OPINION

2021 saw Bengaluru’s public healthcare systems totally collapsing in the face of the second wave of COVID-19. What could the city have done better? What needs to change? In this article, public health researcher Adithya Pradyumna puts out his wishlist for public healthcare in the city for the new year. Adithya is a co-author of the report ‘Health Care Equity in Urban India’, published this December. The report was based on a project undertaken this year by Adithya and his colleagues from Azim Premji University, which also included a case study of Bengaluru. Urban healthcare in India is generally messy.…

Karnataka usually receives southwest monsoon from June to September, and then the northeast monsoon from October to December. Any depression in the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal can also cause additional rainfall. But in the recent past, rainfall patterns have been inconsistent and we are seeing a higher number of extreme rainfall events. Rains this year have thrown life out of gear in many parts of the State, including Bengaluru. This calendar year, Bengaluru Urban district has received rainfall of 1128 mm to date. This is an excess of over 30% of the normal annual rainfall of 843…

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the country amidst rising COVID cases and states resorting to lockdowns, curfews and more to contain its spread.  As a young person, I was drawn toward one statement from the speech: "I call upon the youth of India to form small committees and help in COVID administration in their areas. If that happens, the government will not have to put containment zones or lockdowns..."  The PM's comment made me ask myself: are Bengaluru’s youth totally disconnected from social realities? Are they doing nothing about this health crisis? The answer is a resounding NO.…

What seems right for us may not seem right for others since it depends on perspectives from different points of view.  Parents want lesser fees but want education in top schools. School managements wants more return on their investment. So, these are two different perspectives. They would not converge on the same terms since their interests are different.  As long as the school management has reasonable expectations, conflicts would be less. But again, the definition of ‘reasonable’ varies. If a school is run without much issues, it means the management knows the art of running schools very well. Schools, colleges…

Translated by Madhusudhan Rao ವಿಶೇಷ ಮದುವೆ ಕಾಯಿದೆ (ಸ್ಪೆಷಲ್ ಮ್ಯಾರೇಜ್ ಆಕ್ಟ್) 1872 ರ ಬದಲಾಗಿ ಜಾರಿಗೆ ಬಂದ ವಿಶೇಷ ಮದುವೆ ಕಾಯಿದೆ (ಸ್ಪೆಷಲ್ ಮ್ಯಾರೇಜ್ ಆಕ್ಟ್) 1954 ಒಂದು ಪೌರ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಆಗಿದ್ದು, ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ಜಾತಿ, ಧರ್ಮಗಳನ್ನು ಲೆಕ್ಕಿಸದೆ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳ ನಡುವೆ ಮದುವೆಗೆ ಆಸ್ಪದ ಇರುತ್ತದೆ.  ಈ ಕಾಯ್ದೆ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳು ತಮ್ಮ ವಿವಾಹವನ್ನು ಯಾವುದೇ ವಿಧಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಚರಿಸಲು ಅನುಮತಿಸುತ್ತದೆ ಮತ್ತು ಈಗಾಗಲೇ ಇತರ ಪ್ರಕಾರದ ವಿವಾಹದಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮದುವೆಯಾದ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳಿಗೆ ತಮ್ಮ ವಿವಾಹವನ್ನು ಕಾಯಿದೆಯಡಿ ನೋಂದಾಯಿಸಲು ಅನುಮತಿ ನೀಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಜನರು ತಮ್ಮ ಸಂಗಾತಿಯನ್ನು ಆಯ್ಕೆ ಮಾಡುವ ವಿಷಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಧರ್ಮ ಮತ್ತು ಜಾತಿ ಅಡ್ಡ ಬರದಂತೆ ನೋಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಈ ಕಾನೂನು ಜಾರಿಗೆ ತರಲಾಯಿತು. ವಾಸ್ತವವಾಗಿ, ಈ ಕಾಯಿದೆಯಡಿ ವಿವಾಹ ಸಮಂಜಸ ಎನಿಸಿಕೊಳಲು ಮುಖ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಅಗತ್ಯವಿರುವುದೆಂದರೆ, ಸಂಬಂಧಪಟ್ಟ ಎರಡೂ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳು ತಮ್ಮ ಧಾರ್ಮಿಕ ನಂಬಿಕೆಗಳು ಅಥವಾ ಜಾತಿಯನ್ನು ಲೆಕ್ಕಿಸದೆ ಮದುವೆಗೆ ಒಪ್ಪಿಗೆ ನೀಡುವುದು. ಈ ಕಾಯಿದೆಯಡಿ, ವಿವಾಹ ಮಾನ್ಯ ಎನಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಮೂಲಭೂತ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆಗಳು ಇತರ…

The Special Marriage Act, 1954, which replaced the Special Marriage Act of 1872, is a civil law that provides for marriages of persons irrespective of faith or religion. The law allows the parties to observe any ceremonies for the solemnisation of their marriage and also permits persons who are already married under other forms of marriage to register their marriages under the Act.  The law was brought in to ensure that religion and caste do not come in the way of people choosing their partners. In fact, the fundamental requirement under this Act, for a valid marriage, is the consent…

On September 23, the Deputy Comissioner, Bengaluru Urban district, is hosting a virtual public consultation to discuss the environmental impacts of the proposed Peripheral Ring Road (PRR). The project has been in the news for a number of issues - continued public opposition over non-availability of the Detailed Project Report (DPR); the validity of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report; the number of trees which will be felled for it; the plethora of court cases brought in by a number of citizens set to lose their properties. That is quite a long list. Sure, the devil is in the details,…

A couple voting in the BBMP elections of 2015. What does it mean for Bengalureans to not have an elected Council now? File Pic: Akshatha M On September 10, the tenure of the BBMP Council ended, and the state government stepped in to appoint senior bureaucrat Gaurav Gupta as the corporation's administrator. Gaurav Gupta will remain in charge of the corporation until a new bunch of corporators are elected in the next Council election. It was a move that didn't surprise many who had been watching the space. But the Council elections aren't on the horizon anytime soon - partly…

“Read up. You really should. There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.” These are famous lines from Arthur Conan Doyle’s 'A Study in Scarlet'. A problem or its solution have all transpired before. But have we missed the lessons? It has been nine months since the first case of COVID-19 was reported from Wuhan, China in November 2019. The problem took a life of its own and knocked on India’s shores through Kerala in January 2020. It became Bengaluru's problem in March of 2020. While Bengaluru started out well in keeping the pandemic under…

It was the first thing on her to-do list as restrictions eased with Lockdown 5. Manjula recharged her phone for Rs 400. “I may have to skip a meal for this” she laments as the expense eats into her non-existent savings. “But my Amma should be able to call now” is her hope as she waits for her employers to call her back to work.  Working as a domestic help has been more than a decade of Manjula’s life.  She turned up at homes everyday like clockwork, to clean them without a day off. She stayed behind to help when they…