My City Links: August 2022 Issue

Book excerpt: The term lost in translation is getting an all new meaning these days, with sections of the country’s media coming under increasing scrutiny over alleged cases of sensationalism, misinformation and bias, or, worse still, over numerous instances of outright false news propagation. In our Cover Story, we delve deep into what has become a dangerous malaise, using some recent examples. History was created when Draupadi Murmu assumed office as the 15th President of India. She is the first tribal, the second woman, and also the first person to be born after Independence to occupy the position. In this edition, we recount her inspirational journey from a Junior Assistant in the Odisha government’s Irrigation Department to the country’s highest Constitutional post. The CityZen section also focuses on Sulochana Das, who was recently elected as the first woman Mayor of Bhubaneswar. She has hit the ground running, determined to make a difference to life in the city. She talks to us about her plans across a range of areas, from health and women’s safety to urban infrastructure. Dipti Mahapatra, General Manager of Capital Region Urban Transport, is credited with transforming public transport in the state. We caught up with her to discuss how she and her team have managed to bring about a sea change in public transport. It’s a menace that needs to be confronted head on, and the ban on single-use plastic seeks to do exactly that. Daunting as it may sound – the items that have been banned range from plastic cutlery items to polystyrene – authorities are gearing up to implement the new rules. Read all about it in City Beat. Transit Lounge hosts comedian Ravi Gupta who has made a name for himself in the world of stand-up over the past few years. In between performing stand-up shows during a recent visit to Bhubaneswar, he opens up about his passion and how the journey is shaping up. City Lights remembers Laxmi Indira Panda, who was not just the only Odia woman in Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army but was also one of its youngest women members. The section also takes a closer look at ‘hustle culture’ and the harm that it may be doing to a significantly large number of employees across sectors. In ScreenShots, young filmmaker Sankalp Mohanty talks to us about ‘Achinha Saba'.