Articles by Harshitha Padmavinod

Harshitha is a reporter with Citizen Matters, Bengaluru. She is interested in covering issues on women's rights, environment, crime, and civic concerns. Her work has been previously published in The Hindu, The Logical Indian and Deccan Herald.

Mansoor Ali Khan, from Indian National Congress (INC), is all set to contest for Bangalore Central Parliamentary Constituency this Lok Sabha Elections. In an interview with Citizen Matters, Mansoor spoke about his plans for his constituency if he gets elected as MP and the key issues he would like to address. Mansoor Ali Khan: Political family, educational entrepreneur Mansoor Ali Khan is the son of K. Rahman Khan, who is a veteran politician belonging to the Indian National Congress (INC) and a former Union Minister of Minority Affairs and Ex-Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha. Mansoor was one of the two…

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Table of contentsConstituency mapAt a glanceFind your polling booth:Candidates contesting in the Lok Sabha 2024 electionsKey candidates in the newsShobha KarandlajeRajeev GowdaPast election resultsConstituency key issuesAlso read: Bangalore North is a Parliamentary Constituency that includes eight Legislative Assembly segments. The segments include: K. R. Puram, Byatarayanapura, Yeshwanthapura, Dasarahalli, Mahalakshmi Layout, Malleshwaram, Hebbal and Pulakeshinagar. All the Legislative Assembly segments are a part of Bangalore Urban district.  Bangalore North held its first elections in 1951. The Constituency has had several names over the years. In 1957 and 1962, it was known as Bangalore City. In 1967 and 1971, it formed a…

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Table of contentsConstituency mapAt a glanceFind your polling booth: Key candidates contesting in the Lok Sabha 2024 electionsCandidates in the newsTejasvi Surya (BJP)Sowmya Reddy (INC)Arun Prasad A (BSP)Past election resultsKey issuesAlso read: Bangalore South is one of the 28 Parliamentary constituencies in Karnataka and among the four in the city. Currently, this constituency comprises eight Legislative Assembly segments: Govindraj Nagar, Vijay Nagar, Chickpet, Basavanagudi, Padmanabhanagar, BTM Layout, Jayanagar and Bommanahalli. All eight Legislative Assembly segments fall under Bangalore Urban District.  Bangalore South became a constituency in 1977, post the Emergency and after the reorganisation of constituencies across the country. The seat…

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Table of contentsDV Sadanand Gowda: Personal informationOnline presence: Criminal casesAssets and liabilities Positions held Performance in ParliamentMPLADS spendingMP in the newsAlso read Devaragunda Venkappa (DV) Sadananda Gowda represented Bangalore North Parliamentary constituency in the 17th Lok Sabha elections, marking the fourth term of being re-elected in the Lok Sabha elections since 2004. He has represented Bangalore North for two consecutive terms since the Lok Sabha 2014 elections. He served as the 14th Chief Minister of Karnataka in 2011.  In 2014, he was sworn in as the cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first elected government and held the position of Ministry of…

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Table of contentsTejasvi Surya: Personal information  Online presence: Criminal CasesAssets and liabilities Positions held Performance in ParliamentMPLADS spendingMP in the newsAlso Read: One of the youngest MPs elected in the 17th Lok Sabha elections, Tejasvi Surya from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) represents Bangalore South Parliamentary Constituency. He also continues to be the National President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha-a post he has held from 2020. Since 2014, Surya has been an active contributor to BJP, by organising rallies and campaigns. He also represented many BJP leaders as a lawyer, and helped B S Yediyurappa in defending him in corruption cases.  Since September 2019,…

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Traffic congestion and and mobility are among Bengaluru's topmost concerns today. In the run up to the elections, as the spotlight turns on how the city's sitting MPs have performed over the last five years, their actions and stance on this issue certainly deserves some scrutiny. How have they engaged with the issue? Did they propose any solutions? The major traffic & mobility issues In 2019, Bengaluru recorded the second highest number of vehicle, with over 80 lakh. Nearly 84% of households have motor vehicles. Lack of first and last mile connectivity, reduced bus ridership, under-completion of metro connectivity across…

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The theme for Mount Carmel College's Platinum Jubilee last year was ‘Herstory'. However, starting from this academic year, the college will not entirely be 'hers' since Mount Carmel, which has been a women's college for 75 years, has opened admissions to boys. Dr. Lekha George, principal of Mount Carmel College, says this decision was not taken overnight. "It was in discussion for a few years and the management took a call to start it this year." Mismanaged communication The students have expressed disappointment over the way the announcement was made. “It was posted on social media, even before we, the…

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The traffic congestion at Outer Ring Road (ORR)-Sarjapura Road has been a long-standing issue. To address this, Citizen Matters held a panel discussion, ‘Solving Sarjapura-ORR Gridlock’ on February 26th. Moderated by Meera K, co-founder of Citizen Matters, the panel included G T Prabhakar Reddy, Chief Traffic Manager, BMTC; Vivekanand Kotikalapudi, Urban Mobility Advisor; Mukund Kumar, Managing Trustee, Iblur Environs Trust; and Srinivas Alavilli, Fellow- Integrated Transport and Road Safety, WRI India.  Sarjapura Road is an integral connection to the IT corridor of south-east Bengaluru. ORR is completely developed with a focus on tech parks. There is currently a surge in…

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The delusional bubble of our so-called ‘progressive society’ is broken every year on International Women’s Day. Irrespective of how far we have developed, we still struggle to comprehend and respect simple concepts of freedom and equality, especially concerning women.  A woman's identity is not tied to a man The identity of a woman is somehow still rigidly bound by her association with a man, be it her father or her husband. A single woman is often judged. It is not just society that ties a woman to a man’s name, but also the government with some regressive policies. The recent…

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Citizen activism in Bengaluru has been an example of perseverance and driving change. There are citizen groups that serve as an inspiring example that not all development initiatives need to be government-led. Sustained citizen action can play a huge role. These groups have demonstrated that the city can advance through hyper local intervention by citizens. We profile a few of these groups that mark their milestone years of being changemakers. Whitefield Rising: 10 years of citizen action The question of responsibility for addressing everyday issues, like garbage and traffic, prompted Nitya Ramakrishnan, founder of Whitefield Rising, Mahadevpura constituency, to contemplate that…

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