URBAN POOR

Debashish Mondal looked vacantly at the broken walls of his home. All that remained of the house he was born in 35 years ago was broken bricks, chunks of cement and a shattered roof. On November 11, the colony he lived in, under Tallah bridge in north Kolkata, home to around 60 families, was reduced to rubble. The local municipal authorities and personnel from the Public Works Department (PWD), along with a posse of cops, came around 10:30 that morning. They had brought along labourers for the demolition, and two days later also called in bulldozers for some of the…

Chaman Lal, a street vendor in an inner market in one of the city’s northern sectors, is a worried man these days. Originally from Partapgarh in Uttar Pradesh, the 62-year-old banana seller has been residing in the city for 10 years now, selling seasonal fruits for the past four years.  Sitting next to him on a raised platform, almost hidden from the public eye by a electricity junction box, is his friend 72-year old Ghanshyam Bahadur, who helps him with his street business. Chaman Lal's worry stems from the fact that he does not have a vendor certificate and could…

Commencing her teaching career in Indraprastha College, New Delhi in 1970, Uma Raman chose to continue her calling even after she resigned as the Principal of Naval Public School, New Delhi in 1997 and relocated to Chennai. She is currently an education consultant in English Language curriculum planning, teacher training and the creation of English language teaching materials.  “I started writing textbooks while in Delhi but when I moved to Chennai, that became my main work,” says Uma. She has authored a number of widely-used textbook series in English. Recently, she was a member of the committee for revising the…

When the Government of India issued an advisory on August 3rd, urging tourists and non-Kashmiris to leave the state, thousands of labourers who work in Srinagar and other areas decided to return home. However, around 150 non-Kashmiri waste pickers and their families decided to stay put in Srinagar. The city had provided them a home and livelihood for years and they believed they would be safe, despite subsequent reports of non-Kashmiri truck drivers and traders being killed Most of these waste-pickers and their families have lived in Srinagar since the 1960s, but their numbers increased in the 1990s. “A majority…

Bangalore Apartments' Federation (BAF), a federation representing over one lakh flats and three lakh apartment residents across Bengaluru, will launch MADHURA – 'Medical Aid for Domestic Help Under Residential Apartments'. As part of MADHURA, BAF will launch a group insurance scheme for all domestic workers. The scheme will cover maids, cooks, drivers, plumbers, electricians etc who work in apartment complexes but are not formally employed. Underscoring the importance of MADHURA, H A Nagaraja Rao, President of BAF, said, “Most domestic workers do not get coverage under government schemes like Ayushman Bharat or Arogya Karnataka as they may be above the…

Co-authored by C S Sharada Prasad and Isha Ray November 19 is World Toilet Day. India's massive five-year all-hands-on-deck Clean India Mission to construct latrines for all has just ended. The Government reports that 100 million additional toilets have been constructed via this campaign; these are mostly not connected to waterborne sewer systems. Just over 30% of India's urban population has access to sewers, though most city plans include elaborate plans for sewerage. Sewers are supposed to be underground and unseen, and are not supposed to need manual labour to dispose of the waste. But sewers get blocked and have…

On a scalding hot afternoon, a petite, dainty woman stands at a small shop in R A Puram, counting the change she has to return to her customers. Her bangles clink as she swiftly wraps some eggs and then hands it over to the customer along with the change. With her saree pallu tied at her hip, she toils to the sound made by the jangling of her armlets. “I had sold bangles like these to buy this shop. They were made of gold. It has been 10 years now, but I don’t regret it,” says Ponnarasi, recalling times past.…

Like many metropolitan cities in India, Bengaluru is facing a dire water crisis. There is an imminent need to manage the city's water resources in a sustainable and equitable manner. With population projection of 13.6 million in 2020, Bengaluru is experiencing high growth rates and predatory geographical expansion that subsumes surrounding peri-urban and rural areas. But necessary infrastructure is not established to meet the basic needs of housing, water, sanitation, and so on. Lacking access to formal housing, majority of residents in informal settlements are forced to rely on water from private vendors, neighbourhood sources, or illegal networks of accessing…

Bengaluru is rapidly losing its groundwater. The city’s water bodies have shrunk, to give way to buildings and infrastructure projects. Come summer and Bengalureans can be seen obsessively discussing water, or rather the lack of it. Though rains bring momentary relief, what about the long-term demand? Access to water is a human right - how can we provide every citizen with enough water for their needs, at a price they can afford? Little has been done to find local solutions. Rainwater harvesting had been implemented in just 1.2 lakh buildings as of May 2019, according to the BWSSB. Meanwhile, big…

Today, the BBMP Council elected M Gowtham Kumar as Bengaluru's new Mayor. Kumar, the BJP corporator from Jogupalya ward, replaces Gangambike Mallikarjun of the Congress. Here is a look at Gangambike's accomplishments, and the causes she had taken up in her tenure as Mayor. Pushing for ward committee meetings: In BBMP Council’s monthly session in November 2018, Gangambike announced that ward committee meetings should mandatorily be held in all 198 wards on the first Saturday of each month, starting immediately. Her announcement came after the city’s civic activists ran several campaigns for the cause over the years. Ward committee meetings…