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Volume No 19Issue No 6March 08, 2019

Modi flags off poll campaign

BJP supporters with flags at VGP ground to take part inPM Modi’s rally.

People still swearby Jayalalithaa

SIDDDHARTH SHARMA

Chennai: The crowd was sparse atthe rally addressed by Prime Mi-nister Narendra Modi here onMarch 6 with the hashtag #Go-BackSadistModi trending that dayon Twitter. The VGP Ground next to the

Arignar Anna Zoo in Vandalur wassurrounded by huge cutouts of lea-ders from the AIADMK, the BJPand the PMK. The three parties arepartners in the alliance for the co-ming Lok Sabha elections.The 88 acre ground barely had

any tree or shade for the people tosit under. Yet scores of people wereseen trying to get into the emptyseating area near the stage. The rest stood behind the check-

point even though there were manychairs left.The rally was scheduled to start

at 3:15 pm, but started only by 4:45when the Prime Minister arrived inan Air Force helicopter along withChief Minister E Palaniswami andDeputy Chief Minister O Panneer-selvam. Muniyamma, a water packet sel-

ler at the rally was excited to seethe helicopters and wanted to seethem from a close distance. “I came here because I believed

in Amma. Amma was our onlyhope and I still support her party. Ican also sell these water packetsand make money at a rally like

this”, said Muniyamma. People flocked to the helipad and

gradually filled the empty seats upahead near the stage. The rally started with PMK chief

S Ramadoss talking, followed byPannerselvam. The Prime Minister was greeted

with “namasthe ji” and “ModiBhai” by the Tamil speaking au-dience. Modi’s speech in Englishwas translated into Tamil by HRaja, a BJP leader from TamilNadu. The beginning of Modi’s speech

saw people waving the BJP flagand blowing conch shell, but by thetime The Prime Minister finishedhis speech, almost half the crowdhad left the ground. The relevance of Amma in this

election was evident from the factthat whenever the Prime Ministermentioned her name, the crowd res-ponded with applause and cheers. Sundaralingam, a resident of Tri-

plicane who had travelled all theway to the rally ground in a charte-red MTC bus said that he was thereto support Amma’s party. He said that Modi had done

some good work in past and so hewas happy that the AIADMK hadallied with the BJP. N. Chandran, a resident of Tam-

baram and a BJP supporter, saidthat bringing Wing CommanderAbhinandan back from Pakistanwas a feat that only Modi couldhave achieved.

SIDDHARTH SHARMA

Chennai: Prime Minister NarendraModi kick started the BJP-AIADMK alliance’s election cam-paign in Tamil Nadu onWednesday, announcing at a rallyhere in Vandalur the renaming ofChennai Central Station after thelate AIADMK founder M G Rama-chandran.Modi shared the stage with Chief

Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami,his Deputy O. Pannerselvam, andS. Ramadoss, the leader of PattaliMakkkal Katchi. The Prime Minister started his

35 minute speech by praising theland of Tamil Nadu. “I am the MP from Kashi, and I

stand before you in the land ofKanchi. I salute this land and itspeople,” he said, referring to TamilNadu as the land of Kanchipuram. Modi praised MGR for the work

he had done for the people of TamilNadu.“I was fortunate enough to inau-

gurate a statue of Dr. MGR earliertoday. A leader of his stature deser-ves more respect,” he said. The Prime Minister said that he

had asked his Railway MinisterPiyush Goyal, who was also pre-sent at the stage, to make sure that

the Central Station was renamedafter MGR.Modi, who spoke in English,

pleased the crowd by praisingMGR and former Chief MinisterJayalalithaa which seemed to work

with the audience responding lou-dly each time the names of theAIADMK leaders were mentioned. The audience applauded Modi

when he said that every drop of hisblood and every last breath of his

was for the nation. “Last year I had the good fortune

to visit Dr. MGR’s birthplace in SriLanka. I want to assure you that thegovernment is doing its best to getthe Tamil fishermen stuck in SriLanka back,” he said. Over 150 Tamil fishermen are

reported to be in Sri Lankan pri-sons.Modi mentioned that his govern-

ment planned to build 14,000 hou-ses for civil war affected Tamilsliving in Jaffna. Out of these14,000, a thousand houses had beenhanded over to beneficiaries lastyear.He also said 3,000 more houses

would be handed over soon to theTamils living in Jaffna. The Prime Minister also said that

the announcements on flights toand from Tamil Nadu would bemade in Tamil. Insisting that his government had

always helped Tamils in need,Modi said that he planned to re-lease Rs 7000 crore as subsidy forthe weavers of Kanchipuram. Talking about the various pro-

jects for the state, Modi mentionedthe railway and highway projectshis government had undertaken inthe state.He also said that under his go-

vernment, foreign tourist arrivalhas increased by 42 per cent inTamil Nadu. Hitting back at the opposition,

the Prime Minister said that peoplewere in a competition to insultModi. “They insult my poverty, my

lower caste background. HatingModi is the trend.”Attacking the Congress, Modi

said that decisions in his party werenot taken by the high command inDelhi. If the Congress came to power

the decisions would be taken inDelhi and not in the villages ofTamil Nadu. On the grand opposition alliance,

he said that the only purpose of thealliance was to stop Modi. Modi ended his speech with an

MGR song Nalai Namathe (The fu-ture is ours) and the slogan Bharatmata ki jai. Earlier, Tamil Nadu Chief Mi-

nister Palaniswami said that Modiwas the only reason the peoplewere living in peace. He also prai-sed Modi for retaliating against theneighboring country. “People were deeply saddened

by the Pulwama attacks but Modireacted immediately”, said Palanis-wami.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Chennai rally. TheBJP, AIADMK and PMK have allied for the coming elec-tions.

SAURABH SAGAR

Chennai: The Chennai city hasbeen waiting for an elected Muni-cipal Corporation for the last twoyears and people have been com-plaining that their problems haveremained unsolved.In the absence of an elected Mu-

nicipal Corporation, civic bodypassed its annual budget on March4 in “secrecy”.K. P. Shankar, a councillor in the

previous elected Corporation, said,“This year’s budget of ChennaiMunicipal Corporation was passedin closed rooms. However, afterseeing our protest they have saidthat they will upload the entire bud-get on the Corporation website.”Municipal Corporation last saw

elections in 2011. After its termended in 2016, the court stayed theelections citing irregularities in no-tifying election. However, sincethen the Government has been de-laying elections citing pre pollwork including formation of wardsaccording to2011 census. Ho-wever, the Ma-dras High Court,on a plea movedby DMK, had or-dered the StateElection Com-mission to conduct local bodiesmultiple times, since 2016.The Tamil Nadu Election Com-

mission officials declined to makeany statement since the matter wassub judice. However, according to areport in The Times of India, theState Election Commission hadtold court on February 28 that theschedule for the elections to thelocal bodies would be notified onor before May 31, since the all pre-poll work had been completed.Amid all these, people have been

facing civic problems for the lasttwo years, but they have no coun-cillors to hold accountable. S. Ramesh (31), a IT professio-

nal and a resident of Aishwarya Co-lony, Indira Nagar, said, “TheCorporation started laying stormwater drains in our locality. In theprocess they kept two garbage binsright next to my house. The stink ofthe garbage is there everywhere in

my house. I complained to Munici-pal Corporation but no action hasbeen taken. Earlier for problemslike these, local Councillors alwayshelped.”S. Saravanan, a waiter in Thiru-

manviyur restaurant and a residentof Thattankulam, said, “A fewmonths back public toilets in ourslum were mowed down by corpo-ration bulldozers. Now we are for-ced to relieve ourselves in the open.I have been running to the corpora-tion office asking for toilets butthere is no one to listen. I think ifwe had councillors to intervene, thematter would have been completelydifferent.”However, many people feel that

the city is not missing its council-lors. G. Sampath (31), a resident of T.

