SOCIETY

The flag-off ceremony.Pic: NBF As the countdown for the close of nominations for the Namma Bengaluru Awards 2014 (NBA) has begun, Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) in association with BTV, the media partners for the awards, organised the flag off of the display vehicle from Dr Rajkumar Memorial grounds at Peenya.  The display vehicle will move around the city to enable citizens to nominate their heroes from right where they are.  The vehicle was flagged off by well-known director of the Kannada film industry, MG Shrinivas who now is making his debut as an actor in his new movie “Srinvasa Kalyana”.…

A 16-year-old tribal girl, an aging illiterate social worker in Rajasthan, a 23-year-old physiotherapist  in Delhi, a young journalist in Mumbai, a 50-year-old tourist from Europe, a six-year-old school girl in Bengaluru–what do these females, from different parts of the country, with diverse backgrounds, have in common ? They were all  victims of gruesome rapes that made “news”. One of the first lead stories that I wrote, over three decades ago (1979), was about the infamous Mathura rape case, in which the court released the accused policemen (who had raped Mathura at the police station) on grounds that the 16-year-old…

Sometimes people do not encounter problems; but rather problems have a way of finding those who have the vision and resolve to make the world a better place. That’s what happened to Prateek Kaul and Prarthana Prateek Kaul, when they were working on an event with blind kids and had to struggle in order to arrange for appropriate gifts for them.  Prarthana and Prateek Kaul of GiftAbled Foundation at an event This made them think of what would happen if a sighted person wanted to give a card to a blind person. If it was a card with words, the…

On November 26 and in the days before, police in Bangalore, India, rounded up more than 150 hijras and put them in a concentration camp. (Hijra is a traditional term, across much of South Asia, for people born males who who identify either as women or as a third gender.)  At Orinam, an online resource for LGBT issues in India, human rights lawyer Gowthaman Ranganathan tells the story: Approximately 167 members of the transgender community have been taken away by the police and kept at the Beggars’ colony. These detentions have been entirely arbitrary … Most detainees were not on the streets begging or doing any act that is prohibited…

At my local park, I sometimes see two young women (sisters, I assume), taking their elderly grandfather for a walk. The gentleman is very unsteady on his feet so the two women have to grip his arms to support him. Also, he cannot walk fast, so this little group's progress is very slow. But I've never seen or heard the two young women complain. Instead, they go silently round and round the park, patiently leading their grandfather. And after about half an hour or so of this, the three of them head out of the park and make their way…

Noted Kannada film actress, Thara Anooradha launches the Namma Bengaluru Awards 2014. The 6th Edition of Namma Bengaluru Awards (NBA) was launched on October 31st 2014. An initiative of the Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF), the Namma Bengaluru Awards are meant to celebrate exceptional individuals and organisations – nominated by citizens for making Bengaluru a more sophisticated, humane and dignified city, truly one of the best governed cities! Namma Bengaluru Foundation CEO, Sridhar Pabbisetty said, “Namma Bengaluru has a glorious history of 477 years. It has been nurtured by many visionaries who have strived hard to make this city better. The Namma…

Bangalore will be witness to pomp and celebration in the next couple of days on account of Deepavali, the festival of lights. While it is certainly a time to come together with family and friends, it is also important that we give a thought to how we celebrate. If bursting crackers, lighting up your house and exchanging sweets is the norm, then consider making a few changes that could very well make the entire affair more eco-friendly. Here are a couple of tips to celebrate Deepavali in a safe and eco-friendly manner. Avoid bursting crackers Crackers are probably the first…

You are walking on a busy road and somebody passes a lewd comment as you walk past them. What would you do? Would you shoot a dirty look at the offender that communicates your displeasure and continue walking? Or would you simply ignore the offender in the hope that you don’t call attention to yourself or encourage him further? Or would you look him in the eye and bring him to task in front of an audience? What if it were some other lady that was being eve teased? Would you speak out or would you walk past - it’s…

A demonstrator shouts slogans during a protest on July 19, 2014. Pic courtesy: Reuters Some time ago, a couple of days after the rape of a school girl in a leading school, there was this very striking image, published on the front page of a leading newspaper; it was that of a visibly angry young woman who was part of a protest group appearing to shout at someone, maybe at someone in the school (we will probably never know). That face and that anger which was so palpable, in essence captured the anger of a whole lot of people, be…

One of the origami cranes with the message of acceptance on the bottom of the wings is shown above. Credit: Shivani Pal Shivani Pal, a fan of Origami, residing in Bangalore, firmly believes she can overturn the societal conviction where inter-caste marriage is treated as a “crime.” Shivani is working on a project to promote acceptance of inter-caste marriage as part of her education at the Landmark Worldwide group. The project is two-fold: Her and a close group of family and friends make origami cranes with a message about “A Community of Love: Look beyond caste, creed and religion” with…