City: Bengaluru

As per the last census, Bangalore had a growth of over 48%. Across Indian cities, the growth has been rapid. It is the kind of growth that would have tested the best of political and managerial talent in an extremely empowered city - mayor kind of system that we see globally. Given that we do not have proper city governance system, no visionary leaders and lack of urban governance skills, we have a perfect storm developing across our cities. Do we stay with business as usual?Each of us has our own view of the problem in the city. It could…

It's hot - and I don't mean the weather. Election fever is spreading, with parties and politicians busy working out strategies that would help them retain (or get to) power.Politicians in power who drive through signals in official cars with red lights whirling on top and pilot cars ordering all traffic to make way for the VIP, have become suddenly supplicants, appearing with folded hands in roadside hoardings, telling us how keen they are to 'serve' us.Look at the party election manifestoes of last elections, and you will see that they all make near-identical promises in seeking votes - capturing…

Assembly Equation The Karnataka Assembly has 224 seats and the incumbent BJP barely holding on to a majority. The last decade has seen permutations and combinations of party tie-ups and several politicians and MLAs change parties before, during and after elections. As many as 20 bypolls were held in the last 5 years because of MLAs quitting their parties to join the ruling party. It foresees more by polls for the Parliament if any of the 4 sitting MPs who are contesting the Assembly election win. Electorate According to the Chief Election Office, Karnataka has 4.36 Crore voters. Bangalore has…

“Politics is bad; it is horrible. Politicians are scoundrels. So what should we do apart from talking? Just because the air is polluted doesn't mean you stop breathing. Hope, organisation, honest effort and action will take us to a better tomorrow.” This is what Dr. Priya Dharshini S V, who is contesting from Rajarajeshwari Nagar under JD(U) banner says in her Facebook post. A doctor-turned-lawyer, ex-IAS officer, mother of two, Dr Priya practises at Karnataka High Court, Supreme Court and International courts. Priya Dharshini, Rajajeshwari Nagar candidate. Pic: Priya4MLA, Facebook page. Meet the new breed of electoral contestants: urban, highly…

'The Sustainable City' is a year-long series of events starting 20 April, 2013. The event initiated by Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore  in collaboration with TiE CleanTech SIG (The Indus Entrepreneurs Cleantech Special Interest Group) is an effort to build knowledge and awareness in the context of sustainable urbanisation Pic courtesy: IIHS IIHS intervenes to address the deficit of practice and policy at the administrative level of urban governance and thus the need to make sustainability a necessity at policy levels.  From being accepted as a standard, education in India is now largely debated, discussed and is undergoing…

Workers transporting election campaign material. Party members lodged in hushed discussions. Plastic chairs strewn about. Posters of B S Yeddyurappa smiling directly at you. For a party that was born barely a few months ago, the mood at the election office of the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) in Malleshwaram is surprisingly calm. The reasons could be many. For one, the man who leads the party is a force to reckon with. It's his very first election outside of the party that led him to become its first ever Chief Minister in south India. After more than 30 eventful years with…

Sometimes, a rare plant can be found practically at one’s own doorstep! I’d gone with a few friends to the Arikere Reserve Forest, which is just about 4km from where I live. There, we spotted these unusual-looking flowers, which made us feel that it might be a carnivorous insect-eating plant, like the Venus Flytrap, and we took some photographs. Ceropegia Candelabrum. Pic: Deepa Mohan When my friend Poornima Kannan googled out some information about the plant, we realised that it was not a carnivorous plant... but even smarter than that! The scientific name of the plant is Ceropegia Candelabrum (the…

Amarjyothi layout, Domlur is supposed to be a very posh locality situated in one of the most busy parts of Bengaluru. There are over 500 sites spread almost equally on either side of the intermediate Ring Road from Indira Nagar to Koramangala south of the old Airport Road. Both the east and west wings of the layout are also neighbouring some of the most sought after landmarks in Bangalore. The east wing is surrounded by the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) and Royal Orchid hotel on one side and the Embassy Golf Links Business Park that houses some of the world's…

Note: This website will soon be migrated to a new system.  If you face any issues, do mail us. You can also reach us through Twitter or Facebook! Bengaluru This Week Get our free weekly newsletter. Name Email Bengaluru This Week archives. As I scrolled through some Facebook updates last week, I saw a note shared by my friend. It talked about a Political Action Internship by Prof Rajeev Gowda, an eminent personality who teaches at IIM Bangalore. I read through the note and it interested me. This turned out to be a great workshop covering some topics and uncovering many…

The recent ‘World Giving Index' published by the Charities Aid Foundation surveyed about 195,000 people living in 153 nations. According to the data, India ranked at 134 with only 14% known to have donated to a charity in the past 12 months, while 12% had offered to volunteer for a cause and 30% had helped strangers. The World Giving Index score of India only counted to 19. This is very poor considering the highest score on the index is 57 and the lowest is 12.How can India overcome this dismal status and move up the ranking? One answer can be…