City: Bengaluru

URBAN DEVEOPMENT DEPARTMENT SECRETARIATNOTIFICATION - INo.UDD 666 MyAPRa 2013' Bangalore, Dated: 31-12-2013The draft of the Karnataka Town and country Planning (Regulaflon of unauthorized development or constructions) Rules 2013, which the Government of Karnatata proposes to make in excercie of the powers conferred under section 76FF and read with section 74 of the Karnataka Town and Country planning Act, 1961 [Karnataka Act 11 of 1963) is hereby published as required under subsection (1) of section 74 of the said Act for the information of all persons likely to be affected thereby and notice is hereby given that the said draft will…

Though the recent release of her latest novel, Ghost Hunters of Kurseong, a children’s book, has kept Shweta Taneja  busy, she was kind enough to take time off her busy schedule to spend some time answering a few questions and discussing her inspirations, writing and her new book.Growing up in Delhi, surrounded by a large and loving family, she had a penchant for narrating scary stories to her cousins on nights, especially on those nights ravaged by storms, when the electricity flickered out. Excerpts from the interview: Q. How did you get into writing? Is this something you’ve always known…

Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department’s interim report on the alleged KPSC recruitment scam has indicted various officials exposed in the TV9 sting operation a few months ago, in the alleged demand for ‘under-the-table’ money from KAS aspirants. The investigation was carried out after a FIR was filed by the Department of Public Administration and Reforms (DPAR). The report by CID of Karnataka confirms large scale malpractice, corruption and favouritism in the selection of Grade A Gazetted Probationary Exams of 2011. Apart from the eight people named in the FIR, CID has found out the involvement of many others who acted as…

Talk about illegal buildings, and you come to know that more than 80% of buildings in Bengaluru have violations. Building owners who have knowingly or unknowingly violated the building rules, have been looking to resolve these issues once and for all. And the respite is here - in the form of Akrama Sakrama. The government has published the draft rules for Akrama Sakrama on December 31, 2013, deciding to regularise the buildings built before October 19, 2013. Like any other law, The Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act - now known as Akrama Sakrama - was framed with a lot…

Bengaluru is home to Sandalwood, the Kannada film Industry. The industry produces 120-130 movies an year and has about 10% success rate like other major film industries of India. Unfortunately, unlike other film industries, Sandalwood is known for banning dubbing of content to Kannada. This unofficial ban on dubbing content effectively isolates Kannadigas who know only Kannada (approximately there are 2.5 to 3 crore Kannadigas who know only Kannada and no other language) from the sea of knowledge and entertainment that exists in other languages. A poster of Titanic, dubbed into Telugu. Pic courtesy: harithehero.blogspot.com We must note that the…

Like the age old tale of the elves and shoemaker, our cities too appear to have a group of elves that are hard at work before the sun is up and are completely responsible for the city’s garbage collection and clean streets. Almost blending into the scene, there is a group of women from largely dispossessed sects of society that are employed in the sector called the pourakarmikas. Belonging to low income or BPL families of a particular sub-sect, they end up at the bottom of the professional and social ladder, to be looked down upon by the upper castes…

Former Olympian, Nisha Millet and Kannada actress, Anu Prabhakar are true blue Bangaloreans. They, like many other Bangaloreans, have been brought up around the numerous trees that adorned the city. With time and urbanisation, the cityscape has taken a turn for the worse. Urban forests have given way to apartment complexes and tree-lined promenades have been turned into roads. Does this spell the end of Garden City? Not by a long shot; especially considering that Neralu is around the corner.   On February 8 and 9, Bangalore will witness an event that is the first of its kind. Neralu, the Bangalore Tree Festival will be…

“Western culture has made inroads to Indian culture, because of which we find nine-year-olds raping 13-year-olds. It is we, as a citizen, who have to do something about it, instead of pointing to others,” said Y Bhaskar Rao, Karnataka Lokayukta. He was addressing the participants after an interaction session organised on the eve of Lokayukta Day celebration, on Thursday, January 9, 2014. The Lokayukta day was observed as part of 25 years of Lokayukta service in Karnataka. Bhaskar Rao explained the suo motu initiatives taken up by him in the last one year, including prompting the departments to start biometric…

A man claiming to be a cardiologist who ran his own hospital for five years was not registered as a doctor in the state of Karnataka. S K Guharoy, who described himself as “about 42 years” in the documents he submitted in court, is not registered as a doctor in his hometown state of West Bengal. He says he has treated thousands of patients at his Medicare Hospital in R T Nagar in the past five years. According to the Medical Council of India, all doctors working in the state should be registered both in Karnataka and in their home…