Environment

Join your fellow citizens of India at "India Clean Sweep, 8 June 2014" at Yelahanka Puttenahalli Lake. 'India Clean Sweep' is an initiative by Chennai Trekking Club, to save our waters and other natural spaces from garbage and plastic. In association with Yelahanka Puttenahalli Lake and Bird Conservation Trust, Citizens Forum Yelahanka New Town, Prayukti and The Hindu, the event in Yelahanka is intended to to drive home a strong message to save our natural inheritance. For more details, contact Balaji Mohan +91 8123262526 / Rakshit +91 9916173814.  

The garbage time bomb that Bengaluru was sitting on has exploded again. The villagers in Mandur near Bangalore, who had agreed to tolerate the mess for an year, have started protesting as they did not see any concrete action taking place to clear the mountain of garbage in Mandur. Starting the night of May 31, 2014, no waste is being allowed to be dumped in Mandur by the villagers, until further negotiations solve the problem temporarily. Besides, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has proposed the closure of Mandur waste disposal unit, following the failure of BBMP to comply with…

Over the last ten days, there has been much excitement among the residents of the Lower Ambalipura Lake area. This 7-acre water body, off Sarjarpur Main Road, is home to several species of birds through the year, but Painted Storks, one of Bangalore's water birds, have been only ocassionally spotted here, singly or in pairs. A Painted Stork at Lower Ambalipura Lake, March 2014, Pic: Sacha Greenwood On 22nd May, five Painted Storks were spotted together. Five Painted Storks at Lower Ambalipura Lake, 22nd May 2014, Pic: Rajesh Rao It didn't take long for the good word to spread (regarding the…

X and V are not finished yet. The basic rescue act is over and the initial impact has been made. Their mission is to find a permanent solution to a decades-old problem, not just beautify a street corner for a feel-good photo-op. It would be a failure if the dump just shifted to the next orphan spot, to the next point of least resistance. V & X are very conscious of this, and have worked out a plan. For a start, they have made friends with all the security guards in the area. All commercial areas have security guards – who are…

Dogs trying to figure out the source of stinking meat on Railway Parallel Road, Malleshwaram. Some residents of Malleshwaram in Bengaluru noticed that there was a foul smell in the air one fine morning, after the first rains. They saw many bags lying around near the railway area on 11th main road. When they checked the bags, there was animal waste dumped by unknown persons, rotting and causing the smell. When they enquired with city administration, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials on how to dispose animal waste, the answer they got was shocking: BBMP does not have a proper…

People's Campaign for Right to water- Karnataka (PCRW-K) is a campaign pushing for a water democracy that protects water as a common property resource and provides safe, sufficient and clean water for all. The campaign also works on protection of lakes, water bodies in Karnataka and conserving water resources as commons. This is a press note from the Campaign, produced as it is. The campaign works to make the state responsible to facilitate people’s participation in nurturing lakes as commons and has repeatedly registered complaints, had series of discussions with the Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka and various concerned departments…

Monday morning, 950am Damn – why is the bus stuck here for so long at Mekhri Circle today?I had left home at 9am with the intention of reaching the Spot by 10am, but looks like I will reach only by 11. Bangalore has this brand new bus system, the G-10, that has made commuting from far-flung suburbs to city centre so much easier. But it seems like everything collapses when a VIP is in town, as all the main roads of Bangalore leading to the airport are blocked this morning. This is ridiculous – why should the overcrowded city be…

Citizens protesting silently in front of BDA against its inability to protect lakes. Pic: Nikita Malusare At 9:38 am on Friday, May 9th 2014, the BDA office was yet to open, but members of the People’s Campaign for Right to Water - Karnataka were already present, protesting silently against the government’s increasing apathy towards lakes in the city of Bengaluru. Pictures speak louder than words, and this was affirmed once more in the protest as no one uttered any slogan. They held posters that showed the current scenario of the lakes in general in the city that are being turned…

In a recent article, I referred to a bicycle as an invention that has been around for more than a 100 years. It is still essentially the same - and that was a good thing. There is another invention that has been around for the same length of time - but that is not so good. It's the humble incandescent bulb. Till fairly recently it has been the primary source of electric light. However, over the last few years, other options have emerged - namely Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) and Light Emitting Diode(LED) bulbs. The question then arises - should one…

  I had seen V & X for the first time on Thursday, the day before their ‘hit’. I was walking down Church Street after a coffee at Koshy’s and was heading towards Blossom Books, when I saw these two guys photographing this ugly garbage pile outside the Times of India building. One of them was literally standing in the pile and holding up a shopping bag he had extricated from the dump, and the other was photographing it.  I did look at them but did not stop – assuming they were from the media; the city’s garbage woes are…