CITIZEN JOURNALISM

BBMP has introduced new application forms IV and V  for the year 2009-10 and updated the online calculator in their website.  I have found the following anomalies in both and wrote to the Commissioner, DC Revenue and other officials . So far nobody has replied; none of the  mistakes have yet been corrected. The anomalies are going to affect the entire public in the BBMP areas as the rules and columns in the forms and calculator are contradictory.            #1.  The Instructions to the Tax Payer at S.No.2 in the Forms state that "Depreciation cannot be claimed for 2009-10 and 2010-11…

On Sunday, 21 June 2009, many Kannada book lovers gathered at Nayana Auditorium Kannada Bhavana. T Navakarnataka Publications released a series titled ”Vanitha Chintana Maale”, a set of ten books with content predominantly women centric . Navakarnataka Publications was established in 1960 and has as its motto: Pustakada Muulaka Manukulada Seve (Service to Mankind through books). In its nearly 50 years of operation, Navakarnataka has published more than 2500 different books that cater to a wide range of people – from intellectuals to the common man. In addition to a monthly newsletter titled ‘Hosathu’, Navakarnataka has been publishing books (predominantly…

Now that most of us have paid the property taxes for the year 2008-09 by filling the appropriate form (From I-for properties with PID no./ Form II-for properties having only KATHA no./ Form III-for properties with neither PID nor KATHA no.), it is time to start paying the taxes for the current year. A small quantum of forms have reached the Help Centres and are of two different types – White (Form IV) in bilingual & Blue (Form V)For properties, where there is no change in any field – either in CATEGORY (rented out/non-residential), or DIMENSIONS (Any addition/deletion to the…

On Saturday May 23rd, Meta-Culture Dialogics (MCD) convened the tenth session of its popular community dialogue series, Bengaluru Speaks. Held at the Ashirvad Community Centre, the dialogue explored the topic: “Dare to be an Agent of Change? Your wish list for the new government.” The Bangalorean participants varied in age and profession, and there was a fairly equal ratio of men to women. To kick-off the dialogue, the Meta-Culture facilitators asked the participants to reflect on the election campaigns and results. Many participants felt the candidates put forward party-oriented issues instead of focusing on social development. Some participants said they…

I have run a full marathon and a couple of half marathons but I never really enjoyed running. I did it more as a chore, somewhat like eating healthy food and doing laundry. That is until I started running with Asha, an NGO working on children's education in Bangalore. Initially it started with a curiosity as to what drove Santhosh Padmanabhan, an Asha volunteer and marathon runner in Bangalore to do a 24 hour/156 km non-stop run. I learnt that it was a fund raising activity for education related causes. Padmanabhan, a software engineer, spends innumerable hours in education related…

Of late, Bangalore has too many parks. An area like Yelahnaka has more than 30 parks. Though parks look good, they are not planned properly. Parks enhance the beauty of the layout and increase its value, but deprive the children of playgrounds. Where should children go for playing?Today some schools do not have playgrounds. Grounds have been converted to green deserts. No one can enter the parks between 10 AM and 4 PM. What is the big idea of having parks like these? We need trees for generating oxygen and each of these parks can still have walking paths with…

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has released a list of  property owners who have paid the property tax for their properties for the year 2008-09 on their website. I do appreciate the efforts they have put to collate the enormous amount of data, but the list is defective in several aspects.It is very difficult to locate one's name in the list due to the following reasons:Mismatch in addressesThe ARO office, the Ward Name and the Street given in the website do not match with what was given in the property tax application form. The result is that you may possibly…

This summer, Ravi Kumar’s (name changed to protect identity) parents were left in a dilemma. Ravi completed his 2nd standard exams and was promoted to the 3rd standard. But he couldn’t go back to school. That’s because after promoting Ravi, the school expelled him. Here’s Ravi’s story and the trauma his parents went through. Eight-year-old Ravi was a student of the school run by the Nijaguna Education Trust (NET) in Gavipuram. Ravi’s father, 45-year-old Sridhar Kumar (name changed to protect identity) is a BMTC bus driver and his mother, 36-year-old Roopa  (name changed to protect identity) is a home maker.…

I saw this scene - the BBMP has using an advertisement sheet to cement a manhole during the monsoon! Is this what they mean by Public-Private Partnerships or is this a form of Corporate Social Responsibility? ⊕

It was not a typical Sunday when people wake up leisurely for brunch. Bubbling energy and enthusiasm radiated from Kanteerva stadium Bangalore.Kanteerva stadium saw Derbia Merga winning Men's event and taking home a prize of USD 1,55,000. The day belonged to the Ethiopians.Mergia Asslefech - Winner of women's 10k raceIt was a good idea to have an exclusive prize for Indian athletes in men's and women category. Kavita Raut from Maharastra was the winner in the Indian women's category. Participants were running like a storm. Nothing but energy and enthusiasm:The best part was the Kingfisher Run-in-costumes: It made the entire…