City: Bengaluru

The flag-off ceremony.Pic: NBF As the countdown for the close of nominations for the Namma Bengaluru Awards 2014 (NBA) has begun, Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) in association with BTV, the media partners for the awards, organised the flag off of the display vehicle from Dr Rajkumar Memorial grounds at Peenya.  The display vehicle will move around the city to enable citizens to nominate their heroes from right where they are.  The vehicle was flagged off by well-known director of the Kannada film industry, MG Shrinivas who now is making his debut as an actor in his new movie “Srinvasa Kalyana”.…

  Bengaluru this week December 11th 2014     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!   Citizen Matters co-founder Meera K receiving Manthan award in New Delhi. Pic: Navya P K We are very proud to announce that your local web newsmagazine Citizen Matters has won the Manthan Award (South Asia and Asia Pacific) in the e-News and Journalism category. Our co-founder Meera K received the citation last week at the award ceremony in New Delhi. This is our sixth award in six years! Thank you, for your unfailing support to us, by reading, giving feedback, contributing…

Pic: Bharath Rajshekhar I have been told time and again that the cow is holy, and I have believed it until I was witness to this... a shocker, the most disturbing incident. I had been to Chickpet to buy some electrical appliances and was sitting in the shop waiting for my things to be packed. Suddenly, a big cow appeared in front of the shop. The emptiness in its eyes gave me the impression that its stomach might be empty too. I proposed to the shopkeeper that we offer her something to eat, maybe some bananas. I was taken aback when he…

Citizen Matters is happy to announce the availability of our popular guidebooks for Bangaloreans in e-book form. Newshunt, the popular news app and Rockstand, the specialised e-book app—both are carrying our books. All our three guidebooks are available here. Buy e-books from Rockstand here Living in Bengaluru 2.0 Buying, Investing and Renting Property in Bengaluru Get to Know Bengaluru Better Buy e-books from Newshunt here Living in Bengaluru 2.0 Buying, Investing and Renting Property in Bengaluru Get to Know Bengaluru Better

Over 1000 contract pourakarmikas working in eight zones of BBMP and many supporters gathered on Wednesday at the BBMP head office protesting against the failure of the contractors to pay them monthly wages and BBMPs indifferent attitude in ensuring that powrakarmikas get paid the minimum wages and wages on time. Pourakarmikas from Sunkadakatte area have not been paid since four months. Some of them have not paid their rent and have been thrown out of their rented accommodation by their house owners. In Mathikere, powrakarmikas are being paid only Rs 4,000 a month which is far less than even the…

A 16-year-old tribal girl, an aging illiterate social worker in Rajasthan, a 23-year-old physiotherapist  in Delhi, a young journalist in Mumbai, a 50-year-old tourist from Europe, a six-year-old school girl in Bengaluru–what do these females, from different parts of the country, with diverse backgrounds, have in common ? They were all  victims of gruesome rapes that made “news”. One of the first lead stories that I wrote, over three decades ago (1979), was about the infamous Mathura rape case, in which the court released the accused policemen (who had raped Mathura at the police station) on grounds that the 16-year-old…

There was a commotion at the front gate. A woman crying and speaking at the same time. I, then a 1970s high school student, rushed to the living room to look out to see who it was and what was going on.  Just at the same moment as amma rushed out of the kitchen. The woman at the gate was Kamala. Amma rushed to the front door to ask what had happened. In between sobs and convulsive crying, Kamala said, “My anna (older brother) has died and they have brought the body to the village. Is my mother here?” “The…

High Street Park in Cooke Town is a hub of activity like any other park. Children of all ages come here to play and meet friends. Though the park is earmarked for children below the age of ten, the terrain is rocky, making it hard for the children to utilise the entire park. Also while the park did recently get some new play equipment, the old broken ones were not replaced. Recently BBMP handed over the park to the local resident’s association, Resident Welfare Association, Bangalore East (REWABE). The Association has been trying to find avenues to raise funds for…

When we observe water birds, we find that they have many different varieties of fishing for food, and here's one of the most interesting. The birds in my photographs are Painted Storks, beautiful birds which you will see in almost all large lakes of Bangalore. I took these photos at Kaikondrahalli Lake, on November 23rd, 2014. Here's a Stork, standing in the water, getting ready to look for its breakfast. The eye is already cast down in concentration. As the birds look for fish under the water, they raise one wing and hold it just above their head level. This…

Drain at Nayandahalli where e-waste rejects are disposed of. Pic: Varsha Parashivamurthy The scene at the Nayandahalli near Vrishabhavathi, the river that carries the sewage from the city of Bengaluru, is truly a sight to behold—white froth billows out of the surface of the water. The stench emanating from the sewage is unbearable.  This is also the place where some of the e-waste collected by the municipality attains nirvana. Batteries, CDs, spare parts of cell phones, broken television sets, tube lights, old radio devices, outdated music systems—this is the final destination for all such waste. ‘CDs, CFLs absolutely waste’ An…