GENRE: Voices

Venkatappa Art Gallery off Kasturba Road, Bengaluru. Pic: Shree D N Some people are a little confused why Karnataka artists are against the adoption of the state Venkatappa Art Gallery (VAG) by Tasveer Foundation to build MAP - Museum of Art and Photography, to house Abhishek Poddar's art collection. Artists have formed Vagforum (Venkatappa Art Gallery Forum) to oppose this move. MAP in VAG is being projected as god's gift to the Bengaluru's public. Let me explain our stand: Artists are not against the Museum of Art and Photography or MAP coming up in the city. But it should be…

Growing up in Bengaluru for me has always revolved around the Cantonment - early morning walks under the tree-lined avenues towards Richards Park, eating Ritchies mutton biryani on MM road (back in the day when a plate was a meagre Rs 40), or buying weekly groceries from Thoms after Sunday mass. Historically, the Cantonment of Bengaluru dates back to the 18th century, specifically 1807, when the British defeated Tipu Sultan’s army and established themselves around the Ulsoor kere. The British established various typologies from large parks and shopping centres to parade grounds and schools, the most important being the colonial bungalow…

  Being a proponent for the Government of Karnataka’s (GoK) decision to ‘Adopt a Destination’ under CSR, one is saddened to see some artists put out misleading and wrong information to ensure that the Venkatappa Art Gallery (VAG) adoption MoU signed between the Government agencies and Tasveer Foundation is cancelled. Terms like ‘brutal, undemocratic takeover’, ‘surreptitious MoU’, ‘usurp public resources’, ‘prime real estate capture’ are being bandied about giving the impression that some of us (who believe that VAG adoption is good for Bengaluru citizens) are descendants of Darth Vader! Bengaluru citizens will gain with this adoption program. We might…

Civic group members who have pushed hard for RERA Bill, are a happy lot. With the passing of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015 which intends to protect the interests of home buyers, in the Rajya Sabha on 10th March 2016, the bill crossed a major hurdle. All day, activists were trying to lobby for the Bill through Twitter with the handle @FightForRERAInd. Today (March 15th) the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha too. The citizen activism to push the RERA Bill started in Delhi, by Lt Gen Bahri (Retd). The Delhi group reached out to other major cities…

Here is an extract from my proposals to the government on things to include in the State Budget, 2016-17: (a) The Master Plan for Bengaluru and other cities being statutory, the State Budget each year should mandatorily allocate monies to proposals within these plans. That is essential to retaining their statutory nature, and also to ensure that development during a Plan period is annually guided by such allocations. A beginning may be made in this, by an explicit reference in this year's Budget to financing proposals under the Master Plan. This would also give the newly appointed Minister for Bengaluru…

My Dear Friends and Fellow Bengalureans, Warm (or perhaps ‘fiery’) greetings from me. Possibly, I do not need an introduction. Nevertheless, for those who still don’t know me: I’m the disrepute of Bengaluru - the frothy, foamy, toxic-filled, foul-smelling Bellandur Lake, which many claim has put Namma Bengaluru to shame on international landscapes. This would make for a pretty picture if we didn't know the reality. Pic: Sanchayan Nath Let me say, I owe this claim-to-fame to: The city’s mindless administrative machinery Unlawful encroachers All those who consider dumping waste (solid, liquid or industrial) in my waters their birth right!…

Sudarshan Nityananda gives the following contact numbers:   South  Bangalore comes under Mr Ranganathswamy,DCF-BBMP.His number is 9480683842.   His senior is Mr N D Sudarshan who sits in the BBMp premises.His number is 9480684566.   The third person is Sathyanarayana who sits in Utility Bldg,MG Road.His number is 9480683146.   Please contact any of these people if you find trees being cut down in Bangalore.

On the fourth of every month I need to commute from north to south Bengaluru, to unlock my gate for the BESCOM meter reader and collect my monthly bill. The fourth of each month also happens to be designated as bus day by BMTC to encourage citizens to take to public transport to ease traffic snarls on our jam-packed roads. Although I know the rationale underlying the bus day initiative, this is why we commuters abhor bus rides. 1) We waste time, lots of it, and today time is precious. Just covering 14 km, from Sanjaynagar in the north to…

It has been five and a half months since the third time corporator from Congress, B N Manjunath Reddy took charge as the Mayor of Bengaluru. With BBMP budget round the corner and news of property tax hike after seven years making the rounds, the Mayor speaks about some of the issues in BBMP and clears his stand on certain things, in an exclusive interview with Citizen Matters amid his busy schedule. Just six months are left for your term to end. So what is that one thing that you would like to be remembered for as a Mayor of…