EDITORS' PICK

Pourakarmika kills self due to non-payment of salary for six months:  As many as 3,385 waste-pickers who had joined the BBMP's workforce recently and have less than one year experience with the civic body, did not receive salaries for the last six months. This allegedly led to Subramani, 37 year old resident of Vyalikaval, committing suicide on July 8th. BBMP has claimed to have released Rs 27 crore on July 10 subsequently to ensure that others are paid their dues and that such incidents do not recur. Meanwhile, the civic body is also planning on-ground verification of workers, because the list includes…

On June 27, Bengaluru’s National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) formally launched its digital academy, virtually, with the government's participation. Along with NIMHANS director B.N Gangadhar, who was at the office of the Union Health Minister JP Nadda in New Delhi, 500 doctors from 15 states logged in. "It was a formal event. We announced the course, launched digital books and shared the link to the website. We also discussed the agenda, and the benefits of distance education in this sector," Gangadhar said. Mental illnesses present an ever-growing cause for concern across the world. Statistics that emerge from…

Urban infrastructure projects announced by various government departments have hit a stumbling block in Chennai, since the expiry of the last city council in October 2016. A handful of ideas announced by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) were languishing at varying stages of implementation, several of them still at a very preliminary stage. Several other projects taken up by the highways department have also been in suspension.   We inquired into three such significant projects in Chennai and the problems that impede completion. Pallavaram flyover skips deadline When the highways department commenced the construction works of the three lane unidirectional…

The Union government launched the Smart Cities programme on June 25, 2015 with the objective to "promote sustainable and inclusive cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions". Chennai was one of the 20 cities selected in Round 1 of the smart cities mission in January 2016. Chennai's smart city projects are funded by a Rs 500-crore allocation from the Centre and an additional Rs 500 crore from the state. Chennai Smart City Projects But for all the hype, the Corporation of Chennai…

On June 8, Delhi’s peak electricity demand broke all previous records, hitting a new high of 6,934 megawatt (MW) at 3:28 pm on June 8, which was 6 per cent higher than last year’s peak. This is surprising because even though Delhi crossed the 2017 record four times since June 1, it was not even the hottest day of the season! The earlier record of 6,526 MW was set on June 6, 2017, which was a hotter day than June 8, 2018. In fact, Delhi's peak demand has been consistently higher than that of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai taken together during this…

The news on gender ratios in urban India is not only bad, it is also getting worse. In May 2018, a study published by Lancet disclosed that 239,000 girls below five die in India every year. Census 2011 documents that the worst Child Sex Ratios  are found in the cities.  The declining graph over the decades shows that urban Indian gender ratios are more skewed than rural Bharat's, with an average of 902 girls per 1,000 boys between 0-6 years in the cities, compared to 923 girls in rural India. The urban figures have pulled down the national average to 918.  The worst city…

In a unanimous and all-over-news verdict, the Supreme Court last week favourably defined the powers of the Delhi government led by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), giving it greater autonomy and limiting the scope of interference by the Lieutenant Governor (LG). The verdict declared that the LG is "bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers of the Government of Delhi" in all matters except three: land, police and public order. While Delhi does not yet have full statehood, the elected government now has more room to make and implement policies that had since hit a roadblock…

The 80-year-old prime land site of Malleswaram Market seems to be buzzing with construction. Founded in 1940s, the Market located at 11th cross, Malleswaram in Bengaluru is a prime property of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), in the pulsating city of Bengaluru. What was a local market for residents of Malleswaram, with its high real-estate value, but old single level market that accommodated a few vendors, was deemed to be a low-earning area for the city government In June 2017, when Bengaluru became the seventh Karnataka region to get included in the Smart City plan, Malleswaram Market development got earmarked…

கேஸ்  வாடிக்கையாளர்களின் எளிய, தொல்லையில்லா ஆன்லைன் வழிகாட்டி . நீங்கள்  சாதாரண மக்களுடன் பேசி பார்த்தீர்கள் என்றால், அவர்கள் அரசு துறைகளிடமிருந்து வேலையை முடித்து வாங்குவது மிகவும் சிரமமான காரியம் என்று சொல்லக் கேட்பீர்கள் . ஆனால் எரி வாயு இணைப்பையும் எரி வாயு அடுப்பையும் அரசு நிறுவனங்களிடமிருந்து வாங்குவது அவ்வளவு கடினம் இல்லை. ஆனால் எரி வாயு அடுப்பை வாங்கவில்லை எனில், இந்த நிறுவனங்கள் நீங்கள் எரி வாயு இணைப்பை பெற அலைக்கழிக்கக் கூடும் . அப்படி எரிவாயு அடுப்பை அவர்களிடம் இருந்து வாங்காத பட்சத்தில், வாடிக்கையாளர் ஒரு மாதத்திற்குப்  பின்போ, அல்லது ஐந்தாறு முறை அந்த நிறுவன அலுவலகத்திற்கு நடையாய் நடந்த பின்னரும் கூட இணைப்பு எண்ணை பெற இயலாது தவிக்க நேரிடும். மேற்சொன்ன காரணங்களினால் , நான் ஆன்லைன் வழியாக இணைப்பை பெற முயற்சி செய்தேன். இந்த முறையானது சுலபமாகவும், எளிமையாகவும் இருந்ததால், இந்த வழிமுறையை  உங்களுடன்…

The Smart Cities Mission project was one of the most ambitious projects launched by the Union Government in 2015. Identifying 100 cities (currently 99) across the country for sustainable development at an estimated cost of Rs 98,000 crore, the project was among the first major efforts launched by the Modi Government with a focus on urban development. Among the cities identified, based on their Mission proposals, seven were in Karnataka – Mangalore, Belgaum, Shimoga, Tumkur, Davangere, Bangalore and the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad in the northern part of the state. As the Ministry as well as the cities chosen acknowledge,…