Articles by News Desk

  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…

  Bengaluru this week August 7th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     As political parties in Bengaluru prepare for the upcoming polls, so are we at Citizen Matters! For each zone we have mapped ward details, past council details, number of voters, etc. In each ward page, we will be adding details about the state of the ward -- the demographics, infrastructure details, the tenders and development works executed, issues raised by citizens and more. We are also adding details of contesting candidates as we get info. We hope this will…

Citizens Voluntary Initiative for the City (CIVIC), a non-governmental organisation in Bengaluru, has come up with a manifesto for all the BBMP candidates contesting elections in 2015. The manifesto is also endorsed by many other civil society organisations, including Child Rights Trust, Dalit Bahujan Movement, ESAF Bangalore and others. The  manfiesto asks for many important issues, including a suggestion that Bengaluru not be divided but only restructured. Read the full manifesto below:     // Related ArticlesHow much property tax do you pay? What are you getting in return?Feeling Bengaluru's pulse with Citizen Matters pre-BBMP poll survey!If you are contesting…

Citizens of Mahadevapura and East zones, including Bellandur and Whitefield area are up in arms against the system that surrounds them. They pay taxes every year, but the infrastructure around them is broken. They have to fight with the system everyday for everything: good roads, clean water, garbage disposal, pollution, traffic problems and more. There is a good amount of citizen activism in the area where there is a presence of well-educated people employed in various corporates. However, the issues don’t get sorted as quickly as they should. This brings us to the question: how did a part of the…

  Bengaluru this week July 30th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     Are you interested in contributing your bit to civic journalism for Bengaluru? Oorvani Foundation is looking for a volunteer to proofread material published in Citizen Matters every day. You need to be proficient in English, and be able to spend 30 minutes to an hour every day. If you are interested, drop us a mail to edit@citizenmatters.in and we will get back to you. Thanks! Also, in case you are yet to take the BBMP pre-poll survey, please do…

A meeting conducted on June 26, 2015, between the government and the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) decided that the government will help the telecom service providers get a “speedy clearance” for laying Optical Fibre Cables (OFCs). According to this meeting, the applications received were to be cleared within 15 days by the Chief Engineer, BBMP (OFC), who will also have to provide security to the digging staff through police, if requested. There will be no criminal charges or penalties levied on telecom companies, for the damages if any, if restored within 96 hours of a notice. There is no mention…

  Bengaluru this week July 23rd 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     If you are yet to take our pre-BBMP poll survey and share feedback about your local corporator, please do so. If you prefer to give your responses in Kannada, you can do so here. In other news, one of our past interns, Maitreyi Ananth had written about the India Under-23 team’s journey to London for the World Under-23 Ultimate Championships. We’re delighted to inform you that the team won the 'Spirit of the Game' award at the championships! Kudos!…