Blogs

Ranga Shankara continues its endeavour to encourage art and theatre among children, by organizing a Painting Day on the 2nd of August, 2009.The Painting Day is a precursor to a mega event for children, which will be announced shortly. This is an opportunity to unleash one's creativity and indulge innovative minds in mixing colors and creating unique shades! The art pieces will be exhibited at Ranga Shankara for over a month. Furthermore, Ranga Shankara has invited a couple of senior artists of Bangalore to paint away with the children. Date: Sun, 2 Aug 2009 Venue: Ranga Shankara Time: 11 AM…

The 5th International Canopy conference from 25th October - 31st october, 2009, in Bangalore, India.Details here For those interested...ATREE is also organizing a painting competition on the theme "Forest canopies" as part of the International canopy conference. Check the link for more details here ⊕References

Last week I was working on a health-related story that required me to visit several hospitals in the city. They were, as expected, overflowing with sick patients, all thanks to the mosquito menace that Bangalore has been crying about.   I happened to visit both public and private hospitals. The rich-poor divide is so blatantly clear at these hospitals. At the private hospitals it wasn't so bad. Waiting rooms were packed, they were clean, and it all looked ok.  It's the government hospitals that are a sight. People lying on the floor, spitting in corners, broken chairs, wailing babies. It's…

Here's a link to the web album by Nithya, which covers this protest:click here Apparently all that has been agreed to is that BBMP will take "appropriate action"...this may not be enough, and we may have to protest more!⊕References

Around 18 years ago, a piece of paper carried the following sprited words, as a reasoned explanation for a series of amendments to a hallowed document. Here's how the words read: "In  many  States  local  bodies have become weak  and  ineffective  on account of a variety of reasons, including the failure to hold regular elections, prolonged supersessions and inadequate devolution of powers and  functions.   As  a  result, Urban Local Bodies are  not  able  to perform effectively as vibrant democratic units of self-government."Recognise Bengaluru in the situation there? The hallowed document is our Constitution and the words in the quote above…

…Hindus, Muslims, Christians, boys and girls", were the heart warming words of Afreen Sultana, a promising class IX student of a government aided English medium school in Matadahalli, R.T. Nagar. A fornight ago, it all began as a question on the difference between a nest and a cage with Firdaus (of class VII in the Urdu medium government school nearby). This led to the meaning and importance of freedom for all living beings, eliciting interesting responses from Alan, Chetan and Abhinaya (in classes VII, IX and VIII of various government aided English medium schools in North East Bengaluru) on accepted…

On 30th September 2008, Sahakara Bhavan, a government building got an elevator through an RTI application. This despite the fact that a provision for two lifts was made for this building at the time of its construction in 1975. But the provision remained on paper. Sahakara Bhavan is a multi-storeyed building on Cunningham Road housing several government offices. The building has offices of Coir Board, Karnataka State Co-operative Market Federation(KSCF), Press Information Bureau, Bangalore Urban Additional District Consumer Disputes Forum and Karnataka State Consumer Redressal Forum.S N Subramanya, an RTI and Consumer Rights activist and a senior citizen visits Sahakara…

When I bump over the potholes, When I (don't) see the missing trees... When I can feel the pollution Because it makes me wheeze.... When I'm cycling in the hot sun Without an ounce of shade, I know that this "desert" Bangalore Is completely "BBMP-made"!  ⊕References

As a part of an initiative on good governance, a group of RTI activists and civil societies in the city came up with RTI Clinics for citizens of Bangalore. The Clinic is a joint initiative of RTI activists groups, community-based organizations and grassroots social justice campaigners. The idea behind coming up with RTI Clinic is to create awareness on the Act, provide procedural guidance and assistance to obtain information from government bodies. (Social justice campaigners are people who campaign for the fundamental rights or grievance redressal of the marginalized such as domestic workers, child labourers and internally displaced riot victims,…

Dear Nandan,The central government recently appointed you, a Bangalorean, as the head of the ambitious Universal Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), and you accepted. Congratulations. Please address one key question to set the right expectations amongst citizens early on.In your book, Imagining India, you have rightly recognised that we are a country full of random, disconnected procedures for IDs and ‘ID proofing’. Everything from passports, to phone lines to ration cards to driver licenses, voter rolls, water connections, BPL cards, gas connections, bank accounts and more involves citizens interacting with a local, state or central government agency, PSU or private…