ELECTIONS

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…

The enormity of the Lok Sabha Elections is many a time difficult to comprehend. The machinery that has clicked into the play mode is not only that of the political parties but that of the Election Commission too. The numbers are tallied in millions of voters, in crores for poll expenditure, in lakhs of polling booths, polling agents, police, paramilitary, reserve police and even unaccounted for cash that is seized. The world’s largest democracy is going into polls and it is therefore excusable that the elections for the country’s 16th Lok Sabha is hogging a lot of media space and…

Last week, when I and my wife were going out, we saw a small political rally behind us. What caught my attention was, one of the politicians who was the centre of attraction in the rally, was using an official vehicle. This left me wondering whether using office vehicle in political campaigning is allowed. So I did my research and bumped on to this set of guidelines called ‘Model Code of Conduct.’ Here is a look at what the Model Code of Conduct is, what does the code talk about electoral violations, how do citizens know if they are witnessing…

The ever-smiling staunch BJPian Devaragunda Venkappa Sadananda Gowda, popularly known as DVS, has been in politics since 1983. Born in 1953, he graduated in science, and had a brief stint as an advocate, before plunging headlong into politics through Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Jan Sangh. Hailing from Puttur of coastal Karnataka, with a strong RSS background, he became an MLA from Bharatiya Janata Party in 1994. He then contested Lok Sabha elections in 2004. He entered Lok Sabha by defeating the now-central Minister Veerappa Moily. He headed Karnataka BJP in 2006 as its state president, and was perceived…