The Talk in The Town

On episode 5 of Season 3 of our podcast Talk in Town, we spoke to Ms. Vanitha Mohan. She is a prominent entrepreneur and passionate nature lover based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Ms Mohan is currently the Chairman of Pricol Limited and the Managing Trustee of Siruthuli, an NGO she founded.
Siruthuli focuses on environmental conservation, particularly on water management and increasing the green cover in Coimbatore. Siruthuli has been instrumental in projects like cleaning and reviving the Noyyal River and promoting rainwater harvesting to recharge groundwater.
Siruthuli has been instrumental in rejuvenating lakes in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. They have successfully restored 40+ local water bodies in Coimbatore, creating reservoirs capable of holding up to 20000 million cubic meters of water.

Meet our guest for the 4th episode of season 3 of our podcast "Talk in the Town," Mr. Debashish Bhattacharyya from Kolkata, who has been an anchor in driving the citizens of Kolkata to campaign against the systematic elimination of trams in the city of joy.

Mr. Bhattacharya is the President of the Calcutta Tram Users Association (CTUA), a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and modernization of Kolkata’s tramways.

He is among the strongest pro-tram voices in Kolkata, which is also the only city in India where trams still exist but are facing existential threats. A retired scientist, Bhattacharya has been at the forefront of advocating for the tram system, emphasizing its environmental benefits and potential to alleviate traffic congestion.

The 3rd episode of season 3 of Talk in the Town features Dr. Sangeeta Rajgir from Bhopal, Founder and Member Secretary of the Bhopal Birds Conservation Society and State Coordinator of the Indian Bird Conservation Network of Madhya Pradesh. She is an avid conservationist and researcher working on wetland conservation and avian biodiversity. She has played a significant role in bird conservation efforts, particularly in the Bhoj Wetlands of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Dr. Rajgir coordinated a project aimed at the conservation of the Sarus crane, the world's tallest flying bird, which had seen a decline in population in the Bhoj Wetlands. Through community-led conservation efforts, the project successfully increased the Sarus crane population in the region. Additionally, Dr. Rajgir has been involved in birdwatching camps as a key resource person, sharing her expertise and knowledge to educate and engage others in bird conservation. This episode is power-packed with lots of information on birds and how their population is declining, which Dr. Rajgir has explained in a very easy-to-understand manner for common citizens.

The Second episode of this Season of Talk in the Town features Mrs. Shama Pawar, founder of The Kishkindha Trust, Anegundi, Hampi. She is an artist, conservationist, designer, and social impact leader, driven by a profound passion for cultural heritage. Ms. Pawar has played a pivotal role in actively engaging the local community in Anegundi, situated within the Hampi World Heritage Town, to create a vibrant landscape of creative economies and cultural industries.Through her innovative conservation methods, she has made significant contributions to preserving the authenticity of this historic town. In this conversation, she shares what it takes to instill sense of ownership among the community and much more.

The first episode of 2024 in the Talk in the Town series features Mr. Kailash Pradhan, who is an architect by profession, but has also been a part of electoral politics in the city of Gangtok. He has been proactive in field of environmental protection and sustainable architecture, and has been a part of various local initiatives within the state like "Bato Khoju" focused on degrading quality of life and built environment in Gangtok. Calling himself as "a gangtokay working for a better Gangtok", Mr. Pradhan is also a part of Manch Sikkim, a nascent grassroots movement emerging in Sikkim from an idea that the people are the government, and the government is the people. Mr. Pradhan talks about why it is important for the citizens to own the problems their city faces before owning the solutions.

The latest episode of Talk in the Town features Mr. Shashidhara K who has been a driving force in promoting sustainable mobility for the citizens of Bangalore. As the founder of HSR Cyclists Group, he has spearheaded over 60 cycle day events in the last nine years, fostering a culture of cycling among residents. His commitment to sustainable mobility extends to his collaboration with another organization, the HSR Citizens Forum, which is also a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainable living. Together, they have made significant strides under the Sustainable Mobility Accords (SUMA) program by introducing a feeder loop bus service in the HSR layout. Covering 5 of 7 sectors of HSR layout, the bus is a loop service that goes in both directions making it easier for the people to find buses going in any direction within 5 minutes.

This Talk in the Town features Dr. Raghavendra R who works as a programme coordinator for National Service Scheme (NSS) at Seshadripuram Degree College in Mysuru and is also the founder of Achievers’ Academy in Srirangapatna. Dr. Raghavendra has been restoring temples and reviving lakes and ponds in the city of Srirangapatna through community service for last 4 years. What started as an initiative as part of the NSS programme under the leadership of Dr. Raghavendra, has now expanded into a group of 300 volunteers working hard to give a new lease of life to the city.

In our latest episode of Talk in the Town, we had the pleasure of speaking with Nevish Deepak, Co-founder of We EmbrAce Trust. This youth-led volunteering-based NGO is dedicated to promoting Human Rights, Animal Rights, and Climate Justice in the city of Gorakhpur. They are also the City Coordinator under Fridays For Future International for Gorakhpur and a gender educator. Following the maxim “What is in your way is your way”, Nevish chose to work for their hometown Gorakhpur and strive for a cleaner and greener Gorakhpur when they saw growing pollution and reducing tree cover while moving around in their city. It’s been an year since they embarked on this journey of self to society and they have been successful in encouraging the citizens, especially youth for the same.

