Articles by Mahesh Kumar S T

Owning a house is the dream of a lifetime for all of us. In a city, owning an independent home is impossible even for the upper-middle class. So, an apartment is the only choice available for 90% of urban citizens. The other less attractive alternative is living in the extreme outskirts of the city in an independent house and traveling for longer hours to reach office every day.  Despite the housing market crisis post-2012, apartment prices have not come down. The price of apartments has largely stagnated since 2012 and now there's an oversupply of inventories. As of 2017, there…

For most of us, owning a home is an important goal and milestone in our lives. It is the largest financial investment we make in our life. Finding out if it is a good time to invest in real estate is one of the key questions for people who want to buy a home. This is a decision that will finally lead all of us to a housing loan with an average tenure of 15 years, making a significant dent in our monthly budgets, thanks to the loan EMIs. So what would be a good starting point that can help…

October 2. Apart from being Gandhi Jayanthi, this is also one of the days on which Grama Sabha takes place in the state. Grama Sabha, in which all the voters of a village meet, takes place four times a year (on Jan 6, May 1, Aug 15 and Oct 2), and offers a forum for villagers to raise their voices on matters of village governance in the presence of its representatives and officials from the administration. It is an avenue for community participation in governance, a step towards Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj (Village self-rule). Now, take a step closer home,…

கேஸ்  வாடிக்கையாளர்களின் எளிய, தொல்லையில்லா ஆன்லைன் வழிகாட்டி . நீங்கள்  சாதாரண மக்களுடன் பேசி பார்த்தீர்கள் என்றால், அவர்கள் அரசு துறைகளிடமிருந்து வேலையை முடித்து வாங்குவது மிகவும் சிரமமான காரியம் என்று சொல்லக் கேட்பீர்கள் . ஆனால் எரி வாயு இணைப்பையும் எரி வாயு அடுப்பையும் அரசு நிறுவனங்களிடமிருந்து வாங்குவது அவ்வளவு கடினம் இல்லை. ஆனால் எரி வாயு அடுப்பை வாங்கவில்லை எனில், இந்த நிறுவனங்கள் நீங்கள் எரி வாயு இணைப்பை பெற அலைக்கழிக்கக் கூடும் . அப்படி எரிவாயு அடுப்பை அவர்களிடம் இருந்து வாங்காத பட்சத்தில், வாடிக்கையாளர் ஒரு மாதத்திற்குப்  பின்போ, அல்லது ஐந்தாறு முறை அந்த நிறுவன அலுவலகத்திற்கு நடையாய் நடந்த பின்னரும் கூட இணைப்பு எண்ணை பெற இயலாது தவிக்க நேரிடும். மேற்சொன்ன காரணங்களினால் , நான் ஆன்லைன் வழியாக இணைப்பை பெற முயற்சி செய்தேன். இந்த முறையானது சுலபமாகவும், எளிமையாகவும் இருந்ததால், இந்த வழிமுறையை  உங்களுடன்…

What is a Master Plan? Many of us complain that Chennai has grown ‘unplanned’. Technically that is not true. Chennai has been having various ‘plans’ guiding the expansion of the city since 1957. The First Master Plan for Chennai was published in 1975. Both the transport terminal and  wholesale market from Central Business District were shifted to the current CMBT and Koyambedu Market as a strategy to decongest the Central Business District then. So the master plan matters. The Second Master Plan was published in 2008 - this plan is a guiding document till 2026, another 8 years from now.…

March 23, 2015; the venue: Chennai Corporation Council. While passing the budget of his last term in office, 'Saidai' Duraisamy, then Mayor of Chennai remarked, “Of the 419 announcements made by the AIADMK-led Corporation so far,  218 have been implemented. We will implement the remaining 165 this year.” This was at the Corporation Council meet on the budget. He also compared the percentage of announcements that were implemented in the earlier regime vs his current regime and was proud that he had  done better by a margin of 15%. In that budget debate, 103 of the 200 councillors participated. The opposition…

Talk to a few ordinary citizens, and most of them will tell you that dealing with any government agency is a nightmare. Getting a gas connection from public sector providers is however usually not very difficult, but provided you also get a gas stove from them. However, if you choose that you do not need a gas stove, then the agencies try to make you run from pillar to post.  When one makes that choice, it is not unusual to hear that he has not received his connection registration number even after a month and five visits to the agency!…

In the recently undertaken Swacch Survekshan 2017, a cleanliness ranking of cities published by the Ministry of Urban Development of the Government of India, Chennai’s ranking plummeted from 37 in 2016 to 235! Corporation officials have explained this saying that the “independent observation” was done a few days after Cyclone Vardah, which is why there has been a dip in the rankings. However, even if Chennai had scored the same on all parameters as in 2016, our rank would have been 120 for 2017, after Srikakulam (Rank 119, Marks 1198). Moreover, independent observation had a weight of only 25% in the…

Many may have missed this small snippet of news, but the Special Officer, Corporation Commissioner D Karthikeyan has already passed the Greater Chennai Corporation budget, reportedly on March 14. Details of the budget are however being withheld in the name of election code of conduct, in view of the imminent by-elections in RK Nagar. While one can understand that the announcement of welfare measures related to RK Nagar could violate the election code of conduct, it is difficult to see why the entire budget details have to be withheld. And one cannot hold back the feeling that an elected council…

Over the past few years, Chennai has witnessed one natural disaster after another. Every time, officials and citizens themselves come up with knee jerk reactions and post mortem analysis of the underlying causes, but strangely, scant little is noted about the big picture of ecological damage in the city. Understanding the natural resources of Chennai and addressing their degradation in a sustained, systematic way is critical if the city wishes to avoid a Doomsday scenario in the future. In an earlier article, we had discussed the rich heritage and long history of Chennai. Since 1639, Madras has expanded vastly in…