South Chennai, Haven For Criminals: South Chennai, that is famous for education institutions and IT is becoming infamous for street crime, mainly for chain snatching. Cases of chain snatching in Chennai are:  251 in the year 2006; 249 in 2007; 296 in 2008 and 178 till 30 June 2009.  The South Chennai reports are:  84 in 2006; 106 in 2007; 112 in 2008 and 76 until 30 June 2009.  In 2008, 37% of crimes happened in South Chennai.  The ‘soft’ and ‘vulnerable’ pockets have been identified as Valasarawakkam, Virgambakkam, Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, Kumaran Nagar and KK nagar.  There is societal imbalance.  There are very rich people and slum dwellers living side by side.  The economic gap, makes the underprivileged to get involved in crimes; according to social analysts.     (A. Selvaraj, The Times Of India 27 July 2009, p.3)

Heat on recreation clubs that are gambling dens: Police crackdown on ‘recreation clubs’ that allowed gambling in their premises, five places in T Nagar were raided  in the last few days. Though police claimed that these places were gambling dens, they were among the 21 clubs within the jurisdiction of T Nagar police district that were identified as spots offering not just relaxation to criminals but served as meeting points for gangsters to hatch plots. These clubs promoted illicit activities within their premises, G Sampath Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, T Nagar, said. Prostitution was carried out in some of the clubs that had lodging facilities and criminals found most clubs as ideal places to re-group, he added. The five clubs raided so far are City Recreation Club, Sai Recreation Club, Krishna Recreation Club — all of them located in different roads of T Nagar — Akbar Recreation Club in Saligramam and Vadapalani Recreation Club. Kumar said that a similar culture of recreation clubs thrived in Pulianthope police limits four years ago but police action controlled crime in the area. (Gokul Vaman, Resource accessed on 25 July 2009)

Immigrants wary of city: Sunday Shisala (25), an enthusiastic IT student from Zambia who is in Chennai to undergo advanced IT training, is afraid to venture out at nights. When he decides to step out, he makes sure that a few of his African friends accompany him and that he visits only ‘known places’. “Sometimes, people here could get violent and be rude because not many have seen an African man. I feel safe in posh places but not on the road or in a public bus,” says Shisala, who claims that his father named him ‘Sunday’ because he was born on that day. He is one of the 20,000-odd legal immigrants who are in Chennai for pursuing higher studies, or on work-related purposes, or even to avail healthcare services. Like any other big city that is caught in the ‘globalization process’, Chennai has been witnessing an increase in the number of foreigners most of who come here to work or study. According to the bureau of immigration, South Koreans are the largest non-ethnic migrant community here with over 2,000 members who are mostly skilled-workers employed in South Korean firms. At least 4,000 students from African nations pursue higher studies here. “At least 800 Nigerians are here followed by 300 Kenyans and another 250 from Sudan,” an immigration officer said. Although several of us might have seen an African student, a Korean businessman or the Nepali watchman, most of us might not have had even a single long conversation with any of these people. Despite being here for many years, most immigrants still feel insecure and vulnerable in public, just like when they first landed here.( Resource accessed on 24 July 2009)

All is not well in the family, city murder numbers reveal:  Blood is thicker than water, and much of it is being shed within families. A total of 42 murder cases were reported in the last five months as compared to 37 during  the same period last year. Last month alone saw seven murders. Of the 42 cases reported till May 2009, 15 were committed within families. Illicit relationships, disputes over property, and alcoholism were the main reasons behind them. City police commissioner T Rajendran has asked the crime records bureau to categorise the cases according to motives to analyze the trend and the reasons for the sudden increase in the number of such killings. This year, in three cases victims were killed for pursuing a relationship which the family did not approve of, seven were of husbands killing wives, one of a son killing his father and four due to other family-related disputes. "Even at the daily meetings in my office to address public grievances, I get a lot of relationship-related complaints," Rajendran said. Clinical psychologists attribute this to a variety of reasons, including increasing demands made by spouses, emotional or work-related stress, economic duress and adultery. Latha Girish, a noted clinical psychologist, listed out the numerous reasons that are seen to be putting relationships under strain in contemporary society. "Arranged  marriages, sexual assault or sexual abuse, adultery, economic crisis, depression, frustration, isolation, divorce, loss of job, revenge, jealousy and possessiveness (sibling rivalry) and the shift away from a joint family lifestyle are the most common causes for these types of violent behaviour," she said. Stress, which most people living in highly industrialised societies suffer, can also trigger such crime. "Teaching positive morals and values is essential," she added.( K Praveen Kumar, Resource accessed on 18 July 2009)

