CITIZEN JOURNALISM

50 years ago, a ‘Summer of Love’ in the United States brought together the anti-Vietnam war movement, a desire to create a counter-culture and a generation longing to rid itself of the perceived stifling mores of the earlier generation. The "flower children" of the 1960s didn't just listen to the Beatles and distribute flowers. They were the rebels of the day and they had their own "Beku" and "Beda" philosophy which today most serious observers of the time regard as naive, directionless but well-intentioned. So we had the "We want World Peace", "We want disarmament", "We want Lyndon Johnson to…

In 2013, the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) and Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) together started a pioneering effort in the field of wildlife and conservation: training wildlife volunteers who could bridge the gap between the Forest Department and the general public,  helping with various tasks that KFD personnel have to carry out. Here is one account of the programme as it stood in 2013. Several batches of volunteers attended the training programmes across several landscapes: Bandipur, Bhadra, Dandeli, Kudremukh and Nagarhole. About 550 people in all attended the programmes.They were called Eco-volunteers and the government organization in charge was the…

ಮೂಲಭೂತ ಸೌಲಭ್ಯದ ಸುವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯೇ ಸುಂದರ ನಗರದ ಆಧಾರ. ಸಿಲಿಕಾನ್ ‌ಸಿಟಿ, ಉದ್ಯಾನನಗರಿ, ಐಟಿ-ಸಿಟಿ ಎಂದೆಲ್ಲ‌ ಕರೆಯಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಪ್ರತಿ ನಿತ್ಯ ವ್ಯಾಪ್ತಿಯನ್ನು ವಿಸ್ತರಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಲೇ ಸಾಗುತ್ತಿರುವ ನಗರ. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರತಿ ಸೂರ್ಯೋದಯ ಹಾಗೂ ಸೂರ್ಯಾಸ್ತ ಗಳು ಕೂಡಾ ಹೊಸ-ಹೊಸ ಬೆಳವಣಿಗೆ, ಬದಲಾವಣೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಬೆಳವಣಿಗೆಗೆ ಸಾಕ್ಷಿಯಾಗುತ್ತವೆ. ಪ್ರತಿನಿತ್ಯ ವ್ಯವಹಾರ, ಉದ್ಯೋಗ, ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ, ಆರೋಗ್ಯ - ಹೀಗೆ ನಾನಾ ಉದ್ದೇಶಗಳಿಗಾಗಿ ಸಾವಿರಾರು ಕನಸುಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊತ್ತು ನಮ್ಮ ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಹಳ್ಳಿಗಳಿಂದ ಆರಂಭಿಸಿ ದೂರದ ದೇಶದ ಸಾವಿರಾರು ಜನರು ಆಗಮಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಹೀಗೆ ಪ್ರತಿನಿತ್ಯ ಹೊಸ ಬದುಕು ಕಟ್ಟುವ ಸಾವಿರಾರು ಜನರಿಂದ ನಗರದ ಆಡಳಿತ, ಸುವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಸೌಲಭ್ಯ ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಕೂಡಾ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಸವಾಲಾಗಿ ಪರಿಣಮಿಸುತ್ತಿದೆ. ನಗರದಲ್ಲಿನ ಲಕ್ಷಾಂತರ ಮನೆಗಳು, ದಶಲಕ್ಷ ಲೀಟರನಷ್ಟು ನೀರಿನ‌ ಅಗತ್ಯ, ಸ್ವಚ್ಚತೆ, ಕಸದ ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆ, ರಾಜಕಾಲುವೆಗಳು ಹಾಗೂ ಚರಂಡಿಗಳ‌ ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆ ನಗರದ ಆಡಳಿತ ಪಾಲಿಗಿರುವ ಬಹುದೊಡ್ಡ ಸವಾಲು. ಹೀಗಾಗಿ ಈ ಸಮಸ್ಯೆಗಳನ್ನು ಬಗೆಹರಿಸಲು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಬದುಕುತ್ತಿರುವ ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯೂ ನಗರದ ಪ್ರಥಮ‌ಪ್ರಜೆ ಮೇಯರ್…

