Civic

Mumbai Samachar turns 200 Popularly known as Bombay Samachar, India's oldest continually published newspaper turned 200 this year. The paper was established by Parsi scholar, printer, and editor Fardoonji Murazban in 1822. It has been produced both in Gujarati and English. Bankruptcy forced a hand over operations and ownership of the press to the Cama family in 1933. Prior to the transfer, Cama Norton and Co used to be the ink and newsprint supplier for the publication. The same colonial-era red building still houses its office and printing press two centuries later. The paper began primarily as a weekly journal…

Second COVID wave subsiding As the second wave subsides and hundreds of COVID beds in government facilities fall vacant, medical staff and students are anxious to switch to non-COVID duties, especially at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Centre (BMCRI), the largest government facility for COVID treatment in the city. The number of daily cases has seen a dramatic 97% decline since the second wave peaked in April. But, the number of ICU cases has been less quick to fall. Over a seven-day period from June 20 to 27, the number of ICU cases declined by 28% from 518 to…

Cannot scrap class 12th state board examinations, says the apex court The Supreme Court has refused to pass any order to scrap examinations for state boards' class 12th. The court said state boards are autonomous and different making it difficult to have a uniform assessment policy. The court has directed state boards to come up with their individual assessment policy along with timelines within the next 10 days. The apex court also directed the boards to declare the internal examination results by July 31st. States argued that conducting physical examinations is not possible due to the pandemic and instead talked…

Corporation website for vaccine slots In a bid to boost the vaccination campaign, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has rolled out a website for Chennaiites to book vaccination slots. People may choose one of the centres in the zone they belong to and pick a time slot for their jab.  The website has also clarified that this does not bypass the CoWin booking. The site is only to secure slots in the vaccination centre. A separate CoWin booking will be done in the vaccination centre by the officials. Besides the website, residents can also register by dialling 044-4612 2300 or…

Adani group to run upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport Despite increasing concerns over Adani's companies, the Maharashtra cabinet approved a proposal on June 23 transferring the ownership of the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) constructing the Navi Mumbai international airport to Adani Airport Holdings. The Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) had a change in ownership. GVK Airports Developers Ltd, which had a 50.5 per cent share, has been taken over by Adani Airport Holdings Ltd, it said. That same day, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone share price fell by over 2% over reports of a Nordic investor turning away…

Genome sequencing for Delta Plus variant A 57-year-old from Nandini Layout tested positive for the Delta variant of coronavirus. He is the primary contact of his 86-year-old father, who was infected with the variant earlier this month. No additional cases of the variant have been reported from Bengaluru so far. BBMP has decided to start genome sequencing to ascertain if the Delta Plus variant of COVID is present in the city. Samples from 5% of COVID patients would be sent for genome sequencing. BBMP officials will also keep a close watch on wards with a higher positivity rate. The government…

Sweeping changes at the helm of affairs in government brings with it sweeping changes in ground realities as well. In the mid-nineties, even though the IT revolution was already well underway, Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, then called Madras, did not sport a presentable or attractive enough look for a capital city. In fact, it was way behind other state capitals and metro cities in terms of the first impression it made. Soon after their victory in the May 1996 elections, then CM M Karunanidhi renamed the city as Chennai and initiated a host of projects under the umbrella…

Twitter pulled up by Parliamentary panel Global social media giant Twitter has been engaged in a deadlock with the government over the new IT rules for the past few months. Summoned by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, the panel has asked Twitter for a written reply to a set of questions. The microblogging site has been dragging its feet in complying with the provisions of the new IT rules. Standing committee members made it clear to Twitter that the law of the land is supreme. Representational image from Pixabay Twitter, on its…

For opaqueness and unsolved mysteries, no other government project comes close to the Central Vista Redevelopment Project (CV) currently underway. The strong push, particularly from the prime minister, for timely completion of the new parliament building before his second term expires, is resulting in brazen violation of building laws as mentioned in the Delhi Master Plan (MPD). The over Rs 20,000 crore project will witness the construction of a triangular-shaped new parliament, new residences for the prime minister and vice-president, a new central secretariat building and demolition of existing buildings along Rajpath. These include some which are just 10 years…

Corporation adopts a multipronged strategy to combat COVID With the possibility of a third wave of COVID-19 being predicted, the Greater Chennai Corporation plans to scale up the number of ICU beds and keep them ready at community health centres across the city. This move comes after a series of meetings held with experts and epidemiologists.  The corporation plans to increase the number of available ICU beds in phases. In the first phase, a minimum of 15 hospitals attached to the civic body will get ICU beds. The expert team also suggested the genomic surveillance of COVID-19 samples for containing…