Economy

For a while, Bengaluru has been sporting skeletal metal frames where glossy advertisement hoardings once stood. The city had been stripped of its hoardings after the BBMP Council passed a resolution last year, banning these. The Council also passed the draft Outdoor Signage and Public Messaging Bye-laws, 2018, that would ban all commercial hoardings. But the state government wanted to allow hoardings in the city, which led to a tussle between the government and BBMP. State government's UDD (Urban Development Department) even published a separate set of laws - the BBMP Advertisement Rules, 2019 - this July 15th. These Rules…

Amit, working in an IT company, suddenly found that the perks he had been promised with his job offer had suddenly been withdrawn. When he enquired, he was told that the company’s HR policies had changed. While signing on the dotted line, Amit had not read his employment agreement carefully and failed to notice the clause which entitled the company to change its HR policies from time to time. There are zillions of employees like Amit, who do not read their employment contract carefully and affix their signature based only on the figures of remuneration in the document. However, it…

“Tiddalick the frog awoke one morning with a great thirst and decided to drink. He drank all the water in the rivers, the creeks, the lakes and the billabongs and there was no water left for other animals. It was only a matter of time before all the animals died.” This aboriginal children’s story from Australia might sound funny and childish. But replace Tiddalick the frog with any of the major cities in the world, and you will get a glimpse of the bleak reality we live in, where we either scramble for a drop of water, or waste it…

“Valayapatti Murungakaa enhances the taste of your Sambar. A bundle of ten costs only Rs 40,” tempts a vendor, as she quickly spreads out drumsticks on a clean mat in the Koyambedu vegetable market. She greets fellow vendors and they exchange hopes of good business for the day.  As day breaks, this is a common scene at the market. Vegetables from across the country reach Koyambedu, one of Asia’s largest perishable goods market, before the first light of dawn. Vendors arrange the veggies on mats, write the daily price on a slate and call out to customers, often luring them…

Bengaluru's waste problem is worsening by the day. According the to city's draft Master Plan (RMP 2031), over 10,500 tonnes of waste will be generated everyday within BBMP limits, by 2031. But each of us can easily reduce waste if we purchase consciously. This was the concept behind a flea market organised by the volunteer group Second to None, in collaboration with Citizen Matters, last Saturday. Second to None is an online community that helps connect citizens across Bengaluru to buy and sell used, recycled and upcycled products. They also organise flea markets where you can buy these products in…

The balcony in Cultured, a cafe in Humayunpur, Delhi, gives a good vantage point of the daily happenings in the streets -- women walking the streets in their chic winter coats, men in trendy hairstyles going to office in their formal attire and people coming out to buy their daily groceries. On the same street one can see the local men of the village sitting in front of their houses with a hookah and a bonfire. Most of the young tenants in this urban village in Delhi are from the North Eastern states. As I sat in the cafe with…

Everyone has a role to play in reducing the amount of waste Bengaluru generates. But when bigger entities like businesses commit themselves to the cause, the impact may be greater. Take Bengaluru’s teenage-led initiative to reduce water use in restaurants. Garvita Gulhati, a 19-year-old student, had started the 'Why Waste?' campaign in July 2015, calling on restaurants to only half-fill water glasses and to ask customers if they needed water at all. The campaign has reached out to over one lakh restaurants by partnering with organisations like the National Restaurant Association of India. 'Why Waste?' estimates they've saved two lakh…

Vishwanath Srikantaiah, popularly known as the 'Rainman', has been in the news recently for his ambitious project to build one million recharge wells in Bengaluru. Given the dire situation we find ourselves in vis-à-vis water, the initiative could not have come at a better time. While Vishwanath has been the face of this project, a tiny community has been helping with the groundwork - the Bovi community who are the traditional well-diggers of Bengaluru. Our guest on Citizens Live this week is Ramakrishna Bovi, who has been working with Vishwanath to recharge Bengaluru's groundwater. So why is this important? While…

The spectre of water scarcity is haunting Bengaluru. And from a din of solutions to avert this man-made crisis, one suggestion has take the city over like a storm, and brought to the forefront a debate with myriad perspectives. Recently, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameswara suggested banning apartment construction in Bengaluru for the next five years. His announcement invited strong objections from the real estate industry. Just a day after, the shares of Bengaluru-based real estate giants Shobha and Brigade plunged five percent. However, Parameswara's suggestion resonated with many citizens who have been facing the brunt of water shortage. Questions…

Bengaluru has found a love for microbreweries that brew their own beer on small scales, thanks to the influx of well-traveled young tech workers. Known as the pub capital of India, the city now has an estimated 60-plus micro breweries. What you may not know, is the amount of water needed to brew a pint of beer in these craft breweries. On average, it takes seven litres of water to brew a litre of beer. That number becomes many times higher when you factor in the entire water footprint of beer, including water required to grow the grain and water…