BCity

The CBSE action against NPS schools is a classic study of everything that is wrong in the way we manage education. Without going into the specifics of NPS itself, we should be able to see the wrinkles in the canvas. a. First, the public school system is bad. To be precise, it is one of the WORST IN THE WORLD. It is so bad that even poor people are fleeing it, and putting children in private schools at their own cost. In Karnataka, only one out of three children who depend on the state pass high school, and even among…

How many legal and illegal hoardings are there in Bengaluru and how to identify them? Looking for a complete location-specific data? Chances are that you will never ever get it. In the month of April, when I started working on a series of stories on decoding illegal advertising hoardings in Bengaluru, I tried to gather information about legal and illegal hoardings in the city. Since the officials at Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have claimed to have conducted surveys on hoardings, I thought they would be able to provide me the required information. Kumar Naik, who was the BBMP Commissioner…

This is the Akshayanagara Lake. Less than three years ago, it was a nothing but a patch of land with overgrown weeds and sewage as seen below.  The transformation is the work of a group of enthusiastic residents of the layout led by Ramesh Kumar who have toiled to restore the lake to its present form. In 2009, one side of the lake bund was strengthened and fenced, most of the sewage was blocked, and the entire lake was cleaned up at a huge cost running into lakhs. The cost was borne by the residents along with the local MLA.…

BBMP health inspectors conducted a major drive against use of plastic on Whitefield Main Road (Hagadur ward) on Saturday 21-May-2016. Plastic material was seized from several shops in Forum Value Mall. The drive was led by BBMP officials Vinodh Govindappa and Prakash KN Gowda. They worked tirelessly from 11 am to 5 pm without a lunch break, seizing around 600 kg of plastic. Penalty of Rs. 1.84 lakh was levied. Despite a relentless campaign by Whitefield Rising volunteers in the last two months, starting with a traders and Corporator meeting near Forum Value Mall, and despite the mall's management giving notices,…

What is an Occupancy Certificate? A certificate of occupancy is a document issued by a local government agency or building department certifying a building’s compliance with applicable building codes and other laws, and indicating it to be in a condition suitable for occupancy. Obtaining an OC is a requirement under the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972. The law says one cannot legally move into a building unless the developer gets an occupancy certificate from the BBMP or BDA. The corporation can ask apartment owners to leave such illegally occupied flats or impose heavy penalties. Occupancy certificate is also required when the buyer applies for…

Dear members of civil society, who are the members of the newly formed Bangalore Blueprint Action Group, I am writing to you today because, like you, I care about Namma Bengaluru and I want its governance to improve. And I believe every one of us in the city can make a difference to its future. First, I am happy that the Government values your advice. The input of people who have both ideas and passion for the city should always be welcome in government. Many of you have a track record of interest in the welfare of the city, and…

Hello, all. I apologize for my long absence (I vanish way too regularly, don't I?). I've been a bit busy with things like my board exams. However, I am now back, although my skills (as they are) are a little rusty, and I may have a little trouble stringing together grammatically accurate sentences ("I type new blog" is a grammatically sound sentence, is it not?). Anyway, to the blog. A week or two ago, I got an internship with a startup called cookifi (http:///cookifi.com if you want to check them out). Which is great and all, but it comes with…

So far, I have received expressions of interest from people in about 25 wards to work on local solutions for civic improvement and better governance. I'll reach out to each of you individually and see how to help you get going, but meanwhile, here is a list of things to get started with, in thinking about the local area. This is from the work of CiFoS in Sanjay Nagar (thanks, Sathya Sankaran, Subbaiah T.S. and others). Later this week, we'll organise a small workshop for the first few wards to begin to replicate this work in other areas. Meanwhile, if…

How do the cricketers keep a track of their team mates at the Malleshwaram ground? Pic: Rajesh Kallaje Sports encompass every aspect of life in the United States. From the time we can walk we start playing at least one sport. Historically baseball has been America’s sporting pastime like soccer has been for much of the rest of the world. There are two main sports that parents start their children out on the first, is teeball/baseball and the second is, surprisingly enough, is soccer. As American children get older those that continue to stay interested in athletics expand their horizons…

Here is an extract from my proposals to the government on things to include in the State Budget, 2016-17: (a) The Master Plan for Bengaluru and other cities being statutory, the State Budget each year should mandatorily allocate monies to proposals within these plans. That is essential to retaining their statutory nature, and also to ensure that development during a Plan period is annually guided by such allocations. A beginning may be made in this, by an explicit reference in this year's Budget to financing proposals under the Master Plan. This would also give the newly appointed Minister for Bengaluru…