Governance

Last year, newspapers reported allegations regarding a '4g scam' in Bengaluru. The charges were made by the Bengaluru Navanirmana Party (BNP), a political party launched by a collective of active Bengaluru citizens in 2019. The party has presence only in Bengaluru, and plans to contest the yet-to-be-announced BBMP elections. BNP said they had stumbled upon the scam while collecting data on all works done by the BBMP in its five-year term between 2015 and 2020. The data showed that half the works completed by BBMP had been done without calling tenders - BBMP bypassed the procedure using Section 4(g) of…

Anna Nagar is considered one of the more well-developed constituencies in the city. The assembly constituency covers areas such as Anna Nagar, Kilpauk, Aminjikarai, Shenoy Nagar, Naduvankarai. Many of these localities top the real estate markets of Chennai. Anna Nagar constituency boasts of many amenities such as parks, playgrounds, good schools and connectivity.  "Parts of the constituency with its rich neighborhoods could be compared to those in Singapore" says Mr Ratna Singh, President of Residents Welfare Association Asiad, Anna Nagar Tower.  The constituency is home to localities with some of the highest real estate prices in the city. Pic:Nileena MS…

In about three weeks from now, citizens of the state will be casting their vote to elect the Members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (MLA). The state legislative body in Tamil Nadu is a unicameral legislature, that is, it has only the lower house, unlike Karnataka’s bicameral legislature with an assembly and a council.  The Tamil Nadu assembly has a strength of 234 members, known as MLAs, who form the legislative body. The members are democratically elected by the citizens of the state. MLAs are in charge of making laws, holding the state government accountable and approving public expenditure. On…

The upcoming Assembly polls will be a watershed moment in Tamil Nadu, as this is the first MLA elections after the death of the two political stalwarts -- M Karunanidhi (DMK) and J Jayalalithaa (AIADMK). In their absence, the next generation of politicians -- MK Stalin and Edappadi K Palaniswami -- have taken the lead to steer the respective parties. On the third front of the battle is actor-turned-politician Kamal Hassan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) party.   The two Dravidian parties have released their manifestos for the upcoming State Assembly elections. From freebies to waiving education loans to reducing the price…

The residents of Ward 70, Zone 6 in Perambur have banded together under the banner of Community Welfare Brigade to release the following charter of demands to candidates contesting from the Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar Constituency. Charter of Demands 1) Remove the cluster of TASMAC bars near the Perambur Railway Station. Portion of the bars cannot be operated in open air. Get the bars to provide sufficient number of clean toilets and large designated parking lots within their property. Curb drinking, smoking or urinating in public. Push the administration on our behalf to enforce the available rules and regulations with earnest. Residents…

Chennai is one among the many urban civic bodies in Tamil Nadu that has not had local body elections in the last 10 years. The state government has been administering the cities and towns by appointing special officers in place of the Mayor and councillors. There has been a lot of hue and cry over the absence of an elected local government, but with little effect. Now with the State Assembly elections around the corner, will it pave the way for conduct of municipal elections? Can we expect to see concrete reforms in urban governance? Will Chennai and other cities in…

Nominated by the Election Commission of India (ECI), a District Election Officer (DEO) supervises election-related work in the district. In other words, the officer is responsible for ensuring good polling percentage, preparation of booths, setting up the grievance redressal system in coordination with the ECI, and conduct of other election-related duties.  G Prakash, Commissioner of the Greater Chennai Corporation is the DEO of Chennai. Ahead of him lies the Herculean task of ensuring safe, smooth elections during an ongoing pandemic, as the city gets set to vote along with the rest of the state in the Assembly elections scheduled for…

The road map for the next five years for devolution of funds to the states, as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission (XVFC), is ready. Tragically though, despite the many important lessons the COVID pandemic taught us, the Finance Commission’s report seems to have largely ignored these lessons. The draft XVFC recommendations totally ignore the aspirations of the states and their hopes of getting their due share. In fact, the structure of the recommendations has been made more discretionary in favour of the Centre, with little thought of the states' needs, based on fairness and equity. In fact, the report’s…

In the past few years, our elected representatives - right from MPs to our corporators - have made half-hearted promises to release a report card of sorts of their performance in office.  On 26th July 2019, Mumbai North MP Gopal Shetty raised the following question in the house: whether the Government proposes to amend the Representation of the People Act to make it compulsory for political parties winning general and assembly elections to bring details regarding fulfilment of promises made by them in their manifestoes in public forum in the third year and making recognition of political parties contingent upon…

Translated by Sandhya Raju முப்பத்தியோரு வயது பொறியாளர் எம் பி அழகு பாண்டிய ராஜா, ஜனவரி 25-ம் தேதி அன்று இந்தியாவின் முதல் நகர பதுமுறைகாணல் அதிகாரியாக (City Innovation Officer) நியமிக்கப்பட்டார். இங்கிலாந்தில் மென்பொருள் நிறுவனத்தில் ஐந்து ஆண்டுகள் வேலை பார்த்த அழகு பாண்டிய ராஜா, தாய் நாட்டிற்கு பங்களிக்க வேண்டும் என்ற உந்துதலால், சென்னை திரும்பினார். இந்தியன் ஸ்மார்ட் சிட்டி ஃபெலோ (Indian Smart City Fellow) பணியில் தன்னை இணைத்துக் கொண்ட அவர், சென்னை மாநகராட்சியுடன் இணைந்து ஆகியவற்றிற்கு புது தீர்வுகளை கொண்டு வந்தார். சென்னை மாநகராட்சி ஆணையர் ஜி பிரகாஷ் மற்றும் வருவாய் துணை ஆணையர் மேகநாத் ரெட்டி ஆகியோரின் முயற்சியே புதுமுறைகாணலுக்கான ஒரு பிரிவினை உருவாக்க காரணம் என்கிறார். இந்த புதிய பதவியில் அவரது பங்கு குறித்தும், பதுமுறைகாணல் அதிகாரியாக பொது மக்களுடனான ஈடுபாடு குறித்தும் அவரிடம் சிட்டிசன் மேட்டர்ஸ் உரையாடியது. சென்னையின்…