BCity

Author: Tanmayee Narendra What does it mean to be “educated”? Does education necessarily mean a more heightened awareness about one’s role in society? These are some questions that I was forced to ask myself after I met with John, the manager of the Dry Waste Collection Center (DWCC) near the Jayadeva Flyover. Let me tell you more about John. John comes from a family of scrap dealers. While thoughts of garbage generally trigger images of filth and refuse for most of us, the same object is a source of income for him. John at his Dry Waste Collection Centre. Pic:…

Author: Sieta Van Horck Bengaluru is full of such trash dumps, though the scenario might change for better in future. Pic:Sandro Miccoli Scenarios such as the picture above are, unfortunately, not uncommon for a person who is taking a stroll through the roads in Bengaluru. This made us wonder—what is happening to the garbage we throw every day? And how is garbage managed in Bengaluru? As you can see in the picture above, currently the system is neither environment friendly nor sustainable. Therefore, we decided that we will focus our project around waste management in Bangalore. This five-month project is…

Broken commodes decorated along the compound wall that separates Railway land from BBMP land and footpath... coconut fronds thrown casually everywhere... the parked vehicles meant for carrying the dead, a garbage pickup point which never seems to be empty... the ground attacked continuously by garbage burning and stagnant water and turned black... add to this the unbearable stench of dead and decaying animals that makes you run for life, and you know you are in the backyard of Malleshwaram — on 11th main, Railway parallel road. Unused Railway land has become a dump filled with weeds. The unkempt garbage-filled land…

Akrama Sakrama is a complete fraud. There are many things wrong with this scheme. Sadly, Congress, BJP and JDS appear to be united in their attempts to destroy the city. Regularisation may be unavoidable, given the scale of what has happened so far, but if it's not done right even now, that will be an open invitation to let things carry on as they are in the future too.(a) The proposal does not include any penalty for the officials who connived in the illegalities. In fact, they have not even been identified.(b) There is virtually no transparency. Which are the…

Report by Prasanna Vynatheya of PNLIT The event 'Raise Your Voice Bengaluru', as I understood it, was to bring those concerned people who would like to participate in their own capacity to make our Karnataka a better place for us and our posterity. The venue was NMKRV College, Jayanagar 3rd Block on Sunday the 27th Oct 2013. The lead person of the organizing group Mr. Rajeev Gowda spoke eloquently and sincerely, so too each and every one of the other seven speakers. The message was loud and clear! People come out and participate as rightful citizens of this nation, demand quality in all…

People from very different walks of life gathered on a sidewalk today. The common thread linking them all was "dignity" and an inexplicable oneness. A cleaner street and gifts for people were mere by products. Over a month, led by Anjali Saini and her team, well heeled residents of communities worked side by side with BBMP garbage collectors, children, housewives, small shopkeepers and villagers. They took former black spots aka garbage heaps and open sewers and transformed them. Then they took pride in it and kept it that way. Today they came together to honour those that either made it…

A movement called Whitefield Rising has been brewing in Whitefield in the last few months. Many residents, supported by a core group of experts in the field, have got together to make the streets of Whitefeild Rising cleaner and greener. With the initial focus being the main road from Hope Farm to Kundanahalli, involved, excited and determined residents, teenagers and retired people are meeting on the streets and brainstorming. A simple format is emerging:  1) Go for a walk as a group on the street near your house 2) Identify issues 3) Begin fixing. Residents can fix a lot, it turns out! 4) Learn to work…

More than a month and a half have gone since the Ganesha festival, but the idols and trash at the Kalyani tank at Kaikondrahali Lake still make for a sorry sight. There are also the flowers and leaves which were collected in big trash bags. The Kalyani at Kaikondrahalli on Oct 8th. Pic: Rajesh Dubey. This is a negligence of duty from the garbage contractor. Lake monitoring committee members have been calling them continuously for weeks now. Each time, we are told that it will be cleared within a week. And weeks come and weeks go, the stuff remains. The…

Here is the first in a series of conservation-related activities at the lake approved by the Kaikondarahalli Lake Monitoring Committee.  We are happy to announce the first annual short story writing competition by A Better Word. This is a platform for young writers to showcase their writing talents. The competition is for children between grades 3 through 10. The categories are as follows:  Grades 3, 4 and 5 Grades 6 and 7 Grades 8, 9 and 10 Several schools in the area have already signed on and there will be several more sending their champions. Please encourage your children to participate and…

A few months ago, on 7th July 2013, more than 400 citizens of HSR Layout gathered on the Agara Lake bund for a walkathon and clean-up drive. Ever since the Lake Development Authority (LDA) took back possession of the lake in Apr 2012, various individuals and groups of people had been trying to draw the attention of the authorities towards the deteriorating state of the 98-odd-acre lake, through letters and representations. This was the first visible collective activity on the part of the public, with citizens making personal contributions to hold the event. Agara Lake is one of the rare…