Meera K, is an Ashoka Fellow and was earlier a Knight Fellow at the International Centre for Journalists, runs Citizen Matters an online portal that aggregates citizen stories. With her experience in civic activism, open data and trying to get people to contribute to civic affairs, she unravels how we have changed as a society in talking about our urban issues.

Welcome to another episode of the OoruLabs podcast from Bengaluru. 

Ever complained how bad our cities are? How bad your commute is? You’ll get to hear from people who are working to solve these problems in their own way.

This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability with Sathya Sankaran

Stock video credits to various contributors on Pexels, Pixabay and Mixkit. Additional footage sourced from Nihar Thakkar and Citizen Matters

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Timecodes

00:00 - Introduction & context

01:12 - Citizen journalism

09:06 - Active Citizen Maturity Model

13:50 - Hyperlocal information & action

26:32 - Neighbourhood matters

32:37 - New activism

44:50 - Resilience and change

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Profile of Meera K - https://www.linkedin.com/in/meerak/

Citizen matters - https://citizenmatters.in

Podcast with Rasheed Kappan on Newspapers and news media - https://youtu.be/XLKKTs9tCZk 

Elon musk on citizen journalism - https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1709475380715823349?s=20 

Kaikondrahalli lake, where activism and citizen journalism meets - https://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/section/kaikondrahalli-lake

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Pawan Mulukutla, Director of Integrated Transport, Electric Mobility & Hydrogen, WRI India, talks about the country's readiness to make the transition to clean fuels. While there is a market momentum in electric mobility, there are challenges as well. We explore the industry and product readiness in hydrogen and biofuels as well.

Welcome to another episode of the OoruLabs podcast from Bengaluru.  This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability with Sathya Sankaran.

Stock video credits to various contributors on Pexels, Pixabay and Mixkit. Additional footage sourced from Nihar Thakkar, First post and EV reporter

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Timecodes

00:00 - Introduction & context

00:47 - The problems

03:18 - The Opportunities & challenges

08:50 - The Electric Vehicle

10:40 - The Swapping/Charging debate

13:57 - The other fuels

16:14 - The Hydrogen

19:23 - The E-Buses

29:33 - The grid

35:16 - The policies

41:38 - The cities & states

44:30 - The real conversation

48:41 - The goals

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Profile of Pawan Mulukutla - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawanmulukutla/

Profile of WRI India - https://wri-india.org 

PM e-bus sea scheme - https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1949430

FAME scheme of Government of India - https://fame2.heavyindustries.gov.in

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18 million people turn 18 each year in India and we have over a 100 million people surplus in agriculture. Unless we create 20 million new jobs each year, India’s dream of a demographic dividend could easily turn into a nightmare!  This is the title of the 20 million jobs project that Sridhar Krishna has been driving. He is a Senior Scholar at the Takshashila Institution and leads the 20 Million Jobs project. He graduated from BITS, Pilani and has an MBA from SP Jain, Mumbai. He works with startups helping them scale and with a civil society organisation on judicial reform. Till recently, he was a Managing Director at Accenture where he worked on analytics and AI.

Welcome to the OoruLabs podcast (https://podcast.oorulabs.com). Ever complained how bad our cities are? How bad your commute is? You’ll get to hear from people who are working to solve these problems. This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability with Sathya Sankaran 

Stock video credits to respective contributors from Mixkit, Pixabay, Pexel and others.

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Timecodes

00:00 - Introduction & context

01:18 - Cities Vs. Villages

07:02  - Where are the jobs?

13:29 - Lets get Gurmeet a job

21:10 - Comparative advantages

24:40 - AI and Job losses

31:49 - Green jobs

34:23 - Size matters

37:10 - The Government

44:00 - Politics of the city

46:50 - 2 to 20 million

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Profile of Sridhar Krishna -  https://www.linkedin.com/in/sridharkrishna/

Link to the Takshashila page of the 20 million jobs project and associated resources - https://takshashila.org.in/20mj

World Bank article on Career Impact bonds - https://blogs.worldbank.org/peoplemove/career-impact-bonds-financing-upskilling-fill-worlds-vacancies 

Karnataka Skill Development Corporation and its activities - https://kaushalkar.karnataka.gov.in/english 

