GENRE: LN

Feet up, eyes glued to television, magazine in hand, house in a mess and she is in her own world of relaxation. The "Right to leisure" poster was brought out by Asmita, an Andhra Pradesh based NGO. Those gathered for the launch of ‘Our pictures, Our Words' book published by Zubaan, could relate very well to the poster. From left - Subramanian Vincent, Padmalatha Ravi, Laxmi Murthy,Maithreyi Krishna Raj, Ammu Joseph. Pic: Anisha Nair The pink poster is one of the hundreds of other pictures in the book. Sucharita Ishwar, a feminist said, "even women have the right to leisure…

More than 100 granite factories and 10 quarries located in Jigani industrial area in Bannerghatta adversely affects the health of residents in five villages in the surrounding areas.Around ten thousand people are living in the villages of Kallabalu, Mahanthalingapura, Krishna doddi, Poojigana Palya, Ellammana doddi and in Bellar Bande suffer from respiratory disorders and other allergies due to dust from these granite factories. A quarry in Mahathalingappura, one of the ten quarries in Bannerghatta which cause respiratory disorder to the people. Pic: Sankar C G "The granite factories are located in Jigani industrial area and the quarries are near to…

Bangaloreans gathered in thousands to witness the staging of an unique event "Sahasra Veena Jhenkara" at the Palace Grounds. Jointly organised by the Art of Living and Ranjini Kala Kendra. Event was held on March 28, Pic: Sridhar C R The audience witnessed 1110 Veena Artistes of Karnataka from age groups 7-70. Prominent among those who participated in the show were noted Artistes Suma Sudhindra, D Balakrishna, Anuradha Madhusudhan and Dr Hema Ranganathan, Vijayalakshmi from Shimoga.The programme was inaugurated by Sri Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guruji of the Art of Living along with Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda and Suparna Ravi…

Over hundred families in Aatmajyothi Nagar in Nayandahalli are drinking toxic water, with nearly 12 times the acceptable nitrate levels, from borewells. "The permissible limit of nitrates per litre of water is 45 milligram. But in the underground water in Nayandahalli, the nitrate level is 554 milligrams per liter, which is very high. It can cause various health hazards," said M V Shashirekha, water researcher and former official of the mines and geology department. Pic: Sankar C G There is a further shortage of safe drinking water due to delay in the completion of the Cauvery Fourth Stage Second Phase…

Megha R, 32, a resident of RMV 2nd stage was eager to learn how to make compost at her home for her garden. She came with her husband to buy different variety of saplings grown from organic seeds to plant in her garden. She wants to use organic, natural manure and compost for her plants and organic seeds to grow new ones. And she thinks "Oota from your Thota" held in Malleshwaram, on March 25 was the perfect place for her.This was the fourth edition of this event by Garden City Farmers Trust, Bangalore (GCFT) after BTM Layout, Electronic City,…

It is illegal to run a hospital or a clinic without first registering with Health Ministry and Bengaluru has around 15,000 private medical establishments that are running without registration. This essentially flouts the Karnataka Private Medical Establishment Act 2009. Pic: Sankar C G But the doctors who run these clinics seem to be unaware of the process. "I have not registered my clinic anywhere because I didn't know about it. I don't have any kind of certificates from medical waste management, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board or BBMP," says Dr. Asha D. Patil of Santhi clinic in Kengeri.KPME Act 2009…

EntertainKids is a group working to make entertainment reachable to underprivileged children. If your question is "Why entertainment?", my answer is that food, shelter and education were not my only necessities as a child; I loved watching movies too!EntertainKids tries to bring some fun in the lives of underprivileged children, and also motivate them towards education.We plan to achieve this by:• Getting access to children by connecting with government schools, NGOs, orphanages etc. We are in talks with many organisations including Friendship Foundation, Hope Foundation, Sparsh, Runner's High, Ananya Summer camp and UW Bengaluru.• Getting cinema halls, theatres, circuses etc…

March 17, 2012 saw a small number of Bengalureans debate active citizenship. On the occasion of World Consumer Rights Day (March 15), Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) held a summit on the "state of Consumer Affairs in the City". The summit was held at Udayabhanu Kalasangha in Kempegawdanagar. From left, Sainath NR, Sakuntala Narasimhan, Ramamurthy, Maj. Pankaj Rai Pic: Anisha Nair The guest speakers included Dr. Sakuntala Narasimhan, national award winning journalist and consumer protection activist, N S Ramamurthy, former senior food inspector, Public Health Institute, Retd Major Pankaj Rai, who is currently helping people fight medical negligence cases, Sainath N…

BCIL ZED Foundation conducted an International Sparrow Conference on 20 March, to raise awareness about the fall in the House Sparrow population in Bengaluru. 20 March is celebrated as the International sparrow day. As part of the conference there was a panel discussion on the birds, held at the Xavier Hall of St. Joseph's College, Lalbagh Road. Poster displayed outside St.Joseph's College. Photo: Deepa MohanThe first to speak was Dr. Abraham Verghese, of the Indian Institute for Research, who touched on how, several decades ago, places like Rajaji Nagar were just open land helping sparrow population. He added that several…

On March 20th, BDA filed its objections in High Court on the Agara-Sirsi Circle signal free corridor PIL. Koramangala 3rd block RWA and others had filed the case last month, specifically asking for work in four Koramangala junctions to be stopped, and HC had ordered a stay on the works. At several places in its objections filing, BDA has gone so far as to say that residents' concerns are imaginary. Sarjapur road dug up for construction of grade separator. File Pic: Deepthi M S BDA has presented copies of approvals for the project given by Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) of…