EDITORS' PICK

Just a few weeks back, Pune’s health authorities were battling a severe shortage of hospital beds for COVID patients. Now, they are faced with an acute shortage of medical oxygen and oxygen-equipped beds. “We require three times more oxygen supply during the pandemic than in the past,” says Prof Dr Dhanaji Jadhav of MIMER Medical College and Dr Bhausaheb Sardesai Talegaon Rural Hospital. “Besides COVID patients, other patients – pregnant women, cancer patients, those who suffered from heart attack, critical infants and those who have to undergo emergency operations – also need oxygen. What we are seeing now is a shortage…

Vidya Sagar, a social welfare organisation working with disabled people, asked the children attending their school where they would like to go for an outing. The response was unanimous: the beach. While Chennai has myriad attractions to offer for those looking to spend time in the city, the attraction of its beaches remains unparallelled. Sadly however, these beaches, despite being immensely popular, remain inaccessible to individuals with disabilities. Efforts at inclusion The efforts to make Chennai’s beaches inclusive has been in the works for over four years now. Various disability rights organisations have presented proposals to make the beach accessible…

When most of us think of “critical infrastructure” or “essential services”, public spaces don’t really feature in that list. Post-COVID this notion has been challenged globally, prompting multiple sectors and disciplines to collaborate and leapfrog urban policies and technology. When the Government of India announced its first 21-day lockdown in March, cities and corporations were forced to think outside the box to accommodate essential functions and social distancing norms.  It took a pandemic to roll-out the ambitious bicycle and pedestrian friendly streets programme, and the recent nationwide Streets for People challenge, initiated as part of the Smart Cities Mission in…

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” - Albert Einstein. Whenever I read this this quote, I always joke that our Indian education system, being evaluation based, makes sure that we forget most of what we learn! But the same quote takes on a new meaning in the present context when children have almost forgotten what they used to take for granted – to learn in a physical classroom with a teacher supervising and teaching them, in person. Schooling in times of COVID-19 It will soon be six months since schools shut and…

October 2. Gandhi Jayanti. Swachh Bharat Day. It was three years ago on this day that  the Greater Chennai Corporation mandated that all residents must segregate their waste at source, and only segregated waste would be collected by the workers of either GCC or Ramky, depending on which zone one lived in (I live in Zone 13- Adyar, one of the largest zones in the city.) The ensuing three years have been a journey of mixed experiences.. In many areas, citizen groups and resident welfare associations (RWAs), took upon themselves the task of ensuring source segregation of waste in their…

Punkaj Bajaj, who retired as CEO and MD of Steel Authority of India’s Durgapur Steel Plant, thought he had all the time to finish the renovation work  of his  8th floor two bedroom apartment, in time for his son’s wedding slated for end April. Familiar with the ways of labour and  everything else that such renovation entails, Bajaj had factored in four days to break the old mosaic floor and lay new vitrified tiles in the living room of his flat built by the Ghaziabad Development Authority almost 30 years ago. With that calculation, Bajaj got the old floor of the living…

If you look at the last six months, Chennai has adopted a strategy that in some ways is similar to other large cities in the country: go into intense lockdown, lift some restrictions and back into selective lockdown again. Chennai has spent more days under intense lockdown than any other large metropolitan city in the country. While it’s technically still under lockdown, there have been significant relaxations that could see further easing over the next few weeks, but the incidence of cases in the city hasn’t caused any big spikes in the recent weeks. Source: https://www.covid19india.org/state/TN An overview of figures…

During the virtual celebration of World Environment Day on June 5th this year, Prakash Javadekar, India’s minister for environment, forests and climate change, launched the Nagar Van project. The scheme aims to create urban forest cover in 200 cities across the country in the next five years. Oddly enough, in 2016 Javadekar launched the exact same scheme at a commemorative function at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivali, Mumbai. None of the experts The Third Pole’s correspondent spoke to were aware of any progress on the scheme. Nor is any government data available on what goals were achieved on planting “200 city forests” between 2016…

Three months and a number of loans -- This is what it took for S Mohammed Thameem’s father to buy a smart mobile. Thameem is a student with hearing disability, studying in Class 10 at the St Louis Institute of Deaf and Dumb. He had already missed classes for more than three months, due to the lack of a smartphone. Whenever his friends sent a screenshot of their virtual attendance, Thameem would be sad and gloomy.  With a salary of Rs 6,500 per month (after the pay cuts, due to the COVID-19 driven economic crisis), it was not easy for…

The rich nectarine blooms hanging from indigenous trees adds to the beauty of several streets in Chennai. What often goes unnoticed, though, is the number of butterflies that are seen fluttering around the plants. Amid the hustle and bustle of a megacity like Chennai, it may be hard to believe that a sight like this is so common. Wherever there is lush canopy, we can see butterflies in the dozens. The city has lost acres of green cover to infrastructural projects and natural disasters. Yet, the urban jungle is home to about 150 species of butterflies.  Throughout the city, Common…