GENRE: Voices

Bangalore has a spanking new set of councillors. We citizens have cast our votes and are hoping, it will pay at least this time. What is interesting is that we have 74 women councillors compared to the 17 in the previous election. Will that make a difference? Of the 74 seats 67 come from reserved constituencies.In the light of the hoopla around Women's Reservation Bill in the Parliament, Bangalore's future administration might become the test case. It is true that most women candidates fielded were political novices and wives or relatives of politicians or political aspirants. And all along, media…

On a hot Saturday in April, BBMP demonstrated its responsive side. Earlier that morning when my husband told me about a dead ox body opposite our building at Benson Town, I thought he was joking. A little later, I was shocked when I actually noticed the ox lying along the roadside. Brushing aside questions of "Who, why, when and how", I presumed that one of our proactive neighbours would have reported the issue. But when I rang the BBMP's 24 hour helpline (22221188 and 22660000) around 10.15 am to check, I realised that no complaint had been lodged. Curious children…

On April 21st late afternoon, there was a very heavy downpour with hailstorm and very gusty winds. On my way home at Vijayanagar at about 5.30 pm, while it was still raining, I found the skyline near my home looking different I looked up to see a few trees were broken in the middle and fallen over houses.Right in front of my house, two trees had fallen. On the main road behind, I found eight electric poles and three trees had fallen on 11 KVA power lines. This caused the complete stretch of electric poles and trees fall flat on…

S Vishwanath is a pioneer in rainwater harvesting. He is the founder of Rainwater Club, a city-based group that promotes and provides information on rainwater harvesting. Vishwanath has been working in the areas of urban planning, ecological architecture and water management for the past 25 years. Rainwater Club was one of the winners of the 2009 Namma Bengaluru Awards. In this interview with Citizen Matters, Vishwanath speaks about the desperate water scene in the city and suggests what immediate measures can be taken to address the issue of shortage.S Vishwanath, Rainwater Club. Pic: Vaishnavi Vittal When you hear of water…

"The next world war will be over water" - Ismail Serageldin, former Vice President of the World Bank. As with any problem, the proper way to manage water is to adopt a holistic approach along the lines of reduce, reuse and recycle and ensure active participation by both individual residents as well as the Apartment Owners Associations. The Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) guidelines state that the average water consumption per person, in megacities is 150 liters per day (lpd). For an average household of 4 persons, that works out to 600 lpd. Try to figure out…

On a day when there were low-intensity explosions near the Chinnaswamy cricket stadium, here are photographic examples of what emergency-readiness and security was like within the stadium on April 17th 2010.One of the emergency exits on the day of the match, meant for spectators who enter through Gate No. 6, is locked. In addition you have a turnstile just in front of the gate and a standee as well, besides some bottles and trash. In case of an emergency, would they have enough time to access the person who has the key, remove the turnstile and other obstructions in front…

IT has been announced recently for the collection of tax for the year 2010-11 with a rebate of 5% only upto 30th April 2010.This period being the bottleneck of the year, where previous years dues of loan, interest etc would have been paid by 31st March. The burden of children education, holiday expenses ( either you have to move out or relatives move in), the current cost of essentials - food and vegetables, etc. which are unavoidable to be postponed and has to be met.In many cases, contributions to the recently held elections have also been met by many indirectly,…

There are some advantages of being a mother in search of a decent summer camp. You keep your eyes and ears open and in the process discover things for yourself. For instance, had I not stared hard at the huge hoarding on Bannerghatta Road advertising horse riding lessons with that magic word ‘Summer Camp’ attached, I wouldn’t have discovered there was a stable right behind my house! Well almost behind, on Puttenahalli Main Road, JP Nagar 7th Phase to be precise. Having always wanted to ride with the wind in my hair and suchlike (yes, old age makes you confess…

I am a resident of a quiet neighbourhood at Vijaya Bank Layout, Bannerghatta road since 2007. Most of you might have heard about it. It is very popular for its Ayyappa Temple and its quiet environment. But this harmony was destroyed when I saw my home located in 1st Main road and several other houses  were marked by BBMP officials for the road widening project.I am not the only one , but several hundreds are suffering from the same problem. Most people here have used all their savings to buy this property which costs a fortune just because it has…

Simply put Urban Commons refers to spaces in a city that a broad spectrum of people use and depend upon. Agara Lake located south east of the city is one such space. Like most other lakes in the city, Agara is an irrigation tank that dates back to the 9th century. Apart from irrigation, and water supply the lake is also home to a wide variety of flora and fauna.D’Souza’s study is an attempt to understand the effect of urbanisation on what began as a solution to irrigation of agricultural lands in the area. Agara turned out to be the…