ELECTIONS

General Observer of 24-Bangalore North S K Agarwal, I.A.S. General Observer is staying at the Executive Development Center, Institute of Hotel Atria, Palace Road, Bangalore. He is available on landline number: 080-22211292. His local Mobile Number is 9845983381. General Observer of 25-Bangalore Central Alok Nigam, I.A.S. General Observer is staying at the Executive Development Center, Institute of Hotel Management, SJP Campus, Sheshadri Road, Bangalore-560001, Karnataka, India. He is available onlandline number: 080-61265555. His local Mobile Number is 94806-83057. He will also be available at Room No. 111, 1st Floor, BBMP Head Office, Main Building, N.R. Square, Bangalore-560002. Office: 080-22975534 between…

In this Lok Sabha election, Bangalore is witnessing a surge of new-age politicians, and Bangalore central is no exception. It has former chief finance officer of Infosys V Balakrishnan battling against youth congress leader Rizwan Arshad and incumbent MP, P C Mohan. JD(S) contestant Nandini Alva adds glamour to the electoral fight. In terms of candidates, this constituency has more varieties to offer. One is a billionaire, another one is a crorepati with very fast-growing asset, one more though crorepati has not even a single vehicle in his family. Three of the four candidates have cases pending against them. Asset…

As always, Bangalore South constituency is garnering much curiosity because of the interesting candidates contesting the elections. While the constituency hosts the richest candidate in India, it also has the sitting Member of Parliament who claims to be poorer than his wife. It also has the lone woman candidate for entire Bangalore. The constituency started hitting national headlines when the bigwigs like IT czar and back bone of Aadhaar scheme Nandan Nilekani and five-time MP Ananth Kumar were pitted against each other. And never to forget the dark horse in this fray, child rights activist Nina P Nayak. All the…

It is that season again when politicians are out on the roads doing the usual padyatras, going from neighborhood to neighborhood, showing that unwavering smile, flashing the victory sign, listening/pretending to listen to their constituents — all with a view to garnering votes… Welcome to election season. It is also the time when all major and minor roads in Namma Bengaluru are magically repaired overnight literally, and when prices of essential commodities reduce to affordable levels. Of course, as we all know, one should not expect these good times to last forever. This cycle of infrastructure being the way it…

Pic courtesy: nandannilekani.in The quintessential Bangalorean. Born in Bangalore, did part of his schooling in Bangalore, was a part of Bangalore’s pride - Infosys. He was in charge of the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) and he quit as CEO of Infosys to be a part of a larger national need, the Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). He was the head of TAGUP (Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects) for five large financial sector projects. No prizes for guessing — yes, we are talking about Indian National Congress candidate from Bangalore South, Nandan Nilekani. His foray into…

It was a cool Sunday morning, but the volunteers and activists of Bharatiya Janata Party were seen running around with excitement near Chowdaiah Memorial Hall in Malleshwaram. Even as the curious crowd waited inside the hall for D V Sadananda Gowda (better-known as DVS by those who want short names) to arrive, the now-famous NaMo song, ‘Modi aanewala hai...’ was played on the projectors kept on both sides of the stage. Following this, a five-minute corporate film on the man of the day, DVS was played. When it was half-way, DVS, with his trademark end-to-end smile on his face, entered…

Nina Nayak talking to people during campaign. Pic: Nikita Malusare Despite being pitted against formidable rivals, AAP's candidate from Bangalore South, child rights activist, Nina P Nayak is the picture of positivity and confidence, as she speaks to Citizen Matters on elections and life before and after her foray into politics. How is the world of politics different from that of activism, considering your background? Politics is quite a different ballgame. I joined at the invitation of AAP and I’m really enjoying it as this movement has percolated at all levels. After a long time, people are actually interested in being…

When it appears that everybody has lost hopes with the Indian National Congress, Bengaluru’s own billionaire Nandan Nilekani decided to partner with the party. With the aim of becoming the champion for Bengaluru, the man behind the multi-crore Aadhaar project, gave an exclusive interview to Citizen Matters at his campaign office in Jayanagar on March 20th 2013. This was just a day before he declared his family assets — Rs 7,700 crore.   Nilekani shared his thoughts on governance, why he chose to join Congress, and what he can do as an MP for Bengaluru, which is run by MLAs…

Data is often underestimated or ignored in public affairs, especially in the local governance space. Claims can go wrong, but data cannot lie. Data is what gives you the real picture of any given situation. With more and more data being put in public domain in India, there are so many things one can do with it, to get insights and plan the related issues better. Thankfully there are many data enthusiasts who are coming out with hundreds of ideas, that actually offer some tangible insights various issues. This weekend is the 2014 Bangalore Open Data Camp, hosted by Google,…

There are two kinds of leaders. One who leads by example and other who motivates others to  set examples. India as a country has seen many such leaders. Gandhi was probably the only leader who fell in both categories. He showed his resistance against foreign rule himself first and then motivated others to join him. But that is indeed rare. People like APJ Abdul Kalam and Sachin Tendulkar have led by example. They have shown ordinary people how dedication, determination and talent can make us shine. People like A B Vajpayee, Subhash Chandra Bose have motivated, inspired others to set…