City: Bengaluru

Since the new Karnataka government announced the free electricity scheme, Gruha Jyoti, many news reports have talked about a large hike in electricity tariff of Rs 2.89 per unit. WhatsApp groups were forwarding messages claiming that rates went up by 50%. This piqued my curiosity, so I decided to try and understand this. Let us see how accurate they were. First, it is important to understand the different parts of your electricity bill. It is a fairly complicated beast, consisting of many moving parts. What goes into your monthly electricity bill? This report from The Hindu, explains the different parts…

On June 11th, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah boarded a BMTC bus, turned conductor for a few minutes, and issued the first free tickets to women passengers as part of the Shakti scheme. Free bus travel is one of the five guarantees of the newly formed Congress government and the first to be fulfilled. While the scheme has been appreciated by many women, several issues need to be resolved to sustain it in the long term, according to public transport advocates. Launch of the Shakti scheme. Pic: Twitter/BMTC_Bengaluru Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV), a group lobbying for better bus service in the…

In part one of this series, we looked at how parking and riding vehicles on footpaths is hazardous to pedestrians, and the legal provisions addressing this. This article will explore the budgetary allocation to footpaths and the possible solutions to improving footpath infrastructure. Bad footpaths invariably have a larger impact on certain vulnerable groups, like senior citizens, children and persons with disabilities. Infact, footpaths are never designed for pedestrians such as pregnant women, or women taking their newborn babies out on a pram, toddlers or senior citizens, eliminating the most vulnerable from using and accessing public spaces. Most footpaths in…

Crowding and congestion on Bengaluru roads push pedestrians to the narrow, potholed and often non-existent footpaths. Footpaths are one of the most critical prerequisites for a more liveable Bengaluru, but they continue to be a neglected priority. A large number of citizens who die in road accidents are pedestrians. With an increasing number of pedestrian deaths, it becomes imperative to address the lack of walkable footpaths and the necessity to maintain them. Vehicles on footpaths Of all the issues plaguing footpaths in Bengaluru, the most prominent is the indiscriminate parking of vehicles. Parking of two-wheelers on footpaths has been a…

Repeal of anti-conversion law, textbook revision The state will repeal the amendments passed by the earlier government regarding the anti-conversion law, during the upcoming assembly session, starting July 5th, said the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, H K Patil. The government will also form a committee to fully revise school textbooks next year, said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in a meeting with Jnanpith awardee, Chandrashekar Kambar. It aims to remove some ‘controversial’ chapters from Social Sciences and Kannada, including RSS founder K B Hedgewar, Bannanje Govindacharya and Chakravarthy Sulibele. They will be replaced by chapters recommended by the Baraguru Ramachandrappa textbook revision committee.…

For two years, Usha Thopna’s day started at 5 am. After waking up, she would cook and clean for her new employers in Bengaluru - Mr. and Mrs. Vatsa. Barely an adult herself, she had to look after their child too, and do various chores demanded of her at their whim. During her 18-hour long work day, she would additionally have to face her employers' verbal and physical violence: she was beaten with cricket bats, injured by scissors to her neck, not given proper food, and burnt by the iron box.  Usha hails from a remote village in Tejpur, Assam.…

About eight and half years ago, Roshni* noticed that her toddler, Karan*, had started to fall back on his milestones. A visit to the paediatrician led to Karan being diagnosed with mild autism. “From then on, it’s been a long journey,” says Roshni. The dedicated parents have taken Karan to numerous intervention centres and therapists, but keeping this going financially was proving to be a burden. That is when someone referred Roshni to The Association of People with Disability (APD), an NGO that has been working for underprivileged people with disability since 1959. Roshni approached APD in March this year,…

Vinod Jacob, member of We Love Cubbon Park Association, expresses his concerns over the redesigning of the park. “They are now trying to lay tiles and concrete slabs. All that we’re asking for is to preserve the park in its natural form, otherwise we won’t be able to differentiate Cubbon Park from UB city.” Vinod is not alone in his concerns over the mismanagement and concretising of Bengaluru's parks. The Lalbagh Walkers' Association has flagged issues over allowing vendors in the park, feeding of stray dogs and pigeons, plastic waste, sewage in Lalbagh pond, among other concerns. Ever since the…

Parks seem like uncontroversial public spaces, but dig a little deeper, and you will find that even these apparently benign spaces are deeply political. They are often the settings for decisions and manoeuvrings that become evident only when you probe into their provenance, functioning and upkeep. These three examples serve to demonstrate how public spaces have been taken over by political forces. Unfortunately, most of us citizens prefer to demur to the situation, forgetting that it is our money that is used to create and run these amenities. We forget to question, or to wonder, if there were a different…

Advisory group to build 'global' city The government will launch a Vision Bengaluru Advisory Group with important personalities from technology, to offer new thinking to steer towards a 'Global Bengaluru', Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on June 5th. It will comprise "many stakeholders" who have invested here, generated jobs and development. He said the projects by civic agencies will be mapped at the ward level to bring in accountability and transparency. The advisory group will include civil society representatives, industry captains, and urban planners. DKS wants to steer ‘Brand Bengaluru’ towards ‘Better Bengaluru’ and ‘Global Bengaluru. He said that…