Nagar said, “Without councillors, Ifeel we are doing well. I think atthis moment we are more concer-ned about the stability of the StateGovernment. Corporation officialsare not doing a bad job either. In the

last two years itnever felt as ifcorporation workhas been stalled.”However, V.

Shri Ram, a blog-ger said, “Manygo around clai-

ming that they would rather have abureaucrat in charge of the city thana bunch of corrupt councillors.Sadly, not many know that the re-lease of funds from the FinanceCommission for various civic pro-jects is dependent on their being anelected body in place. The laws for-bid the Finance Commission fromfunding States where laws for elec-ting local bodies are not in place.”T.K.S Elangovan, a DMK Rajya

Sabha MP, said, “The AIADMKGovernment is afraid of local elec-tions. They know that their fractured

party would lose every upcomingeleFor the last two years, they have

been delaying elections on trivialgrounds. We have been demandingLocal elections, as the absence ofelected representative prevented theuse of Central funds for the localbodies development work.”

SHIVAYAN ROY

Chennai: The youth should be en-couraged to vote and engage inconversations relevant to society,said panelists at a discussion here. The panel discussion on youth

empowerment and the role of theyouth in shaping the country’s fu-ture was organized by Twitter Indiaat the M. S. Subbulakshmi Audito-rium at the Asian College of Jour-nalism on March 6. The event wasa part of Twitter India’s initiative‘#Powerof18Dialogues’ focusingon first time voters in the country. The discussion was moderated

by Keya Madhvani Singh, Head ofEntertainment Partnerships, TwitterIndia and the panelists were ArunKrishnamurthy, environmentalistand founder of EnvironmentalistFoundation of India, Sudarshan Ra-mabadran a Senior Research Fel-low at the India Foundation’sCentre for Soft Power Studies andRachna Dhanrajani, a student ofACJ. “Empowerment to me stands for

freedom; there is no need to change

yourself according to the norms ofsociety,” said Dhanrajani. Ramabadran emphasized the

need for having young leaders atthe helm to promote the cause ofempowerment among the youth. “We need youth led empower-

ment more than just youth empo-werment” said Ramabadran.The panelists stressed the impor-

tance of voting and how every sin-gle vote mattered in a democracyand how one must be well informedand aware about not only the poli-tical situation of a nation but alsoknow about its natural and holistichistory .“We must be more open to new

perspectives, know every side of astory” said Madhvani. Before the discussion kicked off,

Madhvani talked about the impor-tance of taking part in public dialo-gue and how Twitter was aplatform which helped it. A survey conducted by Twitter

among 600 youths of Tamil Nadusaw that 98 per cent of first timevoters confirmed that they wouldbe voting in the upcoming elec-

tions. Madhvani emphasized that this

was a step in the right direction as itwas projected that by 2020, 34 percent of India’s population would bepeople under the age of 25. A short video clip by radio joc-

key R.J Balaji was shown where hetalked about the importance of eachvote. “Today’s youth is empowered,

what they need is inspiration. Makeevery vote count, vote for an inde-pendent candidate if you feel thebigger parties are corrupt,” said Ba-laji.

First time voters in the city wanta clean and fair government whichdoes not give away freebies forvotes and rather works towards im-plementing new welfare schemes toempower the people. Priya Mariyappan, a student of a

first-year sociology student ofM.O.P Vaishnav College said shewants people to vote for a govern-

ment that woos voters on the pre-mise of development and not bydistributing freebies. “It’s a shame such a culture

exists, I feel the whole concept islike bribing voters. People shouldreject these freebies then and there”said Mariyappan. “It’s okay to accept these free-

bies I feel, after all the money beingspent by them to acquire these giftsare from our money only, so whynot accept them,” said Prasan Su-riya a second year English under-grad student who shall also bevoting for the first time.“Accept the freebies but vote for

the people who you feel will workfor your well being” he added. People seemed unfazed about

the alliances the regional partiessuch AIADMK and DMK havebeen forming with central power-houses such as Bharatiya JantaParty and Congress for the upco-ming elections and said that itwould not affect who they vote. “My family is indebted to Amma

(Jayalalitha) for all that she hasdone for us, it does not matter who

is aligning with which party now, Ishall be voting for who I want to re-gardless,” said Dev Alwar atwenty-year-old part-time electri-cian. Meena Raj said while she consi-

ders herself to be apolitical she de-finitely shall be casting her firstvote even if it means voting for anindependent candidate.“Every vote counts, I am not

going to let mine go to waste” saidMeena. She also emphasised formore reservation of economicallybackward classes in schools, colle-ges and jobs alike.“The government must do more

for the people in need, distributingfreebies won’t do them any help inthe long run” she said.According to data presented by

the Electoral Commission of India,about 2.6 crore young people in theage bracket of 18 to 20 years havealready been registered in the elec-toral rolls (data as of February 10).This shows just how big a votebank parties can tap into if theymake the right moves before the2019 general elections.

Free ‘Amma’ meal for construction workers

SHUVABRATA GARAI

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Stategovernment announced anotherfreebies scheme, free food for re-gistered construction workers atAmma Canteens here.The scheme was inaugurated by

Chief Minister Edappadi K Pala-niswami on Monday at an AmmaCanteen in Santhome.Last year the municipal Corpo-

ration wrote to the State Labour de-partment to allow constructionworkers to eat free meal at AmmaCanteens. Following this, the State govern-

ment made an announcement in Ja-nuary that very soon they willintroduce a scheme that will pro-vide free food for construction wor-kers.An official at the Tamil Nadu

Construction Workers WelfareBoard (TNCWWB) said, “Most ofthe construction workers either be-long to Below Poverty Line familyor come from the deprived class ofthe society. They don’t have a sta-ble financial condition. So, we hadasked the government to introducea free food scheme for them. Any

construction worker registered herewill avail the benefit.”After identifying and necessary

verification of the registered wor-kers by the TNCWWB, their detailswill be sent to the Municipal Cor-poration. The scheme is not only limited to

the construction workers here only

but also too migrant workers fromother state.D Karthikeyan, Chennai Corpo-

ration Commissioner, said, “Onceapproved from the TNCWWB, wewill send the names of the respec-tive migrant workers with their re-gistered ID to all the AmmaCanteens in the city.”

The construction workers werehappy with the decision of state go-vernment. K. Nagendran, a construction

worker, said, “We are happy thatthe government has finally takensome steps for us.”Qadir Khan, a migrant worker

form Bihar said, “Since I belongedfrom other state, it was difficult forme to get food here at a minimalexpense.”“ Now as the government has in-

troduced free food for us it will bebenefit me and my co-workersfrom Bihar a lot.”The Amma Canteen was a pro-

gramme by former Chief MinisterJ. Jayalalitha. It is a food subsidisa-tion programme run by the TamilNadu governemnt for the economi-cally weaker sections of the society.Idli, sambar rice, pongal, are

available in the Amma canteen atRs 1, 3 and 5 respectively.Despite the programme’s popu-

larity the collection figures quotedby government officials indicate adeclining trend in sells. On January 8 the Chennai cor-

poration collected Rs. 8.62 lakh insales from its 407 canteens.

YOUTH SAY NOTO FREEBIES

‘Youth should go out and vote’

Delayed civicelections hitspeople hard

Workers registeredwith TNCWWB

will get free food.The scheme is

also for migrantworkers from other

states.

