Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Pic/Sameer Markande

Pitch perfect

Young boys convert an empty auto-rickshaw stand outside Mumbra station into a makeshift cricket pitch.

Sowing a greener tomorrow

iNaturewatch Foundation, a trust working to preserve urban biodiversity, recently announced a reforestation drive at the Taloja Hill Watershed in Navi Mumbai. "The Taloja Watershed separates the rainwater flowing to different waterbodies, including Taloja Lake. This land belongs to Panvel Forest Department, who have permitted us to conduct a reforestation drive. With the planting season coming up, we are engaging volunteers in sowing seeds.

We have collected a large quantity of seeds for Pongam trees, which are native to this region. These will be planted along the streams, where these trees typically grow," shared Dr V Subhalaxmi, its founder. The hilly region has largely been denuded, and there is an immediate need for soil control and afforestation to improve the water table and enhance the biodiversity in the region, she added. Check out their work at @inaturewatch on Instagram.

Arthur Road jail's shot in the arm

Even as Mumbaikars scramble for their vaccines, there are still many who are being deprived of their shots because they lack the basic documentation. Several such individuals are located within the city's prisons. These facilities are also severely overcrowded (the Arthur Road facility houses 2,800 inmates against its capacity of 800) and lack basic infrastructure to meet inmates' medical needs. This is why the Bombay High Court has prioritised vaccination for inmates, explained Shishir Joshi, CEO of Project Mumbai. His organisation joined hands with the BMC and Saayam Foundation to vaccinate the inmates of Arthur Road jail this week. "We successfully vaccinated all the inmates aged 45 and above on Tuesday, and will soon vaccinate the others aged 18 and above as well. We will conduct a similar drive at Byculla jail, which is the women's prison," he shared. The organisation has donated oxygen concentrators to the Arthur Road jail and Thane mental hospital, to facilitate in-house treatment.

Showcasing untold stories

In a bid to encourage writers from the Dalit community to share their stories, Delhi-based publishing house Navayana has launched their first Dalit History Fellowship Programme. They are inviting proposals from writers from the community and will award two candidates R1 lakh each to work on their manuscripts. The deadline is June 30. "Dalit history is often spoken about in broad terms and there are many stories that we're not aware of," shared S Anand, founder of Navayana. "We want to seek out new writers who we can nurture, train and provide adequate mentorship to," added Dr Suraj Yengde (in pic), a writer and judge on the panel.

This musician hits a different note

Here's a piece of news to lift your day up. Sumeet Samos, a Dalit rapper and anti-caste activist, was accepted into the UK's Oxford University for an MSc programme in March this year. But he had failed to secure a scholarship to fund his studies, despite trying various sources. Desperate, he took to social media on Monday to ask for Rs 27 lakh for his tuition fees, and within only 24 hours, people had donated not just that amount, but R10 lakh more to sponsor his stay. It's on occasions like these that we can claim to truly be an inclusive nation.

IPL is now the Indian Petrol League

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got into bash-the-BJP mode on Wednesday, this time with a bat and ball. With petrol prices crossing Rs 100 per litre, the AAP organised a mock cricket match outside the BJP's Dadar East office, with the batsmen wearing masks of PM Modi and Amit Shah. In fact, several parties have called out the BJP using cricket analogies of petrol hitting a century. But their plan did not receive permission from the police and the protestors settled for a demonstration-cum-agitation near the station instead.