CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Legislators from the ruling Congress have submitted a petition in the Assembly to remove Upalokayukta Justice Adi, on charges of overstepping jurisdiction. Meanwhile a group of citizens have written to the Chief Minister opposing the move. The Assembly also admitted a motion to impeach Lokayukta Bhaskar Rao. Upalokayukta Justice Adi addressing the press at Kaikondrahalli lake that he visited in 2013. Respected Chief Minister Shri Siddharamaiah, We, the citizens of Bangalore request your kind attention and intervention in the case related to the motion initiated in the State Assembly to remove Upa Lokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi. The Lokayukta is…

Naziah sitting in her house, narrating her story. Pic: Kabir Khan My mother left me in Bengaluru under the care of my uncle. He worked in a Government office. Later, he asked my family to move to Bengaluru as there were more employment opportunities in the city. He managed to get us a hut to stay. My family shifted here but we didn’t have any money for food. I was seven or eight years old then—the eldest among all my siblings. We picked vegetables from riverside and sold it for Rs 7 or 8, with which I purchased dal (pulses) and…

Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF), the flagship literary event on the cultural calendar of Bangalore city, is all set to roll out its fourth edition on December 5th and 6th 2015 at Hotel Royal Orchid, Old Airport Road. The BLF has emerged as the second largest literary conclave in the country that brings the best of minds in the world of literature to Bengaluru. Building on the success of the earlier editions, this time the festival brings together nearly a hundred stalwarts from the world of literature, in various languages, both from India and abroad. Subodh Sankar, Vikram Sampath and Shinie Antony…

Bengaluru is reeling under the severe garbage crisis once again. BBMP and the relevant authorities have failed to address the garbage situation in the city; they have handed over the city and citizens’ health to the garbage mafia. Heaps of garbage are quickly turning into mountains, and an outbreak of an epidemic is inevitable if the apathy and mindlessness continues. Throwing money at every problem seems to be the only idea BBMP comes up with. Unfortunately, BBMP’s expenditure of over Rs 400-500 crores on Solid Waste Management (SWM) annually has not stopped the garbage crisis. Bengaluru is probably the only…

The wise woman at Lalbagh. Pic: Ashok Kumar S This happened one sunny Saturday afternoon in Lalbagh. It was all green everywhere. Trees swayed all around me, a gentle breeze blew, birds chirped, squirrels ran down trees and grasshoppers hopped on the green grass. I saw an old woman squatting down on a less-walked road in the park, plastic cover in hand, looking down at something. At first, I thought she was picking up tamarind, as there are a number of tamarind trees in the garden. I tilted my head and looked above to check if there was a tamarind…

A couple of weeks ago, towards the end of October 2015, many concerned residents started observing raw sewage entering Ibbluru park at Sarjapura Road - ORR Ibbluru junction. It was not clear what was driving this. There had been unseasonal rains prior to this too, but it had not led to any adverse effects on the park. What triggered this destructive course of events? To understand it better, it is necessary to understand the chain of events that took place in the last five years. Local residents fondly recollect, seeing a beautiful quiet lake at Ibbluru up until 2009 -…

If you are willing to listen, people always have stories to tell. Especially in a city. And despite the best efforts of civic authorities to make us think otherwise, Bangalore is still a city. And people have stories to tell. People like Srinivas. He works as a floor captain at one of those fancy Church Street F&B joints. I found him to be a very familiar face. I was there nursing my cutlery, and tactless that I am I probably was also staring at him too hard, trying to figure out where I had seen him. Probably tired of my…

I had been on the fence with menstrual cups for a few months and felt like a failure every time the time of the month arrived. But at last, I’ve been able to make the switch. And I’m so proud. :) Menstrual cups: an eco-friendly alternative for sustainable mentruation. Pic: Frank Krueger, Wikimedia Commons* There’s a growing mountain of menstrual waste, which is toxic for our environment. It was something I was contributing to every month in a major way and I hated that. It didn't help that none of the people I know use reusable cloth pads or menstrual…

We, Natalie Sridhar who has completed her bachelors in psychology from the US, Mohammed Fazil an ex-Cisco employee, and Deepa Mahesh, an ex-Target employee are currently Teach for India fellows, teaching Grades three and four at the Kadugodi Govternment School.  We have been in this system for the last four months and realise there are many things that the school needs support with.  Infrastructure needs Drinking Water: Water supply is an issue because the pump for the borewell keeps going out of order. The school also needs a water purifying system to make the water drinkable for the kids. Toilets: We have…

Another evening, another Ganesha procession passing by to get to the Mallathahalli tank. It has been more than a month since the Ganesha festival, but the sounds of passing processions—typically a tractor with a massive Ganesha, surrounded by hooting teenage boys, drums in front and more boys (younger and teens) dancing around it—is still not unusual. One of the perks of living close to a lake, I guess. If there are still idols being dumped in the lake, wonder what the situation would have been over the month. The area for dumping is a small pond cut out from the…