City: Bengaluru

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…

Adventure: Taking the photo of a friend while cycling! Pic: Shree D N “As I was drinking my cup of coffee in the morning, had the pleasant surprise of seeing kids and one or two adults cycling on 13th cross. Learnt about the event now!”, posts Latha Vidyaranya, a resident of 13th cross, Malleshwaram, on Facebook. She was not the only one to be surprised. Even as half the population in Malleshwaram was huddled in their cozy blankets on the cold Sunday morning of December 7th, the ringing of cycle bells—a rather rare phenomena these days in this vicinity—woke them…

Citizen Matters co-founder Meera K receiving Manthan award in News Delhi. Pic: Navya P K On the evening of December 4th, Citizen Matters won yet another award. The tally, including reporting awards won by our erstwhile reporters Navya P K, Vaishnavi Vittal and Supriya Khandekar, is now six, in six years. The last five have come in three years. It is an even split now between awards for individual storytelling and for the publication itself. What do these awards mean to me, a journalism entrepreneur and innovator? One way to answer this question is to see what our work has…

As urban sprawl in India unfolds at a frantic pace, it’s quite natural to ask: where does a city begin and where does it end? What is the spatial terrain that makes up a city? What should the boundaries of the city government be? These are some fundamental questions that need to be considered while discussing urban governance. These questions become all the more relevant at a time when there are discussions for the division of a city such as Bengaluru into two or three different municipal corporations. While questions on the institutional form of the city government have received…

State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) has recommended environmental clearance for the first phase of the Bangalore Development Authority’s much-awaited Peripheral Ring Road project that will run from Tumkur Road to Hosur Road. Did you like this article? Help us publish more such articles. Support Oorvani Foundation! With this, the options that can help commuters avoid the city centre will increase, while real estate rates around the Peripheral Ring Road are expected to rise higher. This is meant to destress the Outer Ring Road, even as Bengaluru has been expanding without limits. BDA's Peripheral Ring Road will connect Tumkur Road…