The Brave Pedestrian

New Delhi, 25 April 2016: This weekend was a nightmare for 33-year-old media professional Mukund Prabhakar, because his new car – a one-year-old Hyundai i20 Elite Sportz – went up in flames where it was parked. Mukund, who works for multinational media and communication agency Dentsu Aegis Network at Gurgaon, recounts his ordeal. "I got home early from work around 6 pm on Friday, and parked the car at the nearest possible location from my residence at Khirki Extension, Malviya Nagar. On Saturday, around 2 pm, the person who washes my car called me to say that my car was in flames. When I reached the spot, a big crowd had gathered, including the police. Within minutes, firemen rushed to spot and put out the blaze with water-hoses, leaving behind a junk heap of ashes." Photo: the burning Hyundai i20 in Malviyanagar, new Delhi, before arrival of the Delhi Fire Brigade. Thankfully, other cars were not parked too close to this Hyundai i20, otherwise the fire might hav...

21 April 2016, Mumbai: With the backdrop of the Union Labour Ministry's tripartite consultations reported to be happening today to “assess the impact of the mandated larger pictorial warnings covering 85% of packaging space on the livelihood of 1.50 crore bidi workers”, nine bidi smokers who suffered from cancer, and their bereaved relatives, today wrote a letter to Mr Virjesh Upadhyay, Secretary of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which claims to be the bidi workers' trade union. Download a copy of the open letter on behalf of bidi victims . (Incidentally, bidi-rollers are not the enemy of bidi smokers and their   families, although it is in the name of bidi-rollers that Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh is trying to help the bidi industry evade the 85% pictorial warnings. Bidi-rollers are themselves a downtrodden and exploited lot -- largely dirt-poor child labourers, especially girls, often pushed into debt by the bidi industry contractors, and they have no genuine spokesmen. Bidi...

28 March 2016: An activist friend named Abbaas Naqvi (9892000098) wrote in October 2012 about BMC's modus operandi of defending illegal constructions. Abbaas wrote from his experiences in Malad P-North Ward of BMC/MCGM, where he and other activists (such as Shahnawaz Shaikh 9867768070) were trying to get municipal officials to take action against illegal constructions (especially TV studios) sprouting in the area. Activists are fighting an uphill battle against BMC officials who take undue advantage of their official position. People are losing hope because authorities take no action against errant officials, even when written complaints and evidences are submitted. Civic officials are defeating the town planning by abetting illegal constructions violating Development Control Regulations. No-Development zones are goldmines for officers dealing with unauthorized construction. Below, I am reproducing Abbaas‘ writings. As I am convinced that this is largely factual, I take full ...

23 March 2016, Mumbai: While browsing through my old emails, I found the following letter drafted by some of my fellow activists to the powers-that-be a few years back, when Prithviraj Chavan was Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and Sitaram Kunte was the Municipal Commissioner. Methinks this letter is as relevant today as when it was written, back in December 2013. Activist friends like Abbaas Rizvi, who have been working to thwart the encroachment mafias in Mumbai, tell me that the issues that this letter points out are still as bad as ever. And so, I am reproducing this letter here for everyone to read, and hopefully to copy-paste onto their own letterhead, sign and send to the Chief Minister and our civic bosses.    To Hon’ble Chief   Minister of Maharashtra,   Mantralaya   Chief Secretary of Maharashtra,   Mantralaya   Principal Secretary-I, Urban Development Dept   Municipal Commissioner, BMC Head Office, Mahapalika Marg. ...