Mini Korea on national highway: About 50 km from the city along the Chennai–Bengaluru national highway is a small Korean settlement of about 1,000 people, mostly employees of South Korean multinationals and their family members, who are bringing about a refreshing change to the landscape. These Korean citizens who have made Chennai a second home now have their own grocery shops, tailoring outfits while some of the local restaurants in the area also serve authentic Korean food. The glaring neon signboard of Seoul Stores is hard to miss even while travelling at high speed along the national highway. This store is stocked with piles of Korean rice noodles, sauces and creams of various shapes and colours; he even sells Korean gin and soda. The Hyundai plant set up its operations in Sriperumbudur in 1999 and the population of Koreans has been steadily increasing since then as more and more companies decided to open bases in Chennai. Chow Yang Me, a young Korean student who has been in the city for the last four months as an intern, claimed that she was at home in Chennai. In her broken English she said, “I am having fun here and don’t miss home,” as she picked up a packet of rice noodles and a bottle of gin. (Resource accessed on 2 July 2009)

Chennai turns up to support gay march: The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) movement in Chennai hit a new milestone. Young and old of all nationalities and religions gathered on Marina beach, braving the sweltering heat, united by a desire to influence public opinion in favour of a more tolerant society. While pride marches have been held in Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, it is the first time Chennai on 28 June 2009 has hosted an event that celebrates alternative sexuality. About 200 people from the gay community along with their friends and families formed the core group for the march. They included prominent figures from the community such as Kalki, a transgender who runs the Sahodari Foundation and TV chat show host Rose. Scores of others joined in at various points during the evening, holding up placards against Section 377 of the IPC which criminalises homosexuality, or shouting slogans, or just walking along silently to lend support. (Priya Menon, Resource accessed on 29 June 2009)

'Txt ur cop' campaign in city rings in a good response: Tapping technology to benefit both them and the public, the city police on Monday introduced a dedicated mobile number (95000 99100) to receive grievances in the form of text messages. Till 3pm, at least 55 people had utilised the facility, texting grievances varying from traffic troubles to public nuisance. And judging from the response on the first day, the facility is only likely to gain popularity among the general public as it spares the complainants the trouble of going to a police station and dealing with the staff there. The complainants promptly got automated replies acknowledging their messages and a complaint registration number, which they can use to check the status of their complaint. Special software installed on the server at the commissioner’s office receives the messages and then forwards them. Contact numbers of some senior officers are also included in the database, so that they know about the kind of grievances and are able to keep track of the follow-up action. (A Selvaraj, Resource accessed on 23 June 2009.)

30 Corporation schools closed down: The Chennai Corporation’s decision to merge its schools that lack patronage has led to the closure of 30 schools in various localities in the city. The number of schools run by the civic body has come down to 283 after the merger.. A total of 313 schools – 139 primary, 109 middle, 38 high and 27 higher secondary schools – are run by the civic body. Corporation schools in Chintadripet, Thousand Lights, Chamiers Road, and T.Nagar are among those that have been merged with the schools nearby. “The vacant school buildings will be properly used for achieving educational goals,” said Mayor M.Subramanian. The number of students in corporation schools had increased in the recent years and now it was 1,37,000, but in some schools the number had been declining, he said. (Aloysius Xavier Lopez, Resource accessed on 10 June 2009)

Chennai becoming a hotbed of illegal migration: With unemployed youths from interior districts of Tamil Nadu and neighbouring states setting off for overseas destinations in search of greener pastures, often using illegal means, the city is witnessing an increase in the number of immigration offences over the years. Chennai has become one of the most sought after places by illegal migrants, who often use the international airport here as the transit point to overseas destinations, police said. In 2008, a total of 103 cases of immigration offences were registered, an increase of 11 per cent over the 92 cases filed the previous year, City Crime Bureau (CCB) sources said. Apart from people from Tamil Nadu, migrants from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, some northern states and even those from Sri Lanka use Chennai as the transit point to travel abroad illegally, they said. A recent United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) study on Tamil Nadu - 'Smuggling of Migrants from India to Europe and in particular to the UK', revealed agents, who promise youngsters of good jobs abroad, have adopted different methods of operation including forgery of passports and photo substitution in passports. (Resource accessed on 31 May 2009)

Internet cafes in city take a beating as profits plunge: It is not a good time for Internet browsing centres. Broadband has become cheaper and the overhead costs in running such centres increased three-fold.  According to M Sankar of the Tamilnadu Internet Center Owners Association, there were over 3,000 internet cafes in Chennai three years ago. Today, only a few hundred are left. Among those who have closed shop recently are 200 from the association. Business is down as people prefer to surf the net from the privacy of their homes. Even shop rentals have seen an increase. The recent police guidelines, making it mandatory to set up a CCTV camera, have put net cafe owners in a spot. It isn't worth earning Rs 500 after investing Rs 30,000. Of the 3,000 browsing centres in the Greater Chennai region, only one-third are licensed. Police estimate that only about 1,200 cyber cafes are registered with them. Internet cafes are required to maintain a registry and logbook of the users as part of police vigil against cyber crime. Internet research firm JuxtConsult last month, released the findings of its annual study, India Online 2009, which tracks the usage and preferences of Internet users in India. The study showed that a large percentage of internet users lived in tier II and III cities and villages. While 29% of the 47 million internet users were in metros, 24% were in tier II cities and 47% in tier III cities and villages. Of the regular internet users, about 5 million also surfed the net on mobile phones. About 80% of the users were in the 19-35 age group.  (Daniel P George, Resource accessed on 9 May 2009)