SOCIETY

‘Swacch Bharat!’ We have seen a lot of hype about this programme in media but what is the reality? Of course, many things are happening in little pockets around the country, about which we read or hear. It does give us some hope that some day, maybe after half a century, we may see some difference at least in certain localities. However, as an individual, my experience has been a bit disappointing. Firstly, the once beautiful garden city of Bengaluru is turning into a city of concrete, garbage, polluted water bodies and chaos at a very fast pace!  Cleaning up…

Nation-wide strike ... some thoughts. a) People who feel that they are not sharing in the economic gains of the country resort to strikes. That much is understandable. And we must do something about this - inequality at these high levels is harmful in many ways. b) The public at large, however, is tired of strikes - especially because in addition to economically motivated strikes called by disaffected workers, there is another set of strikes called by employees of over-staffed public sector organisations that most people think should have been closed long ago, because they are just a drain on…

Bengaluru, my new home, continues to surprise me every day with its idiosyncrasies. I am slowly falling in love with this place, and that is in spite of the traffic. Alright, you ask, why this sudden exhortation and public display of affection? Well, because I have just found one more reason to fall in love with the city and its people. When you see a kid begging at a traffic signal or a homeless old lady sitting on the sidewalk asking for money, what do you do? Aren’t you torn between whipping out your wallet and also doubting whether this…

File photo. Pic:Christopher Martin Lopaze As the month of fasting—Ramzaan, draws to a close, a sense of humility serenades me. Ramzaan is a month when one is called upon to abstain from not just food, but anything that corrupts the mind and soul. However, when one goes without food and water for 14+ hours a day for 30 days, in the least, it reminds one how blessed we are to be able to afford a basic meal. It is 'hunger' that teaches one the value of 'food'. About a month ago, over a quiet meal, my husband Manivannan and I…

What do you generally do when it rains? Curl up on a chair with your favourite book and watch the tiny droplets trickle down the window? Or are you fighting a battle to not reach into your pocket to find that lighter to light a cigarette? Well, if you’re the second kind, we’re here to tell you why you should kick the butt for good this World No Tobacco Day. What’s your reason? “I’m a social smoker”, says Venkat (name changed on request), a 23-year old college student. Smoking gives you a sensation, this becomes addictive”, adds Ashwin Aravind, another…

They don't go to theatres to watch cinema. They can save no money with the earnings they make. They have many occupation-related health issues, yet their medical expense is just about 12,000 per annum! This is the fate of finances /revealed by a recent survey on garment workers. Garment and Textile Workers Union (GATWU) is an independent trade union of garment workers in Karnataka. Centre for Workers Management (CWM) is a research organisation working on issues of labour standards and labour rights in the formal and informal sector in India. Both these organisations worked together to do a study on…

Man-hole cleaning. Pic: Thamate Munuswamy, hailing from Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu, and Jagannatha, hailing from Chittor district in Andhra Pradesh, died due to asphyxiation from lack of oxygen and an excess of methane gas while cleaning up a 15-foot man-hole in Doddaballapur on April 3rd 2016. They were working for a Hyderabad-based contractor firm, Raus Construction Pvt. Ltd., who had signed an agreement with the Doddaballapur Municipal Commissioner for providing the under-ground draining system in Doddaballapur. Seeing Munuswamy and Jagannatha suffocate, two youngsters from Doddaballapur, Madhu, a garment worker and Muniraju, an aquarium worker, tried to rescue them but…

It’s a tiny single-room house nestled among similar dingy structures in a slum locality in Mangammanapalya. The house is located close to Hosur Road, which was an epicentre of garment workers' protests that took Bengaluru by storm when the Central government notified rules for Employee Provident Fund (EPF) restricting withdrawal of the PF till the age of 58. A cot placed on one side of the room occupies half the available space. On another corner is an old TV, the only source of entertainment. There is an open utensil washing-cum-bathing space at one end of the room and a kitchen…

A few months ago, there was this news item about a bride who prevented 137 kilos of wedding waste from ending up in a landfill. It was heartening to read it, for two reasons. One, even in these days of pomposity, show and fanfare, there are some who have genuine concern for the environment, and think about wastage, garbage and the like. The second reason for my happiness was a sense of pride, since our own family had pursued this initiative just a few weeks before.  Yes. In October 2015, we had arranged a luncheon get-together, to celebrate the wedding…

Sometime in early 2010, I was invited to visit International Institute of Social Entrepreneurs (an offshoot of Braille Without Borders and now called Kanthari) in Trivandrum. That visit was an ‘eye opener’ for me. The co-founder, Sabriye Tenberken, became my first blind friend! She, and the rest of the people who worked at IISE, made me feel welcome and introduced me to a whole new world – a world where those with sight and without, co-existed and complemented each other's strengths and weaknesses. It was a dream factory where everyone had a dream, and they were encouraged to make their…