Articles by News Desk

  Ammu Joseph, veteran journalist based in Bangalore, highlights one of several contradictions in Bengaluru, on Facebook: "These photos were clicked and shared by a friend, who questioned the manager of the mall about this "public installation" outside, and was told that Marilyn is the fashion icon of New York City! So much for his knowledge of movie stars and fashion icons. But, even if she is/was, what has that got to do with a mall in Bengaluru? Not only the moral police, but the actual police and various other worthies in the city, have been waxing eloquent about "obscenity"…

Sometimes people do not encounter problems; but rather problems have a way of finding those who have the vision and resolve to make the world a better place. That’s what happened to Prateek Kaul and Prarthana Prateek Kaul, when they were working on an event with blind kids and had to struggle in order to arrange for appropriate gifts for them.  Prarthana and Prateek Kaul of GiftAbled Foundation at an event This made them think of what would happen if a sighted person wanted to give a card to a blind person. If it was a card with words, the…

Over 200 hundred bus commuters, including 90 senior citizens and differently-abled persons, supporters and members of 17 organisations participated in a peaceful walk on the Hebbal Flyover to `Reclaim the roads.’ Raising slogans and carrying placards, led by two people on wheelchairs, who find it very difficult to use the roads for lack of proper facilities and space for pedestrians. The event was organised by Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike, a coalition of over 20 organisations in Karnataka, which has been fighting for the rights of the road users and for safe roads and facilities for bus users in Bengaluru. “On…

Pic courtesy: BBPV Bengaluru Bus Prayaanikara Vedike (BBPV) organized a Makkala Adalat on the experiences of children and the concerns faced by them everyday in BMTC buses. The Adalat saw participation of children from schools across Bangalore sharing their concerns while traveling in buses in the city. A panel of officials and social activists responded to the issues raised by the children. The panel consisted of Shyamala S, Assistant Traffic Manager, Public Complaints, BMTC ; Nagaraj V, Divisional Traffic Officer, BMTC; Prahlad, Secretary, KSRTC and BMTC Staff and Workers Federation; Manohar, Human Rights Activist; Nagasimha, Child rights Activist from CRT.…

  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…