City: Bengaluru

Dogs trying to figure out the source of stinking meat on Railway Parallel Road, Malleshwaram. Some residents of Malleshwaram in Bengaluru noticed that there was a foul smell in the air one fine morning, after the first rains. They saw many bags lying around near the railway area on 11th main road. When they checked the bags, there was animal waste dumped by unknown persons, rotting and causing the smell. When they enquired with city administration, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials on how to dispose animal waste, the answer they got was shocking: BBMP does not have a proper…

Traffic on Mysore Road. Pic: Google Maps I am an ordinary citizen of Bengaluru who travels all the way from Rajarajeshwari Nagar to Sarjapur Outer Ring Road for work every day. I almost travel 50 kms each way. On the way, I see that more than 50% of jams are purely because of someone flouting the rules. I thought I must present my thoughts to see whether some problems can be solved. 1.       For example, the Rajarejshwari Arch bus stand on the Mysore road is at a traffic trisection, which creates so much of confusion, at all times of the…

Since they have been asked, let me put down my answers to these questions for the record: Why Modi? Why this self-inflicted - and, presumably, on others - two-month personal campaign? Why FB? How did it go? What next? But first, why me? I'm political. I'm consciously political while in conversation, staging a play, writing for the screen or my newspaper column, and even inside the classroom. This means my social life is completely boring to normal people, by normal standards. I keep meeting the same friends of a small personal group, which is often fragmented because even these friends…

People's Campaign for Right to water- Karnataka (PCRW-K) is a campaign pushing for a water democracy that protects water as a common property resource and provides safe, sufficient and clean water for all. The campaign also works on protection of lakes, water bodies in Karnataka and conserving water resources as commons. This is a press note from the Campaign, produced as it is. The campaign works to make the state responsible to facilitate people’s participation in nurturing lakes as commons and has repeatedly registered complaints, had series of discussions with the Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka and various concerned departments…

Satish Reddy, Bommanahalli MLA, accompanying the protestors near KCDC. Pic: Rakshith G V  Residents of Somasundarapalya in Bengaluru have been protesting against the stench emitted by the  Karnataka Compost Development Corporation(KCDC)’s composting unit at HSR Layout. However Saturday's (May 24, 2014) protest was different: They had the MLA of Bommanahalli, Satish Reddy, to back them. Outside KCDC’s second gate, located next to Somasundarapalya lake, residents from the nearby apartments and houses gathered. They complained to the MLA about the smell, and claimed that their children are falling ill. The MLA claimed: “The stench is causing health problems for the people.…

Prakash Belawadi. Pic courtesy: Abhinaya Taranga Prakash Belawadi is an artiste and a multi-faceted person who has been working in the fields of arts, culture and media. He is active in the intellectual circles of Bengaluru. He was in the Lok Satta party and contested BBMP elections in 2010. In 2014 Parliamentary elections, he was seen supporting BJP through his Facebook posts. Citizen Matters spoke to Prakash Belawadi, to explore what he, as a supporter of the party in the power in the centre, would expect the government to do. Here are the excerpts: What should be the priority of…

  Elections are over, and every political leader is in an introspective mode. Citizen Matters spoke to Prithvi Reddy, leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from Karnataka, to understand his views on the results and the way forward for the party in Bengaluru. What is your take on the election results? I don’t think there is much to be said. It has been nothing short of a tidal wave or tsunami. It just washed away everything in sight, and that includes bad politics and good politics. And I think we need to recognise it and first congratulate the BJP-led NDA.…

What do you do when you see a garbage dump near your home or slabs misplaced from the footpath drains, and don’t see any civic agency going anything to solve the problem? Just go out and do it yourself! This is the motto behind a Bangalorean movement called The Ugly Indian. Citizens inspired by The Ugly Indian movement working to fix a drain. Pic: The Ugly Indian The Ugly Indian is an apolitical, anonymous group of citizens who feel strongly about the visible filth in Indian cities. The movement, aimed at solving problems at public spaces with direct action and…

Voters have given their verdict. BJP has once again made a clean sweep in Bengaluru, repeating the 2009 Parliamentary election pattern. However, there are some differences this time. We take a look at the numbers: Bangalore South Ananth Kumar won the seat for the sixth time comfortably, with a margin of over 2.2 lakhs (56.9% of total polled votes). Nandan Nilekani got a sizeable number of votes (36.4% of the total polled votes), but it wasn’t enough to propel him to victory. The takeaway is this: The competition was fierce and limited to BJP and Congress, with very few votes…

On a day when no one predicted fast timings, Geoffrey Kamworoor-Kipsang obliterated the six-year-old course record with an excellent 27:44 clocking, while Lucy Kabuu led a Kenyan podium sweep in the women’s race, also with a brilliant new time of 31:48, in the 7th edition of TCS World 10K Bangalore. Pacemaker Daniel Salel, a silver medalist in 10000m at Delhi Commonwealth Games four years ago, led the runners through the first half of the race in 13:57.   Defending champion Alex Oloitiptip and his Kenyan teammate Kamworor were in the lead group, as was Ethiopian Kinde Atanaw.  Incidentally the Ethiopian has the fastest…