ನಿಮ್ಮೂರಿಗೆ ಈ ಹೆಸರು ಯಾಕೆ ಬಂತಂತೆ ಅಂತ ಪ್ರಪಂಚದ ಯಾರನ್ನೇ ಕೇಳಿ... ಒಂದು ಸೊಗಸಾದ ಕತೆ ಹೇಳ್ತಾರೆ. ರೋಚಕ ಘಟನೆ ಹೇಳ್ತಾರೆ. ಆದ್ರೆ ನಮ್ಮೂರಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಆ ಭಾಗ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ. ಅದೆಂತದೋ ಕಾಳು ಬೇಯ್ಸಿರೋ ಅಜ್ಜಿಯ ಕತೆನ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರನ್ನೋ ಬಿನ್ನಾಣಗಿತ್ತಿಗೆ ತಗಲ್ಹಾಕಿದಾರೆ. ನಿಜ ಹೇಳ್ತೀನಿ... ಬೆಡಗು ಅನ್ನೋ ಶಬ್ದದಿಂದಲೇ ನಮ್ಮೂರಿಗೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಅನ್ನೋ ಹೆಸರು ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಬೆಡಗಿನೂರು - ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು…  ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಹುಟ್ಟೋಕೆ ಜನ್ಮಾಂತರದ ಪುಣ್ಯಫಲವಿರಬೇಕು.ಅಲ್ಪ-ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಪುಣ್ಯ ಮಾಡಿದ್ರೆ ಕೊನೇಪಕ್ಷ ಇಲ್ಲಿನ ನಾಗರಿಕನಾಗಬಹುದು. ಇನ್ನು ಈ ಭಾಗ್ಯದೂರಿನ ನಗರಪಾಲಕ ಅಥವಾ ಮೇಯರ್ ಆಗಲಿಕ್ಕೆ ಪುಣ್ಯ ಮಾತ್ರ ಸಾಲದು.. ಯೋಗ್ಯತೆ, ಅರ್ಹತೆ, ದೂರದೃಷ್ಟಿ, ನಿಸ್ವಾರ್ಥತೆ, ನಾಗರಿಕಪ್ರಜ್ಞೆ ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಇರಲೇಬೇಕು. ಈ ಎಲ್ಲ ಗುಣಗಳೂ ನನ್ನಲ್ಲೇ ಇವೆಯಲ್ಲ.. ನಾನ್ಯಾಕೆ ಒಂದು ಕೈ ನೋಡ್ಬಾರ್ದು ಅನ್ನೋದು ನನ್ನ ಲೆಕ್ಕಾಚಾರ. ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಅವಕಾಶಗಳ ನಗರ. ಜೀವನ ಕಟ್ಟಿಕೊಂಡು ನೆಮ್ಮದಿಯಾಗಿ ಬಾಳಬೇಕು ಅನ್ನುವ ಸ್ವಾಭಿಮಾನಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಹೇಳಿ ಮಾಡಿಸಿದ ಜಾಗವಿದು. ಆದ್ರೆ ಈ ಸ್ವಾಭಿಮಾನಿಗಳು ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸುವ ಕಸ ನಮ್ಮ ನಗರದ…

On top of my list of priorities as a Mayor of Bengaluru, would be to clean up lakes and water bodies in the city, and mitigate health hazards of citizens of the Bengaluru Metropolis. Background of the problem There are an estimated 2500 or more micro, mini and small Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) distributed across the city in Residential, commercial, retail and industrial complexes. The total quantity of sewage treated in these STPs is estimated to be approximately 350 MLD. To put it in perspective, this constitutes nearly 20-25% of water supplied to Bengaluru by the BWSSB. A vast majority…

On Thursday, November 9, at 7:30 pm, Aditi (name changed) walked down a major thoroughfare in Mylapore, wading through a seeming ocean of people, towards Sai Baba Temple. They were there to pray to Shirdi Sai Baba (1838-1915), a saint who is considered by devotees today to be the representation of the supreme God. It is often said that Sai Baba grants anything a devotee asks for. A paduka, or wooden footwear, of the saint had been brought to the temple from Shirdi, the saint’s hometown, and they would soon be paraded along the streets around the temple. Aditi saw…

Everyday when I wake up, I start my day by estimating the amount of time it would take for me to reach work. Normal routine involves catching a bus from the nearest bus stop. But it is nearly impossible to reach there without wading through mud scooped out from the drains mixed with cow dung, growing weeds and a family of pigs heading for their breakfast into the nearby stormwater drain. Only after a few really overcrowded buses bursting at the seams pass by, I decide to walk it to Bellandur bus stop which takes merely 20 minutes away. I…

Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself. - Gloria Steinem. Until T.N. Seshan became the Chief Election Commissioner of India, the public did not know much about the Election Commission and the powers it had. We’ve seen individuals infusing life into public institutions that were seen as ‘weak’ or ‘ceremonial’. I will draw inspiration from such stories to leverage my one year term as Mayor of this great city Bengaluru. My strategy would be to elevate the stature of the Mayor’s office, take up a small but significant set of things…

Contemporary Bangalore or Bengaluru is typically seen as a modern ever-expanding city. Its boundaries stretch in different directions based on intense clusters of development. For e.g., Sarjapur road, Whitefield - Varthur, Devanahalli, Yeshwanthpur - Peenya - Magadi and Kengeri. One such cluster to the city’s north-west is Yeshwanthpur. And often like the other clusters named above, it is seen as “greenfield development” i.e. development of agricultural but uninhabited land. Loss of such land is not seen to be of much value or rather such land is not considered to have any socio-cultural significance or history worth recording. But such an…

Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) has come out with the draft plan for Bengaluru, and has displayed the Revised Master Plan-2031 (RMP-2031) in its website. It's time for interested citizens to understand and decode the RMP and comment in it, raise objections or give suggestions. For starters, read all the chapters – www.bdabangalore.org/TPMRMP2031.html , or http://www.bdabangalore.org/RMP2031.html. The pages are in the high triple digits and it is heavy reading – so it will take time. But it is a necessary first step so that unlike the protests about Padmavati, we are commenting based on knowing about what’s contained in the document. I…