GENRE: Voices

In the AC (After Corona) times, waste management systems across cities have borne the brunt, especially in developing countries where robust collection and processing systems are not streamlined. One area, which requires a lot of attention and work is plastic waste management, more so, because, addressing plastic waste leakage and gearing up to shift mindsets towards sustainable consumption of this resource material has become a challenge. In addition to this, are the faulty municipal systems that do not support segregation and sorting. In the Indian context, we are clearly seeing an increase in plastic waste consumption. While earlier in January,…

Kids and pandemic, pandemic and kids. No, I’m NOT looking for a pattern or a palindrome here. Instead, just turning our attention to the silent sufferers in this entire saga, our children. While this is an unprecedented situation for the entire world and the human race in general, I see that it has impacted our young children to a great extent, physically, mentally and emotionally. To start with, they were suddenly asked to stop going to schools and abandon their regular busy-as-hell lives. Unexpected school holidays are always welcome for children, but here there were caveats. They couldn't spend this time…

ஆடி அழைக்கும், தை விரட்டும் is an adage in Tamil. The essence of the saying is that every year, starting mid-July and for the next six months, it is a festive season, culminating in Pongal that comes in mid-January. This is the time when a range of festivals bring people together in celebration. Festivals revive and reinforce cultural traits. Togetherness with friends and relatives instills a sense of camaraderie, strengthens personal bonds and helps us build a support system for life. The ambience during festivals and the rituals or practices of each vary from one festival to another and adds variety,…

Within a few days of the imposition of the nationwide lockdown in end March, the prices of fruits and vegetables rose perceptibly. As Chennai depends heavily on other districts in Tamil Nadu and other states for its supply of these foods, travel restrictions impacted the transportation leading to the price rise. The pandemic has strongly underlined the need for Chennai to be self-reliant. But how can the city attain that self-sustainability? ‘Who feeds Chennai?’, a body of research conducted by the Urban Design Collective (UDC) -- a collaborative platform for participatory planning to create liveable cities -- during the lockdown,…

[This article is part of the Bengaluru Moving series, in which citizens share their vision for BMTC post COVID. The series is published in collaboration with Radio Active’s #BengaluruMoving campaign.] Since the time I moved to Bengaluru almost a decade back, I have found a loyal companion in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (BMTC) bus. BMTC's extensive bus network has helped me and 36 lakh other commuters reach our destinations across the city every day.  Today, public transport has become one of the prime casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, only 4,300 BMTC buses are operating, down from the…

As Tamil Nadu went into a total lockdown on March 24th, many individuals in the city found themselves helpless and in dire need of assistance. From migrant workers looking to get back to their hometowns to senior citizens who resided by themselves, the lockdown impacted scores. The situation would have been several times worse had not NGOs, civil society organisations and some individuals taken it upon themselves to come to the aid of those affected. Thus, when a migrant worker stuck in Chennai with his family and twins, just a few months old, ran out of milk and supplies for…

[This article is part of the Bengaluru Moving series, in which citizens share their vision for BMTC post COVID. The series is published in collaboration with Radio Active’s #BengaluruMoving campaign.] The COVID crisis has forced behavioural changes in Indian society that would never have happened in the normal course. It has also taught us three important lessons. The first: Put a pause on our pre-Covid modern lives, and suddenly distant mountains become visible, rivers flow cleaner and hard-to-spot wild animals are seen walking through human habitation.  The second: The scale of inequity and lack of a support net for a…

2020 has been full of uncertainty. The pandemic and subsequent lockdown have had us struggling to adjust to changes like never before. First it was days, then weeks, then months. Now we are not even sure. There’s a meme doing the rounds on social media these days, about the most widely asked questions right now. Received on Whatsapp Those of us who are working from home and attending virtual meetings will be quite familiar with the last two questions. In fact, so will our children, who have been having virtual school for the last several weeks. Every weekday, we ensure…

A recent (2019) survey of mobility practices among India’s urban population by the New-Delhi based Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) found that 37% of respondents used public transport more than once a week. A vast majority of the people travel distances less than 10 km for work and education, and walking continues to be the most dominant mode of transport for urban India.  The study, which captured all the modes used by individuals in a week, revealed that two wheelers were the second most preferred mode of transport, followed by public transport. Strikingly, the share of people relying…

Ever since COVID-19 took over our lives, we have all been looking for ways by which we can save ourselves from getting the virus. Face masks and shields, hand hygiene – washing and sanitising, social distancing – avoiding people and staying home. A COVID-19 Viewpoint report by the University of Minnesota (30th April 2020) says, "we must be prepared for at least another 18 to 24 months of significant COVID-19 activity, with hot spots popping up periodically in diverse geographic areas. The report also says that given the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2, 60% to 70% of the population may need to be immune to…