Anupam Manur on overqualified gig workers - https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/opinion/the-many-messages-from-ncaers-report-on-food-delivery-gig-workers-11305271.html

Economist article on the Manufacturing Delusion - https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/07/13/the-world-is-in-the-grip-of-a-manufacturing-delusion

Nitin Pai on building new cities - https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/opinion-the-relocation-of-state-capitals-could-boost-india-s-economy-1557490355813.html 

World Economic Forum Future of jobs report 2023 - https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2023/

Low trust economy podcast with Surya Prakash BS of Daksh - https://youtu.be/2GHTwWPlkB0 

City and municipal finance podcast with Srikanth Vishwanathan of Janaagraha - https://youtu.be/fIMKPW59jqM 

MSME 45 days payment rule - https://msme.gov.in/faqs/q33-what-are-guidelines-delayed-payment-dues-mse-borrowers

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Srikanth Vishwanathan, Chief Executive Officer of Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy unpacks city finances. Why is infrastructure in our cities failing? Are cities mismanaging the finances? Are they unable to tap the right sources of funding? What is the impact of a dysfunctional city finance corporation? What are the reforms in municipal finances?

Welcome to the OoruLabs podcast (https://podcast.oorulabs.com). Ever complained how bad our cities are? How bad your commute is? You’ll get to hear from people who are working to solve these problems. This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability with Sathya Sankaran 

Stock video credits to respective contributors from Mixkit, Pixabay, Pexel and others.

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Timecodes

00:00 - Introduction

01:20 - No money!

04:48 - Where is the money?

10:08 - Budgets and properties

26:09 - Governance atrophy

42:52 - Unimaginative thinking

56:00 - Decentralising further

01:05:24 - Conclusion

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Profile of Srikanth Vishwanathan -  (https://www.linkedin.com/in/srikanth-viswanathan-087b2735/

Municipal finance work by Janagraaha - https://www.janaagraha.org/works/municipal-finance/ 

Resources and reports from Janagraaha - https://www.janaagraha.org/resources/ 

———

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Website: https://podcast.oorulabs.com 

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Sandhya Narayanan of Solid Waste Management Round Table unpacks the biggest problem plaguing our cities today: Trash, Litter, Waste. She lays blame squarely where it belong while walking us through the tremendous progress made over the past decade and the work that remains to be done.

Welcome to the OoruLabs podcast (https://podcast.oorulabs.com). Ever complained how bad our cities are? How bad your commute is? You’ll get to hear from people who are working to solve these problems. This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability with Sathya Sankaran 

Stock video credits to respective contributors from Mixkit, Pixabay, Pexel and others.

—

Timecodes

00:00 - Introduction & Context

01:29 - Design, behaviour etc

10:06 - Whose fault?

17:24 - The journey with SWMRT

32:05 - The break in the chain

43:00 - Capacity & corruption

50:07 - Waste market

59:10 - Conclusion

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Profile of Sandhya Narayanan -  https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandya-narayanan-0a3a68238/ 

Link to report https://borgenproject.org/indias-waste-management/ 

Solid Waste Management Round Table - www.swmrt.com 

———

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Website: https://podcast.oorulabs.com 

Join this WhatsApp community to receive updates on OoruLabs Podcast https://chat.whatsapp.com/HquObSYDOFz5DXP6TEh07W

Suryaprakash from Daksh Legal puts on a systems thinking hat to help us navigate the problems in judicial and non-judicial remedial landscape for civic apathy and low trust in our society. In a freewheeling discussion we look our ability to seek relief in the current political, bureaucratic and judicial system and our ability to seek relief in the appropriate forum. Wether its incomplete flyovers or concepts like tunnel roads or just bad footpath and roads, is there a way out to get proper services from the government?

Welcome to the OoruLabs podcast (https://podcast.oorulabs.com). Ever complained how bad our cities are? How bad your commute is? You’ll get to hear from people who are working to solve these problems. This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability with Sathya Sankaran 

Stock video credits to respective contributors from Mixkit, Pixabay, Pexel and others.

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Timecodes

00:00 - Introduction

01:26 - Multilayered solution

05:30 - Executive and judicial ambits

15:07 - Your agency vs outcomes

16:32 - Judicial idiosyncrasies

24:10 - How can do anything?

