Blogs

As a CfB Volunteer/Coordinator, the ward committees and ward committee meeting sounded as a buzz word time and again, but I was neither part of the discussions or events around that, nor knew exactly what it means. It all started for me when a CfB meeting was announced with the Mayor Gangamibike Mallikarjun at the BBMP office on the 2nd Anniversary of #SteelFlyoverBeda. The inquisitor in me made me go to the BBMP office in Hudson Circle for the first time on a working Wednesday to meet the Mayor. As we were ushered in to her office, we did a…

The Gandhian era fought for Swaraj (self rule) and since most of India was villages it may be coined as Grama Swaraj. By the sustained struggles and contributions of our forefathers Gram Sabha is functional. But now its time for us to look toward Nagara Swaraj or Nagar Sabha. A key to achieve Nagar Sabha is the 74th Constitutional Amendment. In 2018, it is the Silver Jubilee Celebration for the Act but nothing significant is seen on the ground. Well, the Constitution mandates for the Ward Committees!!! In Bengaluru, 16th November 2018 is a watershed moment; the BBMP Commissioner issued…

Bengaluru division of Social Venture Partnerships is organising a focused one-day event to leverage the learnings of some civic innovators, RWA's, associations, federations, large campuses and other stakeholders in the field of waste management. Experts in the space of SWM and resource support will also participate. Titled 'Wastex', this event will showcase civic innovations and cross-pollinate learnings and experiences from multiple stakeholders. The event is to be held at The Environment Management and Policy Research Institute, EMPRI at JP Nagar on December 1st from 9 am to 2:30 pm. Focused on civic innovation, Wastex aims to bring together the best civic innovators and showcase their work…

For years together, people talked about the 'demographic dividend'. Thanks to high fertility ratios in the past, a large number of young people would be entering the workforce, and we as yet don't have a very large aged population, so the ratio of workers to non-workers would be favourable. It would boost economic activity and taxes, and allow us to make investments in many public goods and services. This was not a bad picture to paint. But it had one important assumption - namely, that the young people entering the workforce would be skilled and productive. But we totally missed…

There is a huge difference between perception and reality. There is a certain image built about politicians and IAS officers that gets amplified by social media posts - usually a reaction to some headline, a quote, an incident that triggers outrage. But when you actually try and engage and work with politicians and officers, you will find many of them to be sincere, knowledgeable and passionate about their job and committed to positive change in their own ways. We don't talk about it much but many of us know, this is true. The wheels of the city move forward despite…

Birds know no borders; the ones that we go to see in Karnataka fly off and can be seen once we cross over into Kerala! So when the birders of Kasargod announced the second Kidoor Bird Fest, to celebrate both the first sighting of the Orange-breasted Green Pigeon Photo credit: Sarala Jeevanthi Gamage and the birthday of Dr Salim Ali, the noted ornithologist, it was clear that this would be a productive birding weekend. The participants and the organizers. The festival was a bigger event than it was in 2017, because this time, birders from all over Karnataka (see featured…

We are all frustrated about lack of urban governance - garbage, pot holes, flooding, dengue, traffic, we bear the brunt of it all, day in and day out. Almost every week there is a protest some place or other, a human chain, a petition, signature campaigns. WhatsApp groups are born every day for some cause or other. Citizens go to MLAs, MPs, Deputy Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, anyone willing to listen to their complaints. Media events like 'Jana Spandana' are housefull with lots of people waiting to air their grievances. But all these - local issues - are supposed to…

Sometimes the shadow is just as interesting as the substance. I was privileged to peep in on a shadow puppet workshop that Michael and Wendy Dacre conducted at Kathalaya, BTM Layout, Bangalore, on 23rd November 2018. Nikhil from the Hindu interviews Michael and Wendy, while Geeta looks on. Shadow puppet theatre has long been a part of the traditional arts of many cultures,but when Wendy first got interested in it, she found that there was no tradition of it at all, in the United Kingdom. She built up her shadow puppets, and the shadow puppet theatre, from scratch, using any…

I was about to write something about this event for my blog, and realized my official report for the Karnataka Forest Dept would do just as well! The founder-members of Bangalore Butterfly Club (BBC), from Nagraj's slide presentation: The Karwar Swift, not very common. The second Butterfly Festival at Doresanipalya Forest Research Station, celebrated on 17th November, 2018, was very successful. These ladies, making the rangoli, brought as much of colour as the butterflies did, to the event. Though limitations on the space available at the venue, in terms of the hall for presentations, resulted in the event not being…

It says a lot for the wondrous variety of vehicles on our roads, that a silver chariot of the sun, drawn by seven horses (and, presumably a little more horsepower), with regulation headlights, does not make heads turn!