City: Chennai

Uyali* was among the 220 garment workers fired by Slam Clothing Private Limited in January 2020. Two months later, the textile manufacturer situated at Mahindra World City in the outskirts of Chennai shut down operations, citing ‘irrecoverable losses due to the COVID-triggered lockdown.’ More than half of the workers haven’t received their dues from the Provident Fund (PF) yet. Like hundreds of her colleagues, Uyali is still waiting. “My salary of two months remains unpaid to this day. I had to hunt for a job in the middle of a pandemic when I did not even have the money to…

நாம் பெருந்தொற்றோடு வாழப்பழகி ஆண்டுகள் இரண்டு ஓடி விட்டன. நம்மில் பலரும் பல இழப்புகளைச் சந்தித்திருக்கிறோம்.  எனினும், மீண்டெழுந்து இன்னும் அதிக முனைப்புடன் செயல்பட்டு வருகிறோம்.  மானுடம் இத்தகைய பெருந்தொற்றுகளையும் பேரிடர்களையும் தொன்றுதொட்டே சந்தித்து வந்திருக்கிறது. அந்த அனுபவங்கள் தந்த ஆற்றலைக் கொண்டு அடுத்த நிலைக்குத் தன்னைக் கொண்டு சென்றிருக்கிறது.  பெருந்தொற்றின் பாதிப்புகள் குறித்த பல்வேறு விஷயங்களை ஆராய்ந்து தகவல் பரிமாற்றம் செய்து கொண்டிருந்த அந்த பரபரப்பான நேரத்தில்தான் நம்மையும் தொற்றியது, கொரோனா.  சற்றே அசட்டையாக இருந்ததின் விளைவே அது. அறிகுறிகள் தென்பட ஆரம்பித்ததும், எச்சரிக்கையானோம்.  ஆனால், அடுத்த ஓரிரு நாளில் தொற்று தன்னிருப்பைத் தெளிவாக உணர்த்த ஆரம்பித்ததும், பரிசோதனைக்கு உட்படுத்திக் கொண்டு அதன் முடிவு வருவதற்கு முன்னரே, மருத்துவரிடம் கலந்தாலோசித்து வீட்டுத் தனிமைப்படுத்தலுக்கு நம்மை உட்படுத்திக்கொண்டோம். அந்த நேரடி அனுபவத்தையும் அதைக் கடக்க உதவிய நல் உள்ளங்களைப் பற்றியும் பகிர்ந்து கொள்வதே இக்கட்டுரையின் நோக்கம். இதன் மூலம் நாம் கற்றுக்கொண்டவற்றையும்…

The unprecedented crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic and the multiple lockdowns has had a debilitating impact on every institution and agency in the city. Wildlife facilities in Chennai are no exception. With tourism being restricted, zoos and other facilities sheltering animals found themselves facing a serious fund crunch to the extent that it became difficult for them to even maintain their regular activities. Wildlife facilities in Chennai are home to a number of threatened and endangered species too, that require special care. While the institutions maintain that conservation activities have not suffered due to the pandemic, some of them have…

COVID: Cases surge marginally, Airport introduces rapid testing On July 30th, Chennai recorded 181 new COVID cases. While the trend was downwards, it has seen a marginal spike over the past two days. On the same day, the city reported one death and 151 discharges and 1,479 persons are under treatment.  As the lockdown norms are relaxed to a great extent in the state, the Chennai airport will conduct Rapid PCR tests for outbound international travellers at the airport and the results will be declared in 13 minutes. The registration process could take up to 30 minutes.  Source: The New…

Poor quality roads, with stretches of potholes and uneven patchwork are a common sight in Chennai. Newly-laid roads are often dug up by government agencies shortly after. As a result, complaints pertaining to fixing roads take longer than needed as authorities perpetually shift the blame to other departments. This stems from the fact that citizens are generally unaware of the technicalities involved in laying roads in Chennai. Here is an explainer on the kind of roads laid in Chennai, where to complain about them, how we can escalate matters and how citizens can keep a watch.   Chennai roads and the…

For the fourth year in a row, air quality across Chennai City has been consistently poor, said researchers at Healthy Energy Initiative (India). On average, 24-hour samples collected from 20 locations across Chennai City in February-March 2021 exceeded the Indian 24-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM2.5 of 60 µg/m3 by 1.1 to 3.8 times. This study analysed the 24-hr air samples heavy metals in addition to for PM2.5. Locations sampled for the study included neighbourhoods that are industrial, commercial and residential in nature. The results of the study indicate that there is a need for the Chennai Corporation…

As the third COVID wave appears imminent in the country, robust communication strategies by government agencies become increasingly important. Public health messaging — in both form and content — is an extremely critical component of the response to a pandemic. Access to information about COVID guidelines, vaccination centres and helpline numbers posed a challenge during the first and second waves for a large section of the population, especially the digitally illiterate, marginalised and senior citizens. The avenues of information in the form of trusted media sources and bulletins from government websites seem to be unreachable for these categories. “Only a…

In a country like India it is impossible to live without community animals. Our thoughts, culture and religion do not consider humans as mutually exclusive from community animals, which include cattle and stray dogs and cats. I reside in Chennai and am associated with People for Animals, an organisation working for the welfare and rights of street animals. As animal caretakers, it is deeply saddening and horrific to witness an alarming number of cases of cruelty in our city and communities against street and pet animals. Often it does not stop there, but is in in fact extended to animal caretakers…

The pandemic has had a crushing impact on the educational framework of the country in various ways. One of the fall-outs has been the cancellation of Class XII (and Class X) final examinations by all the major boards of education in the country, in view of the aggressive second wave of COVID-19. However, under the said circumstances, each has come out with a different model of evaluation for Class XII students. The results of Tamil Nadu State Board Class XII were declared on June 19, 2021. For the first time ever, students got their results on their registered mobile number,…

Chennai fully vaccinates 15% of eligible population As on July 20th, data shows that Chennai has the highest percentage of vaccinated population in comparison with metro cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad. While the eligible population of the city is 59.45 lakh, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has fully vaccinated 15% of it (9.11 lakh). The corporation credits the multipronged initiatives taken by them to reach the number. While people from the tele-counselling centres gave a reminder for people who were due for the second dose, the fever survey workers went door-to-door to reach the vulnerable population. The civic…