People have beenfacing civic

problems for years.

| BJP TWITTER ACCOUNT | SIDDHARTH SHARMA

CHENNAI March 8, 20192 THE WORD CITYSCAPE

CHENNAI: The Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (DMK) has finalisedseat sharing with its alliancepartners in Tamil Nadu. The DMKwill contest from 20 seats, whilethe remaining 19 seats in TamilNadu and one in Puducherry willbe contested by its partners. TheCongress received 10 seats,including Puducherry.The Marumalarchi Dravida

Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK)Founder and General SecretaryVaiko met DMK president Stalin atthe DMK office at Teynempet.After the meeting, which lasted fora little over half an hour, Vaikosaid, “We have signed anagreement with the DMK wherewe have agreed to contest theelections together.”The MDMK chief demanded

two Lok Sabha seats and one RajyaSabha seat, but had to settle for oneLok Sabha and one Rajya Sabhaseat. The DMK allotted two seats

each to the CPI (M) and the CPIand two seats to the Thol.Thirumavalavan–led ViduthalaiChiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and oneseat each to the Indhiya JananayagaKatchi (IJK), Indian Union MuslimLeague (IUML) and theKongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi(KMDK). Vaiko went with the DMK-led

alliance Democratic ProgressiveAlliance, a broad Tamil politicalfront in 2004. However the MDMKwas part of the AIADMK alliancebut parted ways in 2011 on the

issue of seat sharing and boycottedthe assembly elections. Media reports have said that the

MDMK will contest the 2019 LokSabha election under the DMK’s‘rising sun’ symbol after 25 years-the last time he contested under theDMK symbol. Vaiko was a seniormember of the DMK and was asuccessor to the late DMK leaderM Karunanidhi before he brokeaway and formed the MDMK in1994, after being ousted by theDMK workers, who feared that hehad gained too much influence, andwas a threat to Karunanidhi’s son,M K Stalin.The IJK, KMDK, and the IUML

will also be contesting under theDMK symbol.Manu Sundaram, a spokesperson

of the DMK said “The alliance wasformed to defeat the fascist Centralgovernment led by Narendra Modiwho wants to manipulate anddestroy all constitutionalinstitutions.”When asked whether the

alliances was an ideological or anopportunistic one, he said that itwas a ‘working relationship’ andthat the parties had worked togetherearlier.Another alliance partner, the CPI

(M) said that the formation of thealliance was to save the‘democratic and federal structure’of India.Aramuga Nainar, a Member of

the TN CPI(M) State Committeesaid “We are ready to help theCongress in winning the election

wherever we don’t have a strongparty base. And the Congress willdo vice-versa. This is a mutualagreement.”The DMK spokesperson also

confirmed that Stalin’s sisterKanimozhi would be contestingfrom Thoothukudi and that the BJPwas planning to field its Statepresident Tamilisai Soundararajanagainst Kanimozhi.The CPI (M) has submitted a list

of five seats that they would wantto contest from. The DMK willgive two from the five seats-Nagercoil, Coimbatore, NorthChennai, Nagapattinam, andMadurai.The final list of candidates will

be fixed in a later meeting,according to the press conference.

CHENNAI: The Vijaykanth-ledDesiya Murpokku DravidaKazhagam (DMDK) managed toreach an agreement with theAIADMK-BJP alliance on March10. The party has been allotted fourseats. earlier it was thought that theparty might have to fight theupcoming General Elections on itsown after failing to form analliance with either of theDravidian parties.After an initial handshake

agreement with the AIDMK thatallotted the DMDK four seats,Deputy Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam announced onMarch 6 morning that the alliancehad been formed. However, L KSudhish, DMDK general secretaryand Vijaykanth’s brother-in-lawsaid that “talks are ongoing.” The other partners in the

alliance, the PMK has been givenseven seats and the BJP has beengiven six seats, includingPuducherry. Earlier, media reportssaid that the DMDK wanted to betreated on par with the PMK.At the Prime Minister’s rally

later on March 6, Vijaykanth’sposters and DMDK’s logos wereremoved reportedly before thecommencement of the event. Finally, on Thursday night, the

AIDMK-BJP alliance issued anultimatum to the DMDK, givingthem four seats in a take-it-or-leave-it option. The alliance is saidto have been fed up with DMDK’srenegotiation tactics. Piyush Goyal

held talks with Vijaykanth andother senior DMDK leaders in ahotel on Wednesday before therally, trying to urge the formerKollywood star to settle on a dealand attend Narendra Modi’s rally.However, as talks dragged on,Goyal reportedly left.The AIDMK-BJP alliance was

also upset over reports that theDMDK had approached the DMK-Congress alliance for a deal.The DMDK was also in talks

with the DMK-Congress alliance.However, talks collapsed after theDMK rebuffed the DMDK’sdemand for seven seats. DMKtreasurer Duraimurugan said theDMK-led alliance already had toomany people to accommodateDMDK. “Our party leader isn’t in town,

and the DMDK isn’t importantenough to disturb him,” he said.Earlier, State Revenue Minister

R. B. Udaykumar ruled out thepossibility of the DMK and the

DMDK uniting, saying that the twoparties were like “oil and water,”and hence would not form any preor post-poll alliance.Meanwhile reports said that the

DMDK leaders were still in aninternal meeting at its head officein Koyambedu. The lack ofcommunication from the partyconfused its party workers. Hours before the AIADMK-BJP

rally addressed by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, a party worker,Gopal Krishna said “I’m not surewhat to believe. There has been noofficial word on any alliance byCaptain [Vijaykanth]. We areprepared to go to the rally today inbig numbers.” In the previous general election,

DMDK aligned with the BJP-ledNDA, but lost all of the 14 seatscontested to AIDMK. In the stateassembly elections in 2016, it againfailed to win any seats, and losingby a considerable margin in theareas it had its seats.

DMDK gets four seatsin AIADMK-BJP alliance

MDMK joins DMK-Cong foldVaiko gets one LS and RS seat a piece; coalition now at 9 partiesSANAL SUDEVAN

TR Balu, M K Stalin, and Duraimurugan announcing the alliance |

SHASHWAT MOHANTY

Mediapersons wait for an official announcement outsidethe DMDK head office on Wednesday |

CHENNAI: Engineering studentsfrom Anna University and itsaffiliated colleges have mixedreactions to the new regulations onclearing their arrears.The new rules dictate that

students who fail to clear their firstsemester can rewrite their examstwo weeks after the results areannounced, without waiting for thesubject to be offered in the nextsemester. But they will not beallowed to enter the third year(starting from the fifth semester) ofcollege if they fail to clear the examin three attempts. Instead, they willhave to redo the failed course withthe regular students who are their

juniors. Anirudh Raghav, a fourth year

student at SRM EaswariEngineering College, said, “Theseregulations make passing mucheasier for those who are studyingengineering now. The wholeprocess of clearing our arrears wasmuch more difficult for us who arealready in the course.”He adds that such a change is

helpful to the students as they nowdon’t have to wait for the chance totheir exams. It is an advantage asthe students won’t lose motivationto re-write their papers, as wouldhappen in cases when they had towait for entire semesters for theirchance at redemption. However, he also points out that

this wouldn’t have any directimpact on the quality of engineersthat the university produces. Thequality of engineers, Raghavexplains, is directly proportional tothe curriculum that is prescribed forthe students. Currently, the prescribed

syllabus is not challenging enoughfor the students. The quality ofengineers graduating from theuniversity will become better onlywhen the syllabus is made morepractical, Raghav says. However, there are those of the

opinion that this new regulationcould be detrimental to the overallgrowth of the individual student, aswell. According to Atul

Venkarasubramani, an ex-studentof Dr. MGR Education andResearch Institute, the newregulations are almost like policingbecause the focus is primarily onpassing the exam. Though the focuson exams is important, there shouldbe an equal focus onextracurricular activities whichhelp in all-round growth of theindividual. These new regulationsshould not take away from thesame. The new regulations are to be put

into practice from the newacademic year and hence won’t beapplicable to already enrolledstudents of the 2017-2018 and the2018-2019 batches, according tothe statement issued.

