City: Bengaluru

"Oota from your thota" is an initiative by Garden City Farmers Trust to promote better living by encouraging organic urban farming. The immense popularity of the first attempt at oota from your thota in August at BTM, led to this event. The event was this time held at UAS Alumni Association premises next to Veterinary College, Bellary Road, Hebbal on 27th November 2011. Citizen Matters was the media partner for the event. People attending a session on organic farming. Pic: Deepthi Sarma Spearheaded by Dr Viswanath, the Garden City Farmers are a growing tribe of people who believe in greening…

A forlorn young boy, nestled next to the feet of his friends perched on a platform, gazes on into the distance, unmindful of the camera. The telling photograph was chosen as the winning entry at the 'Frames of My City' contest organised by Red Frames, a Bangalore-based photography website. Shot by Kolkata-based photographer Jayanta Roy, it was picked from among 7,800 entries by 1600 photographers from over 250 locations. Ashwin Deshpande, another Bangalore-based photographer's entry. Pic: Yogaraj Mudalgi Roy says of the photograph, "I shot it at a slum near Kolkata. Several boys were playing and the boy was just…

  Ladies circle A fun filled day for about 50 children at Kidwai Cancer hospital was organised on 4 November, by Ladies Circle India Area 6 Chapter. Deepa and Arvind Aathreya, of "School of Success" fame, Chennai conducted an interactive & creative session for the children. There was also a puppet show in which the kids participated eagerly. Ladies Circle Area 6 donated fruits and hospital fees for children below poverty line. Ladies Circle India (LC India) is a non political and non sectarian organisation of young women, usually the wives of members of Round Table, aged between 18-40. It…

Sharmila,16, and her five younger sisters were brought to Child Fund Association (CFA), an orphanage home in Puttenahalli, after their mother passed away. Their father, visually challenged, could not take care of them. Sharmila, who is from Kollegal, has been living there for 6 years. "I am lucky to have found a place like this to live," she says. Children playing at the centre. Pic: Yogaraj Mudalgi. Eighty-five children, mostly girls, have found a home in CFA and since its beginning in 1982, close to 750 children have grown up in the home. Most children in the orphanage have a…

Citizens enrolling for Aadhaar (UID) card might be unwittingly sharing personal information with third party organisations in the near future. A key step of the enrollment process, is for data operators to ask for consent of the enrollees on whether they would like their personal information to be shared. However, operators are not always asking citizens for this consent. Citizen Matters observed this at the enrollment centre in Jakkasandra Government School, Koramangala. Srinivas Reddy and Anjali Devi, just after their enrolment. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi Apoorva L J, Audit Manager for Wipro which is the enrollment agency, says that the…

As a visitor to Bangalore, I do not usually get hit by any disturbing event.  In fact, my past visits have been pleasant.  The purpose of my visits has been merely to visit family and friends. This time, however the black cloud (yeah, the one that randomly victimises you or someone you know) found me within minutes of ending a very comfortable train ride -- executive class on the Shatabdi from Chennai, November 23rd.  Illustration: Comaravalli Sridhar Radhakrishnan. On exiting the Cantonment station about 10:15p.m. I rang my cousin who was to pick me up, then my mobile went in…

On November 1st, KSPCB released a guide on Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs). In this exclusive interview with Citizen Matters, KSPCB Chairman A S Sadashivaiah talks about how the guide will help, and clears the air on many issues that resident associations have been raising on STP maintenance. Most apartment complexes today have their own Sewage Treatment Plant(STP). According to KSPCB rules, any large apartment (more than 5,000 sq m in the outskirts or more than 20000 sq m in core areas) need to have STPs. The new guide has illustrated explanation about the working and engineering features of STP, and…

When Shashikala (name changed on request) moved to Bank of Baroda (BOB) Colony in 7th Phase JP Nagar, she didn't expect that she would have to spend so many sleepless nights. Loud noise from three granite cutting and polishing units nearby, working round the clock, has kept her awakeand other residents of the neighbourhood. Add to this, the dust from these units has forced the resident to keep their doors and windows shut. "Because of the noise and the dust, we have to keep the doors and windows closed," said another resident on the condition of anonymity. The residents added…

The crowd erupted with joy as Rajib Deb, forward for the army Service Corps (ASC) Boys Bangalore under-16 football team, slipped the ball past the goalkeeper to score a goal for his team. That it happened in the first few minutes of the match, added to the crowd's resounding cheer. Deb made the most of the penalty kick as he scored the solitary goal of the match, leading his team to a 1-0 victory over Farook Higher Secondary School (FHSS), Kerala. ASC celebrating the goal by Deb Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi ASC were playing FHSS at the final match of…

After moving to Mahalakshmi Layout with her family, a few months ago, Lakshmi Teeka, 32, found that there weren't too many grocery stores in her neighbourhood. At supermarkets, she had to wait in line to pay the bill and checkout. Her friends introduced her to Town Essentials (towness.com), an online grocery shopping website that takes orders online and delivers groceries home. "I could do shopping at 12 am in the night and didn't have to wait in line anymore. The prices too are on par with wholesale prices so I began to order all my groceries including vegetables and fruits…