Pollution

Manasi Dighe (name changed) rises before the sun, changes into a sari, plaits her thinning hair, and sets out. At the crack of dawn, her eyes begin searching the road, hoping to find plastic, metal or glass items which, at ₹20 a kilo, could earn her ₹100 in a day. Manasi covers 20 to 30 kilometres daily, when barely a kilometre from her Bhim Nagar hut in Mankhurd, an eastern suburb of Mumbai, is Asia’s largest dumping ground—the Deonar landfill. Mumbai’s 12.4 million citizens send 9000 metric tonnes of waste to this 134-hectare dumping ground every day. If one corner…

Hop, skip, jump or dance—follow any of these strategies and you may be able to navigate across Bengaluru’s footpaths! The Constitution of India guarantees its citizens the right to move freely throughout the territory of India. However, in cities like ours, enjoying that right seems to require a motor vehicle! As a pedestrian, you may be knocked down as soon as you start your journey. The National Urban Transport Policy, formulated in 2014, calls for “universal accessibility” and transport services for all including children, the aged and disabled. It goes on to say, “Walking is a zero-emission mode of transport…

The disastrous floods of 2015 and the Ennore oil spill stand out in the list. In addition, the city’s air and water have become more polluted than ever before.The city’s garbage has continued to remain a threat to the environment and health of the people living in the city. Through Amirtharaj Stephen’s lens, a look at Chennai’s environment over the last five years. Since the 2014 national elections, the capital city of Tamil Nadu has witnessed major environmental calamities, from the disastrous floods of December 2015 to the giant oil spill outside Kamarajar Port at Ennore in early 2017. Apart…

The National Coalition for Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanization, comprised of a group of people across different parts of the country, is involved in exploring questions pertaining to the city and whom the urban is meant for. The Coalition has recently put out a charter, endorsed by 150+ organizations and 2 lakh signatories across 40 cities, that lays out a number of steps that can be taken to make development in cities more inclusive and sustainable, keeping the real ‘Citymakers’ - urban poor and worker groups - and their rights at the centre of discourse and action. Right to Housing and…

Election manifestos released recently by the BJP, Congress and CPI(M) seem to show some responsibility towards the declining environmental standards of the country. The Congress manifesto, for instance describes air pollution as a “national public health emergency”. The BJP manifesto promised to reduce pollution levels by at least 35% over the next five years in 102 cities. However, past experience shows that the promises made on paper remain largely unimplemented. Few elected representatives seem committed to improve air quality in their respective cities and constituencies. A recent report by Climate Trends titled, “Political Leaders Position and Action on Air Quality…

The Graphite India #AirPollution campaign - NGT upholds KSPCB CLOSURE order from 2012!  Following the Supreme Court order, where Graphite India was recognized as a polluter under the Polluter Pays Principal, the complainants continued their case in the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The hearing was on Monday, Jan 28th, 2019. The four judge bench listened to the complainants' side of the story, poured over the Appellate Authority ruling from 2013, and fully overturned it! The Principal Bench of NGT called the majority opinion of the appellate court ‘presumptuous’, and instead accepted the dissenting judgment, which pinned pollution on Graphite India. Dissenting Judge Lawrence…

The Erin Brokovich like story of the common man taking on a Graphite Electrode producing factory that polluted. This is the incredible story of a 40 year old, Rs 9000 crore, private graphite polluting factory in Mahadevpura A 10 year legal battle for residents of Ferns Paradise 1 student project A large citizens campaign A Supreme Court judgement A win for citizens with the factory shut down! Read More here for the full story. There is a big learning from this journey. If you are keen to take on a challenge, read more to understand what worked. Media Mentions: 1. Times of India - Battle for Whitefield 2. The Hindu - NGT…

To address the looming air pollution crisis in Bengaluru, Health & Environment Alliance (HEAL), a leading European non-profit organisation, in collaboration with Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA), launched the Healthy Air Coalition on Friday, 5th April, at the St John’s Research Institute (SJRI). SJRI is a key partner of the initiative. According to a study published in the environment journal Lancet Planetary Health, air pollution in India leads to at least 1.2 million premature deaths each year. The 2018 study attributed one in eight deaths that occurred in India in 2017 to poor air quality and exposure to ultra-fine…

The call for a ‘Swachh Bharat’ irritates me, because my city is far from being clean. Bengaluru, my charming garden city, is being destroyed every day. Of course, the burgeoning population could be the primary cause, but what is happening to the civic sense of the citizens? What role do the civic authorities play? Most main roads are dug up for construction of flyovers, metro rail or some road widening project. Don’t even ask about the roads within residential areas. Beautiful bungalows are mindlessly demolished to build apartments with a minimum of four storeys (with one more illegal storey, of…

Pushing a green-coloured tricycle in the blazing humid sun, Raju (name changed), a conservancy worker, blows the whistle at Prashanti Colony of Madambakkam. The high pitched sound is an alarm for the residents to wake up from their afternoon nap and bring their waste out to the tricycle. Men and women rush out of their houses, with at least four bags of rotten waste each and start screaming at the worker. “You haven’t showed up in four days. There are no bins in the locality. What do you expect me to do with the waste,” screams one lady. What this…