This Talk in the Town features the Founder Trustee of Aranya Outreach Trust. Ms. Sukhprit Kaur is a freelance Environmental Educator and content writer. With an experience of almost two decades, Ms. Kaur with other like minded citizens of Mysore established Aranya Outreach Trust- a social enterprise- with an aim to create awareness on biodiversity through nature walks among people, especially the children. In this conversation, Ms. Kaur talks about how thinking of natural resources as bank balance maintained for our survival could help us realize the importance of our environment.

In the latest conversation of Talk in the Town, we have Dr. Anil Mehta from Udaipur, joint secretary of Jheel Sanrakshan Samiti- a non profit working for the wellness and conservation of lakes since last 30 years. The people's organization exists as a result of coming together of like minded citizens like Dr. Mehta who came together to question the water pollution and management issues faced by the city. Since then, the group has played a key role in cleaning and preserving Udaipur's lakes. The group has been instrumental in developing the Lakes Conservation Plan and establishment of Lakes Development Authority in the city.

Talk in The Town is Nagrika's initiative to gather perspectives of city leaders and change makers on the relationship between citizens and policies in small-mid sized cities and how this relationship can be made stronger. In the first conversation of 2023 under this series, we have Mr. Jitesh Minj, co founder of Mission badlaav- an NGO based at Gumla, Jharkhand. With an aim to help the distressed and needy, especially the socially and economically vulnerable people in the state, the NGO is working towards the towards empowerment of the community by educating them about their rights and interests. Mr. Minj believes that citizens have the potential to solve their problems on their own, we just need to show them the right way.

For our our latest conversation we spoke with Mr. Chandra Mishra, founder of a Social Impact startup called Beggars Corporation in Varanasi. With the motto of ‘Don't donate, Invest’, the corporation aims to uplift the poor by turning beggars into entrepreneurs. Being a proud Common man, Mr. Mishra believes that the quality of voice (of the common man) decides the quality of development in the city. During the conversation, he shares his journey, why he chose Varanasi for his venture and what potential smaller cities hold in the development of our nation.

Through our Talk in The Town series, we are trying to gather perspectives of small city actors on the relationship between citizens and policies, how this relationship can be made stronger, and how citizens can inform policy making.

This Talk in the Town features the Co founder of Mangalore Civic Group (MCG), Mr. Nigel Albuquerque who is a social and civic activist. Mr. Albuquerque formed MCG with like minded citizens in 2015 to in order to address the multiple civic problems faced by the citizens across Mangaluru. Their aim was to form Ward Committees and Area Sabhas in the true spirit of the 74th Constitutional Amendment of 1992, supplemented by the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Act of 2011. The Civic Group took the judicial route and were successful in establishing Ward Committees and Area Sabhas under Mangaluru City Corporation. During the conversation, he shares his journey, what happens in a ward committee meeting and how citizens can be encouraged to become a part of local governance.

This Talk in the Town features the founder of ‘Green Bricks Foundation’, Ms. Prarthi Shah from Vadodara, Gujarat. She talks to us about her social venture where people from all age groups and walks of life join initiatives on environmental awareness and climate education. Ms. Shah elaborates on methods to make citizen participation exciting and how an inspired team can work in synergy for social good.

This Talk in the Town features Mr. Mital Khetani, who has been working for animals for the past 18 years with the help of his NGO Shree Karuna Foundation Trust (Animal Helpline) in Rajkot- largest organization in India providing free on-site veterinary treatment. During this conversation, Mr. Khetani shares why he believes in encouraging people to work for animals by 'showing them how to' rather than 'just saying how to'. He also talks about some of the initiatives by the NGO that inspired the state government to launch similar initiatives for the entire state.

This Talk in the Town features the founder of ‘The Urban Lab’- Mr. Abhijit Lokre. With an experience of over twenty years, Abhijit mentors and leads teams to provide practical solutions for creating liveable cities. During this conversation, Abhijit speaks about how the people of Bhuj are being actively engaged to shape the future of transportation and mobility in the city. He also talks about some of the eye opening instances that made him realize the importance of engaging with the citizens and what the small cities actually need for successful transportation interventions.

This conversation of Talk in the town features Ms. Shefali Dudhbade, a freelance architect and founding member of Swachh Association Nagpur- an NGO that works in the field of waste management in and around the city. Environmentalist at heart, Shefali has been successfully treating 90% of her household waste for the past 10 years and credits her upbringing for this. During this conversation, Shefali speaks about how coming together of like minded people led to the formation of Swachh Association as well as Anviti, an environmental pressure group and  the importance of sensitizing people about waste management at household level. She talks about different initiatives and pilot projects undertaken at area and city level, role of local authorities and the stories that made an impact. She also shares some simple waste management tips that can be practiced in our day to day life.

This Talk in the Town features Mr. Lokesh Ohri founder of the citizen group Been there, Doon That (BTDT). Over the years BTDT has been organizing mostly free heritage walks for citizens around the Doon valley. The conversation left the Nagrika team very hopeful about the potential of citizens' voices to be heard. During the conversation, Mr. Ohri speaks about the genesis of the idea for BTDT, stories about how the community has been able to initiate changes in the valley and also make the voices of citizens heard by various decision makers. He talks about how to find opportunities to get citizens engaged with the city and its future. Do give the stories a listen.

The inaugural conversation of the Talk in the Town. It was held in September 2021.

This talk with Mr. Debasish Sen, MD, HIDCO, is in context of our study 'Small City Mobility', on the state of mobility in small cities, the future aspirations, and opportunities & challenges in creating sustainable green transport and mobility solutions for smaller cities and identifying the role of citizens in shaping mobility solutions for their cities.