SOCIETY

With the onset of summer, many of the parks in the city have dried up. Most parks maintained by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) were using up water from the bore wells on their premises. But over the last few months, many borewells have been drying up. Wipro Park in Koramangala has been drying up. Pic: Navya P K Parvathi Srirama, Joint Secretary of Koramangala 4th block RWA, says that compared to December, there is much water shortage now in parks. Parvathi, also a ward committee member of Koramangala, is in charge of monitoring parks in the area. Swabhiman…

In the run up to elections in Karnataka, a nationally telecast TV news programme last weekend focussed on the massive deterioration of civic life in Bengaluru. On display was the breakdown of garbage management, water supply, rise of the contractor and tanker mafia and the link to politicians, the state's political parties becoming personality-led factions and in all, a capital city and the silicon valley of India hopelessly caught in a disastrous spiral. Citizen Matters was interviewed for the telecast as well. It ended though with a hopeful note that when voters have a chance to reverse things. (Headlines Today,…

After crowdfunding his Kannada film Lucia’s production by raising Rs.51 lakhs through Facebook fans and others, Pawan Kumar of Lifeu Ishtene fame has finished the production and released the trailer as well as songs. What about the film’s release? Kumar, 30, launched an even more ambitious crowd fundraising campaign this year. He is now raising money to distribute the film in the mass market - theatres and multiplexes  - and is trying to reach between Rs.50L and several crores.   “We raised Rs.51 lakhs in February 2012 for shooting and production. 70% of the money came in as investment and…

Citizen Matters has released Bengaluru Jeevana, a guide book of 140 pages, all in Kannada. The book is rewritten and translated from Citizen Matters' popular Living in Bengaluru English guidebook. With an identical look and feel to the English book, and priced at Rs 80, the Kannada guide is a much needed source of information for living in the city and getting things done. It contains information for everything from getting property papers to voter registration to driving licenses and recycling. For information on outlets carrying Bengaluru Jeevana near you, please call: 98455 06477.Click here to order the book online:…

Bescom MD P Manivannan, Head Constable Mahadev Sambargi, MLA of Jayanagar Consistuency, B N Vijay Kumar, Fr George Kannanthanam are among the winners of Namma Bengaluru Awards for 2012 given by the Namma Bengaluru Foundation to recognize the extra-ordinary contributions of ordinary citizens and organizations to the city.The Namma Bengaluru Awards for 2012 received unprecedented response from the public with citizens nominating more than 61,000 citizens of Bengaluru. A 20 member jury, chaired by Pradeep Kar, Chairman of Microland consisted of prominent citizens of Bengaluru from the fields of art and culture, music, literature, law, media and environment. The jury,…

The Namma Bengaluru Awards, instituted by the Namma Bengaluru Foundation, will be presented this Saturday 16th of March at 6 pm at the Malleshwaram Grounds. The awards will be given away in a glittering event of music, dance and entertainment. Entry to public is free.Total of 53 finalists in 9 categories will vie for the prestigious NBA. They include Prithvi Reddy, Arundhuti Gupta, Bangalore Traffic Police, BESCOM, Indian Centre for Social Transformation, Goonj, Kormangala 3rd Block RWA, Puttenhalli Neighborhood Lake Improvement Trust, Ashok Dalwai , B G Chengappa, BIOCON, IBM, Canara Bank and many more.The Namma Bengaluru Awards this year…

The Delhi gangrape and many more rapes that were never reported hitherto but are at least getting some attention now have been able to evoke noticeable public response regarding violence against women. Finally, more and more people have started understanding that millions of women all over the globe who hide their tears silently have the right to be treated equally, gently and with respect. The Women's Day celebrated at this point carries more meaning than ever before.'Promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women,' the theme given by the United Nations Organisation for the Women's Day…

I know how March 8 is going to be for me.I will be wished, my praises sung, my existence celebrated and my attention vied for. I will be wooed big-time by advertisers, offered discounts on jewellery, clothes. Why, someone will creatively offer 8% off on beer and champagne... There is no escaping March 8th these days if you are a woman. But there is more to International Women's Day than discount offers and "pampering the woman in you". The real reason why this day is historic, I will leave it to your online searching skills to discover - but the…

It has happened to every woman. You are filling a form for a bank account or a driver's license or an internet connection. And the tip of your pen momentarily hovers over the section that stubbornly demands a ‘Father/Husband's Name'. In nearly every form we fill, however irrelevant to the nature of application you are filling, this information is vital. You ignore the thought as if the field were a leering lout serenading you on the street with a song and comply to the necessary evils of paperwork. A pre-paid SIM card application form picked up in Bangalore. Pic: Siri…

Traditional or new age designs, the sari is celebrated as one of the most versatile garments, that suits every slender or sizable figure.The transformation in saree-designing has seen a rapid ‘renaissance' in the past decade, thanks to the innovative skills of gifted creators and designers. The ‘Desi Drape', a global fashion symbol today, is now available in a stylish array of designs and in an all new ‘ready to wear' mode! Many of the creators and leading designers are women entrepreneurs, working on making Bengaluru the new- age designer-saree capital of the South. Celebrity designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee's version of the…