Civic

With the Lok Sabha elections right around the corner, Citizen Matters caught up with Prashanth Goutham of Arappor Iyakkam. In this freewheeling discussion with Meenakshi Ramesh, Prashanth details the roles and responsibilities of an MP and what voters must look for in deciding on the ideal candidate. https://youtu.be/Zm0bKsPxqIE [Meenakshi Ramesh anchors the Chennai edition of Citizen Matters and is actively involved in many civic initiatives. She can be reached at meenakshi@citizenmatters.in]

The Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme was introduced in 1993 to enable MPs to create useful community assets in their constituencies. Currently, each MP is allotted Rs 5 crore per year, that is, Rs 25 crore per term which is a substantial sum of public money to be placed at the disposal of an individual. MPs are expected to recommend projects based on local needs and the district authority is made responsible for due diligence, approval, selection of implementation agency and execution. The Government of India releases directly to the district authority the annual entitlement of Rs 5…

It is that time of season again when we get to take a Report Card on the performance of our MP candidate and select one from those now standing for election based on who we feel would best represent us in the Lok Sabha. A total of 34 candidates have filed for nomination for the MP election for Bangalore Central - You can see the list here. Million Voter Rising team supported by all citizen groups across Mahadevapura, has been working the past three years to create awareness about the issues, and assist all eligible citizens to become registered voters. We now cordially…

Pan-India women's march against hate Women marched across India in 20 states at various locations calling for an end to the environment of hate prevalent at the moment. The “Women's March for Change” was against the oppression of tribals, farmers, Dalits, religious minorities, women, transgender persons, and persons with disability. Participants stated that the march is s collective protest against the erosion of constitutional rights of the aforementioned groups. The marching women demanded that the Women's Reservation Bill, guaranteeing 33% reservation for women in parliament, be passed. The demands extended to the sphere of jobs and politics. Slogans of “Azadi”…

Vehicle numbers increase in Bengaluru Bengaluru's vehicle numbers has increased to 80 lakhs; with this, the city has overtaken Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai in terms of the number of vehicles. Now Bengaluru is second only to Delhi, which has 1.5 crore vehicles, according to Transport Commissioner V P Ikkeri. Bengaluru's 10,000 km of road length is considerably lower than Delhi 's 30,000 km. The total number of vehicles in Karnataka has now increased to 2.10 crore, Ikkeri said. Since five to six lakh vehicles are added each year to the city, the number of vehicles in the Bengaluru metropolitan area…

Chennai Central is now Dr MGR Central Railway station The Railway board has cleared the proposal to rename Chennai Central station as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M G Ramachandran Central railway station. To commemorate the centenary celebrations of the ex-CM, the state government had sent a proposal to name the station after him; subsequently, during Narendra Modi's visit in March, the PM made an announcement to change the name at a public rally. The change would come into effect from April 5th. The Railway board has however said that there can be no inaugural events due to the election code of…

A misguided water policy, rapid unfettered urbanisation, lack of vision and a growth model characterized by indiscriminate greed is killing Mumbai and depriving the city of its basic right to quench its thirst. The 1.2 crore residents of the megapolis currently face a 10 percent water cut, effective since November 15, 2018. Mumbai is no stranger to water cuts but the rationing started much earlier this year than in previous years, months before the scorching summers were due to set in. This was to make up for the less rainfall this year. The city received 13.13 million litres of surface…

With a red and black shawl over her shoulders and a warm smile, Thamizhachi Thangapandian walks the streets of Medavakkam on Tuesday, April 2 2019. She initiates a friendly conversation with the women, tastes the Kara Kuzhambu in one of the houses and listens attentively to their  problems. She assures that she will transform the locality if elected to power. A writer, poet and academician, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) camdidate Thamizhachi Thangapandian is fighting her first Lok Sabha election from Chennai South. She is campaigning vigorously -- both online and offline; her Facebook page is filled with updates about her…

In the first part of this series, we explained how compensatory afforestation is a sham - compensatory saplings are not tracked or cared for, or are planted way outside the city. In this part, we explore why trees are felled in the first place without public consultations. Environmentalists in Bengaluru have pointed out the curious trend of tree-cutting packages awarded in bunches of 49 trees or lesser. Why is this? Section 8 (3)(vii) of the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976, stipulates that if more than 50 trees need to be cut for any infrastructure purpose like road construction or…

காட்சி 1: நாடாளுமன்றத் தேர்தல் பிரச்சாரத்தில் "ரோடு சரியில்ல ;குடிதண்ணீருக்கு வழியில்ல ;சாக்கடை அடைச்சிருக்கு ;போக்குவரத்து நெரிசல்;பள்ளிக்கூடம் சரியில்ல;மருத்துவமனை ஒழுங்கில்லை; குப்பைத்தொட்டி பிரச்னை, குப்பைமேடு பிரச்னை…”   நாடாளுமன்றத் தேர்தல் களத்தில்  இருக்கும் எல்லா வேட்பாளர்களை நோக்கியும் மக்கள் வீசும் பிரச்னைப் பட்டியல் இது. காட்சி 2:கல்லூரியில் ஜனநாயக விழிப்புணர்வு கருத்தரங்க நிகழ்ச்சி ஒன்றில் மாணவர்களை நோக்கிக் கேட்கிறேன் “நாடாளுமன்றத் தேர்தல் வருதே,இதுவரை உங்கள் பகுதியின் நாடாளுமன்ற உறுப்பினரின்(எம்.பி) செயல்பாடு எப்படி இருந்தது,இனிவரப்போகும் எம்.பி என்னென்ன செய்ய வேண்டும்?” "சார், கடுப்பா வருது. எம்.பி. எங்க ஏரியாப்பக்கமே வர்ல. வீட்ல இருந்து காலேஜ் போய்ட்டு வர்றதுக்கு பஸ் ரொம்பக் கம்மியா இருக்கு. கல்லூரி நேரத்திற்கு கூடுதல் பேருந்துகள் விடுங்கனு 4 வருஷமா கேட்கறோம். ஒன்னும் நடக்கல. இப்ப இருக்கற எம்.பி. வேஸ்ட். எங்க ஏரியாப் பிரச்னைய யார் தீர்த்துவைக்கப் போறாங்களோ அவங்களுக்குத்தான் இந்தமுறை ஓட்டுப்போடப் போகிறேன்” என்பது போன்ற பதில்கள் பல…