Articles by News Desk

  Bengaluru this week November 27th 2014     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!    Greetings from Citizen Matters - your own local interactive online magazine for Bengaluru! Before getting into the round-up of our own stories, here's our weekly curation of city news. BBMP has decided to renovate KR Market via Private Public Partnership model. Here is the plan for renovation. BBMP Commissioner had initially said the funds would come from BBMP. 18 BBMP markets older than 60 years will be demolished and reconstructed. Out of these 11 will be developed in PPP…

The inaugural session at BNM Pre University College. Pic: B.PAC The Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) in association with Full Circle and One Bengaluru for Lakes, on November 15th kickstarted the Green Ambassador program for college students, with the emphasis to create interest and awareness on urban environmental issues. The 6 months internship program will train participants on issues related to waste, water and energy management. The students will undergo 6 hours of classroom training, after which they will commence the field activity which will be completed in the following 5 months. B.PAC will mentor these participants during the field…

The Karnataka government is trying to draw the attention of citizens yet again, to get their borewells registered. The government has notified 35 taluks in 12 districts of the state as the places that are overdrawing water. It has declared that it is mandatory to register borewells in these areas. The effort had been launched by the state government an year ago, however it does not seem to have reached everyone. How does this affect you, the citizen of Bengaluru? If you have a borewell and if it is not registered, you need to get it registered. If you are…

Bengaluru’s industrial and IT hub Whitefield is always jam-packed these days, with inordinate delays for people on road. Looks like this will change for better, as citizens are working with the government to evolve a sustainable traffic plan that will help ease the traffic problems. This is important, as Metro construction work will start soon in Whitefield and some areas will suffer from traffic. The new plan for Whitefield designed and implemented by Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) aims to decongest the traffic pain-points in Whitefield area. Monday saw the implementation of the new plan. However, the roads remained congested on…

  Save energy; win attractive cash prizes.  This is an open challenge by Green Energy Foundation (GEF) under its Switch2Green initiative. In a bid to encourage energy savings practices in households in Bengaluru, GEF has launched this competition with the support of Racold Thermo Ltd under its CSR initiative. Housing societies and flats comprising minimum 100 flats are eligible to take part in the competition. November 30th is the last date for registration. To participate in this competition, housing societies/ flat owners must form an Energy Management Committee (EMC) under the leadership of its chairman. After the enrollment, an audit of the performance of…

As November 14th was Children's Day and Nehru's birthday, the Manjari Ladies Association, which has been organising events for children for many years, wanted to do a special event this year as well. Annapurna Murthy, President of the association came up with the idea of holding a painting competition for underprivileged children.   Two schools, Marenahalli Government School and Shree Ramachandra Grameena Vidya Vikasa Kendra Trust, were shortlisted for the competition.  Around 160 students, from the two schools took part in the competition. The association also provided the material, colour pencils and drawing paper, for the competition.  The children were very enthusiastic about the…

A press note from Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Energy and Development, Bengaluru, an institute that is working under Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, Government of Karnataka, informs about a workshop of rooftop solar photovoltaic power systems and net energy metering. Edited excerpts from the press note: The Indian power sector is facing multiple crises, ranging from financial viability of distribution utilities to the challenges in ensuring quality power supply for all while trying to reduce adverse local socio-environmental impacts. It is well accepted that current fossil fuel based power is unsustainable and in the long term, a shift…

On October 6th, eight-year-old girl, Geethalakshmi who was in Bengaluru for her Dasara holidays, was washed away, after falling into a four-feet wide open drain on a footpath near Bilekahalli. Her body was found in the Madiwala lake after two days. The incident fired up the anger of citizens towards BBMP's maladministration. After this incident, BBMP promised to repair the footpath. In a PIL related to the incident, the High Court rapped BBMP and gave a deadline to repair all footpaths, and finally things seemed to be moving in the right direction. Well, if you thought everything was alright, you…

  Bengaluru this week November 20th 2014     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!    City news that mattters Before our Bengaluru This Week roundup, here’s the curation of latest city news. Good days in store? Following the decontrol of diesel prices, diesel has become cheaper in line with international oil prices. BMTC and KSRTC are mulling ticket fare cuts. Private cab operators are competing with autos, by enrolling them and asking them to charge as per meter. Some of them charge a convenience fee of Rs 10. The Transport Department has however said…

On the occasion of ‘World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse’, Inventure Academy cordially invites you to a unique event, ‘Our Safety, Our Voice’ - By The Children, For the Children, Of The Children.   Bengaluru is awash with policies and guidelines issued by different stakeholders on how schools can be made safe for children. However, students’ views have largely not been taken into consideration.  What makes this initiative a truly unique one is that the children, probably for the first time, are being given an opportunity to voice their feelings and concerns about this unnerving situation. Also, another very important differentiator is that this initiative has recognised the fact that…