Economy

Alamelu works in one of the flats in a nearby apartment complex. After returning to her home in Swatantrapalya, she prepares incense sticks. Pics: Shree D N Sitting on the floor in her two-room house in Ragigudda EWS quarters, Rajeshwari N, a domestic worker and mother of two, says that she hopes to leave the locality within next two-three years. She has borrowed over Rs 2 lakh to pay the Slum Board for house allotment and to pay off her relatives who wanted to stake claim to the house. Rajeshwari has been living in the area–which was Ragigudda slum earlier–for…

The price charged by the retailers in KSRTC bus stations are different from what is printed as MRP. Pic: Shree D N The retailers in almost all the bus stops operated by Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) charge upto 25% more than the Maximum Retail Price for the consumers. The shop keepers demand the excess charges and deny the customers goods on MRP, quoting additional charges for cooling, electricity and bribes.  Even a Rs 10 chocolate or a biscuit packet is charged above MRP. Most customers have resigned to the fact that the cooling charges on soft drinks are…

The National Research Conference on Human Trafficking is being jointly organised by Christ University and International Justice Mission (IJM) under the aegis of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC), on September 14th and 15th.    Date: September 14th, 9 am to 4.45 pm, September 15th, 9 am to 5.30 pm  Venue: Room 911, Central Block, Christ University More info: Ritu Biswas - 96208 23163 Sangeetha George - 96117 41488 humane@conference.christuniversity.in  The Conference will bring together experts and stakeholders to share their experience, research and analysis from across India to enable a deeper understanding of the approaches needed to address the…

Nandini curd and milk packets bought on the same day. Both show different dates, with no clarity on whether it is use-by date or date of manufacture. Pic: Shree DN Milk has benign associations – of innocence, goodness and wholesomeness, unlike other (invigorating) drinks. But Nandini milk, marketed by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF which boasts of being one of the largest in south India) is calling those images of wholesomeness into question with tactics that flout statutory guidelines. KMF issues clarification, agrees to put 'Use By' on stamping Additional Director, Quality Control Division, KMF, has issued the following clarification…

  Caregivers, housekeepers, maids, nannies, cooks or domestic help - call them by any name, domestic workers in the country are still in the fringes. Why, one may ask? The phrase ‘domestic work’ conjures images of household work associated domesticity – the one of cleaning and caring, and hence relationships that exist within this frame remain in the shadows. There has always been a gendered stigma attached to domestic work especially in India, and the work is always viewed through the lens of power and authority, submission and suppression Of memsahib, her maid and India’s colonial past “This can be…

The Bruhat Bangalore Beedhi Vyaapaari Sanghatanegala Okkoota is (Federation of Street Vendor Unions of Bangalore) is calling for a protest rally and a bundh on street vending on Monday, June 15th. The protest march is scheduled for 10 am from City railway station to Freedom Park. Thousands of vendors are expected to participate from all eight zones of BBMP. This come in the light of the spate of evictions of street vendors by Bangalore’s police (Law and Order and Traffic) and BBMP officials. While the UPA-2  has brought in the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihoods and Regulation of Street Vending)…

Pic: Roopa Kulkarni After eating at a restaurant in Gandhi Bazar with his friends, Raghavendra (name changed), a resident of Basavanagudi, kept two currencies of Rs 500 denomination with the bill. The waiter who collected it returned red-faced and blamed Raghavendra as the notes were fake. “I somehow managed to use my debit card, pay the bill and sneak out of the restaurant,” says an embarrassed Raghavendra. Later Raghavendra dropped into Vijaya Bank ATM in Gandhi Bazar with his ATM slip, where he had withdrawn money the previous night. He was sure the forged notes came from this ATM. Without…

There are things about Bengaluru that are easy to agree on: The weather is wonderful, the food is fantastic, and the people are omnipresent. But for foreigners living the Garden City, the pleasantries of this south Indian city can come with a price. S2immigration, an organisation that helps visitors to India with resident permits, visa extension etc, estimates that there are 10,000 professional expats working in Bengaluru. Its booming IT sector, academic opportunities, and expanding economy has drawn people from around the world. According to expats, Bengaluru takes the cake for being the city with the most to offer. Danielle…

A butcher at the Murphy Town market showing off his skill with a cleaver. Pic: Pavan Kulkarni Murphy Town market, along with Johnson market and Russell market, may be officially declared as heritage structures in the near future. Professor Gitanjali Rao, the director of Art, Architecture, Design Environment Consultants (AEDI), a Hubli-based organisation designated by the Archaeology Department with the task of preparing a list of heritage structures in Bengaluru, has confirmed to Citizen Matters that Murphy town market is one of the 800+ entries in their initial inventory of heritage structures in Bengaluru. However, operating under tight time constraints,…

Revathi Anne Jagan buys only organic—from pulses, rice, oils to fruits, vegetables, dry fruits and nuts to snacks and fruit juice for her children. She used to go to 12 Degrees Organic in Banaswadi, but now she has switched to Organicz4u on Assaye Road that opened just a few months ago. The new store is more conveniently located, and what's more, on the route to her children's school. Not that the Banaswadi store lacks patrons. Revathi's neighbour Smitha K goes there still. Smitha too buys everything organic, including organic milk. Because just like Revathi, she too believes that the additional…