Articles by Benedict Paramanand

With due respect to Karnataka legislators, the ‘findings’ of the The Joint House Committee (JHC) about the Bengaluru International Airport can be termed irresponsible at the least and retrograde.The JHC report maligns famous business leaders and civil servants. These people don’t need to prove their credentials or expertise in managing complex projects or assignments in their long careers. The committee members have truly maligned Narayana Murthy, who had offered his services for free. The officers who were part of the original team are Karnataka’s best.The JHC will have a lot to explain if they are grilled by an independent body…

Indians are perhaps the most forgiving lot. They are also one of those who give up a fight too easily. How can anyone explain why a wife, whose husband was drowned to death in a storm water drain in Bangalore couple of few weeks ago, accept just Rs One lakh from the civic authorities and resigned to the fate saying – “Can any amount of money bring back my husband?” While no one can question this sentiment, it is this lax approach that is making the civic authorities take it easy, even if they endanger the lives of the citizens.…

The media which prodded every Bangalorean to make a difference to the city’s future by simply voting in the just concluded assembly elections has done a great job. Sadly, the media does not know that it has done a great job. This is because, it has failed to read beyond the voting turnout number given by the Election Commission. Headlines like ‘middle class apathy’ to a meager turnout of 44 percent are plain wrong. In fact, the turnout may be as high as 80 percent. Ramesh Ramanathan, the urban affairs expert and founder of Janaagraha, notes in a column, that…