CITIZEN JOURNALISM

B.PAC is working with Hasiru Mithra (the HSR Layout residents’ initiative) and Syngene on a neighbourhood cleanup drive. This will be a sustained campaign to drive corporate social engagement that brings corporates, neighborhood communities and BBMP together to clean, drive behavioural change and monitor progress. Employees and residents of the neigbourhood work together to beautify their locality and appoint wardens who will keep watch on the neighbourhood to ensure that the cleaned up areas do not relapse into their original state. Cleanup drive on January 30th The 27th main road in HSR Layout is one of the prime roads in the…

Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) on behalf of the citizens of Bengaluru city had submitted a petition to the Karnatala Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on November 9th 2015 against BESCOM’s unsafe electrical installations across the city. Prior to this, B.PAC conducted an on-field survey covering 21 locations, identifying more than 200 dangerous electrical installations, awaiting major tragedies to happen. The pictures submitted were self-explanatory that none of these installations fulfilled the safety norms recommended by the Central Electricity Authority. Pics: B.PAC B.PAC requested the commission to direct BESCOM to replace all dangerous installations in public access areas on priority. The…

The Delhi’s Odd-Even experiment has ended. The Jury is still out on the outcome of this ‘Odd-Even’ experiment, i.e. reduction in pollution. There is no concrete evidence to prove one way or the other. Pollution reduction numbers may not be visible instantaneously with the absence of vehicles partially on roads in just 15 days. However, people of Delhi ensured high compliance to the odd-even rule, leading to success of this experiment in terms of less traffic. The Chief Justice of India’s voluntary compliance in spite of having the waiver just reiterates the citizen’s desire for healthier environments and surroundings, in…

It is worrisome that Bangalore is as famous for its potholed roads as it is for its IT industry. According to a conservative government estimate, at this time, Bengaluru is home to about 4000 potholes with varying degrees of hazard associated with them. Indeed, last September, one such pothole claimed the life of a young woman when she suffered head injuries due to a fall. While calculating the cost of a life is nearly impossible, there are other costs associated with potholes that can be estimated. First, there is the cost of slow-moving traffic that leads to loss of productive…

Tirupathi, located on the foot hills of Eastern Ghats, is in Andhra Pradesh State. It is the most popular pilgrimage centre in South India. About 20 million devotees visit Tirupathi in a year ie; about 37,500 pilgrims per day, out of which about 15,000 ie; about 30% are from Bengaluru side. The number of pilgrims was about 23 lakh during May 2015. But how well-connected is Tirupathi from Bengaluru? Is there a provision for improvisation? Existing connectivity : a) By road: The distance between Bengaluru and Tirupathi is 250 km by road. The existing connectivity is mainly by road. The…

At the launch of the Green and Safe School project. Pic: B.PAC  B.PAC has been working on sustainability and safety issues and is now pioneering the concept of a Green and Safe School model with a holistic vision to create a clean, hygienic, safe environment in government schools that is conducive for learning. A ‘Green and Safe School’ follows a child-centric approach, where schools become a space for positive carbon footprint, free of violence, harassment and abuse. B.PAC in association with Shell MRPL Aviation Fuels & Services Ltd aims to apply the principles of the Green and Safe School to…

January 25th is observed as National Voters' Day by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Does it include real voters? I doubt. As mentioned in my last blog post, sloganeering and “celebrations” have started on January 14th. Some reality checks on the rolls of Bengaluru Legislative Assemblies, published on January 11th 2016: Was there an exodus in parts of Mahadevpura? ECI rules require District Electoral Officers (DEO) to examine cases of deletions exceeding 2% and additions exceeding 4%. Deletion is more than 2% in 152 parts. Top 7 of them are from Mahadevapura constituency, with more than 20% deletions each. 266…

A file picture from an earlier edition of Traffic Police Day. Despite the growing vehicular population, Bengaluru is kept on the move thanks to its traffic police. Battling the harsh sun, rain, pollution, the indignant citizen and many civic woes, the service of the Traffic Police goes unnoticed. With the aim of urging young people to recognise their tireless contribution and to empathise with the hardships they face, (Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness) CMCA organises 'Traffic Police Day'. Traffic Police Day is dedicated to thanking one of the city’s unacclaimed heroes – the traffic police. 2016 marks the 11th annual celebration…

With the absence of major rivers, floods in Bengaluru are caused only by rainfall. Knowing which are the months that are vulnerable to floods helps in taking necessary precautions. Primary rainy season in the city is from June to September when Bengaluru receives rain from South-West Monsoon, and secondary rainy season is from November to December when it receives rain from North-East Monsoon. Here is the raw data for rainfall in 100 years, from 1901 to 2000. This exhaustive data is plotted in graphs for each month.    100 years rainfall graph for the month of January  100 years rainfall…