City: Bengaluru

Suhas Gopinath who founded online portal designing company Globals Inc Private Limited at the age of 14,  Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) an NGO which aims to bring about civic awareness through youth, Bangalore City Traffic Police for their continued efforts to regulate the traffic of abngalore and Srilakshmi Goru, a long distance swimmer are a few of the 21 finalists for the Namma Bengaluru Awards 2011. Gopinath started Globals Inc Private Limited, a company that develops portals at the age of 14 and started his foray by building Coolhindustan.com. A release from the Namma Bengaluru Foundation, organiser of…

In what appears to be the tip of the iceberg, the owner of a HP (Hindustan Petroleum) petrol bunk in Banashankari caught the driver of a fuel tanker siphoning off 150-200 litres, valued at Rs 6000-7000. The incident happened on Tuesday, February 1st.  The truck from which petrol was siphoned off by the driver. It has been stationed at the petrol bunk while investigations are going on. Pic: Navya P K Mani Siddaiah, owner of Mahadeswara petrol bunk in Banashankari 3rd Stage, says that the truck driver has admitted to removing the petrol by opening the locks on top of…

For the last two years, a park-cum-playground in 30th main in JP Nagar 6th phase has lost almost a third of its area. This part of the site, which was designated for the park, was encroached for the construction of two temples. Today only the playground remains and the site itself is known after one of the temples. While one temple is a permanent structure and almost 75% of its work is complete, the other is a temporary structure. Playground attached the park in J P Nagar 6th phase has been taken over for building temples and fenced off. Pic:…

Amrendra Kumar, a twenty nine year old Ph.D student of Public Policy at IIM Bangalore stunned the audience at a conference on "Integrated Solid Waste Management- Waste Generated v/s Managed" at Municipalika 2011 by claiming that within a year he could make India as clean as Switzerland.  A native of Patna, Bihar, Amrendra completed an integrated degree in Physics from IIT-Kanpur and is been pursuing his Ph.D at IIM-B. Branding himself a "missionary", he wants to clean up India through his organisation Clean Credit, which believes that "Cash is Trash". Amrendra lays out his plans for a clean India in…

Terming 'wholesale' construction of flyovers and underpasses and widening roads as ineffective, Praveen Sood, IPS, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said that following rules while driving using public transportation is a better way to handle the traffic woes of Bangalore. Sood was speaking as part of a talk on 'Role of citizens in traffic management' at the  Rastrothana Hall in 5th Block Jayanagar. RWAs can play active role in checking illegal parking. Pic: Yograj S Mudalgi 'Road discipline and etiquette key to regulating traffic' Sood lamented on the lack of discipline among drivers of motor vehicles in the city. "We…

The ninth edition of 'Municipalika', a three-day conference and exhibition on urban governance took place from 27 to 29 January at Palace Grounds. This is the first time Municipalika was held in Bengaluru. It saw more than 1200 delegates, 120 speakers from across the nation converging to share best practices in urban governance. Mayors of different towns and cities and delegates at the Municipalika. Pic: Yograj S Mudalgi Municipal Commissioners, Mayors, urban planners, policy makers and members of Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) from different towns and cities participated in the conferences organised by the Good Governance India Foundation (GGIF). The…

Bangalore's ‘India Against Corruption' (IAC) rally on Sunday was not as much a crowd puller as it was expected to be. While the Saaku rally in December - organised by the same coalition of 18 organisations - had drawn a crowd of about 800, this rally had around 300 citizens from the city. The Bangalore Indians Against Corruption march on Jan 30th Sunday. Pic: Karthik Raman. In addition to the coalition, the Art of Living Foundation also participated in organising the rally. The decision about the event was taken impromptu, to coincide with the Delhi rally, where the Jan Lokpal…

Ramanagaram shot into fame with the film Sholay in the 70s. But this small town just outside Bangalore has been the hub of silk-industry, rock climbers' haven and home to several temples. Panaromic View from one of the hills. Pic: Usha Hariprasad A peep in to the history: Ramanagaram known as Closepet before independence has seen a great many rulers. It has been ruled by Gangas, Cholas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagara, Mysore kings, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.  During Kempegowda rule the place was also referred to as Ramagiri and Ramagiridurga.  The district is surrounded by seven majestic hills Shivaramagiri, Yatirajagiri, Somagiri,…

A coalition of 18 civil society organizations in Bengaluru - which had organized the ‘Saaku' campaign on December 11 - is holding a campaign ‘India Against Corruption' on January 30. As part of this, rallies will be held across Bengaluru and 27 other cities on the day, demanding effective anti-corruption laws and passing of the Jan Lokpal Bill. (Earlier Saaku coverage.) Rally details Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 10:30 am STARTS: Mahatma Gandhi Statue, Chinnaswamy Stadium Campus, MG Road ROUTE: MG Statue to Kanteerva Stadium and gathering at MG Statue Vijay Dwivedi 99014-55685 and Soma Shekar 89710-49348 Jan Lokpal bill,…

It was in December 2003 that Bangaloreans first woke up to the idea of Airtel Bengaluru Habba (in those days - Bangalore Habba). As posters announcing the city's new cultural festival dotted the landscape and street art spilled over onto the MG Road Boulevard, the idea of the Habba captured the city's imagination. The vision behind the Habba says Padmini Ravi, Trustee of Artistes' Foundation for the Arts (AFFA) that spearheads the event, has been "to provide aesthetic entertainment to a wide cultural, social and demographic cross-section of people. We wish to ensure that various art forms continue to have…