Where have all our gunda thopes gone? : a meeting of old friends Maranna and Lakshmamma = ಗುಂಡು ತೋಪುಗಳೆತ್ತ ಹೋದವು ? : ಹಳೆಯ ಗೆಳೆಯ ಮಾರಣ್ಣನ ಜೊತೆ ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಮ್ಮನ ಭೇಟ

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಹೊರವಲಯದ ಅಂಚಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನೂರಾರು ವರ್ಷಗಳಿಂದ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ— ಈಗಲೂ ಇರುವ—ಹಳ್ಳಿಯನ್ನು ಹದಿನೆಂಟರ ನೂತನ ವಧು ಮದುವೆಯ ಸಡಗರದಲ್ಲಿ ಬೀಳ್ಕೊಡುತ್ತಾಳೆ. ಆನಂತರ, ತನ್ನ ಗಾರೆಕೆಲಸದ ಗಂಡನ ಜೊತೆ, ಅತ್ತೆ ಮಾವನ ಜೊತೆ, ಸಂಸಾರ ಹೂಡಲು ಮಹಾನಗರದ ಜನನಿಬಿಡ ಕೊಂಪೆಯೊಂದನ್ನು ಸೇರುತ್ತಾಳೆ

Where have all our gunda thopes gone? : a meeting of old friends Vrikshbaba and Lakshmi = कहाँ गई हमारी वन-वाटिकाएँ? : पुराने दोस्त वृक्षबाबा और लक्ष्मी की मुलाकात

यह एक काल्पनिक कथा है। लेकिन बेंगलुरु की सरहद पर वह अनाम गाँव ठीक वैसा ही है जैसा कि यहाँ चित्रित किया गया है। वाटिकाओं का अस्तित्व भी है। कहानी के सारे तत्व गाँव के निवासी के साथ हुई हमारी बातचीत से लिए गए हैं। यह कथा बेंगलुरु की एक वन-वाटिका की हो सकती है। लेकिन भारत के तमाम शहरों के ऐसे वृक्षकुंज, जिनमें कुछ अलग तरह के पेड़ हो सकते हैं, शहरीकरण के ऐसे ही ख़तरों का सामना कर रहे हैं। हम उम्मीद करते हैं कि यह कहानी हमें अपने आसपास की प्रकृति के बारे में और जानने में मदद करेगी। हमें उम्मीद है कि आपमें से जो भी इस कहानी को पढ़ेंगे, पेड़ों और वाटिकाओं — शहरों में हमारे प्रहरी और साथी— की समझ उन्हें और समृद्ध करेगी

21 days and counting : COVID-19 lockdown, migrant workers, and the inadequacy of welfare measures in India

On the 25th of March the Prime Minister (PM), Mr. Narendra Modi, announced a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the novel Coronavirus, COVID-19.. The decision, while imminent, was unplanned and unilaterally made without any consultation with the state governments. This has consequently caught millions of migrant workers and the bureaucracy off-guard, leaving them no time to plan for such an emergency. While millions of migrants successfully reached their home states, only to be quarantined in camps, many remain stranded far from home, with no money or food. We are therefore confronting a lethal combination of crises: health, hunger, sanitation, and trauma, both physical and psychological

Lakes of Bengaluru : the once living, but now endangered peri-urban commons

Cities of the Global South are expanding both spatially and demographically. While urbanization may contribute to economic growth and employment generation, the impacts of urbanization on sustainability of cities is manifold. One area that is witnessing rapid land use change as a result of urbanization is the peri-urban interface of cities in India. This is especially true in the case of natural spaces that are also common pool resources. In this working paper, we examine the transformation of lakes in the peri-urban interface of Bengaluru city in the south Indian state of Karnataka. Based on GPS observations and interviews, we found that lakes in our study area varied in status and use: ranging from those in a good condition that served multiple uses to those converted to other forms of land use, resulting in loss of all services. We also accessed archival information to underscore the role that one of the lakes in the study area played in serving as a source of water during a time of scarcity. Using the example of lakes in Bengaluru, this paper presents the threats faced by commons in the peri-urban interface of rapidly expanding cities in the Global South. These threats are not restricted to changes to land use alone, but also concern their transformation into recreational sites at the cost of users who depend on them for livelihood and subsistence. We argue for management of the lakes in the peri-urban interface not only as ecosystems that supports ecological and economic uses, but as commons that are a reflection of the diversity and heterogeneity that cities such as Bengaluru represent

Worksheets based on the storybook : where have all our gunda thopes gone?

What are commons or common pool resources? Commons are resources that are used and collectively managed by a community. In the villages, forests, rivers, lakes, gunda thopes (wooded grove), gaumala (grazing land), and ponds are all commons. These are natural resources from which communities get some benefits such as food, water, medicine, fuelwood and timber, and many other raw materials for household usage and also for selling it to other people. Local communities also care for these natural resources by laying down rules on how these commons can be used. In cities, one can say that lakes and parks are instances of commons

Sustainability in higher education for the global south a conversation across geographies and disciplines

A workshop on ‘Sustainability in Higher Education from the vantage of the Global South’ was organized by the Azim Premji University between 12 and 14 January 2015 in Bengaluru, India. Its goal was to explore how sustainability can be integrated into undergraduate, postgraduate and professional courses. The workshop was divided into four sessions with interlinked themes – the first, with a focus on framing sustainability; the second, on integrating sustainability in higher education; the third, on sustainability curricula; and the last, on pedagogy for sustainability. All four sessions were informed by the broader educational goal of enabling students from diverse backgrounds to envision, conceptualise, research and implement sustainability in varied personal and professional contexts. Participants of the workshop drew upon their varied experiences, from India and institutions across the world, in the teaching and learning of the multidimensional concept of sustainability in diverse geographies. The questions, counterquestions, discussions and potential solutions raised during the workshop are presented in this paper in a dialogic styl

Sustainability in higher education for the global south: A conversation across geographies and disciplines

A workshop on ‘Sustainability in Higher Education from the vantage of the Global South’ was organized by the Azim Premji University between 12 and 14 January 2015 in Bengaluru, India. Its goal was to explore how sustainability can be integrated into undergraduate, postgraduate and professional courses. The workshop was divided into four sessions with interlinked themes – the first, with a focus on framing sustainability; the second, on integrating sustainability in higher education; the third, on sustainability curricula; and the last, on pedagogy for sustainability. All four sessions were informed by the broader educational goal of enabling students from diverse backgrounds to envision, conceptualise, research and implement sustainability in varied personal and professional contexts. Participants of the workshop drew upon their varied experiences, from India and institutions across the world, in the teaching and learning of the multidimensional concept of sustainability in diverse geographies. The questions, counterquestions, discussions and potential solutions raised during the workshop are presented in this paper in a dialogic style

How a tree-hugging protest transformed Indian environmentalism

Fifty years ago this week, Gaura Devi, an ordinary woman from a nondescript village in India, hugged a tree, using her body as a shield to stop the tree from being cut down. Little did she know that this simple act of defiance would be a seminal moment in the history of India and the world. Or that Reni village, where she lived, would come to be recognized as the fountainhead of the Chipko environmental movement