GENRE: Voices

The Electoral Rolls of 27 constituencies of Bangalore have serious errors and omissions. When the authorities did not react to repeated feedbacks and request to correct anomalies, a PIL was filed in the High Court of Karnataka. The Chief Justice agreed with the issues raised in the petition and directed the CEO to correct various data errors and also to restore illegitimately deleted voters. After reported efforts at cleansing the lists, the CEO published a new set of voters' lists on 28th January, 2013. However, soon afterwards, download of the voter-lists was disabled. Prajalytics, a software company, had downloaded the…

On Saturday, January 26th, I completed the Oxfam Trailwalker for the second successive year. A start to finish 100-km walk by teams of four, it offered me quality time for reflection, 32 hours to be precise.Oxfam India Trailwalker is a team challenge organised to raise funds for Oxfam India, the 61 year old NGO, for its activities that fight poverty and injustice. Our member teams walk (or run) 100 km in less than 48 hours, it is a test of physical endurance requiring mental strength and team spirit.The Second Oxfam India Trailwalker took us through a 100 km trail from…

If kids could learn their ABCs from mummy's smartphone, communicate with Talking Tom and hone their drawing skills with innumerable doodling apps, could this be far behind? An American firm has unveiled a new gadget at a tech meet called iPotty. Yes, it is very imaginatively named that, lest parents miss the point. iPotty is basically a potty seat with an iPad holder and waterproof cover, which gives the whole game of toilet training a technical spin. Using books to divert your toddler's attention while you make him stay put long enough to do the job? Or are you still…

Subsequent to the judgement on the PIL on December 11th, 2012, the Chief Electoral Officer and BBMP organisations are undertaking intense cleansing activities of electoral rolls of the 27 constituencies of Bangalore Districts.A few steps:They have accepted close to 10 lakh applications for registration and have restored about 1 lakh voters to the rolls by verifying that the deletions were incorrect.They have identified about 12 lakh instances of errors and have corrected about 80% of them.About 65,000 duplicate records have been identified and deleted.More than 30,600 voters who shared their ID with some other voters are now allotted new IDs.Now,…

Manufacturing units (aka factories) come under the purview of various chapters and sections of the Factories Act, 1948 which provides detailed regulations concerning health, disposal of waste and effluents, lighting, drinking water, safety and other aspects relevant to working conditions. The legislation also governs working hours, rests, overtime for extra hours, the welfare officer et al. And the responsibility for compliance is on the ‘Occupier' who should be a director of the company and the factory manager.While the above provisions are grossly inadequate even for today's manufacturing industries, they barely cover the conditions prevailing in Information Technology (IT) and Information…

It looks that our BBMP act only after being pulled up by the High Court Appointment of Ward Committees, Garbage Segregation at Source, Scrapping of Signal free corridor from Koramangala to Sirsi Circle, not allowing commercial buildings in residential areas, banning construction activities from 6PM to 8 AM and handling stray dogs are some of the examples.One cannot understand why our elected BBMP cannot understand the civic sense, plan and act, instead of forcing citizens to file PIL. If this is the situation do we need BBMP?⊕

Stack three matchboxes, and they'll stay stable. Add a dozen more on top, and the pile will topple. Perhaps this ‘tipping point' is what we as a society have now reached, as we begin a new year, where our responses are shaking up apathetic administrators.Slowly, but surely, and with increasing frequency, we are hearing of action by individuals or small groups, raising protests and making a difference. A few such initiatives in namma ooru are worth taking note of.Last month, the High Court ordered a review of BBMP's record of granting permission for commercial buildings in residential areas. It took…

I am one of those innumerable people who have been driven to the end of their wits and made to split hairs attempting to book a ticket (under the Tatkal scheme) through the Indian Railways' website, popularly known as IRCTC. While making an unsuccessful attempt recently, waiting with nail biting anxiety, sitting at the edge of my seat, I was wondering why this website cannot be put to better use than for simply booking train tickets - which in any case has a success ratio of only one in a gazillion! I could think of only some of the uses…

In one of the articles in his weekly column for the Times of India, brand consultant Santosh Desai examined the psychology behind the increase in rape cases. He attributed it to the increase in power of women leading to insecurity in males. Some women hold positions of extreme power. And a few large firms such as Facebook have women as their COO's, CEO's, CFO's, etc. The previous President of India was a woman. These are major factors contributing to the atrocities against women, according to Desai.The government usually passes the blame to women for their dressing and mannerisms as the…

She welcomes me into her home in Ulsoor wearing a beautiful hand woven Bailou saree. It is simple and elegant, much like Nagamani herself, exuding a quiet beauty and grace you hope to have when you reach her age. We get to know about ‘Mani aunty' from Mala and Sonia Dhawan, the enterprising sisters who run A Hundred Hands, a nonprofit trust that aims to introduce and promote handmade crafts, art and food. Located in Bangalore, they hold an exhibition of creative art, crafts and concoctions every year. The Dhawans tell me how Mani auntie's herbal oil is a product…