Citisense

While high profile, high powered summits on urban infrastructure development are hogging media headlines, a more low-key process taking place on the ground holds out hope for the beleaguered residents of one corner of the city. We citizens know all about politicians who promise the earth and the sky while canvassing for votes and are then seen and heard from again only on the eve of the next elections. But residents of Koramangala and surrounding areas have been pleasantly surprised to find their elected representative proving to be an exception to this rule - at least for now. Last Saturday…

So we now have a new government and one that says it will keep its promises. And we have freshly-elected MLAs, including some who have gone on record "rededicating themselves to the citizens of their constituencies."   The MLA elected from the area I live in has been quoted in the press saying that his focus will be on the new wards added to the newly created constituency. "There are many low-lying areas in these wards that need attention," he says. "Apart from that, there are many interior roads in Koramangala and Ejipura areas that need to be tarred. Water…

At the end of a recent article headlined "A right to walk," Gurcharan Das suggested encouragingly that citizens can make a difference to city life if they really try. "The starting point is to extend your circle of concern beyond your front door (as Yudhishthira did in the Mahabharata when he insisted on taking a stray dog into heaven)," he wrote. "You will discover that municipalities do respond to citizen pressure if citizens are united and relentless." That's really great to know. But he has probably not dealt with the municipal authorities of Namma Bengaluru. It is not for want…

The spouse of a politician standing for election from one of several constituencies in Bangalore visited our home today to persuade us to vote for her partner. The entourage of about ten or twelve people brought with them not only the customary leaflet requesting us to cast our "valuable votes" in favour of their candidate but also a glossy, colourful, 20-page booklet in Kannada and English. The brochure, titled "My vision for the ... constituency," presented "an overview of the developmental activities" undertaken by the person concerned in the constituency he had earlier represented. "Let works speak rather than words," said…

VIPs continue to be stumbling blocks in the paths of ordinary citizens. My daughter and I had another brush with a V/VIP at HAL Airport on Friday (28 March) morning. This time it was Rahul Gandhi. There were no noticeable signs at the entrance to the road into the airport to let the public know that it was being cleared for a "VIP" to go the wrong way on it. But, half way down the road, we were brusquely waved to the side by a belligerent policeman so that the political convoy could whizz straight out from the tarmac. Clearly…

 Last Thursday evening there was such an exceptionally grim gridlock at HAL Airport that landing passengers had to cool their heels or wander about between cars and puddles for over half an hour while their pick-up vehicles were stuck within the airport premises, unable to move in any direction. The reason? "VVIP movement." It wasn't even a visiting head of state: just a regular, home-grown neta (in this case, apparently, Arun Jaitley - but it could have been any number of other politicians whose fawning parties treat them like latter-day royals; I shudder to think of the likely situation during…

I thought I'd begin my blog on Citizen Matters with the question: does the citizen really matter? Recent experiences in Bangalore suggest that they do not, especially in the context of public policy. The ongoing brouhaha over the Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) is only the latest example of the total lack of transparency and complete disregard for citizens' rights to information and self-determination that mark planning (if any) for the city's development. This aspect of the issue has received far less attention so far than more obviously emotive ones such as inadequate infrastructure for effective connectivity. Although reams of newsprint…