City: Bengaluru

Collage: Akshatha M Former mayor Shantha Kumari N, who owned five properties in 2011, is now the owner of 15 houses and sites. L Srinivas who has been re-elected as the corporator from Kumaraswamy Layout, had a total asset of Rs 13.37 crore way back in 2011. Now value of his assets is Rs 29.13 crore. Quite a growth in four years! Voters of Bengaluru have re-elected 34 ex-corporators this time. A comparison of the declared assets of these 34 re-elected corporators shows that the assets of most of the corporators have increased in last five years. Citizen Matters did…

A typical Indian Babu knows no obligations lower than his/her own rank. Rank though s/he may be, s/he will enforce the Golden Rule of Babutopia (GRB): “Kick downwards, lick upwards.” This is also called the Brown Sahib Syndrome; BSS is GRB with a melanin-twist: criticise, trample, kick anything native (read brown), and honour, extol, lick anything foreign (read white). My language is harsh, but it is the reality I see even after all these years of post-colonial, independent India, when we are rather kicking some international butt, even if in a limited sense. Take this episode for instance. A few…

With Ganesha Habba right around the corner, preparations to celebrate the festival are in full swing. Traditionally, the idol would be sculpted out of earth from river banks. After worshipping divinity in this earth icon, it was returned back to the earth by immersing it in a nearby water body. This represented the cycle of nature, from creation to dissolution. However, with the advent of Plaster of Paris (POP), things changed. Idols are now made of materials that are detrimental to the environment. POP idols should never be immersed in water; it is insoluble in water and releases a host…

  I recently discovered this site and it was a pleasure to find a forum to engage with fellow residents of Bengaluru city. While I am not a Kannadiga, or indeed a localite, I have been in Bengaluru (on and off) for a total of about 11 years now. I woke up this morning to several news items, across India, about the horrendous behavior of men. Eve-teasing... what not...? It got me thinking... Isn't Bengaluru too a victim of this? I have never understood why (predominantly) Indian men, do not seem to understand the difference between staring, letching, ogling and…

Just concluded BBMP Elections saw ward no 198 - Hemmigepura stand second in voters turnout. This ward reported 59.4% voter turnout, to stand next to Siddapura where 62.14% voted were polled. This is because, various layout residents of Kanakapura road are together and having a good net work among themselves. They have prepared a vision document for their aspiring corporators and submitted when they met them during the election campaign. The Residents Welfare Associations together decided to ensure they followup with their residents and ensure they go out and vote. Infact many associations helped the residents to find out their name…

  Bengaluru this week August 27th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     The past week was abuzz with excitement, with citizens of Bengaluru wondering which party would finally take over the reins of the BBMP council. Most exit polls claimed that Congress had the upper-hand. When results were finally announced on August 25th, it became evident that the BJP would be at the helm of city affairs yet again. The party took the lead with a simple majority of 100 seats. Congress trailed them with 76 seats, followed by JDS with…

Here is an announcement from KSRTC: In view of Tiru Onam festival, KSRTC has made elaborate arrangements for operating extra buses as mentioned below in addition to the existing schedules to provide transport facility to the traveling public from 26/08/2015 to 01/09/2015. Special buses from Mysore Road Bus Station and Shanthinagar Bus Station in Bangalore will be exclusively operated in important places of Kerala State i.e, Cannanoor, Kozikod, Ernakulam,  Palghat, Trissur, Kottayam etc. Facility to book computerized reservation tickets in advance for the special buses have been provided. Reserved passengers should note the place of boarding in their reservation ticket.…

Namma Bengaluru Foundation and the Bengaluru Residents Associations Confederation Ensemble (BRACE) congratulates all the corporators elected to the BBMP. Bengalureans have reposed immense faith in corporators across party lines to reshape the future of our city. Bengaluru is already one of the fastest growing metropolises in India, and will become one of the largest and most populous cities by 2025. Scams, financial irregularities, corruption, bankruptcy etc have plagued BBMP in the last five years. Despite this, Bengalureans came out to elect their corporators. This is a testimony to Bengalureans unwavering faith in the political process, and an opportunity for the…

Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC), a citizen's group that aims for better governance in Bangalore, and to enhance the quality of life of every citizen, had earlier announced the names of 50 candidates that met B.PAC endorsement criteria for BBMP elections 2015. The full list of B.PAC endorsed candidates for the BBMP Elections. Pic: B.PAC (Click to view larger image) 23 of these 50 candidates from across political party and spread over seven zones of BBMP have been elected by the voters of their ward. These candidates are all set to swear in as corporators in the BBMP council. Earlier,…