Good morning, Chennai!
⛅ Today’s weather: Mostly clear weather with some cloud cover.
🧐 Did you know? When the city faced a drinking water shortage in 1818, the Collector of Madras, Whyte Ellis, commissioned 27 wells. He was also a Tamil scholar, so a stone near each of the wells had a couplet from the Tirukkural etched on it. The last surviving well is in Royapettah.
🏙️ Blue-green infrastructure
To mitigate the effects of climate change, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) will integrate blue-green infrastructure in the Third Master Plan.
What’s it about? Due to climate change, the city is now more prone to flooding and water scarcity. The CMDA has decided to include blue-green infrastructure in its Third Master Plan. Broadly speaking, this includes initiatives to increase the city’s green cover and protect its water bodies.
- Per the CMDA, the city has lost farmlands, floodplains, forests, streams, and wetlands due to urbanisation. It has increased runoff and increased land surface temperature.
- The initiative will include the systematic integration of rivers, canals, ponds, floodplains, and water treatment facilities. Consultants appointed will map blue-green elements to assess climate change risks like rising sea levels.
Potential threats: The CMDA document stated Chennai would face increased threats from extreme storm events, rising sea levels, heat waves, and poor air quality. The city’s water issues will aggravate unless the natural hydrological flows and aquifers are restored.
🏅 Empowerment through sports
The Victory Sports Foundation (VSF) helps kids from economically weak backgrounds to become socially responsible citizens.
What’s it about? In 2004, SK Thanigaivelan founded VSF to offer kids from economically weak backgrounds a chance at a fulfilling life through sports. The organisation has since trained over 3,500 students with operations in 5 districts. For Thanigaivelan, it’s his life goal to make sports more accessible.
- With branches in Chennai, Tirupathur, Tiruvannamalai, Tiruvallur, and Krishnagiri, the organisation trains kids in football, basketball, and boxing. It has adopted state-run schools like the Government Model School in Triplicane to coach students.
- Their initiatives are Sports 4 All, Sports 4 Empowerment, Sports 4 Women, and Sports 4 Change. They also help students with job opportunities and provide scholarships for those to pursue higher education.
Success stories: Bharani Kumar, a PE teacher, signed up with the foundation when he was a teenager after he was in frequent trouble. Learning football turned his life around. Nithya S said VSF came to her school, and she signed up to learn discus. She later won silver in a national tournament.
🧾 Property tax defaulters list
The Chennai Corporation released the list of the city’s top property tax defaulters.
What’s it about? The Chennai Corporation released a list of the city’s top 100 property tax defaulters. They have defaulted in payments ranging from ₹7 lakh to ₹10.8 crore. They also released a list of 100 cases pending in courts with dues ranging from ₹2 lakh to ₹8 crore.
- The highest property tax defaulter is RR Info Park Pvt Ltd at Mannurpet, with dues of ₹10.84 crore. There are also several outlets of the well-known Saravana Stores on the list.
- Among the cases pending in the courts, the list includes prominent names like the Ramachandra Educational and Health Trust, Madras Race Club, and the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce.
Others: Some others on the list include The Andhra Mahila Sabha at RA Puram, which owes ₹17.3 lakh, and the Andhra social and cultural association at T Nagar, which owes ₹15.8 lakh.
🥛 Detecting milk adulteration
IIT Madras and IISER have come up with a technique to detect starch adulteration in milk.
What’s it about? Adulteration in milk continues to be a problem for many consumers. Researchers at IIT Madras and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal have jointly developed a method to detect adulteration using a drop and evaporation technique.
- It involves analysing a ‘sessile drop’ of milk under a portable microscope. The existing method is an iodine test which is limited. This new technique can detect starch adulteration up to 0.005% weight by volume of starch.
- The drop of milk under the microscope is allowed to evaporate. Then the width and height of the deposit are measured to determine the amount of starch adulteration.
Who said what? Madivala G Basavaraj from IIT Madras said starch is one of the cheapest available forms of adulteration and can be dangerous in large concentrations. Padma Ishwarya S, also from IIT Madras, said milk suppliers might use unethical techniques and adulterate milk to keep up with the high demand and get a big profit.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you easily fall asleep on planes/trains?
- Yes, I can easily fall asleep on planes/trains.
- No, I can’t easily fall asleep on planes/trains.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What do you love most about your job?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Swami Vivekananda’s tryst with Madras and the celebrations to mark his connections to the city.
- Second G20 working group concluded its two-day meeting in Chennai on the global economic outlooks and risks.
- The 2023 Chennai PetXpo, with fun activities and events, brought pet owners under one roof.
- The Chennai-Tirupati high road project has been revived by the government.
- The Muttukadu Boat House will feature a floating restaurant that sails along the backwaters.
That’s it for today. Have a great day!