PEOPLE

"Uncle Sam, put on back your pants" a line from one of the compositions of Jamaican-Canadian-African dub poet D'bi Young Anitafrika is one that rings in my head on a regular basis. It works as an essential reminder of the number of soulless 'uncles' who abuse children sexually. But according to Young who performed at the Jaaga Creative Common Ground in Bengaluru on 28th January 2012, it is also a metaphor for how selfish capitalists continue to rape and ravage life on earth without sparing a thought about the adverse impact of their actions. Well, if they take the good…

Pawan Kumar the director of the successful film Lifeu Ishtene might just show ‘Gandhinagar' that pedigree and stars don't matter. He plans to produce his second film Lucia using crowd funding. He had earlier expressed his frustration about no takers for his second film. His fans and friends on Facebook and reacted to it and many suggestions started coming his way. In his own words "was bombarded with emails, smses, pings, chat posts etc etc. Everyone coming together to pour in ideas and solutions. Majority of them have suggested to open a public funding and produce the film with the…

The Concerned for Working Children (CWC), a Bangalore-based NGO, has been nominated for this year's Nobel Peace prize by Norwegian Parliamentarians. Nandana Reddy, founder and Director of Development at CWC. Pic: CWC video still. CWC is known for its pioneering efforts that led to the Karnataka state government making children's grama sabhas mandatory in rural local governments. The nomination is for CWC's work in promoting child rights, emphasising on children's right to participate in decision-making.CWC was nominated by three members of Norwegian parliament - Linda Hofstad Helleland, Gunn Karin Gjul and Andre Oktay Dahlt. They have also nominated two other…

RWAs and citizens' groups that fight public causes in court may soon get a helping hand. Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar (Independent) has offered to bear 50% costs of PILs filed in Bangalore and the state, through the Namma Bengaluru foundation. He first announced this on Twitter. Rajeev Chandrasekhar was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2006. Pic: Subramaniam Vincent. Chandrasekhar's decision comes on the back of the Karnataka High Court's verdict three weeks ago on the city'sComprehensive Development Plan (CDP). In a PIL, citizens' groups had challenged a provision in the current CDP (2005-2015) that allowed commercialisation of residential…

An individual who leaves his personal agenda aside can work very well with the Government bodies, feels Narahari Mukund, Jayanagar resident.This he says from experience as he has been working to resolve civic issues in Jayanagar 5th block. He has lived there for 45 years. passion towards the civic society helped me to write problems that public faced in the society” says Narahari Mukund. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P 48-year-old Mukund has been part of traffic committee for a over a year now. He regularly collected information public grievances on traffic situation and presented to the traffic department. He is also a…

Filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli has won hearts and stimulated minds for a few decades now. Ghatashraadhha to Gulabi Talkies, his films have won him great accolades. He offers interpretations of the stories he chooses, something not usually done by directors. Citizen Matters caught up with this resident of BTM Layout for an interview. I see a shift in your film-making. Recent films, especially those after Gulabi Talkies seem to be explicitly ideological in nature. They ‘tell’ more than ‘show’, I think. What do you mean when you say ‘ideological’? My films have always had a political-social message, if you like. It…

This is not the story of someone who fought against an indifferent system and brought it to its knees, rather of someone who made her peace with the system and worked patiently from within, to achieve the best results possible. Pic: Manvel Alur Manvel Alur's connection with the environment seems almost karmic, with her choices in life steering her on the green path quite early on. Even as a child growing up in Bangalore, she was environmentally aware enough to write in to the National Geographic magazine on various issues and it seemed like a natural transition that she went…

 I was much struck by two scenes today. One was at Lalbagh, where I went to see the Republic Day Flower Show. Lalbagh has been, for quite some time now, a "plastic-free" zone. Alas, the plastic-free remains within inverted commas, as the very stalls and shops put up in Lalbagh, to celebrate flowers and greenery, generate an immense amount of trash, which visitors and stall-holders alike leave strewn on the ground, with no thought of how it is to be managed or removed. The amount of waste and plastic trash that I saw today was staggering.In J P Nagar 3rd Phase, I…

Two small phrases....  Kannadigas, in common with most Indians, do not saying a brusque "No" to one's face. If invited  to a wedding or any other celebration, we do not feel it is polite to openly say no. "I'll see if I can make it" or "I'll try to come" is the most frequent response, and from this, I have, over the years, learnt to understand that the invitee will not be able to make it. The affection and the "wanting" to attend are there, and that is made clear by the statment  of intention, rather than the fact of inability. But…

Meet Rajeshwari aka Raji, age who has been selling vegetables for 30 years now. She has made a thriving family business out of it. Sometimes, one woman's enterprise brings the entire family to progress and some level of prosperity. pic caption pending pic: Deepa Mohan 43-year-old Raji hails from a village near Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. She moved to Bangalore at a young age, after her marriage. She and her husband got into the vegetable vending business. They used to push a wheeled cart of vegetables through the streets of the city.Around 1995, a new apartment building, called Casa Ansal, came…