City: Bengaluru

BBMP contract workers protested in front on BBMP on Womens' Day. Even as the BBMP had organised exhibitions and other programs for Women’s day, more than a thousand women contract Powrakarmikas of Bengaluru gathered at the BBMP head office to ask the BBMP, why these working women were being denied their rights. Workers from Indiranagar, RT Nagar, Koramanagala, Hegganahalli, Kengeri, Ramamurthy nagar, Gandhinagar, Banaswadi, Yelahanka and several other areas, braved threats from contractors and participated in the protest. The Contractor of Horamavu and Rammurthynagar has even threatened to fire the workers for being part of the protest. Students, several activists…

Bengaluru-based organisation Stree Jagruti Samiti that champions the cause of domestic workers, in association with Domestic Workers’ Rights Union, organised a campaign themed “Erase the shame” on the occasion of International Working Women’s Day. A group of domestic workers from in and around Koramangala, clad in red sarees, gathered in front of Total Mall in Madivala holding placards to raise their voice against the cases of sexual assault. Geeta Menon, one of the founding members of Stree Jagruti Samiti who led the campaign, addressed the domestic workers and the passersby on the significance of raising voice against women and child…

Several blooms to delight the senses! A walk in Lalbagh is always something that will bring a lot of joy. I decided to capture some of the blossoms that appealed to my eyes, my nose, my touch, and sometimes, as they rustled in the morning breeze, to my ears, too! Some of them are quite uncommon trees that I have not yet seen outside the park. The Purple Bauhinia (Bauhinia blakena) and the Cabbage Bark Tree (Andira inermis) can be seen in the garden. These are the flowers of the Cabbage Bark Tree (Andira inermis). Pic: Deepa Mohan The beauty…

I was heading down M G Road in Bengaluru and just as I approached Anil Kumble Circle, I immediately looked back to see how much this one road had changed since this picture was taken from the same spot many years ago: Pic: Abraham Koshy The obvious difference is the exhaustive removal of the colour green from the scene; the entire tree-lined walkway on the left has now given way to a boulevard. I bade the crown jewel of this phenomenon, Namma Metro, goodbye as I turned into Cubban Park to head my destination for the day, Neralu, a citizen-organised…

Nagarathana, Kavitha, Krishanavani are supported by Sparsha Trust, which works towards the holistic development for under prililedged children. Listen to three children talking about the circumstances that they were brought up in and how support from the Sparsha Trust and activities such as Dollu Kunita have enabled them to think beyound sustanance and to dream about what they want to do with their lives.

It started off as a typical day. The autowallah announced the meter doesn't work as we entered the godawful intersection. I asked for him to cross it and stop. He offered to drop me at my destination and take what I give since I go this route to work daily and must know what it costs. I agreed despite my better judgement and as soon as we reached, he demanded double. I gave him the usual and started walking off, he grabbed my hand trying to stop me and then followed me into the Kamat where I went to grab…

Send it back to where it came from... after it has been thoroughly segregated and composted, of course. We’re talking about sending the biomass part of the waste a city generates back to the soil. This would ensure the recycling of nutrients, creating closed economies as is the need of the hour, and virtually trigger off a positive domino effect. It remains a fact that we are a country with a rich history of recycling, the returning of nutrients in the way that the Karnataka State Agriculture Department is proposing plays to that history. The department has proposed that the…

G Padmavathi (56), a 4th time Congress corporator from Prakash Nagar ward, took charge as the 50th Mayor of Bengaluru in September 2016. She is the seventh woman to assume the coveted post. On a Wednesday at around 3 pm, she arrives at her chamber to make herself available for visitors. She is at her office after a long day of field visits and attending events across the city. A group of residents wait in a corner to invite the Mayor for an upcoming event. Meanwhile, a batch of auto drivers arrive at her office to submit a memorandum requesting…

Bengaluru has many NGOs working on social sectors, and HIV affected community is one of the sectors of focus. Leelavathi, the vice-president of Arunodaya NGO explains what NGOs are doing for HIV communities. She also talks about dealing with tuberculosis in HIV affected people, and the care to be taken, diagnosis, treatment, medication and related issues.

Food is something that connects easily with everyone. Manorama Joshi spreaks about Malnad cusine and their effort to get people in Bengaluru to sample their cusine during the Malnad Mela for the past 10 years.