GENRE: Voices

The first ten days of November 2017 has seen a furious and unprecedented level of dialogue and mainstream-media conversation around the topic of air quality, specifically in and about the city of New Delhi. While the situation in the national capital is indeed dire, a large part of that conversation has been aided by citizens, journalists and community activism groups having access to scientifically validated real-time, hourly-updated data of the air quality levels in their neighborhoods and surrounding areas. The conversation around air quality levels for several years primarily involved scientists and researchers from leading Indian institutes and a few…

The Karnataka High Court in an order issued during the court hearing on Friday, November 10th, 2017, said that solid waste should be managed at the ward level in the city of Bengaluru. This order was delivered by a bench of the Karnataka High Court in the ongoing case - WP 46523/2012 (Environment Support Group & Ors v. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike & Ors connected with WP 24739/2012 and other Public Interest Litigations that are being heard by the Court since July 2012 in tacking the solid waste management crises). Ward committees were constituted across all wards in Bengaluru, in October…

I’m not sure why there is such a brouhaha about the Mayoral election. Being Bengaluru’s mayor is a prestige, no doubt. Beyond that I have only my sympathies to the person holding that role. (S)he is like a person commanding a cemetery. There are lots of people below, with hardly anyone to listen to the command. The problem is the structure of the municipality under Karnataka Municipal Council (KMC) Act, not the individual. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has a huge budget. The Commissioner is the administrative head and the most powerful person in the BBMP. He can stall or…

What would I do if I become the Mayor of Bengaluru? That’s a very tricky question because it is always easy to sit on the opposite side and keep giving free advices and suggestions. Sitting on the hot seat means significant change. Anyway, for an old Bengaluruan, who has enjoyed the English climate of Bengaluru, the slow pace of life, the clean and beautiful avenues like Margosa Road, Sampige Road, Coconut Avenue, the lovely huge circles with beautiful gardens and the neat roads with minimum traffic, today’s Bengaluru is a shocker! Crime rate was low. People were friendlier. Every home…

We’d start from our quarters near Silk Board at around 8 am on my father’s Bajaj scooter. In 10 minutes, we’d take a turn near the erstwhile Elgin Mill and head towards Shanti Nagar to eventually reach Richmond Road near Pallavi Talkies. The route was dotted by Gulmohar, or Mayflower as we know them, fallen on the road, after last night’s showers. The fallen flowers and a wet-looking road were the only signs of overnight rain in those days. We’d hit the first busy signal at Hudson Circle (now known as Corporation Circle). At about 8.15 am, a car or…

Mayor is the first citizen of a city.  Members of the Council with elected body of corporators from various wards of the city, MLAs, MLCs, local MPs, and nominated members elect a Mayor. Bengaluru city has 198 wards and had a population of around 8 million in 2016. This has resulted in significant pressure on the city’s infrastructure, water resources, water supply, in meeting the basic needs of its citizens. Mayor should know his powers, responsibilities and play an important role to keep his citizens happy. Mayor’s term is short, and he must get into the act from the word…

The problems Bengaluru faces have never been more evident. Traffic has reached a record high, more than half our roads can’t even be classified as roads, our garbage disposal system is in a state of absolute disarray, our groundwater is vanishing at an alarming rate while the part that remains is being constantly polluted, our lakes are struggling to not be engulfed by toxic foam. Most importantly, not only our ecosystem is dying in isolation but also the citizen of Bengaluru is perishing along with it. For example, with far over 65 lakh vehicles in the city, Bengalureans breathe air…

‘Bendakaaluru’ is a land of dreams for every individual with every opportunity and facilities available at the doorstep. It was a dream child which depicted the vision for the city by one of the great architect of all times Kempegowda. Bengaluru as it is called today, came to be recognised with various titles ranging from the Garden City to Silicon City to Garbage City. Every title adorned by this city clearly shows both the level of development and degradation in terms of infrastructure, technology, ecological degradation, land use pattern, etc. Bengaluru attracts thousands of people with dreams of better life…

The ballots are in and tallied for the mayor post (quixotic); and here I am, the Mayor of Bengaluru. Everyone want things to happen as per their vision, but communities aren’t always up for change. I have a vision of making my Bengaluru “Gild the Lily”. To start with, if I were the Mayor; I assure, I would not be a “Little more than a figurehead”, but strive hard for the betterment of my place and people. Aren’t the floods enough to stagnate the roads, that even the toxic foam from industries which is disposed into lakes are now onto…

The jokes on Facebook and Whatsapp have been relentless -- some even gross, indicating the blockage of various bodily functions because they have not been linked to Aadhaar! Notwithstanding those, or the more serious concerns and critiques raised by scores of individuals, the government remains steadfast in its mission of mandating UID-linked verification of citizens for every scheme or facility that they avail. While several petitions against the statutory linking of Aadhaar with various essential services and schemes is now awaiting a ruling from the highest court of the country, mobile phone inboxes of consumers continue to be flooded with…