Environment

On June 30th, the Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde became the 20th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and Bharatiya Janata Party's Devendra Fadnavis returned to power as his deputy. In their first cabinet meeting, held hours after the oath-taking ceremony, the first decision they took was to shift the construction of the metro car shed for the 33.5 km underground Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro Project (Line 3) from Kanjurmarg back to the Aarey Milk Colony in Goregaon. Effectively affecting the Aarey forest as a whole. Backlash followed as environmentalists took to the streets in protest after two-odd years. Commonly known as 'Aarey…

Bengaluru’s pristine environment of the 60s and 70s has, in the past half a century, deteriorated significantly. People who have lived here for the past few decades would have a clear perception of this environmental degradation. Left to itself, the environment in the city’s gated communities too would be much the same as that exists on the outside. When it comes to air pollution, gated communities experience the same pollution as other city residents. Although every individual living in Bengaluru has the duty to work towards reducing pollution, let us look at initiatives gated communities can consciously take, to reduce…

When 36-year-old Rupesh Patil started fishing 20 years ago, taking over the reins of the business from his father, he used to catch a boat full of fresh Surmai (seer fish) or Javla (shrimp) regularly. "But the income in this business is not like before," he says. Patil is a fisher from Worli Koliwada in Mumbai, where other fisherfolk like him who fish at the nearby Cleaveland Bunder have been complaining of a falling catch for the past few years.  Adding to their woes are the rising fuel prices and the destruction that was left behind by Cyclone Tauktae in…

The refrain has become common. That our cities are total unsuited to handle extreme rainfall events in a warming climate scenario. Extreme rainfall events are when a huge amount of rain occurs over a short period of time. And such situations are happening in different part of the country, in Karnataka, Assam and north-east, in recent days as the monsoon season enters its second month. The situation will only worsen, say experts, as the country rapidly urbanises, and urban planning not being in sync with managing and mitigating the effects of such events. “Water entered my house in Chandigarh some…

A people’s protest to ‘Save Aarey’ was held on July 3rd at Picnic Point in Aarey Colony, following the Maharashtra government's decision to overturn the legal protection Aarey had earlier received. The newly-appointed Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took the decision to relocate the metro car shed project back to the forest in his first meeting since taking the oath. The move to reverse the decision of the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government created a stir amongst environmentalists and citizen activists from all over Mumbai and protests were organised almost overnight after the decision was made. However, this project isn’t Aarey's…

With catastrophic rains and severe drought having become a recurrent feature in the recent history of the city, it is time to take climate change and its effects seriously. Chennai needs a comprehensive climate action plan for a holistic approach to preparedness and mitigation. Cities like Mumbai taking the lead show the need for climate action now. While a state-level action plan has been prepared, what actions specific to Chennai could help combat the effects of climate change? Citizen Matters hosted a tweet chat with experts to understand what a climate action plan for Chennai could look like and what must…

Not surprisingly, gardening is probably the most common hobby in Namma Bengaluru, which truly was a 'garden city' when I first came here in 1997. However, over the last two decades, we have all been witness to much of that garden space being taken over by concrete. But we Bengalureans still have that in our DNA, to grow plants wherever we live, whether on the 10th floor of an apartment, in a good old typical Bengaluru house in Jayanagar or in a housing community with individual houses. With my farming background, my decision to buy a house was based on…

The onset of Mumbai's monsoon is loaded with a lot of speculation. Its arrival is forecasted as the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) tracks the seasons’ advance from the south. The forecast also indicates the quantity of rainfall expected across the months of June-September, leaving aside the rainfall pattern, which is harder to predict in advance. Mumbai receives an average 2,500 mm of rainfall in the monsoon months. The city depends on this rain to fill the lakes that supply water for the year. And while this year, Maharashtra expects to surpass its average by 6%, the focus will ultimately be…

Chennai’s potential in terms of harnessing rooftop solar energy is widely spoken about. The city has a rooftop solar potential of 1.38 GW, according to an April 2018 study by Greenpeace India. The domestic or residential segment by itself can account for a capacity of about 586.46MW which is 42.6% of the city’s solar energy potential.  While the picture seems promising on paper, Chennai is nowhere close to making use of the potential of rooftop solar energy in the residential segment for various reasons. In part 1 of the series, we brought to light how realtors in Chennai are flouting…

35% of India’s population lives in big and small cities, and this number is expected to nearly double by the year 2050. These urban environments are increasingly characterised by high population density, ubiquitous and overwhelming concrete construction, inadequate water, sanitation and waste infrastructure, a general lack of green spaces and the commons as well as vanishing biodiversity.  Our existing patterns of urbanisation are also directly releasing greenhouse gases (GHG) into our environment; India’s construction sector alone contributes approximately 25% to our GHG emissions, according to the UNFCCC biennial report on India (2021).  Plus urban areas have been identified as high-risk…