GENRE: Voices

It was just like any other routine bike trip for Madhav (name changed) and his father as they started on their cycles that early Saturday morning. Little did they know how adventurous, and even stressful, the day would turn out to be. Madhav is an autistic teen, who enjoys cycling along with his father. This Saturday, driven by his instinct, he somehow rode away from his regular route while on the way back home after cycling for 2 hours. He had not been going for cycling for more than four months due to the COVID-19 lockdown, and that might have…

Nobel laureate Albert Einstein, who demonstrated extreme patience in his pioneering research, when questioned on his unconventional methodology had once replied, “What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.” The reply came at a time when he was repeatedly failing in his attempt to establish convincingly the Theory of Relativity. Undeterred, he pursued and his discovery has been the trend setter for many other discoveries in classical physics. When the coronavirus pandemic first surfaced on 30th January, few expected it to really hit India. February remained subdued but in March, as the cases…

India employs 90% of its workforce within the informal labour sector. According to ILO estimates, four million workers are employed as domestic workers (of which three million are women). According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, more than 10 million people are registered as street vendors. The NSSO survey findings from 2011-12 highlights that there are 37.4 million home-based workers in India. With limited laws and policies governing them they are often left at the mercy of their employers, who have become their proxy social security providers during the pandemic. Over the span of the last three…

Since the last few weeks, Bengalureans have been in a state of panic and confusion. COVID-positive patients are unsure where to go, those who are symptomatic are frantically trying to find a bed in case they get serious, while attenders of seriously-ill patients are desperately trying to find hospitals which will admit and treat emergencies. We, at the social welfare organisation Naavu Bharatheeyaru, demand an urgent meeting to see how best the government and civil society can work together to minimise the distress that people are currently facing.  In a letter to Chief Minsiter B S Yediyurappa, we have identified…

Bengaluru is today synonymous with traffic and air pollution. Among Indian cities, Bengaluru ranked third in overall emissions and energy consumption in a recent survey by CSE (Centre for Science and Environment). PM2.5 and PM10 emissions contribute to much of the air pollution in the city, and 60-70% of these emissions originate from vehicles and road dust. Considering the high contribution of vehicle emissions to air pollution, the Karnataka Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy is a welcome move. The policy targets 100% electric mobility by 2030 for certain vehicle segments — auto rickshaws, cabs, corporate fleets, school buses, public transport…

There is evidently not much good news floating around in the economy. First, some numbers. In 2019, according to ILO estimates, youth unemployment rate in India was at 10.51%. This figure has hovered around 10% for the past decade. But unemployment rate among the urban youth is much higher. According to data released by the Centre in its Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2017-18, unemployment among urban youth in the age group of 15-29 years was at 23.7% in that December quarter, rising consistently over the three previous quarters of that year. If that trend continued, and all reports indicate…

Due to the threat of COVID-19, most of us are now opting to stay home rather than move about the city. Senior citizens and children especially, are the most vulnerable and have been advised to stay indoors for their own safety. But how long can one stay indoors without getting depressed and frustrated?  For those living in independent houses, gardening is a way to keep up their spirits. But not all independent houses can afford to have gardens, especially if the sites are small. In such cases, rooftop gardening could be the solution. Take the case of my friends Phaneendra…

சென்னையைப் பொருத்த வரை சாதாரண நாட்களில் ஆன்லைன் பயன்பாடு பெரிய அளவில் இருந்திருந்தாலும் இன்றைய அடைப்புக் காலத்தில் கல்வியோ, கலைகளோ வேலையோ, கலந்துரையாடலோ ஏன் குடும்ப, சமூக, வழிபாட்டு வைபவங்கள் கூட ஆன்லைனில் தான் என்ற நிலையில், அது மனமலர்ச்சிக்கு, மகிழ்ச்சிக்கு ஏதேனும் பங்காற்றுகிறதா என்று பார்த்தால் ’ஆம்’ எனும் பதில் நமக்கு ஆறுதலாகிறது. சென்னையில் குறிப்பாக நாளுக்கு நாள் அதிதீவிரமடைந்து அச்சமூட்டி வரும் தொற்று எண்ணிக்கையும் மட்டுமின்றி மரண எண்ணிக்கையும் ஒருபுறம் பீதியைக் கிளறிக் கொண்டிருக்க வேறுபல அழுத்தங்களும் அதிகரித்து வருகின்றன. அது இருப்பிடமும், உணவும், கல்வியும் கேள்விக்குரியதாகி வருவதாலும் தனித்து முடங்கிக் கிடப்பதாலுமென தொற்றைப் போலவே தொடர்ந்து அபாயகரமாக பரவி வருகிறது.  இப்படியொரு கற்பனை செய்து பார்க்க முடியாத மனவிரக்தியும் அதன் விளைவும் குறித்து ஏற்கெனவே நமக்கு எச்சரிக்கையும் செய்யப்பட்டிருக்கிறது. அந்தக் கட்டத்துக்குள் நாம் மெல்ல மெல்ல நுழைகிறோமோ என்ற கருத்துகளும் தற்போது பதிவாகத் துவங்கியுள்ளது.  எனவே, இவைகளைக்…

With Unlock 1.0, Bengaluru has reopened its shops and businesses, and even traffic jams seem to be back. Is this good for us? The short answer is: not all of it. On the one hand, it is great that the economy can recover and the joblessness crisis may start to resolve.  But on the other hand, people returning to their daily lives as if nothing happened is a dangerous approach. More people risk falling sick and infecting others, as indicated by the recent spike in COVID-positive cases. Hospitals that have worked so hard these past few months to contain the…

As an extended lockdown was announced by the center and state to curtail the spread of COVID-19, little did I imagine that we would be witness to a humanitarian crisis of this scale, created by the Governments -- both state and centre. Agreed that this killer contagion was nasty but to use that as a cover to deny any assistance to the migrants is a sheer act of cruelty.  Having lost their livelihood and jobs, migrants, who power our cities, found themselves staring at an uncertain future, facing hunger, fearing disease and caught in an alien state with language issues.…