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On February 1st, union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the final (Interim) budget from the current government that will seek an electoral mandate in a few weeks from now. The minister’s speech had only two major announcements on urban public transport: one, that e-buses would be encouraged, and two, that Metro Rail and NaMo Bharat trains would be further supported in large cities. This followed the same pattern of allocation for transport that the union government has made over the five years of its current term. Indian cities have been grappling to contain heavy traffic and emissions from the large…

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) prioritised healthcare infrastructure in Mumbai. In 2022-23, BMC allocated Rs 6933.75 crore for the health budget, marking a 46% increase from the previous year (2021-22). BMC increased the share of the total budget dedicated to health up to 15%, the highest in the decade. Moreover, BMC invested Rs 2660.65 crore for health capital expenditure, more than doubling the prior year's allocation. These funds were primarily focused on completing delayed hospital redevelopment projects, upgrading dispensaries and maternity homes, procuring medical equipment, and expanding health infrastructure across the city.  Health actual budget expenditure…

As we all know, Lok Sabha elections are round the corner, followed by the Vidhan Sabha elections and then possibly by the municipal elections in Mumbai. All of these are crucial for us to to live a comfortable life. And the results of these elections are determined by how we, the people vote. The Lok Sabha makes crucial laws, allocates the national budget, shapes our standard of living due to taxes like GST and defines our employment situations due to the investments it makes or does not make. The percentage of resources the central government allocates to issues like healthcare,…

A family of professional singers disguise themselves to take their loved one, a young girl with mental illness, for treatment in the psychiatric hospital. Such is the stigma of mental health disorders. While this was decades ago, the perception of such disorders has changed for the better, over the years. As she narrates this incident, Dr R Padmavathi, Director of Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), a premium non-governmental organisation in mental health care in Chennai, says while healthcare delivery has made great strides, we still have a long way to go in awareness and overcoming stigma about mental disorders.      According…

Fransisca Dantas, a visually challenged teacher, has a unique accessibility challenge while boarding the Mumbai local trains. She travels five days of the week from Andheri to Dadar by the local train for work. At Andheri, announcements about the arrival of trains, whether they are 12 or 15 coach, are erratic. This means passengers don't know where the women's compartment will be. Like other women commuters, she cannot run to get into the women’s compartment once the train arrives. “If it is a 15 coach, people start running helter skelter. With a first class season ticket I can get into…

[Part one of this series explained the history of the Kannada signage issue] The protests by Kannada groups, led by the Kannada Rakshana Vedike last month, demanding that Kannada signage rules be implemented has sparked a debate in Bengaluru. Kannada groups point out that as Bengaluru is the capital of Karnataka, important communication in the city, including information on shops and businesses, must be done in Kannada. Imagine, they say, a Kannadiga coming from any other part of the state and feeling lost in a sea of English signs in Bengaluru. At the same time, the attacks on businesses and…

"I found it challenging to adhere to the doctors' instructions due to the constant rotation of different doctors during each visit. It led to confusion in managing my hyperactive daughter, who tends to become angry quickly," said Kavita Shinde, a resident of Dahisar in Mumbai. Kavita's 8-year-old daughter Hansika has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and has visited B.Y.L Nair Hospital, Mumbai Central in Mumbai for treatment for the past three years.  Kavita was relieved after she moved to the recently established Early Intervention and Rehabilitation Centre for Children at Byculla. She has been consistently meeting the…

In November, during a fight over video games among a group of 10-year-old boys at a government-supported school in Indore, Rishi of Class 4 was attacked over 100 times with compasses by three of his classmates. In another incident of bullying, two boys from a private school in Bangalore’s Kanakapura pressured a wealthy schoolmate into repeatedly stealing money and jewellery from his house, threatening him with serious injury if he didn’t.  After he was caught red-handed by his mother, he decided to kill himself rather than face the bullies, but was saved in time. When Smriti from a missionary school…

A ritual from my childhood involved going to a local co-operative store at the end of every month with my father. Buying and storing groceries, which would last the month or even the year, was the norm of the time. But consumption patterns are getting transformed — a part of a larger, systemic change. Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP), one of India’s largest co-operative consumer organisations has not escaped the effects of this change. “There is a significant change both in terms of the number of members and the number of goods ordered,” says Advocate Shrish Despande, the Chairperson of MGP. Both…

Mumbaikars may have briefly felt better as pollution levels dipped with the unseasonal showers last week. But it may not last long and that persistent cold and cough might just return as temperatures fluctuate and pollution levels rise again.  Mumbai, the most densely-populated city, and in the throes of infrastructure projects and other construction, has had worrying pollution levels in the past few months. Data now shows that Mumbai has recorded a 38% increase in the PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels over the past five years. The data was analysed by Climate Trends and Respirer Living Sciences, and presented…