Journalist suggests right to recall elected politicians

SAMANTHA SHAJI

CHENNAI: The reason behind lastyear’s dip in the UPSC results wasbecause of change in syllabus andcommercialisation of the institutes,said M. Karthikeyan, AdditionalGovernment Leader and HonoraryDirector of Manidha Naeyam, anIndian Administrative Services(IAS) academy, and a charitableinstitute. Last year, Tamil Nadu saw a 46

percent dip in the selection ofcandidates in the Union PublicService Commission (UPSC).Forty-two candidates from theState were selected for the 990posts across the country for theAdministration Services.“All the institutes are mostly

owned by former candidates whowent up to interview level andfailed. They are patterned to a

different set of syllabus. Also, forthe preparation of the MainExamination that includes subjectslike Governance, Ethics, InternalSecurity and Society, we don’t havea good set of faculty at present,”Karthikeyan said. He also added that the second

paper of General Studies, whichincluded Mathematics, LogicalAptitude, Reasoning and English,used to be a scoring paper, but theUPSC turned it into a qualifyingpaper. He said that the institutes here do

not adapt to trends. “Post 2000,options like Public Administration,Geography and Sociology werepopular. After 2011-12, the trendchanged and subjects like PoliticalScience and Anthropology startedgetting scope. Since, the facultieswere all drop out of civil services,there was a dearth of faculty for the

two subjects,” he said. Drawing a comparison between

institutes in Delhi and Tamil Naduhe said that in Delhi, as the trendschange, institutes offering thosesubjects will grow. “For instance, ifGeography is popular, thegeography institute will grow.When Geography comes down,Anthropology institute will grow.But here, just because the facultyknows Geography better, they willkeep capitalising on geography.This is one reason why majority ofstudents are pulled towardsGeography in Tamil Nadu. Thereality is, the subject has lost itsterm and Political Science hasgained importance. But there is noproper coaching for PoliticalScience, here,” he said. In Karthikeyan’s opinion, the

institutes in the State have becomevery commercial in nature and tend

to misguide the students throughmarketing and advertising for theirown monetary gain. He said thatbusiness ethics in Chennai havefallen hard. “There is a well-knowninstitute in Chennai whom I won’tname, but they claimed that theygot 39 out of 89 results. All of usknow, Tamil Nadu results arecoming down, but they did not shyaway from claiming that number.The problem is, there is no checkon such things, so people can makeblatant assumptions without anyconsequences. Neither the media,nor the government, nor the UPSCcross-checked it. They claim theyhave produced more than 900officers so far, which is practicallynot true,” he said. He said that private institutes

attract students by callinginfluential people like PranabMukherjee as guests. “They even

pay retired IAS officers a veryhandsome amount just to earn theirgoodwill and that there’s nothingthat could be done about thissituation. It is the students whoshould do the basic research. Thegovernment must interfere into thisor else, it’s going to be a biggerscam in the long run. It’s already aworrying trend among the privatecoaching classes in Chennai,” hesaid. According to Karthikeyan, the

government should make itmandatory for the institutes toregister so that they are certified.“IAS academies claim results butthere is no fact check. Ultimately,the losers are the students. TheState Government should competewith these people. The whole issueof proliferation of IAS in the Statehappened because of free coachingthat was provided by the

government,” he said.Vivanesh Parthiban, a 25-year-

old student, who has takeneducation for UPSC exams, both inChennai and in Delhi said,“Cracking the exams is hard. Thereare somewhere around a thousandposts and there are lakhs of peoplecompeting. So the winning ratewould be less than two percent.These exams are also very differentfrom the usual school and collegeexams. They do not have repetitionof questions. Thereason why TamilNadu rate has gone down isbecause they do not have a properawareness of the exam. It isironical, that Uttar Pradesh andBihar have a high success rate thansouthern Indian States, even thoughthe latter have the highest literacyrate.”Since he has previously studied

in Delhi, Parthiban has observed

that the students from those statesare passionate to get intoadministration. He says it isbecause they’re practically closerto the Central Government and areinfluenced more than other studentsbelonging to other States. Parthibanadds, “Delhi being the hub ofUPSC, it is easily accessible tothem. Also, the systemin Delhi ismuch more qualitative than TamilNadu.” “The other reason is that Delhi

University (DU) and JawaharlalNehru University (JNU) arefactories of UPSC entrance, whichmake students, believe that theyhave all the potential to crack theexamination,” he saidIn recent years, places like

Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthanhave taken the pole positionamongst the places with the highestsuccess rates for IAS aspirants.

Why are IAS success rates dropping in Chennai?

CHENNAI: A city journalist hassuggested that electedrepresentatives face a referendumwhere his constituents will assesshis performance.D.S. Gopinathan who said he

worked with the News18 Tamilchannel came up with the idea ofhaving a referendum for an electedrepresentative and investing voters,with the right to recall the politicianthat they elected. “There should be a referendum

for the elected representative.People shall have the right to assessan elected representative’sperformance. The electedrepresentative will feel moreaccountable and responsibletowards his/her subject,” he said.“An elected representative’s

performance should be assessedevery 12 months. If he/she does notperform well, he/she should beasked to resign. This is the onlyway to assure some accountabilityfrom our politicians,” he said.Various political parties such as

the Arvind Kejriwal-led AamAadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi,Karnataka based Lok Satta Party,and the newly formed KamalHassan-led Makkal Neethi Maiam(MNM) and several polticalactivists have been demanding suchreforms for years now.Such a law has found little

backing by the bigger and moreestablished parties of the country.When asked about the feasibility

of such a move, Suhrith

Parthasarathi, a lawyer whopractises at the Madras High Courtsaid, “In the Indian Constitutionthere is no such provision, but itcan be amended by the Parliamentif the legislators find it necessary.This would be good step forpolitical reform.”However, there are certain laws

under which an electedrepresentative of either houses ofthe parliament, both state and at thecentre, can be disqualified. Underthe Representation of the PeopleAct, 1951 and the Article 102 ofthe Constitution. Article 102defines the grounds on which aperson can be disqualified such as aperson being of an unsound mind,or being accused of bribery orcorruption and having defectedfrom the party which gave him theticket for the election.As per section 8 of

Representation of the People Act,1951, a person can be disqualifiedon being convicted for an offenceof promoting enmity betweendifferent groups on ground ofreligion and race or offence ofbribery or offence of undueinfluence in an election.As per Section 8A, the period of

disqualification on the grounds ofcorrupt practices should be sixyears.Under Section 9, the period of

disqualification for corruption ordisloyalty is a maximum of fiveyears, as decided by the court.Kovai Sathyan, a spokesperson

of the AIADMK said, “If theElection Commission feels thatsuch reforms are a must for politicsin the country, then it should besuggested by the lawmakers toforward such a proposal to theCentral Government.”

CHENNAI: Special assistanceforms meant for the Below PovertyLine (BPL) families weredistributed among the privilegedclass in certain areas of the city.Last week Tamil Nadu Chief

Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamiannounced that the StateGovernment would providefinancial assistance of Rs 2,000 toeach family under the BPLcategory. But it set off protests afterit was found that the forms to befilled for getting the cash werebeing distributed in middle-classand even posh colonies in the city.A Rayappan, a retired senior

journalist, who lives inThiruvanmiyur said, “An official

from the Municipal Corporationcame here on Sunday to distributethe special financial assistanceforms. Nobody in my localityneeds any sort of special assistance.People here own properties of morethan a crore, why would they needeconomic assistance?”Dr. P Krishnan, ex-editor of

Dinamani, said, “There should becertain parameters to trace the BPLpeople; the government cannotdistribute forms randomly toanyone. There could be politicalmotives behind this.”R Krishnaswamy, a retired

reporter, said “A man from theMunicipal Corporation gave me theform but I objected to it. This is apolitical gimmick as the electionsare nearby.” He pointed to the

form, which clearly indicated itsuse by families that fall under theBPL line.K. Saravanan, a flower-seller at

Odai Kuppam, Besant Nagar said,“The corporation people came inour locality with the forms. Wefilled it up as we really need themoney. But it would be better if thegovernment could increase theamount, Rs 2,000 isn’t much tohelp us get by.”However other families of the

same locality said they didn’t getany such forms from thecorporation.Guruswamy, a shopkeeper said,

“Nobody from the Corporationapproached us with the forms. Wedon’t know how only a few peoplein our locality got the forms. But it

would be really helpful if we getthe money.”T.K.S. Elangovan, Rajya Sabha

DMK MP, stated, “This is a votecatching move as the Lok Sabhaelections are nearby. The stategovernment is giving the benefitonly to their party workers andsupporters. The common peopleare not getting any benefit fromthis.”However C. Ponnaiyan,

spokesperson of AIADMK, said,“The news about all the BPLpeople not getting assistance isfalse, it is being spread by theopposition party to ruin ourpurpose.”The Municipal Corporation

authorities refused to comment onthe matter.

