GENRE: LN

On February 23rd, residents of HSR Layout 3rd sector got together for installation of a composting device in the Twin Park, taking another step towards responsible citizen engagement in waste management.On 1st September, 2012, a Walkathon had been flagged off by the HSR corporator K Latha Narasimhamurthy, initiating a mission to make the neighbourhood plastic-free and implement effective segregation of garbage. However, thereafter, there was not much significant progress noted on the solid waste management front. The issue, in general, turned big for Bangalore which turned into Garbage City, as we saw everyday in the daily newspapers and on TV.…

Did you know that:* Over 300 million Indian citizens have no access to electricity?* Over one third of India's rural population lack electricity as do 6% of the urban population* We produce only 25% fuel of our total requirementThis is alarming. We complain when there is no power for even 1 or 2 hours - imagine the plight of villages which lack electricity.On 16th January, the Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) members of the United Dudes civic club of Delhi Public School, Bangalore South, conducted the "One Watt Project - Let's Save a Billion Watts" campaign to urge their…

Even after repeated appeals, protest marches and follow-up, there has been no let-up in encroachment of the Haralakunte or Somasundarapalya Lake in HSR Layout. Various groups have been dumping debris into the lake with impunity for long and of late, tankers have taken to pumping out whatever water is left. As residents of the area we feel that given the trend, it may not be long before Bangalore loses yet another of its precious water bodies.The most sustainable solution to water woes of any community could come through its water bodies. Not every locality in Bangalore has one; we were…

On February 23rd, get on your bicycle and join the Critical Mass Bangalore group for a two- hour leisurely ride through the city. We assemble at Press Club, Cubbon Park, at 8am. The last one was on Republic Day last month, which fell on a Saturday. Critical Mass Bangalore's January 26th leisure ride through the city. Pic: Sreenath Somarajapuram. Critical Mass bicycle rides happen on the last Friday or weekend of every month in more than 300 cities worldwide. The concept began in San Francisco 20 years ago, and the idea is simple - reclaim the streets of your city…

Ever since the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) started functioning more actively, especially after current chief Rajvir Sharma took over, the state government has been at loggerheads with it. Its latest attempt to cut down BMTF's powers has gone awry, and has become another embarrassment for the government. BMTF is a police force which can investigate grabbing of public land, and building violations, in Bangalore Metropolitan Area. It can book cases against government officers who abet such crimes. It can also file criminal cases on associated crimes, like document fabrication. On February 2nd, Karnataka's Urban Development Department (UDD) issued an…

Gnanabharati Layout was formed by BDA many years ago to the north of the Bangalore-Mysore rail tracks, adjacent to the Bangalore University Campus. Yet, to this day, the Layout lacks proper vehicular access. Residents have to use the existing Level Crossing No 10 on the road to Dubhashipalya from Mysore Road - at Km 14 on State Highway 17.Residents of the Layout have been fighting a long and hard battle with the BDA and BBMP to obtain even basic amenities such as metalled roads, street lights, facilities for water and sewage over the past  twelve years. Parts of the Layout…

On Saturday, February 9th, as a group of people from vastly different sections of society came together to lead a march from Austin Town to the Ejipura EWS demolition site, with an intent to express solidarity with the displaced, they came up against the indifference of the state and the brutality of the police.It has been close to a month now since the day that 5000 people from over 1200 dwellings lost their shelters, livelihoods and any semblance of stability in their lives that they might have had. 9th of February, protestors were stopped before they reached Ejipura, which led…

Arun Raghavan, an open source software enthusiast, and four friends worked all night on January 19th on a very unique problem. They were scraping electoral data from ceokarnataka's website. They wanted to create a user-friendly frontend for citizens to search their names and polling booth information. They did this as part of a hacknight to commemorate the life and works of Aaron Swartz, on January 19th and 20th organised by HasGeek, an event organiser for geeks. Aaron Swartz was a hacktivist, who died in early January. He had helped create RSS 1.0; contributed to Creative Commons; was an early builder of Reddit, where…

Karnataka has witnessed a steep hike in the number of senior citizens looking for jobs over the years. Nightingale Empowerment Foundation, an organisation that helps senior citizens of Bangalore to get jobs, has recently seen a very high rate of enrollment. Unfortunately since October 2011, out of 1100 registrations, the organization has been able to get employment for only 260 of them.Swathi Bhandary, Project Manager at Nightingale said: "Employers should realise that most of the eligible citizens are very much capable of getting recruited."Accountancy, call-centre and other clerical jobs are areas wherein senior citizens are recruited.The Directorate of Welfare of…

The bi-annual and eagerly awaited Aero-India, the premier air show proudly hosted by Bangalore attracts crowds from across the world in large numbers.Apart from tourists, visitors and participants to the show, the city also sees an increase in the number of relatives and friends, not only of the pilots and participants but also of residents residing in the vicinity of the venue.  Their urge to see the fighters and other aircrafts maneuver in the skies for five days free of cost is the prime reason. Quick Links: Aero India * Aero India 2009 According to Sidharth M, a second year…