In a country like ours, where mass gatherings of various kinds are an integral part of life, we keep hearing of stampedes invariably leading to casualties, every now and then. Last year saw two such events, which made national headlines and shook the nation, one a sports victory parade gone sour in Bengaluru and the other, a stampede at a political road show in Karur, Tamil Nadu. The year before, Chennai witnessed huge crowds at an IAF show on the Marina Beach, which led to five deaths and more than a hundred hospitalisations due to heat-related issues and chaos arising…

The Karnataka government has notified the draft Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) rules — over three years after the BMLTA Act came into being — and has invited suggestions/objections by February 2nd, 2026.   The BMLTA was meant to be a unified transport body to regulate, monitor, develop and plan urban mobility in Bengaluru. The government had failed to constitute the Authority within the statutory timeline of six months. Now, the much-delayed draft rules propose to strip away all forms of transparency and accountability! One controversial clause (Rule 24) proposes to grant deemed approval to projects initiated between 2022…