Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXVI No. 12, October 1-15, 2016
Archives: Vol. XXVI No. 12, October 1-15, 2016
For whom or what are we voting?
(By The Editor)
Anticipating Gandhi Jayanthi, Dr. VIJAY SRIRAM ‘shot’ these two pictures half an hour apart – and 398 others in between.
The dates for the civic body elections have been announced. While the matter almost immediately became sub judice, what with the Opposition claiming that the schedule was too rushed and so demanding judicial redress, there is no doubt that the polls are due and will have to be held. The question is, what is the kind of Council that is going to be elected?
Given that our State’s civic bodies are not really financially independent entities with sweeping powers over the metros they govern, the role of a Councillor does become somewhat limited. But within that restricted portfolio, there is much that an elected representative can do. Take for instance a door-to-door campaign to implement garbage segregation at source. Similarly, a daily tour around the ward to see problems besetting the place would help.
True, the issues thus surfacing would not be directly under the control of the Corporation, but would need liaising with agencies such as Metro Water, the Slum Clearance Board and TANGEDCO. But if a Councillor was to set his/her mind to get involved, there is much that could be done even with those other organisations, for a Corporation’s elected member’s clout amounts to quite a bit. We have not seen any of our representatives avail any of that for public benefit. Beyond representing their party interests, no matter whether they are in power or in the opposition, and that too purely for political scores, no elected member of the Council does anything much.
When will integration be thought of first?
(By A Special Correspondent)
The second phase of rollout of the Chennai’s metro rail service happened recently, sans the fanfare that accompanied the first. The stretch just opened is from Little Mount to the Airport and, with this, commuters can make the 15 km journey from Koyambedu to the Airport is under half an hour. Well, almost. The fact that what ought to have been a single journey at present involves a changeover irks passengers. But they still agree that is a better option than any other.
The scheme as rolled out now involves passengers switching trains at Alandur for both directions – to Koyambedu and to the Airport.
An anniversary to remember
(By MMM)
And, so, Chief, the task was done. The Man from Madras Musings alludes to the celebrating of 25 years of ye olde magazine aka Madras Musings. People are still talking about the event. You were, of course, in your element as Cecil B DeMille, commandeering diverse teams of authors, editors, printers, page setters and a designer into bringing out the book compiling some of the best of our output. And in the process of celebrating 25 years, MMM believes that you got many of them to age by the same number. The designer had to go off to the hills to recuperate, she having been found walking in her sleep muttering about monotype Garamond or Helvetica, MMM forgets which.
At 90, MSS talks of his life & vision
Prof M.S. Swaminathan, ‘a world scientist of rare distinction’, whose vision is to rid the world of hunger and poverty and whose work has touched the lives of millions at the grassroots level in India, recently spoke to Sashi Nair about his life and times.
The man who saved our forests
(By Dr. Anantanarayanan Raman)
Henry Noltie, no stranger to Indian botanists, is an admired botanist and enthusiastic plant and botanical-art historian of colonial India and of the Madras Presidency in particular. He wrote two magnificent volumes on Robert Wight, another Scot, who revolutionised the understanding and management of economic plants of the Indian subcontinent. His latest works* are on Hugh Cleghorn, Indian Forester, Scottish Laird.
