PRESS RELEASE

A press note from the Power Ministry, Government of Karnataka, presents the sorry state of affairs in the state, that have forced the State government to announce power cuts. Here follows the press note: Power Position as on 15.08.2015 The state is having an installed capacity of 10189 MW from the conventional sources, but the present availability is only 6600 to 7300 MW from all the sources due to break down in State & Central generating units and reduced hydro availability. Poor monsoon has taken a toll on hydro availability. As on 15th August, the total storage in the 3…

Ekroop Caur, MD of BMTC, receives the award from Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. Pic: BMTC PRO All India State Road Transport Union (ASRTU) on the occasion of its Golden Jubilee ceremony, has awarded BMTC the ASRTU National Public Transport Excellence Award in the category, Cleanliness at Work Place for maintaining cleanliness at its depots and bus stands. The award consisting of Rs 5 lakhs in cash and a trophy was given away on August 13th at New Delhi during the ASRTU Golden Jubilee ceremony. Dr. Ekroop Caur, IAS, Managing Director of BMTC received the award from Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport…

Dr Rupa Chanda, Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, has been nominated to the WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHR) 2016 Review Committee, which has been set up by the Director General of the WHO, Geneva. The Committee has been appointed with the task of reviewing the International Health Regulations (2005) with a view towards strengthening global health security. The Committee will provide its inputs and recommendations to the World Health Assembly in May 2016.  About Professor Rupa Chanda Professor Rupa Chanda. Pic courtesy: Apoorva.N, Gutenberg Communications Professor Rupa Chanda has been with IIMB since 1997. Prior to joining…

Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Bangalore in association with Bangalore-based NGO Saahas, organised its flagship event called ‘Walk-a-Thon’ for creating awareness about Zero Waste on August 9th at LalBagh Botanical Garden. The walk was organised to raise cognizance and sensitise people about this issue which has been plaguing our society for far too long and needs to be addressed immediately. The event was organised by Udyam, the social responsibility cell, in association with Rang, the cultural committee of NMIMS. The day started with a corporate event at the institute, where the guest speakers and participants from the NGO came…

Deepika, a transgender and PUCL vice-president, presents a flower pot to Health Minister UT Khader as Ravindra, PD, KSAPS (centre white shirt) looks on. On the left is Simran Sheikh, national programme manager, India HIV AIDS Alliance and Manjula, Board President, Sangama is on the extreme right. Pic: B David “Karnataka will soon conduct a transgender survey and the Health Department will take the lead as it will ensure gender minorities’ access social entitlements and will support them to exercise their constitutional rights,” said Health Minister UT Khader. He was addressing over 200 transgenders, who gathered at the 3rd Transgender…

The Bengaluru City Police and Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) are proud to announce completion of the first phase of the CCTV project where 42 out of the 104 Police Stations have been equipped with CCTV cameras and surveillance in an effort to bring about greater transparency and make citizens, especially women and children feel safe when they visit a police station. The Bengaluru City Police and B.PAC with support from various city-based organisations have worked together for over a year on this project, long before the Supreme Court directed the Central Government and all states to install CCTV cameras…

The India Biodiversity Portal is organising an invasive species campaign through the month of August 2015: Spotting Alien Invasive Species or SPAIS. India Biodiversity Portal (IBP) is an online, open-access repository of information on India’s biodiversity. It has already conducted several campaigns involving citizens in documenting, contributing and sharing biodiversity information from diverse parts of the country. With the SPAIS campaign, IBP and its partners aim to create awareness about, and to map the occurrences of, a set of widespread invasive species in India. The campaign will be conducted online at: http://indiabiodiversity.org/group/spotting_alien_invasive_species/show.  What are alien species? Alien species are sometimes…

The dilapidated Vibgyor School road. Pic: Raghu Kumar When: Saturday August 1st, 10 am to 12 pm Where: Thubarahalli, Vibgyor School Road, Kundanahalli Gate, Munekolala Why: Lack of basic civic amenities Thubarahalli, Munnekola, Siddapura, Immidihalli, Pattandur Agrahara and other erstwhile villages surrounding the Whitefield area have become growth areas in the burgeoning Whitefield suburb of Bengaluru. With a large number of IT and ITES firms located in Whitefield, these villages have been converted by large builders into residential communities. Each of the villages has grown from supporting a small (tens) number of families to thousands of residences. Based on the…

Pic courtesy: Wikimedia Commons Bengaluru-based Centre for Internet and Society has participated in the Expert Committee for DNA Profiling constituted by the Department of Biotechnology in 2012 for the purpose of deliberating on and finalising the draft Human DNA Profiling Bill and appreciates this opportunity. CIS respectively dissents from the January 2015 draft of the Bill. Based on the final draft of the Human DNA Profiling Bill that was circulated on the 13th of January 2015 by the committee, the Centre for Internet and Society is issuing this note of dissent on the following grounds: The Centre for Internet and…

Blood donation camp at SJR Park Vista. Pic: Indira PC  A voluntary blood donation camp was organised at SJR Park Vista, one of the 300+ residential communities on Sarjapur road, on June 27th. Held for the first time, the camp was initiated and organised by a resident, Indira PC, with support from the Residential Welfare Association and club-house management. The NIMHANS blood bank team, under the supervision of coordinator Beena Jayson and Dr Sukanya, conducted the camp. A total of 31 units of blood were collected from 31 donors (including donors from SJR Redwoods), which would go to the NIMHANS Blood Bank. Prior…