CITIZEN JOURNALISM

After lot of search, finally you zero in on an under-construction apartment to buy. Your decisions are based on cost, location, developed, accessibility, quality, reputation of builder etc. The builder as usual promises moon to every buyer and buyer gets impressed by glossy brochures and sugary words of so called sales managers. So you start dreaming about living in your own dwelling. The builder then sets the terms for payment - 20% advance, 70% for slabs (for a typical G+3 Apartment), 10% after sale deed registration. After paying the advance (20%), you will apply for a bank loan. If your…

One or two years ago, the trees right opposite my house were alive with birds - Red-Whiskered Bulbuls,white-Cheeked Barbets, Purple-Rumped Sunbirds, Mynas, Koels and Pale-Billed Flowerpeckers. It was a sense of hapiness to see them in the morning, flitting from one branch to the other - especially the Bulbul pair, and the Mynas. Now, in 2013, they have all gone. Disappeared. Only a few Mynas and the occasional Koel show up. Rarely do I hear those beautiful calls of the birds I loved the most; the city's most common avian residents. Are these birds heading for the same fate as…

A new rule to link Aadhaar Card and Bank Account with the gas connection is on the way. Consumers in Bengaluru are being sent messages regarding this, though the government has not completed the process of issuing the cards for a large number of citizens. Also, as the acceptance of Aadhar is still pending in the supreme court, how can this be implemented? Direct Subsidy Transfer scheme has not been implemented so far in Karnataka anywhere, though many deadlines have been given.                                      - EditorAlso read: How to link Aadhaar card to bank account. At present the…

A city which was known for its gardens is now just a city of dust.  I have a few issues to raise and want to know the thoughts around it from my fellow Bengalurians. I'm also looking for the platforms where such isuues could be raised. 1. Road Tax: Karnataka is a state which charges high road tax for any vehicle compared to another states. However, in past six years, I have not seen proper maintenance of roads in Bangalore, specifically south Bangalore. Where is this money going, is there any account? 2. No demarcation of stop lines or zebra…

Having spent the last couple of months speaking to the residents of Sadashivanagar, convincing them to begin segregating their garbage, I once again joined the pourakarmikas on their Saturday dry-waste collection drive to note what impact my efforts had on apathetic residents, and to adjudge how much more I would have to do to help realise the dream of 100% collection.  The pourakarmikas – who by now had grown accustomed to my company – greeted me with smiles and waves. They informed me that the drive would start a few minutes late due to the early-morning rain which had dampened…

Public Affairs Centre (PAC), an independent non-government think tank working in the area of governance and service delivery, has recently completed an assessment of the services provided by BESCOM. The study funded by BESCOM, used the Citizen Report Card (CRC) approach to collect feedback from users as well as the BESCOM staff to understand the quality of service delivery and issues faced by both parties. The aim was to use the information generated through the study to find actionable remedies for issues of concern faced by both users and the BESCOM staff. The study covered all the eight Circles and…

Have you ever been into an argument when you wished - I wish I can prove why you are so wrong? Have you ever heard or read something that you instinctively knew to be incorrect yet you were unable to explain it how? You know that the world is not what it ought to be, but you do not know how to address it in an informed manner. You are frequently getting disillusioned by the quality of debate on television and are looking for avenues which can provide meaningful information. Are you interested in human rights, good governance, environmentalism, equality…

We spend a lot of time talking about national politics in India, with the general elections in 2014 being a subject of conversations for well over a year now. Conversations on state level politics take up the remainder of our time. In contrast, many of the problems that we face in Bengaluru on a day to day basis are municipal in nature: be it the lack of good roads and public transport, unreliable power supply, unsafe drinking water or garbage that lines our streets. Who becomes your next corporator or local council member is perhaps as important as who becomes…

Once again, it was time to shift; once again, it was time to fret over the collection of used/unused/sparingly used but ‘not being used’ items at home. That we were moving to a smaller rented house, made it evidently clear that I do away with some of that stuff. In the past I have been accomplishing this by donating the items to NGOs. During voluntary works, I have often noticed people adopting the easiest route to de-clogging their homes: they bundle all and sundry items together and dump at the nearest venue willing to accept their surplus. Concerned at this…

In a significant ruling, Justice A S Pachhapure of the High Court of Karnataka dismissed on October 11, 2013 the petitions that sought quashing of criminal prosecution of senior representatives of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwar (UAS), M/s Mahyco/Monsanto and M/s Sathguru, who have been accused by the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and Karnataka State Biodiversity Board (KBB) of committing serious criminal acts of biopiracy in promoting BT Brinjal, India's first food GMO. The petitions dismissed by the Court are those filed by University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad,  R R Hanchinal, Vice Chancellor and H S Vijaykumar, Registrar of…