SANAL SUDEVAN

SMRUTI DESHPANDE

Anna Uni fee hike gets mixed replies

BPL benefits not distributed equallySHUVABRATA GARAI

D.S. Gopinathan at the press conference at the ChennaiPress Club on Tuesday |

SHASHWAT MOHANTY

SANAL SUDEVAN

SANAL SUDEVAN

Chennai: Lack of job opportunities,lack of education and skills, poorfinancial condition and a dream tolive a better life have brought manyNepalis to Chennai. Many Nepalimen work in restaurants and assecurity guards while women workin beauty parlours and ashousekeepers in the city. JeevanBahadur Gharti, aged 28, camehere from Baglung three years agoand works as a security guard inAdyar. “I came to know about thejob as many people from myvillage were working here. I cameon their advice,” he said. Gharti later brought his wife and

mother to the city. Both work as

housekeepers. Gharti earns Rs 14,000 a month

as the security guard and is given aroom and food. “As I don’t have topay for food and room there is lessexpense. I have been saving themoney I am earning,” Ghartiadded. Increasing responsibilitiesand poor income forced Rishi Ale,aged 36 and from Damauli, adistrict in western Nepal, to migratefive years ago. Earlier he used towork in the fields in Nepal.“The farming we were doing

was subsistence. Whatever we usedto grow it was sufficient only tofeed the family. As the children aregrowing I need money to educatethem and as I am not mucheducated I couldn’t find a good job

in the village. I couldn’t afford togo to Gulf countries where thewages are higher than that inChennai. So I opted for Chennai,”Ale said. The Nepalis working here want

to go back home and do somethingproductive. But to live their dreamit needs money. “I will open a beauty parlour

myself in Nepal and will workthere. But even to start your ownventure one needs money. I willwork here, learn the necessaryskills and will save money to opena beauty parlour there,” saidSapana Thapa, aged 19 fromGulmi, a district in western Nepal. Prakash Thapa aged 24 of Gulmi

migrated to the city three months

ago. “I came here as my uncle wasliving here since long. I wassearching for a job in the villageand as I couldn’t get any job I camehere. I have been working as a cookin a local restaurant here in TNagar,” he said. He earns Rs18,000 per month and as therestaurant provides a shared roomapartment and food he is able tosave money. “I am saving money so that I

could open a restaurant in Nepal.Living and working in Chennai isalso a learning opportunity. I amlearning to prepare varieties offood,” he said. However, theNepalis here say they have beenfacing problems such as longworking hours, disparity in wages,

lack of holidays and harassmenttime and again. These migrantworkers have no one to turn toduring the time of troubles; theylack emotional support and areunder pressure to earn more. “Ifyou are a Nepali migrant then youare discriminated. Either they payyou low or abuse or harass you. Butdespite all these there is no way outas you need money for survival,”said Prakash. In the world Bank survey a total

of 2.1 million people are workingabroad including India. Out of 2.1million people working abroad 41per cent workers are in india, 38 percent are in gulf countries, 12 percent of in Malaysia and 8.7 percentare in developed countries.

CHENNAI March 08, 2019- 3THE WORDCITYSCAPE

CHENNAI: It’s a common sight towatch pedestrians squeezingthemselves through two wheelers,four wheelers and auto-rickshawsparked in a haphazard manneralong the two sides of BesantNagar Sixth Avenue. Pedestrians and shopkeepers say

that despite repeated complaints tothe Greater Chennai Corporationno action has been taken to removefootpath encroachments and illegalparking along the roadside. Sonu Yadav (18), a salesman at

Stylo, in Besant Nagar, said that thenumber of vehicles increases after5 p.m. with people thronging theBesant Nagar beach.Theshopkeepers and residents put up‘No Parking’ boards, people ignorethem. The boards are often broken and

tampered with. After the last board was taken

out, the locals put up another board,but that is now hidden by a hugehoarding. Although the onlyauthorized parking is allowed alongthe Besant Nagar beach stretch, theentrances of shops and marketsalong the sixth avenue are blocked

by parked vehicles, making itdifficult for customers to maketheir ways.Nilgiris, a supermarket at Besant

Nagar has its own parking space

for customers, yet, outsiders alsopark their vehicles there for a longtime. According to the watchman,

they do not have any personassigned to “specifically look overparking” and that’s the problem.The fruit shop adjacent to themarket has its entrance blocked by

motorcycles. “It’s very difficult toget a parking space along thebeach; hence we park in this area.

How does it matter if we park in anempty space where there are noshops and houses? We are notcausing any trouble,” said RK Iyer,a 42-year old man who had his carparked in front of Nilgiris. Sonusaid, “Residents are to be equallyblamed. They have their guests’cars parked here and there and ifwe dare to complain against that,the situation turns violent.”According to locals here, police

patrol the area but take no notice ofthe unauthorised parking. “Welevy a fine of 250 rupees and alsourge people to call traffic policehelpline number 103, more thanthat it’s not possible for us to keepa check all the time. The matterpertaining to this area should bedirected to Sastri Nagar Police,”said a Sub-Inspector at AdyarPolice Station. A Traffic Investigation Officer at

J5 Sastri Nagar Police Station said“Issues pertaining to parkingregulations do not come under ourpurview. The matter should beraised to the Commissioner’s officein Egmore.” Illegal parking hasbeen a long-unsolved traffic issuehere despite GCC’s earlier attemptsto solve it.

Vendors await progressCHENNAI: With less than a monthto go for the Greater ChennaiCorporation (GCC) to demarcatespecific vending areas for hawkers,progress has ranged between littleto none.According to a decision taken by

the GCC in November last year,only four streets in every wardwould be allotted to registeredhawkers to sell their goods. These streets have to be at least

40 feet wide, and would be near busstops, stations, and temples toensure that the vendors getadequate customers.However, most zones have not

begun the procedure of identifyingstreets and making appropriatearrangements.In areas such as Adyar and Anna

Nagar, residents say that they donot want any hawking zones, and

that all the street vendors should bemoved to other zones.“We want our footpaths, plain

and simple. Every day, there are ahost of hawkers who line up in theevenings. Next morning, they leavea mess behind. It’s a nuisance, Ihope the corporation fastracks theentire process,” said A. Sanjai, aresident of Adyar.However, street vendors do not

see the deadline as an immediateproblem. They say that they aremore afraid of the dailyharrassment by cops and localsthan of the lawmakers.“Compared to what we have to

face every day with the police andother society members, this plancan wait,” said Dakshina Murthy,who runs a small tea shop in AnnaNagar.He faces regular extortion by the

local policemen, to whom he has topay anywhere between Rs. 100 and

300 in a week. “And of course,complimentary tea any time anyman in a uniform comes,” he said.However, he is not averse to an

ID card. “If I can be registered and I can

conduct my business in a legalmanner, then I am all for it.However, I don’t trust theauthorities to take this up any timesoon,” Murthy added.Elected in December last year,

C. Thiruvettai, president of theChennai Street Vendors’Association in Koyambedu, saidthat the first step of issuingbiometric ID cards had not beencompleted. “Only 19,000 vendors out of

40,000 vendors have biometriccards. The civic body took photographs

of some 27,000 vendors a fewmonths ago, as part of the processto issue the cards,” he said.

