City: Bengaluru

Excerpts from a recent conversation that Citizen Matters had with Shanti Raghavan (SR) and Dipesh Sutariya (DS), the enthusiastic, committed and unassuming co-founders of EnAble India. This 11 year old non-profit, NGO based in Koramangala is famous for its employment assistance services to those with mental, physical, visual and auditory challenges. Enable India co-founder Dipesh Sutariya. Pic: Pushpa Achanta. Shanti Raghavan was awarded the best individual working for the cause of persons with disabilities by the ministry of social justice and empowerment on December 3rd on world disability day, this year. Can you trace your journey from working in the…

The Rotary Bangalore IT Corridor released the winners in all sections of the Bangalore Midnight Marathon (BMM) on December 12th, Sunday evening. BMM 2010 was held Dec 11th midnight to early hours of Dec 12th. The awards function has been scheduled for 19th Dec from 11am onwards at Fortune Select Trinity Hotel, Whitefield.  Full marathon Men 1. Tsegay Hiluf     (Ethopia)       2:26:40    (Chest No. 123)   Rs.50,000 2. Yashewas Abet  (Ethopia)     2:27: 22   (Chest No. 122)     Rs.25,000 3. Bhaskar Kamble (India)          2:27:57    (Chest No. 118)  Rs.15,000 Women 1. Meher D'Mello          4:20:44    (Chest No. 075)  Rs.50,000 2. Dr. Amrita Mitra Basu 4:31:25   (Chest No.…

Saaku, Bengaluru's anti-corruption campaign, may not have lived up to the buzz generated in social networking sites over the last week, but the rally of around 800 citizens more than managed to capture the attention of the public on December 11. The event's coordinators had initially expected participation of 1000-2000. The participants, most of them from relatively elite sections of society - included college students, IT professionals, activists and residents from all over the city. Around 800 citizens, including students and IT professionals, participated in the event.Pic: Navya P K The four-day Saaku campaign started on December 8 with the…

As 11 December approaches, leading public figures in the city and elsewhere in the country added their voices of support to Saaku (‘enough’), the rally against corruption, and encouraged citizens to join them in the events this week. A number of civil society and community organisations, as well as individual citizens are partnering for Saaku, creating a powerful and continuing movement for action against corruption. Coalition Against Corruption, Anti-Corruption Committee, Yuva Bengaluru, Daksh, Praja, Loksatta, SmartVote, Forward150, Swami Vivekanada Youth Movement, Sachidananda Nagar Nyayapara Andolana and many others have come together to spread the anti-corruption message, and will work together…

It's called Saaku. It has picked up quickly this week and is a mini-rage on twitter as Bengaluru hit Friday weekend night on December 10th. Bangaloreans online are now chirping away to reach asking more and more people to join the Saaku rally against corruption on Saturday morning. Swarathma, one of the city's leading rock bands, has thrown its support for the rally. Pic: Saaku.in Walkers will start from Kanteerava Stadium at 930 and converge to Shantinagar Grounds at 1030 am, next to the Hockey Stadium, for meeting and a rally.Tweeted EndhirenV2dot0, at around 11pm, when this article was getting…

Following are the excerpts from a manual, which BBMP could be preparing for pedestrians: 1) For crossing streets, never assume that you can use the zebra crossings. The primary purpose of those crossings is for vehicles to come to a stop. The pedestrian is only an afterthought. Vehicles have full right to occupy the zebra crossings. Any pedestrian violating these rights of vehicles may be arrested. 2) BBMP has been magnanimous in providing separate signals   for pedestrians in some intersections. Again, please understand that the traffic signals are primarily meant for vehicles. Do not complain that these signals are on…

Indian cinema has often been categorised into either commercial or art cinema. Is a further bifurcation now emerging between low-budget and big-budget films? Courtesy: Taurian. These were some of the many interesting questions that surfaced at the screening of Kannada film Navilaadavaru at Surana College, and the subsequent seminar on the topic "Navilaadavaru in the context of Endhiran". Navilaadavaru, made by director B M Giriraj, is an interesting experiment in more ways than one. Prior to this film B M Giriraj has also worked as Associate Director on Kannada film Moggina Manassu. Giriraj's first full-length feature film, with its own…

We suffered for months with bad roads. And my recent article on Citizen Matters got some good comments. One especially good comment was the 'sit in bund' suggested  to galvanise a reaction from the powers that be.  Castle Street now free of potholes. Pic: MN. Then on Sunday morning we were so surprised to see road rollers move in and a group of labourers sweeping off the mud. By nightfall the entire stretch of Castle Street had been done and you can see from the picture which is taken at the same place, before and after, there is an amazing difference. …

Looking at Manjula Sridhar, you may mistake the BTM Layout resident for yet another technology professional. Not quite. Pic courtesy: Manjula Sridhar. As a Program Manager at Lucent, she was appointed the Distinguished Member of Technology (DMTS) in India. She was recipient of the Lucent Innovator Award and Bell Labs President Gold Award, and has filed many patents in wireless security and network management areas. She was Co-Founder and CTO at Aujas Networks. Now working for a large telecom MNC as Director, Market Analyses Datacom, she is also an avid cyclist and endurance athlete. She has participated in dozens of…

When the tragic incident of a 13-year-old schoolboy falling from the terrace of an apartment block and losing his life made news a fortnight ago, there was one detail in the media reports that epitomises, in a single sentence, the criminal gap between proper city planning and the ground realities of  Bengaluru as it is developing today. It said, "As there was nowhere for him to play, Allan went up to the terrace to play" - and the rest is a tragedy that has already been reported in the press. High-rise apartment blocks have sprouted like rashes all over the…