INTERVIEWS

At the age of 24, Anita Reddy started her first project to get electricity to Lakshmipuram slum in Ulsoor. Over three decades later, her fight for land, housing rights and basic facilities for the poor has helped thousands of people in Bangalore alone. She has helped re-build around 15 slums in the city. Fighting For Slum dwellers' rights since 1978. Pic: Navya P K Anita Reddy, 57, is part of Association for Voluntary Action and Services (AVAS) and Dwarkanath Reddy Ramanarpanam Trust (DRRP). She won the coveted Padma Shri award this year. At right at her home city, she won…

"When we broke open the doors and rescued, the people inside offices, told us that we had come like angels amidst the thick smoke to rescue them," says Mudaseer Hussain, one of the firemen from the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services (KSFES). To hundreds of people stuck in the Carlton Tower fire on 23 February 2010, they came as angels to save their lives. Firemen from the KSFES acted swiftly to rescue hundreds of people stranded at the high-rise and prevented further loss of lives. Mudaseer Hussain, 36, Venkatesha T, 25, K T Prakash, 48, were three of the…

If you have been facing power cuts, blame it on the over-100-year-old power distribution system in Bengaluru, says P Manivannan, Managing Director at BESCOM. The issue is not power shortage, but poor infrastructure, he says. Manivannan, a 1998-batch IAS officer, took charge at BESCOM in October 2010. P Manivannan, MD, BESCOM Illustration: Sneha Prasad In the last few months, Manivannan has promised reforms such as sending SMS alerts on power cuts to consumers, publicizing power supply data etc. He is also the first BESCOM official to put up a camera in his chamber, which can be viewed live at the…

Have you wondered why a BMTC bus is forced through a narrow 9-metre road in Bengaluru? Why entire layouts come up without amenities that they city later has to somehow account for? Plenty of noise is regularly made about lack of ‘proper planning' in Bengaluru city. You need planners who understand how cities work, you need planners who have backgrounds of geography, economics, architecture and urban planning, says Mohan Rao.Pic: Subramaniam Vincent However, it isn't that Bangalore itself lacks qualified planners and architects to work with the city administration. One such planner and 'urban practitioner' as he calls himself is…

Amrendra Kumar, a twenty nine year old Ph.D student of Public Policy at IIM Bangalore stunned the audience at a conference on "Integrated Solid Waste Management- Waste Generated v/s Managed" at Municipalika 2011 by claiming that within a year he could make India as clean as Switzerland.  A native of Patna, Bihar, Amrendra completed an integrated degree in Physics from IIT-Kanpur and is been pursuing his Ph.D at IIM-B. Branding himself a "missionary", he wants to clean up India through his organisation Clean Credit, which believes that "Cash is Trash". Amrendra lays out his plans for a clean India in…

18-year old Aaron D'Souza, based in Bangalore, is Karnataka's fastest swimmer. He is currently in an intensive training programme in preparation for the London Olympics next year. D'Souza won 2 gold medals at the South Asian games in 2009 (Dhaka) and was a finalist in the 4x100 medley relay at the 2010 Asian Games (Guangzhou, China). Rani Rampal is India's unheralded hockey wondergirl. At 15, Rani has proved to be one of the best hockey players in India. She was the top goal scorer of the Women's Hockey World Cup in 2010. Few know that Rani was so impressive that…

He is dynamic, well-built and tall. Like many who enter public life after a successful industry career, he has many facets. He is an entrepreneur who founded BPL Mobile in the 90s, a firm that some would call a benchmark for India's telecom revolution. Since 2005, he is a venture-capitalist, and runs Jupiter Capital, with its offices behind Kids Kemp, off M G Road, Bengaluru. And he was a former president of India's largest and oldest chamber of commerce, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).  We have become a single agenda city of traffic, traffic, traffic. Pic:…

This year, expect syncronised signals and more cameras for traffic monitoring, says Praveen Sood, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic). A 1986 batch IPS officer, Sood took charge of Bangalore traffic police in 2008. Prior to that, he had served in various postings across the state and was awarded the President's award for meritorious service in 2002. He has constantly emphasised on improving traffic behaviour of road users to better the city's traffic situation. In this exclusive interview with Citizen Matters, Sood talks about new plans, limitations and ideas for better traffic management. What are the critical projects you are implementing…

The young and dynamic P Manivannan is currently Managing Director of BESCOM, Bengaluru's power supply provider. He took over in October 2010. Manivannan, 38, is a 1998-batch IAS officer and has served as Commissioner of Hubli-Dharwar Municipal Corporation and Deputy Commissioner of Mysore City Corporation. Media reporting of Manivannan's work has given him a reputation as a tough and upright officer in his previous postings; he has also been called ‘demolition man’ for his stand against illegal constructions. Citizen Matters caught up with Manivannan to discuss BESCOM's 2011 plans for Bengaluru. This interview was conducted via email. Is the rate…

Twenty-eight-year-old Bangalorean Pawan Kumar's inspiring journey began, when he quit his engineering degree from PESIT college, around 2000 to follow his passion for theatre and cinema. By 2003, he had set up his own theatre company ACTor Productions. In 2009, director Yograj Bhat released Manasaare to commercial success and critical acclaim within the Kannada film fraternity. But even as the film-makers, including Yograj and screenplay writer Pawan Kumar, travelled through urban and rural Karnataka observing the response to their film, they noticed a curious dichotomy. This in fact formed the basis of their next film. Pawan's transformation from actor to…