Chennai fish

When their two-year-old son Shaik Shoeb was diagnosed with hearing loss, Ghouse Basha and Rajiya Begum relocated to Chennai from Nellore in search of a school. At that time, they had modest expectations from this move. In hindsight, that is the best decision they have ever taken on behalf of their son. In May this year, Shoeb (28 years old now) assumed the position of Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax in Chennai, having cleared the UPSC in 2020 and completed his probation at National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur as part of his IRS training. “Balavidyalaya School for the Deaf brought us to the city as Shoeb was diagnosed with profound hearing loss and the necessary facilities were not found at our home town,” recalls Basha, a retired banker. In three years, Shoeb was ready to join a regular school. With the support he received from his alma maters — St John’s English School and Junior College in Besant Nagar, College of Engineering, Guindy and later the Indian Institute of … [Read more...] about The boy with hearing-impairment who went on to become the Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax in Chennai

The Greater Chennai Corporation has launched a major drive against encroachments by removing 274 illegal structures in roads, footpaths, playgrounds and public spaces maintained by the civic body in the last week. The Corporation removed 71 encroachments in Thiru. Vi. Ka. Nagar, 46 in Teynampet, 38 in Kodambakkam, 37 in Sholinganallur, 23 in Ambattur, 12 in Manali, 11 in Alandur, nine each in Tiruvottiyur and Anna Nagar, six in Perungudi, four in Adyar, three in Royapuram, two each in Tondiarpet and Valasaravakkam and one in Madhavaram, officials said. Encroachments along major stretches, including Usman Road, Ashok Nagar Second Avenue, Kaliamman Koil Street, Manali Salai, Kodungaiyur Kamaraj Salai, Periyar Nagar Selavayal, Ennore, Rajamannar Salai and Madhavaram Truck Terminal, were removed. After the Corporation asked residents to complain about encroachments on the 1913 helpline, the civic body has started receiving complaints about encroachments in the zonal offices as well. … [Read more...] about Greater Chennai Corporation launches major encroachment removal drive

The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) will hold protests across Tamil Nadu on June 27 against the Agnipath scheme, unveiled by the BJP government. Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Gourav Gogoi said the scheme was brought in only because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ego and that the Prime Minister had not uttered a word despite several protests by youngsters against the scheme. Mr. Gogoi said the government was trying to implement the scheme just to save on pension and did not seem to be bothered about the external threats India was facing at its borders. He said while Mr. Modi had promised to create 2 crore jobs each year in 2014, India was facing massive unemployment in 45 years. "After failing to create the promised jobs, the Modi government is now trying to put a question mark over the future of youngsters," he said. … [Read more...] about Congress to protest against Agnipath today in Chennai

In addition to air and water pollution, India can now add one more category to its pollution worries: beach pollution. And here, tourism and fishing are the biggest culprits, contributing most of the plastic litter on beaches, according to a study by the National Centre of Coastal Research (NCCR). The NCCR conducted a qualitative analysis of the litter on six different beaches on the eastern and western coasts. It found that plastic litter from tourism alone accounted for 40%-96% of all beach litter. At Chennai’s Elliot’s Beach, for instance, plastics left by tourists accounted for 40% of all the litter, while at Gopalpur in Odisha, it was as high as 96%. As for the other four beaches, plastics formed 66% of the overall litter on Fort Kochi Beach, 60% at Karnataka’s Karwar beach, 87% at Visakhapatnam’s R.K. Beach, and 81% at Andaman Island’s Rangachang beach. After tourism, fishing was the next biggest source of litter. While fishing nets were a major contributor, the processing … [Read more...] about Tourists bring a wave of trash to beaches

A bunch of passengers protested at the New Washermenpet Metro station on Saturday alleging that the doors closed as they were entering, resulting in injury. This resulted in eight Chennai Metro Rail trips getting slightly delayed. Around 9.20 p.m., a group of eight passengers took a train from the High Court Metro station. They alleged that the train’s doors closed as they were entering it, thus injuring two members of the group. They disembarked at the New Washermenpet Metro station around 9.30 p.m. and demanded that action be taken against the train operator and marched towards the driver’s cabin. Since the station employees could not handle the situation, the police were informed and a few personnel arrived at the Metro station to handle the passengers. “One of the passengers also threw steel stands on the track,” a police source said. Chennai Metro Rail sources said the passengers were not hurt, and they walked into the train before the door was completely shut. “We also … [Read more...] about Passengers protest at New Washermenpet Metro station

