City: Bengaluru

Bangalore is riding on the IT wave. What about the day when the situation becomes counter-productive to IT business in Bangalore? Pic: Shree D N Is Bangalore on the way to becoming a Detroit? There are too many similarities that cannot be ignored, between the two. Detroit - an American Dream Detroit, which once upon a time was the silicon valley of American industrialisation, stands today just as another rubble of urban waste. The city was heralded as the American dream. The third biggest city in America during 1920s and 1960s, today Detroit is bankrupt, with just a few hundred…

One of the banes of electoral rolls in the country is the rampant duplicate entries. Voter records are duplicated (a) within the same voter list, (b) in some other voter list within the constituency, (c) in other constituencies of the state or (d) in other states. For the past four years CEO-Karnataka has been telling that they have great software using fuzzy logic, capable of identifying all kinds of duplicates. CEO also told in February 2013 that his organisation deleted about 65,000 duplicate records identified by software and considered that there are no more duplicate entries. However, in the electoral…

Have you ever travelled from Dr Rajkumar Road underpass via Okalipuram to reach City Central Railway station in Bangalore? If you have, you will agree that it takes nothing less than 45 minutes to one hour to cross the 1.5 kms road. You have to beat heavy traffic jams on the uphill road burning precious fuel, avoid jaywalking people, vehicles criss-crossing at intersections, potholed roads and the heavy traffic load on the road. The long-awaited project of creating an underpass, rail over-bridge at the two Okalipuram railway tracks and the 8-lane corridor is proposed to take off in December 2013.…

All you gardeners of Bengaluru, here's something you might have missed. Lalbagh saw a beautiful show of Orchids last weekend. The Orchid Society of Karnataka (TOSKAR) had organised a two-day Orchid show, on September 21 and 22. Exotic species and range of hybrid Orchids were on display. It was altogether a new flowery world, with blooms of all colours, size and shapes.   That does look like a butterfly, but no, it's not! The shape is deceptively similar. There were many more surprises like his on display at the exhibition.  There were stalls selling Orchids, Orchid accessories and books related…

October 2 brings the annual ritual obeisance to the Father of the Nation, but in the last six decades we have not had a repetition of the kind of protests against injustice on the scale that Gandhiji undertook during his salt march or Quit India movement. However, this time around, there is talk of a satyagraha, no less, by citizens of Bengaluru, because judging from the meetings I have been witness to over the last three months, patience is running thin. It is, many residents are now saying, time to undertake collective action, to make our voices heard. Not against…

This year seems to have been a slightly eco-friendly Ganapati festival, claimed various press releases from BBMP and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB). But the statistics tells a different tale. The drive of the KSPCB and the BBMP to influence people to celebrate an eco-friendly festival seems to have done little in curtailing the pollution levels in the lakes. KSPCB and BBMP had publicised the importance of eco-Ganesha in a large scale this year, through various media including Facebook, advertisements and campaigns. This year around 1.2 lakh Gahesha idols were sold in Bangalore city - this is 40% of…

The Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC) has launched a new initiative to improve the quality of BBMP corporators, by identifying capable individuals interested in contesting BBMP elections, and train and support their joining public service. Christened B.CLIP (BPAC Civic Leadership Incubator Program), it is designed to equip candidates with skills in public policy analysis, municipal administration, political landscape and election campaign dynamics. The project is expected to throw up candidates that BPAC and other civil society organisations can endorse for the future Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw speaking at a press conference, launching BCLIP programme. Mohandas…

This article was written in September 2013. Some details found here are outdated. This has been updated, to include the policies of new NDA government. The new article has been published on December 24th, 2014. Read it here: How to get LPG subsidy with or without Aadhaar card. How to get LPG subsidy with or without Aadhaar card Read more at: https://citizenmatters.in/articles/how-to-get-lpg-subsidy-with-or-without-aadhaar-card?utm_source=copy How to get LPG subsidy with or without Aadhaar card Read more at: https://citizenmatters.in/articles/how-to-get-lpg-subsidy-with-or-without-aadhaar-card?utm_source=copy The Central government’s ambitious Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme for LPG will be introduced in Bangalore starting December 1, 2013. So, be ready with…

With the increasing time you spend at traffic signals in Bengaluru, you only think about one government department — Traffic Department. You may hail them or curse them, but they are on their toes to help the city de-congest. Though the department is approached for approval of all infrastructure projects, there is no authority to it. Limited roads, which are always in a bad state are the biggest hurdle the department faces while struggling to keep the city traffic smooth. Bangalore's Additional Commissioner of Traffic Police, IPS offcer, B Dayananda Pic: Nikita Malusare Additional Commissioner of Traffic Police B Dayananda,…

Construction activities continue to encroach the drain coming from Madivala valley that leads to Bellandur lake. Pic: Nikita Malusare There seems to be no end to controversies surrounding the Bellandur SEZ project opposite Agara Lake near Koramangala, Bengaluru. Karnataka’s Lake Development Authority (LDA), which conducted an inspection recently following media reports, has asked KIADB to stop construction activities on Bellandur lake catchment area by Manipal ETA Infotech Ltd. The LDA is a governmental body working for the regeneration and conservation of lakes in and around Bangalore city within BMRDA jurisdiction. Based on the report of the inspection held on June…