City: Bengaluru

Citizen Matters and India Together co-founder Subramaniam (Subbu) Vincent has won the John S Knight (JSK) Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University for 2015-16. He is one among eight awardees who have been awarded the fellowship to pursue proposals for journalism innovation at Stanford University during the 2015-16 academic year. The other fellows are from Ukraine, Venezuela, Kenya, Germany, China, Australia, and Brazil. "I am thrilled and excited by receiving this award," says Subramaniam Vincent. Explaining the project on which he will work on during the fellowship, he says: "Around the world, city newsrooms are often using reporters to both track city…

Karnataka High Court will decide on the schedule of council elections for Bengaluru. Pic: Poornima Dasharathi The Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka which has completed the hearing of the State government’s appeal against the Single Bench order to conduct BBMP polls before May 30th, has posted the judgment to April 24th, 2015. The court also extended the interim stay refraining the State Election Commission (SEC) from continuing the election procedures till the verdict. During the day-long hearing that took place on April 22nd, the division bench sought to know from the petitioners and the respondents if the…

There was once a time in Bengaluru when one could see only a few buildings and a handful of people from right where they were standing. These days however, you should consider yourself lucky if you can see more than the bumper of the vehicle in front of you. From being referred to as Garden City, it has now been tagged as Garbage City. Independent bungalows and vataaras have given way to high-rise apartments. Empty streets are now jam-packed with vehicles.   Here is a comparison between the Bengaluru of yore, when it went by several flattering sobriquets, and the…

World over, April 22nd is celebrated as Earth Day. The day, first celebrated in 1970, was a call to get the public talking about the environment in America. As the Earth Day website calls out, “It marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement.” It is now celebrated in close to 200 countries, where it not only serves as a reminder for us to gauge how the environment is coping with change, but also what we as individuals and groups can do to ensure that the situation does not worsen. Though Earth Day is…

As a child, I would visit my grandparents house in Trivandrum for the summer vacations. And unlike most city children these days, I didn’t go to any summer camp. This is something I’ve never regretted because I always had fun in the sun, up in my tree house, in a park, or at a museum. As art and culture entered my life, my interests expanded. Summer became the perfect time to paint and read. For those parents who are currently playing host to their children on account of summer vacations, here are some fun family activities that you and your…

High Court asked the LDA to come up with a plan for restoration of both the lakes, and hold meetings of authorities, builders and the residents. Pic: Shree D N A report submitted by the Lake Development Authority (LDA) to the High Court of Karnataka on April 13th, has revealed the sorry state of the two lakes: Agara and Bellandur. The report explains how the lakes shrunk in last one and a half decade and the threats they are facing in the form of land loss and sewage flow. LDA submitted the report to the HC during the hearing of…

The High Court division bench on Monday passed an interim order restraining the State Election Commission (SEC) from declaring calendar of events for BBMP election temporarily. The court passed the interim order as the hearing of the petition filed by the State government against the HC single bench order to conduct election before May 30th 2015, was not completed on Monday. The final hearing of the case has been posted to April 22nd. Division bench comprising of Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice Ram Mohan Reddy passed an interim order since the SEC had not yet announced the election…

Srinivasa Mahal, Winner - Private (Residential) category Commemorating World Heritage Day, INTACH Bengaluru announced the winners of the city’s first Heritage Awards. The winners were selected from amongst 50 nominations that were received from the public in two categories, government-owned and private buildings. The selection was made by an eminent jury comprising former UNESCO Ambassador Chiranjivi Singh, senior archaeologist Dr SVP Halakatti and the young and accomplished architect Anup Naik. Based on the diversity of entries, it was decided to give awards to buildings in three categories: Public, Residential (Private) and Institutional (Private). Some of the parameters the jury considered…

In the recent past Bangalore has transformed from ‘garden city’ to ‘garbage city’. The waste issues of Bangalore have now become a national issue. And a major contributor for the same is ‘plastic bags’. Even though single-use plastic has been banned by the government, it is still sold by shopkeepers and used by people. To do our bit to solve this major cause of pollution, we the children from SJR Verity on Sarjapur Road volunteered along with a few adults, and started an ‘Anti-plastic awareness campaign’ during our summer break. The anti-plastic awareness campaign kicks off. Pic: Sonika Jindal We…

BBMP spends an average of Rs 1.35 lakh on food and other arrangements during council meetings. Pic: Shree D N The five-year term of BBMP council has come to an end and namma Bengaluru is gearing up for yet another election. Before you get into election mode, ever wondered how much public money has been spent on your corporators and how frequently the BBMP council meetings were held in last five years? Here is a peek into such lesser-known facts. While council meetings are considered as an opportunity for the elected representatives to discuss serious issues concerning the public, many…