City: Bengaluru

The garbage mafia did it again - they held Bengaluru to ransom, by stopping waste collection last week. The government of Karnataka had to invoke Essential Services Management Act (ESMA) for them to stop protesting and get to work. But waste collection is yet to resume in many parts of the city, with piles of mixed waste lying on roadside. What causes this situation? Even after having court-monitored processes to set the system in place, why are we still suffering? Where does the rot lie? The answer: it lies in the system itself. The current waste management system is designed…

Vaishnavi V M, a South Bengaluru resident, recently recovered from a fever that lasted two full weeks. “I don’t know what it was. It must have been some viral fever that occurs around monsoon due to weather change.” Vaishnavi says that this is the first time she has had a fever lasting so long; usually she recovers in three-four days. Vaishnavi is among the thousands of Bengalureans suffering from fevers this year. As various fevers like dengue, chikungunya and laryngitis are going around, hospitals are filled with patients. Since all viral fevers have similar symptoms, they are difficult to distinguish…

The third week of August ended with a wildlife event and a wildlife/conservation festival, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The first was the screening of "Cobra King", a documentary on the King Cobra made by Sandesh Kadur of Felis Creations It was Gowrishankar of Kalinga Centre for Rainforest Ecology narrating the life cycle of this iconic reptile of the Western Ghats. I cannot yet find the documentary on the net ( has it not yet been released to the wild, like rescued snakes are...?), but here is another video on the same snake from the same film maker: Here's…

As per the directions of the High Court of Karnataka during the hearing of the case WP 24739-740/2012 on 4th September 2017, we are herewith submitting our objections to the manner of selection of ward committee members: Violation of the spirit and objects of the 74th Constitutional Amendment:  The purpose of the 74th Constitutional Amendment as per the Union Government, in its primer on JNNURM, was to empower Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) with many more powers and functions to operate as independent levels of government. But, it says, “such increase in autonomy also needs to be complemented by appropriate accountability.…

What are Employment Exchanges? An Employment Exchange is a government establishment which offers employment support to the unemployed youth on the basis of their educational qualification and work experience. The Department of Employment and Training, Karnataka looks after Employment Exchanges in the State including the offices in Bengaluru. Exchanges act as a bridge between the job seekers and the employers. They inform about the vacancies in public and private sector to the job seekers and pass on the information/data of the job seekers to the employers - both government and private - which the employers may use whenever there is…

Having lost their significance over the years, Employment Exchanges are in dire need of a revamp that will make them suit the changing employment trends and unemployment patterns. During the course of working on this series, what I gathered from talking to officials is, in Karnataka seemingly there is no full-fledged plan yet to revamp the Employment Exchanges. However, some attempts have been and are being made by governments of the times to make Employment Exchanges relevant. In 2008, Employment Exchange offices were given a major task of organising job fairs. Since then, the Directorate of Employment and Training considers…

The decision of Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to relocate the Cantonment Metro station has drawn flak from citizens. Why has this become such a big issue? The answer is something every urban transport planner will appreciate, every concerned citizen will appreciate, and every visionary will appreciate. Those who don’t, will appreciate it the moment they become aware of its implications in their daily lives. The answer is, integration. What went wrong? Metro is here for the next several decades from now–our next few generations will use the Metro to move around this sprawling, ever-expanding city. If Metro is…

Citizen Matters and ApartmentADDA invite citizens of Bengaluru to submit articles on the topic “If I were the Bengaluru Mayor”. Entries can be in Kannada or English and between 800 to 1200 words. The best entry in each language has a chance to win a cash prize of Rs 10,000, sponsored by ApartmentADDA. The contest, which is open to all citizens above 15 years, is an opportunity for participants to articulate their vision for Bengaluru, and a plan that they’d execute if they were the mayor. The contest encourages Bengalureans to think on and engage with issues of importance to…

It seems an unlikely possibility at this time for Bengaluru to have a powerful and accountable Mayor who actually has a say in the way our city is run. This democratic innovation in local governance which has paid rich dividends around the world however hasn't caught the imagination of the public at large in our city. Blame it on political calculation or public aversion to voting in one more election (should we go down the path of having a directly elected Mayor), a change in this direction would herald a major change in the way power is decentralized in the…

Do you remember the famous wedding video invite with a LED display which had the family lip-syncing to a choreographed welcome song and dance? Ever wondered what happened to the card after the wedding? This was the storyline for the Street play performed by Kaledio to raise awareness on e-waste.  How long does anyone hang on to an invite that has run out of battery? It goes in the garbage. And the performers went on to explain the hazards of e-waste. E-waste is extremely harmful to both human and environmental health. The toxic elements that e-waste contains include chromium, lead,…