Articles by News Desk

Decision on shutting down COVID jumbo centres likely by next week The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will decide on whether Covid jumbo centres in Mumbai should be dismantled, by next week. With COVID-19 cases reducing to between 200 and 100, a few centres like the ones at Dahisar, Goregaon, Malad, Sion and Kanjurmarg might be shut, but centres at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Byculla (Richardson and Cruddas) and Worli (NSCI) will continue to function. “The daily occupancy in many of these centres has been in a single-digit since the past few days. While we will ensure that we are prepared…

Metro reduces emissions: Study A study by Bangalore University’s Department of Environmental Science showed that the air quality at six locations along Namma Metro Phase-II improved between 2017 and 2021. The study measured air quality at the following Metro corridors — Mysuru Road Terminal to Kengeri, Puttenahalli Cross to Anjanapura Township, Gottigere to Nagawara, RV Road to Bommasandra, Krishnarajapuram Byapanahalli to Whitefield, and Hesaraghatta Cross to BIEC. The PM2.5 concentration recorded at all the sampling stations were within the limit of 60µg/m3 prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board. PM10 had exceeded the prescribed limit of 100µg/m3 in 2017, but…

Bengaluru, a rapidly expanding landlocked city without proximity to major water sources such as rivers, is largely dependent on its groundwater resources. And with summer fast approaching, the city’s water needs will only increase even as its availability declines. Bengaluru is blessed with rains throughout the year, which makes it ideal for rainwater harvesting. Even though Bengaluru is listed as the second-highest in rainwater harvesting in Indian cities, is it enough? According to a World Bank Group report, over the last 50 years, the total number of borewells in the country has grown from one million to 20 million, making…

More companies to hire freshers this year As India slowly unlocks from the COVID-19 pandemic, job searches by freshers might be easier in 2022. Around 47% of companies surveyed across the country are expected to hire freshers, way above the the global average of 7%. The top three sectors expecting to increase hiring are information technology, telecommunications and e-commerce and technology startups. Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi will have more jobs for freshers during January-June 2022. In contrast, Gurgaon, Pune, Chandigarh, Indore and Nagpur are seeing a decline in hiring. Reflecting the growth of the economy and its post-pandemic recovery, hiring…

Residents of slums decide to boycott civic polls Residents of slums in Perungudi and K.K. Nagar have decided to boycott the urban local body polls on Februrary 19th. Residents express a lack of faith in the elections and frustration with officials, as they have failed to bring any kind of effective civic amenities to their neighbourhoods. According to a member of the Kallukuttai Slum resident Welfare Association, residents have been living in the area for over 40 years. They have taken part in numerous elections, yet there has been no change. There are still no drains, drinking water facilities or…

Hijab row On Wednesday, the police resolved arguments related to hijab in a government college and a private PUC in Malleswaram. In some sensitive parts of the city, police told students to follow the interim court order banning all religious attire including hijab in educational institutions. Advocates for the petitioners questioning the hijab ban, told the court on Tuesday that the interim order has been “grossly misused” and amounts to the suspension of fundamental rights. On Thursday, Karnataka government ordered that students in schools managed by the minority welfare department, including the Maulana Azad Model English Medium schools should also…

Mumbai launches country's first water taxi India's first 'water taxi' was virtually inaugurated in Mumbai on February 17th by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Union minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbanand Sonowal. The taxi service will connect suburban Mumbai to South Mumbai. “Today is an important day as the country’s first water taxi is starting from Mumbai. The first railway service in the country was also started between Mumbai and Thane. The facilities which started from Mumbai were spread all over the country.” said CM Thackeray. The current routes of the taxi are from Domestic Cruise Terminal (DCT) to…

After a gap of over five years, Tamil Nadu’s state capital of Chennai is going to get an elected council to monitor the administration of the city. It’s also after a span of a decade that the people of the city will be going to the polling booths to elect their ward councillors. Although the official website of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) states that the administrative set up of Chennai city includes a council of 200 councillors, headed by a Mayor, that hasn’t been the case in the past five years, that is since October 2016, which was when…

No mandatory RT-PCR for foreign arrivals The central government on February 9th removed the mandatory RT-PCR test requirements for travellers from other countries. The rule had been introduced due to the emergence of the Omicron variant, and appplied primarily to arrivals from 'at-risk' countries like UK, South Africa and Brazil among others. Now acknowledging a decrease in COVID-19 impact globally, the government felt there was a need to revive economic activities while paying close attention to changing trends of the virus. From February 14th, fully vaccinated international travellers can enter the country without a negative RT-PCR report, but will be…

Toxic foam caused by sewage flow into Marina Beach On Sunday, 8th February, snow-like foam appeared along Marina Beach from Napier Bridge to Kannagi Statue. People could be seen playing with the foam and going into the water. Researchers have pointed out that the foam is actually caused by toxic algal blooms when there is  free flow of sewage into water bodies. According to a report carried out by National Coastal Research Center, toxic algal blooms have appeared eight times in India over the last eight years or so.  In the case of Marina, researchers trace the sewage from the…