Civic

Those tagged as ‘encroachers’ are the victims of the historical marginalization process, says Founder of Chennai-based NGO Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC) Vanessa Peter. A study by the NGO reveals that limited access to basic facilities, especially during the pandemic, has increased the existing vulnerabilities of the communities who are grappling with the adverse impacts of resettlement.  Life on the margins The report titled ‘Life on the Margins - Access to Basic Infrastructure Facilities in the Resettlement Sites of Chennai’ points out several key issues pertaining to living conditions at resettlement areas. It has been…

High allocations for Bengaluru in State budget Presenting the State budget 2022-23, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who also handles the finance portfolio, said that the State's revenues have increased. He did not propose to impose any new tax. He announced allocation of Rs 3,661 crore to all 28 assembly segments in Bengaluru, up from allocation only for BJP MLAs' constituencies earlier. The CM also said that Rs 8,409 crore has been allocated for the comprehensive development of Bengaluru. Of this, Rs 1,500 crore has been earmarked to develop mega stormwater drains to prevent floods. An 'Atal Bihari Vaypayee park' of…

Chennai gets first Dalit woman Mayor R Priya Rajan, a 28-year-old M. Com graduate, was elected Mayor of Chennai following the indirect elections which took place on Friday. Priya, of the DMK, became the city’s first ever Dalit woman Mayor. She was elected councillor from Ward 74 in the Thiru Vi Ka Nagar Zone. Priya is the third only woman Mayor of Chennai after Tara Cherian and Kamakshi Jayaraman.Priya’s father has been a long time member of the DMK. Priya enrolled in the party at age 18 and has been involved in politics for the past decade.  Along with Priya,…

Higher Secondary Certificate exams begin offline in Maharashtra For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a state board exam will be conducted offline. Higher secondary Certificate (HSC) exams were cancelled last year due to pandemic restrictions in the second wave. With over 14 lakh students in the state, out of which 3 Lakh are in Mumbai, HSC exams are now being conducted offline in all colleges. While the state board will conduct exams on the entire syllabus, other boards like CBSE and CICSE have conducted semester exams on 50% of the syllabus. Their second semester exams…

Seema* has been living in the G Block, colloquially known as Paras colony, of Aya Nagar for more than seven years now. Having migrated from Uttar Pradesh in search of better employment opportunities, she and her husband had only one dream, like any other migrant - to buy their own house in the locality. “My husband and I work very hard and have always dreamt of having a house of our own.”  However, little did she know that just a year after she bought the land in Aya Nagar from a local Gurjar, the front yard of her house would…

How many of you remember Moondravathu Kan, the short film featuring comedy actor Vivek which was released to sensitise citizens about the importance of CCTV cameras in crime prevention and detection? Moondravathu Kan (3rd Eye) was actually a project  of the Greater Chennai City Police (GCP), introduced by the then Police Commissioner Dr. A.K. Vishwanathan sometime in early 2018, as part of which Chennai saw a significant increase in the number of CCTV cameras in the city. By forging a public-private partnership, GCP managed to get the shopkeepers, traders and several resident welfare associations to pitch in with their contributions…

Centre asks states and UTs to relax COVID restrictions  The Union Health Ministry on February 25th said that India is seeing a steady decline of active cases, now at 1,34,235 as compared to over two lakh over a week back. Taking cognisance of this, the Union Home Ministry asked states and union territories to consider relaxing curbs on sports, social, entertainment, academic and religious events, as well as night curfews. Accordingly, after a careful analysis of the local situation, Delhi will have its first day without any COVID related curfews and other restrictions on March 1st, almost two years after the first…

Urban local body polls: DMK sweeps polls, low voter turnout, poor facilities in polling booths The DMK sweeps in urban local body polls in Chennai, held on the 19th, with the results announced on the 22nd. The party won a total of 178 out of 200 councillor seats in the city. This is the first time in 11 years that the party has been in power in the urban local body stage. The AIADMK seems to have significantly lost its strength in voters, compared to the previous civic elections where it held 160 out of 200 councillor seats. The BJP, which…

Decision on shutting down COVID jumbo centres likely by next week The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will decide on whether Covid jumbo centres in Mumbai should be dismantled, by next week. With COVID-19 cases reducing to between 200 and 100, a few centres like the ones at Dahisar, Goregaon, Malad, Sion and Kanjurmarg might be shut, but centres at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Byculla (Richardson and Cruddas) and Worli (NSCI) will continue to function. “The daily occupancy in many of these centres has been in a single-digit since the past few days. While we will ensure that we are prepared…

Metro reduces emissions: Study A study by Bangalore University’s Department of Environmental Science showed that the air quality at six locations along Namma Metro Phase-II improved between 2017 and 2021. The study measured air quality at the following Metro corridors — Mysuru Road Terminal to Kengeri, Puttenahalli Cross to Anjanapura Township, Gottigere to Nagawara, RV Road to Bommasandra, Krishnarajapuram Byapanahalli to Whitefield, and Hesaraghatta Cross to BIEC. The PM2.5 concentration recorded at all the sampling stations were within the limit of 60µg/m3 prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board. PM10 had exceeded the prescribed limit of 100µg/m3 in 2017, but…