New regulations irk spa owners, customers

CHENNAI:Residentialestablishments and IT Parks areturning to technology startups toenhance water management andanalyse water consumption atmicro levels to fight water scarcitythis summer.According to the start-ups, water

is not measured like electricity, gasand other resources. Irrespective ofthe amount individually consumed,the total amount is divided by thetotal number of users in a unit.Therefore, individuals becomecareless in consuming water as theydo not have to be accountable forthe amount consumed.Selvakumar, Director of WeGot

Utility Solution said, “I can pull outthe data for that but on an average,for example, when somebody haskept the tap running for one minute,let’s assume one liter water iswasted, which can translate to 60liters of water in an hour.” “So withthe help of technology, we will alertyou immediately if someone haskept a tap open, or where theleakage has happened. All this infowill be available readily, we will beable to remotely shut off the tap andfix leakages also, with the help of atechnology called ‘solenoidvalve’.”WeGot is a four-year oldutility company that providesconservation techniques to helptrack water usage and encouragesavings.

Therefore, instead of meters, it’sfeasible to shift towards taps fixedwith sensors. There are a couple ofother technologies, which willreadily give the data on the amountof consumed and wasted waterenabling people to becomeconscious. The process happensthrough the internet-of-things (IoT)digital platform for watermanagement, called ‘VenAqua’,according to Selvakumar. Facilio, is another tech start-up

company that analyses water dataof large firms such as S P Infocity,RMZ Millenia business park andothers.A senior market official atFacilio said that the buyers ofFacilio had a dashboard monitoringwater supply and its consumption

thus seeing extra capacity that isbeing run. The model includesenergy analytics drawing data fromevery meter and runs a data search. According to an official, the

company has saved around 30-50per cent daily water wastage fromwhat it was four years ago inChennai. He said, “This is a basicpsychology, once people have topay for how much they waste, theywill be very conscious. Likeelectricity. I switch off my fans,lights and AC when going out,therefore why not be more carefulabout water?” With “machinelearning” these tech companies areaiming to create a complexalgorithm to measure amount ofwater consumed.

Chennai - a hub for Nepali migrant workers

CHENNAI: Tamil NaduTransportation Departmentofficials have impounded severalillegal Ola bike taxis in the city.Hundreds of Ola drivers blocked

the Ekkatuthangal road onFebruary 26 in protest against Ola’sdecision to start bike taxi service.The Ola drivers also lodged acomplaint with the RegionalTransport Office.“Ola bikes are illegal and are not

allowed in our state. The Transport Department has

not given any permission forrunning the service,” said Yograj,Chennai South RTO.“Using bike for purposes other

than private use is violation of therules and regulations of the state,”he added.App based aggregator Ola is

running bike taxi service, which ischeaper and faster.“So it does not just save your

time, it also saves you a dime,” saysOla bike advertisement.K. Balaji, a commuter said “I

found it convenient to movearound.” A few on other hand termed it

unsafe and unreliable.Kavitha, another commuter said,

“I would prefer cab over bikesbecause they are more safe andreliable. It is also veryuncomfortable to sit on a bike, thattoo with a stranger.” Sathish, who works for an IT

company, said, “It can get worseduring rains or hot summer

days.”The protesting drivers saidthat this service was unlicensed astwo wheelers did not have thepermit to operate as commercialcarrier. One needed to have a licence to

run vehicles for commercialpurposes.Riding Ola bike also comes with

several risks, the commuters say.Ola bikes are run by bikers with nosafety and accountability for therider. Commercial vehicles have

yellow registration plates whereasall Ola bikes have whiteregistration plates.The cabs are runby the drivers on contract. They arecovered by insurance.

“We are going to stop thispractice as soon as possible. Wewill not tolerate such kind ofviolations,” said Yograj.Ola could not be reached to

comment.However, bike taxi services are

operational in a few cities in India,including Agra, Gurgaon andJaipur.

No action on unlawful parking

RTO says biketaxis are illegal

New tech to fight water scarcity

E-vehicles forgreener future

RAJAT THAKUR

SHREYA BASAK

SHREYA BASAK

SHASHWAT MOHANTY

No progress has been made in marking hawker zones in Chennai as of now

Cars haphazardly parked in Besant Nagar |SHREYA BASAK

Ola bike taxis | GOOGLE

|GOOGLE

Nokhuram Bhandari (46) working as a security | SABITRI

SMRUTI DESHPANDE

SABITRI DHAKAL

CHENNAI: In order to encourageusage of e-vehicles, the Centralgovernment plans to build abattery-charging eco-system atpublic places. It would enablepeople and automobile companiesto switch from fuel driven cars toeco-friendly modes oftransportation. In August 2018, anew policy was adopted with theaim of promoting eco-friendlymode of transportation. By 2030, the government plans

on 100 percent electrification ofpublic transport and 40 percentelectrification of private transport. The electricity needed by E-

Vehicles (EVs), will be fulfilled byusing solar-power, lithium-ionbatteries and swappable batteries. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Principal

Advisor, the Ministry of Power andNew and Renewable Energy,Government of India, and aProfessor at IIT Madras, wrote inhis blog, “On charging of batteries,he said that low-cost AC001(typeof charger) should be installed in allcity-parking lots and in officeparking. This would enable top-up charging for 2-Wheelers inabout 1-2 hours, Economy cars inabout 4-5 hours, and premium carsin 6 to 8 hours.”“Audi, the German automobile

company has come up with anelectric car model which has beenreleased in the Unites States. It isplanning to get the car in India in 3-4 years, but the imported cars willrequire immense charging eco-system for which new facilities willbe needed ,” said C. Lakshmikant,33, Sales Manager at an Audishowroom in Saidapet.

SAURABH SAGAR

CHENNAI: The Greater ChennaiMunicipal Corporation has issuedorder which mandate trade licencesfor spas, massage parlours andbeauty salons across Chennaibefore April 1. Apart frommandating trade licences, the civicbody has also laid guidelines toregulate them which includeinstallation of CCTV camerasinstallation at the gates, verificationof educational qualification foremployees and the working hours.The guidelines strictly warnedagainst any form of sexual activityin any closed rooms.Earlier, the licence given to hair

cutting saloons was given tomassage parlours and spas, as therewas no separate provision.An inspector of the Anti-Vice

Squad said that the police had beendemanding a strict law forcontrolling spas and their activities.He said that there were around 125spas in the city but only 25 percentwere real spas. The rest weresomehow involved in sexualactivities. “This new requirement will help

us to save innocent girls who are

forced into this sex trade,” headded. Most of the spa owners denied

any knowledge of the newrequirement. However, somequestioned this order.R. Ravichandran (39), owner of

Green Trends unisex hair and stylesalon, said, “We will comply withall the rules set for trade licence.We do not have any closed rooms

in our spa. We have two rooms onefor hair cutting and other formassage. I think installation ofcamera is linked with the thoughtthat every massage parlour isinvolved in sexual activity.”A lot of people went to spas and

massage parlour to relax them fromhectic schedule. S. Wilson (40), owner of Dreamz

Skin and Hair Salon in Adyar said,

“After arrival of softwarecompanies and automobile giantslike Ford, Hyundai and Mahindraon the outskirts of Chennai, visitorsto spas and massage parlours haveincreased. Lakhs of IT and management

professionals work in city and thehigh levels of stress in their workhave compelled them to visit spas.We are professional and I thinkmost of us do not indulge inunlawful activities.”S. Gautam (36), a IT

professional who visits spasregularly said, “ CCTV camerasand the fear of police cannotregulate these spas which indulgein sexual activities. Now, ifsomeone knows that he would berecorded every time he visits, whywould he go? I myself won’tprefer.”The smaller, hair cutting shops

have a different problem.One of theowners said that the cost of aCCTV could be an extra burden forhim. He said that he recentlyinstalled a CCTV camera and airconditioner inside his shop but itseemed that now he needed toinstall a camera outside, adding tohis budget.

