What does leadership mean to me? This question has been on my mind, especially as I reflected professionally on my next steps. It took me back to a moment from my undergraduate days. While attending a class at a well-known coaching institute, where young minds were being trained to crack the coveted management school entrance exams, I first encountered a dilemma between personal values and professional training.
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About Richa Bhardwaj
On World Toilet Day: Seeing Sanitation as a Living Being
Why Sanitation awareness matters as much as infrastructure?
World Toilet Day 2025 invites us to consider “sanitation in a changing world”. Climate change, unplanned construction, ageing infrastructure, and population growth are putting new pressures on sanitation systems worldwide, especially in hilly areas, where natural slopes often serve as informal extensions of waste systems. These pressures reveal something essential: sanitation is not just about toilets. It is about how water moves, how settlements grow, how waste is handled, and how communities understand the systems they rely on.
[Read more…] about On World Toilet Day: Seeing Sanitation as a Living BeingMetro or No Metro? Reframing the Public Transport Question in Chandigarh
On 31st July 2025, The Tribune published a striking headline: “Do you want Metro or no?” MP Tewari seeks clarity from UT Administration[1]. For me, this question was quite surprising because just a few months ago, newspapers were buzzing with updates: new metro routes finalized, project costs announced, maps detailing underground and overground stretches, and timelines of phased development.
That sudden uncertainty made me pause and think: what are we really asking when we ask if Chandigarh needs a Metro? Pondering over this question, I thought maybe this is not the right question to ask. A better question would be: Does Chandigarh and its urban region need a robust public transport system?
[Read more…] about Metro or No Metro? Reframing the Public Transport Question in ChandigarhChandigarh and the Right to the City: Beyond Erasing Slums
On 15th August 2025, Chandigarh’s UT Administrator announced that 55 acres of land, “freed” by the recent demolitions, including those of slums or bastis[1] would be used for “public welfare projects”, including a 400-bed regional medical hub, solar initiatives, and urban infrastructure upgrades. Reading this in context to multiple demolitions and evictions of urban poor settlements in 2025, a question I keep returning to: Public welfare for whom, if it begins with eviction? The Chandigarh demolitions are not isolated; similar reports have been emerging from other cities such as Delhi and Faridabad, among others. While evictions and demolitions are not new, what is particularly troubling is the correlation between them and the opening up of space for welfare projects, as if the sole reason many such projects were stalled was due to “unauthorised encroachment” on public land.
[Read more…] about Chandigarh and the Right to the City: Beyond Erasing SlumsHeritage, Waste, and Imagination: Re-reading the Rock Garden
This blog was written in the centenary year of Mr. Nek Chand’s birth, following the demolition of a part of the Rock Garden’s wall in early 2025. It reflects on the layered meanings of this space, as heritage, protest, urban design intervention, and an incubator for sustainable practices, and asks what it means to truly honour a visionary like Nek Chand in today’s planning culture.
[Read more…] about Heritage, Waste, and Imagination: Re-reading the Rock GardenReflections on the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections: A Democratic Awakening
June 4, 2024, the day India’s 18th Lok Sabha election results were announced, was a landmark moment. While the ruling party managed to retain power, the results delivered a clear message: no single narrative, however dominant, is immune to public scrutiny. The opposition’s resurgence, particularly in several key states and constituencies, felt like a reassertion of democratic strength. For many of us, it renewed faith in the electorate’s ability to look beyond polarization and demand accountability and change. With the same Prime Minister set to be sworn in on June 9, 2024, a crucial shift is the presence of stronger checks, both internal through coalition dynamics and external through a more substantial opposition bench in Parliament.
[Read more…] about Reflections on the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections: A Democratic AwakeningShaping an Unconventional Professional Journey
Growing up in a middle-class, service-class household in 1980s–90s India, professional success was often measured by academic scores and careers in science. Choosing the humanities stream was not only unconventional, but it was frequently seen as a fallback option. In this social context, I made a deliberate decision in 2002 to pursue Humanities, supported by my parents’ cautious encouragement. That choice marked the beginning of a journey of learning, unlearning, and continuous self-discovery. It also meant contending with both external skepticism and internal doubts.
This blog post is my way of tracing that journey, to share who I am, how I got here, and where I hope to go next.
Building My Web Presence: A Personal and Professional Milestone
After much contemplation, I decided to begin this blog (the first for my website) by writing about the process of building my web presence- a significant personal and professional milestone. I have decided to put “myself out there” with a strong belief in the skills and expertise I have to offer to the world.
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