City: Bengaluru

Jewellery stolen from Davanam Jewellers recovered by Bengaluru police. Pic: Bengaluru City Police A woman in Bengaluru lost her golden ‘Vanki’ (armlet) and she lodged a police complaint. Police caught the thief and recovered the armlet. The cop who was in-charge of that station developed a secret desire to retain the valuable Vanki. Next day when the complainant (theft victim) arrived at the station to collect her Vanki, she was shown a pestle instead of the armlet. The policeman cleverly played with homophones and replaced ‘Vanki’ with a ‘Onake’ (rice pounder / pestle). He convinced the complainant that the item…

DWCC at RR Nagar managed by RISE Foundation is defunct now after some individuals forcefully closed its doors claiming ownership of the land. Pic: Veena Rajappa Nine months ago when the second dry waste collection centre (DWCC) was opened at Rajarajeshwari Nagar ward in Bengaluru, people of this ward had all reasons to cheer. For, it was the only ward which boasted of having two functional dry waste collection centres in BBMP limits. Establishing this centre took a lot of hardships. After fighting several hurdles and suffering inordinate delays, the centre was finally established in a full-fledged manner. It became…

Citizen Matters previously brought to you a series of articles on Rainwater harvesting that included information on how best to go about incorporating best management practices of tapping the resource of rainwater within your own community. An earlier piece answered some basic questions about Solar Power in India. In a continuation of that series, this piece explains in simple terms how people can introduce solar power as an additional or alternate source of energy in their homes. Bangalore's daily power demand is about 2300 Mega Watts (MW), about one-third of the state's total power consumption. The average 2/3 bedroom home…

What typically happens when you go to a pharmacy? You show the prescription, buy the medicines that you need, check the MRP, pay for it, collect the bill and leave. Sounds simple enough right? Not always... Here’s an example of why you need to be doubly careful when you purchase medicines. File pic.  When Rajeev Gupta (name changed on request) bought a nasal spray from a pharmacy, little did he know that checking the above mentioned were not the only things he should have done. When he finally opened the bottle a home, to his surprise, he found it empty.…

This is Akshayanagar Layout, situated off Bannerghatta Road (Note: Akshayanagar is also the name of another layout situated in Ramamurthy Nagar, Bangalore). Sandwiched between Hulimavu Lake on one side and Begur Lake on the other, Akshayanagar is an upcoming locality with several residential projects under construction currently. Owing to its proximity to Bannerghatta Road, Electronic City and Jigani, it is a much sort after locality by Bangalore’s techie population. Akshayanagar Layout can be accessed from Bannerghatta Road via the BDA 80 feet road (one of the many access points), which joins the Hulimavu-Begur Road, and further connects to the Yelenahalli…

The first part of the series LOANS FOR URBAN POOR IN BENGALURU explained how the urban poor living in the slums of Bengaluru get trapped in the circle of borrowing, paying interest and re-borrowing. In this part, the author explores the reason behind the same—why banks do not help the poor—how complicated the process is. Sunil, a slum dweller in Swatantrapalya, wants to buy an auto. He needs a loan badly. Not keen on lending money from local moneylenders for extra interest, he wants to secure a bank loan. However, he doesn’t have any collateral security to offer to the…

The relatives were visiting from the Tamil country. It was May 1967. The exact dates slip my memory. (They do say that memory is the second thing to go. I don’t remember what the first thing is. Oh, come on! It’s a tried and tested gag!) In those Good Old Days (when nostalgia was much better than now), booking a train ticket was rather an accomplishment. You had go to the railway station (SBC in our case), get a blank form to fill in, fill it in, and then stand in a queue. Remember that story you were told about…

With the onset of IT&BT industry, women work in night shifts. It is the responsibility of the firm to provide office transportation to such employees. Pic: Akshatha M When the sexual assault incident on a woman BPO employee came to light a few days ago, a general opinion prevailed all over. Police as well as public believed that the unfortunate incident would have been avoided, had the BPO company she was working for provided her official transportation facility to reach home safe. There are rules in place which mandate providing transportation to women who work after 8 pm. However, the…

In the early 70s, my visits to Delhi and Calcutta involved late night travels within the city. During my trips to Japan during 1985-95, my working hours were most unpredictable extending beyond midnight most days and I’d travel back to my hotel by myself. Recently between 1995 to 2009, my usual practice was to drive back home from e-city in the late hours. I am not sure whether cities was safer or I was just lucky. Nevertheless we have to face cruel realities of today. I understand as young women you are raring to go and want to have the freedom to…

  Bengaluru this week October 8th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     In this edition, we start a new series that provides Insights into Bengaluru. We start with an indepth story on the financial issues of Bengaluru’s poor and the vicious cycle of debt. Also read about the newly elected women corporators to the BBMP council and the latest happening on the Agara-Bellandur SEZ front. Check out our features on the Feed Your Neighbour initiative, and about one of Bengaluru's forgotten architects, Otto Koenigsberger. Are you following us on social media?…