Editors' Blog

Even after the elections are notified, all the parties have kept their list of candidates in suspense. However, here is some gossip from the political corridors for you! Enjoy reading! What is Congress doing? Congress is experimenting in Bangalore North with ‘primaries’ where internal voting will be done by the party members and the winner will contest the elections. Primaries will be held between Rajeev Gowda, B L Shankar and others, on March 8. Rajeev Gowda is an ex-IIMB professor, who also headed IIMB’s Centre for Public Policy. B L Shankar is a veteran politician with relatively clean history and…

As 2013 draws to a close, we look back on key events that made a difference to our lives in the city. Read: Swalpa Sihi, Swalpa Kahi: 2013 - the year that was! Earlier this year, we did a series of hard reports on scams unearthed by the CAG followed by investigative pieces on the violation-riddled Bellandur-Agara SEZ project. We did a special project on the MLA performance reports, interviews, candidate and constituency profiles that was welcomed by all readers. We have also continually reported on how many of our local government's claims, from fixing potholes to solving the garbage…

Hello. Effective June 2013, Citizen Matters gets a new look and also a new engine and wheels underneath the stuff you see, read, and contribute to! We’ve made a number of changes. If you are wondering about this, read further. Otherwise, just continue using the site, nothing to worry. Most important changes A more spaced-out design. You can now login to CM using you Google, Facebook or LinkedIn social media accounts. We hope this make it easier for you to share articles, pictures, comments, discussions with your fellow citizens of Bangalore. The site will load faster than before and can…

BBMP Commissioner Rajneesh Goel is a smart man. To back up his ultimatum forcing apartments to do wet waste processing within, he brought up an unknown pollution control rule.Goel pointed out recently that builders of big apartments are already bound to set up waste processing facilities. Apparently the state's pollution watchdog, KSCPB, had made a rule in 2006 stating that installation of these facilities be made a condition to issuing Occupancy Certificates. This he says is reason enough for BBMP to stop collecting waste from apartments which do not have converters or compost pits! It is another matter that neither…

How many of you remembered your teachers from your school or college days this teacher’s day? If you are in your 30s or even your 40s, it can be said with some certainty that most of them will still be teaching, most likely in the same school and definitely for a salary that is only marginally higher than it was in your student days. Teaching is often considered an ‘easy’ profession. What with long summer holidays, Dasara and Christmas vacations and ‘good work timings.’ It is also considered an ideal profession for women, since they can be back when their…

Jayanagar based N Mukund, Joint Secretary of Citizens Action Forum, sent us a hard hitting letter on the city’s garbage mess. This year, BBMP has raised the garbage cess it is collecting as part of property tax. It came a day before the latest nightmare at the Mavallipura landfill, which was about to unfold. Mukund is challenging BBMP to explain what it has done with the garbage cess collected with the property tax last year and questions the body’s decision to raise the cess this year.  “As citizens, we wish to know how the steps taken by BBMP for the…

Independence Day is coming up and it’s a good time to reflect on the word itself. Let's take a look at how the word plays out in public life in our own city and state. Karnataka's Lokayukta position opened up over a year ago and the state government has still not filled the position. Such is the fear of an independent Lokayukta, after Justice Santosh Hegde indicted official after official. Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force's head IPS officer Rajvir Sharma, responding to citizen complaints on illegal buildings, threatened prosecution against over a 100 BBMP engineers. BMTF's legal mandate allows it this…

Fifty percent of us are women. And there is a Women's Day, yes. Yet, there are scores of stories about the struggles, achievements, journeys, and worries of women in our cities. We cannot cram all these into a paper just on Women's Day. So for our part at Citizen Matters, as the city's premier newsmagazine, we simply decided to dedicate this issue on the theme. And we found plenty to report to you.Many of us may not pay attention to women related topics, unless we spend a conscience-pricked hour in front of Satyameva Jayate. But much of society’s attitude is…

On June 28th, the city council met for its monthly session to approve the budget. Turns out the proceedings had nothing to show the city was getting financially healthy again. Read our detailed report here.Last year, BBMP had projected over Rs 9000 crores of expenditure largely predicated on state government grants, it never eventually received. It ended up collecting a mere Rs 3934 crores. This year again the council has projected nearly Rs 9500 crores with the same gaping hole in projecting receipts. It is pretty clear to anyone closely observing the local government process in Bangalore that both the…

It has been two weeks since the June 5th deadline to remove sun films from cars. The urgency to evade fine has died down. The garages don’t have long queues anymore. They did make a lot of money though. On the last day, one of the garages in Bommanahalli made Rs 15,000 rupees, just by removing films. Albeit the owner of the garage was not pleased. ‘It is a lot of work for Rs 300/- per car madam’ he said.Has there been a lull in crimes, especially against women, post the removal of sun films? After all that was the…