PRESS RELEASE

Prof. Rajeev Gowda, IIM Bangalore and AICC Media Panelist, has launched a Political Action Internship 2014 in Bangalore on 29 March 2014. It will provide an insider's look into the political process by involving interns in political campaigns during this Lok Sabha Election. Under the mentorship of Prof. Rajeev Gowda, interns will learn the “Art and Craft of Practical Politics.” You too can join now. Check: www.facebook.com/ProfRajeevGowda During this three-week internship, interns will gain first-hand knowledge about how an election campaign works, from the initial phase of strategising, campaigning and finally to exit poll analysis. Experts including Prof. Gowda, Dr.…

The press note from Namma Bengaluru Foundation states: The winners of the prestigious Namma Bengaluru Awards (NBA) for 2013 will be announced on 15 March, 2014, at Freedom Park, Bangalore. We invite you to be a part of the award function, to applaud and help celebrate our true heroes. Each one of the award winners is a crusader, fighting for justice and saving our city from vested interest. Anna Hazare, who has been spearheading the anti-corruption movement, will be the guest of honor at the awards, stressing our singular vision of breaking the nexus between unethical, dishonest, and illegal forces…

Over 750 Resident Welfare Associations representing more than ten lakh Bangalore citizens under the platform of Namma Bengaluru Foundation and Bengaluru Residents Association Confederation Ensemble (BRACE) launched a protest against government’s failure to address citizens' concerns about massive corruption in Bangalore and the nexus of corrupt builders and some politicians that is destroying Bengaluru. The campaign that’s a result of the lackadaisical approach by the government despite the repeated pleas over a year now by the forum of BRACE will see a city wide signature campaign demanding the government for a Corruption free city that does not cater to mafias and…

A press release fromWater Literacy Foundation states the following: Summer is arriving soon and cries for water are inevitable due to lack of awareness as well as awareness translating into action among General Public. Awareness is the first step towards change. The public is the revolutionary change maker. Towards this cause, United Nations has declared 22nd March as "World Day for Water" to spread the message of water conservation. This initiative becomes worthwhile and successful only if the general public supports the cause.  This is where organizations like ours play a game changing role. Water Literacy Foundation (WLF) is a…

Bangalore Political Action Committeee (BPAC) conducted a Google Hangout panel discussion on the budget, on February 14th, 2013. The panelists included BPAC President Kiran M Shaw, Vice-president TV Mohandas Pai, social entrepreneur Ashwin Mahesh and urbanist V Ravichandar. The debate was moderated by Revathy Ashok of BPAC. Mohandas Pai said though in terms of growth the average of the state is better than the national average, he wants to see a large vision in the budget to develop the entire region and industries in terms of infrastructure. He said he wasn't happy with the 7.2 % growth in service economy,…

On February 8th, 2014, Bangalore Bus Prayaanikara Vedike, an organisation of bus commuters and civil society organizations, organised a planning meeting to discuss a campaign for affordable bus services in Bangalore. This was organised in response to the steep rise in bus fares over the last year and a half to almost 50%, increasing the economic hardship for Bangaloreans. If a garment worker or a pourakarmika, who earns Rs. 5,000 a month, buys a monthly pass for Rs. 725 (Rs. 925 for red board buses), she shells out 15-20% of her income just for commuting, which increases if more people…

What is KASA MUKTHA? The Karnataka Chief Minister launched the initiative in 22 Wards on July 24, 2013 to solve Bangalore's 'garbage problem'. He promised a Kasa Muktha (Garbage-Free) Bengaluru in 6 months (by Jan 24, 2014). The 'garbage problem' is being addressed at 3 levels:a) Segregation of garbage – by the citizenb) Processing of segregated garbage – by the BBMPc) Elimination of BLACK SPOTS (or open garbage dumps) Why focus on BLACK SPOTS? This citizen-driven pilot focused only on eliminating Black Spots. The BLACK SPOT problem is not just a garbage problem – it affects public health, sanitation, pedestrian…

The finals of the Bala Janaagraha civic festival is going to be conducted at Devraj Urs Auditorium, Millers Tank Bund Road, Vasanth Nagar, Bengaluru, on Saturday, January 18, 2014. A press note from Bala Janaagraha team gives more details: Bala Janaagraha is a uniquely designed, carefully thought out civic education program conducted for Grade VIII students of government, aided and private schools in Bangalore. Our vision is to transform today’s children into active citizens of tomorrow. The curriculum is different from the standard civic lessons taught in schools. In the curriculum designed by Bala Janaagraha the student becomes the primary…

It is almost a year since the EWS Quarters slum was demolished and the residents ruthlessly thrown away from their homes. In spite of various protests and struggles against this inhuman slum demolition by slum dwellers, Dalit, Left, Student, Community based and other organisations for a year now, there hasn’t been a single response from the government on this issue. Even the new Congress government hasn’t responded to the five memorandums to the CM that the Forum against EWS Land Grab has submitted on this issue. The government in its callousness has not even bothered to hold talks on this issue and…

Bengaluru is home to Sandalwood, the Kannada film Industry. The industry produces 120-130 movies an year and has about 10% success rate like other major film industries of India. Unfortunately, unlike other film industries, Sandalwood is known for banning dubbing of content to Kannada. This unofficial ban on dubbing content effectively isolates Kannadigas who know only Kannada (approximately there are 2.5 to 3 crore Kannadigas who know only Kannada and no other language) from the sea of knowledge and entertainment that exists in other languages. A poster of Titanic, dubbed into Telugu. Pic courtesy: harithehero.blogspot.com We must note that the…