EDITORS' PICK

Man and animal are being deprived of their daily requirement of meat, as a thoroughly exasperated Justice S. Raghuvendra Rathore of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) summarily ordered the closure of Bhopal’s only licensed abattoir at Jinsi. Justice Rathore also directed the police SSP to provide all assistance to the Bhopal Collector to implement this order. The government-run abattoir situated in Jehangirabad area at the city centre, had been facing protests from people residing and working in nearby areas for a long time, primarily complaints against the foul stench emanating from it. There have also been complaints over meat from…

On November 27th, a tweet by Ashok Khemka, principal secretary of the Science and Technology Department, caught the attention of netizens and media, though one cannot call it entirely surprising. A senior IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, Khemka was already known to be Haryana's second-most transferred bureaucrat (52 times in his 27 years of service) and shared news of his 53rd transfer through this tweet. https://twitter.com/AshokKhemka_IAS/status/1199625574173462528 Khemka, born in Kolkata** and an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, shot to limelight through a series of exposés, including the Robert Vadra DLF land grab scam, Sonepat-Kharkhoda IMT land scam case and Garhi…

Opening a hornet’s nest among the community, the city corporation has declared recent construction by fishermen around Thiruvanmiyur beach in Chennai as encroachments. Several additional structures have been constructed close to the beach, by the fishermen residing in the fisher-colony near Kuppam Beach Road, in the interest of better mobility and livelihood. “We received a lot of complaints from the residents of Thiruvanmiyur,” says K.B. Vijayakumar, Regional Deputy Commissioner at Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Adyar. “When we enquired, we found shanties with temporary roofs and a road built within 200 metres from the sea belt, which comes under Coastal Regulation…

The new chief minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray may have granted interim stay pending review on the development of the Metro car shed inside the Aarey forest for now, but the battle to save Aarey – the 4.8 lakh trees that the forest is made up of --  is far from over.  Though work on tree cutting and the Metro car shed inside Aarey was already under a stay ordered by the Supreme Court since the en masse overnight cutting of over 2141 trees on October 5th, the state support for Aarey comes as a huge boost for the Save…

The new chief minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray may have granted interim stay pending review on the development of the Metro car shed inside the Aarey forest for now, but the battle to save Aarey – the 4.8 lakh trees that the forest is made up of --  is far from over.  Though work on tree cutting and the Metro car shed inside Aarey was already under a stay ordered by the Supreme Court since the en masse overnight cutting of over 2141 trees on October 5th, the state support for Aarey comes as a huge boost for the Save…

The Shivajinagar seat had become vacant after incumbent MLA Roshan Baig was suspended from the Indian National Congress this year for 'anti-party' statements and activities. Baig, a seven-time legislator, was charged with slamming state leaders as well as being involved in the multi-crore IMA scam. Know your candidates Nineteen candidates are contesting from Shivaji Nagar constituency in the bypolls. Seven other candidates had withdrawn their nominations, and three others were rejected. Following are the major candidates: Rizwan Arshad Party: Indian National Congress Family: Spouse and two dependants Educational qualification: B Com Profession: Business, MLC (Member of Legislative Council) Online: Facebook…

Shankari Halder finally dreamed of steering her life in the right direction when she became a commercial cab driver in Kolkata, early this year. The 36-year-old was one among the 10 women who were trained to operate a first-of-its kind cab service in Kolkata. Christened as Pink Taxis, these 10 cabs were launched primarily with the aim of providing a secure and safe commute environment for women, who often find it risky to travel in cabs driven by male chauffeurs. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee flagged off the first fleet of 10 taxis painted in pink and white from Nabanna, the…

While grown-ups are busy figuring out the logistics of COP25 in Madrid, given that Chile is not an option anymore, student strikers in India are busy organising mass movements across their cities. Students from across the city of Mumbai have been striking every Friday at Marine Drive, a promenade in South Mumbai where currently, the 37th week of the protest is underway.  Tanmay Shinde, 23, a student striker from the city noted that his motivations to join the movement arose from observing the “ample environmental issues in the city itself” like flooding during monsoons, water shortages, air pollution and environmentally…

For those of us who have lived in London, there is one thing we'd absolutely agree - it won't take you more than a couple of days to understand the public transport system. The flow of information is seamless, and there's no blindspot that leaves you in a lurch on either a crowded Regent Street or a quieter lane in Wimbeldon. Visible signboards about how to go forward - whether you use tubes or buses - are all around. Bus stands are never more than 400 yards from a tube station. The public transport service in London is also consistently…

Pink is the colour of women empowerment in Tamil Nadu these days. Most Chennaiites are, by now, familiar witnesses to the pink patrol vehicles of police in different parts of the city. The Amma Patrol is part of the Tamil Nadu government’s initiative that saw the formation of the Crime against Women and Children (CWC) wing in June 2019. The wing brings all departments dealing with incidents against women and children -- women police stations, anti-child trafficking units, juvenile police units — under a single platform. But what does the Amma Patrol do, exactly?  The patrol vehicles, the latest addition…