GENRE: In Focus

Chennai’s swirling mass of two-wheelers and cars could technically make the Greater Chennai Corporation a wealthy civic body through parking fees, but the current realisation of revenues is only of the order of Rs.1.2 lakh a day, going up from a low Rs.80,000 after parking lots were “improved.” The GCC plans to double the number of street parking sites to 88 locations and provide 12,000 spaces.As of April 2021, there were 9.99 lakh cars and 49 lakh two-wheelers registered in the State capital as per official data. For Tamil Nadu as a whole, the vehicle population grew sharply since 2001,…

Are you a Chennaite who has been to Marina beach since your childhood? Does the sight of the sea hold many happy memories for you? But how many of us know that Marina beach also has a fraught past, which counts as part of its history a police gun firing against fisherfolk who protested against beach beautification? For many youngsters of this generation, the Jallikattu protests were the first time they saw a very different image of the beach - one as a site of protest. But that's not the only point of contention that has seen protests. Over the…

37-year-old Nitin has been a tobacco user for more than 10 years. Last month, he was swinging between life and death in Parel’s King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital after suffering from a heart attack. “I was experiencing pain in my chest, I was unable to breathe. They performed CPR when I reached KEM. I underwent angioplasty and was admitted for a week,” says Nitin, who works as a private driver in Mumbai. The city witnessed a jump in heart-attack cases in the first six months of 2021 as a total of 17,880 lost their lives to it. Nearly 3,000 died every month; in…

Friday nights are when the rich go out for dinner and fun. On September 9th, a class 11 student took his friend out for dinner in his MG Hector. But before the night turned into morning, the juvenile had hit and run over a 23-year-old food delivery partner who died soon after he was rushed to hospital. The brat at the wheel had abandoned his car and fled the accident spot, but was apprehended by the police who registered an FIR. On August 31st, a 17-year old smothered to death an 18-year-old differently abled boy he was meant to be…

Uma Anandan made the news for her controversial statement in support of Nathuram Godse in the run-up to the local body polls. She was elected from Ward 134 and is the lone councillor from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chennai. Her foray into politics has roots in early childhood, with her father being a member of the Indian National Congress (INC)."I remember the times of Indira Gandhi and the issues such as corruption and autocracy that plagued the INC being discussed in the extended family. There was a slowly eroding value to the party that became apparent to me",…

“It was 12:05 in the night. Some people were awake, some were asleep,” says Rafiq Shaikh, recounting the landslide that struck Kurar Village in Malad on July 2nd, 2019, killing 32 of his neighbours and washing all their houses away. “It was raining heavily and water had entered our house, so we were awake. Perhaps that’s the only reason we made it out alive,” he says. The retaining wall of the Malad Hill water reservoir, towering over their houses in Pimpri Pada and Ambedkar Nagar in Kurar Village, collapsed under the pressure of 300 mm of continuous rainfall. It was like a…

"We used to get 1000-2000 kilograms of prawns and other fish in a day around 15 years ago. Now, we are able to catch only 150-200 kilograms of fish per day," says Raj Kamal, the coordinator of Save Pulicat Movement, an effort to protect the Pulicat wetlands, one of the oldest wetlands in Chennai. "When our wetlands were clean, we used to make even Rs. 50,000 a month. Now it is just a paltry sum. We are forced to pay this price because industries and other agents pollute our waters." Wetlands in Chennai provide more than just a living to…

In August this year, Rakhi Naik, a domestic worker in Mumbai, was found pleading to the police at Khar police station by Aftab Siddique, a teacher and social activist in the city. Rakhi was on one of the many rounds she had made to police stations asking for help after filing an FIR in April. Through Rakhi, Aftab was able to unravel a complicated pattern of fraud in the city. Men claiming to be brokers and agents dupe people from the lower class out of lakhs of money and make affordable housing harder for them. It all started when Rakhi signed an…

The Kannada movie, 777 Charlie, not only beautifully showcased the relationship between dog and man, but also highlighted the perils of indiscriminate breeding. The film also stressed the essential narrative of ‘adopt, don't shop’. The reality is that dogs are bred indiscriminately, pups and dogs do get abandoned, and there are still many dogs looking for homes.  An abandoned St Bernard. Pic courtesy: Voice of Voiceless Dog Breeding and Marketing (DBM) rules, 2017, and Pet Shop rules, 2018, lay out the broad structure,  regulations and controls to ensure responsible breeding and to avoid cruelty. While the framework exists, does it…

On September 22nd, a one-storied building built over a stormwater drain (SWD) or rajakaluves at Shanti Niketan Layout near Munnenakolalu was demolished. The residents were served notice by the tehsildar of the Revenue Department to vacate the house immediately, following which, the structure was razed by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the drains cleared of the debris. BBMP zonal officials oversee the demolition of encroachments. Pic: BBMP PRO The city's collective anger over the recent flooding of residential layouts and damage to property finally led to the municipal body scrambling to clear all constructions that encroached the rajakaluves.…