GENRE: In Focus

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 Batteries, CDs, spare parts of cell phones, broken television sets, tube lights, old radio devices, outdated music systems—this is the final destination for all such waste.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…

Karnataka Education Department has notified the formula for school fee structure for private (unaided) schools in Karnataka, in accordance with Karnataka Educational Institutions (Regulation of Certain Fees and Donations) Rules, 1999. While the rationalisation of the fee structure can benefit the parents—especially poor and middle class families, why are private schools opposing the structure? Citizen Matters brings you some clarity. The Department of Education issued a notification on September 30th 2014, and invited the public and school managements to submit the objections before October 30th 2014. The deadline was extended later, the last date now being November 10. School fee…

As the night sets in, autos hope to grab a share of people who want to reach their home but don't have buses. File pic. What do you do when you finish your duty at 9 pm and want to get back home, but your office does not have cab services? You are forced to hire an auto or a cab. Because, there is simply not enough bus transport available at that time of the night. Bangalore is no longer the small provincial town of the last century, but a mega polis where different industries contribute to the city’s income.…

Pic courtesy: BMRCL facebook page After repeated delays in meeting the original schedule, Bangalore Metro is set to extend its footprint in North Bengauru. However, the extension is a mere 2.5 kilometres on Reach 3 (B) - the Peenya Industry – Nagasandra stretch. The trial runs began on September 30, 2014, and the service is likely to be inaugurated in December 2014 or January 2015. The three new stations on this stretch are T Dasarahalli, Jalahalli and Nagasandra. The Nagasandra station is located at a distance of around 12.8 km from Mantri Square station. Will Reach 3B of Metro make…

It is an important day in Kiran's life - he has an interview scheduled in Delhi. He has booked the 7 am flight from Bengaluru, and a cab to the airport at 5 am. He gets ready by 4.30 am and calls the assigned cab driver's number. There's no answer. He calls twice, thrice, four times - still no answer. It is 4.45 am when he calls the cab helpline. The sleepy voice that picks the call, after listening to him, gives him the number of another driver. This driver refuses to serve Kiran’s request claiming that he is far…

  Pashmina Waterfront as seen on a Google map. Investing in real estate in Bangalore is a dream of any investor. However, is the growth of this sector in tune with the infrastructure that the city can handle? A close look by Citizen Matters at 26 constructions coming up in Whitefield - KR Puram area in East Bengaluru shows some alarming observations. When the 8,000 flats are fully occupied, new residents will need 10,662.87 KL of water a day (equivalent of 1780 water tankers of 6000 Litres). More than 19,697 cars will add to Whitefield traffic. Ministry of Environment and…