Governance

Information is an asset. Before the Right To Information (RTI) Act enacted in 2005, information was limited and often, important public data remained within the access of a select few only. The state of affairs in India has changed undoubtedly after the RTI act, with citizens filing petitions, but there is still a lack of awareness that has limited its adoption. Even now, many civic activists follow the conventional procedure of visiting the government offices for information, when it could be done through a simple application.  There are others who complain that getting the relevant information from a government department through…

As the NDA government’s flagship program, Smart Cities Mission completes three years, the New Delhi-based policy think tank, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN), has released a new report titled India’s Smart Cities Mission: Smart for Whom? Cities for Whom? This report comes as a sequel to HLRN’s earlier report on the Smart Cities Mission released last year, which provided a comprehensive review of the first 60 selected Smart City proposals. This updated report provides major findings of the research team’s analysis of Smart City proposals from 99 cities, highlights important developments, raises human rights concerns related to the Mission…

Manjunatha Prasad re-posted as BBMP Commissioner: He was removed from his position in May by the Election Commission and was awaiting a transfer ever since, but he was unexpectedly given the job back on June 28, 2018. The government transferred M Maheshwara Rao who was holding the position, to the position of Secretary in the Department of Agriculture, additionally managing Horticulture and Sericulture. Source: The Deccan Herald BMRCL revises six-coach train route:  Based on a pattern of commuting identified by BMRCL, certain revisions in timing and routes have been made for the six-coach train. The six-coach train for Purple Line…

On May 15, 2015 a complaint was lodged with the Consumer Redressal Forum by a buyer of an Apartment in an upscale Apartment Complex in West Bengaluru. The complaint cited violation by the builder of one particular rule relating to the Apartment handover. On May 10, 2018, The Bangalore Urban II Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum passed a landmark Order against the reputed Builder, in favour of the Complainant. An engineer/market researcher by profession, Arathi Manay Yajaman was one of the 350 plus trusting home buyers in the complex. But she was also different – a person keenly interested…

Lokpal and Lokayukta Acts were introduced by the Congress in 2013 and received the President’s nod to become law in 2014. The Act made it mandatory for states to set up a Lokayukta within one year of constitution of the Lokpal at the centre. However, Tamil Nadu (TN) and Jammu & Kashmir, are the only states which have not even constituted the Lokayukta yet through the passage of the Lokayukta Act, way past the one-year deadline. In 2015 the High Court pulled up the TN state government in response to a PIL for not setting up the Lokayukta. At that…

Even as the leaden, monsoon skies are darkening over an overgrown metro, many might be surprised to learn that Bengaluru was added to the ‘Smart City’ list on June, 2017. It has become the seventh city from Karnataka to get into the Smart City list. It bemuses many, because the 'honour' and implication is still not very well-known to everyone. A year after the city has become part of the list, there is still delay in implementation. Why? It is a big project, after all, says AR Ravi, Joint Director (Planning), Urban Development Department (UDD). Just the planning and the…

Clad in dark blue uniforms, a group of seven school children, all aged above 12 years, restlessly jostle for space in an auto rickshaw on Velachery Main Road near Tambaram. While three children sit on the side bars of the auto, two of them sit next to the driver, holding on for dear life to the already crowded seat. Heavy school bags and lunch boxes are also stuffed in the same vehicle. This scene is not uncommon during school hours on our busy city roads. The risk to life and limb that these children face every day is either unknown…

“My landlord asked me to vacate the house I had rented, on two days notice, as he was unhappy that I had a friend visiting me. I was blindsided at having to leave with my belongings at such short notice. I stayed at a friend’s house till I was able to find another place”, says Aditya (name changed), a researcher at a think-tank in Chennai. This scenario might sound all too familiar to those living in rented homes in the city. Aggrieved tenants can be seen taking to the various Facebook groups dedicated to finding rental homes, to seek opinions…

A two-year-old boy, with a critical kidney problem, was battling for life. Surrounded by tearful parents and relatives, the boy was on ventilator support and the medical technician was injecting him with emergency medication. Time: 6.40pm. Date: May 15, 2018. Venue: Inside the 108 ambulance on Mount Road. When citizens don't care Neither the worried faces of the ambulance crew nor its piercing long sirens had moved motorists to make way for the emergency service vehicle on the busy Mount Road on 15 May. The pilot of the ambulance, Chandru J, switched to the short, pulse-like siren that is used…

Govindaa hari Govindaa.. Munirathna Naidu Govindaa! A video clip starts playing on the mobile. The middle-aged man watching it bursts into laughter. An imitation version of the popular chant that is chanted by people climbing up the Tirupati Hills in Andhra Pradesh has been used to project the misdeeds of Munirathna Naidu, a contestant from Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency in Bengaluru. The constituency had been perceived as sensitive by the Election Commission, and the voting was postponed to May 28, instead of May 15. The political material that lands up on WhatsApp like this is entertaining and opinionated, and makes people form…