Kalpana Sharma is an independent journalist, columnist and media consultant based in Mumbai. She writes a fortnightly column in The Hindu titled The Other Half. She writes for several other Indian publications as well. Until 2007, Kalpana was Deputy Editor and Chief of Bureau of The Hindu in Mumbai. In over three decades as a full-time journalist, she has held senior positions at Himmat Weekly, Indian Express and The Times of India. Her special areas of interest are environmental and developmental issues and gender. She is the author of Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia’s Largest Slum (Penguin 2000). More
Other articles by Kalpana Sharma: | Cityscapes / Kalpana Sharma |
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Fighting urban fires
The urban poor do not worry about earthquakes or floods as much as they do about fires that frequently destroy their inflammable, densely-packed dwellings. In Mumbai, where half the population lives and works from slums, there is no disaster management plan, and only 1,503 fire hydrants out of 10,371 work More... |
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A reprieve for Dharavi
Urban planners have proposed alternative approaches to Dharavi’s redevelopment, which would view Dharavi as a thriving and functioning urban settlement and not as a slum that needs to be flattened and rebuilt. The October assembly elections may just have given Dharavi the breathing space required to discuss these alternatives, writes Kalpana Sharma More... |
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Promoting people’s participation in urban governance
The 73rd and 74th amendments were supposed to give citizens a direct say in decision-making. While this has begun to happen at the panchayat level, it has not happened with area sabhas in cities. The Nagar Raj Bill is one way to put in place a democratic, bottom-up system of governance for our urban areas More... |
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Why our small towns are a mess
Small towns can be developed as examples of sustainable urban development. Ensuring that a population of 100,000 gets adequate water, electricity and solid waste management systems is simpler than dealing with these problems in million-plus cities. Community participation is critical – but missing -- for better governance of our small towns More... |
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Slumdogs and small towns
Little is known or written about the 2,000 small and medium towns of India. The one characteristic that defines them all, says this report from towns such as Madhubani, Jhunjhunu and Sehore, is the absence of planning. Many of these towns do not even possess an accurate town map. And upto a quarter of their population lives in slums More... |
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India's small towns – symbols of urban blight
68% of India's urban population lives not in the metros but in towns with population of less than 100,000, many of which get water for a few minutes once a week or every alternate day. No one even talks about the appalling absence of infrastructure in these towns More... |
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The medical emergency of the urban poor
The Mumbai municipal corporation is reportedly considering a proposal to restrict use of public health facilities to those who can produce proof of residence. Such a precondition will automatically exclude the poorest, people living in illegal settlements, though recent data from NFHS-3 reveals that abysmal conditions in which the urban poor live have a direct impact on their health More... | | | Why toilets matter
Open defecation in urban India is declining very slowly, with over 5 million people in Indian cities still defecating outside. Could this be because the urban middle class monopolises the existing basic services like water supply and sanitation and therefore does not impel change, asks Kalpana Sharma More... | | | | |
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