Z-Blogs

It's always a tug-of-war on the second Sunday of every month. I have learnt a lot on the Lalbagh walks, but since I am generally committed to the 3rd and 4th Sunday walks, I do like to go to other birding spots with my friends. Well, on the 13th of January, the tug was decided by the fact that the Asian Waterfowl Census, or AWC ) is on, and we could contribute data and pretend to be very scientific, while following the experts around and getting to see a lot of birds! So off we went to Hoskote kere, after…

This article was written by Nagesh Bharadwaj, Secretary of Federation Of Associations of Basapura (FAB) and an active resident of Concorde Midway City Apartments. FAB is an apex body for various apartment associations and RWAs in Basapura of Ward 192. Bruhat Banguluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has 198 wards. One of them is Ward 192 — Begur ward. Each ward is supposed to have Ward Committee (WC) meetings. The Chairman of the WC is the Corporator and the Secretary is the Assistant Engineer (AE) of the ward. The WC has other members including some reserved for the citizens. The WC is…

Those of you who have travelled by train from Chennai Central towards Arakkonam would have noticed a natural waterway which runs parallel to the railway track (northern side) between Vyasarpadi and Perambur Railway Stations. This canal is adjacent to a man made storm water drain and both discharge the flood waters into the Buckingham Canal during the monsoon.     Over the recent past we have noticed debris and garbage being dumped into this canal in bit and pieces. The property along the railway tracks belongs to the Indian Railways. Migrant workers have set up temporary shelters near the Vyasarpadi Railway…

A delegation of representatives from various civic and environmental groups in the city met the Member Secretary of State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) at the MS Building earlier today and cautioned the SEIAA that the elevated corridor project violates several provisions of the law and reposed trust that the state environmental agency will act in public and environmental interest and stand up to political pressure. The letter submitted by the collective brings the following to the notice of SEIAA The elevated corridor project violates the KTCP (Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act) and hence cannot be reviewed by SEIAA…

As the year draws to a close, I can’t resist recollecting the valiant efforts put in by CfB volunteers this year. Your passion and sustained selfless efforts helped make our city a little better. Our work is hard and results are not easy to come by and yet you stuck around, spending enormous time and energy that you could have used for many other things. I’m sure your friends and family think you are a gone case when you disappear for meetings on a Wednesday or send post cards like a maniac! But they do understand and appreciate what you…

Bannerghatta Road is already a mess, as one-third of the road is blocked for the work on the Metro. There is no transparency on how long the work will take, and no timeline for completion, though a vague time of 2020 AD has been given. Meanwhile, residences and hospitals as well as malls and offices bear the brunt of the noise, often unbearable at night. Pedestrians, who were finding the road hard enough to cross after the grade separation, are now finding it impossible to do so. No thought has been given to the hapless people-who-walk; they fight for their…

As a CfB Volunteer/Coordinator, the ward committees and ward committee meeting sounded as a buzz word time and again, but I was neither part of the discussions or events around that, nor knew exactly what it means. It all started for me when a CfB meeting was announced with the Mayor Gangamibike Mallikarjun at the BBMP office on the 2nd Anniversary of #SteelFlyoverBeda. The inquisitor in me made me go to the BBMP office in Hudson Circle for the first time on a working Wednesday to meet the Mayor. As we were ushered in to her office, we did a…

The Gandhian era fought for Swaraj (self rule) and since most of India was villages it may be coined as Grama Swaraj. By the sustained struggles and contributions of our forefathers Gram Sabha is functional. But now its time for us to look toward Nagara Swaraj or Nagar Sabha. A key to achieve Nagar Sabha is the 74th Constitutional Amendment. In 2018, it is the Silver Jubilee Celebration for the Act but nothing significant is seen on the ground. Well, the Constitution mandates for the Ward Committees!!! In Bengaluru, 16th November 2018 is a watershed moment; the BBMP Commissioner issued…

Bengaluru division of Social Venture Partnerships is organising a focused one-day event to leverage the learnings of some civic innovators, RWA's, associations, federations, large campuses and other stakeholders in the field of waste management. Experts in the space of SWM and resource support will also participate. Titled 'Wastex', this event will showcase civic innovations and cross-pollinate learnings and experiences from multiple stakeholders. The event is to be held at The Environment Management and Policy Research Institute, EMPRI at JP Nagar on December 1st from 9 am to 2:30 pm. Focused on civic innovation, Wastex aims to bring together the best civic innovators and showcase their work…

For years together, people talked about the 'demographic dividend'. Thanks to high fertility ratios in the past, a large number of young people would be entering the workforce, and we as yet don't have a very large aged population, so the ratio of workers to non-workers would be favourable. It would boost economic activity and taxes, and allow us to make investments in many public goods and services. This was not a bad picture to paint. But it had one important assumption - namely, that the young people entering the workforce would be skilled and productive. But we totally missed…