Economy

[This story is co-authored by Aditya Dipankar, a Mumbai-based musician and designer.]   In Chilla Khadar, an urban village close to Mayur Vihar Phase I, live many families who pull cycle rickshaws, work as domestic helpers, clean up the streets and sell vegetables at the mandi. They survive with the help of generators and tube wells. The government, some residents say, has yet to give them electricity and water. Their children attend makeshift schools in the open or under thatched-roof huts because the government school is far away and hard to reach without a pucca road. Despite their own hardships,  many of them…

Fertile lands, adorned with lush paddy and coconut trees -- this is the picture that would flash before my eyes at the very thought of the Cauvery Delta districts in Tamil Nadu. But after I saw the impact of Cyclone Gaja’s wrath on these districts, the scene has changed completely. Uprooted trees and structures, damaged crops and inaccessible roads -- the aftermath of the cyclone has changed the geography of the delta, leaving thousands of citizens homeless. Cyclone Gaja swirled through Vedaranyam on November 16th, leaving the districts of Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Tiruchy and Dindigul in disarray. In a…

Two years after the launch of the Accessible India campaign pressing for inclusion in public spaces by the Government of India, only  3% of the public spaces that were audited were found to be friendly for persons with disabilities (PwDs). Persons with disabilities face several difficulties with regard to lack of ramps, lack of restroom facilities, lack of signage and announcements to aid navigation and hostile design. Chennai was one of the 57 cities that participated in the audit, where facilities were found to be sorely lacking. While public buildings were the subject of the official audit, citizens have long…

When we think of development prospects in our country, our minds immediately go to urban development projects and recent missions like Smart City Mission, JNNURM and the like. Cities are described as growth engines of a country’s economy. However, what the urban-centric approach of development fails to acknowledge is the role of rural areas in the sustainable development of our nation. Most urban development projects provide for infrastructural needs of the cities but do not address the underlying issue. The ever increasing population of our country, and the increasing urbanization rate accompanied by increasing migration trends from rural areas has…

“Anna, can you do a video on how to become a Swiggy delivery boy?” A popular query posed to those who do YouTube explainer videos. Many have taken to responding to these requests. The videos garner considerable views and the comments section is rife with questions from eager job seekers about the various aspects of the job ranging from salary to working hours and perks. The roads of Chennai are a sea of orange, black and red these days, as the food delivery services Swiggy, Zomato and UberEats grow in size. Swiggy, the leading food delivery service became a unicorn,…

தமிழ் மொழி மற்றும் இலக்கியத்தில் ஆர்வம் கொண்டுள்ள, ஒத்த பார்வையுள்ள சிந்தனையாளர்கள் கூடும் ஓர் தளமாக இயங்குகிறது 'மன்றம்’. வாழ்வின் பல்வேறு கட்டங்களில், வேறுபட்ட அனுபவங்களை சந்தித்து அவற்றை பற்றி ஆழ்மையாக சிந்தித்த பலர் அவர்களின் எண்ணங்கள் மற்றும் பாடங்களை பகிர்ந்துகொள்ளும் ஓர் வாய்ப்பாக மன்றத்தின் நிகழ்ச்சிகள் விளங்குகின்றன. மன்றத்தின் உரையாடல்கள் ஆக்கபூர்வமாகவும், பயனுள்ளதாகவும் விளங்கும். மன்றத்தின் மூன்றாவது நிகழ்ச்சி வரும் நவம்பர் 17, சனிக்கிழமை மதியம் 2 மணிக்கு இந்தியன் இன்ஸ்டிட்யூட் ஆப் டெக்னாலஜி ஆராய்ச்சி பூங்கா அரங்கத்தில் நடைபெறவுள்ளது. இதில் கலந்துகொண்டு உரையாற்றும் நபர்கள்: பார்த்தசாரதி ராமானுஜம், யோகா பயிற்ச்சியாளர் மற்றும் மென்பொருள் வடிவமைப்பாளர்: பாரத்தின் அழைப்பு ராஜேந்திரன் தண்டபாணி, தீர்வுகாணபவர், ஜோகோ: கணினி நுண்ணறிவு ஷோபா மேனன், நிறுவனர், நிழல்: நிழலில் பிறந்த ஒளி சி கே குமரவேல், இணை நிறுவனர், நேச்சுரல்ஸ்: சின்ன படிகள், பெரிய கதவுகள் தஸ்லீம் பர்ஸானா, அரங்காவலர், திவ்ய ராஸா ட்ரஸ்ட்: சில…

“Hungry people are also angry people. That's the biggest challenge I have to face in my job every day” says Naresh (name changed) as he waits for the restaurant to parcel up his latest order of aloo paratha and rose milk, to be delivered to an apartment three kilometres away. One of the approximately 50,000 delivery boys employed across the country by food delivery service, Swiggy, Naresh begins his day at 8 am, when the first of the restaurants open for service. Orders come streaming in and the app auto-assigns a delivery to him. The restaurant and the delivery location…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship Sameer runs an independent self service store in JP Nagar 4th phase, Bengaluru, which sells a wide range of products catering to people’s grocery demands. He has four Point of Sale (POS) machines, offers free delivery within a 5 km radius; and has no minimum purchase quantity requirement. There are usually around 25 company salesmen who visit him regularly to check the stock and take orders. Manjunath runs SLV stores, a general store or kirana, in JP Nagar 3rd phase, Bengaluru. He primarily sells Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). He…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship Why does one need to know the source of vegetables? Given the state of the environment today and the fact that each one of us is a consumer at some level, it has become almost imperative that our concerns grow beyond just our purchase and include the journey of the product before and after we use it. The fear among people seems to be related to heavy metal contamination. Kiran R V, a resident of Rajajinagar, says the vegetables might have been grown using contaminated water, or using sewage as…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship. In our previous article, we saw how talent coming out of IT engineering colleges do not have the skill sets the IT industry needs. In this article, we look at what the solutions could be. Though the hiring scene for fresh IT graduates looks bleak, there is still some hope. There are options if one has the willingness to put in extra effort and learn while working. “Experienced talent is tough to come by and it is getting more and more expensive. Hence more companies, both large ones and startups,…