GENRE: Voices

I was surprised to see news reports that the Women's Right Commission (WRC) chief has written to the DGP and the Home Minister asking the State to discourage the Kiss of Love protest, because she felt it was uncivilised. In some ways, it shows how little she understands what her own job is. The WRC is intended to be a progressive body. If all that is required in a commission like this is that it should merely reflect whatever is going on in society, we would not need it at all. Child rights, women's rights, gender rights, dalit rights, minority…

On October 2nd, Prime Minister Modi announced Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Mission Clean India. In his speech, he appealed to Indians to devote 100 hours every year towards the cause of cleanliness. He also stated, “It is our social responsibility as citizens of India to help fulfil Gandhiji's vision of Clean India, by his 150th birth anniversary in 2019.” Since then, the media has been reporting of clean-up drives across the country, involving bigwigs from the industry, celebrities, politicians, NGOs and what not, almost on a daily basis. Why, some politicians even arranged for garbage to be littered, so that they had…

On October 2nd, Prime Minister Modi announced Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Mission Clean India. In his speech, he appealed to Indians to devote 100 hours every year towards the cause of cleanliness. He also stated, “It is our social responsibility as citizens of India to help fulfil Gandhiji's vision of Clean India, by his 150th birth anniversary in 2019.” Since then, the media has been reporting of clean-up drives across the country, involving bigwigs from the industry, celebrities, politicians, NGOs and what not, almost on a daily basis. Why, some politicians even arranged for garbage to be littered, so that they had…

  A Rainwater Harvesting system was implemented in Vivek Khanna's residence in Shubh Enclave in early 2009. The system comprised storage of rooftop rainwater in a large 15,000 litre sump as well as two recharge wells of 5ft diameter and 30ft depth.    A chance encounter with Vivek Khanna at Kasavanahalli lake today revealed that his sump fills up with water every time it rains, reducing his dependence on ground water. His recharge wells have not only kept his borewell running but also resulted in water in the newly dug borewells of his downstream neighbours (probably because of the recharge)…

  A Rainwater Harvesting system was implemented in Vivek Khanna's residence in Shubh Enclave in early 2009. The system comprised storage of rooftop rainwater in a large 15,000 litre sump as well as two recharge wells of 5ft diameter and 30ft depth.    A chance encounter with Vivek Khanna at Kasavanahalli lake today revealed that his sump fills up with water every time it rains, reducing his dependence on ground water. His recharge wells have not only kept his borewell running but also resulted in water in the newly dug borewells of his downstream neighbours (probably because of the recharge)…

A rising spate of regulations in the education sector is slowly choking the supply. And Education departments around the country are catching up to Revenue and Transport departments in their levels of corruption. The irony is that the Education department officials turn a blind eye to the government schools, which often don't meet even the most basic regulatory standards. Unfortunately, parents whose kids are in private schools are not sufficiently worried about this. They believe that schools should be forced to keep fees as low as possible, while delivering quality education. They also believe that their children's schools will pay…

A rising spate of regulations in the education sector is slowly choking the supply. And Education departments around the country are catching up to Revenue and Transport departments in their levels of corruption. The irony is that the Education department officials turn a blind eye to the government schools, which often don't meet even the most basic regulatory standards. Unfortunately, parents whose kids are in private schools are not sufficiently worried about this. They believe that schools should be forced to keep fees as low as possible, while delivering quality education. They also believe that their children's schools will pay…

  Women of the Tigala community looking their best during the Karaga festival at the Dharmarayaswamy Temple. The Tigalas, also referred to as Vanhikula Kshatriyas, are by tradition, gardeners and flower traders whose contribution in nurturing many of the city’s parks including Lalbagh is widely acknowledged. They believe that are the descendants of Veerakumaras –‘hero-sons’, a warrior clan that the mythological princess Draupadi put together to fight the demon Timarasura. A section of the Pete (old Bangalore) area is called Tigalarapete, recognising the predominance of the community in the region. They celebrate what is arguably Bengaluru’s biggest and most well-known…

  Women of the Tigala community looking their best during the Karaga festival at the Dharmarayaswamy Temple. The Tigalas, also referred to as Vanhikula Kshatriyas, are by tradition, gardeners and flower traders whose contribution in nurturing many of the city’s parks including Lalbagh is widely acknowledged. They believe that are the descendants of Veerakumaras –‘hero-sons’, a warrior clan that the mythological princess Draupadi put together to fight the demon Timarasura. A section of the Pete (old Bangalore) area is called Tigalarapete, recognising the predominance of the community in the region. They celebrate what is arguably Bengaluru’s biggest and most well-known…

Author: Sieta Van Horck Bengaluru is full of such trash dumps, though the scenario might change for better in future. Pic:Sandro Miccoli Scenarios such as the picture above are, unfortunately, not uncommon for a person who is taking a stroll through the roads in Bengaluru. This made us wonder—what is happening to the garbage we throw every day? And how is garbage managed in Bengaluru? As you can see in the picture above, currently the system is neither environment friendly nor sustainable. Therefore, we decided that we will focus our project around waste management in Bangalore. This five-month project is…