City: Bengaluru

Sex worker unions codemned the step taken by the Karnataka State government for forming Jayamala Committee to conduct a survey of sex workers by making false promises of free housing and loans. Karnataka Sex workers Union organized a protest in Townhall recently, against the exclusion of Sex workers organisations by Jayamala Committee. Sex workers and Human Rights activists participated in this protest. Sex workers protested near Town Hall recently. Pic: Manohar Elavarthi The General Secretary of the Karnataka Sex Workers Union Bharathi said: “The Government of Karnataka formed a committee headed by Smt. Jayamala to study the situation of Sex…

Thousands of dogs serve our country as part of the Indian Army, the Police, the Railway Police Force, CISF, etc. About 1,200 serve in just the Army. At VOSD (The Voice of Stray Dogs), we call them Patriot Dogs. We have been keeping these dogs discharged by the Karnataka, Kerala, and Railway Police Forces among others. Sandhya from Mangalore Police. Pic:VOSD Patriot Dogs are trained in various specialties like explosive detection, tracking down insurgents or terrorists, and mounting massive search-and-rescues. From the tender age of just two months, they serve our country through the prime of their lives - usually…

On any normal weekday morning, if you take a peek into Google maps with Traffic on, and zoom into the East of Bengaluru, you can see some dark lines forming around Tin Factory. This gets input from two green lines – the Old Madras Road and the Outer Ring Road from Kalyan Nagar. The ORR from Kalyan Nagar used to be a mess, but these days things seem to be in some sort of control. This dark line extends all the way till the KR Puram Railway station, becoming green again as traffic rushes out from that point, like kids…

Hear about her journey from working in the garment industry to learing to drive an auto and then to driving an auto for hire. She now has her own auto with support from a bank loan. She talks about how her life, experience, learnings and the interactions will different people she comes across every day.

On March 16th, Janaagraha conducted the workshop “Bengaluru Blueprint: Practical Learnings from Greater Manchester and Bradford, United Kingdom”, with two guests from England: Mark Atherton - Director of Environment for Greater Manchester at the AGMA (Association of Greater Manchester Authorities) - and David Cawthray - Assistant Director of Information Services at Bradford Metropolitan District Council. Citizen Matters reviews the key takeaways from the two guests’ respective city’s master plan, and introduces Janaagraha’s Blueprint for Bengaluru. The focus of Janaagraha’s workshop was on the how we realise our goals instead of what our goals are - a distinction rather relevant in…

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presented Karnataka State Budget on March 15th, 2017. Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB), a citizens movement in Bengaluru, has welcomed the focus in the budget given to solve the mobility issues Bengaluru is facing, while asking the government to work more on a mobility strategy for the city. A press note from CfB says: "We have noted that the CM is seeking to address the stressful issues of mobility that bother Bengaluru with more buses, expanded Namma Metro, commuter rail, improved roads, grade separators and short-span flyovers at junctions and better pedestrian facilities. The MOU with Railways &…

Air pollution has always been a mainstream concern with an underwhelming response towards remediating the situation. More recently, the interest has been re-ignited in India with several Indian cities having the highest levels of air pollution in the world. In addition, a report estimates over 650,000 deaths in India in 2015 due to outdoor (ambient) air pollution alone, and an even higher number due to indoor air pollution (1.2 million). These are only mortality estimates, and the impact on morbidity is a lot more widespread. News articles on air pollution and its impacts in Bengaluru are usually based on studies…

  Bengaluru’s air story is one of unchecked air pollution, ever increasing dust and air quality issues. Bengaluru's Airpocalypse: Air pollution Problems & Solutions is a workshop that brings experts to answer key questions like: What is happening to Bengaluru’s air? From vehicular smoke ro garbage burning... How has it impacted our children’s and our health? What are some of the government policies and actions that are having an impact on the quality of air? And what can we do - as individuals, and as a collective? The workshop is hosted by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and supported by…

Andalamma identifies herself as a 'Raitha mahile' and a 'Samaja sevike (social worker)'. She is a woman who 'may be physically old but is mentally strong'; She has done so many different things over the decades, from running a pre-primary school, an orphanage, and a full-fledged school (day care to 10th standard). She is a director in a factory, has started a Mahila Samaja and many stree shakti groups too. She has spent time in learning about mushroom cultivation and vermicompost; she also enjoys learning languages, and can speak and understand Malayalam and Bengali. Andalamma is currently involved in building…