GENRE: Explainers

Despite the dangers they pose to life and limb, Indians have learned to live with the potholes that abound in most roads in every city. According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, potholes accounted for 3,564 road accidents in 2020, though the the exact number of deaths from these accidents is not known. But despite these appalling numbers, there is a complete lack of explicit or specific legislation dealing with accountability for deaths or injuries caused by potholes that are the result of poor quality work and lack of maintenance by the municipal authorities concerned. Can government or…

Policy making on public health issues requires data of many kinds. One such important data category is the number of birth and death registrations. For instance, the changes in birth registration allowed researchers to note the drastic drop in Karnataka’s fertility rate over the past 40 years. On the other hand, death registration has played a key role in identifying health trends in the state, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. For citizens, birth and death certificates impact everything from admission into schools to entitlements like pension and other benefits. But what are the steps for registering and receiving birth/death certificates…

According to reports in media, the average footfall on Chennai Metro Rail crossed the one lakh mark in December 2021 and on December 30th, as commuters in the city found road traffic coming to a standstill in the face of unseasonal torrential rain, 1.83 lakh passengers used the Metro on the single day to reach their destinations. While the figures may have made news, it's clearly not enough to put authorities at ease. For, according to a report by the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), if the Chennai Metro Rail Ltd were to break even, it would have to…

A population census is still far away. But the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to do a dog census in Mumbai in March 2022. For a start, the BMC is doing an awareness drive towards responsible pet ownership in Mumbai by getting owners to license their pets. “As part of this campaign, BMC officials visited housing societies to create awareness and register more pet licences,” said Dr K.A. Pathan, general manager of BMC’s veterinary health department. “Since the process is entirely online and can be done over a mobile phone, our staffers would register the pets on the spot, and…

On January 6th, the state of Tamil Nadu recorded a total of 6,983 new positive cases of COVID-19. Out of these, 3,759 cases, which is around 54%, were recorded in the state capital of Chennai, which has been contributing to the most number of COVID cases in the state, followed by the districts of Chengalpattu and Coimbatore. Expectedly, people are now questioning whether we are now in the middle of the third COVID wave that the city had been fearing. Just about a month ago, on December 6 2021, Chennai recorded just 128 new positive cases, with the total number of…

2022 was expected to be a year of hope. A year when the COVID pandemic that had killed millions and wrecked economies around the world, would come to an end. But then arrived Omicron, a heavily mutated new variant. First detected in South Africa in November, it triggered a new wave of COVID-19 in Africa, Europe, and America. And in India, as the new year dawned, cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta, Bengaluru, and Delhi started seeing ever-increasing single-day spikes in COVID cases in nearly seven months. There were also wide variations in Test Positivity Rates (TPR) across the country likely caused…

The term for Mumbai's corporators closes in March 2022, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai's civic body, has started preparations for the upcoming civic elections. 227 elected corporators from across 24 administrative wards are accountable to represent citizens and their local issues in the city council. This makes it important for Mumbaikars to elect the right candidate in their wards. The BMC, also known as Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), is one of the richest municipal corporations in the world. It is sitting on fixed deposits of over Rs 80,000 crore and has an annual budget of over…

I recently visited my parents in Patna where their Indie-dog Julie had given birth to 8 pups. Unlike Bengaluru, Patna has limited facilities for pet care - vaccination, sterilisation, and adoption, so My brother and I decided to get them back to Bengaluru with me. We travelled with the pups by train - Here are the learnings from that experience. Travelling long distances with your furry companion can be daunting, especially if it is the first time. Advance preparations help. Before you begin your journey, take your pet to the veterinarian to make sure it is fit to travel, as…

“People in Chennai have almost forgotten what it is like to have an elected representative from their wards,” jokes Charu Govindan, coordinator of Chennai-based citizen's group, Voice of People. Charu was referring to how the city has gone without an elected local body council for an entire term since 2016. Although the official website of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) still states that the administrative set up includes a council of 200 councillors, headed by a Mayor, that hasn’t been the case in the past five years. Local body elections have not been held since the term of the last…

Over the past 15 years, not a single corporator has lost their seat or been disqualified because they indulged in corrupt practices during the elections. 23 corporators have lost their seats in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), mostly due to submission of false caste certification. But, the BMC has failed to lodge criminal proceedings against them, and has restricted itself to just replacing them with the election runners-up.  This is not to suggest that electoral malpractices do not take place during Mumbai’s civic elections. But according to the nominated corporator on the BEST panel, Sunil Ganacharya, most charges of electoral…