29:33 - Justice delayed is denied

34:35 - Enforcement and trust

47:55 - Where are we situated?

52:50 - Inflating write offs

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Profile of Surya Prakash BS - https://in.linkedin.com/in/suryaprakashbs

BMLTA - https://dult.karnataka.gov.in/uploads/media_to_upload1638790949.pdf 

Complex systems - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_system 

Tunnel roads - https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/bengaluru/bengaluru-tunnel-road-to-cost-rs-50000-crore-1232194.html 

Steel flyover beda - https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/govt-finally-listens-to-citizen-says-beda-to-unviable-steel-flyover/articleshow/57440515.cms

Jacobi, invert, always invert- https://fs.blog/inversion/

Approaches to justice survey - https://www.dakshindia.org/approaches-to-justice-in-india/

——————

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YouTube link: YouTube.com/@oorulabs 

Website: https://podcast.oorulabs.com 

asheed Kappan was the civic affairs editor at Deccan Herald. an independent multi-media journalist, he has over 28 years of journalistic experience in The Times of India, The Hindu, Deccan Herald, The News Laundry, The Federal and The Probe. He has written hundreds of articles around urban issues especially mobility. He is also the CoFounder of Art Bengaluru Collective and Kappansky media.

Welcome to the OoruLabs podcast (https://podcast.oorulabs.com). Ever complained how bad our cities are? How bad your commute is? You’ll get to hear from people who are working to solve these problems. This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability with Sathya Sankaran 

Stock video credits to respective contributors from Mixkit, Pixabay, Pexel and others.

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Timecodes

00:00 - Introduction & context

01:45 - Transform or perish

06:14 - Evolution of reporting

10:00 - TV vs. print

15:58 - Internet

22:18 - Emerging modes

31:32 - Relevance of journalism schools

42:06 - Fourth estate powers

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Profile of Rasheed Kappan - https://in.linkedin.com/in/rasheed-kappan-94394223, 

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ikappan  

Twitter/X - https://twitter.com/kappansky 

—————————————————————— 

Listen to other video-pods on this topic and subscribe to the channel

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/show/6EYcxIPGW0UQvmkk67Ox0x?si=efbf1c2c47d449be

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YouTube link: YouTube.com/@oorulabs 

Website: https://podcast.oorulabs.com 

Shama Karkal speaks to OoruLabs about healthy cities. Why how we build our cities and how we live matters greatly to our individual and collective health. 

Welcome to the OoruLabs podcast (https://podcast.oorulabs.com). Ever complained how bad our cities are? How bad your commute is? You’ll get to hear from people who are working to solve these problems. This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability with Sathya Sankaran 

Stock video and picture credits to respective contributors from MOD foundation, DULT Church Street First project, Mixkit, Pixabay, Pexel, Creative Commons on the web and others. 

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Timecodes

00:00 - Introduction

01:30 - No measure for overall health

05:26 - Government role in health

08:50 - Community and health

13:24 - Why NGO’s?

20:50 - Healthy cities

36:08 - South asians and Far east

40:29 - The private players

45:36 - Nutrition, labelling & future

——

1) Healthy City White Paper - Swasti - https://drive.google.com/drive/search

2) QoL measures -  Healthy Days - https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/pop.2015.0162?utm_source=pocket_saves

3) National Health Policy - https://main.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/9147562941489753121.pdf

4) Measurements for the healthy city - paper - https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3294 and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3764266

5) Social participation in health - https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240027794

6) Surveillance - https://www.who.int/europe/groups/who-european-healthy-cities-network/what-is-a-health-city 

7) WHO Healthy cities - https://www.who.int/europe/groups/who-european-healthy-cities-network/what-is-a-health-city

8) NFHS 5 -https://main.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/NFHS-5_Phase-II_0.pdf

9) Mubin Syed's TEDX talk - https://youtu.be/h7WQnCaQp4M 

10) Profile of Shama Karkal -https://www.linkedin.com/in/shamakarkal/

———

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Naresh Narasimhan talks to us about the learnings from trying to design public spaces in the city. How different is it from building buildings? We challenge our ideas of urban design projects. It pays for us to know this before the next big idea is thrown in the ring.