The Department of Posts has arranged for the Tamil Nadu government pensioners and family pensioners to submit their digital life certificates through postmen at their doorsteps from July 1. A memorandum of understanding was signed recently between the State government and India Post Payments Bank. This year, a total of 7,15, 761 State government pensioners have been directed to submit their life certificates between July and September. India Post Payments Bank has arranged for doorstep submission of the life certificates through Jeevan Pramaan, a biometric-enabled digital service for pensioners. A fee of ₹70 will be charged. The measure is expected to help the pensioners avoid the trouble of in-person submission of life certificates. In a press release, G. Natarajan, Postmaster-General, Chennai City Region, said the pensioners could generate their digital life certificates through their postmen in a few minutes. They would have to provide their Aadhaar and mobile phone numbers … [Read more...] about Pensioners may submit digital life certificates to postmen

The Greater Chennai Corporation on Saturday launched a campaign to reuse, recycle and reduce waste in the city. Mayor R. Priya launched it on the Marina beach in the presence of students, volunteers and non-governmental organisations. She visited households to create awareness about reducing, reusing and recycling of waste. Officials urged the residents to segregate waste to reduce the quantity of waste sent to dump yards. The campaign has been launched to ensure that pollution at dumpsites was controlled. Pointing to the challenges faced by residents in the vicinity of Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dumps, the volunteers will persuade residents to support source segregation. The civic body has already set the target of achieving 75% segregation in two weeks. The Corporation officials have planned to distribute pamphlets in each of the 21 lakh households. Over 7 lakh students, volunteers from NGOs and 19,000 conservancy workers were expected to create awareness. … [Read more...] about Mayor launches campaign on recycling waste

It is tempting to label the parasitic jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus) a rarity on the waters around the Indian Coast. After all, the species does not volunteer a photo-op every day. Even at the height of winter when the odds of seeing this bird are logically higher than usual, it only rarely disturbs eBird pages. One has to embrace this paradox: The parasitic jaeger may be rarely seen, particularly on the eastern coast, but is hardly a rarity in these parts. And that temptation has to be resisted. To give in to it is to ignore data parading right under one’s nose. Dipu Karuthedathu, an ebirder who studies pelagic birds, places the recent sightings of the species at Pulicat in perspective. “The parasitic Jaeger has been sighted across the Indian coast — basically, the western coast and some parts of the eastern coast — multiple times and for many years. eBird data would attest to that. During the winter migratory season, we have seen a good number of these birds on the western … [Read more...] about Parasitic jaegers have an extended sojourn around Pulicat lake

Special Correspondent CHENNAI June 25, 2022 22:06 IST Updated: June 25, 2022 22:07 IST Special Correspondent CHENNAI June 25, 2022 22:06 IST Updated: June 25, 2022 22:07 IST The Little Theatre’s international theatre festival for young audiences, “The Little Festival” will be held from July 1 to 8 at the Kalakshetra Auditorium, Thiruvanmiyur. On July 1 and 2, the play The Garage Gang and on July 4 and 5 Hansel and Gretel in Taka Din by The Little Theatre will be staged. On July 7 and 8, The Story of the Lake from South Korea will be staged. A panel discussion on “The Importance of arts post COVID” will be held at the Goethe Institut from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. on July 5. Donor passes are available at www.littletheatreindia.com , and can also be picked up from Cheria Aana, #2, Village Road, Nungambakkam. For details, call 28211115/8778449642 or email [email protected] … [Read more...] about The Little Festival from July 1 to 8

The Rotary Club of Chennai Galaxy has donated six dialysis machines and six dialysis tables to Voluntary Health Services, Taramani, on Sunday. District governor J. Sridhar inaugurated the Rotary Chennai Hallmark Kind Centre at VHS. G. Palani, president of the Rotary Club of Chennai Galaxy, said this project, carried out at a cost of ₹48 lakh, would benefit 75 patients every week. The dialysis would be done for free, and the other necessary cost would be covered under the Tamil Nadu Government Chief Minister’s Insurance scheme. “There is a lot of need for dialysis, and we understand that one in every 1,250 persons suffers from chronic kidney disease. The number of people requiring dialysis goes up by 10-15% each year. People also have to be on a waiting list to have access to the facility,” he said. So far, Rotary District 3232 has provided around 140 dialysis machines in a year to several hospitals. … [Read more...] about Voluntary Health Services gets dialysis equipment