GENRE: Voices

The revival and restoration of eris in Chennai has long captured the imagination of city authorities and residents, with these tanks often rightly lauded as an important solution to the flooding problem that has terrorised the city in the past few years. However, a recent paper titled "Lines in the Mud”, authored by Karen Coelho of the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), points out how eri restoration efforts have become sites of social tragedy, as a result of the almost exclusive focus on removal of encroachments. They result in the brutal eviction of thousands of working class families that…

International sports has been rocked in recent years with a series of top flight athletes, many of them women, quitting tournaments or giving up the game due to emotional or mental health related issues. The most recent being world number one Ashley Barty, 25, who decided to retire from tennis at the height of her prowess. The reason she gave: Her emotional inability to continue the gruelling physical and mental effort that remaining on top in international sports requires.  International sports stars no doubt face unique physical and mental pressures. It happened to Barty’s competitor Naomi Osaka over a year…

I am Poongothai from Ward No. 194 Gottigere. I took part in the MyCityMyBudget Campaign organised by Janaagraha. BBMP in its Budget book mentioned the campaign and allocated funds for the same. Gottigere ward map. Pic credit: Janaagraha.org Footpaths might sound like a trivial issue. But it cannot be overlooked. Pedestrian infrastructure plays a vital role in sustainable urban traffic. Footpaths, a sub-aspect of pedestrian infrastructure, should be given priority to make it user friendly, improve walkability, safety and comfort of pedestrians. Footpaths are a basic need in road infrastructure. Hence, as demanded by citizens of our ward, we decided…

When I moved to my current apartment building in Kandivali in January 2018, I noticed a couple of malnourished dogs in the neighbourhood. I started cooking food to feed them and nurture them back to health. Soon after, I was tending to 12 dogs from the initial 2. As of 2022, I’ve been tending to 62 dogs and 9 cats every day, and during the COVID lockdown at least 75 dogs came to me since their original territories - restaurants, food stalls - were all shut. Now that things are back to normal, most of them have returned. I have…

Access to public transport for people with disabilities has been a long standing issue often swept under the rug by the state government and the transport corporations. While the term 'disabled-friendly' has become a popular buzzword in various schemes, campaigns and budgetary promises, activists and citizens have pointed out how there is very little effort to really make public infrastructure accessible, safe and considerate for disabled individuals. The Disability Rights Alliance (DRA) is a coalition of independent, community-based organisations that advocate with and for people with any disability. One of their members filed a PIL highlighting the inaccessibility of the…

Faced with mounting criticism of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for inflating revenue receipts, the Karnataka Government earlier this month brought the BBMP under the Karnataka Local Fund Authorities Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2003. The government also issued a draft notification of the BBMP Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Rules, 2021, inviting suggestions from citizens within 30 days before issuing the final gazette notification. The objective is to ensure basic that BBMP’s expenditure doesn’t exceed income. As per the notification, BBMP must prepare its budget on the basis of actual revenues collected in the last fiscal year. The draft notification…

In November 2021, scores of Chennai residents came together for a cause dubbed the Umbrella Rally. They marched in numbers, urging the authorities to take stock of climate change and the impact it is set to have on the most vulnerable. The recently released report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lists Chennai as one of the global cities at risk due to climate change. With Chennai experiencing extremes in the form of drought and flooding in recent years, it is crucial to assess and mitigate the impact that the city will face due to climate change.  Protecting…

With the inexorable progress of the urbanization process, we have seen a steady growth in the number of personal vehicles resulting in congestion, pollution and less walk-friendly city streets. The design of the road infrastructure, in attempting to accommodate the increase in vehicles, makes it less convenient and safe for walking, and hence makes it a non-preferred mode for non-captive users. Which is to say, that those who have no option but to walk, do so with great difficulty and at great risk to themselves, while others simply avoid walking and take to motorised transport. As a result, not only…

This is the second in our series of Cycle2Work interviews from men and women employed in diverse sectors. The series will bring to you stories of these green commuters who cycle to work. We hope that these stories will inspire and encourage more Bengalureans to cycle, and not drive, to work’ Karthik Ranganathan is an engineer with Texas Instruments in Bengaluru and has been cycling to work for over 10 years. “I started cycling in 2011 and found no reason why I should not cycle to work”. Karthik finds cycling saved lot of commute time and events like annual cycle…

On March 21st, Citizen Matters hosted a tweet chat to discuss the recently launched Mumbai Climate Plan (MCAP) with Lubaina Rangawala, Tanmay Takle and Saurabh Punamiya. After its inception in 2021, the MCAP was opened up to suggestions and criticisms from citizens, environmental experts and other stakeholders. This creates an opportunity for the city to work with the government towards an effective climate policy, as we stand at a critical juncture in Mumbai’s climate history. The tweet chat addressed points from the Plan to understand whether the Mumbai government is truly prepared for the climate crisis, and where the city…