City: Bengaluru

Lingaraj Urs (third from right) with members of Bruhat Whitefield Residential Community Association (BWRCA). Pic: BWRCA Facebook Page Well-known formula for bringing in change world over is, if you want to change the system, be a part of it first. Lingaraj Urs, a top IT honcho, fed up of the problems in his area, wanted to change the system to improve governance and administration in his area. He decided to get into poll politics to do it. And he won. To most well-heeled urban citizens, politics was thus far known as ‘the last resort of scoundrels’; good men and women…

  The Coalition for Clean India, a network of organisations working on solid waste management presented a five-point Charter to the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on World Environment Day on May 6th 2015, at the Parisara Habba held at Kanteerava Indoor Stadium. Here is the letter that was shared: "We, citizens groups, organisations and individuals working on Solid Waste Management have come together, as Coalition for Clean India, to highlight a clear and common agenda, for sustainable practices in Municipal Solid Waste Management both in the State of Karnataka and at the national level. The Agenda of the Coalition for…

​The Urban Development Department (UDD) has published the draft of the Kamataka Municipal Corporations - Ward committee Rules, 2013 on May 26th 2015. Kathyayini Chamaraj, Trustee CIVIC, says they had not announced or published it on the UDD website. When Citizen Matters checked the website on June 8th 2015, the ticker on the homepage still carried the rules that were gazetted on November 10th 2014.   Kathyayini says that when she enquired about the rules on multiple visits to the UDD office, the standard response was that it would take ten days and the like. When she visited the office on June 4th…

The very word 'Tarantula' is something that strikes dread into most of our hearts. We’ve all heard the horror stories of 'evil' arachnnids delivering fatal bites. However, though they may be deadly Tarantulas elsewhere, the ones we have nearby are generally more wary of us than we are of them, and do not bite until they are extremely disturbed. Tarantulas comprise a group of very large and often hairy arachnids belonging to the Theraphosidae familyof spiders. Their large size and hairy appearance, combine to give most of us a dread of them. But they have some very interesting features! Tarantulas do spin…

Survey of lakes based on cadastral maps, dredging of lake beds, fencing of lakes and removal of encroachment are among the steps experts recommend for revival of the fast depleting lakes in the city. These are among the suggestions made in a report compiled by Prof. TV Ramachandran of Indian Institute of Science, and his team, on the status of wetlands and lakes in Bengaluru. The report was released on World Environment Day by the Whitefield Rising Lakes' team in association withKK School, Varthur. It includes the latest test report from the study of water samples of Varthur Lake. Whitefield…

On the morning of May 27th 2015, Benedict Jebakumar found himself caught in traffic on the flyover that connects Silk Board to Bellandur Outer Ring Road in Bengaluru, en route to his office at Eco Space. While one might say that is expected on Bangalore roads, there was one more factor that contributed to the traffic. Spread on the road were nails, many of them, the kind that one would typically find in a cobbler’s shop. Small, black and oh so troublesome! While most commuters waited in their vehicles for the jam to clear up, Benny got off his bike…

World over, June 5th is celebrated as World Environment Day. It’s that time of the year when people across the world come together to talk about the environment and how we need to make a change today, so we can help nurture the planet for tomorrow. In Bangalore, nothing could have said it better than the Parisara Habba. Organised by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), the Parisara Habba, or the Festival of the Environment, is a two-day event held on June 5th and 6th at Kanteerava Indoor Stadium. While KSPCB does organise the event almost every year on…

  Bengaluru this week June 4th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     Oorvani Foundation has received contributions from several folks through online transfer. However, some of you haven't shared all the details, as a result of which we have not been able to send you the acknowledgement. In case you are yet to receive the 80G receipt for your contribution, drop us a mail on foundation@oorvani.in with your name, transaction amount and date and we will get back to you. Here are the top stories from Bangalore for this week: Solid…

Tender SURE project hits the headlines often, mostly because of the work that has gone on for a long time in the roads selected for the project. Many have questioned the rationale behind Tender SURE. Space for trees on Tender SURE roads, space for street vendors, citizen participation before the implementation of the project, execution and other aspects have come under criticism. In an email interview with Citizen Matters, Swati Ramanathan, Co-founder of Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, and Chairperson of Jana Urban Space Foundation (Jana USP), answers our questions regarding the project. She explains in detail about the…

  For many of us, ‘concern for the environment’ is that green bulb  which our schools effectively fitted at the back of our heads. It glows whenever we urinate under ‘Do not urine here’ murals or someone goes ‘thoop-splat’, staining a wall with red paan. Maybe when someone asks us to segregate, and we think that it is the most challenging thing to do, or when we walk past a water tanker which has water spilling out. This will in all likelihood continue happening, until one day the bulb fuses and the most convenient thing to do will be to…