City: Bengaluru

When Lokayukta officials conducted a surprise inspection of Gottigere, Anjanapura, and JP Nagar 9th Phase in early April 2026, they found what residents of these neighbourhoods already knew: large heaps of uncollected garbage piled along roadsides, a city generating 5,000–6,000 tonnes of solid waste every day and visibly failing to manage it. Lokayukta Justice BS Patil summoned the Chief Operating Officer and senior officials of Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML), directed them to appear for a hearing, and asked for a detailed report on the lapses and remedial measures. It is a familiar script. Inspection. Summons. Report. Repeat. Howoever,…

While the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process aims to clean up electoral rolls, the enumeration forms created innumerable hurdles for existing voters. From tracking down elusive 2002 voter details to coordinating with overworked Booth Level Officers (BLOs), citizens across Bengaluru faced a daunting task completing the registration process. Recognising these challenges in their own neighbourhoods, volunteers led by three active citizens—Poongothai, Aparna Shamanth, and Venkatachalam Subramaniam—took it upon themselves to help people in their community and beyond.   Mapping the confusion in Gottigere Poongothai lives in Gottigere, which falls under the Bengaluru South assembly constituency. Her community consists of around 400…

The Greater Bengaluru Integrated Township (GBIT) in Bidadi, first notified in March 2025, received its final notification in June 2026 under the Karnataka Urban Development Authorities Act (KUDA Act), 1987. The project is branded as India's first and largest AI City, featuring an AI-integrated township. The project will be implemented by the Greater Bengaluru Development Authority (GBDA) under the same act. Three villages, Kempainapalya, Vaderahalli, and Mandalahalli are notified in the Gazette under Section 19(1) of the KUDA Act for the implementation of a development scheme, deemed as public purpose. The development scheme is spread over a total of 7,481…

In Karnataka's Special Summary Revision (SIR), all enumeration forms have now been digitised. Out of the state's 5.54 crore electors, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have signed and collected forms for over 4.45 crore voters. However, 1,09,13,776 voters, representing 19.69% of the electorate, have been categorised under the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate, and Others (ASDDO) list. Following the publication of the ASDDO list on August 4, election officials verified and removed three lakh voters from the list within the first six days. To check your registration details, search the electoral roll, or access voter verification services, visit the Chief Electoral Officer,…

Recently, on my way home from my office in Bengaluru, I noticed that the street vendor who usually sat across from my office building had disappeared. It wasn't until I began following news reports that I realised her absence was part of something much larger. Following the Supreme Court's judgement on walkability in June 2026, city governments launched eviction drives against the most vulnerable users of streets and footpaths in India. Within weeks, street vendors across Mysore, Bengaluru, and Kolkata were evicted from footpaths without notice. News reports described altercations between evicted street vendors and civic officials as the eviction…

While the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is currently on in Karnataka, people have been confused about voter roll updates. Following the initial chaos over filling out enumeration forms, the Election Commission of India (ECI) extended the deadline for the process.   To assist residents who lack any of the 11 standard documents specified by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the State government announced fast-track issuance of Permanent Residential Certificates (PRCs). The list of documents to prove one’s citizenship in the Claims and Objections phase of the SIR process includes birth certificate, passport, matriculation certificate, forest rights certificate, or caste certificate.…

The proposed Karnataka Apartment Management Bill, 2026 is an important step towards simplifying apartment governance in the state. By replacing the overlapping provisions of the Karnataka Ownership Flats Act (KOFA) and the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act (KAOA) with a single legislation, the government has an opportunity to create a more transparent and efficient legal framework for apartment communities. Many of the proposed provisions are likely to benefit homebuyers, apartment associations and developers alike, by reducing legal ambiguity and providing a common framework for the management of residential communities. However, one provision deserves urgent reconsideration before the Bill becomes law. Formation…

As visitors arrive at Kempegowda International Airport, they are welcomed by lush indoor greenery designed to showcase Bengaluru's identity as the "Garden City." Beyond the airport gates, however, the reality is starkly different. Roads and streets all over the city are losing the green cover that once defined its character, to make way for metro lines, elevated corridors, and road-widening projects. Development is essential for a growing metropolis. But when it comes at the cost of thousands of trees, it raises a difficult question: can Bengaluru continue to build for the future without erasing the very landscape that made it…

In an earlier article, we explored how rural areas surrounding Bengaluru are affected due to the city's expansion. Here, we look at how Bidadi's transformation from a quiet agricultural area to an industrial hub affects the people who call it home. Nestled along the historic Bengaluru-Mysuru corridor in present-day Ramanagara district lies Bidadi, a town whose very name carries echoes of its past. Derived from the Kannada word “Bidara,” meaning a resting place, oral histories recount how the Maharaja of Mysuru once paused here during long journeys between the two cities. In those early years, Bidadi was defined not by…

From the medieval bazaars of Baghdad to the intellectual debates of Paris, to the warmth found in Delhi’s winters, poets, artists, writers, and aficionados have long captured what it means to be in a city, amid thousands of people, synchronising their lives to a rhythm entirely different from their rural counterparts. Life in the city is distinct. It is hard, exciting, liberating, and fast. Regimes are born in cities. Revolutions are ignited in them. India’s history, too, has played out against the backdrop of her many urban centres: Prayagraj, Gangaikondacholapuram, Pataliputra, Hampi, Shahjahanabad, Surat, Meerut, Kolkata, New Delhi, Navi Mumbai,…