Articles by Mahesh Kumar S T

We live in an amazing city with rich heritage and a long history. Chennai like other cities of India is going through a critical phase and facing significant developmental challenges. To address these challenges, it's important to understand the strengths of our city. The heritage of our city and its contribution to modern India is one such key strength. The day that went unnoticed August 15th being a national holiday was, as in other years, marked by events remembering India’s "tryst with destiny", but for most of us in the city, another significant date - August 22nd went by unnoticed. This…

In the May 2016 elections, while Tamil Nadu recorded a polling percent of 73.85%, Chennai recorded only 60.5%. The pattern was similar in other metro cities. It was around 54% in Mumbai (2014) and Bangalore (2015), roughly 12-13% lower than the state average. The media, analyst and activists put the blame on urban citizens. But should we really judge by these figures? And even where turnout is in fact low, what are the real reasons behind the phenomenon? The problem of duplicate entries Vote Smart, a Bangalore based NGO run by PG Bhat, analyzed the electoral rolls using software. They…