GENRE: In Focus

“I am a great believer in the efficacy of the neighbourhood family doctor concept, somewhat in the manner it existed in my parents' time,” says Kanuru Sujatha Rao, a 1974 batch IAS officer of AP cadre and former Secretary, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Having spent 20 of her 36 years of government service in the health sector in different capacities at the state and federal levels, Sujatha Rao has extensive experience and expertise on India’s public health issues. Among the many key positions she has held, Sujatha Rao was chairperson of the Portfolio Committee of the Global…

According to data from the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, Tamil Nadu recorded a total of 2,185 dengue cases during the year 2021 (as of July). To add to that, data obtained from the health department of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) shows that Chennai alone recorded 100 dengue cases in August and 129 cases in September, which means that the total number of dengue cases in the state has already surpassed that of the previous year, which stood at 2,410 (MoHFW). This however, is not unusual as dengue has…

The Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) is due to be implemented by the end of this year. A joint effort of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), the Government of Maharashtra and WRI India, the draft version will be showcased at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in November. The general public was invited to give  feedback and suggestions till September 20th. The plan is to work in two ways. The first - mitigation - will concentrate on the sectors of energy and buildings, sustainable mobility and waste management, chosen for their significant contribution to greenhouse…

September 12th 2021 marked the second death anniversary of R Subhashree. The 23-year-old techie died after an illegal hoarding erected on the road’s divider fell on her while she was riding her two wheeler on the Pallavaram -Thoraipakkam road in Chennai. Two years later, despite the Madras High Court (HC) coming down heavily on the then All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government for failing to stop the menace of illegal hoardings in Chennai, places in the city such as OMR, GST road, Tambaram and Velachery are witnessing the return of advertisement hoardings on medians and foot overbridges. Following…

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed India’s evolving child-care ecosystem to the brink of collapse with preschools and playschools shuttered since March last year and no new admissions this academic year. According to a UNICEF report, this has impacted 28 million preschool children in anganwadi centres across the country. But while the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development issued an order in November last year, allowing all states and Union Territories to reopen anganwadis outside containment zones with immediate effect, there is still total confusion among parents, schools and policy makers on the reopening of private preschools.Having seen thriving business pre-COVID, with…

Since the first case of COVID in January 2020 and the national lockdown from March 2020, there has been a barrage of guidelines, rules and regulations for every sector and every aspect of our lives. Yet, preschools and daycare centres, a lifeline for working parents, were totally overlooked. Preschools have neither figured in any notification nor in any help package. A staggering number of such centres in the city have closed down. The staff, owners, parents and most importantly the children, have all been adversely affected. Informal estimates from discussions with preschool owners indicate that over 4000 preschools and daycares…

Three decades of conflict, a total shutdown for months in the state since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 19 2019 and two long periods of lockdown during the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic — all of this together has created a serious mental health crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, and led to a sudden spurt in suicides in the Union Territory in recent times. Suicides in Srinagar in particular have risen at an alarming rate, as young boys, girls, women and even elderly individuals are taking their own lives. The city of 1.2 million has…

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we saw that the impact on biodiversity is completely ignored when real estate projects are given Environment Clearance (EC), even though documents submitted by the builder are often completely obscure or even copy-pasted from other publications. Yet the SEIAA (State Environment Impact Assessment Authority) clears most of these projects without question. When it comes to mega ‘township’ projects with built-up area above 1.5 lakh square metre, builders have to submit an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), giving details of the abundances and densities of flora and fauna in the project area as…

In her 158 sq ft home in Semmencherry Housing Board, 12-year-old S Kumudha* chops vegetables, while her elder brother is busy writing an assignment. Kumudha will later make a quick lunch and clean the house; her brother will attend an online class. Both their parents are daily wage labourers, who are out at work from morning to dusk. Kumudha takes the load off her mother by doing the domestic chores. Her mind, once intrigued by the concepts of geometry and the Indian Constitution, is now entirely engrossed with south Indian cuisine.  It wasn't always like this, though. Kumudha and her…

Part 1 of this series looked at how mid-sized real estate projects in Bengaluru get Environment Clearance (EC) quickly, irrespective of their impact on biodiversity. But what about larger ‘township’ projects exceeding built-up area of 1.5 lakh sq m or total plot area of five lakh sq m (50 ha)? On paper, the criteria is stricter for these - the builder has to submit a detailed EIA (Environment Impact Assessment). The State Environmental Appraisal Committee (SEAC) has to assess the EIA and recommend the project, before the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) clears the project. However, environmentalists have for…