INTERVIEWS

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…

Padmashree P T Usha was the chief guest at the sports day celebrations at The Samhita Academy, a school in south Bangalore off Bannerghatta Road. The students were abuzz with excitement at the second annual sports and athletic meet on December 11th. Also present were the school's Permanent Trustee, S D Shibulal, COO of Infosys Technologies and Managing Trustee, Kumari Shibulal along with proud parents. The school spread over a six-acre campus, has close to 200 students, stresses on a holistic approach to learning. The school also has a 25 per cent quota for under-privileged children in each class and…

Excerpts from a recent conversation that Citizen Matters had with Shanti Raghavan (SR) and Dipesh Sutariya (DS), the enthusiastic, committed and unassuming co-founders of EnAble India. This 11 year old non-profit, NGO based in Koramangala is famous for its employment assistance services to those with mental, physical, visual and auditory challenges. Enable India co-founder Dipesh Sutariya. Pic: Pushpa Achanta. Shanti Raghavan was awarded the best individual working for the cause of persons with disabilities by the ministry of social justice and empowerment on December 3rd on world disability day, this year. Can you trace your journey from working in the…

Looking at Manjula Sridhar, you may mistake the BTM Layout resident for yet another technology professional. Not quite. Pic courtesy: Manjula Sridhar. As a Program Manager at Lucent, she was appointed the Distinguished Member of Technology (DMTS) in India. She was recipient of the Lucent Innovator Award and Bell Labs President Gold Award, and has filed many patents in wireless security and network management areas. She was Co-Founder and CTO at Aujas Networks. Now working for a large telecom MNC as Director, Market Analyses Datacom, she is also an avid cyclist and endurance athlete. She has participated in dozens of…

Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, is a well known NGO based in south Bangalore which supports the physically and visually challenged through various initiatives and programmes. Lesser known is the Trust's involvement and promotion of games like cricket and chess for the differently abled.  In end September 2010, Citizen Matters had a telephonic conversation with Chandrashekar K N who heads the sports desk at Samarthanam. A former blind cricketer (as he called himself) this enthusiastic thirty year old was the first student at Samarthanam when it was founded in 1997. He has been with the organization since then. Chandrasekhar has…

After 26 years of service in the state and central government, former IAS officer T R Raghunandan now heads ipaidabribe.com (IPAB), an initiative by the NGO Janaagraha, to tackle corruption. Three months after its launch, the site now has 2350 reports from all over the country from the public on paying/not paying bribes. Around 1050 of these reports are from Bengaluru. Bengaluru-based Raghunandan, 51, has served as Secretary of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj for Karnataka and as Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Panchayat Raj, before retiring voluntarily in 2009. He is a consultant on fiscal decentralisation and…

Dr Shankara Prasad is one of the leaders of the Sachidananda Nagara Nyayapara Andolana. This group of 120 residents of Sachidananda Nagar layout in Rajarajeshwari Nagar won a hard - fought battle this week to get their khatas without paying bribes. The protests, which went on for several months, resulted in an order by BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah on November 8th to issue khatas to all residents. Pic: Navya P K. 58-year-old Prasad, though from Bangalore has spent nearly three decades traveling around the world, working as a consultant in the chip manufacturing industry. He completed his M Tech from IIT,…