Articles by Kathyayini Chamaraj

The dust has settled over the IPL frenzy and the Royal Challengers’ win, following the tragic stampede at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium, and the government is working to establish accountability. Now, it is time to calmly review the systemic flaws that have come to light and introspect on how citizens may also have contributed to the tragedy.  What appears to be the chief cause is the ‘culture of lawlessness’ that pervades our entire society — from elected representatives and bureaucrats to private enterprises, fans, and ordinary citizens. Did the government compromise public safety?    What was the urgency, or even the necessity, for…

Now that the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill (GBGB) has received the Governor's assent and has become an Act (GBGA), its troubling provisions that overturn the 74th Constitutional Amendment (74th CAA) must be challenged. The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Nagarapalika Act clearly outlines the necessity of the constitutional amendment. It states: “In many States local bodies have become weak and ineffective on account of a variety of reasons, including the failure to hold regular elections, prolonged supersession, and inadequate devolution of powers and functions. As a result, Urban Local Bodies are not able to perform effectively as vibrant…

May 15th, 2025, marks a historic yet troubling milestone in Bengaluru’s urban governance. With the Government of Karnataka implementing the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act (GBGA), what could have been a moment to strengthen democratic decentralisation has instead exposed deep fault lines: The erosion of constitutional intent Structural failings in implementation The sidelining of local governance mechanisms Local self-government being weakened The failure of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to deliver effective governance has been used as the justification for enacting the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act (GBGA). However, this move appears to be a deliberate effort to sideline the 74th…

“Even God himself cannot do anything within the next one, two, or three years," to solve the traffic problem in Bengaluru, said Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar recently. God can't save Bengaluru because he did not create the problems Bengaluru is facing. These are human-made problems, so humans alone have to solve them. The Deputy CM assured that traffic conditions would improve once projects like tunnel roads and elevated corridors took shape. His plans include tunnel roads costing ₹40,000 crore for just 50 km; Sanchara Yukta at a cost of ₹3,000 crore; elevated corridors at ₹15,000 crore; a double-decker metro and road…

The Karnataka Cabinet has cleared two big-ticket projects: Tunnel Road and Sky-Deck. The BBMP’s DPR for the Bengaluru Tunnel Road is for a six-lane, 18-kilometre underground tunnel that will connect Hebbal in the north to the Central Silk Board junction in the south. The project is estimated to cost around Rs 16,500 crore. The proposed 250-metre-high sky deck, supposed to become the tallest tower in South Asia, is estimated to cost Rs 500 crore. The tunnel roads may be extended, there may be other expressways, flyovers, double-decker roads, etc., in the pipeline. All these projects taken together are expected to…

The BBMP budget 2024-25 seems to be full of measures that are contradictory, which also undermine the rule of law. It hopes to garner Rs. 1,000 crore by permitting additional floors on high-rises as ‘premium floor-area ratio (FAR)’, over and above what is permitted by law.  At the same time, the budget has reduced the penalty on property tax defaulters by which it will lose about Rs. 2,700 crore!  Both these measures modify existing laws in an arbitrary manner, conveying the impression that laws may exist on paper but can be allowed to be bypassed at the whims of the…

The desire of citizens for effective governance has enabled a stunning victory for the Congress, the current government in power. But are they in danger of losing the goodwill placed in them by the people?  For instance, the latest suggestion to allegedly ease the globally notorious traffic congestion in Bengaluru is to create double-decker flyovers along the proposed metro lines so that private vehicles go above the metro. If there is a metro along the route already, where is the need for a flyover above it? Is this not a reversal of the idea of elevated corridors, which was put on the back…

“Healthcare in the city (BBMP) has been found wanting during the pandemic.” That was the first salvo fired by Deputy Chief Minister C.N Ashwath Narayan, who also heads the state’s COVID Task Force, to pin the entire blame for the failures in COVID management during the second wave on the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The second salvo was the proposal to divest the BBMP of all its public health responsibilities, including COVID management, and create a separate Bengaluru Health Directorate under the Department of Health and Family Welfare. This exposes the confused thinking of the state government. Such a…

“Hum Corona se nahi, bhook se marenge!”  (“I’ll not die of Corona, but will definitely die of hunger!”). This is the poignant cry of many migrant workers left without work, wages and food in labour camps across Bengaluru during the COVID-19 lockdown. After the endless wait for trains to their hometowns as well as the State’s failed promise to deliver them food/ration kits, migrant labourers preferred to walk more than 1000 km home, carrying their elderly, children and meagre belongings. It shows their desperation, as no one, if they had enough to eat, would have embarked on such journeys. One…

Elected representatives have long been clamouring that the existing Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act of 1976 is unsuited for a huge metropolis like Bengaluru. Hence the state government has drafted an exclusive BBMP Bill. The Bill was placed before the Legislative Assembly  on March 24, without any pre-legislative disclosure in public domain which violated Section 4(1)(c) and (d) of the Right to Information Act. As per the Opposition's demand, the Bill was then sent to a Joint Select Committee that comprises members from various parties. Hopefully, the Committee will conduct consultations. Read the full text of the BBMP Bill hereDownload…