EVENTS

On October 8, NGO Arappor Iyakkam spearheaded the launch of “Kollayane Veliyeru”, a large anti-corruption campaign movement aiming to bring together all those who are against corruption. I arrived at the event a bit late, at around 6:30 or 6:45 pm on that day. Ordinarily, North Mada Street is extremely chaotic and crowded, but surprisingly, it was relatively peaceful and calm that day. Arappor had one end of the street cordoned off and traffic was being actively diverted by their volunteers, clad in shirts and caps bearing anti-corruption slogans. I put my name down on the sign-up sheet and collected…

In 1942, it was ‘Vellayane Veliyeru’. In 2017, it is ‘Kollayane Veliyeru’ “Kollaiyane Veliyeru”, a large anti-corruption campaign movement to bring together all those who are against corruption is set to be launched at a public meeting this weekend on October 8th  at 4.30 Pm at Mylapore Mangollai. The event is facilitated by Arappor Iyakkam and is co-organized by citizens and various other organizations. Corruption affects all of us. Every day, from the traffic cop on the roads, to sand mining on our river beds, from RTOs issuing licenses to 2G spectrum, from stretcher charges in government hospitals to illegal…

Citizen Matters and ApartmentADDA invite citizens of Bengaluru to submit articles on the topic “If I were the Bengaluru Mayor”. Entries can be in Kannada or English and between 800 to 1200 words. The best entry in each language has a chance to win a cash prize of Rs 10,000, sponsored by ApartmentADDA. The contest, which is open to all citizens above 15 years, is an opportunity for participants to articulate their vision for Bengaluru, and a plan that they’d execute if they were the mayor. The contest encourages Bengalureans to think on and engage with issues of importance to…

Imagine a busy street near your home where you have to jostle for every inch of walking space, where the air laden with vehicle emissions bears down heavily on you, and you wish everyday that your round of the shops lining it could be safer and more comfortable. Now imagine, you step out one day to find only adults cycling away in neat lanes along the same street, children playing snakes-and-ladder inside life-size boards on the clean pavements, youngsters dancing to Bollywood music on a makeshift stage on one half of the road! Well, it could happen. And it has…

Having been a resident of Madras for 20 years, I finally got an opportunity to visit the Buckingham Canal, through a walk organised for celebrating Madras week. Cochrane Canal, Clive Canal, East Coast Canal, North Canal (in Basin Bridge side), South Canal (in Adyar side) and finally Buckingham Canal. A bit of research revealed that these are the various names by which the Canal was known over the years. Interesting, isn’t it? I wanted to know more about the men after whom the canal was named at different points in history. Nineteen of us, all from different backgrounds, began our…

On the morning of Sunday, July 16th, 10 of us, a group of teenagers, worked for almost four hours, scraping bills, removing garbage, and repainting electrical boxes near Marathahalli Bridge, Bengaluru. We started our work at 6.30 am. By the time we finished, the stretch of road was clean, colorful, and a pleasure to see! This is just one of many projects that we have taken up in the past year, working under the group name of Clean Up Bangalore, or CUB. CUB is an initiative that originated in August 2016 when three of us, Rithana, Achyutha, and Neha, found…

This programme features young participants of Radio Active's annual story-telling competition held in schools and NGOs across the city. Their stories highlight important aspects like child rights; Children also recount fables and regional classics that impact morals and life lessons. https://soundcloud.com/radioactivecr90-4mhz/story-telling-children-with-their-story-tales-rj-manjula-rajeshasamanth-yuvaraju

On May 20th, the Adyar Cancer Institute conducted a workshop to mark the observance of World No Tobacco Day (May 31). The workshop, themed ‘Tobacco: A Threat to Development’ aimed to sensitize and empower youngsters falling prey to tobacco addiction. The event was inaugurated by Padma Vibhushan Dr. Shanta, Honorary Chairperson of the Cancer Institute, sitting Madras High Court Judge, Justice Kirubakaran and Tamil Nadu Traders Association President, Thiru. Ta. Velliyan. A crowd of 150 which included representations from various political parties and leading NGOs were present. Satta Panchayat Iyakkam, which has always advocated prohibition of smoking, actively participated in the…

Mere formation of a body, planning and allocation of funds to rejuvenate the water bodies cannot be the ideal solution to the water crises that we have in our nation, said Dr Rajendra Singh Prasad, better-known as Waterman of India, at a gathering in Chennai last weekend at Goethe-Institut. The discussion on making Tamil Nadu drought-free was organised by Goethe-Institut, Chennai in association with Asian College of Journalism, Confluence 10, Kalakshetra Foundation and with coordination of several other colleges, universities and NGOs. “We must start a dialogue with the Government for identifying, demarcating and notifying the water bodies. Once it…

A recent workshop on air pollution, which saw participation from IIT Delhi and Kanpur, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, World Health Organisation, as well as the Delhi Pollution Control Board and the Central Pollution Control Board, brought to the fore yet again the fact that there are no policy level interventions to stop farmers from burning crop residue. Experts at the event stated that the state government and the central government need to prepare now for a pollution free winter. However, there seems to be a lackadaisical attitude towards applying existing data into a working and effective policy-level intervention. The implementation…