City: Bengaluru

In view of rising COVID cases, on April 2, the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) issued an order imposing restrictions in public spaces. The situation of COVID in Karnataka has been reviewed and it has been observed that there has been a persistent rise in the number of COVID cases in the State during the last month, the order said. Further, a large number of social, religious and public gatherings like marriages, political rallies are being witnessed in which COVID appropriate behaviour is not being followed which may cause a setback in the appreciable gains made in the suppression…

Cases surge; Govt imposes restrictions Over 470 children below 10 have been infected with COVID-19, since the beginning of this month. A total of 244 boys and 228 girls have been infected from March 1 to 26. The cases among children were limited to eight to nine daily during the early days of this month but they steadily rose to 46 on March 26. The cases are different from the trends seen last year, as the state reported most new cases among people aged 40 or less. Contrary to the advice from the Technical Advisory Committee, the government ruled out…

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike plans to tap into residents' networks, health centres in industries and private hospitals to supplement its efforts and prevent the second wave of COVID-19 from getting out of hand. The novel approach was reiterated by its new Commissioner Gaurav Gupta, who assumed charge on Wednesday. While the number of vaccinations in the city hovers around 35,000 a day, the BBMP wants to double it by creating more vaccination sites. The civic body plans to involve resident welfare associations (RWAs) and also rope in industrial complexes that have their health centres, for the purpose. The new…

“What’s the way forward?” is a familiar refrain among much-harried motorists and pedestrians when negotiating the tortuous Konanakunte Cross traffic signal. To say that “chaos” prevails there at all hours is too modest a description.  Generally, a “Z” crossing cutting across a national highway creates complicated dynamics at any traffic junction. Synchronised traffic lights cannot prevent longer wait periods of vehicles and will only lead to lengthier, slow moving lines of traffic.  Crisscrossing paths of vehicles in motion causes confusion and disorientation, especially for first-timers passing through the busy Konanakunte Cross (K-Cross) junction. Traffic movement at present on Kanakapura Road…

The Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike has urged the government to make ‘affordable service for all’ a key goal in its bus rejuvenation plan for the city. In a petition addressed to the Chief Minister of Karnataka, the BBPV elaborated the impact of pandemic on the public transport corporation and made suggestions for the government's proposed rejuvenation plan for the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation. Over the past year Bengaluru saw diminished bus operations. People struggled with long wait times, crowded buses and costly commutes during the pandemic. BMTC struggled with low revenues and was unable to provide timely benefits and social…

We wrap up our coverage for this month with two stories on International Women's Day, observed on March 8 every year. The first was about how labouring women workers commemorated it this March. Here's the second. There was no concept or significance of March 8 when I was growing up. Not in my school. Not in my feminist college. Not in my university, post graduation. Not at my first job in advertising. Not at the production house that I joined later.  It was never mentioned or celebrated. And then suddenly in March 2001, there was a burst of Women’s Day…

We wrap up our coverage for this month with two stories on International Women's Day, observed on March 8 every year. The first of the two stories finds out how labouring women workers commemorated it this March. Among the savarna middle classes in Bengaluru, International Women’s Day on March 8 is celebrated with marathons and rallies, discounts in supermarkets, and ladies’ nights at pubs.  What is often swept under the label of ‘women empowerment’ is the history of Women’s Day as that of workers and their unionisation. It was first proposed and celebrated in 1910 during the second International Conference…

In India, repair is ubiquitous and it is cheap. There is always a repairer at the street corner or on the footpath or under a tree or even under staircases. Of course, there are repairers with shops or stalls or mobile carts. The informal sector provides earnings for an overwhelming majority of the skilled population but it fails to provide social security. During the lockdown, many of us would have quietly shifted to work from home. But in the informal sector, it was a crisis from the first day as they were being robbed of their basic right to work on the street.…

NIMHANS finds 34 lineages of virus The genomic sequencing of 197 COVID-19 samples from foreign fliers showed up 34 different lineages of the original Sars-CoV-2. This is up from the seven found in May 2020, but a majority of viruses come from a lineage characterised by different mutations, which allow the virus to evade a response from the human immune system. At the same time, scientists found that there is no evidence to suggest that the much-feared UK variant of the virus was present in Karnataka until the arrival of foreign fliers in the third week of December. The finding…

Driving licenses that expired during the past year, post COVID, are valid up to March 31, 2021. So, if you need to get your licence renewed and are wondering how to go about it, here is a guide that should help. (Note: The deadline has been extended again, to June 30, 2021) Last month, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) launched an Aadhaar-authentication based contactless services that can be used to renew a driving license online without having to visit an RTO office. If one is able to do this, it certainly is the best option. However, if…