City: Bengaluru

Social worker Padma Shri Awardee Ms.Anita Reddy, working in the area of housing, education, livelihoods for the poor, rights of people living in slums for over 28 years, Jayanagar MLA B.N.Vijay Kumar, BBMP Commissioner H.Siddaiah, Vasudeva Adiga the pioneer of Darshini  hotels that serves delicious food at affordable prices and T. Raja ( Auto Raja) who has devoted his life to rescue and rebuild the lives of  destitute and dying people of the streets among the 10 proud winners of Namma Bengaluru Awards, 2010. Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde and Member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar give away the Namma Bengalorean of…

On this Saturday, February 13, if you happen to be travelling to Mysore don't be surprised to see more than 50-70 cyclists who will take to this route for the Bangalore Brevets 300 km ride. This is part of a series of ongoing brevet rides in the city, held as qualifiers to the prestigious Paris-Brest-Paris event, an approximately 1200 km ride that happens once in four years. This year, the Paris ride will take place in August and a few lucky riders will travel from India to participate in the event.   A brevet is a self supported ride where a cyclist…

Yeh Saali Zindagi (Hindi) Any film that gets director Sudhir Mishra to the lens again, with the immensely talented Irrfan Khan and Chitrangda Singh as part of the cast that brings the film to life, automatically finds its way on to your ‘must watch’ list. But Yeh Saali Zindagi fails to live up to our high expectations. Even when unpredictable, the film still leaves you dissatisfied. While it’s a departure from Mishra’s previous work like Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Khoya Khoya Chand, there are commonalities with the treatment and thematic focus of his earlier films like Chameli and Iss Raat…

From February 7, infotech companies along Outer Ring Road are using a city-provided Common Bus System (CBS) to transport their employees to and from work. The system, initiated by Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) - which comprises 24 companies including Cisco, Intel, AOL etc - is expected to get more IT employees to use buses instead of private vehicles. BMTC Managing Director Syed Pasha dressed in white shirt towards the back of the bus, and Seetharam Vishwanath, ORRCA General Secretary at the flagging off ceremony of CBS on February 4. Pic courtesy: ORRCA. ORRCA reached an agreement with the…

Have you wondered why a BMTC bus is forced through a narrow 9-metre road in Bengaluru? Why entire layouts come up without amenities that they city later has to somehow account for? Plenty of noise is regularly made about lack of ‘proper planning' in Bengaluru city. You need planners who understand how cities work, you need planners who have backgrounds of geography, economics, architecture and urban planning, says Mohan Rao.Pic: Subramaniam Vincent However, it isn't that Bangalore itself lacks qualified planners and architects to work with the city administration. One such planner and 'urban practitioner' as he calls himself is…

On February 7th morning, Karnataka's Urban Development and Law Minister Minister Suresh Kumar was to hold meeting to discuss a long-pending bill to reform Bengaluru's administration. This is the BMRG or Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Governance Bill, drafted by chief minister B S Yeddyurappa's own ABIDe task force. Kumar had invited all 28 Bangalore MLAs, 3 MPs and officials of city agencies. What does this BILL change? * Longer-term and more powers for the mayor * Metropolitan planning committee (with elected members of BBMP council and panchayats) will run greater Bengaluru, not the state government * BDA's planning power will end.…

There is an urgent need to provide safe places for children to play and have fun. Children go to unexpected extents to fulfil their desire to have fun, unaware of the consequences it could lead to. Children playing on busy streets in front of their homes run the risk of being run over by rash drivers. I saw this kid fly his kite, standing on top of his building’s water tank. Young boy flies kite atop water tank, dangerously. Pic: author. Watching the children taking such risks led to me take up a community project that can make a difference…

For Bengaluru's netizens whose local LPG suppliers (Indane, HP or BP) are listed in the the Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department's website, compliance with the January 19th notice on elimination of fake above poverty line (APL) ration cards got easier. This guide applies whether or not you have an APL ration card. (Note: this guide does not apply for consumers whose gas agency is not listed on the FCS department's website.) You can submit your LPG, BESCOM and Ration card information consumer data document scans through the web. On a successful submission, you will get an acknowledgment slip…

500 Tibetans from Bengaluru held a candle light vigil at Gandhi Square on February 4th evening to protest the media speculation about Karmapa, and hurting the sentiments of all the Buddhists. Tibetan students in Bangalore light candles to say Karmapa lama is not a Chinese spy "Last week, the police raid found a few million rupees in the form of dollar, Yuan and two other dozens of currencies from the transit residence of H.H. the 17th Karmapa, at Sidharpur in Dharamashala, and the Indian government is suspecting him as a Chinese spy, and even the national media reported Karmapa, a…

Birthdays are always occasions for celebration - and so, as the print edition of Citizen Matters completes two years this week, I am looking back on the stories we have had and shared, and find that a few stand out as particularly worthy of mention. "Two J.P.Nagar-ites help city apartments save lakhs of rupees" The report in the issue dated Jan 15-23 this year, was an important piece of reporting, which no mainstream publication bothered to cover, much less splash as a scoop - despite the fact that newspapers are meant to "inform" the readers about issues relevant to their…