Good morning, Chennai!
☁️ Today’s weather: High: 34 ℃ | Low: 25 ℃ | Mostly cloudy for the day.
🧐 Did you know? The Chennai Port had India’s first dedicated Container Terminal facility, commissioned in 1983.
🎭 Staging the human experience
An upcoming theatre festival will stage 6 plays across different genres that touch upon aspects of the human experience.
What’s it about? The Chennai Art Theatre (CAT) festival, curated by Shakira Mukthar, will allow groups of theatre artists to stage their plays that have themes on social issues in different genres. Six plays with six theatrical genres will be showcased to highlight the varied landscape of theatre.
- “Tempest: Unmuting The Muted Voices” spotlights several Dalit issues, including violence against the community. “Silence Between Us” is the story of Arjun trying to reconnect with Sara and highlighting self-awareness and possessiveness.
- “4Play” is the story of a day in the life of a couple working in the same IT company. It highlights evolving workplace dynamics. “Shirt & Sweet” tells the love story between a yellow shirt and a mannequin doll in a clothing store.
Varied experiences: The CAT Festival hopes to showcase the different themes and topics that theatre and plays can tackle. There’s something in it for everybody.
🎓 IIT Madras’ placement performance
IIT Madras’ placement record were more favourable compared to IIT Bombay.
What’s it about? The placement season has concluded at IIT Madras and IIT Bombay. A comparison between the two institutes showed some interesting results. While IIT Bombay led in placement rates and median salaries, IIT Madras had more graduating students and higher placements in its 5-year programmes.
- The highest annual package at IIT Bombay was ₹23.5 lakh, while the lowest was ₹4 lakh. 75% of students were placed through campus recruitment. 558 offers from 123 companies exceeded ₹20 lakh per annum.
- In IIT Madras, 90% of BTech and dual-degree graduates secured placements. During the two phases of campus recruitment in 2023-24, 1,091 students were placed in 256 companies. The median salary offered was ₹19.6 lakh.
Past performance: Between 2020 and 2023, in its 5-year UG programme, IIT Madras graduated more students and had higher placement numbers. In 2022-23, 385 students graduated, and 325 were placed with a median salary of ₹17 lakh.
💸 Helping Koyambedu vendors
Vendors at the Koyambedu market are being provided with micro-credit facilities.
What’s it about? The Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation (TAHDCO) has established a micro-credit finance society called the Jai Bheem Labour and Small Traders Welfare Association. The goal is to save vendors at the Koyambedu market from falling prey to loan sharks.
- Per the plan, TAHDCO takes a loan from the National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) and lends it to the vendors. In addition to the ₹1.25 lakh loan, they’re also given a subsidy of ₹50,000.
- In the first phase, 46 vendors received loans worth ₹1.25 lakh. The rate of interest is 8.5%. 2% of this is used to build the corpus fund and cover default payments.
Positive response: The scheme has gotten positive responses from vendors. Over 140 vendors have come forward to avail loans. The interest rate is expected to decrease by 2% in the months ahead.
♻️ Solid waste management plans
Chennai and Bengaluru will undertake a knowledge-sharing initiative on solid waste management.
What’s it about? The two cities will exchange ideas and plans for solid waste management. The plan was set in motion when Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar visited Chennai and inspected the solid waste management projects by the Chennai Corporation. He said the city’s waste-to-energy plants were a good model to emulate.
- Shivakumar, also the minister of the Bengaluru city development department, lauded the city’s bulk waste processing facilities. Since 2021, Chennai has processed nearly 80,000 tonnes of waste and generated 1,357 MT of bio CNG.
- He visited the contractor Urbaser Sumeet’s solid waste management control room and the bio-CNG plants in Madhavaram and Chetpet.
A plan for Bengaluru: Bengaluru generates more waste due to its larger population but doesn’t have a holistic solid waste management plan. Shivakumar lauded Chennai’s sand sweeping machines in particular and said he would procure 70 of them.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Did you go on field trips in school?
- I did go on field trips in school.
- I didn’t go on field trips in school.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
Which book have you read multiple times?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- AM Jain College students, to celebrate the 122nd Founder’s Day, attempted a world record with 6,000 students reading poems within 15 minutes.
- TASMAC outlets will soon get scanners to prevent overcharging.
- Chennai’s old cyclone tracker will be replaced with new equipment by the 2025 northeast monsoon.
- The Outer Ring Road will soon become an urban hub with premium housing, industries, and hotels.
- SEScon 2024 in Chennai will spotlight the role of sports science.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I have travelled by bus to another city: 84.6% 🏆
- I haven’t travelled by bus to another city: 15.4%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
Who is your favourite artist/painter?
Suchi: “Ravi Varma”
Shiva: “Maniam (The man who illustrated Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki)”
Preethi: “Artist Keshav”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!