GENRE: In Focus

The water bodies in Chennai, which recently ran bone dry, are almost up to the brim today, thanks to an excellent start to the northeast monsoon. But has the city made optimal use of this opportunity, to ensure that it does not face the kind of water crisis that it saw earlier this year? Probably not. The state of our roads, which begin to resemble water bodies after even a brief spell of intense rain, is just one indicator of the poor state of water harvesting and storage in the city. Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) structures in Chennai date back to…

The jokes on Facebook and Whatsapp have been relentless -- some even gross, indicating the blockage of various bodily functions because they have not been linked to Aadhaar! Notwithstanding those, or the more serious concerns and critiques raised by scores of individuals, the government remains steadfast in its mission of mandating UID-linked verification of citizens for every scheme or facility that they avail. While several petitions against the statutory linking of Aadhaar with various essential services and schemes is now awaiting a ruling from the highest court of the country, mobile phone inboxes of consumers continue to be flooded with…

Everyone in Bengaluru city is a consumer of goods or services. Goods are purchased and services sought on an ongoing basis. The common man is however not always aware of his / her right as a consumer and ends up living with substandard or poor service. This programme is organised by Co Media Lab (a joint initiative Radio Active CR 90.4 MHz & Citizen Matters initiative) in association with Consumer Care Society, Bengaluru. Where: Radio Active, 1/1-1, Atria Towers, next to Raddison Blu (earlier Atria), Palace Road When: Saturday 4th November 2017, 9:30 am to 1pm Register here: comedialab.in/consumer-workshop-1415 This…

The northeast monsoon is here and residents of southern Chitlapakkam have already become victims of yet another flood. Chitlapakkam has seen it all—drought and floods, but this time, the floods have hit residents earlier than they expected. The northeast monsoon has just set in, and residents are left in the lurch, amidst miserable memories of the 2015 floods. As I enquire about the route to Babu Street, a shopkeeper jokingly says, “Walk straight and take a left, you will see water all over the street. That’s the one!” Babu Street, Abraham Lincoln Street, Pamban Swamigal Street, Chokkanadhar Street, Maraimalai Adigal…

So you won’t live for another 115 years, but your house may. Even the angry monsoon waters that have hit Indian cities real hard this year - from Bengaluru to Mumbai to Gurugram -- might decide to break the record and roll in even faster and more furious next year. While they don't always make it to the headlines, many homes have got damaged due to the floods, and you certainly don't want your home to feature in that list. So why don’t you plan to insure it? Let’s begin. What is home insurance, anyway? It isn’t about being sure…

Are you looking forward to dining on the delicacies of rabbit or pigeon meat in your favourite restaurants in Chennai? A quick search on Zomato would lead you to several noted restaurants that serve rabbit meat in Barbeque or Biriyani preparations. The meat in your platter, served fancy with exotic masalas and giving out delicious aromas, would without a doubt whip up your appetite to a high, but pause a moment and ask: Is this meat healthy to consume? Chances are very high that the chief ingredient in that expensive, exotic dish -- the meat itself, was prepared in extremely…

Three months have passed since the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was applied to housing societies/apartment associations, yet protests and confusion prevail. Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) collect monthly charges from residents, to provide goods/services for their common use. Now RWAs have to register under GST and pay tax on the monthly charges they collect; this tax burden is passed on to residents. So, instead of being the end consumer, the association is seen as a service provider to the residents. Association has to pay taxes to the vendor while buying the product, and then collect taxes from residents on maintenance…

Residents of Ennore along with environmentalists organized a human chain formation at Elliot’s beach on Saturday evening even as actor and probable new politician in the fray Kamal Haasan visited the Ennore creek, to know more about the ground reality of its ash pollution and encroachment. In contrast to the usual weekend scenes, Elliot’s beach at Besant Nagar was filled with more than 250 like-minded individuals – from kids to senior citizens – who were holding placards that explain the sorry state of Ennore Creek. Industrial effluents from the thermal power stations here and domestic sewage from North Chennai have…

Traffic congestion, waste management, economic inequality -- issues such as these have been bogging down Indian cities. But attempting piecemeal, inefficient solutions means that problems have only worsened. The ‘Smart Cities Mission’ (SCM) launched by Narendra Modi's government in 2015 aimed at tackling urban issues. The concept was to make cities smart - to do more with less, to use existing resources efficiently and to build on them. As per the SCM, cities should provide citizens essential infrastructure, decent quality of life, sustainable environment, and also apply smart solutions. Given the lofty objective, it is interesting to observe how the…

Somewhat surprisingly, Bengaluru’s Intelligent Transport System (ITS) for buses — the first of its kind in India — has been shortlisted with four other cities worldwide in the sustainable transportation category by the C40 Cities Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards in New York for climate-related initiatives. The city has been proverbially bogged down by traffic snarls and lack of public transport, including taxis and auto rickshaws, and there have been few visible signs of an improvement in the situation. Nagendra, chief systems manager in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), said work on the project had started in 2015 and was officially launched in May 2016.…