Governance

Going over the stories I had worked on over the past year has been a bittersweet experience. While I was happy to be able to write on important issues, the pain of the people I encountered over the course of writing these stories is one I will carry with me for a long time to come. The thing about large cities like Chennai is how many people's struggles are invisibilised, and their lives relegated to the margins. Some of the stories that I penned endeavoured to spotlight the people who have fallen through the cracks in the system. Here is…

As the 2023 Karnataka Assembly Elections approach, thousands of booth level officers (BLOs), across the state, are going door to door, draft list in hand, to check the accuracy of electoral rolls. BLOs are government, semi-government or retired government employees, who check that electoral rolls are accurate and up to date at the level of a polling booth (also called part). This is the third and final part of a series looking deeper into the implications of the Bengaluru voter data theft controversy. Part I: Illegal voter data collection: Does it really matter?Part II: Illegal voter data collection: How can…

There is a distinct possibility that many residences in Chennai stand on what would have been a waterbody or agricultural land decades ago. So, how did it become a residential plot? How was construction even allowed on such land? Most likely, because the builder applied for land reclassification by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) before construction of houses in these locations. Around 70% of the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) constituted agricultural lands before CMDA formed its First Master Plan in 1976. According to the Second Master Plan, only 12% of agricultural lands are remaining. According to researchers, waterbodies have…

On a foggy morning on December 4th, when night temperatures in Srinagar had plummeted to minus 3.4 degrees Celsius, Adil Ahmed, a labourer with Jammu and Kashmir-based Hassan Road Construction Company (HRCC) Ltd, was busy digging a road at Lal Chowk, the heart of Srinagar city. Ahmed, a resident of the Charar-e-Shareef area of Central Kashmir’s Budgam district had decided to stay back in Srinagar in winter to earn some extra bucks for his sister’s marriage slated for April next year. “At present, I am part of a project under Srinagar Smart City in Lal Chowk area,” says Ahmed. There…

Rajanikanth, a local real estate agent, has been visiting the Indira Canteen, located in Majestic, for a month now. He has been having breakfast and dinner regularly and lunch occasionally at the canteen. The Indira Canteen in Ward 94 in Gandhinagar is located almost equidistant from the city railway station, bus stations, and the metro station. It caters to people from across different socio-economic backgrounds, including drivers and conductors, morning joggers, commuters using different public transport, among others. Many customers are regular patrons of this canteen. There are five employees, who run the canteen, and who perform different roles, such as cashier, server and cleaner. “In…

In a previous article, we looked at how personal data illegally collected by the NGO Chilume can impact the privacy and safety of voters as well as affect the integrity of our elections. The News Minute (TNM) and Pratidhvani reported that workers and external vendors, hired by Chilume, posed as booth level officials (BLOs), complete with identity cards signed by BBMP election officials, to illegally collect voter data. This is the second part of a series looking deeper into the implications of the Bengaluru voter data theft controversy. Part I: Illegal voter data collection: Does it really matter? Part II:…

This is the second story of a two-part series on why finding a sustainable solution to regulate Delhi’s legal and illegal street vendors is so difficult. You can read Part I here. Kuldip Singh Sawhney, president of the Sarojini Market Shopkeepers' Association, says they moved a case against the street vendors in the Delhi High Court in September 2021. “Our plea was that according to the Master Plan 2021, the vendors holding capacity of this market is 60 to 80. On an adhoc basis, 65 vegetable stalls were allowed and there are 125 Thareja vendors. In addition, 324 of the…

The  voter data scam, uncovered by The News Minute (TNM) and Pratidhvani, has raised concerns over the breach of privacy and the misuse of voter data. At the heart of the issue is the actual voter data. This is the first part of a series looking deeper into the implications of the Bengaluru voter data theft controversy. Part I: Illegal voter data collection: Does it really matter? (this article)Part II: Illegal voter data collection: How can we protect our privacy?Part III: Illegal voter data collection: Frontline workers of election management The crucial allegation against the NGO Chilume Educational Cultural and…

This is the first of a two part story on why finding a sustainable solution to regulate Delhi’s legal and illegal street vendors is so difficult. Ask the best-dressed girl in Lady Shri Ram College or Miranda House where she bought the smart top she is wearing, chances are she will tell you “SN (Sarojini Nagar market)”. The checked cots wool shirt or cushion covers and tablecloth with exquisite embroidery in that posh Gurugram apartment would most probably also have been “picked up “as a “bargain” or to “help the craftspersons/roadside vendors”, from the footpath in Janpath. Ditto for the…

The Navi Mumbai Draft Development Plan 2018-2038 is the first development plan to be formulated since the formation of the Municipal Corporation. When Navi Mumbai was conceptualised, planning authorities wanted to decongest Mumbai and shift industrial and housing demands to Navi Mumbai. Housing has always been one of the primary concerns for the financial capital of the country. The City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), a planning authority in Navi Mumbai, was therefore tasked with the responsibility of identifying land for industrial, residential, commercial usage, etc. [Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is the planning authority of Navi Mumbai, but CIDCO and…