City: Bengaluru

“Why do I need to be eating a California apple?” asks Laxminarayan Srinivasaiah, co-founder of Jivabhumi, a new platform that connects local farmers to “conscious consumers” in Bengaluru. Srinivasaiah and his two co-founders, left behind corporate stability earlier this year to fully commit to their growing business, which now feeds 600 Bengalureans. Their goal is twofold: to provide healthier, chemical-free, and locally-sourced food and to support farmers. Customers select the chemical-free local foods online, Jivabhumi works with local farmers and ships the food to local pick-up points. For now, Jivabhumi is targeting the conscious consumers, or those already aware of the…

A view from the street in Kodichikkanahalli, Bengaluru. Only the front side of this property was demolished. Another view of the same property. Properties on the Raj Kaluve are technically government-owned and can be demolished at any time. In Kodichikkanahalli, and in other Bengaluru neighborhoods, residents are claiming BBMP has given them no notice before coming in and demolishing their homes. A clear view of the Raj Kaluve seeping into a residential area in Kodichikkanahalli where several demolitions have occurred over the past month. These demolitions are of properties encroaching on the Raj Kaluve. Rubble can be seen strewn about…

Bengaluru represents the future of many urban challenges and opportunities. The city is experiencing rapid economic growth, great inequality between rich and poor, and a limited capacity to secure an ecological support for the resource needs of the growing population. With these challenges in mind, I have focused my doctoral research on the question: What is the role of the residents in such a city? A well-known and defining challenge for Bangalore concerns water, both in terms of a drinkable supply and in safely disposing of the sewage produced. In a recent scientific paper published in Sustainability Science, “Against the…

Absence of physical verification with the state Revenue Department data while registering the property and lack of timely survey and settlement of revenue land were the factors that initially led to storm water drain encroachments in Bengaluru. However, these flaws could have been identified and fixed subsequently, had the urban local bodies done their duty diligently. In the process, knowingly or unknowingly citizens purchased the properties encroaching upon drains and are now facing the music. In the series so far: Part 1: Why and how did stormwater drain encroachments take place in Bengaluru? And the concerns raised by citizens who…

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s demolition drive against properties built on storm water drains in Bengaluru city has raised questions over the loopholes in the system that led to encroachment of government properties over the last few decades. Even as the authorities are now accusing the developers and citizens of encroaching the public property, how did all this happen over the years? What are the ambiguities in the system that led to easy encroachment of storm water drains or any government land for that matter? A building on encroached storm water drain was demolished at Avani Sringeri Layout near Kodichikkanahalli…

Early August, house owners in some neighbourhoods of Bengaluru woke up to find they may soon not have a roof over their heads. They were gripped by panic. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had initiated the drive against storm water drain (SWD) encroachers. On the first day of the drive, buildings were demolished in more than 32 locations in Bommanahalli, Mahadevapura and Yelahanka zones. Emotions ran high at the demolition sites. House owners were seen pleading the BBMP officials to grant them extra time to vacate, while some of them even got into an argument. It was a disturbing…

When an overhead walkway built by Ecospace was recently opened to public, residents of Outer Ring Road greeted it with joy. It made crossing the ORR so much safer and seemed to reduce congestion caused by vehicles slowing to let jaywalkers cross. Though India had a strong tradition of pedestrian-centric cities, it is deplorable that post-1970, cities in India have rarely been designed for pedestrians. Reviewing the list of ten most accident-prone areas in Bangalore, Citizen Matters found that the predominant factor for accidents was pedestrians crossing the road in the midst of high speed traffic. With the absence of…

Nowadays we see a lot of of news about demolitions. The government assures us that this will continue, and that even big builders won't be spared. There is a school of thought which holds that either the BBMP or the State Government should pay compensation to the victims of these demolitions, because its officers failed to do their duty. As a long-time resident of Bellandur village, I start wondering: Back in 2005, Bellandur was considered a model village, and we were free birds. As soon as the BBMP absorbed us to become a city of 9.6 million we inherited its crippling debt of…

Perhaps the best idea to come out of the Government of India in recent times was to set aside 2% of the post-tax income of companies (beyond a certain size) towards investments of social value. Used properly, this can be a powerful fuel for localities and their corporate denizens to collaborate to solve local problems. Nooraine Fazal (left) of Inventure Academy, hands over the keys to a traffic signal to Police Inspector Narasimhamurthy. Pic: Anu Parekh We’re seeing some of that happening in Whitefield, home to a good many companies. Interestingly, CSR is now being used to directly address the…

In the previous story on athletics for kids, we dealt with what Bengaluru city lacks when it comes to training budding athletes or athlete enthusiasts. Here is the second part of the series on the private and government facilities that are available for young athletic talents. The government does allocate funds for the sports activities. In the financial year 2015-16, Rs 118 crore was sanctioned (State and Central) for initiating various works in the Sports and Youth Services Department. The department officials say that of the grants allocated, 70 per cent was earmarked for sports-related works and the rest is for…