GENRE: In Focus

The sudden spurt of COVID cases on the IIT-Madras campus last December, shortly after it reopened, has been the subject of close scrutiny in many quarters. Within 18 days of the first two cases detected, the institution recorded 199 cases (179 students, three persons in the quarters, 16 mess workers and a carpenter), leading to a new cluster. At around the same time, many colleges in the city reopened for final year students and research scholars. The outbreak at IIT-Madras has alerted them to the need for revisiting safety protocols and demonstrated why it is important to not let our…

To a mind that’s taught to see vast swathes of land where no large trees but “mere” grass and shrubs grow as inconsequential, Hesaraghatta’s distinction as a unique habitat for flora and fauna may come as a rude shock. Here, the view is just grass, with a few trees to break the monotony, a dying river skirting the landscape, and a man made lake dependent on annual monsoons to validate its worth. So, to truly appreciate the biodiversity hotspot that Hesaraghatta is, you have to either look up at the sky or peer hard into the ground.  Around 235 species…

We have come to the end of probably the most tumultuous year in the collective history of our cities, a year that has changed almost everything as we knew it once. In healthcare, education and markets, in formal and informal spheres of work, in our festivities as well as the humdrum existence of regular life, COVID has left an impression that cannot be obliterated ever. Much as we want this pandemic to end, neither can we completely erase its impact, nor should we forget the lessons that this period holds for the future. As we look forward to new beginnings,…

Health workers at a Boston hospital broke into a celebratory dance on receiving their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine recently. In India, even before the vials are ready, competition is emerging over who will have the first access. With the vaccine in the final trial phase, India faces the looming challenge of producing the quantities necessary to provide immunity to all its citizens.  Globally, pharma companies are racing ahead to roll out vaccines to fight COVID-19, including the new highly infectious strain that has been found in Britain. Daily life cannot find a new normal until populations have built up antibodies…

All through the lockdown imposed to avert the spread of COVID-19, Chennai was without public transport and even now, services have just begun to operate in a limited manner. While there have been signs of a cycling revival, there are also reports of an increase in the sales of personal motor vehicles. But, as colleges and offices begin to reopen, it raises various questions about what commute in the city will be like in the coming year. Even before the pandemic, and in fact, for several years now, there has been a call to rethink how transportation works in Chennai.…

Renee McPereira is a worried young girl. Her pre-board exams ahead of the 12th standard Central Board of Secondary Examinations (CBSE) exams should normally have been over by now. But now they are slated to begin on January 16th. The school final exams would normally have begun in March 2021. But as the countdown to an unknown date begins, Renee does not know when they will be held and counts herself lucky that she is in the Arts group and does not have to worry about practicals. Vaccine or no vaccine, “it is unlikely to be a happy new year for students, parents, teachers—all…

Climate change is leading to a rise in extreme events the world over, and developing countries such as India have been experiencing not only higher death rates but also greater economic impacts due to natural hazards. Urban areas in India have been found to be particularly vulnerable to floods due to unplanned developmental activities, change in land use patterns, overcrowding as well as increase in natural hazards such as rise in sea levels, storms and cyclones. This paper 'Investigation of role of retention storage in tanks (small water bodies) on future urban flooding: A case study of Chennai city, India'…

What do the trees, water bodies, agricultural fields and forests mean for a city like Delhi? Can we ascribe a monetary value to their contribution? These are some of the questions that a team of Delhi-based scientists recently tried to answer and found that rapid and unplanned urbanisation in Delhi during the last two decades (1998-2018) has happened at the expense of many natural and semi-natural elements and it has resulted in a loss of about Rs. 560 million (US$ 7.614 million). The study showed that the biggest contributor to this loss was the decline in the city’s forest cover, which declined…

This article is part of our special series Environmental Sustainability & Climate Change in Tier II cities supported by Climate Trends. Situated on the banks of river Ganga, Varanasi, India’s holiest city and the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came into limelight in 2015, when Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data highlighted that the city didn’t have even a single good air quality day that year. In fact, Varanasi is among the 43 critically polluted zones across the country. Not just air, its water quality is equally pathetic. Pollution indices in Varanasi have only got worse with time. In…

Nirmala Mary is the sole bread winner of her five-member family. Her husband is ill and her eldest son lost his job in the fallout of the COVID-19 economic crisis. A resident of S M Nagar slum near Chennai Central, she works at a government hospital and takes home Rs 11,000 per month. A majority of her income is spent on buying essential commodities and paying rent. In such a scenario, the skyrocketing prices of vegetables in the city has been the proverbial last straw. Not just Nirmala's, but low and middle income families across the city are struggling to balance…