EDITORS' PICK

In 2019, the Tamil Nadu government gave a serious push to green mobility, when the erstwhile Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami flagged off two electric buses in Chennai for a trial run. This was in fact the second attempt, after an earlier trial run conducted in July 2017, again with a trial test for an electric bus. In 2019, the buses, operated by Ashok Leyland, plied on two routes — Chennai Central to Thiruvanmiyur and Koyambedu to Broadway routes. The three-month trial was completed in late 2019. But since then, Chennaiites have not seen any major progress on the electric bus…

How do you know if a tree in your neighbourhood is ‘Ok’! Though trees can drop several hints when they are not ‘feeling fine’, one may have to keenly look at them to understand their condition. The residents of Chennai are doing just that as they participate in a city-wide tree survey, initiated by Nizhal, an NGO that focuses on tree conservation in the city. The initiative aims at making an inventory of trees in the city through local tree surveys that can indicate the extent of  tree diversity in the city and the status of tree health. A tree survey…

June 25th, 2021 marked the sixth anniversary of the launch of the Smart Cities Mission (SCM). Positioned as a game changer by NDA-1, the terminology and packaging of the scheme caught public attention as a novel idea for urban development. Rankings were announced to mark the anniversary in which Indore and Surat were declared the country’s best smart cities, and Uttar Pradesh the best state. This is the first time that states have also been ranked, with Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu ranked second and third. The Centre also announced joint winners under the COVID innovation category — Kalyan-Dombivali and Varanasi.…

Late in May one afternoon, R Ramkumar, a 63-year-old resident of Madipakkam, felt seriously indisposed when he started experiencing mild dizziness without any warning signs. Hospitals were teeming with COVID patients at this time, and the family did not want to expose the senior citizen to unnecessary risk. After brief deliberation on the matter, they decided to go for teleconsultation with a doctor and did so through Practo, a medical portal that connects patients with doctors for meeting various healthcare needs. Upon the doctor’s advice, the family did an instant blood glucose level test with the equipment available at home.…

As the tourism industry prepares for recovery with all due safety procedures, the need for proper waste management in tourist cities cannot be undermined. The pandemic has underscored the need for sustainable waste management, while protecting the safety of the waste handlers and the  environment.  The pandemic has hit India’s tourism sector particularly hard, as we see from the statistics cited lated in the article. And as the unlock process starts, with the government announcing some special incentives to revive the tourism sector, there is a particular urgency for popular tourist destinations, from hill regions to cities like Jaipur and…

The sparkling clean aquariums with some exquisite species of ornamental fish look spectacular. The line-up of shops selling beautiful accessories and equipment for aquariums add to the vibrancy of the place, yet there is something missing. A sense of uncertainty engulfs the air in Kolathur, the North Chennai locality that has emerged as the hub of an industry developed around ornamental fish breeding and related exports.  Outside an aquarium shop here, M Sanjay sits, hoping that he finds at least one customer before he pulls down the shutters of the shop. He sells aquarium stones and business hours are about…

As cities use up more resources, produce more and consumption spirals upward, there is a concomitant increase in solid waste generation. While this solid waste is comprised of both biodegradable waste and non-biodegradable waste (plastic, rubber, aluminum, glass etc.), the latter is what is most damaging to the environment. Most of the non-biodegradable waste ends up in landfills, open dumps and the natural environment, such as drains, rivers, lakes and the oceans. The iconic Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad presents a perfect example of an urban water body impacted by an increase in the flow of floating solid waste from…

Conservation Action Trust is a Mumbai-based non-profit organisation formed to protect the environment, particularly forests and wildlife. The main purpose of the Trust is to educate and enlighten decision makers and the public about the importance of forests for our survival. The role of forests in protecting the water security of the country is one of the major thrust areas of CAT. Debi Goenka is an Executive Trustee at Conservation Action Trust and a well-known environmentalist. Citizen Matters spoke to him about the threat to mangroves in Mumbai and other serious environmental concerns in the city. Vashi Creek and the Mangrove…

After years of preparation and drafting, the union government has finally given the green light to a Model Tenancy Act (MTA) 2021, which aims to make rent laws more equitable for landlord and tenant, and smoothen the processing of renting a home. Such an act had become necessary to achieve the target of constructing 20 million houses for the urban poor by 2022 under the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana. The 2011 census had recorded a total of 246.69 million households, of which 68% were rural and 32% urban, leaving 63.67 million urban and rural families without adequate housing. In India,…

When we pick up the newspaper from our doorsteps every morning, we do not usually stop to think how it got there. But newspaper distributors and the entire chain involved play a huge role in ensuring that we are connected to what's happening in the world, through the morning dailies they deliver. Come rain, shine or even worse - the pandemic, their job of collecting and distributing newspapers never comes to a halt. They are indeed as vital as those who make and write the news. But unfortunately, the news distribution sector has always remained in the shadows with little…