City: Bengaluru

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…

In a recent interview with an English news channel in India, Anish Kapoor, famous worldwide for his massive installation art work opined, "Art must be inclusive and not confined to galleries". The Chitra Santhe, hosted by Bangalore's reputed art school, the Chitra Kala Parishath (CKP) has been bringing art, artists and art lovers to the streets around Kumarakrupa road, on the last Sunday every January. Here are some scenes from this year's edition which apparently attracted over a thousand participants from across the country and three lakh visitors. (This is according to Sandhya A, an art history faculty member and…

Bangalore kids were at their creative best at the First Lego League Tournament 2010, a robot designing competition held at tech-major SAP Labs on Saturday 29th January. Bangalore's ‘Robo Pundits' from National Public School (NPS), Koramangala, scored 265 points beating Mumbai's score of 225. The next regional will be held at New Delhi. The competition is now between Bangalore and Delhi for the coveted opportunity to represent India at the finals in Atlanta, USA. Robo Pundits with their trophy. Pic courtesy: Robo Pundits The competition open to anyone in the age group of 9-16 and teams can have a maximum of…

12 bus days later, why not sit down to share around some notes on the concept. When some folks first talked about it (back in October 2009), it was meant to be a day to promote public transport. PT day, CyBaNa (cycle, bus, nadi as in walk) day were some variants floating around. The reality for Bengaluru is that, today and for next 5-6 years for sure, PT would mostly mean Bus. The modes Cy and Na are mostly going to hinge around the Bus. Read this Citizen Matters article on the initiation of bus day concept. The Bus Day…

Courteous. Respectful. Almost obsequious. That's typically the treatment meted out to the well-heeled visitor at the entrance to any of the city's top-notch hotels. The exaggerated politeness is a sad illustration of the mile-high class barriers that permeate urban society. The erstwhile Taj Residency makes no bones about the policy of vehicular differentiation it practices. The Leela and Windsor Manor are more discrete: you just get booted by security. Pic: Kanishka Lahiri. A typical sequence of events is as follows. Mr Cool drives up in a chauffeur-driven BMW. Tinted windows, so dark they must surely be illegal, are rolled down…