo’? "I was a chubby child," he says,…

We are usually accustomed to the voices and stories of people in our social class and circles. The stories of others seldom come to us straight, and when they do, they are often narrated in the voice of mediators, such as journalists, NGOs, the government, etc. Anmol Tiwari lives in an informal settlement, like 42% of Mumbaikars. This is his story, told by him. Like every village child who is told big tales of big cities, I, too, dreamt of high-rises and fancy houses when I lived in my village in Bihar. It was finally in 2013, when I was…

In the past few months, the Tamil Nadu Government has taken certain steps to create platforms for democratic participation in an urban setting. These include the formation of Area Sabhas and Ward Committees. They had been envisioned to function similar to Gram Sabhas, a constitutionally approved platform that exists in rural parts of our country, where people come together and deliberate on developmental issues. They also pass resolutions to achieve their developmental needs. Every village panchayat performs various functions as well as conducts social audits which are then approved by the Gram Sabha to ensure transparency and accountability. Area Sabhas…

In the run-up to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections scheduled before the end of this calendar year, Bengaluru’s civil society organisations are getting more active to highlight civic issues that need urgent attention. As a first step, on June 24th, the Civil Society Forum (a coalition of civil society groups based in Bengaluru) submitted its “Manifesto for Development of Bengaluru in next five years” to senior representatives of political parties. The manifesto does not pull any punches. When it says, for instance; “Local self-government, with transparency, accountability and people’s participation, as envisaged in the 74th Constitutional Amendment (CAA)…

Bengaluru’s pristine environment of the 60s and 70s has, in the past half a century, deteriorated significantly. People who have lived here for the past few decades would have a clear perception of this environmental degradation. Left to itself, the environment in the city’s gated communities too would be much the same as that exists on the outside. When it comes to air pollution, gated communities experience the same pollution as other city residents. Although every individual living in Bengaluru has the duty to work towards reducing pollution, let us look at initiatives gated communities can consciously take, to reduce…