Articles by News Desk

  Prakash Belawadi Actor and activist Prakash Belawadi is also a member of BPAC - Bangalore Political Action Committee. He had been a candidate in the last BBMP elections in 2010. This time he has helped moderate many ward level debates for Namma Bengaluru Foundation. He responds to some questions related to the upcoming BBMP elections.  During the national elections, you supported BJP and Modi. Given the performance of the last 5 years of BBMP, ruled by the BJP, would you still do the same? No way. Yes, I voted for BJP because of Modi in the Lok Sabha polls.…

Mohandas Pai, Vice-president of B.PAC, responds to a few quick questions by Citizen Matters. Do you really think any party has performed well over the recent years in Bangalore? Any individuals (MLAs or corporators) you have seem performing at a local level? No, but a few (individual) MLAs and corporators have done well. Will this election change anything at BBMP? Yes, if the educated middle class come out and vote in large numbers and get good people in. What are the chances of the BCLIP candidates? How do you think the results themselves will affect the programme? Decent chances if…

He has been an opinion leader on social media, with good number of followers on Twitter. Being a techsavvy politician, he is the hot favourite among the online community. He has been asking people to come out and vote. And he has expressed his support to BJP in the BBMP election 2015. Citizen Matters sent a few questions to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajyasabha MP from Bengaluru who also founded Namma Bengaluru Foundation that works in the area of civic involvement in the city. Here are the questions and Chandrasekhar's answers. Why are you putting in so much effort? We understand you…

BCLIP candidates contesting BBMP elections - 2015, posing alongwith BPAC members. Pic courtesy: BPAC 20 candidates trained under BPAC’s Civic Leadership Incubator Program are contesting the upcoming BBMP elections in Bengaluru. They went through the nine month program where they were equipped with theoretical knowledge, post which they took up many community projects. While ten of the participants have aligned themselves to various political parties (BJP - 3, INC - 1, JDS - 1, Loksatta - 5), the remaining ten are contesting as independent candidates. List of candidates Sl No   Candidate  Ward  Contact # Party Ward number 1 Devika Raj…

A press note from the Power Ministry, Government of Karnataka, presents the sorry state of affairs in the state, that have forced the State government to announce power cuts. Here follows the press note: Power Position as on 15.08.2015 The state is having an installed capacity of 10189 MW from the conventional sources, but the present availability is only 6600 to 7300 MW from all the sources due to break down in State & Central generating units and reduced hydro availability. Poor monsoon has taken a toll on hydro availability. As on 15th August, the total storage in the 3…

Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) conducted a ward level debate at Uttarahalli on August 12th. It was the first in a series of eight debates conducted by NBF. Four candidates were invited, three of them attended the debate. Moderators asked questions to all three candidates and then opened the floor for public comments and questions. Candidates BJP: Hanumanthaiah Congress:  Varaprasad Reddy JDS: R D Usha Rani Voter attendance: Approximately 200 Venue: Shanthi Sagar Party Hall, #25, Subramanyapura Main Road, Uttarahalli, Bangalore – 560061 Moderators: Sridhar Pabbisetty and Prakash Belawadi What changes can we see in the next five years? BJP Cauvery…

  Bengaluru this week August 14th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     We are a day early, but nevertheless, Happy Independence Day folks! As India enters her 69th year of independence, what resolution will you take to support a better-governed Bengaluru? One key step is to ensure that you select the right candidate in the BBMP elections scheduled next Saturday. We bring you the information you need to carefully assess those aspiring to become councillors. For each zone, we have mapped ward details, past council details, number of voters, etc. Check…

A ward debate in Shettihalli on August 13th brought together four candidates to discuss issues of funding, drinking water and women’s empowerment. The debate was documented by Namma Bengaluru Foundation. We are presenting to you an edited version of their documentation. BBMP elections 2015: Candidates for Shettihalli ward  BJP: K C Venkatesh INC: K Nagabhushan JDS: Prakash A Independent: Shambulinge Gowda Moderators of the debate: Sridhar Pabbisetty, Prakash Belavadi Venue: Annapoorna Party Hall How was Bengaluru supposed to be? After the boom in the public sector, how should Bengaluru have grown? In Nehru’s opinion, other cities remind him of India’s…

Traffic management and parking arrangements. Pic: facebook.com/BangaloreTrafficPolice The annual Independence Day Ceremonial Parade will be held at Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Grounds, Cubbon road on August 15th at 9 am. The Honourable Chief Minister of Karnataka will receive the salute.  The Bangalore Traffic Police has made the following parking and traffic arrangements in and around the area. Parking arrangements  Invitees with yellow car passes are to come on to Cubbon road and enter Gate 1 facing the northern side of the Manekshaw Parade Ground, and park their vehicles on the western side of the ground. Invitees with white car passes,…

Pic: A file pic from BBMP 2010 candidates debate. It is that time again when everyone wants to make an informed choice, ahead of BBMP elections. Resident Welfare Associations are busy trying to organise meetups with candidates. Citizen Matters has compiled a guide on how to do this, with a set of questions that can be asked with a candidate. The first step is to collect information about candidates. We need your help to gather information about them and share it with us, to benefit fellow Bengalureans. You could ask them to fill this form. Alternatively, you can also gather the points…