City: Bengaluru

  // VAG-Tasveer-Foundation-GoK-MoU (PDF) VAG-Tasveer-Foundation-GoK-MoU (Text)

  Being a proponent for the Government of Karnataka’s (GoK) decision to ‘Adopt a Destination’ under CSR, one is saddened to see some artists put out misleading and wrong information to ensure that the Venkatappa Art Gallery (VAG) adoption MoU signed between the Government agencies and Tasveer Foundation is cancelled. Terms like ‘brutal, undemocratic takeover’, ‘surreptitious MoU’, ‘usurp public resources’, ‘prime real estate capture’ are being bandied about giving the impression that some of us (who believe that VAG adoption is good for Bengaluru citizens) are descendants of Darth Vader! Bengaluru citizens will gain with this adoption program. We might…

Repair Café is organising its 5th workshop on March 19th 2016. It is being hosted by The Green Path situated at Seshadripuram, from 11.30 am to 4 pm. Apart from repairing and upcycling, other highlights of the workshop include Talk show on Water Conservation by Aditi Hastak from Biome Workshop on basics of Kitchen Gardening Screening of a documentary film, Economics Of Happiness So what is Repair Café?  Repair Café is a community gathering where repairers, volunteers, visitors come together for the purpose of repairing household articles. A repair man busy at work. Pic: Purna Sarkar Since our first Repair…

  Bengaluru this week March 17th 2016     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     Phew, it just seems like yesterday we were reaching out to you, but it is already end of the financial year, and we start our bi-annual fundraiser. We will mail you shortly with details on how to donate. Citizen Matters Journalism Workshop We are happy to announce the workshop for citizen activists, aspiring writer-journalists, or just anybody who wants to write impactfully on issues important to you, and reach out to a larger audience. It will be held on…

BBMP taxation committee chairman Shivaraju addressing media. Pic: Shree D N Bruhat Bengaluru Maha Nagara Palike (BBMP) has started pre-budget consultations with various sections of society including nongovernmental organisations, resident welfare associations and journalists. The consultation with journalists was done in Malleshwaram on March 16, 2016. Chairman of Standing Committee on Taxation, M Shivaraju chaired the meeting. He said journalists had their eyes and ears on the ground and knew what was wrong where, hence capable of advising based on ground realities. Many journalists from electronic and print media were present in the meeting. The inputs given by the journalists…

With a continued influx of people setting down with Bengaluru, a majority of the population is now living in apartments. On Saturday March 19th, ApartmentADDA, an organisation that hosts private, secure portals for apartment complexes, is conducting a workshop aimed at citizens living in these apartments. Citizen Matters is the media partner for the workshop. The workshop, Neighborhoods of Tomorrow, will bring together various members of the society—apartment management committees, subject matters experts, representatives from the city administrations—to arrive at solutions to the problems that every neighbourhood faces. The workshop, touted to be India’s largest convention of management committee members,…

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) —Namma Metro—organised a special tour of the new Metro stations of Cubbon Park, Vidhana Soudha and Majestic Interchange stations, on March 15, 2016. Metro Public Relations Officer Vasanth Rao had earlier promised some ''Happy News' on Twitter, and he was probably referring to the opening of East-West corridor of Metro soon. Bangalore Incharge Minister K J George, BMRCL MD Pradeep Singh Kharola. Pic: Shree D N The plan was to take Bangalore In charge Minister K J George, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation Managing Director Ekroop Caur and media representatives to Cubbon Park, Vidhana…

The State government has officially gazetted the plastic ban in Karnataka. Here is the gazetted document that has all related details.   // Related ArticlesBengaluru is being swept by citizen-led plastic bansPlastic ban won't affect jobs, say govt, analystsPlastic ban: 25,000 to lose jobs; Industry seeks solutionsWhat Karnataka can learn from plastic ban across Indian citiesSanjay Nagar shopkeepers stop giving plastic carry bags, launch ‘Rent a Bag’

Civic group members who have pushed hard for RERA Bill, are a happy lot. With the passing of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015 which intends to protect the interests of home buyers, in the Rajya Sabha on 10th March 2016, the bill crossed a major hurdle. All day, activists were trying to lobby for the Bill through Twitter with the handle @FightForRERAInd. Today (March 15th) the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha too. The citizen activism to push the RERA Bill started in Delhi, by Lt Gen Bahri (Retd). The Delhi group reached out to other major cities…

In order to scientifically process Bangalore city’s municipal solid waste (MSW), the State Government has set up seven compost plants, which are large facilities with required machinery and construction. Kannahalli is the largest one (can handle 500 tonnes per day), located in the outskirts of the city. One of India’s major companies in waste management, IL&FS Environment, is undertaking the operation and maintenance of this plant. There were issues with the composting facility, as the villagers near the plant complained of bad odour and other problems, and stopped garbage lorries from entering the facility for a few days. A notice…