OPINION

It has been two years since the Metro was launched between Mysore Road and Byappanahalli. Since the day it opened, it has been my main transport to get to work. So much so that I can’t think of any other way of commuting to work! The issue since then has always been the last mile, the last 6kms from the station to the office. I decided to go with BMTC and the results have been mixed. On mornings, it would take anywhere between 20 mins and 45 mins for that distance, not considering traffic. Evenings, it took anywhere from 25…

It has been a war between the animal lovers and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in the last few days as the Palike proposed to limit the number of dogs that could be owned in residences. From online petitions to flooding the offices of the Animal Husbandry Department with letters and objections, pet lovers went on an overdrive to stop the administration on their tracks. #NotWithoutMyDog started appearing on social media, while people objected to not letting one person have more than one dog in apartments. The Palike has proposed among other things microchipping for the animals, penalty for not…

Low voter turnout shames India's IT city Bangalore states NDTV and others nod in agreements. The authorities, politicians, noted citizens, all are aflame criticising the citizens for not participating in the elections. Newspaper have used highly derogatory phrases - especially Kannada newspapers - displaying cheap journalism and reporting wrong data. Real voter turnout percentage in Bengaluru has to be more than 70%. If it was to be larger than this with the shamefully poor electoral roll management, we should have grave concerns about illegal votes and rigging. Crude Numbers First In January 2018, District Electoral Officer, Bangalore, (Commissioner, BBMP) published…

Never before in the history of Bengaluru (or even other Indian cities), have we heard of non-partisan groups of citizens reaching out to all their candidates, preparing a bunch of hard questions, and interviewing each candidate on video, and working to share the video with all voters in their constituency so each one of them can make the most informed choice. Mahadevapura’s Million Voter Rising (MVR) team has been working from late 2016 to enroll voters in their constituency. They went to court filing a PIL when they found irregularities in the enrollment process and protested when majority (more than…

Two weeks ago, when B.PAC - Bangalore Political Action Committee, rated K J George and Haris the best performing MLAs, Bangaloreans were taken aback. While this ‘best’ was a relative term, it is obvious most lay citizens aren’t happy with any elected representative, given the state of the city. But how can we really evaluate an MLA’s performance on the ground and in the assembly? The MLA rating project was part of BPAC’s multi-pronged strategy to increase voter participation, from supporting voter enrollment to MLA rating, candidate awareness etc. The survey looked at the following parameters and weightage: 20 -…

Large number of duplicate entries in electoral rolls means lack of truthfulness in statistical observations, and consequent rhetorical statements like "people in cities don't vote." When people say that turnout % in an election is low in Bengaluru, that calculation is based on electoral rolls bloated with duplicate entries and illegal entries like those of dead voters. For the past six years, every time the CEO Karnataka published the electoral rolls, I have been reporting the counts of suspected duplicate entries by category. Whereas the occurrences of duplicate entries have reduced over the years, a lot of duplicate records remain…

With elections around the corner and all the political leaders sharing their vision for the state, we thought we at Makkala Jagriti would share our wish list for government schools in the state. This wishlist comes from the experience of working with government schools at grassroot levels. Focus on holistic development in each school It is well-known fact that Holistic development of children is very important for making them well-balanced human beings and preparing them for life. The very thoughtfully drafted National Curriculum framework also talks about Holistic Development: ‘The National Curriculum promotes the holistic development of the child. It…

My article titled ‘Bengaluru needs its green cover to remain liveable’, led to questions about what can be done. A mission for re-greening Bengaluru is the need of the hour - a time-bound exercise with goals to be achieved. For example the goal could be to increase tree cover in Bengaluru by 20% in the next five years. Step 1: Tree census For starters, the government, that is the municipal administration - the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) must undertake a tree census to establish a baseline. Trees must be mapped employing qualified experts backed by technology such as a…

Bengaluru is awaiting the release of Mater Plan 2031 (RMP 2031), after the draft master plan was closed to comments in January 2018. Many articles in the print media have discussed the highlights of the plan’s proposals related to transportation, housing, zonal regulations and other aspects, and provided a critique of the development strategies of the plan from various perspectives. Civil society groups and the media have made efforts to help citizens grapple with the complex contents of the plan, with the intent of explaining how to read and understand the plan in a bite-sized manner, and comment on it…

A day before Valentine’s, news broke that the Government of Karnataka had quietly tabled an amendment to Karnataka Tree Preservation Act of 1976. Under the proposed amendment, 50 trees were added to the list of 27 existing species that would no longer require permission to be chopped down. Many of these trees were favourites with Bengalureans - Gulmohars , Flame of the forest, Yellow Bells, African Tulips and even the humble Ashoka tree which lined many of the pavements in the city. Most of them were flowering species who’d bloom to their full glory in summer, adding to the beauty…