GENRE: In Focus

The very popular share autos, or 7-seater mini vans operating in the hundreds in Chennai and addressing an acutely-felt need for intermediate public transport in the city are in fact illegal, and cannot pick up and drop passengers at random. This was revealed by a response given by the Tamil Nadu Transport Department to an RTI query filed in March 2017 by a journalist from the city, who blogs at Straphangers United. The RTI application was filed to the Secretary, Transport, Tamil Nadu, who forwarded it to the Transport Commissioner, who in turn sent it to the RTOs. The response to…

Seeniammal, a resident of Parameswaran Street in Zamin Pallavaram had acquired a small piece of land for constructing a house three decades ago but never saw this coming. For her as for other residents of the area, the 2010 notification from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), accompanied by a letter from Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, was a bolt from the blue. According to the notification and letter, Zamin Pallavaram was one among the sites chosen for research by the ASI and hence classified as “Prohibited” or “Regulated.” Effectively what this means is that homeowners in these regions would not…

To start gaining some perspective on and compare waste management practices across the world, it may be useful to have a look at a couple of documents produced by international organisations. As we will see, their approach is largely informed by income levels classifications, but that should not stop us from learning across income-groups. Comparing waste management systems across the world Firstly, the UN-Habitat’s report “Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities” issued in 2010 is a good place to start. The report aims at filling a gap in our understanding of Solid Waste Management (MSW) around the world and…

In our article on monetary compensation available to victims of road accidents, we had mentioned the Solatium Fund, constituted under the Solatium Scheme, under Section 163 (1) of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, for the payment of compensation to victims of hit and run motor accidents. This came into force with effect from July 1989. Below is a round-up of its most salient features, and the details of the procedure for claiming compensation under it. How is the Fund administered? Contributions to the Fund are made by the General Insurance Corporation according to an agreed formula and the latter nominates one…

Hoskote. East Bengaluru. March 22, 2016. The case of 22-year-old Kishore Kumar, whose bike was hit by an unidentified vehicle and who was turned away by two private hospitals in the city, was reported by several local media. The first hospital reportedly refused treatment to the victim, as he was unaccompanied by family members or any persons known to him and had been taken to the hospital by a good samaritan. Cut to a year later. On March 17, 2017, The Indian Express reported the case of Sunil Patra who was critically injured when a truck rammed into his motorcycle…

Many may have missed this small snippet of news, but the Special Officer, Corporation Commissioner D Karthikeyan has already passed the Greater Chennai Corporation budget, reportedly on March 14. Details of the budget are however being withheld in the name of election code of conduct, in view of the imminent by-elections in RK Nagar. While one can understand that the announcement of welfare measures related to RK Nagar could violate the election code of conduct, it is difficult to see why the entire budget details have to be withheld. And one cannot hold back the feeling that an elected council…

Our first reaction when we see litter on the streets, dump yards along our highway or near our home, street animals eating the bits of rubbish along with the plastic covers:  Uuhgghh….!! Can anything at all be done to end this? Can’t the government do something to clean up? Can we stop rampant garbage burning? Only about 25% of the waste generated in Chennai is treated, the rest is merrily added to the waste dumps, creating pollution and in-turn affecting our health. Can we do something about this? Exploring these questions, some of us at Bhumi NGO decided to start by…

Come summer, newspapers across the country faithfully remind us of the dire state of the depleting water-tables in our cities, touching scarier levels each year. Living in our ivory towers as we do, water tankers shield us from reality. Some believe that the rains will naturally resolve matters. The stark reality is that mismanagement of water-resources, illegal bore-wells, rampant misuse of potable water for construction, disrupted storm-water drains/water channels – all ensure that groundwater recharge is severely impacted. With a spiralling demand-supply gap, the water problems of every Indian city are set to assume nightmarish proportions unless immediate action is…

In the third week of February, a horrifying incident of child sexual assault was reported from a playschool belonging to a popular franchise in Bengaluru. In this particular case, the parents of the child reported the incident with the police and the perpetrator was arrested, the playschool was shut down. The main accused in this case was the school supervisor. Meanwhile, the parents of the victim alleged that the school management had also tried to cover up the matter when they were informed about the incident of sexual assault. A case under The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO)…

Air pollution has always been a mainstream concern with an underwhelming response towards remediating the situation. More recently, the interest has been re-ignited in India with several Indian cities having the highest levels of air pollution in the world. In addition, a report estimates over 650,000 deaths in India in 2015 due to outdoor (ambient) air pollution alone, and an even higher number due to indoor air pollution (1.2 million). These are only mortality estimates, and the impact on morbidity is a lot more widespread. News articles on air pollution and its impacts in Bengaluru are usually based on studies…