GENRE: Explainers

Every local business in Mumbai needs a license from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).  BMC’s License Department issues trade licenses under various categories including food and beverage, wholesale businesses, medical stores etc. These licenses are issued in consultation and with advice from other departments like the Fire Brigade, Health, Engineering, Estate, to name a few. The application for the license must be received from the business establishment three months prior to starting the business. For a business owner to get a trading license in the city, he/she has to approach the nearest Citizen Facilitation Centre (CFC) set up by the civic…

Antibiotics left over in the strip after completing the 7-day course, capsules that cannot be consumed after the doctor decided that a different drug regimen was in order, vitamin supplements that are thankfully not required any longer. All of us have surely, at some point in our lives, found ourselves with medicines that we may not have a use for in the near future. On the other side, we have heard of people avoiding going to a doctor, fearing that they would not be able to afford the medicines that may be prescribed. "Discharge taken against advice" is a common…

Imagine this: all of your regular go-to destinations — from shopping areas, schools and colleges, workplaces, healthcare centres and other recreational hangouts — are just a 15 minute-walk or bike ride away. This concept, dubbed ‘15-minute city’, following its successful implementation in many parts of Paris since mid-2020, has led to many global cities considering adoption of the same. This raises the question, can Chennai, too, become a 15-minute city? Proposed by Carlos Moreno, a professor at the Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, in 2016, the idea has gained a lot of traction, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is being…

Scenario 1: It’s Friday night, and Kiran decides to order some burger, fries, and a bottle of soft drink to go with it. He finishes drinking the beverage and puts the bottle in the recycle bag, with all his other dry waste, and places the bag out, on the day BBMP workers pick up recyclables. Scenario 2: Anita is hosting a birthday party, and she orders soft drinks, along with other snacks and beverages.. Post the party all the bottles go into the recycle bag that is placed outside her apartment door. Scenario 3: Jayamma, is a pourakarmika, in Ward…

Petrol and diesel prices in Bengaluru stand at Rs 105 and Rs 95 respectively. The increasing prices have hit the transport expenses of lower and middle-income Bengalureans. Looking for lower operating costs, they are increasingly choosing electric vehicles (EV). As the adoption of e-vehicles increases, so does the need for infrastructure to support it. An internal survey by Bangalore Apartment Federation predicts a 5-6% increase in EV adoption amongst its members. This, in turn, necessitates Apartment Associations to anticipate, plan and expand the charging infrastructure to accommodate increasing numbers of e-vehicles amongst their residents. Apartments are setting up community charging…

Translated by Sandhya Raju தரமற்ற சாலைகள், மேடு பள்ளங்கள், சீரற்ற ஒட்டு வேலை செய்யப்பட்ட சாலைகள் ஆகியன சென்னையின் ஒரு அங்கம். புது சாலைகள் போடப்பட்டவுடன் அரசு நிறுவனங்களால் அவை தோண்டப்படுகிறது. இதனால், சாலையை சீரமைக்க புகார் அளிக்கப்பட்டாலும், பிற துறைகளின் மீது அதிகாரிகள் பழி சுமத்துகின்றனர். சென்னையில் சாலைகள் அமைப்பதில் உள்ள தொழில்நுட்பங்கள் குறித்து பொது மக்களின் அறியாமையே இதற்கு காரணம். சென்னையில் போடப்படும் சாலைகளின் வகைகள், அவற்றைப் பற்றி எங்கு புகார் செய்வது, பொதுமக்கள் எப்படி கண்காணிப்பது என்பது பற்றிய விளக்கங்கள் உங்களுக்காக இங்கே வழங்கியுள்ளோம். சென்னை சாலைகள் மற்றும் மாநகராட்சியின் பங்கு சென்னை மாநகராட்சியின் கீழ் இரண்டு வகையான சாலைகள் வருகின்றன. பேருந்து வழிதடங்கள் சாலைகள் (BRR): இரு சக்கர வாகனங்கள் முதல் கன ரக வாகனங்கள் வரை அனைத்து வகையான வாகனங்களும் செல்லும் சாலை. உதாரணமாக, காமராஜர் சாலை, ராதாகிருஷ்ணன் சாலை, வேளாச்சேரி சாலை(தரமணி…

How often do we concern ourselves with electricity issues? Well, a social media listening exercise reveals that there is a buzz around electricity topics in Chennai when consumers are faced with either interruptions in power supply or unusually high electricity bill.  In the last one month, citizens in Chennai took to social media about 1,634 times to write about their concerns around power cuts and an inflated electricity bill from the TNEB! Nearly 70% of the users posted about how their EB bills shocked them. 63.2K users shared and interacted with posts about inflated electricity bills.  Source: Author’s analysis via…

Urban governance is a complex phenomenon. Apart from the local municipal body, a host of governmental organisations, parastatal bodies and state departments are entrusted with providing public services in Chennai. Their functions define the various aspects of life in the city. From water to power to housing, do you know who is accountable for the governance and delivery of basic services and amenities in Namma Chennai? This explainer talks of the various agencies involved in administration and public service delivery in Chennai. Municipal administration: The Greater Chennai Corporation Let’s start with the civic body. The Greater Chennai Corporation, housed in…

On 6th August, India gave Emergency Use Authorization for Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, expanding its vaccine basket, which now has five vaccines — Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V, Moderna’s, and Johnson & Johnson’s vectored vaccine (JNJ-78436735 or Ad26.COV2.S ). One of the many new vaccines that India is waiting to introduce in its mammoth vaccination drive, this particular one was developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica, a Belgium-based division of the company, in collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of Boston. The vaccine can be stored at normal temperature for three months, which makes it easily transportable to rural and…

The cash strapped Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been on a quest to improve its system, which will enable it to widen its property tax net. BBMP was one of the first municipal corporations in the country to embrace technology and implement an online Self Assessment Tax system. Whilst the effort has been in the right direction, it is however, constantly in the news, quite often for the wrong reasons. Now, even as it manages the brickbats and high praise, especially for its COVID management, BBMP has thrown a shocker to the public - a Property Tax Demand Notice…