Law mandates cameras at entry points in spas |GOOGLE

Edition 6 Page 3_Layout 1 3/11/2019 1:05 PM Page 1

CHENNAI,MARCH 8, 20194 THE WORDWOMEN’S DAY

‘Do more than celebrate’CHENNAI:Women in the citydon’t find it significant to celebratethe International Women’s Day onMarch 8 as such events haven’tchanged their living conditions. “There is nothing as security,

freedom, equity for women.Women are raped and are harassed.When the society we are living isnot safe then what is the use ofcelebrating the day,” said SAmritha, a 17-year-old studentfrom Madurai currently living inChennai.Even though it is known as the

second best city for women inSouth India, women in Chennaistill seem to be struggling with thesame issues like their counter-partsin North India do.“Instead of celebrating the day a

lot more real things such aseducating women, construction oftoilets in schools, providingsecurity, ending of child marriageshould be immediately done,” sheadded. Some women feel that there is

no honour in their life. They feelthat the man in their life shouldplay a significant role inguaranteeing their rights. “If you get a husband who loves

you and takes care of you then you

are lucky to enjoy all the freedomin life. If you have an abusivehusband then there is nothing in lifeexcept sadness,” said S Karnam, a55-year-old resident of Taramani. Many women in the city don’t

even know that the day iscelebrated to honour women andtheir contribution.

“I don’t know that there is such aday,” said A. Ponuthayi, 44, aresident of Taramani.“I will be working on the day

like other days. I don’t know aboutwomen’s right but I know that Ihave to work hard to make mysurvival as there is no one I can relyon for financial assistance to meet

my ends,” she said. When voices have been raised

demanding equal rights andfreedom for women, the women arefighting in their domestic spheresfor their survival.“Neither my children listen to

me nor can I decide anything in myhome. The money I have beenearning is even taken by my family.What is the use of celebrating thewomen’s day when we are abusedby our own family members in ourhomes?” questioned 46-year-old KPushpa.She also explains how

sometimes, her children don’tallow her to sleep inside the houseduring the nighttime and is unsafe. T Kamala, aged 60, said, “I came

to know about women’s day only afew years before. There are varioustelevision shows about women’sday.” Though she doesn’t know

anything about women’s rights shefeels that education is necessary tomake a change in a woman’s life.She advises women to educate

themselves, to be brave and tomake their voices heard. “You don’t have to feel weaker

or inferior when your familymembers fight with you. You needto be educated and financiallypowerful,” she said.

SABITRI DHAKAL

A woman tying flowers together to make gajras before theevening crowd arrives.

Women say yes to“Safe Zones” in city

CHENNAI:Women in the city arelooking forward to theestablishment of “safe zones”within Chennai, as envisioned bythe Greater Corporation ofChennai.Earlier in 2018, the Corporation

had identified locations around thecity that they considered “hotspots”of crimes against women. The number of incidents of chain

snatching, eve teasing and otherforms of violence against womenhave merited locations like the ITparks at Taramani, MadhyaKailash, Navalur Tidel Park andSholinganallur, amongst others, tobe in this list, according to a Timesof India report. Educational institutions like

Stella Maris, Queen Mary’s,Women’s Christian College andLoyola are some of the otherlocations which shall also beconverted into safe zones. Around300 slum areas, which have beenreported as unsafe will also begetting safe zones. Female students from these

colleges have a positive attitudewith regard to these safe zones. The aim of the government is to

make the cityfor the womentravellerswithin the city.For the 20% ofthe workingwomen in thecity, suchestablishmentswill maketravelling saferas most oftheir work spaces are on theoutskirts of the city.However, some still feel that this

move isn’t addressing the realproblem here. According to Mahima Saji, a

first year master’s student atLoyola, “Though such zones aredefinitely a short term remedy, itdefinitely won’t be making thingsbetter for the future. Women havelearnt how to safe guard themselvesagainst crimes but the hones is veryrarely attributed to men whopropagate such hatred and indecentbehavior towards women. Thatmust be changed.” The safe zones are to be funded

by the Nirbhaya fund set up tosupport initiatives working towardssafe-guarding women. Thesezones, armed with artificial

intelligence, are meant to maketravelling safer for women duringnighttime. These zones shall be provided

with multi-utility smart poles thathave emergency and panic buttons.Additional facilities proposed

are internet connectivity along withzero-dark luminance areas whichare to be connected with ChennaiCorporation’s Control through IoT(Internet of things) basedintelligence, as according a Hinduarticle. This is meant to facilitatequick responses from enforcementagencies.These zones, or clusters, also

aim to equip women withinformation about the crimes thatare rampant in specific locations sothat they can take the requiredprecautionary measures.

SAMANTHA SHAJI

‘2 out of 5women suffer

iron deficiency’CHENNAI: At least two out of fivepregnant women in Tamil Nadustruggle with acute iron deficiency,according to the recent data frompregnancy infant cohort monitoringevaluation by the National HealthMission in Tamil Nadu.Even though the percentage of

anemic expecting women in theState has come down to 44 per centfrom the 55 per cent in 2005, therestill remains an un-bridged gapbetween the present situation andthe goal that the Tamil NaduGovernment has set for theirimprovement.The numbers come as a surprise

after the initiative taken by theTamil Nadu Government toprescribe free medicines andprovide maternal and child care kitsto expecting women.However, according to Dr. G

Divya, an obstetrician andgynaecologist at a primary healthcare centre in Chennai, the problemlies in the deep roots. “There’s a divide here too,” she

said, adding “One can see adifference between the rich andpoor pregnant women. While thewell off ones usually get throughwith ease, the poor are often left indespair.”According to her, awareness

amongst the women also makes adifference. “Most of the women who come

to me do not find it important totake supplements even after beingtold regularly,” she said.She mentioned how deficiency

during pregnancy becomes an issuebecause it affects the growth anddevelopment of the fetus. It alsoincreses the chances of deformitiesdeveloping in the child and evenwomen suffering miscarriages inextreme cases.Dr K. Renuka, assistant director

of the Centre for WomenDevelopment and Research talkedabout how most pregnant women,especially in the rural areas did notget proper nutrition because of pooraccess..“Despite our best efforts to plan

proper diet plans for them, a largenumber of women can’t be reached.We are still in the process ofdevising some mechanism throughwhich we can help reach a largeenough number to make adifference,” she said.The centre, with the help of the

State government, is trying to reachout to women, especially in ruralareas to create awareness aboutanemia and explaining to them the

importance of good diet andmedication.Many women are also believed

to skip their medication and alsoavoid certain food items owing tomyths and misconceptions.“Some women feel that certain

fruits will harm them and theirbabies. They also don’t trust thefree medicines provided by thegovernment.”“It becomes very difficult to

explain things to them in suchcases,” said Renuka.This has not only resulted in

increasing number of anemia casesamongst infants and toddlers buthas also led to an increasedmaternal mortality rate over theyears and is only growing to be amassive issue in the field ofmaternal healthcare.Anemia is the late manifestation

of deficiency of nutrient(s) neededfor hemoglobin synthesis. Most cases of anemia are due to

inadequate supply of nutrients likeiron, folic acid, vitamin B12,proteins, amino acids, vitamins A,C, and other vitamins of B-complexgroup, which are involved in themaintenance of the hemoglobinlevel.According to an Indian Medical

Report of 2006, in women, anemiamay become the underlying causeof maternal mortality and prenatalmortality.Anemia also results in an

increased risk of prematuredelivery and low birth weights. The Global Nutrition Report

2017 analyzed 140 countries at theWorld Health Assembly in Geneva.The findings placed India at the

bottom of the table with maximumnumber of women impacted withanemia in the world. In India, more than half (51%) of

all women of reproductive age haveanemia. According to a research article of

2012 by ISRN Public Health,socio-economic variables, forexample being from a ScheduledTribe or a Schedule Caste havebeen statistically significant andpositively correlated of beinganemic. The low-economic status from

the disadvantaged castes, whichrestricts their ability to purchasenutritious food, is the most likelycontribution. Economic factors such as being

in paid employment and being froma higher wealth quintile are allsignificantly and negativelyassociated with iron-deficiencyanemia as compared to womenfrom the poorest wealth quintile.

