RPB

I write this after a recent visit to the Animal Birth Control Centre on Basin Bridge Road run by the Corporation of Chennai. The official mandate of the pound is to catch our stray dogs based on regular inspection and specific complaints from the public, sterilize and immunize them against rabies and then release them in the same area where they were caught as per Animal Birth Control Rules. However, my visit has left me with such heart-breaking sights and experience, that I feel responsible to do all that is needed to relieve the dogs in the pound from the…

Property buyers often fall victim to unscrupulous real estate developers; hence there is a need for real estate development to be regulated. This is what the Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA) intends to do. On Saturday, 19th August 2017, I attended an interactive Question and Answer session on RERA. IAS Officer Kapil Mohan, the Principal Secretary, Housing Board, Government of Karnataka, and also Interim Authority of RERA, was part of the panel. The event was organised by the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), Karnataka chapter, on  the Karnataka State Billiards Association premises. It was attended by many real estate…

The Corporation of Greater Chennai falls back on certain repeat activities whenever it finds time hanging heavy on its hands. One is the beautification of the Marina and the other is the renaming of roads that commemorate the colonial masters. The latest to suffer from this are Montieth and Fraser’s Bridge Roads, which are to now become Red Cross and Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission Roads respectively. William Montieth entered the Madras Engineers in 1809, became Lt Col in 1826 and Lt Gen in 1854. Fraser’s Bridge gets its name from John Fraser who designed the municipal waterworks. Not undistinguished…

The development of “smart” cities was one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first initiatives upon taking office in 2014. Launched the next year, the stated focus of the Indian government’s Smart Cities Mission is “on sustainable and inclusive development, and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a lighthouse to other aspiring cities.” However, as the Mission’s portal candidly acknowledges, “There is no universally accepted definition of a smart city. It means different things to different people.” Given the myriad interpretations of that term in this rapidly urbanizing, hugely diverse country, it comes…

Lalbagh - my beautiful slice of heaven was taken over for the past fifteen days for the flower show. A 250-year-old garden on 240 acres, with one of the most spectacular collections of trees in the world was trashed. Very disheartened to see the crowd fill the place with garbage even though there were dustbins kept all over the place. The heritage rock - a three hundred billion year old rock which is the major attraction of Lalbagh, was filled with plastic covers flying all over the place and soft drink bottles. Shame on us people! A so-called hi-tech city…

The commuter catchment for Byappanahalli and travelling to Whitefield actually comprises of many segments. The first one is the work force who commute regularly from and around Byappanahalli which is estimated at 20000 commuters per day. The number of persons working in Whitefield area, belonging to both industrial and service sector, is estimated to be 2.5 lakhs. One estimate suggests that 75% to 80% of this work force is coming from areas beyond Byappanahalli. The number of commuters therefore would be around 180000 to 200000. This is the second segment. The third segment comprises of persons who come to Whitefield…

“How many Government Hospitals are there in Bengaluru? Could you please tell me few names?” I asked a female worker at St Johns Hospital, Bengaluru, who had a big smile on her face and looked approachable. “Umm, Victoria… Vanivilas… Jayadeva… there are a lot of them” she answered. Armed with what I could glean from Google and my limited knowledge of Kannada, I was on a quest: to locate health services for women in government hospitals in the city. We had attempted the same earlier in Delhi as part of a mapping project for Hidden Pockets, which locates services around…

In a day's time, India will celebrate yet another Independence Day. The usual chest thumping will happen, followed by posts of jawans' sacrifices, Rehman's Vande Maataram, snippets of the "Tryst with Destiny" speech, and salutes to the tricolour. While I personally don't like this overt display, it is a fact that India will justifiably, proudly and loudly, reaffirm its democratic ideals, and its increasingly prominent place in the comity of nations. It is also a good time to introspect, and instil this same sense of pride that we have of our country, in our states, our cities and villages, and…

India’s urban population has grown by 32% from 2001 to 2011 as compared to an 18% growth in total population of the country. As per Census 2011, 31% of the country’s population (377 million people) live in cities, and contribute to 63% of the country’s GDP. The urban population is projected to grow up to 600 million by 2031. With increasing urban population, the need for providing better infrastructure and services in cities is increasing. The government has introduced several schemes to address different urban issues.  These include the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Smart Cities Mission, Heritage City Development…

'Quest for equity – reclaiming social justice, revisiting Ambedker’ was a three day international conference organised by the Government of Karnataka to mark the 126th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru between 21st - 23rd  23rd July. IAS officer P Manivannan was part of the team organising the conference; he shares his experience. Many renowned speakers mentioned that they never attended any such a huge conference on Dr Ambedkar, in their life time. Indeed, just to dismantle the temporary structures, it took 10 days! Now that the last part of the work on the…