Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited targets August launch for Yellow Line
Rao said the Metro network is projected to reach a milestone of 1.4 million daily commuters once the 18.8km line — from Rashtreeya Vidyalaya Road to Bommasandra — is fully operational.
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Indian Express
7 hours ago
- Indian Express
To survive Bengaluru, all you need is a little perspective
It's past three in the afternoon, and we are on our regular trek back home, in a big blue BMTC bus, which is the acronym for the Bengaluru City public buses, after a long, hard but happy day teaching elementary school. What should take 45-minutes is now taking double the time, something to do with the fact that almost every second road is being dug up, repaired, cemented and built upon — some roads have flyover and Metro construction work going on simultaneously — and everywhere there is a cacophony of angry honking, ambulance sirens blaring and the occasional yell from an incensed driver. This is good, as it usually drowns out the monotonous drive-you-crazy drone of a seven-year-old chatting his buddy up, who possesses a lilting glass-shattering voice — all the way back home; they never seem to run out of things to say. Today, though, something is wrong with the bus, and there's a steady, high-pitched beeping that's promising to accompany us all the way back home, as the driver and conductor both have no idea what's causing it. A day in the life of a typical Bangalorean, but hey, who's complaining? All you need is a little perspective. For, if I were suddenly on my deathbed (god forbid), wouldn't I die — wrong word, but you get the drift — to leap back into all this wonderful life-affirming chaos? Wouldn't I ache to shout at the watchman for not planning for the next water shortage that's suddenly reared its ugly head, and hire that expensive tanker to come over and fill up our dried-up sumps? And as for the unseasonal rain that has the cute habit of flooding the roads, it's simply time to turn on our laptops and go 'online', no matter that no real work gets done during those classes. Jokes apart, I really think I would. Because these are small problems. Compared to what I see unfolding around me — wars, genocides, caste-conflicts, murders, victory parades turning to tragedies — a city that is falling apart is small stuff. I just have to hold my breath as a whiff of garbage or the stink of pee wafts through my nostrils, as the bus makes a sudden, sharp turn, and shortly, I can breathe again. Also, there is that small thing — the people. If nothing else, we have each other. The receptionist at my GP's clinic tells me (softly) that the later she goes home from the clinic, the worse the commute, and that she's been getting drenched regularly in the pre-monsoon showers; a visit a few weeks later, and a new receptionist is checking my BP. The doctor educates me on the need to drink only boiled and cooled water, as the stomach bug I have may be waterborne. He explains that with all the digging of the roads in the city, the water pipes are getting contaminated, and that the drinking water is possibly getting infected, too. I nod and continue drinking my usual filtered water, and perhaps, manage to frighten that stomach bug away. Speaking of infections, my problem is that this city has found a way to get under my skin. It's hard to live in it, but I don't think I can live outside of it either. Maybe it's the sweet sambar served with a hot, oily dosa at my favourite Darshini. Perhaps, the gentle pleasure of reading a few lines in Kannada, whilst not being able to recognise each letter separately anymore, just that the whole makes sense. The old Bangalore lingo my fellow teachers and I slip into when we're complaining about how bad things are — 'No men, the electricity was off all night'. Or, the yellow Tabebuia that never fails to show up in all her glory every spring, lighting up the view from my balcony. Commercial Street and her tailors, who never give you your clothes on time, but always have a polite excuse delivered with a smile. The quiet graveyard on Hosur Road, with its huge shady trees, where, in season, a bed of cream and rose-tipped Pongamia flower buds drown your naked feet as you stand beside the graves of loved ones, sending up a prayer. All this and so much more. Like a wise man said, 'If you wake up in the morning, are safe at home, in good health and have enough for the day, you have all the good things in this world'. Amen to that. Sulaiman is a writer and teacher
Indian Express
a day ago
- Indian Express
Decode Politics: Why a forest rights order has sparked differences between Chhattisgarh govt depts
A unilateral directive by the Chhattisgarh Forest Department in May on community forest resources (CFR) has sparked a turf war within the administration, apart from creating a furore among tribal communities and environmental activists. In its May order, the Forest Department barred all other government departments, and non-governmental and private organisations, from carrying out any work related to CFR – which refers to common forest land that has been traditionally protected and conserved for sustainable use by a particular community – until the Centre creates a scientific template for such forest resources. However, this has raised the concern of the Tribal Welfare Department given that Chhattisgarh's sizeable and politically significant tribal communities have been given rights over the management of CFR areas under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, and the issue technically falls within its domain. What was the Forest Department's directive? In the absence of guidelines on aligning the execution of local CFR management plans with the National Working Plan Code, 2023, inconsistencies in the implementation of CFR rights were being seen increasingly, a forest official said. Field officers were uncertain whether to adhere to previously approved working plans or accommodate unstructured community-prepared plans, leading to administrative confusion and potential deviation from scientific forest management practices. On May 15, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) V Sreenivasa Rao issued a directive saying that the Centre had issued detailed guidelines regarding proper management of CFR rights, and that the Supreme Court too had said that the management of forest areas be based on scientific methods. The directive further said that a March 2024 joint letter issued by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, had clarified that the Tribal Ministry would prepare 'a Model Community Forest Rights Management Plan / Micro-plan' in accordance with the Environment Ministry's National Working Plan Code, 2023. '(It) will then be shared with all the states,' the directive said. Rao said that the Chhattisgarh Forest Department had requested for a copy of this model management plan, and that further decisions by it on forest management would be based on it. 