Articles by News Desk

Pic: Facebook Community - Siddaramaiah: Save the Historic Balabrooie Guest House The Karnataka state government is reported to have decided on demolishing portions of Balabrooie Guest House, which currently houses the Justice Vaidyanathan Committee. It plans to build a clubhouse and quarters for legislators. Architect and heritage enthusiast Naresh Narasimhan points out how many illustrious people have stayed there over the years, from Mark Cubbon to Rabindranath Tagore to Jawaharlal Nehru. Bangalore Mirror reports that a group of artists and intellectuals, including SG Vasudev, B Suresh, Sreenivas Kappanna, and Jagadish and Arundhati Raja, plan to submit a memorandum to the…

Beyond Carlton has launched India’s first mobile app on fire safety. The app encourages citizen participation in identifying fire safety violations and reporting the same for effective action by the Fire Department. The app aims to: • To help identify more violations that can be addressed by the authorities• To sensitize and co-­opt citizens to play a more dominant role in fire safety Fire Champ, the mobile application, launched by Beyond Carlton along with technical support from IChangeMyCity.com and involvement of Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services enables you to report any fire-­related measures not adhered to in a building around…

  Bengaluru this week October 16th 2014     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!    It is celebration time next week again - the festival of lights, Diwali is here. How are you celebrating Diwali this year?  Pic courtesy: This Diwali, let’s go Green Here are some tips for a environment-friendly Diwali. Go the traditional way and light diyas, instead of opting for electrical lighting. Say no to firecrackers. If at all you want to buy crackers, buy it from licensed vendors, and ensure you make arrangements to clear up the mess. Flooded with…

A Public Interest Litigation has been initiated by Bangalore-based NGO Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) asking for criminal proceedings against the BBMP officials responsible for open drain in Bilekanahalli. Excerpts from the press note from Namma Bengaluru Foundation: In the aftermath of the death of Geetha Lakshmi, the eight-year-old, who fell into an open flooded drain; and Yeshwant, a 12-year old, who fell into an open unsecured flooded pit respectively, Namma Bengaluru Foundation and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament have filed a public interest litigation in the High Court of Karnataka today. (October 9, 2014) The PIL filed in the Karnataka…

  Bengaluru this week October 10th 2014     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!   Last week, as you know, was a mix of good and bad. As soon as Dasara season was over, rains pounded the city, leading to waterlog. Two children, aged 8 and 12 respectively, became victims. A house collapsed and two died. Some of these tragedies are surely avoidable. If you see any open footpath slabs or unsafe construction spots, do post it on bangalore.citizenmatters.in/data-tools. A caution for the week ahead: Expect more rains, with cyclonic storm, Hudhud, expected to…

India's 1st #RedBullFlugtag. 28th September, 2014. Sankey Tank, Bangalore. Done. Red Bull, the beverage company, put this message out with a photo on their Facebook page, just after the end of India’s first Flugtag event, held at the Sankey Tank premises in Malleshwaram, Bangalore. The event that was meant to be a competition for innovative flying equipment, was presumed to be over by the organisers; but it was not so, especially when one considers the aftermath of the event. Regular walkers who entered the premises on Monday morning were in for a shock - there was garbage strewn all over the usually…

Trees cut on Kanakpura Road (Pic: Environment support group) If you are a person who worries when the city starts flooding during rains as there is no room left for water to go, with storm water drains and lakes continuously being encroached, or one who worries about the environmental degradation happening in the city of Bangalore, this is your chance to stand up and say what you want. The Karnataka Department of Forests, Ecology and Environment has issued a circular, inviting the public to participate in the public consultation organised in Bangalore on September 27, 2014, by the High Level…

Four road safety entrepreneurs have been selected as winners in the innovation challenge “Safer Roads, Safer India: Game Changing Innovations that Save Lives.” Their projects were evaluated by an expert panel of judges and chosen as the top solutions from a pool of more than 80 entries that activate citizenship, improve governance to be more responsive, update infrastructure, and use technology to protect drivers, passengers, and bystanders. The four winning entrepreneurs, who were selected for meeting criteria for innovation, social impact, and sustainability, will each receive INR 300,000 as prize money funding to support their road safety innovations. They are…

  Bengaluru this week September 25th 2014     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!   City news that matters The past week has been a special one for Indians across the globe. Mangalyaan, India’s low-cost Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft, entered the Mars orbit on September 23rd, making it the first spacecraft to achieve this in its maiden attempt. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was here in Bangalore to witness the spacecraft enter the Martian orbit at ISRO's mission control centre. As a Facebook post put it, “Total distance covered by Mangalyaan - 68 crore km…

In an effort to address the challenges of rapid urbanisation and resulting ground water table depletion in hte city, citizen groups, NGOs and other organizations, active in the area of lake and water security for Bangalore, have come together to form One Bengaluru for Lakes (OBL). The group aims to raise 'One Bengaluru, One voice, One Demand' by reaching out to people to increase their awareness and involve them in the protection of lakes in their neighborhood. As part of this campaign, OBL organised a seminar on September 21 at Senate hall of Central College, Palace Road. The session opened…