EDITORS' PICK

Among other useful features, The National Voters’ Services Portal (NVSP) allows us to search for voter data by entering the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number or voter name. Unfortunately, the data we get with this query refers to an older version of the electoral rolls, though the result claims to have been updated on the date of query – misleading us further. This is an old (and ignored?) problem.  Exactly two years ago, I reported to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), his Director, IT, and the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka (CEO-KA), about this issue. Since then I have written to them…

So World Water Day is here again and it is time for us all to be reminded of habits that we really must practise the year round! Two questions at the outset: first, can you ever imagine bathing with expensive mineral water, when tap water is available? And second, can you bathe/shower with 5 mugs of water? I am sure the answer to both is no, but hang on to those answers till we revisit them, after we establish that the situation this year is worse than ever before. Yes, it is time to worry! First Cape Town running out…

Sewerage management has become a Herculean problem in Chennai. Thanks to the inaction by government departments, our sewage reaches our water bodies sans any treatment, either through the storm water drain network or private septic tanks. The hard reality is that the pumping stations are running beyond their capacities, resulting in sewage stagnation in many localities including Adambakkam and Egmore. But how many of us know that grey water recycling can not only address these issues to a large extent but can also cut down on the household monthly water budget? By making use of the water used in the…

இரண்டு வாரங்களுக்கு முன் சென்னை கோட்டூர்புரத்தில் அமைந்துள்ள ‘பெரியார் அறிவியல் தொழில்நுட்ப பூங்காவிற்கு’ (http://tnstc.gov.in/periyar-science-tech.html) என் இரண்டே முக்கால் வயது மகளை அழைத்து சென்றேன். வாழ்க்கை பயணத்தில் சென்னை வந்து பல வருடம் ஆகியிருந்தாலும், பள்ளிப்பருவத்தில் சென்னையில் இருக்கும் உறவினர் வீட்டிற்கு வந்தபோது ஒரு முறை மட்டுமே அங்கு சென்ற ஞாபகம். ‘பெரியார் அறிவியல் தொழில்நுட்ப பூங்காவின் ஒரு பகுதியான  பிர்லா கோளறங்கத்தின் உள் அமர்ந்து கோள்களையும், நட்சத்திரங்களையும் கண்டது மட்டும் இன்னும் பசுமையான நினைவாக உள்ளது. நான் சென்றது ஒரு விடுமுறை தினமாதலால் பல பள்ளிகள், சில கல்லூரிகள் என மாணவ மாணவிகளின் பெருங்கூட்டம். பிர்லா கோளரங்கத்திற்கான நுழைவு சீட்டு கூட கிடைக்கவில்லை. அறிவியல் மையத்திற்கு மட்டுமே கிடைத்த நுழைவு சீட்டை எடுத்துக்கொண்டு நானும் என் மகளும் பயணித்தோம்.      பெரியார் அறிவியல் தொழில்நுட்ப பூங்காவில் உள்ள காட்சிக்கூடங்கள்: பெரியார் காட்சி கூடம் Periyar Gallery போக்குவரத்து காட்சிக்கூடம்…

During a question and answer session in Delhi late last year, I was asked this question “Since Diwali, the Delhi government has installed 20 continuous monitoring stations. Despite that, why are the pollution levels still so high?” The simple answer to this is that monitoring is a diagnostic tool to assess levels of air pollution and in itself does not reduce any air pollution. What it does do, is provide a starting point for understanding the air pollution problem and a direction for addressing pollution control options. This however got me thinking. Having worked on air pollution-related research over my entire…

For more than a year, residents of Vijinanapura have been complaining to the BBMP about illegal dumping of animal waste near Benniganahalli Lake. There are about eight butcher shops in the 1.5 km stretch from Purva Midtown and the KR Puram Railways station. Everyday, feathers, inedible meat, carcasses (and at one time even a dead cow) are burnt near an overlay bridge at 3rd main road. The smoke, residue and stench from this has made life miserable for them. “This happens every morning, where tempo trucks drive up, dump about seven to eight cement bags of animal waste which they…

For Tinku Biswas, the idea of attending a three-day training workshop in an IIT was like a dream. No, Tinku is not an engineer, though she is a sort of a trailblazer in her own way, being a rare woman owner and manager of a motor training school on the outskirts of Kolkata city. But she was not going to the premier technology institute for any tech training. Tinku was chosen to attend a workshop conducted for driving school owners and trainers as part of a programme jointly initiated by the Transport Department of the Government of West Bengal and…

Rows of eight-storied buildings on both sides of Ezhil Nagar Main Road of Perumbakkam paint an impressive picture of the resettlement colonies constructed by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB). The residents, who were evicted from the slums alongside Adyar and Cooum Rivers after the 2015 floods, live in these buildings which are apparently quite well-maintained. But is life really as rosy for the residents here? The glaring deficiencies can only be spotted once one steps inside these colonies and looks deeper.     In an earlier article on the Perumbakkam resettlement, Citizen Matters exposed the pathetic conditions in a primary…

On January 23, 2017, it was the last day for citizens to file their objections against the Revised Master Plan 2031. The citizenry of Bengaluru responded back with record of sorts, filing a total of 13,228 complaints. Just a day before, the tally stood at 8,869 objections. Regular residents poured over the complex documents to point errors - factual and logical. Resident Welfare Associations, Builder Consortium, individuals - they came in droves to let the government know there were many things to be fixed in this proposed road map for Bengaluru. The controversial Revised Master Plan 2031 has been in…

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah symbolically hoisting Karnataka's unique identity in the form of the state flag is not just his pre-election flirting with federalism, but what the constitution itself prescribes. This is not a nouveau concept leaning towards radical secessionism, it is a fundamental attribute that both founding fathers, Gandhi and Ambedkar recognised as imperative, as India was assembled from various entities. That is the very reason Gandhi propounded swaraj. He knew all too well that with India having been assembled from a plural and motley collection of communities, each so distinct, nothing but self rule could possibly work. How could a…