City: Bengaluru

National Games Village (NGV) was built in 1997 and fire safety equipments were installed at the time. But 15 years on, most residents still do not know where these are located or how to use them.According to the Karnataka Fire Force Act, 1964, it is the responsibility of the fire department to check whether equipment are being maintained in good working condition.  Ghataprabha block of National Games Village. Pic: Anisha Nair Meera Rajesh, a resident of NGV says, "I am not aware of any fire safety equipment being installed in our society. I don't think there are any at all."…

Women in Bengaluru are asked to fend for themselves when it comes to protection from sexual harassment. With more working women moving in from other cities, many Paying Guest (PG) accommodation and hostels have come up in areas like Jayanagar and Koramangala. These young women are complaining of sexual harassment closer to where they live.Ankita Mehta, 24, a media employee and a resident of Koramangala says, "we face a lot of harassment problems in our lane, specially because there are fewer street lights working. Also sometimes the our PG caretaker brings a lot of men (friends)inside. We are always in…

Oota from your Thota (OfyT), a programme for organic farming enthusiasts, will be held on March 25th, Sunday, in Malleswaram. The programmes includes lectures and discussions on organic farming, pest control etc. There will also be exhibition and sale of seeds, saplings, gardening accessories, compost bins etc.The event is organised by Malleswaram Swabhimana Initiative (MSI) - the Resident Welfare Association of Malleswaram - along with Garden City Farmers Trust (GCFT), an NGO that promotes organic farming. Citizen Matters is media partner for the event. OfyT was held in BTM Layout last August. File Pic: Yogaraj Mudalgi G Shantaram, Joint Secretary…

I had the opportunity to attend a Children's Ward Sabha in Vijnana Nagar on February 23rd. It was organised by CWC (The Concerned for Working Children), an NGO for child rights.A Ward Sabha in urban areas is similar to a Gram Sabha in rural areas, wherein citizens of a village come together to voice their demands from elected representatives; these demands are supposed to be incorporated in the development package for that area. In 2006, based on the experience of other countries which have such children's sabhas, the Karnataka government took the initiative of making children's gram sabhas mandatory in…

Illustration: Sridhar comaravalli Mar 21st UPDATE On the evening of March 20st, as this article was published, lawyers decided to call off the strike for a few days. This was in response to Karnataka Home Minister R Ashoka's order to transfer DCP(Central) G Ramesh and ACP K N Jitendranath. Lawyers say, however, that they are continuing to demand resignation of Ashoka himself. Also, DGP (CID) R K Dutta's report to Karnataka's Home Secretary has confirmed that police did not follow due procedure during the lathi-charge on advocates on March 2nd, according to media reports. Lawyers say it is now a…

Domestic Workers' rights union organised a public meeting in association with support groups Stree Jagruthi Samithi, APSA and Hengasara Hakkina Sangha (HHS) on March 13, 2012. The meeting was held at SCM house, Bangalore. Domestic Workers at the public meeting. Pic: Anisha Nair The meet was organised to address the concerns of the Domestic workers. Around 50 domestic workers came to voice their problems of domestic violence at their homes and workplaces from across the city.The panel of experts comprised of B S Bharathi Devi - Protection officer from Department of Women and child development, Aarti Mundkur - Lawyer, Sudha…

March 20th is International Sparrow day, to mark this special day BCIL-ZED (Biodiversity Conservation India Private Limited- Zero Energy Development) foundation and Zoo authority of Karnataka, is holding an international conference on sparrows. The conference being organised in association with Gandhi Krishi Vignyan Kendra, Department of Forests, Department of Urban Development along with institutes such as Christ college and St Joseph college at St. Joseph's college auditorium. The objective of this event is to conserve bio diversity, understand best management practices to sustain wild life and to identify different species of sparrows, their food, feeding and habitats. Around 1200 delegates…

Bengaluru is all set to host its first edition of Film Harvest 2012 starting from March 16, 2012 to March 20, 2012. UB City, The Collection in association with Sublime Galleria presents "Film Harvest 2012" with an aspiration to create an international platform for filmmakers from across the world. Uzma Irfan, Director of Prestige Group, who also serves as the Festival Chairperson, has conceptualised the festival. The film festival will showcase a variety of films ranging from short film to documentaries & full-length features, all made on the theme of Social Responsibility. The film festival will begin with a musical…

CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) has unearthed yet another BBMP scam. This time it is about the excess payment of over Rs 90 lakhs paid to two contractors for drain de-silting works in 2009. Despite spending 1.65 crore rupees on these two rajakaluves, it is not clear how much work was actually done, as BBMP officials had manipulated the work records. This has come out in the 2008-10 audit of BBMP by CAG. Rajakaluve works in another area. File Pic: Anisha Nair The irregularities were on de-silting and re-sectioning two rajakaluves (major Storm Water Drains or SWDs). One…

The street vendors at Gandhi Bazaar were evicted on January 23rd, and it has been more than a month since then. Many reasons were cited for the eviction. The BBMP authorities said there was a demand from the traffic police and members of the public to clear the footpath and the road to ensure smooth movement of pedestrians and vehicles, according to a newspaper report ((Deccan Chronicle, Jan 25). So, it was traffic congestion and inconvenience to public that seemingly triggered the eviction. When I spoke to some residents of Basavanagudi, they opined that the vendors were quite rude, unlike…