DATA

Strengthening public healthcare is extremely crucial to providing quality healthcare for all. With that in mind, Chennai-based NGO Arappor Iyakkam initiated an initial study as a citizen audit of government hospitals and urban Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in Chennai. While it cannot be taken as representative of the healthcare system of Tamil Nadu, the study is a good representation of the government-administered public healthcare system of Chennai. Arappor’s study in the hospitals and PHCs describes the gaps in the availability of basic facilities, such as drinking water, toilet and hospital cleanliness, hospital staff’s service and attitude, bribery, and overall experience…

The recent issues hitting headlines in Karnataka have already signaled the arrival of election season, with elections due in April-May 2018. Lingayats are demanding they be recognised as followers of a separate religion. Many activist organisations are demanding that the yellow-red Kannada flag be recognised as a flag for the state. The Congress government at the state has constituted committees to look at both the possibilities. In effect, every political party is trying to make the most of the sentiments of the public, to grab their emotions and convert it into votes. It appears that the election campaign has already…

I have recently finished the ward level analysis of Bengaluru’s 2017-18 budget, with Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy. The budget briefs will be available online this week, for all 198 BBMP notified wards in Bengaluru. I’m writing this to tell you how important the ward level budgeting is. The ward level analysis by Janaagraha informs people about the direct budget allocation for lakes, roads, parks, public toilets and other public services for each ward. Open access to a city’s budget offers significant benefits to its citizens by enabling them to: (i) know where their tax money is spent (ii)…

During the 2015 floods, civil rights and advocacy group Arappor Iyakkam had carried out relief work for the common man in an organized manner. Once the worst was over, they pondered whether it would be enough to just engage in relief work every single year when disaster strikes or more prudent to work to make sure that such an incident never ever occurs again. Translating thought to action, over 20 volunteers started ground work from March 2016 when they started the social audits on water bodies. A part of the waterbodies team concentrated on sewage issues and more specifically on…

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had two weeks ago published the list of autoblocks and waste management infrastructure data for each ward, on its website. Below is the index of the same data, grouped wardwise in an easy-to-see format on OpenCity.in Check your location in this Map and click on the link that has your ward's name and number, to see the data. Any problems in the data can be reported to the joint commissioner's office for your zone. This is first such effort in India, to bring about transparency in garbage management. You can check many issues with this data, Example:…

Bengaluru is almost entirely dependent on the state of Karnataka for its electricity supply; nothing wrong in with that in appearance. However, inability of the state to respond consistently to the city’s power demands coupled with the failure to diversify its power generation sources impose a large hurdle on the city’s competitiveness and quality of life. BESCOM, the institution responsible for power distribution in eight districts of Karnataka including Bengaluru Urban and Rural, accounts for almost half of the state’s total demand out of which 2,400 MW are reserved for Bengaluru. With a total electricity demand of about 7,000 MW…

Bruhat Bengaluru Nagara Palike (BBMP) has its branches in every ward. They are called ward offices, and they will have the assistant engineers, junior health inspectors, work inspectors, garbage supervisors and all other important stuff related to your ward. So, you need to know where your ward office is, to get anything done from BBMP. To help everyone in Bengaluru who is searching for their ward office, Opencity.in is mapping the ward offices of all 198 offices of Bengaluru, through this form. Since the form involves collecting the location data, you might be prompted to share your location. You can…

Last October, we spoke about several instances of individual and community initiatives towards solving water problems of the city. Sewage water treatment and rainwater harvesting are tools households and communities can use for decreasing their water dependency. These are small initiatives in comparison with the water issues Bangalore faces, but aggregating initiatives at the city scale holds potential; such is the discourse, right or wrongly, held by some activists, public servants, businesses etc. Stretching the idea slightly we have: the water problem of Bangalore can be solved through collective action. Stretching it even further: the BWSSB can do its own…

ST Layout Bed, 9am on a Tuesday. In a vacant plot of land, street sweepers gather the fallen leaves and garbage on the streets into two piles. They set them on fire and go on with their business. Meanwhile, all the surrounding houses are getting smoked up with toxic fumes and the ambient air is getting significantly worse. Burning leaves or any garbage is a forbidden practice in Bangalore and yet it remains a common way to dispose of garbage. Composting of leaf litter is an alternative whether it be local or at a composting plant; its mere existence should…

A quick glance at the BBMP budgets of the recent past show over-estimated revenues - check them out and learn how keep track of city budgets using our Open City platform. BBMP has just set up an online budget feedback form, but before you communicate views make sure you have all the information you need!   On March 28, 2016, Chairman of BBMP Taxation Committee M Shivaraj gave a speech on the 2016-17 BBMP budget. An analysis by Bharathy Jayaprakash - an analyst with Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy - showed that the budget was largely over-estimated, a consistent phenomenon over the…