City: Bengaluru

If you have not updated your name in the voter list yet, there is time till December 31st. Though the last date for submitting applications for all 28 BBMP constituencies was December 4th, the date has been extended now. A press release on this, was issued yesterday by the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka.The draft rolls had been published earlier on November 5th. This list has been revoked. As per the new schedule, the new draft rolls would be published on December 10th, which will be available on the website http://ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in. Public can also inspect the rolls at the offices…

Feb 2013 The poor rainfall of the past year has resulted in several dry lakes in the city. Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, environment and lake expert Dr Yellappa Reddy explained why lakes were drying up: "All of us are aware that the monsoons failed this time and there is hardly any inflow of water to the lakes. However, lakes situated inside and adjacent to urban localities could have maintained the inflow with recycled water." The lake beds of Dasarahalli Lake and Herohalli Lake have completely dried up. There are only traces of water at Hebbal and Kengeri Lakes. Water levels…

Disabled citizens are struggling to get government issued benefit cards because the offices are situated on higher floors of buildings.  Karvy Technologies has been hired to collect biometric information for the UID project, by the government. One of its centres is located on the first floor of a building at Sampige road in Malleswaram. This centre has no provisions like nurses, elevators or even a ramp to support a wheel chair. Karvy technologies at Sampige Road. Pic: Author Venkatesan has been trying to get an Aadhar card for his physically challenged wife. He said: "I have been in touch with…

We build ourselves many different types of houses, but Nature provides a great variety of housing for Her creatures, too! Let's look at some of the smaller beings...Here's a Weaver Ants' nest; the ants "weave" together the leaves with a paste that they generate, and make a water-proof home. Pic: Deepa MohanHere are two Paper Wasps, beginning the construction of their nest (yes, it is a kind of papery material, hence their name. Pic: Deepa Mohan When they finish, the wasps' nest looks like this... such a beautiful globe, with its crescent-shaped patterns. However, do not approach too close, for…

"Bad Pati." - said my twelve year old granddaughter.This was her reaction to my dumping milk bags into the kitchen waste bin that contained only ‘wet waste'."Sorry dear, I won't do it again." - I said feeling proud of my eco-friendly grandchild. Yes. I felt ashamed. It is true that grown-ups should show more concern about such things in the presence of the younger generation. If we ‘pooh-pooh' their remarks and continue to be callous it would be shameful.I was walking in the park in our neighborhood and was rather upset when two youngsters threw the paper plates in which…

The Private Security Agencies Regulation (PSAR) Act, implemented in 2005, does not seem to be fulfilling its purpose. Security guards from a private security firm. Pic: Author According to the Internal Security Division, the licensing authority of the Karnataka government, 1,506 PSAs are functioning in the state. But only 548, or 36 percent, work with a valid license.Applications by 258 security agencies for licenses are being processed, and around 25 applications had been rejected in the six months to Oct. 31.During a one-day conclave organized by the Karnataka Security Services Association (KSSA) on Nov. 24, Bhaskar Rao, he inspector general…

What will we do with all the garbage produced is the biggest question on majority of the apartment residents these days. BBMP's ambiguous statements on the issue is not making it any simpler.While apartment residents are miffed about this treatment meted out to them, they cite practical reasons as to why asking apartment complexes to handle their own waste is not such a good idea. Though, the BBMP website says the waste has to be segregated into six categories, some residents complain that the pourakarmikas simply dump them into just wet and dry categories while collecting. In the core city…

The woman got on to the bus, gave the conductor a two rupee coin and prepared to get off two stops later. I caught her eye and said, sternly, "Pay proper charges and get a ticket, or you'll be fined Rs 150." "All right amma, sorry" she said, alighting at the new flyover, "I work here, sweeping the rubble, and earn Rs 2,000 a month, I have to live on that."The budget for the flyover is several crores. Workers like her who build it, earn for a whole month's work, what an entry level software employee in our IT city,…

Apartments are bulk generators; we won't collect garbage from them. No, apartments are not bulk generators; we will collect waste from them. BBMP has been going back and forth on this issue for over two months now. As the December 1st deadline, for waste segregation at source is here, there is still no clarity on where the waste from the apartment complexes is going to go. Media reports have quoted BBMP Commissioner Rajneesh Goel saying that apartments are now excluded from the bulk generators list. However BBMP's website has the notification dated October 1st, that has categorised apartments under bulk…

As the fear of bird flu looms over Bangalore, here are some facts that one ought to know: What is bird flu?Flu stands for influenza, a viral infection caused by the flu virus. And bird flu is ‘flu occurring in birds'. Depending on minor differences on the genetic make up of the virus, influenza virus is of type A, B and C. The current outbreak is caused by a subtype of influenza A, known as H5N1.If it is an infection of birds, why should humans be worried?Humans can catch bird flu directly through close contact with live infected birds. It…