GENRE: In Focus

How many tuition or coaching centres are there in Bengaluru? A simple internet search for SSLC/ PUC or other subject coaching centres in Bengaluru will throw thousands of results at you. No one knows the exact number. Yet, of all these tutorials, only 28 are legal, while the rest are functioning illegally, right under the nose of Education department! Information collected by Citizen Matters from various education departments has revealed that only a handful of tutorials in the city have obtained necessary permission from the department to operate. Majority of the coaching centres that promise to give a bright future…

In the first part of the series Loans for poor in Bengaluru, we explored how the system of loan from informal sources with high interest rates is pushing the poor deeper into poverty. The second part explored the system of bank loans for poor, to see whether it benefits the poor who don’t have securities. In the third part, we examine how micro-finance institutions function, and what do poor people feel about it. Mariyal, a 33-year-old domestic worker living in Ejipura slum in Bengaluru, has taken a Micro Finance Institution (MFI) loan for the first time. She has borrowed Rs…

The first part of the series LOANS FOR URBAN POOR IN BENGALURU explained how the urban poor living in the slums of Bengaluru get trapped in the circle of borrowing, paying interest and re-borrowing. In this part, the author explores the reason behind the same—why banks do not help the poor—how complicated the process is. Sunil, a slum dweller in Swatantrapalya, wants to buy an auto. He needs a loan badly. Not keen on lending money from local moneylenders for extra interest, he wants to secure a bank loan. However, he doesn’t have any collateral security to offer to the…

Alamelu works in one of the flats in a nearby apartment complex. After returning to her home in Swatantrapalya, she prepares incense sticks. Pics: Shree D N Sitting on the floor in her two-room house in Ragigudda EWS quarters, Rajeshwari N, a domestic worker and mother of two, says that she hopes to leave the locality within next two-three years. She has borrowed over Rs 2 lakh to pay the Slum Board for house allotment and to pay off her relatives who wanted to stake claim to the house. Rajeshwari has been living in the area–which was Ragigudda slum earlier–for…

Patients waiting for their turn at the outpatient department in K C General Hospital. Pic: Shree D N What could be the number of people who suffered from dengue in Bengaluru? Out of 443 people who saw a quick survey conducted by Citizen Matters, 171 people replied positively about dengue cases. As many as 20 of them said they themselves got dengue since January 2015. This makes for a percentage of 4.5 cases of dengue on the readership of the survey. If 4.5% of the population in Bengaluru suffered dengue, what could be the numbers? How many might have died?…

Cubbon Park is one of the last lung spaces left in the city, where one can find fresh air and green area. Pic: Shree D N Disappearing lakes, chopped trees and encroachment of open spaces are the unfortunate reality of today’s Bengaluru. This means, in a few decades, Cubbon Park may well be among the last vestiges of greenery in the city. However, given the frenetic pace of ‘development’ and the varying combinations of unethical nexuses that thrive in Bengaluru, who knows, one day, as Bimal Desai, who waged a 20-year legal war against the authorities to protect the park,…

A few rickshaw drivers in the auto stand on Mohankumar Nagar Main Road point towards a shelter for homeless children in Pampa Nagar, when asked where the night shelter in Yeshwanthpur is. No one in the locality of Mohankumar Nagar seems to know that there is a night shelter for the homeless in their area. This is not without reason. After asking around and finally spotting 3rd cross road on Google maps, we manage to find a nondescript building that has ‘16, 3rd cross, Mohankumar Nagar’ written on it, but there is no mention of it being a shelter for…

For Bengalureans, who were getting soaked in frequent evening showers during last fortnight, unbridled load shedding came as a shocker. Load shedding that began with two hours of power cut everyday, was revised to four hours. Load shedding has been withdrawn as of now and people are yet again enjoying non-stop power supply, but the apprehension continues to loom large. Long time residents of Bengaluru felt that it was almost after a 5-6 years they were facing such an inordinate power cut in the city. Normally, monsoon season, that is, June to September, is considered as pressure-free period due to…

Bangalore Development Authority Headquarters (courtesy: BDA) A large scam emerged in the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) with finance members investing money in equity mutual funds and trying to cover this up across different organisations. There were mysterious arrests of ex-BDA officials and a BDA cashier, alleging their involvement in the multi-crore scam. What is it all about? Whose money went where? The money was allegedly invested in mutual funds, which is recoverable. Why is this still called a scam? Here's some insight. Apparently, Sandeep Dash, former finance head of the BDA and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) was a…

A room filled with bunk beds in the dilapidated Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) building in J C Road is the home for daily wage labourers Yesu and Raj Kumar since four years. Be it sun or rain, this dingy structure provides shelter to them and many such homeless people when they return tired from work. The story of Yesu and Raj Kumar is interesting for it reflects the sad state of night shelters for urban homeless in Bengaluru. In 2012, when BBMP handed over the responsibility of operating J C Road night shelter to an NGO, the organisation hired…