CITIZEN JOURNALISM

In a press meet held on July 8th, TN CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami hinted that a further extension of the lockdown which is set to end at the end of the month is unlikely. The chief minister said, “Extending lockdown will cause economic slowdown thereby putting onus on the public to adhere to safety norms to prevent the spread of COVID-19.” He further emphasised the need for self-regulation among the general public even as the state continued to clock a high number of cases daily.  The fact however is that the premise of self-regulation by the public assumes that all…

We often see people in apartment complexes and neighbourhood shops putting out a whole lot of food (or grains) for the birds - usually pigeons and crows are the recipients. Ask any of them why they feed the birds and the answers almost always point towards redemption - doing a good deed, reserving a place in heaven, overcoming personal difficulties and the like. Urban wild animals such as pigeons and crows are meant to fend for themselves! There is something called ‘natural selection’ which allows only for the fittest individuals to survive, getting rid of weak animals and those prone…

The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was announced in 2018 and the draft was accepted in 2019. The programme is designed to build institutional capacity and initiate studies to better understand the pollution load in cities.  122 cities from 20 states and 3 union territories were declared “non-attainment” cities, based on the observed particulate matter pollution trends from the national ambient monitoring program (NAMP).  These cities were required to submit action plans outlining how to achieve 20-30% reduction in the ambient PM 2.5 levels by 2024, when compared to 2017. As of May 2020, there are 102 approved action plans.…

The city’s Chief Resilience Officer Krishna Mohan was on a flight over Chennai when he glanced out of his window and saw that the many rooftops dotting the city were all barren and empty, devoid of any greenery. This sight was unlike many of the cities he had visited. The view was stuck in his mind for some time and became the catalyst for the creation of an urban rooftop garden project for Chennai, which holds immense potential for the improvement of green cover in Chennai. The Urban Horticulture Initiative Urban horticulture is one of the strongest examples of effective…

We are a regular Mumbaikar working-couple and spend a big part of our everyday life between work and commute. The rising levels of pollution we were experiencing in a mega-city like Mumbai always bothered us. Urban pollution, as well as the threat to contamination of natural resources, is a global problem, and in a developing country like ours, the municipal land-fills stand out on this front. We knew about the Deonar dumping ground fire in 2017 and the accompanying air pollution. This could have been avoided if, as a city, we knew how to better manage the volume of waste…

Nobel laureate Albert Einstein, who demonstrated extreme patience in his pioneering research, when questioned on his unconventional methodology had once replied, “What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.” The reply came at a time when he was repeatedly failing in his attempt to establish convincingly the Theory of Relativity. Undeterred, he pursued and his discovery has been the trend setter for many other discoveries in classical physics. When the coronavirus pandemic first surfaced on 30th January, few expected it to really hit India. February remained subdued but in March, as the cases…

India employs 90% of its workforce within the informal labour sector. According to ILO estimates, four million workers are employed as domestic workers (of which three million are women). According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, more than 10 million people are registered as street vendors. The NSSO survey findings from 2011-12 highlights that there are 37.4 million home-based workers in India. With limited laws and policies governing them they are often left at the mercy of their employers, who have become their proxy social security providers during the pandemic. Over the span of the last three…

It is unfortunate that we needed a pandemic to realise that we need more decentralized food production and localised distribution, better soil quality management, more dietary changes and climate and disease resilient foods. And most importantly, self reliance. This happens to be in our best interest, and also in the best interest of the environment.  The world has 1.5 billion hectares of land under agriculture. To put this in perspective, imagine the whole of India covered in agricultural fields. Now imagine four and a half such Indias. That gives us 1.5 billion hectares of land, which was once pristine forest…

Due to the threat of COVID-19, most of us are now opting to stay home rather than move about the city. Senior citizens and children especially, are the most vulnerable and have been advised to stay indoors for their own safety. But how long can one stay indoors without getting depressed and frustrated?  For those living in independent houses, gardening is a way to keep up their spirits. But not all independent houses can afford to have gardens, especially if the sites are small. In such cases, rooftop gardening could be the solution. Take the case of my friends Phaneendra…

சென்னையைப் பொருத்த வரை சாதாரண நாட்களில் ஆன்லைன் பயன்பாடு பெரிய அளவில் இருந்திருந்தாலும் இன்றைய அடைப்புக் காலத்தில் கல்வியோ, கலைகளோ வேலையோ, கலந்துரையாடலோ ஏன் குடும்ப, சமூக, வழிபாட்டு வைபவங்கள் கூட ஆன்லைனில் தான் என்ற நிலையில், அது மனமலர்ச்சிக்கு, மகிழ்ச்சிக்கு ஏதேனும் பங்காற்றுகிறதா என்று பார்த்தால் ’ஆம்’ எனும் பதில் நமக்கு ஆறுதலாகிறது. சென்னையில் குறிப்பாக நாளுக்கு நாள் அதிதீவிரமடைந்து அச்சமூட்டி வரும் தொற்று எண்ணிக்கையும் மட்டுமின்றி மரண எண்ணிக்கையும் ஒருபுறம் பீதியைக் கிளறிக் கொண்டிருக்க வேறுபல அழுத்தங்களும் அதிகரித்து வருகின்றன. அது இருப்பிடமும், உணவும், கல்வியும் கேள்விக்குரியதாகி வருவதாலும் தனித்து முடங்கிக் கிடப்பதாலுமென தொற்றைப் போலவே தொடர்ந்து அபாயகரமாக பரவி வருகிறது.  இப்படியொரு கற்பனை செய்து பார்க்க முடியாத மனவிரக்தியும் அதன் விளைவும் குறித்து ஏற்கெனவே நமக்கு எச்சரிக்கையும் செய்யப்பட்டிருக்கிறது. அந்தக் கட்டத்துக்குள் நாம் மெல்ல மெல்ல நுழைகிறோமோ என்ற கருத்துகளும் தற்போது பதிவாகத் துவங்கியுள்ளது.  எனவே, இவைகளைக்…