The Ramsar Convention recognition given to Pallikaranai marsh in Chennai has turned the focus on the economic value of Tamil Nadu’s 42,978 mapped wetlands, and the trends in degradation and encroachment of these water bodies that have an ecosystem value conservatively estimated to run into...
By making travel free for women on public buses, Tamil Nadu joined the league of several global cities that offer free public transport to a socially targeted group. After a prolonged phase of dropping bus ridership in a growing economy, when younger passengers shifted to two-wheelers, there is...
A comprehensive modelling-based forecast of India’s solar and wind power generation potential in medium and high emissions climate change scenarios indicates a fall in overall sun power over the landmass, and altered wind patterns that favour central and southeastern States including Tamil...
A recent unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha on pollution of groundwater by arsenic and heavy metals has brought renewed attention to an unseen public health enemy. The Jal Shakti Ministry’s answer to the House made headlines, as it showed toxic chemicals in groundwater in as many as 29...
The Tamil Nadu Rules on Ward Committees and Area Sabha, to be set up to empower citizens under the Municipal Corporation Acts for Chennai and other cities, fall severely short on transparency and democratisation norms, reinforcing the criticism that State governments are unwilling to give real...
The DMK government has set the ball rolling on enacting an upgraded Town and Country Planning law, one that fits the purpose of combatting climate change, environmental degradation, chaotic urbanisation, rent seeking and lack of redress mechanisms. Priorities for a new planning approach were...
The price of electricity has become a hot topic in Tamil Nadu, with the DMK government proposing a tariff hike from September. While the erstwhile ruling party, the AIADMK has announced a demonstration to protest the move, the State government has defended the impending hike as unavoidable,...
The Akash Ganga Trust banks on a precious commodity that sells in bottles at Rs.20 a litre in your local store. This not-for-profit organisation has been working to promote harvesting of blue gold for years, led by Sekhar Raghavan. It runs the Rain Centre at Gandhi Nagar,in Adyar, Chennai,...
On June 28, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin made an appeal to Chennai motorists to stop honking unnecessarily, and to join the movement by not honking. He urged them to sign and spread an e-pledge. However, his request was drowned in most parts of the city, as drivers simply pressed on with their...
Years before the DMK government gave the former bureaucrat V Thiruppugazh the job of studying the disastrous 2021 flood in Chennai and suggesting permanent remedies, he had undertaken a study of best practices in the wake of the 2015 flood in the city on behalf of the Union Government’s...
