City: Bengaluru

Saturday dawned for The Girl and promised fun on the run: Interview assistance in Jayanagar for Srinivas Alavilli's pet project, ICDS. Sponge and soak in the water management seminar at Church Street for Meera Kri's pet project, Citizen Matters. Discussion on Mid-day meals in public schools in Kanakapura with Ramamurthy (founder of Sikhshana), his pet project.   Halfway through recording the interview with the ICDS teacher, The Girl realised she needed to record attendance at the bathroom soon. As they finished up, she spied the Anganwadi bathroom outside on the open terrace. A rusty tin door hinged to a suspiciously…

Instance 1: Summer of 2012. T-Zed Homes, a gated community spread over five acres in Whitefield was facing acute water shortage, resulting in water rationing within the complex. With ever-growing water needs, even the water supplied by 10 tankers everyday proved to be insufficient for the residents of this housing complex. In the last four years, however, things have changed dramatically for the residents of T-Zed Homes. The successful implementation of sewage water treatment and rainwater harvesting have helped them reduce the dependency on water tankers. 100% working implementation of the sewage treatment plants in the apartment space has led…

After those three informative quizzes, people are finally acknowledging that I do know a thing or two about pavements. Having proven my interest and understanding of this subject, I thought I should spread this knowledge far and wide. I know most people don’t understand my interest in this insignificant topic, but why must everyone think only about the big, important stuff that gets them attention? I am determined to show that even a humble pavement has a part to play in the whole orchestra, or symphony –  or whatever. You know what I mean. At this point, I have to…

A huge loss in his pressure cooker manufacturing factory and the financial crisis that followed made Ajay a migrant, or footloose informal worker. Eight years ago, he moved from Delhi to Bangalore. Having to start life from scratch, he became a waste picker. Bangalore offered him the veil of anonymity from his past. After a few years in the profession, he met a Hasiru Dala activist and became associated with the organization. Recognizing his potential in running a micro-enterprise, organization offered him to operate one of the 33 Dry Waste Collected Centers (DWCC), located in Gottigere, installed by Municipal Corporation…

Pic courtesy: Janaagraha Smt G Padmavathi, Mayor, BBMP and Mr N Manjunath Prasad, IAS, Commissioner, BBMP launched the MyCityMyBudget (MCMB) programme of Janaagraha, to gather budget requests from citizens for the City Budget 2017-18. MCMB will gather budget requests from citizens’ on three tracks; 1) through workshops facilitated by the MCMB team at Resident Welfare Associations, schools, colleges, urban poor communities, workers groups and corporates, 2) online at www.ichangemycity.com, and 3) through the Budget bus that will collect inputs from citizens on the streets. Citizens can provide budget requests across any civic issue through a simple form at the workshops…

  With just a day left for Gandhi Jayanti, various citizen led groups have planned to organise cleanliness programmes in various locations of Bengaluru on October 2nd. Here are the list of cleanliness programmes to be organised across the city as part of the Bengaluru Swachh Utsav 2016. The programme is organised by the Solid Waste Management Round Table in association with BBMP and KSPCB. The campaign which will be kicked off on the day of Gandhi Jayanti, will continue for the next one year, to create awareness about waste management among citizens. It includes, emphasising on door-to-door waste collection,…

Dear Reader, The last one month, water has been on our minds. While most talk has been about Cauvery water, are we forgetting the real issue? What does it take to support the water needs of a city of 10 million? Our many stories over the years have brought you stories of scarcity, depleting groundwater levels, disappearing lakes, monsoon floods and water quality issues. It is time to really understand the city’s water stresses, how they are being addressed and what action we need to take NOW! We invite you to a special session that brings together a panel of…

One of the things emerging from the Cauvery crisis is the complete absence of communication from all parties regarding data on the basis of which decisions are being made or are being requested to be made. For instance why has the Supreme Court now asked that 6000 cusecs of water be released for six days from October 1st to October 6th? This amounts to 3.55 TMC of water. What is the reasoning here? Is it pro-rata proportional distress sharing? How did the Supervisory Committee make its recommendations on the release of a certain quantum of water? What was the logic…

Air pollution on Outer Ring Road. Pic: Mayur Channagere Air pollution in Bengaluru has become so severe, that it is forcing people with lung problems to even leave Bengaluru. Dr Padma Sundaram, pulmonologist at Manipal Hospital, says that some patients leave the city for months, to get better. She says that cases of asthma and respiratory infections are increasing, and that people with lung problems sometimes need ICU admissions when pollution levels peak, such as during winter smog and Diwali. “People from highly polluted areas are coming for treatment more often,” she says. A lung test on 503 Bengaluru school…

That the State government may have to release water to Tamilnadu has been a cause of concern for many Bengalureans. While the Union government of India has been asked to set up a Cauvery Water Management Board, the nation itself is facing another water conflict - with the government deciding to take more water from the river Indus. Welcome to the new era of overpopulation and urbanisation, where public commons are going to be the cause of wars. Water conflicts are going to be common in the future. In Bengaluru, the reality is that according to BWSSB, out of 22…