City: Bengaluru

Much before the Right to Information (RTI) Act was passed by parliament in 2005, Karnataka had a pioneering sunshine law. The Karnataka Right to Information Act, 2000 (KRIA) was passed in December 2000 and notified in 2002. “Before KRIA, the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (OSA) was in place and that was used to deny all information to citizens,” says Kathyayini Chamaraj of Citizens’ Voluntary Initiative for the City (CIVIC), Bengaluru. At the time, Karnataka was one of few states, like Maharashtra and Rajasthan which had enacted their own laws on citizens’ right to information. KRIA was a landmark piece of…

15th August 2022 is our 75th Independence Day as well as the 25th Anniversary of BMTC. In light of this, BMTC has announced that all buses, including Vajra (AC) and Vayu Vajra (Airport Service), will be free. Recently, some of us passionate bus lovers came together as “Friends of BMTC”, with the aim to create more awareness about bus services in our city. We noticed that many in our city shy away from using the bus due to a lack of information. Many want to use the bus instead of their car, but find it difficult to figure out which…

Who owns Bengaluru's playgrounds? Do the city's urban planners and developers see free access to open spaces such as playgrounds as basic rights of citizens? Are playground spaces set aside as dedicated areas for public access? In the public space discourse, why do parks get more attention than playgrounds? More importantly, as the city's population has exponentially grown to about 13.1 million people in 2022, has the city planned its public spaces to accommodate playgrounds? The Open City Data suggests that many wards - Kempegowda, Chowdeswari, Kuvempu Nagar, T Dasarahalli, Nagavara, Kacharkanahalli, Kadugondanahalli, Kushal Nagar, Gangenahalli, Peenya Industrial Area, Malleshwaram,…

Gearing up for 75th I-Day The government is paving the way for the 75th Independence Day celebrations at Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Ground, in which a hundred COVID-19 warriors, including healthcare professionals, frontline workers and 25 recovered patients are special invitees. To celebrate the silver jubilee of the BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation), it has decided to give free services of all types of buses on Independence Day.  Meanwhile, authorities scramble to meet their flag sales targets two days before the Har Ghar Tiranga programme. The BBMP has been asked to sell 15 lakh machine-made polyester national flags, each for…

If Bengaluru wants to maintain its last remaining lakes and trees, citizens need to take an active interest in preserving them. If the last decade is any indication, collaborations between BBMP and citizen-led groups have led to the revival of many of its lakes. Here is how a group of dedicated activists/citizens have been maintaining their neighbourhood lake along with the trees in the surroundings. First the lake, then the trees Lower Ambalipura Lake is a seven-acre lake with two acres of wetland. The water body is surrounded by apartments - SJR Redwoods, SJR Park Vista, Mantri Flora and Trinity…

The objective of the digital initiative was laudable. A national portal that would enable the 411 million workers in the informal sector (as per the estimates by the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18) to access national and state schemes, offering such workers health, employment and social security benefits. The country had been a mute witness to the devastating impact of the pandemic and unprecedented lockdown on these workers, especially migrant workers, as they faced sweeping job losses, loss in income and hunger. With the objective of preventing a repeat of this human tragedy, the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment…

In Bengaluru, people lose 3-4 hours every day in commute thanks to heavily congested roads. Despite having public transport options including BMTC and Namma Metro, the traffic congestion remains unresolved. The NITI Ayog’s 2018 report estimates that Bengaluru city incurs an avoidable loss of Rs 47,743 crore every year. What is wrong? The real reason is that good mobility relies on a vast number of measures, most of which are missing. A few of these steps were attempted, but they failed due to improper execution. This article explains what these measures are, and suggests how to implement them effectively in…

World class cities don’t happen in one year. That’s as long as Basavaraj Bommai has been chief minister of Karnataka. Like his predecessors, Bommai too has retained the lucrative portfolio of Minister for Bengaluru Development, in which context he has spoken about making Bengaluru a world class city. Bommai and his supporters, while celebrating his first anniversary as CM on July 28th, mentioned the many promises he has made in taking Bengaluru towards that goal. None of them are very different from what his predecessors had promised. Neither is the city any better off today than it was one year,…

BBMP ward reservations announced The government announced the notification for the reservation of all 243 BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) wards. Objections can be filed in writing, from the date of notification up to a week, to the Urban Development Department at Vikasa Soudha. A significant number of the BBMP wards have been reserved for Backward Classes and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Of the 243 seats, 81 seats have been reserved for the OBC, 28 for the SC and four for the ST communities. A total of 130 seats have been reserved for the candidates from the…

"India tops the world in terms of the number of people killed and ranks number 3 as per number of persons injured in road accidents”, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari recently admitted in Parliament. This despite the passing of a comprehensive Road Transport and Safety Bill in 2014, to reduce road accidents. Karnataka’s record on road safety reflects this grim reality. Annually, approximately 11,000 people die and over 50,000 sustain injuries from road accidents in the state. One way to be aware of issues of impropriety and poor performance in local government bodies and departments is…