CHENNAI: MAuto, also known asMakkal Auto added hijab-cladwomen and transgenders into itsfleet of 330 women drivers andlaunched ‘W Pride’ service whichwill allow passengers to selectwhether they want to ride with amale, female or transgenderdrivers.The service was launched on

February 27.“The purpose of introducing the

scheme was to enable passengers,especially women to choose theirdriver at any given point of thetime,” said Mansoor Ali Khan,founder and managing director ofMAuto.MAuto was launched in 2014

with the focus on hassle freecommuting in nine cities includingChennai, Tiruchi, Madurai,Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi.This initiative was later turned intoone that encouraged andempowered women.“Now the idea is to provide

people with an honourable way toearn their living,” he added.This online platform has all the

features offered by other popularplatforms like Ola and Uber.However, the availability ofwomen and transgender drivers andthe facility to select the drivermakes it different from others.All the newly recruited will wear

khaki vests over their hijab or sareeas part of their uniform.

Akhila, one of MAutodrivers, said, “Thisinitiative will attract manywomen passengers and itwill also ensure theirsafety during nighttravel.”Another driver Fariha

Khatun said, “We workwith dignity at MAuto.We are hopeful about themeasures taken by thecompany.”Makkal Auto, not only

provides a livelihood option forwomen in need but also makes thedaily commute of women safe inthe city.“Initiatives like this can increase

the involvement of women andtransgenders in the spacesdominated by the men,” said SethuLekshmi, a commerce teacher atStella Maris College.MAuto is becoming popular

among the commuters in the city.Mansoor claims to have more than30,000 registered users on itsplatform. He says it is one of thelargest fleet with women drivers inIndia.“The organization’s focus is now

also on encouraging itsacceptance,” said Mansoor.MAuto is the first of its kind to

employ women in a large fleet. Theidea of MAuto was a successor ofNamma Auto, started my MansoorAli Khan. As reported for some personal

reasons, Khan had to dissolve

Namma Auto started in Chennaieven earlier than MAuto. But thisdidn’t stop him from taking up theinitiative and for the first timeIndia, autos have a panic button anda video telecasting features. Months after this Khan launched

the ‘Women Pride Ride’ and has awish of carrying this further allover India. Here, a woman is trained in

driving for three months.There is no stringent timing to be

followed by the women and a largesum is allotted for their insurance.Although no acceptance of tip isallowed personally, there’s a tipbox where a commuter can donatesome amount, which is used by theunion to fund education of theirchildren. There are two apps to this

service, M-AUTO app for public toaccess and book auto-rickshawsand M-AUTO Pilot App for auto-rickshaw drivers who wish tobecome a part of this service.

RIA KAPOOR

CHENNAI: Three women who have beenfriends for six years turned business partnersin the last quarter of 2017 when they openedPumpkin Tales, a restaurant with an allwomen crew at Bheemanna Garden Street inAlwarpet.Pumpkin Tales was established because of

the shared passion among Raja Rajeshwari,Bhuvaneshwari and Chindi Varadarajulu tocreate a good dining space for the city peoplewith healthy food, without compromising ontaste. Pumpkin Tales has a restaurant as well as

a bakery and also offers catering for parties. Chindi Varadarajulu, who is the creative

chef of the restaurant, says she set up the firstSouth Indian restaurant in Vancouver in2003. She travelled across South India forher culinary tours and finally moved toChennai where the idea of a restaurant cameinto being.Varadarajulu took a year to create the

menu. Some of the dishes are her originalcreations. When Varadarajulu came up with the idea,

Rajeshwari who was into real estate, gotfascinated by the idea of three friendsworking together and creating a space where

fellow women couldwork. Rajeshwari said “We

wanted women to be inthe forefront and so wedecided to have an all girlcrew.” “These girls are around

20-21; My son is of thesame age, so they are likemy children to me andthat is how they aretreated,” she said.A woman, who is also a

friend of the threefounders, was called uponto train the staff on how todeal with the guests.“From the time a guest

enters the door, the girls aretrained to greet them withsmile, take them to thetable, talk about the menu and make themfeel comfortable till they exit,” saidRajeshwari.Talking about the inclusion of men, she

said the restaurant is doing great and she didnot intend on including them in the servingstaff anytime soon. However, she said, thereare men who work in the kitchen.

“Slow food, use of age old techniques andthe effort that goes into every dish on themenu is what makes us stand out,” saidRajeshwari.According to Rajeshwari, they decided to

name the restaurant Pumpkin Tales whenthey were thinking of an ingredient whichcould be used in multiple dishes, and

pumpkin came to their minds.“We have pumpkin soup,

pumpkin in sandwiches, pumpkinin main course and, in fact, dessertsmade of pumpkin,” she said. Sanoshi, a staffer at the

restaurant said, “It’s nice workinghere. We all (Staff) live togetherand have developed a bond, sowork feels like home.”The restaurant, as a gesture of

listening to women, put up a“Women’s Wish Board” onInternational Women’s Day lastyear. They intend on putting up theboard this year as well. “I have many good friends, and

most of them are women. They aremy champions, my fans, mybiggest critics and my partners incrime. A lot of what I am today isbecause of them,” said Chindi on

the Instagram handle of Pumpkin Tales.When asked about how it was that they

manage to work so well, Rajeshwari saidthat, “We have an understanding despite ofour differences, so we fight, we argue, butwe always manage to reach to a commonpoint. At the end of the day, this friendshipis the reason which keeps us going.”

Turning the Cinderella pumpkin into a real tale SAMIKSHA GOEL

Rajeswhari flaunting the words to empower womenworkers

RAJAT THAKUR

CHENNAI: Brands across Chennaitried to capitalise on InternationalWomen’s Day by offeringdiscounts and sales on theirproducts.Gift shops and florists geared up

with custom made items andbouquets while online websiteshave discounted products acrossvarious categories, to boost sales onInternational Women’s day onMarch 8.Saraswati, a sales woman at

Archies, Mylapore, said that theshop had stocked up on cards,calendars and bags but not manypeople have shown up looking forthat.“Only three to four people have

bought the cards for women,” shesaid.“We expected people to come.

There is a definite increase of saleson Valentine ’s Day, but Women’sday does not evoke the sameenthusiasm,” she added.L’oreal Paris, a make-up brand,

has launched ‘Worth It Week’ fromMarch 1 to 8 on Nykaa, a websitewhere the customers could getexciting offers on women’sproducts such as cosmetics, soapsand shower gels. Nykaa offered a discount of 40

per cent on all its products for thebig sale.Women could avail discounts up

to 20 per cent on items such as keychains, purses, bags, cushions and

bottles at Chumbak, a website, byusing the code ‘YOUGOGIRL20’on a purchase worth Rs 2995.According to a report in The

New Indian Express, VR Chennaiis displaying the works of femaleentrepreneurs in its three-dayWomen’s Bazaar from March 8 to10. Everything from jewellery,food, organic items to furniture,décor will be available at thisBazaar.Flipkart which is also offering

discounts on a range of productsduring their sale on March 7 and 8like smart phones, tablets, laptopsand more. Flipkart had also offeredno cost EMI options throughout thesale period.“There was no substantial

increase in sales. However, wewere prepared with all kinds offlowers and cakes. It would havebeen a surprise if we had madeprofit,” a worker at Ferns andPetals said. Zomato, a food delivery app, is

also offering multiple discounts andoffers on behalf of the multiplerestaurants that it is tied with.Women are spoilt with options

on this day to spoil themselves.However, amidst these sales andoffers, the real meaning and reasonbehind the reason of celebratingthis day seems to have been lost onmost of us. Rather than paying respects to

the fight for gender equality,capitalism has reduced the day to amere commercial holiday.

A female Auto Driver

Just another dayfor business

SAMIKSHA GOEL

Women’s Day means very little for women in Chennai

Autorickshaw service bywomen and transgenders

| SAMIKSHA GOEL

| RAJAT THAKUR

| SABITRI DHAKAL

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