Articles by Bosky Khanna

Though he is one of the most important citizen of Bengaluru, the Mayor, is no different from any of us. B S Satyanarayana seems to be working on many things at a time - garbage, potholes and others. Citizen Matters caught up with him to know his views - particularly on garbage. Mayor Satyanarayana inspecting the cleaning and roadwork near K R Market on Sunday Pic: BBMP PRO What do think the term of the mayor should be? Do you agree with the proposal for a five- year term directly elected mayor? Do you need more powers to do your…

While the government and the BBMP seem to be boasting of making Bangalore garbage-free under Kasamukta Bengaluru, the ground reality is far different. Though there seems to be slight there is slight improvement in some areas, most areas in Bangalore remain neglected. Garbage - dry, wet, organic, inorganic, medical, degradable, non-degradable - everything can be seen littered across the city. The garbage mounds in the landfills never stop increasing. On an average, a ward generates 2-3 tons of dry waste, per day. And if locals are to be believed, around 80% of this waste is thrown in the landfills. Waste…

There seem to be differences of opinion between the government and the BBMP, regarding the implementation of recently approved Karnataka Town and Country Planning and Certain Other Laws (Amendment) Act 2009 - popularly known as Akrama Sakrama scheme. With the Governor H R Bhardwaj giving his nod to the scheme, many illegal constructions will soon become regularised, by paying a penalty. Interestingly, the Governor had rejected the proposal sent by the BJP government in July 2010. The Governor was not in favour of legalising illegal constructions, but okayed the bill after certain amendments by the present government. Most of the…

Plaza Theatre (pic: Amoghavarsha) It was 10 pm on a summer in 1990’s. Kiran, a 10-year-old boy living in Srirampuram of Bengaluru, remembered his grandma all of a sudden, and started asking for her. When he didn’t see her in their home, he started creating ruckus by crying and repeatedly asking for her. Finally one of his uncles took him to his grandmother - who was watching the second show in Geethanjali Theatre (now Big Bazaar in Malleshwaram) along with few other family members! Such was the craze of watching movies in theatres, in those days. Some people visited theatres…

Citizens participating in an Aadhaar enrolment drive. File pic. Aadhaar card, though has been challenged in various courts, is still considered as an important identity card by many. The queues in Aadhaar enrolment centres are a testimony to this. Aadhaar card is not mandatory, according to Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI). Now that the Supreme Court has given an interim order banning making Aadhaar compulsory to avail government subsidies, the demand for Aadhaar card should go down - but that’s not the case. All subsidies, including LPG subsidy, are meant to be for poor people. Interestingly, LPG subsidy is…

Online voter roll registrations in Beengaluru were closed for sometime, on September 26, 2013. Those who logged in to the Karnataka Election Commission website received a message, saying that the voter registration will reopen after the publishing of the draft electoral roll. Now it is that time of the cycle when the draft rolls will be out soon and registrations will re-open. Karnataka Chief Election Officer Anil Kumar Jha talks about the Election Commission's plans, in an interview with Citizen Matters. Voters registration was suppossed to be open from August 10 till November 11, 2013. Why did it close now?…

Police atrocities can be questioned once the Police Complaint Authority is completely functional. File pic. The Police Complaint Authority (PCA) that existed only on papers for the past three years has now finally been formed. However, it doesn’t have punitive powers - it can only recommend action after an inquiry. The State Police Complaint Authority has started functioning in Karnataka from September 2, 2013.Retired high court judge Justice M P Chinnappa has been appointed as the chairman of the state Police Complaint Authority. The members are retired additional chief secretary Abhay Prakash, IGP- Grievances Alok Kumar and IGP- KSRP Malini…

Over 68 lakh people out of total 96 lakh have already enrolled for Aadhaar card in Bengaluru. Most are waiting for the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme to roll out, and for the LPG subsidy to come to the bank accounts mapped. While everyone was under the impression that Aadhaar card is mandatory for all government subsidies and services, a Supreme Court interim order issued on September 23, 2013, ruled that Aadhaar card cannot be made mandatory, it has to be voluntary. Retired justice Puttaswamy, the man behind the PIL filed in Supreme Court against UIDAI. Pic: Bosky Khanna Justice Puttaswamy,…

A young seller arranging the vegetables at a weekly Santhe near Bannerghatta Biological Park. Pic: Bosky Khanna Food inflation is at 7-month high. Wouldn’t it be nice to know areas where you could get fresh vegetables in Bengaluru for throw away price? There are some places hidden on the outskirts of the city where you can buy fresh locally grown vegetables directly from farmers. Also known as Santhes, local small vegetable markets are organised once a week, in various places on the city outskirts. Homemakers, suppliers to hotels and restaurants, street sellers, shop owners and even direct hotel and restaurant…

  October 13, 2012. A student of National Law School of India University (NLSIU) was abducted and raped by an eight-member gang inside the Jnanabharathi campus of Bangalore University, adjacent to NLSIU, when she was with a male friend. She bade goodbye to Bengaluru after the incident and returned to her hometown. She is not the only one - there are hundreds of cases of violence on women that go unreported for various reasons. Such mindless violence can be countered with intelligent precaution and sufficient safety measures. What if the victim had some sort of alarming or alerting system handy,…