Articles by News Desk

Activists skeptic about Waste-to-Energy plants The waste processing area in Chikkanagamangala will soon get a waste-to-energy plant. The MoU for this was signed early this year. Solid Waste Management Activists from the city have upped their ante against the proposal. They say lower calorific value of the waste will make the plant unviable and would lead to its failure. They fear that the push being given to segregation at source would be derailed. However, BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad says it can be adopted to Indian conditions, and segregation of waste at source will not be stopped. Meanwhile in a written…

Come December, every year, thousands of music rasikas, practitioners, scholars and other curious on-lookers from all over the world descend on Chennai to experience the remarkable cultural coming-together that is the annual Music and Dance Season. However, the Tamil Heritage Trust (THT), has created a parallel ‘concert’ experience this year, which allows rasikas an opportunity to immerse themselves in the magnificent ocean of history, literature, fine arts, sculpture and architecture that is India’s Heritage. Pechchu Kachcheri 2018 is a celebration of heritage along with music. As part of the event, a series of lectures, Cholavanadu Kalayudaithu, has been organised that…

Garbage continues to be one of the biggest challenges in our city and can only be addressed by managing waste in a decentralised manner. More households should manage their waste ‘at source’ through home composting while the rest can be managed at a neighbourhood level. It is clear that with this degree of decentralisation, only a meager 5-10% of our waste would go to landfills. What is the key missing piece in this puzzle? Citizen Awareness. One such great initiative looking to solve this problem is 'SwachaGraha Kalika kendra' a composting learning center. It is a first-of-its-kind project in India,…

Mandran and NCBS (National Centre for Biological Sciences) have put together Jigyasa event for 2018, themed on Traditional Knowledge meets Modern Science. The event starts at 9.30 am on December 15, 2018 at the Dasheri Hall in the NCBS campus in Kodigehalli, Bangalore. This time the Jigyasa project features three languages, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi with eminent scientists participating to share their knowledge in their mother tongues. This event has been put together to benefit people whose primary language of communication is not English. Tamil: Prof. Sowdhamini and Prof. Dhandapani, from 10 am to 11.30 am. Prof Sowdhamini from NCBS…

INTACH Bangalore Chapter has organised a talk on 'MUZIRIS: The story and science of excavating an ancient port city', by Dr PJ Cherian. This will be held at The Bohemian House, (in the Woodlands Hotel Campus), Raja Ram Mohan Roy Road, Richmond Circle, Bangalore, on Friday, 14th December, 2018, 7 pm. With the Kochi Muziris Biennale opening on December 12th, it's time to find out all about Muziris! Archaeological excavations at Pattanam, near Kochi, have shown that it was likely the famed ancient port city known as Muziris to the Greeks and Romans and called Muciri Pattinam in classical Tamil…

Surat bags fastest growing city tag A study by research firm Oxford economics has predicted that 17 of the world's 20 fastest growing cities between 2019 - 2035 will be from India, with Surat leading the pack. Other cities that are expected to register strong growth rates include Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai. Indian cities have found the top spot based on GDP growth rates, though the actual aggregate GDP will be much lower in these cities compared to their western and Chinese counterparts during the same time period. The list led by Surat also features Agra, Nagpur, Tirupur, Rajkot, Tiruchirappalli…

Private sewage tankers go on mass strike Nearly 350 private sewage lorries in South Chennai went on an indefinite strike early this week to protest against the hike in rates for discharge of sewage loads at Perungudi treatment plant. Chennai Metrowater has recently hiked charges from Rs 100 to Rs 250 for sewage disposal at its Perungudi sewage treatment plant.  The plant is the sole point of discharge for these tankers, which collect sewage from hotels, multi-storeyed apartment complexes and households from Tambaram, Guduvancherry, Medavakkam, Jaladarampet and along the OMR and ECR stretches. The Perungudi treatment plant receives nearly 208 sewage…

NGT fines the State National Green Tribunal has slapped a fine of Rs 50 crores on the State government for failing to protect Bellandur and Varthur lakes, and has asked that Rs 500 crores be kept aside in an Escrow Account for cleaning up Bellandur lake. The tribunal has formed a committee, headed by Justice Santosh Hegde, to oversee the action plan. The Tribunal also directed that the recommendations made by the Panjwani Committee in its report (dated May 31, 2018) be carried out to ensure that no pollutant is discharged into the lakes and nalas. Source: Bangalore Mirror People…

An in-depth look into the root causes behind air pollution in two of our metropolitan cities - Bengaluru and Chennai, and solutions for improving air quality. This series is supported by Climate Trends When 11 out of the 12 most polluted cities in the world (according to WHO’s World Global Ambient Air Quality Database) are situated in one country, and studies point to toxic air killing 12 children every hour, any kind of complacency or resignation is no short of a crime. India finds itself in that position today. Reversal would require not just data on air quality and mapping of…

GoK cracks down on private vehicles, 3781 buses are over 15 years old After a bus toppled and fell into the VC Nagar canal in Mandya district on November 24, the state government launched a crackdown on private vehicles. Officials are checking insurance, registration and permits, emission certificates and Fitness Certificates (FC) during the inspections. Precautionary measures are being taken to prevent future accidents as the bus submerged did not belong to any government agency and is suspected to be in poor condition. Unregulated private vehicles pose a problem to safety of passengers. Section 56 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, says…