Welcome to the OoruLabs podcast (https://podcast.oorulabs.com). Ever complained how bad our cities are? How bad your commute is? You’ll get to hear from people who are working to solve these problems. This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability with Sathya Sankaran

Stock video credits to MOD foundation and respective contributors from Mixkit, Pixabay, Pexel and others.

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Timecodes

00:00 - Introduction

01:13 - Liveability

04:36 - Water history

08:40 - K100 waterway

14:32 - Behaviour & design

18:57 - STP and PTS

26:40 - Street makeovers

32:54 - Elephant in the room

34:38 - Construction quality

38:12 - Anthropologic gossip

42:10 - Pancha tatvas +1

46:00 - True cost of cheap infra

49:25 - Brand Bengaluru

57:55 - Conclusion

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Profile of Naresh Narasimhan - https://www.vagroup.com/team/naresh-v-narasimhan/ 

History of Kempegowdas Bengaluru - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kempe_Gowda_I 

Bengaluru, rainfall, water system, podcast with S Vishwanath aka Zenrainman - https://youtu.be/ETRTI9pW-M4

Water systems of Bengaluru - https://youtu.be/j1RruX8DJJ8 

About K100 project, MOD foundation - https://mod.org.in/2022/05/06/k100-rajakaluve-rejuvenation/ 

About church street redesign, Venkatraman Associates - https://www.vagroup.com/projects/redevelopment-of-church-street-bengaluru/ 

Inscription stones of Bangalore, podcast with Udaya Kumar PL - https://youtu.be/N0dQmaiBYSw 

Unboxing Bangalore - https://www.unboxingblr.com/ 

Parable of the broken window, Frédéric Bastiat- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window

—————————————————————— 

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YouTube link: YouTube.com/@oorulabs 

Website: https://podcast.oorulabs.com 

In an amazingly insightful conversation, Vinayak Bharne dives deep into the complex structures that underpin the definition of a liveable city. From cultural, informal nature of the cities to the role real estate developers and structural policies at play, we wrangle with the line we need to draw between these two extremes. 

“The answer dear friend is blowing in the wind.” - Bob Dylan

Welcome to the OoruLabs podcast (https://podcast.oorulabs.com). Ever complained how bad our cities are? How bad your commute is? You’ll get to hear from people who are working to solve these problems. This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability with Sathya Sankaran with co-host Sonal Kulkarni

Stock video credits to respective contributors from Mixkit, Pixabay, Pexel and others.

Timecodes

00:00 - Introduction

01:52 - Defining liveable city

03:40 - Regional diversity

08:00 - Moving target?

10:33 - Tokyo & Netherlands

13:15 - City planning complexities

17:10 - Urbanism

20:33 - Policy & processes

30:37 - Engaging the informal

34:38 - Gentrified aspirations

42:13 - Water systems

45:03 - Dialogue with real estate

52:05 - Making informality work

01:00:20 - Homelessness in US

01:08:18 - Urbanists solution

01:15:53 - Selfish Sapiens

——

Profile of Vinayak Bharne - https://arch.usc.edu/people/vinayak-bharne

Urbanism Beyond 2020 - https://amzn.eu/d/cN13RC6 

Conservation and the Indian city, bridging the gap - https://amzn.eu/d/41c6NUQ 

Streets for all : 50 Ideas For Shaping Resilient Cities - https://amzn.eu/d/2JOnchF 

Affordable Housing: Inclusive Cities - https://amzn.eu/d/hWW1XDA

Zen Spaces & Neon Places: Reflections on Japanese Architecture and Urbanism - https://amzn.eu/d/564IjHA 

The Emerging Asian City: Concomitant Urbanities & Urbanisms - https://amzn.eu/d/igx0N31 

Union Station Homeless Services - https://unionstationhs.org/

NIUA liveability standards - https://smartnet.niua.org/sites/default/files/resources/Liveability%20Standards.pdf

Global liveability index - https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/global-liveability-index-2023/ 

Edgar Ribeiro, Goa - https://www.heraldgoa.in/Goa/92yrold-hero-of-the-people’s-RP-Edgar-Ribeiro-is-back-to-give-his-one-last-shot-at-repairing-Goa’s-planning/194582 

—————————————————————— 

Listen to other video-pods on this topic and subscribe to the channel

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YouTube link: YouTube.com/@oorulabs 

Website: https://podcast.oorulabs.com