OPEDS

Translated by Sandhya Raju கடந்த இரண்டு வருடங்களாக கோவிட்-19 தொற்று காரணமாக, அனைத்தும் முடங்கிப்போயின, ஆனால் இந்த புத்தாண்டில் குறைகளை களைந்து, நாம் அனைவரும் விரைவாக செயல்பட வேண்டும். 2022 ஆம் ஆண்டுக்கான விருப்பப் பட்டியல் இதோ: நகரத்தின் தண்ணீர் மற்றும் நீர் நிலைகளின் மேலாண்மை சில வருடங்கள் முன்பு, மழை நீர் சேமிப்பு கட்டாயமாக்கப்பட்டு, நன்றாகவும் அமல்படுத்தப்பட்டது. இதன் நல்விளைவை நாம் அனைவருமே அனுபவித்தோம். ஆனால், காலப்போக்கில் இது மாறி, தண்ணீர் தட்டுப்பாடு மீண்டும் தலைதூக்கியது. நீர் தட்டுப்பாட்டை தவிர்க்க மழை நீர் சேமிப்பு திட்டத்தை மீண்டும் பரவலாக அமல்படுத்த வேண்டும். பல காலங்களாக நீர் நிலைக்கான திட்டங்கள் வரையப்பட்டாலும், ஆறுகள், குளங்கள் மற்றும் ஏரிகள் ஆகியவற்றில் கழிவுகளும் பிளாஸ்டிக் குப்பைகளும் நிறைந்துள்ளன. இது போக, ஆக்கிரமிப்புகளாலும் சூழப்பட்டுள்ளன. இதனால் மக்களின் சுகாதாரம் பாதிக்கப்படுவதோடு, கடும் வெள்ளத்திற்கும் வழி வகுக்கிறது. ஆக்கிரமிப்புகளை அகற்றி, நமது இயற்கை வளங்களை பாதுகாத்து,…

In 2022, as many as 132 cities that are currently implementing clean air action plans under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), will have only two years left to meet the 2024 target of 20-30% cut in annual average particulate pollution from 2017 levels. While these generic targets are common for all cities, the city-wise target for meeting the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for both particulate matter of size less than 10 micron and 2.5 micron (PM10 and PM2.5) are significantly tighter for some. Especially those in the Indo Gangetic Plain, where the reduction needed is 50-60% or more.…

The last days of 2021 saw the city’s famed Marina Beach become accessible for all for a short period of time with a temporary pathway. Promises have been made to make such public spaces more inclusive in 2022. Here is a look at how the past year has been for the disability rights movement and what we would like to see for the city going forward. The effect of the pandemic The pandemic really brought to fore some of the things that disabled people have been requesting as reasonable accommodations, such as work from home and teleconferencing. If a person…

The whirlwind that was 2021 has left us with many takeaways for how Chennai can be governed better and why citizens must play an active role in it. The city received record rainfall and an almost unwelcome deja vu of the 2015 floods. It goes into the new year without an elected local government, the sixth year in running. With  the promise of local body elections around the corner and some exciting developments in terms of urban projects, we step into 2022.  On the pandemic and Singara Chennai 2.0 Chennai, like the rest of the country, was badly hit by…

While it feels like everything in the past two years has been overshadowed by the spectre of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a city we need to look at our shortcomings and resolve to pull up our socks in the new year. So here’s CAG’s wishlist for Chennai for 2022. Managing the city’s water and water bodies Many moons ago, Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) was made mandatory and for a while it was implemented well. Chennai reaped the rewards of this effort. Since then though, we have let it slide and are again facing grave water shortage. Widespread and proper implementation of…

My duties as the Adjunct Professor of Marketing at SPJIMR calls for me to teach a full course to second-year students. And my course was set to start in early April 2020. I had a class of 60 students and 16 sessions to teach. Within a few days of the lockdown, students were asked to return to their home towns. The faculty were put through several sessions on ‘how to teach remotely’. Interestingly, Harvard Business School ran a whole series of webinars on how to teach using Zoom. My course started as scheduled in early April. The first few sessions…

Reforming Indian agriculture in a way that would match the country’s food needs with ensuring farmers’ security has been debated for decades now. But a reform package, that would be welcomed by farmers and consumers from Punjab to Kanyakumari was never going to be easy or simple.  This Central government’s version of bringing about much-needed agriculture reform were three new farm laws that overrode all the other laws that came before it. Unfortunately, the new laws addressed the various issues that farmers faced in much the same way that the blind men of the fable saw the elephant. No wonder…

It is that time of the year in when winter smog sets in and air pollution spikes in Delhi. Delayed withdrawal of rains and consequent deferment of stubble burning this year had made October one of the cleanest in the last few years. But the onset of winter conditions – cool and calm wind, temperature inversion, rapidly increasing farm fires and overall trapping of regional pollution – has created conditions that may trigger the season’s first smog episode soon.   The SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) programme of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology had already predicted…

On October 1st, a day before Gandhi Jayanti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a sequel to his flagship and equally lauded and critiqued programme, the Swachh Bharat Mission. The aim of  Swachh Bharat 2.0, added Modi, is to make “urban areas garbage free”. He stressed that in the second phase, “the garbage mounds in cities will be processed and removed completely. We are processing about 70% of the daily waste; the next step is to take it to 100%.” Swachh Bharat 2.0 will also focus on source segregation of solid waste, utilising the principles of 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), scientific…

“Bad for shop assistants, good for shoppers. That is the obvious inference from the upheaval in retailing that is leaving shopping malls and high streets…” says The Economist (March 13, 2021). The article goes on to admit that it may be an over-simplification of the crisis in retailing and how consumers will continue to crave for human attention and help when they shop. The bigger question, however, is ‘will retail-linked jobs disappear totally’? Or will they become more complex and nuanced? When the Indian economy opened up in the late 1990s and car brands started flooding the market, one of…