This article on social equity in public transport quotes CAG's study on the free bus scheme for women in Tamil Nadu. The free-fare initiative was found to lead to significant savings and improved access to education and healthcare for women.
Saroja, Executive Director of CAG, discusses the role of an empowered consumer who understands grievance redressal mechanisms to keep companies and corporates accountable. E-com consumers especially need to be careful and only choose vendors of repute to buy from.
The MTC is set to upgrade its Chennai Bus app to improve real-time bus tracking and add features like e-ticketing. CAG recently published a report on the Chennai Bus App which highlighted issues like slow load times and GPS errors. The upgrade will include better GPS accuracy, real-time updates, and digital display boards at key bus stops.
Divya Senthil, consultant at CAG explains why underage driving is a serious concern, and one that can only be addressed by better education and strict enforcement. The article also mentions CAG's blog on 'Ensuring safe school journeys for all children'.
An article with findings from CAG's 'Evaluating the efficacy of the Meendum Manjappai campaign' which was released during the inaugural event of Climate Action Month 2024.
An article based on CAG's findings on the effectiveness of the Meendum Manjappai campaign. While the campaign has raised awareness on the dangers of plastics, the cost of plastic alternatives, and the easy availability of plastics deter a swift movement away from single-use plastics.
CAG's report 'Evaluating the efficacy of the Meendum Manjappai campaign' was released during the inaugural event of Climate Action Month 2024. The report finds that while 94% of respondents indicated a desire to avoid single use plastics, the cost of plastic alternatives were a prohibitive factor.
The Meendum Manjappai vending kiosks are a great initiative, but like other reuse systems, struggle from some practical difficulties including rough handling and poor maintenance. CAG will soon be releasing a report analysing the effectiveness of the campaign in eight districts in Tamil Nadu.
The majority of Chennai households continue to not segregate their solid waste, leaving this difficult and messy task to conservancy workers. Vamsi Shankar Kapilavai, Senior Researcher at CAG says that to make source segregation a reality, consistent communication campaigns are required, and that piecemeal approaches to this will only have limited success.
As vendors struggle to transition away from single use plastic (SUPs) bags, Vamsi Shankar Kapilavai, Senior Researcher at CAG, explains that the low production cost of plastic coupled with the low production of alternatives perpetuate our reliance on SUPs. He recommends curtailing plastic production as more effective than raiding vendors.