GENRE: Voices

When I thought of writing this article my intention was to cover the 100 Feet Road Indiranagar, Inner Ring Road (IRR), and 100 Feet Road Koramangala from end to end, starting from Binnamangala and ending in Madiwala. I planned to cover the whole distance to write about citizens' worries in traversing this road. When I went on the ground to find more details, I didn’t go beyond 100 feet road Indiranagar. There was so much content in the first 2.7 kilometres itself that it was needless to go beyond! The white topping work on the 100 feet road started about…

"I know my identity is much more than bipolar disorder. It is just one part of my life”. Those are the words of US-based scientist Dr Yamini (name changed), who has continues to live her life with conviction, while living with Bipolar. On the occasion of World Bipolar Day (March 30), Citizen Matters interviewed Dr Yamini on how she has coped with life and her illness. And how others can learn to cope with similar conditions. Dr Yamini graduated in Engineering from one of India’s top Indian Engineering institutes, and moved to the US where she completed her PhD. She has…

The Southern Railway, which has been chalking up plans to modernise the Egmore railway station, has finally released details. In what promises to be a complete sweep of the premises, the station will get a much-needed infrastructural upgrade. What is heartening is that the heritage aspect of the station is to be retained, with much of it being repurposed. But will the proposed modernisation dwarf the age-old edifice? That is an aspect that the railways will do well to ponder over even as it goes ahead with the makeover. Egmore station's growing infra needs There is no doubting the fact…

Indian cities have long suffered the absence of coherent and consistent policy-making on urbanisation. As a result, they are plagued by governance deficits, inadequate infrastructure, poor land management, unequal access to clean drinking water, repeated bouts of flooding, severe densification of some areas and poor quality of air and public spaces.  For Devashish Dhar, a former public policy specialist at NITI Aayog, these are evidence of Indian cities being a blind spot in planning and policy. In India's Blind Spot: Understanding and Managing Our Cities (Harper Collins India, 2023), Dhar examines historical processes that led to haphazard development of Indian…

கொரட்டூர் ஏரி 20 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பாக சமையலுக்கு குடிநீருக்கு பயன்படுத்தி வந்துள்ளனர் ஆனால் தொழிற்சாலை மற்றும் பால்பண்ணை நச்சு கழிவுகளால் ஏரி மாசடைந்தது இதனால் நீரை பயன்படுத்த முடியவில்லை. நிலத்தடி நீர் சுற்றி பாதித்துள்ளது கழிவு நீரால் ஆகாயத்தாமரை அதிகம் வளர்ந்துள்ளதால் மீன்களின் இனப்பெருக்கம் குறைந்து வருகிறது ஏரியைச் சுற்றிலும் 200க்கும் மேற்பட்ட மீனவ குடும்பங்கள் வாழ்ந்து வருகின்றனர் இவர்களின் வாழ்வாதாரம் ஏரியை நம்பி தான் உள்ளது ஏரி மாசடைந்து மண் மற்றும் தண்ணீர் பாதிப்பால் மீன் இனப்பெருக்கம் குறைந்துள்ளது. ஆக்கிரமிப்பால் ஏற்படும் மாசு  ஏரியைச் சுற்றிலும் அரசியல் போர்வையில் சமூக விரோதிகள் தொடர்ந்து ஆக்கிரமிப்பு பணியில் ஈடுபட்டு வருகின்றனர். ஆக்கிரமிக்கப்பட்ட பகுதிகளில் சென்னை மாநகராட்சி எல்லா வசதிகளையும் செய்து கொடுப்பதால் ஆக்கிரமிப்பாளர்களுக்கு வசதியாக போய்விடுகிறது. ஓராண்டுக்கு முன்பாக கோர்ட்டு ஏரியில் ஆக்கிரமித்துள்ள 12 வீடுகளுக்கு நோட்டீஸ் வழங்கப்பட்டது 21 நாளைக்குள் காலி செய்ய வேண்டும் என்று ஆனால் இதுவரை எந்த…

Pritika has to travel from Royapuram to different parts of the city every day for work. Being a daily user of the government buses in Chennai, she says that she feels unsafe taking buses. "When I enter a bus, my dignity and sense of space are immediately taken away. I have to give up on the assumption that I can regulate the space around me. Women's safety in Chennai buses depends on the actions of the men on the bus. All that we can do is learn how to respond to such instances of harassment in public places. More often…

One of the biggest developments from India at the COP27 held in November 2022 in Sharm-el Sheikh, Egypt, was the announcement of a Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy. This took place at the India pavilion, highlighting the theme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s LiFE (Lifestyle For Environment) initiative. LiFE aims to begin ‘a mass movement of environmentally conscious lifestyles that practise mindful and deliberate utilisation, instead of mindless and destructive consumption’. The energy sector has the potential to adopt such practices, cause shifts in demand behaviour and reduce emissions. The concept of an environmentally conscious lifestyle is not new. But…

Life in resettlement colonies in Chennai comes with myriad issues. Our wait for proper infrastructure, basic services, benefits and entitlements has been long and the fight has been hard. My life used to revolve around my house in the Perumbakkam resettlement area. Even though I taught children from Classes 1 to 5 to read and write Tamil in our Reading Club, I was still confined to my household and managing its affairs. But as Community Champion, now my life revolves around the entire resettlement area, where I work to make the lives of people here better. An experiential learning programme,…

A recent study found Chennai to be the top city for women in India. Chennai ranked first among metro cities with a million-plus population. The parameters that the ranking was based on included safety and ease of living for women. At the same time, crimes against women in Tamil Nadu have seen an increase by 40% in 2022 according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau. So, how easy is it to navigate life in Chennai as a woman? Is the city as safe and convenient as perception seems to suggest? What does freedom mean for the women of…

The Greater Chennai Corporation’s (GCC) budget is expected to be tabled in the council meeting on March 27. The state of the finances of the civic body requires close scrutiny as the quality of daily life of Chennaiites is linked to how well the civic body can carry out its functions. Chennaiites part of active Residents' Welfare Associations and Civil Society Organisations share their expectations on what must feature in the city’s budget. On roads and stormwater drains in Chennai While residents are aware of the importance of stormwater drains for flood mitigation, many raise grievances about the impact of…