Articles by Shree D N

Karnataka Education Department has notified the formula for school fee structure for private (unaided) schools in Karnataka, in accordance with Karnataka Educational Institutions (Regulation of Certain Fees and Donations) Rules, 1999. While the rationalisation of the fee structure can benefit the parents—especially poor and middle class families, why are private schools opposing the structure? Citizen Matters brings you some clarity. The Department of Education issued a notification on September 30th 2014, and invited the public and school managements to submit the objections before October 30th 2014. The deadline was extended later, the last date now being November 10. School fee…

This is the beeline of vehicles on Varthur Main Road near Kundalahalli Gate. Trains have the capacity to take some part of this traffic off the road. Pic: Shree D N Vaidyanathan Narayanan works in a company in Whitefield. He takes the 9.05 am Namma Metro service from Ulsoor and reaches Byappanahalli Metro station at 9.14 am. Then he quickly moves towards the Baiyappanahalli Railway Station via the newly built footbridge, and reaches the station at 9.17 am. He waits for the Arakkonam train that comes in between 9.20 am to 9.30 am. He reaches the informal train stop behind…

Pic: Wikimedia commons With more and more cases of sexual assault on children getting reported from schools, the State Government is under fire. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister K J George expressed their helplessness on Friday (October 31, 2014), and requested for the cooperation of the managements in private schools and the public in helping the government in reducing such incidents. K J George, Home Minister Home Minister K J George went on to say that sexual assault on students in private schools cannot be stopped by the government, as it was practically not possible for the police to…

You are already composting your waste in aerobic method. As the logical next step meant to use the home-made compost, you have set up an organic vegetable garden. By now you are addicted to the fun of growing, eating, composting and re-growing. You want to maximise the yield, but don't want to spend on it. You have heard vermicompost is good for plants, but when you check the price for curiosity, here is how it looks.  On ebay, people sell a kg of vermicompost for 150 rupees! Sometimes it is even more - Rs 150 for 500 grams! In some…

As many as 20 members were chosen from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Committee (BMPC). However, newly elected Mayor Shanthakumari does not exist in the list. Former mayor B S Satyanarayana too did not make it to the premier list.Metropolitan Planning Committee is the planning body for every metropolitan area mandated by the constitution, which should have hyper-local level peoples’ representatives as its members, in addition to subject experts and executives from the government. This will plan the infrastructure requirements and land use for the city. After a High Court directive, Bangalore is now in the…

The most common complaint Bangaloreans have about the city of Bengaluru is about the planning being a disaster. This is especially the case after Bengaluru grew out of its old city limits and ate up rural areas very quickly. All of this, coupled with reckless issue of permissions and corruption, led to disorderly growth in traffic, water usage and even hiving off of lakes for development. The term “well-planned city” is referred to in a utopian way by many. But come September 16, this is all about to change. Bangalore is one step closer to better planning and coordination between…

Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthmurthy, one of the stalwarts in Kannada literature who got 6th Jnanpith award for Kannada, passed away on Friday, August 22, 2014. This leaves a deep void in Kannada literary world, leaving behind very few independent and fearless voices. He was suffering from diabetes, and his last days saw severe kidney failure which finally proved fatal for him. He was admitted to Manipal Hospital recently. On Friday, August 22nd, his blood pressure levels dropped and he had to be put on ventilator. He was declared dead by the doctors in the evening. Born in the pre-independence era, on…

The High Court directed Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to reopen the processing unit in Mavallipura, by allowing upto 300 tonnes of pure segregated wet waste to be composted. The two-judge Divisional Bench headed by N Kumar and Nagarathna gave the order in the special hearing that took place in High Court of Karnataka on July 17, 2014. The 40-acre landfill has been leased out to Ramky Infrastructure Pvt.Ltd for 25 years, in which there is a part that has a processing unit. The Judge, N Kumar said that instead of lying unused, this should be used to process pure…

Panel discussion organised by CIVIC. Pic: Shree D N If what Minister for Urban Development, Karnataka, Vinay Kumar Sorake promised in a panel discussion held on July 11, 2014 materialises into concrete action, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) corporators cannot continue to rule the roost. Citizens will get more power and say in local matters, in the form of ward committees and area sabhas. The Minister promised to amend the section 13 of Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, to remove veto power over ward committees given to corporators. He also said he would look into amending the section to remove the…

H D Kumaraswamy has seen it all public life, and knows how to handle issues. Pic courtesy: facebook.com/janatha.dhala As widely known by now, Janata Dal (Secular) leader and ex-chief minister H D Kumaraswamy​​ (HDK) shocked everyone with his frank admission of asking money for electing a person as Member of Legislative Council (MLC). After a CD of what appeared to be a conversation between a MLC-post aspirant Viju Gowda Patil and HD Kumaraswamy surfaced in the media, HDK admitted that he indeed had demanded money, and this is how politics is run in the state. Listen to the controversial audio…