City: Bengaluru

After Governor H R Bhardwaj refused to sign the Sakrama Bill last month, the B S Yeddyurappa-led state government is now planning to take its chances again by re-sending the bill for the governor's approval. The bill has been with the state's Department of Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation (DPAL) for almost a month now after the governor sent it back. But transport minister Ashoka (MLA-Padmanabhanagar) says that the governor's reason for not approving the bill - the 2007 High Court stay on the implementation of the penalty scheme - is not valid. A January 2008 meeting, with citizens discussing Setback…

Murder mystery games have been a popular form of entertainment, where a group of people get together and play the roles of various people in a murder mystery, trying to solve the mystery. Once a parlour game, it has now become a popular exercise for corporate Human Resource initiatives, where people participating in the exercise are also involved in the development of the 'murder' situation. A scene from the interactive play. Pic: Deepa Mohan. M D Riti, who established Riti's Murder Games in 2004, has been staging  murder mysteries for corporate clients for six years now. She recently staged one…

A few days ago I was at a junction where the traffic signal wasn't working and cops were not to be seen. All hell had broken loose and there were vehicles turning in every direction, as a result of which no one was moving. Tempers were rising and honking crossing all known limits of sound pollution. I was right at the front and seeing the mayhem ahead I tried to stay put, in order to not add to the utter confusion ahead of me. A few sensible drivers stood by too. Illustration: Narasimha Vedala But as usual there was one…

"It's a nightmare when it rains", says 50-year-old Krishnaveni, " Every year we dread the arrival of the monsoons". Hers is one of more than 1500 families living in the low income neighbourhood (‘slum' in common usage) which has come to replace the quarters built for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) at Ejipura. Krishnaveni. Pic: V Sriram Krishnaveni and her husband moved into Block 13 of these Ejipura quarters around ten years ago. Barely three years later, on November 10, 2003, this block collapsed. They then moved into one of the tin sheds, meant as "temporary accommodation", put by the…

More than 500 senior citizens (aged 60 and above) took part in a 'dignified and silent protest' at Cubbon Park on August 16th 2010. This was a part of a nationwide protest, organized by the Joint Action Committee of Senior Citizens, and held with the intention of communicating to all governing bodies (at local and national levels) that most rights of senior citizens as mentioned in the constitution were not being safeguarded. In Bangalore, under the aegis of Federation of Senior Citizen Forums of Karnataka, this silent protest at Cubbon Park's Band Stand, was held between 10:30 and 11:30 am,…

A destitute man was lying in front of my maid's house in a terrible condition.  He was really sick, stinking of urine and flies feasting on him.  He could not even open his eyes.  We wanted to help him, though we did not know how.  A single mother wanted to know if I knew of any free residential school where she could admit her ten-year-old son, because she had to work to earn her livelihood while there was no one to take care of her naughty son. One of my distant relatives was admitted to a hospital and the bills…

Auto rickshaws are a key option for private transport in Bangalore. * There are more than 1 lakh registered autos in the city. * Number of Auto rickshaw's = 100,000 * Min turnover per auto/per day = Rs.600 * Total turnover per day 100000*600 = Rs 6 crores * Total turnover per year = Rs.2160 crores Going by this, the minimum turn over is Rs.2160 crores per year. At a profit margin of 30-40%, it is amounting to nearly Rs.700 crores. This is a big business, and there are more than 20 unions but it does not have a users forum…

In recent months, a large number of mobile phone towers have sprouted atop high-rise buildings in Bengaluru. Building owners or societies agree to the installation of these towers because a handsome rental can be had from the service provider. But how safe are these towers? With constant exposure to the low radiation that these transmitters emit, what are the long-term health effects of this? Does it matter which side the tower is facing (towards a neighbouring apartment complex or building, for instance)? Do the installers conform to international safety standards? Who monitors? This was one of the issues raised at…

After more than a week of erratic power cuts, BESCOM now says things will slowly get back to normal. "Everything is stabilised", says H Nagesh, Director (Technical), BESCOM. Nagesh says that load-shedding will now be scheduled. BESCOM officials say domestic feeders will face three-hour power cuts daily. Pic: Vaishnavi Vittal To know when you are likely to loose power during the day and how many times, read the tables in this article..  For domestic feeders, there will three hours of power cuts daily,  one hour per cut, in three time windows: 6 AM to 10 AM, 10 AM to 2…

Forget the common man, not even the judiciary finds it easy to sway the state's government officials from perpetual indifference. At a Lok Adalat hearing on August 6th 2010, many top officials were pulled up by the judges for poor performance and lack of initiative. However, the babus wouldn't be swayed. After the session, many were seen joking about the whole affair. Around 120 people including senior government officials and their subordinates, lawyers, members of non-governmental organisations and civil society groups were present at the hearing, held at the High Court. Among the first to face the wrath of the…