Articles by Mimansa Sidhnath

Decentralisation is a word that we often hear and appreciate. We, however, see it as a distant concept that operates far from our lives. Images that come to mind when we think of decentralisation are panchayat raj or self-help groups, etc. We do not, for instance, think of this term — which means dissipation of power from one to many — when it comes to urban issues. More often than not, we think of the urban settings as organised spaces. To us, everything falls under the realm of urban planning; that gives us a semblance of structure to the chaotic…

Cities are often thought of as progressive spaces, antithetical to rigid hierarchical systems like caste. Babasaheb Ambedkar himself believed this to be true and advised Dalits to move to cities to escape casteism. Before him, Jyotirao Phule had echoed the same sentiment. However, studies as well as lived experiences suggest that caste continues to shape urban spaces, albeit often invisibly. The same holds true for Bengaluru, even as it is often thought of as one of India's most progressive cities. How does caste continue to play an often invisible, yet important role in Bengaluru? How does it affect different spheres…

Who governs the lakes of our cities? Or should that question be: who should be governing our lakes? Most of us believe it should be the government. A lot of us assume that places like lakes are, by default, to be  taken care of (preserved, maintained and conserved) by the government. And we are not wrong there. It is the government who does that, by default. But what we often don’t realise is that that reality can be changed, and the community that inhabits the areas around these lakes have a big role to play.  At the same time, a…

It was October 23rd, 2020, 10 days since Hyderabad witnessed the highest 24-hour rainfall ever, resulting in a flood-like situation. The sun was shining bright and there were no signs of clouds. At noon, I left for Nadeem Colony, one of the worst affected areas in Hyderabad.  I live just 11 kms from Nadeem Colony, and yet reading about and watching the videos of people in distress gave me an alien feeling, as my area appeared to be in perfect shape. What ails Nadeem Colony, I wondered, as I waited for my Ola bike. As we proceeded on the Old…