Solutions to Change

By Rahul V Kumar* The Problem With the number of stray dog attacks increasing in Kerala, the major debate has been whether or not to eliminate these animals from the street. Animal rights activists vociferously challenge all plans to kill dogs. A humane way is suggested; to sterilize dogs and thereby control the population. There is another group which considers that the government’s lax attitude towards waste disposal has resulted in the menace. They suggest new methods in waste management. A third group considers empowering local area governance structures to deal with the problem. All these are indeed valid points and have been important to analyse the stray dog menace in Kerala. However, the issue of stray dog menace has significant roots in the changes taking place in Kerala’s social and economic features. These changes also indicate significant institutional deficits in accommodating new policies. A Hypothesis The main reason for sudden spurt of stray dogs...

By Mugdha Ghaisas*   With the city population growing there is an increasing pressure on the existing infrastructure like housing, health, transportation etc. which fails to cater to the demand, demanding an increase in the infrastructural capacity of the city. Along with these infrastructural deficiencies, the growing cities face much more serious problems in terms of waste management and sanitation facilities. In India, the onus of waste management lies with the local bodies as per the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments. In spite of coming up with various waste management plans, the local bodies are not able to address the problem efficiently; two of the reasons being: lack of citizens' participation and a centralised waste management plan by the urban local bodies. The 73rd and 74th amendment are meant to facilitate a decentralised governance structure empowering the local bodies to improve service delivery and programme implementation at the local level....