Good morning, Chennai!
🌤️ Today’s weather: High: 37 ℃ | Low: 24 ℃ | A little cloudy for the day.
🧐 Did you know? The Chennai Corporation expanded to include additional areas and was thus renamed Greater Chennai Corporation in 2015.
🕹️ Drone showroom
Garuda Aerospace launched the country’s first drone showroom in Chennai as the sector’s poised for take off.
What’s it about? The usage of drones across several sectors has increased over the past few years. They’re being used for everything from delivering medicines to remote areas to agriculture. Chennaiites curious about drones now have a dedicated showroom in Alwarpet thanks to Garuda Aerospace.
- The 100-square-foot space showroom will have VR stations and simulation centres for visitors to experience what flying a drone feels like.
- The company has sold 2,500 drones so far to companies and agencies. One drone, named after MS Dhoni, is used by security companies and armed forces since it has voice control and a camera.
What’s next? The company plans to sell 25,000 agri drones in the next two years and at least 25,000 consumer drones. The company will open 300 experiential centres in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Coimbatore. They’re also in discussions with Anna University for drone-related courses.
🎓 University rankings
IIT-Madras and Anna University have improved their standing in the World University Rankings.
What’s it about? The QS World University Rankings showed that IIT Madras jumped 58 places to 227 and Anna University jumped 44 places to 383. Both institutions improved their score in parameters like citations per faculty and international research network.
- Among the Indian institutions, IIT Madras moved up one place to fifth. Anna University remained in tenth but is first among the state-funded universities.
- Anna University placed first among Indian institutions in the citations per faculty parameter with a perfect score of 100. It’s now targeting to break into the top 200.
Other universities: NIT Trichy, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Savitha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, and VIT also improved their rankings from last year.
🚍 MTC service limits
The MTC said it can’t operate buses to Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur, citing the government’s policy decision.
What’s it about? In response to a letter from the Tamil Nadu Passengers Welfare Association, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) cited policy decisions of the government for not being able to operate long-distance buses to Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur.
- The MTC can operate buses to places 50 km from Chennai and not beyond that. It said only a change in government policy can expand the MTC’s services.
- Senthil Kumar of the Welfare Association previously asked the MTC to operate buses to places less than 200 km from the Koyambedu terminus. He also wanted buses coming from the south, west, and northwest cities to be able to ply on Anna Salai.
MTC’s limitations: The MTC said it can’t link all locations with direct buses. It operates 3,233 buses on 669 routes to places within 50 km. From the Kilambakkam bus terminus, it operates 584 buses.
🚇 Keep the metro well maintained
With increased footfalls during the rains, passengers have requested officials to properly maintain stations.
What’s it about? Thanks to rainfall over the past two days, ridership of the Chennai metro has increased since people have been relying more on public transport. Commuters have asked metro officials to take necessary steps to maintain the stations keeping the northeast monsoon in mind.
- The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) should survey all stations where water logging is prevalent. At the Thirumangalam station, for example, passengers struggled to enter due to water stagnation.
- Some passengers have also complained of minimal air conditioning inside the stations and trains. This doesn’t happen just when it rains but also during the summer months.
Accessibility issues: For persons with disabilities, entering the stations during normal times is difficult and becomes even more so when it rains and station entrances have stagnated water.
✨ Things to do…
Here are some fun and interesting things to do in the city over the weekend!
- Catch a live screening of the India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup match this Sunday.
- For the kiddos, Marlen Mahal presents a shadow puppet show this Saturday.
- K-Pop lovers can head to the K-Pop Open Mic Uncalled Knacks this Sunday.
- Splurge on arts and crafts at the Meena Bazar exhibition this weekend.
- Guitar Prasanna comes to Chennai with Around the World in 80 Songs this Saturday.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll Results:
- I have kept a diary or journal: 50.0% 🏆
- I haven’t kept a diary or journal: 50.0% 🏆
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What’s a bucket list item you want the most?
Suchi: “An international travel every year”
Shiva: “Own an Independent home”
That’s it for today. Have a great weekend!