Governance

Over the past two decades, Chennai has weathered a tsunami, repeated floods, and now, according to a new study, a rapidly worsening mix of heat and rain. Heatwave-preconditioned extreme rainfall events in the Chennai Metropolitan Area have nearly tripled over four decades, rising from an average of 1.2 events a year between 1982 and 1991 to 3.2 events a year between 2012 and 2021. When a heatwave comes before the rain, the same study finds, the population exposed to flooding rises elevenfold and the number of buildings affected rises seven-fold. A separate assessment projects that heatwave days in the city…

On September 6, a five-storey boys' Paying Guest (PG) accommodation collapsed in Satya Niketan, near Delhi University's South Campus, leaving seven people dead. This video looks beyond the single building to ask how the neighbourhood reached this point. Delhi has had a formal planning system since the DDA was set up in 1957 and the first Master Plan followed in 1962. Yet Satya Niketan has grown into a dense student housing hub. Officials say the collapsed building had permission for only the ground plus first floors. Ayush Anilal, an architect, studied the area for his thesis. He explains how intensely…

The Karnataka Apartment (Ownership and Management) Bill, 2026 (KAOMA) changes how a homeowner's share of the land is calculated — and the new formula gives the individual less than what the old law, that is the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972 (KAOA), promised. The KAOMA Bill was passed by the Karnataka legislature in August, but is yet to receive assent from the Governor, who has sought clarifications on certain provisions. What is UDI and why does it matter? When you buy an apartment, you buy two things: The flat — a depreciating asset (buildings lose value over time). Your Undivided…

On August 11, the Urban Development Department quietly published the draft Greater Bengaluru Authority (Parking) Rules, 2026 — the legal framework  meant to give teeth to Bengaluru's much-discussed Parking Policy 2.0. Citizens have thirty days to send in objections. Yet, few will read all eighteen pages of the notification. Fewer still will notice that a law framed as a way to curb traffic demand is, on close reading, a plan to expand parking supply and hand over enforcement to private players, while leaving the ordinary resident worse off.  That gap between the promise and what’s on paper matters, because parking…

While the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process aims to clean up electoral rolls, the enumeration forms created innumerable hurdles for existing voters. From tracking down elusive 2002 voter details to coordinating with overworked Booth Level Officers (BLOs), citizens across Bengaluru faced a daunting task completing the registration process. Recognising these challenges in their own neighbourhoods, volunteers led by three active citizens—Poongothai, Aparna Shamanth, and Venkatachalam Subramaniam—took it upon themselves to help people in their community and beyond.   Mapping the confusion in Gottigere Poongothai lives in Gottigere, which falls under the Bengaluru South assembly constituency. Her community consists of around 400…

The Greater Bengaluru Integrated Township (GBIT) in Bidadi, first notified in March 2025, received its final notification in June 2026 under the Karnataka Urban Development Authorities Act (KUDA Act), 1987. The project is branded as India's first and largest AI City, featuring an AI-integrated township. The project will be implemented by the Greater Bengaluru Development Authority (GBDA) under the same act. Three villages, Kempainapalya, Vaderahalli, and Mandalahalli are notified in the Gazette under Section 19(1) of the KUDA Act for the implementation of a development scheme, deemed as public purpose. The development scheme is spread over a total of 7,481…

In Karnataka's Special Summary Revision (SIR), all enumeration forms have now been digitised. Out of the state's 5.54 crore electors, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have signed and collected forms for over 4.45 crore voters. However, 1,09,13,776 voters, representing 19.69% of the electorate, have been categorised under the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate, and Others (ASDDO) list. Following the publication of the ASDDO list on August 4, election officials verified and removed three lakh voters from the list within the first six days. To check your registration details, search the electoral roll, or access voter verification services, visit the Chief Electoral Officer,…

Recently, on my way home from my office in Bengaluru, I noticed that the street vendor who usually sat across from my office building had disappeared. It wasn't until I began following news reports that I realised her absence was part of something much larger. Following the Supreme Court's judgement on walkability in June 2026, city governments launched eviction drives against the most vulnerable users of streets and footpaths in India. Within weeks, street vendors across Mysore, Bengaluru, and Kolkata were evicted from footpaths without notice. News reports described altercations between evicted street vendors and civic officials as the eviction…

While the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is currently on in Karnataka, people have been confused about voter roll updates. Following the initial chaos over filling out enumeration forms, the Election Commission of India (ECI) extended the deadline for the process.   To assist residents who lack any of the 11 standard documents specified by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the State government announced fast-track issuance of Permanent Residential Certificates (PRCs). The list of documents to prove one’s citizenship in the Claims and Objections phase of the SIR process includes birth certificate, passport, matriculation certificate, forest rights certificate, or caste certificate.…

For Rayyan Monkey, a transgender voter from Mumbai, the SIR does not just threaten her right to vote. It also risks her ability to travel freely and exist as a woman in the country. Raised abroad before moving to Mumbai, Rayyan was left unmapped on the voter lists because her parents did not vote in 2002. The only way for her to complete her progeny mapping is to provide either her grandfather’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) card or her father’s birth certificate. However, after coming out to her family, Rayyan has been estranged from her extended relatives. Her father’s documents,…