EDITORS' PICK

The saga of transferring my late father-in-law’s car registration/title to my mother-in-law began on August 2, 2018. We had put together all the necessary documents after reviewing Wikiprocedure.com (not the RTO website) and speaking to other people who had gone through this process. The required documents included: The original RC book Form 31 Death certificate. Legal heir certificate issued by the Tahsildar’s office. Affidavits from the other legal heirs (my husband and his sister) that they had relinquished their rights in favour of the applicant (their mother) - these affidavits were on printed on stamp paper and notarized A copy…

Helen was a dog who produced many Labrador pups—a puppy mill mom — who was finally abandoned by her breeders on the streets when she couldn’t do it anymore. Blind, deaf, malnutritioned, she was rescued and adopted by animal rights activist Bismi Anil. Helen stood as a testimony to all that’s wrong with the implementation of animal cruelty laws in Karnataka and in fact most of India.   Dogs are repeatedly bred using rape stands, in the filthiest, tiniest of spaces, often with a sibling or parent and live in small cages with little or no food, medical facilities, human…

The steel flyover project is an ugly manifestation of our unbridled urbanisation mindset. This is yet another myopic economic proposal to exacerbate urbanisation; it seems to us, and is mindlessly espousing the following: Covering the soil which has lower heat conductivity, with an impermeable layer of concrete which has much higher capacity to conduct heat. Replacing life sustaining trees with air conditioners Spewing billions of tons of toxic gases into air by vehicular movements and industrial activities, so as to choke the city. Generating colossal quantities of solid waste to convert the garden city into a garbage city Facilitating concentration…

In mid December 2018, the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s performance audit on Solid Waste Management (SWM) in 35 test-checked Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Karnataka was tabled at the state assembly. The report painted a rather sorry picture of the way these civic bodies had been going about the task of solid waste management in their municipalities and called out instances of flawed collection, ineffectual bans on plastic, faulty handling of e-waste and unauthorised slaughter houses among various other gaps. However, that is not where the CAG indictment of the ULBs ended. As per Paragraph 7.2 of…

Wooden cutlery, cloth and paper bags, steel containers to replace disposables. The implementation of the plastic ban is increasingly becoming visible in all quarters of life in Chennai, as traders, hoteliers and the general public are slowly taking to eco-friendly alternatives. When it comes to businesses, there have been mixed results, in terms of adherence to the ban on plastic. Big food brands such as Adyar Anand Bhavan, Fassos and The Black Box have switched to eco-friendly packaging material such as cloth bags, paper cartons and wooden spoons, while some are still to comply. The transition Close observation of the…

“Sir, only Rs 10,500/- service charge for Khata and property tax. Quick and reliable service!” said a representative of a broker firm in Akshay Nagar, Begur. The firm facilitated the issuing of Khatas for apartments, while residents of West End Heights, an apartment complex of 1,830 units, were looking to get Khatas. But they decided they had to do something about the blatant corruption in the delivery of Khatas. What followed was a tale of how a group of aware and vocal citizens fought against the system and won, and received their Khata certificates without having to pay any bribes.…

Priti, a Class VII student at an aided school in Bengaluru, hoists a schoolbag that looks like a ton of bricks on her back. She flares up when told that the central government has recommended reduction in the weight of schoolbags. "Oh, really?" she asks, indignantly. "Then why didn't our teacher tell us about it, and why am I carrying so many textbooks, pencil boxes, art material, sports equipment, bottles and boxes?" A cursory examination of her schoolbag reveals the list that she blurted out. There were not just books, but many extraneous materials that did not appear really useful.…

The Supreme Court has put a stay on the pumping of treated wastewater to Kolar tanks from the wastewater treatment plants in the Koramangala and Chalaghatta valley of Bengaluru, comes the news. The stay means that this volume of treated wastewater will flow in the Dakshina Pinakini, mix with volumes of untreated wastewater and reach Kelavarapalle dam near Hosur in Tamil Nadu. These waters will then be used to irrigate 1085 acres of land to be cultivated by Tamil Nadu farmers. Some amount of the water will also be picked up by farmers in Karnataka through pumps for irrigation. A…

With urban centres across the country generating around 1.45 lakh metric tonnes of solid waste a day, denizens are no strangers to lectures on segregating recyclables and composting organic waste. Increasing pressure on the urban environment is forcing the state to take cognisance and look for alternatives to deal with the mounting solid waste problem. Mid-2018, the Tamil Nadu government announced a ban on all single-use plastics starting January 1, 2019 in a bid to ease the pressures of pollution on the state. While there’s no denying that stringent laws and penal provisions are required to ensure compliance, these are…

Following the complete digitization of the cable TV network, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the regulatory body for broadcasting notified a regulatory framework for broadcasting and cable TV services in March 2017. The framework is applicable to services provided through Direct to Home (DTH) Systems, Cable TV Systems provided through Digital Addressable Systems (DAS), Head-end in the Sky (HITS) and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV). These regulations are aimed at addressing various issues related to the sector. This regulatory framework included the following. Uniform Tariff for DTH & Cable TV Services: The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Eighth) (Addressable Systems) Tariff Order.…