GENRE: In Focus

In what is their first step towards mainstream politics in Bangalore, a group of city-based activists have come together for the BBMP council elections by floating two independent candidates. These activists have formed a group called the Praja Rajakiya Vedike, which will support the candidates in these elections. Says Elavarthi Manohar, one of the members of this group, "We have all fought with regard to human rights, women's rights, sexuality minority rights. We wanted to bring about a change. So we all got together". Manohar is also the founder of Sangama, a sexuality minorities human rights organisation for individuals oppressed…

With the BBMP elections just round the corner, parties considered to be at the fringe of Bangalore's politics have gotten off the blocks first to present their agendas and unveil their candidates. Leaders of the ten political parties, that have come together to form the Civic Front, address the media. Pic: Navya D'Souza. The Civic Front, comprising of ten political parties released their manifesto for the coming elections yesterday at a meeting near N R Square. The Civic Front is spearheaded by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and includes All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Indian National League (INL),…

Initiatives around Bengaluru spark some hope that progress can be made to cut down the city's carbon footprint. Bengaluru estimated to emit around 6.36 million metric tonnes of Carbon dioxide. In 2008, the South Asia chapter of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) came out with Carbon emission profiles for 54 cities in the region. Bangalore was one of the cities studied. ICLEI estimated that Bengaluru was emitting around 6.36 million teCO2 (metric tonnes of Carbon dioxide and equivalents) during the study period of 2007-2008. (This was the only published study Citizen Matters has found on carbon emissions…

The Karnataka Lokayukta has ordered a departmental enquiry against the BBMP Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena, BWSSB Chairman P B Ramamurthy and few other officials for a case of zoning violation in Jayanagar. Though the Lokayukta's orders are recommendatory and not binding, the order comes as another slap on the face of a city that recently witnessed the Carlton Towers fire accident. The Lokayukta issued this order on December 23rd 2009.Also, Meena and Ramamurthy, both IAS officers, have been slapped with a showcause notice by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms on February 17th 2010.BBMP had sanctioned a plan for…

The state government's proposal to construct a war memorial at the Indira Gandhi musical fountain park in Vasanthnagar, has met the ire of environment groups in the city, who allege that this project is being carried out by violating several legislations. At least 29 trees (or less) are facing the axe for the project. The groups, however, say that they are not against the construction of a war memorial itself, but are opposing the felling of trees. Proposed to be built over 6 acres and 22 guntas of this 17-odd acre park, the project has been initiated by the state's…

For months now, reservations for Bengaluru's city council seats have been in the eye of a storm. Citizens across the city have questioned the state government on the method used to reserve wards. In the process, cases have been filed both in the High Court (HC) and Supreme Court, both of who have quashed the original list released by the state.The list released by the government on 23 February is here. Ward reservation list.  To reserve the 23 wards for the Scheduled Caste (SC) community in the BBMP council elections, two methods have been under discussion lately. One method involves…

BBMP is on a beautification drive, painting the walls in the city in a hue of colours. Since August 15th 2009, about seven lakh square feet of wall along main roads and bridges, mostly in the west zone of the city have been turned into canvases for the BBMP’s Karnataka Vaibhava wall painting project. Scenes from mythology, paintings of the temples at Hampi, Belur and Halebid, the Mysore Palace, historical figures of Karnataka, jungle creatures, and even a few socially conscious paintings of polio vaccinations and the dangers of alcohol related abuse now adorn the public walls of the city,…

The dusty haze of construction, ubiquitous green signs and makeshift shacks with ‘namma metro', a clear view of a once tree-lined street, half demolished buildings, newly asphalted road - metro construction work is in full swing on Mahakavi Kuvempu Road (MKK Road) in north-west Bangalore. Listen to Citizen Matters audio story in English and Kannada (6 1/2 mins) Citizen Matters Podcasts Download Podcast Subscribe to podcasts What are Podcasts?Podcasts are audio files you can listen to whenever you want. You can subscribe to our podcast feed using a jukebox tool (like Apple's iTunes) so that your computer automatically downloads it…

The State Election Commission (SEC) has written to the BBMP asking the Assistant Revenue Officers (ARO) to verify the voter lists of their respective wards. This comes a day after a Bangalore-based citizens group on voter awareness, Smart Vote, approached the SEC about errors in 19 polling booths. Smart Vote found that the electoral lists of three polling booths have been duplicated, in what seems to be a human error and not that of the database itself. These have been fixed by the SEC. But there are more such duplications and the SEC says they are looking into it. In…

Citizens tend to be skeptical if not cynical of hearing about plans for Bengaluru, especially when even the most elementary projects get caught up in bungles and delays. Recently it was the turn of the Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's ABIDe task force to release its own grand plan for the city's development. Release of Plan Bengaluru 2020. From right, ABIDe member R K Mishra, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, ABIDe Convenor and MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, ABIDe member A Ravindra. Pic courtesy: ABIDe. On January 14th this year, Rajya Sabha MP and Convenor of the Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure Development…