CITIZEN JOURNALISM

For our readers in English Chennai has over 1350 Anganwadis under the ICDS. Contrary to popular perception, many of these centres are clean, well appointed with teaching aids, toys etc (maybe lacking in infrastructure as compared to private playschools and daycare centres) and well run by dedicated teachers and employees who take a holistic view of the daily needs of a 2/3 year old child. In addition, many anganwadis also serve as centres for spreading awareness about maternal and child health, importance of nutrition during pregnancy and early childhood, vaccination etc ஒருங்கிணைந்த குழந்தைகள் வளாகம் (ICDS) - ஒரு பார்வை பொருளாதாரத்தின் எந்நிலையில்…

Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, website has been playing Peekaboo with the citizens for some time. When we think that we have found it, at last, it misbehaves for a few days and hides again. If you are a visitor without purpose, it could be entertaining to see various avatars of the site. Now I see the home page of Drug Control Department when I try to see the CEO’s site. However, by entering http://164.100.80.163/ceo3/ we can get the CEO’s page. Peekaboo! In addition to different websites appearing when we look for CEO-KA website, the data we get from different official…

As I sat in the office cafeteria yesterday over a cup of tea, the Surat rape flashed on TV.  When I saw that her hand was broken, I flew into a momentary rage and wanted to sweep every tea cup off every table of every employee. I wanted to smash everything. For Mumbai, where every single deaf and mute girl has been raped at Karjat boarding school in Mumbai. Every single girl who boards there. Every single one between the ages of 6 and 13. Every single one. By their "caretaker.” For Unnao, Kathua, Orissa and the endless stream from…

It was love at first sight. It’s hard to explain how one can fall head over heels for Majestic and its mean streets, the way I did. But it happened to me. Majestic and I have been dating for longer than I’ve known my life – oh sorry, I mean my wife. And you know what the best thing is? She isn’t even jealous that I have another love. Because it would be silly to be resentful of a few tumbledown city blocks and a fistful of squalid streets. Am I telling the truth or a tall story? Well, let…

Runners Manifesto A demand from the runners in Bengaluru to the contestants in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Elections 2018 Our Vision General physical and mental well being of citizens Green lung space Reduction in pollution Safe space for commute by walking/cycling Urban commons for community engagement Better standards of liveability. With the right infrastructure for runners, multiple objectives are achieved for the city. The city of runners Bengaluru is not only known as the Silicon Valley of India but is also the running capital of the country. Year long salubrious climate and convergence of various expats has brought the love…

This is a 'Green Manifesto, objective of which is a commitment from the candidates contesting the elections to include “A Healthy Environment for the Well-being of the citizens” as an agenda in their general Manifesto. “Namma Kasa Namma Jawabdari” is the basic principle on which this document is drafted. A healthy environment is the ultimate source of everything critical for our survival - providing healthy food and materials, to the land we live in, water sources that sustain us to the air we breathe. We want clean habitat for ourselves and also for the villages that surround our city. We…

Large number of duplicate entries in electoral rolls means lack of truthfulness in statistical observations, and consequent rhetorical statements like "people in cities don't vote." When people say that turnout % in an election is low in Bengaluru, that calculation is based on electoral rolls bloated with duplicate entries and illegal entries like those of dead voters. For the past six years, every time the CEO Karnataka published the electoral rolls, I have been reporting the counts of suspected duplicate entries by category. Whereas the occurrences of duplicate entries have reduced over the years, a lot of duplicate records remain…

On March 18, 2017 I visited a water body in GKM Colony located right next to the K5 Police Station (Peravallur), Jawahar Nagar in response to a request from Arappor Iyakkam to conduct an audit on the city’s water bodies. There were some workers who were involved in spraying chemicals and were also at the same time removing the floating garbage from this particular pond, which is called the Vannankuttai. A storm water drain (SWD) was found to be discharging untreated sewage directly into the Vannankuttai through a circular pipe, as you will see in the following image: Summer was…

Over the past couple of months, there have been some bird counts, in a laudable attempt to document the species of birds found in the outskirts of Bangalore, and elsewhere in Karnataka, and their numbers as well. The first initiative, at Bannerghatta National Park, was started in February 2018, to take place on the second Saturday of each month, and will continue over the entire period of a year, through all the seasons. The data will be collated at the end and presented in a report to give a picture of the bird species and numbers throughout the year. The…

Once there was a river. Rather, there were many rivers. And then there were none. In the run up to Arappor Iyakkam's Sakkadai Thiruvizha, a citizen awareness program to highlight the problem of sewage being let into Chennai's water bodies, two young photographers -- Raghavan Lokesh and Mohan Kumar Karunakaran -- volunteered to travel along Chennai's rivers, and capture images for our readers. The pictures are heart breaking. Let us take a minute to view, and mull over, what we have done to the lifelines of this city. [Raghavan Lokesh is an entrepreneur and has been volunteering with Arappor Iyakkam…