GENRE: In Focus

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in 2010 passed the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) Act with the intention to oversee and coordinate the activities of the various agencies involved in the planning and operation of the transportation system in the city. However, a decade since the Act was passed, the much talked about nodal body is yet to get off the mark and remains largely on paper. Chennai city is famous for its multiple modes of public transport in the form of suburban trains and the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) operated by the Southern Railways, the Metro…

Six months after Minister for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Gadkari introduced the much awaited vehicle scrappage scheme in the Lok Sabha, the Delhi government on September 27th announced its new policy to scrap all 15-year-old diesel vehicles in Delhi and the NCR. “Diesel vehicles older than 15 years will be impounded and sent to the scrapping yard if they are found plying on city roads or parked in public places,” said Delhi Transport Commissioner Ashish Kundra. The scrappage policy announced by Gadkari is a government-funded programme to get old vehicles off the roads. This is expected to reduce pollution,…

India has, over the years, seen several schemes that promised free or subsidised medicine. In 2008, the then UPA government proposed a Jan Aushadi scheme for nationwide subsidised supply of generic drugs. However, there were not many takers for the scheme at the time. While some chalked it up to poor supply chain management, others believe heavy pressure from the pharmaceutical industry was the reason the scheme failed to take off. Tamil Nadu had already established government stores in 1994 that provided certain drugs at reduced rates. But other states were slow to follow. Only some states like Rajasthan (2011)…

“I feel like I have gotten so used to all the issues with Chennai’s suburban rail that I don’t even feel like complaining about it anymore,” says Sivaraman, with a half hearted smile as he waits at the Thiruvanmiyur railway station in Chennai, to board the train to Chennai Beach station after a day’s work. When asked if he has ever tried lodging a complaint about all these 'issues' that he refers to, he said he has done so several times but no change has been made. However, the 54-year-old, who has been using the suburban rail in Chennai regularly…

For the residents of Delhi's many slums and jhuggi-jhopri clusters, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's recent statement that the government is working on a drainage master plan must have sounded a cruel joke. Especially at a time when Delhi had just had its wettest September since 1944. Till September 16th this year, Delhi witnessed 1159.4 mm of rainfall, the highest since 1964 and the third-highest ever, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data. Inevitably, the worst sufferers of this deluge were the 18.5% of the city’s population (estimated at 31,181,376 in the latest revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects) living…

Translated by Sandhya Raju தமிழகத்தில் இந்த ஆண்டு ஜூலை வரை 2185 பேர் டெங்கு காய்ச்சலால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளதாக, சுகாதார சேவைகள் இயக்குநரகம், சுகாதாரம் மற்றும் குடும்ப நல அமைச்சகம் (MoHFW), தரவு தெரிவிக்கிறது. கூடுதலாக, சென்னை மாநகராட்சியின் தரவுகள் படி, ஆகஸ்ட் மாதத்தில் மட்டும் சென்னையில் 100 பேரும், செப்டம்பர் மாதத்தில் 129 பேரும் பாதிப்புக்கு உள்ளாகியிருப்பதாக தெரிவிக்கிறது. இது கடந்த ஆண்டு தமிழகம் முழுவதும் இருந்த 2410 (MoHFW) என்ற எண்ணிக்கையை கடந்துள்ளது. மாநிலத்தில் மழைக்காலம் தொடங்கியதும் இந்த நிலை வரும் என்பதால் இது ஒன்றும் புதிதல்ல. 2020 ஆண்டு முன்பு வரை மாநிலத்தில் அதிக அளவு பாதிப்பு இருந்ததும் குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது. ஆனால், தற்போதைய பெருந்தொற்று காலத்தில் சுகாதார மற்றும் நிரவாகத் துறையின் முழு கவனமும் தொற்று பரவலை தடுப்பதில் உள்ளதால், டெங்கு காய்ச்சல் கவலை அளிப்பதாக உள்ளது. சென்னைவாசிகள், சுகாதார அலுவலர்கள் மற்றும் மாநகராட்சி அலுவலகர்களிடம் கொசுக்கள்…

“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…