City: Bengaluru

Take time to smell the roses this week. Visit the flower show to admire the spectacular recreation of the Mysore Palace, and marvel at the many beautiful flowers on display. Independence Day Flower Show in Lalbagh Botanical Garden has begun on Friday, August 8, 2014, and will continue until Sunday, August 17. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the flower show at the gardens. Click on the slideshow to see photos of this year’s show. The oddly-shaped cockscomb flower with its velvet-like texture. Pic: Christopher LopazeThe walkway from the West Gate entrance toward the Glass House. Pic: Christopher Lopaze…

Following the tragic but avoidable death of 6 year-old Meghala from D.J.Halli on July 17th 2013 due to malnutrition, the increased focus on the social indicators in D.J.Halli revealed a high incidence of disability in the area.  At the public hearing on 12th December 2013 at DJ Halli, several differently-abled persons shared the issues they faced with regard to access to disability pension and other schemes. The jury said that this was a human rights violation and the District disability welfare officer (DDWO) for Bangalore urban, Mr. G. Mohan promised to do a survey within the next two months to…

Namma Bengaluru Foundation, in association with a group of parents of Vibgyor school has launched a campaign to make Bangalore safer children. The campaign called “Child Safe Bengaluru,” aims at adequate preventive and corrective measures that will ensure safety to every child in the schools of the city. The activities aim to include, effective participation of the Departments of Government such as Education, Transport, Police, Judiciary, Children, Parents, Schools, Media, Elected officials, Policy Makers and various NGOs in ensuring that child protection, child welfare and child rights are effectively controlled and measured. The initiative has already garnered positive impact, with…

High Court of Karnataka (HC) has ordered all the local planning authorities to sanction layouts development plans only if they earmark a dedicated area for managing their own solid waste generated in their layout and nearby localities. The order came during a hearing of Solid Waste Management (SWM) Public Interest Litigation, when advocate Ajesh Shankar brought to the notice of the HC that a Civic Amenity site allocated for a waste processing facility in a BDA layout at Kengeri-hobli was encroached by some parties. Taking cognizance of this, the HC Bench comprising of Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice N…

A group of ten children, was seen cleaning up a dirty plot in BTM Layout on Ramzan . They managed to pick twelve large bags of trash. Here is their story. Two 16-year-olds, Vivek and Adhesh from Sri Kumaran’s Children’s Home started Bangalore Trash Mob as a social action project for schools, and this has now become an ongoing community service with the help of their friends. Despite being busy with board exams, they found time to conduct two mobs last year. On Ramzan holiday, while a majority of children spent time with their gadgets, hung around in malls or…

    Bengaluru this week  August 8th 2014       CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!   Award for Citizen Matters Citizen Matters is the winner of the Manthan South West award for e-news and journalism. Your own community newsmagazine has won the Manthan South West award in the e-news and journalism category. This is the 5th award for the team, in 6 years. Ganga Madappa, our Community Manager and Staff Journalist received the award in Pune yesterday. Read more. This award is dedicated to all of you, our readers, supporters and critics! Thank you…

And we do it yet again. Your own community magazine for Bengaluru has got another award. Citizen Matters has won the Manthan South West award in the e-news and journalism category. This is the 5th award for the team, in six years.  In a packed award function at Pune on August 7th, Ganga Madappa, Citizen Matters’ Staff Journalist and Community Manager, received the trophy. The event was organised by Digital Empowerment Foundation, which has instituted the award, and Your Public Interest Registry. Ganga Madappa from Citizen Matters receiving the Manthan Award South West India - Winner, e-News & Journalism Category…

Time and again we hear about cases of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) getting reported and complaints being filed. While this is a sign of awareness among public on CSA itself and the legal steps they can take, there are many who are unaware of the law, because of which there might be some cases of abuse which may not have got the attention they deserve. What is Child Sexual Abuse? Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is the exploitation of a child by an adult or an older adolescent for sexual stimulation. It can include engaging in sexual activities with a child,…

Finding lost people, that too when they have dementia, is a big problem in Bengaluru. The success rate of finding a person who is genuinely lost is dismally low as the Police Department is not equipped or staffed properly to deal with it. For small children it is even lower. Tracking a person who cannot communicate, such as a dumb or mentally challenged person, is practically impossible. My dad went missing last weekend. My dad has Alzheimers disease. Although he is physically fine, he is not able to communicate even the simplest things. From the outset, we were told that our…

Sony World junction is a nightmare for vehicles during peak hour traffic. Pic: Ganga Madappa Driving from Electronic City to reach Indiranagar in Bengaluru is a nightmare on most evenings. A precious 20 minutes will be lost while waiting for your turn to cross the Sony World junction signal. BBMP has acknowledged this traffic issue and plans to build a 2.4-km elevated flyover from Ejipura junction to Kendriya Sadan to improve the situation. Unlike most solutions devised by officials and consultants, this is one of the few projects initiated following public demand. In 2011, BBMP had planned to construct a…