GENRE: In Focus

Chennai has many nature enthusiasts; talk to any of them and the one topic that comes up every single time is the systematic and continuous destruction of the city’s existing natural wealth. Actions by government and citizens have been equally responsible for the plundering of nature and the resulting erosion of native flora and fauna. It therefore comes as a pleasant surprise when a governmental organization sensitises the public, consults them and is willing to listen to ideas and implement them. Even more warming is the fact that this dream body is working on the restoration of the Chennai rivers,…

Nitin Gadkari’s recent plans to “bulldoze” India into a switch-over to electric vehicles has met with a fair bit of scepticism across quarters, perhaps because of the peremptory nature of his announcement and the lack of a detailed roadmap for the transition. However, this does create yet another window of opportunity to assess and analyse what’s making the move towards cleaner vehicles so difficult, and what could be done to remove the obstacles. The thrust on electric vehicles, considered to be a potential solution to the problem of alarming levels of air pollution in our cities, had in fact come…

In the late 1980s, when the term “waste management” had not gained much currency in Indian cities, a banker-turned-environmental activist M B Nirmal started a cleanliness movement in Chennai. Called the Civic Exnora, it was considered as one of the largest environmental and civic movements having happened in the urban India. Civic Exnora was founded in 1989 by M B Nirmal who was then an officer with the Indian Overseas Bank. Exnora was started in an attempt to create awareness about cleanliness. Back in the 90s, the organisation played a major role in motivating and involving neighbourhoods in systematic waste…

In January this year, the organising committee members of Urur Kuppam and Alcot Kuppam, had planned to host a Carnatic music concert and a Chennai Corporation Band performance on Besant Nagar beach during the Marghazhi Festival. Little did they suspect that organising these events would lead to a protracted tussle with the government for the next six months. Applying for permission The two concerts were scheduled for January 29th and February 4th at the Besant Nagar beach. The committee members approached the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) for the necessary permission. But after making several visits to the offices of the…

India’s largest city, and the eighth largest globally, Mumbai houses more than 1.2 crore people according to Census 2011. The city traffic has a notorious image, with frequent traffic jams being reported routinely in the media. However, the Draft Development Plan for Greater Mumbai 2014-2034 conveys a different story of how the city moves. The plan reveals that more than half of the city uses non-motorised modes of transport such as walking and cycling (51%). 42% of the trips are catered to by public modes of transport, including trains, buses, auto rickshaws etc, while the share of cars, two-wheelers and…

Every year,  on average, 150000 Indians are diagnosed to be suffering from blood cancers and diseases such as Lymphoma, Myelodysplasia, Thalassaemia, Aplastic anaemia, Sickle cell anaemia etc. For those afflicted, Bone Marrow Transplantation is the last resort. In 2016, however, only around 600 people could go for such transplant, which means that more than 1,40,000 or more people stared at an end with effectively no treatment. But why is it so difficult for patients with the above diseases to avail transplantation treatment? This is because the patient needs matching bone marrow from a healthy donor whose HLA type matches that…

It seemed like a bright sunny day. A working woman in her late thirties, left Powai for Matunga by Uber at 7.30 a.m. The route normally takes 45 minutes. But yesterday it took a little longer than usual, around 75 minutes. The rain gods had by then showcased a trailer of what was going to be an adventurous day. Even then, never had I thought that I would return to the cosy comfort of my home only after more than 24 hours! As a Mumbaikar, you can feel the vibe when rain, or for that matter anything, rises above the…

Property buyers often fall victim to unscrupulous real estate developers; hence there is a need for real estate development to be regulated. This is what the Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA) intends to do. On Saturday, 19th August 2017, I attended an interactive Question and Answer session on RERA. IAS Officer Kapil Mohan, the Principal Secretary, Housing Board, Government of Karnataka, and also Interim Authority of RERA, was part of the panel. The event was organised by the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), Karnataka chapter, on  the Karnataka State Billiards Association premises. It was attended by many real estate…

Many Indian state governments have experimented with subsidised canteens over the last few years. The most recent addition to this has been the Karnataka government launch of ‘Indira Canteens’ in Bengaluru this month (August 2017). According to media reports, the canteens in most states have been very popular, a fact borne out by the long queues often seen outside these. Intended for the urban poor - mainly the destitute, elderly, unemployed, migrants and the working poor - these canteens usually serve food for Rs 10 or much less. The concept of subsidised food canteens became especially popular after the success…

It was a cloudy evening in mid-August. It had started drizzling and the dark clouds indicated a heavy spell of rain. It seemed like the South West monsoon would finally show mercy on the water-starved city of Chennai. As I walked on a narrow street that leads to Whites Road in Royapettah, my path was blocked by a water tanker, and tens of women and hundreds of pots thronging it. There was utter chaos on the street packed with houses on both sides. The women were fighting, yelling at each other and trying their best to grab their chance to…