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Vol XXXI No. 21, February 16-28, 2022

Archives: Vol XXXI No. 21, February 16-28, 2022

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11616

Local Body Elections – what should we look for?

by The Editor

At long last, we are to have elections to the Council of the Greater Chennai Corporation. The oldest civic body in India has 200 wards all of which will go to the polls on February 19. Newspaper reports have it that as many as 3,546 nominations have been received for the 200 council seats. Of course, the bulk of the hopefuls are political party nominees – the city, and for that matter, all local body elections in our country – fights elections on political lines. Each election is a referendum on one party or the other. In the process, local issues are invariably side lined. It is high time the city wakes up and demands that people with concern for local issues are fielded.

But has this ever been under the control of the citizens? Perhaps there was a time, till the early 1900s when ward elections were out of the purview of politics but that has since changed. And since the mid 1960s at least, the results of local body elections have been considered a barometer for assembly polls. The reverse too holds good. Chennai’s citizens have been canny enough to realise that it is best that the party in power in the Legislative Assembly is also voted for in the civic polls. That way, there is no danger of the former conflicting with the latter, thereby squeezing funds. That by the way is not something new – the first instance of this is from the 1680s, when Elihu Yale as Governor cut off funds to the Madras Corporation as it questioned some of his decisions!

How many hopefuls really see the councillor’s post to be a civic responsibility? Hardly any. To most it is yet another rung on the political ladder by standing on which it is possible to aim for bigger prospects – a seat in the legislature, or maybe a ministership or who knows, maybe even something higher? Which is why corruption has been endemic in the corporation council.

11614

Invasion of the cows: Chennai motorists forced to share roads with cattle

by A Special Correspondent

It was past midnight when Latha, a resident of Thiruvanmiyur, hopped into her car. She had an emergency on her hands – her son was unwell but there no medicines at home. Latha bought the necessary medication from a 24×7 pharmacy on East Coast Road and was driving back home when she was held up for crucial minutes near a turning. Not only was the area blocked by traffic barriers arranged in a ‘zig zag’ position, but it was also obstructed by a herd of four or five cows, all of which had made themselves comfortable around the barricades.

11635

Chennai loses a beloved brand

by Sushila Ravindranath

The recent announcement from Amazon that it is going to shut down its Indian subsidiary Westland Books was a total shock. Amazon had acquired the publishing house five years ago and the general impression was things were going well. Westland was Chennai’s own success story. It is a Chennai icon although it was no longer a Chennai company.

The publishing industry is centered in Delhi. Those publishers are not easily accessible to many talented writers from the South. Westland was a sanctuary for such authors, from the days it was East West Books.

11631

Chennai’s Old Curiosity Shop

by Karthik Bhatt

Mount Road in the late Nineteenth Century was home to quite an eclectic mix of businesses, ranging from a billiards table maker (John W. Roberts and Co) to a poultry farm (Arthurston Poultry Farm). One of the interesting businesses which functioned from No 5, Mount Road from the 1880s was the Parsee establishment of F.P. ­Bhumgara and Co, which specialised in Indian and Oriental artware. Unfortunately, its exact location cannot be traced today.

11633

Lost Landmarks of Chennai

- Sriram V

A Ship Called Madras

I happened to be at Higginbothams’ bookstore a month ago. While there, the manager in charge during the course of a conversation said he had recently acquired a book of poetry on Madras, published in 1915 by Higginbothams. I was intrigued. The only book of poetry on the city I knew of was Madras Madrigals and that was from the 1920s.

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