Articles by News Desk

COVID hospitalisations at an all-time low For the first time since the first wave of COVID hit the country in April 2020, hospitalisations due to the virus dropped to below 100 in Mumbai between March 14th and 19th. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), only one person was hospitalised on March 18th, taking the total count to just 74, of which seven were critical. “Even when the first and second waves were waning, the city’s daily caseload did not drop to what we are seeing now. Hospitalisations, therefore, were also on the higher side,” said additional commissioner Suresh Kakani.…

BMTC slips to second rank in fleet strength The BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) which held the top spot for running the country's largest bus fleet for several years, has lost it to the DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation). DTC's fleet strength is now 7,001, whereas BMTC's is 6,911. BMTC had recently inducted 90 e-buses, of which 60 are not operational due to the delay in setting up charging infrastructure. A senior BMTC official said that 300 non-AC e-buses will be inducted under lease model by October, and 900 aged buses will be scrapped in a phased manner. The state government's…

Temperatures on the rise due to urban sprawl The urban and peri-urban parts of Chennai Metropolitan Area are affected by rise in temperatures and increasingly experiencing heat island effects as a result of urban sprawl. The built-up area in the CMA stands at 48.7%, according to a case study by the Centre for Water Resources, Anna University. The vegetation cover has shrunk to only 6.7% of the area under study and stands at 7,288 hectares as of 2017. The reduction of vegetation cover is evident as the same stood at 14.9% in 1988. Water bodies have also shrunk to cover…

BMC elections likely to be held in October According to sources, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections for 2022 are likely to be pushed to October. This is due to the temporary halt in judicial proceedings for the reservation of Other Backward Castes (OBC) seats in the local elections. The state government passed a resolution in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly that local body elections will not take place without OBC reservation. In a protest conducted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 9th, BJP leader Chandrakant Patil told the media that BMC elections may be postponed by 6 months.…

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election is an election of members who govern Greater Mumbai. The BMC is Asia's largest municipal corporation and elections for its members are scheduled to be held in April 2022. The current tenure of the sitting corporators came to an end in February 2022, and on March 8th, current municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal was appointed as administrator of the city, in the backdrop of delayed civic polls. A study conducted by the non-profit organisation Praja has revealed that 90% of Mumbai’s corporators have performed poorly based on criteria set by the organisation, with only two corporators scoring “A”. The…

High allocations for Bengaluru in State budget Presenting the State budget 2022-23, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who also handles the finance portfolio, said that the State's revenues have increased. He did not propose to impose any new tax. He announced allocation of Rs 3,661 crore to all 28 assembly segments in Bengaluru, up from allocation only for BJP MLAs' constituencies earlier. The CM also said that Rs 8,409 crore has been allocated for the comprehensive development of Bengaluru. Of this, Rs 1,500 crore has been earmarked to develop mega stormwater drains to prevent floods. An 'Atal Bihari Vaypayee park' of…

Chennai gets first Dalit woman Mayor R Priya Rajan, a 28-year-old M. Com graduate, was elected Mayor of Chennai following the indirect elections which took place on Friday. Priya, of the DMK, became the city’s first ever Dalit woman Mayor. She was elected councillor from Ward 74 in the Thiru Vi Ka Nagar Zone. Priya is the third only woman Mayor of Chennai after Tara Cherian and Kamakshi Jayaraman.Priya’s father has been a long time member of the DMK. Priya enrolled in the party at age 18 and has been involved in politics for the past decade.  Along with Priya,…

Higher Secondary Certificate exams begin offline in Maharashtra For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a state board exam will be conducted offline. Higher secondary Certificate (HSC) exams were cancelled last year due to pandemic restrictions in the second wave. With over 14 lakh students in the state, out of which 3 Lakh are in Mumbai, HSC exams are now being conducted offline in all colleges. While the state board will conduct exams on the entire syllabus, other boards like CBSE and CICSE have conducted semester exams on 50% of the syllabus. Their second semester exams…

Centre asks states and UTs to relax COVID restrictions  The Union Health Ministry on February 25th said that India is seeing a steady decline of active cases, now at 1,34,235 as compared to over two lakh over a week back. Taking cognisance of this, the Union Home Ministry asked states and union territories to consider relaxing curbs on sports, social, entertainment, academic and religious events, as well as night curfews. Accordingly, after a careful analysis of the local situation, Delhi will have its first day without any COVID related curfews and other restrictions on March 1st, almost two years after the first…

Urban local body polls: DMK sweeps polls, low voter turnout, poor facilities in polling booths The DMK sweeps in urban local body polls in Chennai, held on the 19th, with the results announced on the 22nd. The party won a total of 178 out of 200 councillor seats in the city. This is the first time in 11 years that the party has been in power in the urban local body stage. The AIADMK seems to have significantly lost its strength in voters, compared to the previous civic elections where it held 160 out of 200 councillor seats. The BJP, which…