INTERVIEWS

B Vimala, the councillor of Ward 41, part of the RK Nagar assembly constituency, sits in a modest office above the ward's Amma Unavagam, just off a busy street, a hub of activity. On the wall behind her hangs a picture of veteran Communist leader N Sankaraiah. A member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)), this is 30-year-old Vimala's first term as a councillor. Vimala has been with the CPI(M) for the past ten years. Her political journey began as part of the youth wing of the party, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI). She decided…

Most government hospitals and clinics across the country may be a shabby sight. But for the poor, they are the only affordable medical treatment option available. Yet, a majority of the poor prefer to borrow and go to private health centres, as revealed by the findings of the National Family Health Survey-5 recently released by Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. As per the survey, the number of patients knocking at the doors of public health care facilities has dropped from 55.1% in 2015-16, to 49.9% in 2019-21. Respondents mainly cited “poor quality” of health care to justify their preference for private…

As summer vacations come to a close, parents are eagerly awaiting the start of a normal school year after the past two filled with disruptions. COVID-19 has meant a sea of changes to education in Mumbai, and this school year will be the chance for parents and teachers to adapt and recover. The experience, however, has not been equal across the board. Migrants and low-income families that faced job losses often did not have the tools to seamlessly adapt to online education, and in many cases, could not afford to keep paying the school fees. And while middle and high-income…

In 2021, Mumbai was ranked 5th in global vehicular congestion by the TomTom Traffic Index. Rates of car ownership in the city are growing — at roughly 10% per annum — against the backdrop of traffic congestion and a severe lack of parking space. For every vehicle in the city, at least three locations for parking are required. As car ownership increases, the need for parking spaces will grow three times that rate, roughly 30%.  In apprehension of such a situation, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in January 2021 put together a committee of 15 experts and citizens to form the…

Once upon a time in Delhi, even when summer day temperatures hovered over 40 degrees C, the city would cool down considerably after sunset, bringing the minimum temperature in the range of mid 20 degrees C. But what we have seen during the recent spate of heat waves is not even remotely reminiscent of that. Today, the city does not cool down after sunset: the heat exhaust from millions of air conditioners in residences and offices and central air conditioning in commercial and institutional spaces raises minimum temperature to or above 30 degrees C. According to Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager of…

Mumbai has had a rough start to the summer. Along with the rest of the country, a heat wave in the city began in March, as the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Santacruz observatory recorded a temperature of 39.4 degrees Celsius (°C). A lack of pre-monsoon showers and warm, dry winds from northwest India have been the causes, driven by climate change. Another three heat waves followed, when the peak season for them, May, is yet to pass. The high minimum and maximum temperatures have meant that the city has spent the majority of the two months without any respite. This…

Even as we write this, the blaze at Delhi's Bhalswa waste dump — a colossal mountain of unsorted and unsegregated waste in the national capital — continues to thwart the efforts of the Delhi Fire Services personnel as they fight the flames raging since April 26th. Of course, such fires at waste dump sites are not uncommon; this is already the third such incident this summer after earlier outbreaks at the Ghazipur landfill site. Methane gas emissions during decomposition of the dumped waste in unaerobic conditions, combined with high air temperatures, make these sites veritable tinderboxes. Sometimes, reckless or deliberate…

A childhood memory of devastation caused by a cyclone that hit India’s east coast way back in 1971, left such a lasting impression on the six-year-old boy that he decided to devote his life learning about the weather and predicting unusual weather events like Cyclones. Today, that six-year-old has risen to be the 25th Director General of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Dr Mrityunjay Mohapatra, also known as the “Cyclone Man”. Dr Mohapatra received international recognition for accurately predicting the path of the ferocious cyclonic storm Phailin that hit the Orissa coast in 1999. As head of the IMD’s cyclone…

April 2nd was a big day for Mumbai. After 8 long years, the blue line of Mumbai's metro was getting 2 new additions: the yellow Line 2A and red Line 7. On the shared Dahisar metro station, Line 2A left to Dahanukarwadi, Kandivali. Parallely, the metro on Line 7 left for Aarey in Goregaon, covering the extent of Phase 1. With the upcoming Phase 2, the 18.5 km and 16.5 km long lines will travel 30 stations bewteen them, connecting DN Nagar, Andheri West and Andheri East on the older Line 1. The lines are a clear rival for the…

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…