Governance

A year ago while I was looking into the spate of evictions in Chennai, I came across the heart-wrenching story of 115 families in Kannappar Thidal. Around 62 families, who were living on the streets near the Ripon building, were evicted in 2002 by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) as their presence was found to be an obstacle to the then-ongoing sporting events and developmental work in the nearby Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. These families were provided a temporary shelter in a building that was originally used to house load-men working in the nearby Southern Railways goods shed. They were promised…

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Ever since the recent successful landing of the Vikram rover on the moon, made possible by a substantial number of women scientists in the ISRO team that did it, the mention of “women-led development” has gained currency in public discourse. The recent piece of legislation providing for women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and all state assemblies will no doubt raise the decibels of this discourse. Even as India celebrated its G20 moment, the government had emphasised its belief in women-led development. The thought finally found takers in Parliament where The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill 2023 was…

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At the entrance of the Jankalyan Society at Dahisar, near the lift, a blackboard asks residents to clear their pending maintenance charges. Signed by the building's Mahila Mandal Sudhar Samiti (MMSS) or resident women's group, the note also urges residents that they would be able to offer better services to residents if maintenance dues are paid on time.  Though a number of garbage bins lie below their building, the provisional committee members of the Society are convinced that their building is cleaner and better maintained compared to other buildings provided by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) Mumbai. Even so, at…

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A study conducted by the Chennai-based NGO, Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC), on World Bank-financed housing projects in Chennai and across Tamil Nadu reveals that nearly four decades after the implementation of the project, a majority of the beneficiaries still await land titles and sale deeds that were promised to them. The study, titled 'Implementation of the World Bank-financed Housing Projects in Tamil Nadu and its Impact on the Deprived Urban Communities', has been compiled based on the existing information and updates available in various citizens’ reports and participatory assessments that were facilitated by IRCDUC…

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The Karnataka government launched the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme on August 30th in Mysuru. Under this scheme, Rs 2,000 will be transferred every month to the bank accounts of the woman head of every eligible family. The state government claims that this scheme will benefit nearly 1.28 crore women across Karnataka, making it one of the largest monetary transfer schemes in India. The scheme is part of the five guarantees by the Congress government. The five welfare schemes include: 200 units of free power to all households under Gruha Jyothi 10 kilograms of rice free to every member of a below…

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"I was not someone who aspired to become a politician. My dad is the reason I am here now. He has been associated with politics and the Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for over two decades. However, I never felt like his involvement in politics was political. It felt more like social service. This made me more interested in politics and when I got the opportunity to contest in the urban local body polls, I went for it," says Nilavarasi Durairaj, the 24-year-old Councillor from Ward 136 in Chennai. Interestingly, Nilavarasi is a full-time MBA student. She balances her studies along…

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The irony was too stark and tragic to ignore. Along with millions of fellow countrymen, I whooped with joy and pride at India becoming the first nation to land its Chandrayan 3 lander safely on the moon’s southern polar region. Unfortunately, the day's newspaper was lying next to me and I could not help notice the headline that stared back at me. A young girl had suffered serious injury as an electric pole fell on her. Just a day or so earlier, the same newspaper had carried a similar headline. Then again, the victim, a young man, had been grievously…

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More than 2400 families from tenements of BDD chawls, have shifted to transit camps over the past year. This is less than half of the number of 5104 tenements meant to be relocated in the Phase-I of the relocation process. While many families from over 16,000 houses will be relocated as part of the BDD redevelopment project, some might opt for rental accommodation on their, and some will shift to their own redeveloped houses as they get ready. If the scale of the project is not overwhelming enough, the initial experiences of residents at transit camps have added to the…

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When the Centre refused to allow the state government to procure rice from the Food Corporation of India, the Anna Bhagya scheme appeared to be in danger. As a solution, the Congress-led state government reduced the amount of food grains supplied through ration shops and initiated cash transfers in lieu of the remaining rice. As per the revamped Anna Bhagya scheme, recipients would now get 3 kgs of rice, 2 kgs of ragi and Rs 170 per person on the ration card. Each household can now get a maximum of 21 kgs of rice and 9 kgs of ragi. In…

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In a little over a year, the BBMP has conducted yet another ward delimitation exercise. In June 2022, the civic body announced that Bengaluru would have 243 wards. On August 18th this year, close to midnight, the civic body announced a fresh delimitation exercise that has yielded 225 wards for the city. What are the major changes in the city’s ward boundaries and how can you, the citizen, engage with these changes? Timeline of events Delimitation is an exercise conducted to redraw ward boundaries and account for the change in ward population over time. This is done to ensure proportional…

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