EDITORS' PICK

Cyclone Fani in early May was one more reminder for Bhubaneswar of its vulnerability to extreme weather events, and the massive damage to urban infrastructure that such events could bring about, even in an upcoming ‘smart’ city. Fani left Bhubaneswar in shambles  in its trail, with uprooted trees all around falling on roads and buildings, disrupting major services like supply of water and electricity as well as Internet connectivity. Life in the city remained miserable for weeks. Last year too, life in the city had been severely disrupted, as it almost went under water following unusually heavy rainfall of nearly…

When the Tamil Nadu government proposed to restore Avadi’s Paruthipattu Lake in 2016, the suburban residents rejoiced. The Public Works Department (PWD)-owned lake, spanning 87.03 acres was to be restored in a sustainable manner, at an expenditure of Rs 28 crore. Unfortunately, the work has been a curse, leading to untreated sewage water from 3,500 houses around flowing straight into the water body. The plan was to convert the Lake into an eco-park, much like the one at Chetpet, with boating facilities, a children’s park and walking track. It was expected that the water body would spring back to life…

The #MeToo movement in India gathered momentum in the south when playback singer Chinmayi Sripada exposed popular Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu for sexually harassing her during a show and threatened to end her career after she did not give in to his overtures. A dubbing artist too, Chinmayi was  expelled from South Indian Cine and Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union following her allegations against Vairamuthu. She disclosed that she was slut shamed  and there was also a concerted effort to destroy her career in the film industry. More recently, the Justice S.A. Bobde in-house committee has given the Chief Justice…

P C Mohan has emerged as the winner again from Bangalore Central parliamentary constituency, scoring a hat-trick. Bangalore Central comprises eight assembly constituencies – Rajajinagar, Chamrajpet, Gandhinagar, Shivajinagar, Shantinagar, Sarvagnanagar, CV Raman Nagar and Mahadevapura. The majority of voters in this constituency are linguistic and religious minorities. Large slums, the Central Business District, gated communities in newer areas like Bellandur and Whitefield, are all part of Bangalore Central. The voter turnout in the constituency was only 45.34 percent this election. Mohan won the seat with 50.35 percent of the vote share, which accounted for over six lakh votes. Rizwan Arshad…

An RSS swayamsevak and lawyer at the Karnataka High Court, 28-year-old Tejasvi Surya is the winning candidate from Bangalore South constituency. Known for being the General Secretary of the Karnataka state Yuva Morcha, Surya has also been part of BJP’s national social media team. He is also the nephew of Ravi Subramanya, the BJP MLA from Basavanagudi. Bangalore South parliamentary constituency is a BJP stronghold. For the longest time, it was held by six-time MP late Ananth Kumar. The seat had remained vacant since Kumar's demise last November. It was widely reported that BJP’s national leadership had chosen Surya over Ananth…

D V Sadananda Gowda of Bharatiya Janata Party has retained his Bangalore North seat, becoming an MP for the fourth time. Gowda got 8.2 lakh votes or 52.83 percent of the total votes polled. His closest rival, Congress candidate Krishna Byre Gowda - MLA and Minister in Karnataka’s ruling coalition - trailed behind Gowda by over a lakh votes. Sadananda Gowda had handled three portfolios in the Modi cabinet - Minister of Railways, Minister of Law, and eventually Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Straight match Bangalore North has been BJP’s stronghold since 2004. Sadananda Gowda had won the 2014 elections…

Saritha M, a 26-year-old from Kodungaiyur suffered from skin infections for as long as she could remember. Multiple visits to hospitals would bring temporary respite, but permanent recovery remained elusive. "Two years ago, I shifted from Kodungaiyur after my marriage. Soon afterward, my skin infection was completely cured," said Saritha, concluding that the polluted groundwater in her locality was the reason behind the infections. "My doctor is certain that the infection had been caused by dangerous chemicals in the water. Even today, if I stay at my mother's house for more than ten days, the infection reappears. It takes a…

The counting of votes for the 17th Lok Sabha elections is just days away. But how does such a mammoth counting exercise take place? Here is a guide. Preparations for the Counting Day The Returning Officer (RO) fixes the time & place of counting at least one week before the date of polling. The place is decided in consultation with the police. The selected place should be spacious enough with adequate lighting and other facilities to accommodate the officials and agents. A permanent structure like a college or a university is usually selected for the purpose of counting. The same is…

Uttarkashi was recently in the news and social media because its ULB - Uttarkashi Nagar Palika Parishad - was caught  dumping municipal waste illegally into the Bhagirathi river, a tributary of Ganga. The viral photos of the incident in November 2018 caused huge hue and cry over Facebook and WhatsApp groups, and  the High Court ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter. This incident showed, sustainable management of waste remains a mounting challenge for rapidly urbanizing towns and cities of Himalayan Uttarakhand. Why Uttarakhand matters? Bhagirathi assumes its own importance in both the historical and geographical narrative of river systems…

According to a Brookings analysis of data from Oxford, Chennai was amongst the cities that had the slowest employment growth rate: 2.5% in employment in the two years 2014-16. The GDP per capita, according to the same report was 5.1%. A city’s economy encompasses a wide array of factors that contribute towards it, but a key aspect is working citizens and businesses operating in various areas in and around a city. For any bustling metropolis, a good public transport system is therefore vital to its economic growth. How does public transit impact and contribute towards the economy? As Eric Jaffe,…