City: Bengaluru

25 years after the 74th Constitutional Amendment (Nagarapalika Act) prescribed effective citizen participation through ward committees, to bring in accountability of the local councillor to the community, an opportunity is at last being given to citizens to get into ward committees.  Till now, if at all the ward committees were constituted; councillors were themselves nominating the individual members and registered associations who would sit on ward committees.  It was not surprising that the ward committees used to be filled with the councillors’ own party-men and cronies, defeating the purpose of the ward committees. The two seats for registered associations used…

Being a Public Policy student from Mount Carmel College and currently working as an intern in Co Media Lab, I got an assignment of talking to a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), to understand how MLAs manage their expenses. I chose to talk to Priya Krishna, the MLA from Govindrajanagar constituency. He has been holding this position since 2009, re-elected in 2013 elections. I assumed that an MLA, being a public figure, needs to give an appointment to meet him. Last week of April went in vain, as I was trying to reach Priya Krishna's Personal Assistant (PA), one Mr.…

Finally, the first phase of Bengaluru Metro is going to be fully functional on June 18th 2017, with the inauguration of final leg running from Swastik station to Yelachenahalli to be done on June 17th, by the President of India. That’s a major relief for many people, including me! I'm a new entrant to the Metro User Club, and a skeptic-turned-admirer. It all started with me waiting in the bus stop in front of Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic College, for a BMTC bus to take me to Kempegowda Bus Station, and not seeing a single bus for 10 minutes. Spending more than…

The World Environment Day was celebrated amid much excitement and joy by school children and volunteers which was organised by Bengaluru-based NGO United Way Bengaluru and BBMP. Nearly 150 children from Sadguru Sainath School, 50 volunteers and team members of United Way Bengaluru came together to plant 600 saplings at Kudlu Doddakere near Kudlu. The 40-acre lake which was recently fenced, gated and had a walk path constructed was adopted by United Way Bengaluru under their ‘Wake the Lake’ Campaign. On the occasion Manish Michael, CEO of United Way Bengaluru, said: “While many may assign the responsibilities of our children…

A thriving Puttenahalli Lake full of water is a great sight. If there is one person happier than us at PNLIT, it must be Yellappa, the guy who got the fishing contract for our lake. Yallappa and his people fishing. Pic: Usha Rajagopalan About a year ago he had released fingerlings of several species such as the Indian Catla, Rohu, Mrigal and the Chinese Carp (Common, Silver and Grass). He also introduced Snakehead, called Varal locally which according to the Fisheries Department, is not grown much in our city. It is expensive and is a delicious fish. Snakehead (varal). Pic:…

Bangalore city head constable, Suresh, was born and brought up in a village near Bangalore. He joined as a constable in 2000. Suresh shares about how he and his family used to care for animals and birds in his village, and how his love towards them started when he was a child. He further talks about how he got together volunteers to help him in feeding stray animals and birds. His message is one of compassion towards nature and all living beings.

Shajan has worked with companies like MRF, J K Tyre & Industries, Aptech, Quess Corp Limited, and TeamLease. He was, in fact, the youngest State Head for JK Tyre at the age of 29. He also was the one who launched the first MBA Programme in Media and Entertainment with Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International Institute. Shajan has travelled across India, meeting various people. Somewhere along the way he realised that 'the money in the bank, the car you drive and the house you live in don't account for anything. It is about how many people you manage that can…

Have you ever wondered how and why Bengaluru was established? What was it like? Did you know that the name 'Bengaluru' could have been derived from either a form of granite or the 'Honge' tree (Indian beech)? According to Yashaswini, based on inscriptions found, Bengaluru was established as a trading town during 537 AD by Kempegowda. Listen in to this interview in the series, to learn more about the history of Bengaluru and its various petes and people.

  'Connect with Nature' is the theme for this year's World Environment Day. Pic: Bhoomi College World Environment Day is here again, with the theme “Connecting people to nature” this year. The motto is to “get outdoors and into nature, and appreciate its beauty and to think about how we are part of nature and how intimately we depend on it.” Like every year, this year too many organisations have planned several programmes in Bengaluru to celebrate the environment day on June 5th and even on the days before or after the environment day. If you are interested in participating…