Articles by Kathyayini Chamaraj

Hundreds of people representing various civil society groups participated in the State-level Public Consultation on Social Security issues related to pension held on January 29th at Jain University, Palace Road, Bengaluru. V Srinivas Prasad, Minister for Revenue, Government of Karnataka, said that the state government has been disbursing pension to about 47 lakh people in the state. The pension schemes cover widows, differently-abled persons, the elderly and unmarried single women from the marginalised communities in the state. The State government is contemplating to increase the minimum pension from Rs 200 to Rs 500. Apart from this, the State government is…

The issue of institutionalising people’s participation in urban governance has been hanging fire since the passage of the 74th Constitutional Amendment or Nagarapalika Act more than two decades ago.  The hopes of urban civic activists on government enabling increased citizen participation in civic issues got a major blow when the Urban Development Department (UDD) came up with a new set of rules for Ward Committees & Area Sabhas recently. While the new rules hardly include any suggestions proposed by citizens, shockingly a few points that were suggested by citizens and added in the earlier draft rules, were also removed from…

One has to be thankful that a beginning has been made to create Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Committee. But why have the MPC Rules been framed to apply only to Bangalore, while Mysore and Hubli—Dharwad are also about to cross the 10 lakh population criterion, or have already crossed it? Are the rules going to be framed for each city separately? The way the rules have been framed for the MPC’s  functioning, it will serve only two functions: 1) to comply with the High Court order to meet the letter of the law, but not its spirit; 2) to continue to…

There are no gates and watchmen in most of the government schools in the city. Pic: Nikita Malusare What is the difference between Vibgyor High school and any government school? Aren't the officials supposed to check and ensure safety in government schools? Not long ago, in February 2014, a man attempted to rape an 11-year-old schoolgirl from a government primary school somewhere in Bengaluru. The girl had gone to attend nature's call at 12.30 pm in the open when the man pulled her aside. The girl shouted for help and the assailant escaped from the spot. The girl was luckier…

Following is the text of objections and recommendations by CIVIC. Rules should be general: They should be applicable to any metropolitan city in Karnataka - not just Bangalore, as many other cities in Karnataka have reached or are fast-approaching the population mark of 10 lakhs and will require MPCs to be set up. Recommendation: The Rules need to be general, to apply to all cities which cross the 10 lakh population limit. Public discussion needs to happen: There has been no prior public intimation of the intention of the government to draft the said Rules as per Section 4(1)(c) and…

Citizens who participated in a discussion organised by CIVIC Bangalore today vehemently called for an effective mechanism for proper implementation of the Master Plan of BDA.  The discussion was held  in the light of BDA calling for inputs from citizens to its proposed Revised Master Plan (RMP) for 2035.   P S S Thomas, retired IAS officer and former chairman of the Advisory Committee on RMP 2015, who made the opening remarks, stressed the need for citizens to be involved at all stages of the planning process and not merely at the final draft stage.  All 30 sister organisations, such as BWSSB, BESCOM, BMTC, etc., also…

Bengalureans have come to expect that at every corner they turn, they will be met with a wide heap of garbage.  They have also come to accept that Pourakarmikas themselves will dump their melange of garbage on the ground. What Bengalureans are not aware of is that this manner of collecting unsegregated garbage and transferring it manually, with the garbage exposed to the environment, is in total violation of the Ministry of Environment & Forests' Municipal Solid Waste Handling Rules of 2000.  What Bengalureans also do not know is that behind this ‘gawd-awful' system of collecting garbage lurks one more…

Citizens of Sagayapuram (Ward 60) of Bangalore recently prepared their own programme of works for their ward.  They had wanted - among other wishes - community toilets, nursery school renovation and footpaths for 24 lakh rupees, but the BBMP sanctioned 27 lakhs just for street name-boards. This shows the stark lack of community participation in decision-making even 18 years after the passage of the 74th Constitutional  Amendment (74th CAA) or Nagarapalika Act, which  mandated "Power to the People" in urban areas.  Karnataka's Community Participation Bill Amendments that do nothing to strengthen community participation The 74th CAA was to bring in decentralisation, proximity, transparency, accountability…

It was a short-lived campaign for the BBMP elections with little sound except for the occasional auto rickshaw blaring loud music and unintelligible squawks alternately. There were fortuitously none of the usual cut-outs, banners or buntings which end up ultimately as so much garbage. The only signs which indicated that a campaign was on, were the colourful pamphlets strewn on the roadside, muddied by the footprints of passers-by.After all the hype and excitement drummed up by the media, the State Election Commission says that only about 44 per cent of Bengalureans voted. But given that the electoral rolls are such…