CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Finally, it looks like the Chennai Metro is ready to roll out services across its full length of 45.1 km in Phase I, nine years after it was approved by the Centre. As one of the biggest urban infrastructure projects of Chennai, costing upwards of $2.5 billion, it upgrades the city’s profile globally, although it is nowhere near the emerging international paradigm of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). In fact, it is a pretty scattered set of options in Tamil Nadu’s capital, with a mix of regulated systems for low quality government-run buses, suburban trains operated by the Central government, the Metro…

In an attempt to leverage technology for civic responsibility, international school Chettinad Sarvalokaa Education and not-for-profit organisation, Reap Benefit are conducting a two-day event called Sarvalokaa Hackathon 2019. It is an initiative that will bring together young people from various spheres on one platform to solve local, civic and environment issues in their neighbourhoods. The Hackathon will take place on February 1 and 2, 2019 at Chettinad Sarvalokaa Education, inside the Chettinad Health City Campus, Rajiv Gandhi Salai, Old Mamallapuram Road, Kelambakkam. The hackathon will comprise of workshops on rapid prototyping, design thinking, electronics and coding by some of the…

Shetty (name changed), manager at a Bengaluru apartment, dreaded the RWA meeting where he had to get members’ approval for common area electricity bills. RWA members invariably questioned him on the huge bill amounts, but he was unable to justify the bills or identify measures for saving. The association was also unable to take concerted action, mainly because of the lack of data. Usually the association ended up taking ad hoc steps like installing LED lights, and brushes the issue aside. But the problem is revisited every year, with the same results. Upto a quarter of maintenance charges is for…

In the above photo are some of a motley group of citizens who are funding the construction of a Ganga style stone mantapa to house the recently discovered 750CE Kittayya-Hebbal inscription stone! This could well be the first time ever in the world a group of ordinary citizens are coming together to help conserve and celebrate a city's written heritage in this manner. In the photo they are seen holding accurate 1/8 scale brass mementos of the incredible Kittayya-Hebbal inscription. These same mementos are now proudly displayed in showcases in their homes and offices – a first again in that…

I want to thank the movement Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) for pushing me to attend the ward committee meeting in my ward Shanthinagar. I’m glad I went. Kudos to all energetic young people, I now feel there’s hope for Bengaluru! On time, but low on public participation The meeting started on time, which was great. But citizen participation was very low, with only about 15 attending. Hardly anyone from RWAs was present. I thought RWAs exist to push citizens’ agenda, so I was not sure what to make of this. Of the 10 ward committee members, nine attended the meeting.…

The saga of transferring my late father-in-law’s car registration/title to my mother-in-law began on August 2, 2018. We had put together all the necessary documents after reviewing Wikiprocedure.com (not the RTO website) and speaking to other people who had gone through this process. The required documents included: The original RC book Form 31 Death certificate. Legal heir certificate issued by the Tahsildar’s office. Affidavits from the other legal heirs (my husband and his sister) that they had relinquished their rights in favour of the applicant (their mother) - these affidavits were on printed on stamp paper and notarized A copy…

Helen was a dog who produced many Labrador pups—a puppy mill mom — who was finally abandoned by her breeders on the streets when she couldn’t do it anymore. Blind, deaf, malnutritioned, she was rescued and adopted by animal rights activist Bismi Anil. Helen stood as a testimony to all that’s wrong with the implementation of animal cruelty laws in Karnataka and in fact most of India.   Dogs are repeatedly bred using rape stands, in the filthiest, tiniest of spaces, often with a sibling or parent and live in small cages with little or no food, medical facilities, human…

The steel flyover project is an ugly manifestation of our unbridled urbanisation mindset. This is yet another myopic economic proposal to exacerbate urbanisation; it seems to us, and is mindlessly espousing the following: Covering the soil which has lower heat conductivity, with an impermeable layer of concrete which has much higher capacity to conduct heat. Replacing life sustaining trees with air conditioners Spewing billions of tons of toxic gases into air by vehicular movements and industrial activities, so as to choke the city. Generating colossal quantities of solid waste to convert the garden city into a garbage city Facilitating concentration…

“Sir, only Rs 10,500/- service charge for Khata and property tax. Quick and reliable service!” said a representative of a broker firm in Akshay Nagar, Begur. The firm facilitated the issuing of Khatas for apartments, while residents of West End Heights, an apartment complex of 1,830 units, were looking to get Khatas. But they decided they had to do something about the blatant corruption in the delivery of Khatas. What followed was a tale of how a group of aware and vocal citizens fought against the system and won, and received their Khata certificates without having to pay any bribes.…

There have been increasing instances of conflicts between pet owners and other residents in apartments. Bangalore Apartments' Federation (BAF), a Federation representing the interests of hundreds of apartment complexes and lakhs of apartment residents across Bangalore, has released a note outlining guidelines for pet ownership in apartments. The note has been prepared with inputs from animal rights activists and animal lovers as well as people who have faced issues with a few pet owners. This is a pre-emptive and proactive initiative by BAF to address lack of information and to protect both apartment associations as well as pet owners from…