GENRE: In Focus

Google search gives about 8,17,000 results for a ghar wapsi (home coming or re-conversion of religion). Member of Parliament Sakshi Maharaj says, ” [it] is no conversion but just a process to guide these people to the faith where they actually belong.” Budhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity and many other religions all grew by converting believers of other religions. Conversions from these religions would then be ghar wapsi. However, adding fuel to fire, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP, Asaduddin Owaisi, told in a public speech that every person is born a Muslim and later converted to other faiths. Thus…

With less than four months left for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council term to end, there are all indications of the election process witnessing yet another quandary on the lines of last BBMP election. While the Congress councillors are hell-bent on the restructuring of BBMP to take place prior to the polls, the ruling BJP councillors are in no mood to wait for the restructuring to happen. It could be recalled that the Palike was without Council for three years from 2006 to 2009 and the election was held in 2010, only after the High Court intervention. This…

It is the beginning of a long weekend. You leave your office at 7 pm in Electronics City with a bid to catch the 9 pm train at KR Puram railway station. The cab picks you up right on time and you zip on the elevated highway to reach silk board in 15 minutes. However, there is a huge pile up at Silk Board and you are forced to spend 20 minutes at this junction. It is 7.35 pm and you start getting worried as to whether you would be able to reach the station on time. Moreover, the train…

Way back, on 31st August 2010, the Supreme Court of India ruled that a builder/ developer/ promoter (of flats/ group housing) cannot sell open or stilt parking area (meaning uncovered or covered parking space) once the owners' society is formed, as the said space becomes a part of “common areas and facilities” of the Society.  The judgment was delivered by a bench of Justices R M Lodha and A K Patnaik in the case of Nahalchand Laloochand Pvt Ltd (a promoter from Mumbai) vs Panchali Co-operative Housing Society Ltd, subsequent to an appeal made by the former against a Mumbai…

The recent altercation at Bangalore Club involving Rajvir P Sharma, ADGP, Railways, whose driver allegedly abused a security guard onsite, raked up the issue of people in power or their staff flouting the rules or demanding special treatment. [also read: Rajvir Sharma case: CAT on the wall] Sharma was asked to show the club identity card, following which it appears that one thing led to another. Referring to the incident, Sharma says, “I was on official duty, going from my office to the DG’s office. I needed to use the restroom, and therefore considered going through the Club to use…

Drain at Nayandahalli where e-waste rejects are disposed of. Pic: Varsha Parashivamurthy The scene at the Nayandahalli near Vrishabhavathi, the river that carries the sewage from the city of Bengaluru, is truly a sight to behold—white froth billows out of the surface of the water. The stench emanating from the sewage is unbearable.  This is also the place where some of the e-waste collected by the municipality attains nirvana. Batteries, CDs, spare parts of cell phones, broken television sets, tube lights, old radio devices, outdated music systems—this is the final destination for all such waste. ‘CDs, CFLs absolutely waste’ An…

On November 26 and in the days before, police in Bangalore, India, rounded up more than 150 hijras and put them in a concentration camp. (Hijra is a traditional term, across much of South Asia, for people born males who who identify either as women or as a third gender.)  At Orinam, an online resource for LGBT issues in India, human rights lawyer Gowthaman Ranganathan tells the story: Approximately 167 members of the transgender community have been taken away by the police and kept at the Beggars’ colony. These detentions have been entirely arbitrary … Most detainees were not on the streets begging or doing any act that is prohibited…

Think Yeshwanthpur, Think connectivity,' stated a news report in The Hindu, a few years ago. The once distant suburb of Yeshwanthpur now has a Tertiary Traffic Management Centre (TTMC), Metro connectivity and South Western Railways’ (SWR) second coaching terminal. But is all hunky dory as far as connectivity and transport issues at Yeshwanthpur are concerned? While the traffic comes to a grinding halt under the flyover after Mysore Lamps near Yeshwanthpur, the flyover has little traffic, even during peak hours. Pic: Rajshekhar Work on much-needed foot overbridge yet to start The Yeshwanthpur railway station is a mere 200 metres away…

The issue of institutionalising people’s participation in urban governance has been hanging fire since the passage of the 74th Constitutional Amendment or Nagarapalika Act more than two decades ago.  The hopes of urban civic activists on government enabling increased citizen participation in civic issues got a major blow when the Urban Development Department (UDD) came up with a new set of rules for Ward Committees & Area Sabhas recently. While the new rules hardly include any suggestions proposed by citizens, shockingly a few points that were suggested by citizens and added in the earlier draft rules, were also removed from…

  BWSSB has hiked the price of water, as well as reduced the number of slabs, with effect from November 2nd, 2014. The minimum water charge has gone up by almost 20% — from Rs 48 to Rs 57 a month and the monthly bill from Rs 83 to Rs 100 for domestic usage. Sanitary charge has been reduced from Rs 15 to Rs 14. For water usage above 8,000 litres, sanitary charge will be 25% of water supply charges. This was 15% earlier. Even with this hike, if you feel you are forced to pay more for water, you…