GENRE: In Focus

Translated by Sandhya Raju கடந்த ஆண்டு முழுவதும் கோவிட் நோயை எதிர்த்து போராடிய சென்னை வாசிகள், உலகின் மற்ற நாடுகளும் இந்தியாவும் பெரிதும் எதிர்பார்க்கும் கோவிட்-19 தடுப்பூசியை எதிர் நோக்கி காத்திருக்கிறார்கள். முதல் கட்ட தடுப்பூசிக்கு முன்னுரிமை குழுக்களை பதிவு செய்வது, மருத்துவமனைகளில் சோதனை ஒட்ட பயிற்சிகள் என, தமிழ்நாட்டில் பல்வேறு பகுதிகள் மற்றும் சென்னையில் பல அரசு குழுக்கள் இந்த மாபெரும் முயற்சியில் ஈடுபட்டுள்ளன. பிற விவரங்கள் இன்னும் முழுவதுமாக வெளிவராவிட்டாலும், சென்னையில் தடுப்பூசி வழங்கும் பணிக்கு தயார் நிலையில் உள்ளதாகவும், மத்திய அரசு அறிவித்தவுடன் தொடங்கப்படும் எனவும் சுகாதார அலுவலர்கள் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர். இந்த செயல் முறை குறித்தும், எவ்வாறு செயல்படுத்தப்படும் என்பதையும் அறிந்து கொள்ள, தமிழக அரசின் சுகாதாரத்துறை செயலர் ஜெ ராதாகிருஷ்ணன் மற்றும் சென்னை மாநகராட்சி ஆணையர் ஜி பிரகாஷ் ஆகியவரிடம் உரையாடினோம். சுகாதாரத் துறை செயலர் ஜெ ராதாகிருஷ்ணன் சென்னையில் அனைவருக்கும் தடுப்பூசி வழங்க…

“If you walk two feet you will bump into a person here and we were all advised to maintain physical distance over the past year,” says Radha R of Perumbakkam, underlining the challenges and irony of the lives of those living here. But this, Chennai’s largest resettlement colony, with 21,000 homes and close to 18,000 families in residence, could yet be set for expansion. On January 2 2021, PM Modi laid the foundation for the Centre’s ambitious affordable housing scheme, the Light House Project, that is set to add a further 1152 houses to the already packed Perumbakkam resettlement colony. …

Just as the rest of the world and our country, Chennai too is waiting with bated breath for the COVID-19 immunisation programme to start, the only ray of hope after a terrible year spent fighting a novel contagion. From conducting dry run exercises in the hospitals to registering priority groups for the first phase of vaccine, multi-disciplinary government committees in Tamil Nadu and Chennai are working on this massive exercise. While the date of commencement of vaccination has not yet been specified, health officials say that the city is adequately prepared to start the exercise immediately as they hear from the…

Indian government wants to develop a ‘green city’ in every state of the country, powered by renewable energy. The ‘green city’ will mainstream environment-friendly power through solar rooftop systems on all its houses, solar parks on the city’s outskirts, waste to energy plants and electric mobility enabled public transport systems. India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) on December 3rd unveiled a concept note stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi desires one city in each state to be developed as a green city that will meet all its energy requirements from renewable sources of energy. The ministry notes that the idea…

“We don’t know what your commission is doing. People in Delhi are not satisfied with your work. We are also not satisfied”. These remarks were made by a Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde on December 17th. That was six weeks after the ordinance on “Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance 2020” was promulgated on October 29th. The super commission subsumed practically every other law and agency dealing with air pollution in this region. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta responded to the judges’ scathing comments saying the…

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.…