City: Bengaluru

I often wonder whether we are doing justice to our youngsters -- all open spaces are being ornamentally ‘gardened', ‘fountained', 'ticketed' and enclosed with barbed wires that are inaccessable to children. To give one or two concrete examples, there was a nice open space behind the HOPCOMS in Sadashivanagar that is surrounded by houses. There is also a nursery school in that area. I have been a resident in this neighbourhood the past 30 years and it pains me to see all the open spaces being taken away for either allotment to VIPs or converted into ornamental parks with tickets.…

Karnataka has witnessed a steep hike in the number of senior citizens looking for jobs over the years. Nightingale Empowerment Foundation, an organisation that helps senior citizens of Bangalore to get jobs, has recently seen a very high rate of enrollment. Unfortunately since October 2011, out of 1100 registrations, the organization has been able to get employment for only 260 of them.Swathi Bhandary, Project Manager at Nightingale said: "Employers should realise that most of the eligible citizens are very much capable of getting recruited."Accountancy, call-centre and other clerical jobs are areas wherein senior citizens are recruited.The Directorate of Welfare of…

The bi-annual and eagerly awaited Aero-India, the premier air show proudly hosted by Bangalore attracts crowds from across the world in large numbers.Apart from tourists, visitors and participants to the show, the city also sees an increase in the number of relatives and friends, not only of the pilots and participants but also of residents residing in the vicinity of the venue.  Their urge to see the fighters and other aircrafts maneuver in the skies for five days free of cost is the prime reason. Quick Links: Aero India * Aero India 2009 According to Sidharth M, a second year…

India has not been familiar with political action committees of the kind that are common across the United States, but an initiative by corporate heavyweights and prominent members of civil society in Bangalore could well change that. On Sunday, the 3rd of February, the city took its first step towards active urban citizen engagement in the the electoral process with the launch of the Bangalore Political Action Committee or BPAC.Established with the broader aim of promoting a better quality of life for all citizens of the metropolis, BPAC will  seek to identify and support strong candidates - irrespective of their…

Senior citizens of Brigade Millennium apartments took the lead to organise the much needed Aadhaar Camp in our enclave with Mayflower flat's lobby as the venue between January 4th and 20th. The residents, under the umbrella of 'Elders Forum' contacted UID officials, who pointed them to one of their contract agencies, Mars Systems. Since there were 800+ apartments, the residents found it convenient to organise a camp. Resident volunteers coordinated each block and allotted specific timings for enrollment. They could also ensure domestic help and drivers employed in the complex could register.  The UI camp was conducted in a spirit…

In the last few weeks, we have started segregating waste in our apartment complex. Valuable lessons have been learnt on the problems created by thoughtless waste disposal, while understanding how resistant residents can be to change, even if it is for ‘greater good.'But what I did not expect is - insights into gender equation in households. Before you accuse me of bringing in feminist agenda into waste management, hear me out, I do have a point.Firstly, when the entire city was stinking up and grappling with how to dispose garbage safely, it was the women in the apartment who mooted…

“Arey yaar.. in logon ko to kuch kaam dhandha hai nahi, saare aakar yahan baith ke aawaz uthathe hai…. hamare desh mein aise bahut saare hadse hote rehte hai, aise awaaz uthake kya fayda; kuch hone wala to hai nahi” - (These people are not at all serious about the issue, what is the use of protesting on streets then? How are we to benefit from these protests?) - this is what a commuter told me as he stopped his bike for a while to witness people raising their voices at Town Hall – a popular protest spot in Bengaluru.…

I have with me, two news items -- the one dated January 19th reports in prominent, bold type, that the Supreme Court "ordered all states not to give permission for installation of any statue in a public place or road, because citizens' right to move freely must not be obstructed in any manner" and that the government must instead use the money on "ameliorating the plight of the poor and not on showcasing achievements by putting up obstructions on the roads." The Ambedkar statue in front of Vidhan Soudha. File: Meera K The court order specifically mentions statues. Hearing a…

January 22th to 29th is observed as Cervical Cancer prevention week. According to a survey conducted by the oncologists of HCG Hospitals, Bangalore alone records 21.1% out of 100,000 fresh cases of cervical cancer every year. It is comparatively higher than other metropolitan cities. Delhi (17.9%), Kolkata (14.2%), in Mumbai (14.1%) and Chennai (18.5) contribute to fresh cervical cancer cases in comparatively lesser numbers than Bangalore. The survey also reveals that women living in rural areas are more prone to this disease.In India, around 80-85% of women are affected by Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) before the age of 35 years.…

The Chief Electoral Officer published a new set of voters' lists on 28 Jan 2013. Download of the voter lists using a software program, and data extraction from them, was since disabled by converting the files to image files, but Prajalytics, a software company, had already downloaded the files for 27 Bangalore constituencies manually and extracted voter records. The data quoted in succeeding paragraphs is based on the voter lists of 27 constituencies of Bangalore city downloaded on 28th January 2013. Violation of Data ModelThe Instruction Manual for Standardization of Electoral Roll Database (Ver 1.0) published by Election Commission of…