City: Bengaluru

  Auto Rickshaws in the city have once again come into the limelight with the recent Auto Raid that was conducted by the Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP). On June 30th, over 700 members of the BTP, dressed in plainclothes, embarked on an operation to track down auto drivers who were not doing their due diligence to society. At the end of the 15-hour long sting operation, around 3,350 auto drivers were fined, and 450 autos were seized.The Auto Raid also threw up a shocking statistic - four in every ten auto drivers in the city were errant! Rules for auto…

Chandru Kumar, a resident who lived off Mysore Road near Nayandahalli junction in Bengaluru is a disgruntled man today. Thanks to the non-coordination between Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Chandru Kumar and 69 others had to lose their land to make way for the pending flyover on Mysore Road on Outer Ring Road junction. Chandru Kumar had never imagined four years ago that he had to sacrifice his land for the new flyover coming up near the junction of Outer Ring Road and Mysore Road. There was ample space on the road for the…

  Bengaluru has largest internet penetration among the cities in the state. The chances of Section 66A of Information Technology Act being used here are high compared to other cities. In the first part, we explained what is Section 66A of IT act and various views on the same. In this write up, we try to provide some guidelines on how the law is implemented, and how to be safe. What constitutes offense?Advocate Pavan Duggal in his article Section 66A OF IT Act - your friend or foe? has cited 17 points that may get you booked under Section 66A…

Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda all set to present Railway budget. Pic courtesy: facebook.com/RailMinIndia D V Sadananda Gowda, Minister of Railways, also the Member of Parliament elected from Bangalore North, gifted the city of Bengaluru many trains that will boost suburban connectivity. The move has cheered up the advocates of Commuter Railway in Bangalore. In his maiden Union Railway Budget, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda announced a list of five Jansadharan trains, 5 premium trains, 6 AC express trains, 27 express trains, 8 passenger trains, 2 MEMU services and 5 DEMU services. Among these, Bangalore and surrounding areas got the following trains:…

Yezdi Roadkings at last year's Jawa Day. Pic:Raj Photography Come Sunday, the 13th of July, witness a spectacle that happens only once in a year - the largest gathering of Jawa’s and Yezdi’s in Bengaluru. Manufactured by the Ideal Jawa Company in Mysore until 1996, these 250 cc bikes known for their distinct beats from its twin exhaust, will come back alive on the road to celebrate the 12th International Jawa Yezdi Day. The International Jawa Yezdi Day is an annual celebration held on the second Sunday of every July across the globe to celebrate the power and legacy of…

Editor's note: This is a response to the opinion published on Citizen Matters last week, titled When Bengaluru's reputed school says no to admitting a "low class" kid... Pic courtesy: ESAF Bangalore FB page Simplicity is misunderstood in two ways, exemplified by two statements: 1. “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler” - Albert Einstein 2. "Given multiple explanations for a situation, the simplest is the best one to assume” — a  reformulation of Occam’s razor I heard as a kid. The first statement is often misinterpreted mainly because, in such matters, no two people can…

Pic courtesy: skyscrapercity.com   Railway Minister for India is from our own Bengaluru. Bangalore North MP D V Sadananda Gowda is all set to present railway budget tomorrow. What does the Railway Budget mean to Bengaluru? Here are some expectations from this budget expressed by several citizens of Bengaluru, who have been in touch with Railways and have been bargaining for particular issues. FKCCI president also had some of his own demands. Sumathi Rao Malleswaram Swabhimana Initiative We want the land adjacent to all the tracks inside the city to be kept clean. Malleswaram has a railway station and there…

Cycling enthusiasts attending Cycle Day event at Yelahanka. Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), UDD, Government of Karnataka which is part of Bangalore Coalition for Open Streets (BCOS) along with local partner Yelahanka United Environment Association (YUVA) conducted the ‘Cycle Day’ event in Yelahanka New Town next to the Allalasandra lake. The program was attended by over 3,000 local residents and cyclists from across Bangalore who enthusiastically participated in the cycle day event. S R Vishwanath, MLA Yelahanka, Manjula-Commissioner DULT, Muniraju-Corporator Ward 4, Mr.Virupaksha Mysore-Additional Commissioner, BBMP-Yelahanka zone and S T Tayappa-President, YUVA addressed the participants. Cycle Day has been…

Just as the new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi took charge, there were reports of an MBA student interning at Bangalore, being arrested under section 66A of the Information Technology Act 2008, for sending an anti-Modi MMS on WhatsApp. This was the second such case to be booked under the section in 12 days; the first was when a man in Goa was arrested for posting an anti-Modi comment on Facebook. The Goa arrest was made on May 12th, before the election results were declared, while the Bangalore arrest was made on May 24th. This raised questions on freedom of expression,…

Rajeev Gowda (second from left) submitting the Namma Railu petition to the ex-Railway Minister, Mallikarjun Kharge in February 2014. Pic: twitter.com/rajeevgowda Rajeev Gowda is a well-known face in Bangalore. He is the son of M V Venkatappa, who was a Legislative Assembly Speaker and Chairman of the Legislative Council in Karnataka. An academic, Gowda was a professor of Economic and Social Science at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore until recently. He is currently a Rajya Sabha MP, elected from Congress party, representing Karnataka, at the upper house of the Parliament. Rajeev Gowda also started a citizen’s movement, Bengaluru Needs You,…