'At present, the provisions of the National Working Plan Code, 2023 are applicable in the entire notified forest area,' the PCCF said, adding that till the model management plan was received, 'no other department or NGOs or private organisations should do any kind of work within the CFR rights-allotted forest area'. 'At present, no plan other than the working plan approved by (the Union Environment Ministry) can be implemented in the entire forest area of the state,' Rao said. What are the directive's implications for forest-dwelling communities? The directive effectively stops all the community-related work done by forest dwellers to conserve, protect and manage forest resources. With the Chhattisgarh government recognising CFR rights only in 2022, much of the work related to such land remains at a nascent stage. As per the Chhattisgarh government, there are at least 11,450 villages with the potential to be granted CFR rights, but only 4,396 villages have received it so far. The recent directive has halted the further implementation of CFR rights. The directive also stalls the implementation of the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, a Central scheme granting Rs 15 lakh to each gram sabha for development purposes. As part of its CFR rights, a gram sabha must submit development plans to the District Level Monitoring Committee, headed by the district collector and including a forest official. In the wake of last month's directive, these monitoring committees are no longer processing the gram sabha plans. One such plan concerns Dhudmaras, situated in the heart of Kanger Valley National Park that was selected last year by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation for its Best Tourism Village Upgrade programme. The directive will affect forest dwellers who are largely from Scheduled Tribe (STs), including Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), and Scheduled Caste (SC) communities. Chhattisgarh has four Lok Sabha (out of 11) and 29 Assembly seats (out of 90) reserved for STs, while 10 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat are reserved for SCs. How have affected communities and political parties reacted? On Wednesday, villagers across nine districts – Dhamtari, Surguja, Kanker, Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi, Narayanpur, Gariaband, Mahasamund, Balod and Bastar – submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai against the directive, alleging it was passed to weaken the Forest Rights Act and constitutional rights of gram sabhas in Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh Congress chief and tribal leader Deepak Baij said, 'The BJP government has put all the laws of the Forest Rights Act on hold in Chhattisgarh and they are trying to steal the jal, jungle and zameen (water, forest and land) and minerals of tribals to help private corporations. The forest department is not following the law.' However, state BJP spokesperson Sanjay Srivastav said, 'We are looking into the issue. The BJP will not infringe upon tribal rights and a decision will be taken in the people's favour.' How has the Tribal Department reacted? Sonmoni Borah, who is the Principal Secretary, Tribal Development, Scheduled Caste Development, and Other Backward Classes and Minority Development Departments, maintains that it is the Tribal Department which is the nodal agency on the issue, with the Forest Department a 'supporting authority'. '(The May directive) is being examined… For ensuring the implementation of CFR rights, the Forest Department has the coordination role,' Borah said, adding that they are speaking with the Forest Department and have also sought clarification from the Centre. Forest rights activists have also questioned the Forest Department's move. Environmental activist Alok Shukla said, 'The directive reflects the department's persistent mindset of maintaining absolute control over forest management. This approach stands in direct contradiction to the Forest Rights Act, which not only recognises the community rights of forest dwellers but also empowers them to plan, protect, and manage forest resources independently. It appears to be a desperate attempt by the department to undermine the remarkable progress made by forest-dependent communities.' Another activist, Bijay Bhai, who is also national convener of tribal rights group Bharat Jan Andolan, said the consequences could be widespread. 'On a large scale, (the government) will divert forest land for corporations. Secondly, the democratic governance of forest areas as envisioned by the Forest Rights Act is going to be dismantled. Also, the forest bureaucracy will be strengthened by this and ultimately tribal people and other forest dwellers would get displaced from their ancestral areas.' How has the Forest Department reacted to the opposition to its directive? Countering the Tribal Department's concerns, PCCF Rao said: 'In the absence of a clear directive, there was a serious risk that forest areas would be managed based on unvetted or ad hoc community resource plans… This could have resulted in ecological mismanagement, conflicts between gram sabhas and forest officials, and legal challenges regarding the violation of existing norms… Additionally, it could have jeopardised sustainable forest practices, wildlife habitats, and the long-term ecological balance in sensitive forest zones.' Rao added that the opposition to the Forest Department's initiative seems to stem 'from a misunderstood perception that the directive undermines the spirit of community autonomy envisaged under the Forest Rights Act'.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Time of India
Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited targets August launch for Yellow Line
Bengaluru: Namma Metro's Yellow Line is likely to become operational by Aug, BMRCL MD Maheshwar Rao said at an event Wednesday, expressing confidence in meeting the revised timeline. Rao said the Metro network is projected to reach a milestone of 1.4 million daily commuters once the 18.8km line — from Rashtreeya Vidyalaya Road to Bommasandra — is fully operational.
