bengaluru news

Metro has sought public input on which of the different lines - existing as well as proposed - should be extended to the airport. I'm sure many people will give their input, but there are two other aspects to look at. (1) We should conduct extensive surveys - ongoing - at the airport to always know where people are going to when they arrive, and where they are coming from to the airport. We don't need to collect anything other than the names of the neighbourhoods where trips originate and end. A map of this, updated every few months, will…

In well-planned cities, the government makes the plans and the builders respond to that with project proposals - to build residential communities, commercial facilities, and so on. In our cities, the builders and individual plot owners make their proposals first, and the city then scrambles to figure out how to plan the city around that. The order in which we do things is itself wrong. Within this error, looking for solutions to 'manage' the way things are done is pointless. Which is why making the planning body for the city work - as per law - is important. People sometimes…

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…

In any riparian dispute, the contending parties each try to 'win', through a decision that is favourable to them. This is understandable - we all want victory on our part of the river (upstream or downstream), and politicians want to show that their side is winning. In Maharashtra, we see this happening within the state itself. But this kind of stance distracts the attention of both sides from the real long-term solutions that they can pursue TOGETHER, in ways that BOTH WILL BENEFIT. That is the key to the solution. In my view there are four things that can be…

“Mahesh Sharma’s advisory for tourists: No short skirts, no travelling alone at night.” This headline has probably already made its way to your Facebook and Twitter feed and back again in the last 48 hours. It’s referring to comments made by Union Minister Mahesh Sharma during a press conference on Sunday at the popular tourist destination, Agra. Sharma warned female foreigners against wearing skirts or venturing “out alone at night in small cities” in India. His statement mimicked the existing sexist rhetoric rampant in international dialogues around crimes against women: It’s the woman’s fault. Her clothes were some sort of provocation. Why was…

Initially, this piece had nothing to do with Donald Trump. It had nothing to with American politics whatsoever. I set out to write about my experience visiting an office and a local university in Bengaluru. I thought, maybe I will discuss outsourcing or the importance of community journalism. But once I started writing, what I needed to say became clear. I needed to write about Donald Trump. Last week I visited an American company whose Indian staff generates lecture and homework content for American universities. I talked with a group of employees. They asked how I was adjusting to life…

I’ve been thinking a lot about garbage. Every day I find myself pondering about Bengaluru’s garbage plight. If you don’t live here, here’s a quick summary: there is a lot of garbage on the streets, sometimes so much it looks like a miniature landfill is just hanging out, uninvited, on your street corner. There aren’t public garbage bins because in 2000 they were banned in favor of an entirely different approach to waste management. The Ugly Indian explained it well in an article: “[Chief Minister SM Krishna] banned the street dustbin, and set up a door-to-door garbage collection system –…

In government, there has been a historical fear that private contractors will take public funds for a ride. And among the public, there is a historical fear that governments will award contracts to their preferred bidders, and make money through kickbacks. Both of these fears are quite genuine. To address this, many governments have passed laws on how public procurement should be carried out. Karnataka also has passed such a law, the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, (KTPP). There are three broad rules under this act, which should provide the basis for better procurement, but as we will see…

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…

There isn't any water left in river Cauvery to draw, for the use of ever-expanding city of Bengaluru. How do we, then, get water to drink? Here is a plan - creating another Cauvery for the city. Matthondu Cauvery Related ArticlesNo Cauvery water, no water problems. But that was thenWhy Cauvery Stage IV water has reached Bangalore, but not your home