City: Bengaluru

The Gruha Jyothi or free electricity scheme appears to be extremely popular across the state. Over 1 crore people have registered for it , nearly 42 lakh from Bengaluru. But the process of registering is turning out to be challenging for many people. Under the Gruha Jyothi scheme, households that consume less than 200 units of electricity will not have to pay the monthly bills. But to access these benefits, consumers must register on the Seva Sindhu Portal with their RR numbers and Aadhaar. The Ministry of Energy recently announced that there is no time limit for consumers to register…

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presented the first State Budget of his government. He claimed that the aim is to provide relief for inflation-affected citizens through five guarantee schemes by transferring Rs 52,000 crore to more than one crore families. The budget follows the Universal Basic Income being implemented for the first time. The outlay is over Rs 3.27 lakh crore. The government has increased the Additional Excise Duty on Indian Made Liquor by 20%, and on beer by 5.71%, and proposes to revise guidance value of properties and set a higher revenue target from stamp duty and registration. It also proposes that…

Ganganna (name changed) has been working as a manual scavenger, cleaning toilets and drains for the past 25 years in Tumkur. He says that most villagers have almost stopped hiring manual scavengers, but in urban areas like Bengaluru, there is demand for people like him. Cleaning of STPs cause of death Bengaluru has a large number of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), mostly in apartments, and many lack mechanised maintenance. When STPs require manual intervention in repairing blocks and cleaning, it is workers like Ganganna who are called to get into the sewage pits. This has led to the institutionalisation of…

On June 17th, DK Shivakumar, as the Deputy Chief Minister and the Bengaluru Development Minister held a meeting of 42 eminent personalities and experts to look into issues that need to be fixed in the city. The idea is to reform Brand Bengaluru by constituting a committee of industry leaders and officials. The state government also launched a website where the public can offer comments. City based NGO, Environment Support Group (ESG), has criticised the move for being elitist. The organisation is appealing to the government to undertake Bengaluru’s development through elected representatives in the Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC). Although…

“Patience is required to work in the education field,” says Preeti Gehlot, who was appointed as Special Commissioner for Education on January 25th. “It’s not like building a road, but more like bringing behavioural change in students,” she says. Though Preeti is also in-charge of estate, horticulture, lakes and forest, she prefers to devote more attention to education. In an interview with Citizen Matters, Preeti talks about the education department’s plans and proposals as well as priorities and implementation of policies.  Excerpts from the interview: How are BBMP schools different from schools under the jurisdiction of the Karnataka Government?  BBMP…

On April 25th, commuters, residing along Kanakapura Road (KPR) between the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and NICE road junction, were in for a rude shock while traveling to their offices inside the city. The traffic police closed the right turn from KPR to ORR at Sarakki signal. Commuters had to go straight towards BSK TTMC, drive through BSK vegetable market, and take a right turn into 9th Cross, in front of SNN Raj Spiritua to go towards Jayadeva/Silk Board/BG Road. This change in route increased travel time by 20 minutes; 60% of the traffic on KPR, which used to take…

Steps to streamline projects Revenue minister Krishna Byre Gowda met World Bank representatives to discuss funds for a plan to end flooding in the city. The scheme is being worked out by the State Disaster Management Department, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to redevelop stormwater drains, expand the capacity of lakes, increase underground sewage network and treatment plants. Meanwhile, poor budget allocations and lack of a water tariff revision for almost a decade have put many BWSSB projects on hold. The body is dependent on loans for its projects. Even the Cauvery…

Akkai Padmashali is a pioneer in trans rights activism, from being the first transgender person to register her marriage in Karnataka to being a member of the drafting committee in the 2017 state policy for transgender people. Akkai started the human rights organisation, Ondede, which means ‘convergence’ in Kannada. She aspires to bring about ground-level changes in policies to be more inclusive.  In an exclusive interview with Citizen Matters, Akkai spoke about her views on the implementation of the reservation of jobs in public employment for the transgender community (Karnataka is the first state to provide 1% horizontal reservations in…

The explosion of Covid-19 cases in China towards the end of 2022 and early 2023 reminded us, once again, that pandemics have a way of lingering and forcing themselves to the forefront of our consciousness. As public health policy experts have been saying for years, it is not a question of “if” but “when” the next pandemic (or a new and highly virulent variant of Covid-19) arrives. Since a future pandemic seems inevitable, we argue that the questions we should be asking are will we be able to respond effectively when the pandemic arrives and does effective response depend on…

During the pandemic, coaching centres were compelled to conduct classes online. However, post pandemic, the trend seems to have reversed. Many students, preparing for competitive and board exams, are opting for offline classes. However, online study material, apps, recorded zoom classes, and YouTube videos, are being used by students either because they cannot attend classes in person or due to easy accessibility. Students' preferences Lutsuhlu Swuro, who joined Rau’s IAS Study Circle to prepare for the UPSC exam, says there is no alternative to classroom teaching. "The environment at home does not give me enough privacy to focus and study.…