Good morning, Chennai!
☁️ Today’s weather: High: 36 ℃ | Low: 27 ℃ | Mostly cloudy weather for the day.
🧐 Did you know? India’s first rail line was set up from Chintadripet to Little Mount. It was called the Red Hills Rail Road.
🚮 Spotlight on ragpickers
Given the amount of waste the city generates, ragpickers play an important role in segregation.
What’s it about? Chennai generates about 6,300 tonnes of waste every day. The two main dump sites at Kodangaiyur and Perungudi usually overflow with unsegregated garbage. This is where ragpickers come in to help segregate and recycle.
- Ragpickers are an important part of Chennai’s waste management cycle. They’re a group of informal workers rarely acknowledged for their contributions.
- Despite community and civic-led initiatives on the importance of source segregation, many residents still dispose of mixed garbage.
Working conditions: Dumpyards are sites prone to air pollution, and rag pickers have to work in these hazardous conditions in addition to the waste they come in contact with.
🛑 Speed limit and fines inside IIT Madras
Following the death of a blackbuck on campus, the institute has imposed speed limits and fines.
What’s it about? IIT Madras has introduced a 20km/hour speed limit inside the campus after a blackbuck was hit by a car and died. This was the second such incident in a month.
- Anyone who violates the speed limit will be fined ₹10,000. Any injury to the wildlife on campus will invite a ₹1 lakh fine, and the vehicle will be seized.
- IIT Madras Director Professor V Kamakoti said these rules and fines alone won’t solve the issue and urged students and staff to respect the boundaries on campus.
Official communication: The Director issued an official communication to his colleagues and the students stating that the campus belongs to the wildlife and that they’ve intruded on their turf.
🤝 Companies coming to Chennai
Chief Minister MK Stalin signed new MoUs with American Companies to set up shop in the city.
What’s it about? The state government signed MoUs with companies to set up global delivery centres in Chennai. The agreements were made during MK Stalin’s visit to the US to attract investments.
- Power management company Eaton Corporation agreed to expand its Chennai manufacturing facility and set up an R&D development and global utility engineering centre at Sholinganallur.
- An agreement was also signed with Assurant, which provides disaster management products and services, to set up a Global Capability Centre.
Other confirmed investments: During his US tour, Stalin met with the diaspora community and technology firm executives in San Francisco last week. Companies like PayPal, Applied Materials, and Google’s AI Lab will set up shop in the state.
🚆 Ticketless travel decreases
The Chennai division of the Southern Railway saw a decrease in ticketless travel.
What’s it about? The Chennai division of the Southern Railway recorded a fall in ticketless travel in the 2023-24 financial year. The number of ticketless passengers was reduced by 2.84 lakh and stood at 5.11 lakh.
- In 2021-22 and 2022-23, the number of ticketless passengers was 6.53 lakh and 7.96 lakh, respectively. The Railways also collected fines worth ₹32.03 crore and ₹37.87 crore, respectively.
- Till August 15 of this financial year, 2.5 lakh passengers were penalised, and fines worth ₹10.53 crore were levied. Ticket vending machines and the unreserved ticketing app contributed to the reduction.
What does the law say? Section 137 of the Railways Act states that a person travelling without a proper ticket or pass can be punished with imprisonment up to 6 months, or a fine of up to ₹1,000, or both.
✨ Things to do…
Here are some fun and interesting things to do in the city over the weekend!
- Watch a live performance by Super Singer winner Shreenithaa this Sunday.
- Witness the release of VARI, Varijashree Venugopal’s original album tour this Sunday.
- The MMA choir presents their latest concert around the theme Seasons this weekend.
- Experience Śaiva-Vaiṣṇavam, a unique Bharatanatyam recital this Saturday.
- Catch Orlando performing live at the Acoustic Afternoon this Sunday onwards.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll Results:
- I did go on field trips in school: 75.0% 🏆
- I did not go on field trips in school: 25.0%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
Which book have you read multiple times?
Suchi: “‘Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself’ by Dr. Joe Dispenza”
Shiva: “Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder”
That’s it for today. Have a great weekend!