Governance

The city and municipal corporation civic workers who were on an indefinite strike demanding for regularisation of contract workers and payment of salaries, called off their protest on the second day. The BBMP Guttige Pourakarmikara Sangha, along with Karnataka Rajya Nagarapalike, Nagarasabhe, Purasabhe Pourakarmikara Mahasangha and the Safaikaramchari Kavalu Samiti had staged an indefinite strike starting June 12th, 2017. The strike was called off on June 13th , after the Minister for Social Welfare and Backward Classes Welfare H Anjaneya and Minister for Municipalities and Local Bodies Department and Public Enterprises Ishwar Khandre, along with Bengaluru Mayor Padmavathi G, assured…

Remember the plans to divide BBMP into five different city corporations? A committee formed by the Karnataka State government had proposed dividing BBMP into five smaller  corporations and redraw the zones. This was meant to facilitate better administration. The city corporation has not been divided yet, but the Karnataka government has now geared up to implement the other proposal of redesigning the zones. In a notification issued on June 12th, the Urban Development Department has officially divided Bengaluru into 10 zones, from the existing eight zones. The notification says the decision to reclassify zones has been taken to give good…

Your 28 Bengaluru MLAs, the winners Find your candidate Who is standing for elections from your area, their profiles and what residents think. Bangalore South * Basavanagudi Bommanahalli * BTM Layout * Byatrayanapura * Chickpet * Jayanagar * K R Puram * Mahadevapura * Mahalakshmi Layout * Malleshwaram * Pulikeshi Nagar * Rajaji Nagar * Sarvagnanagar Shantinagar Shivaji Nagar Yeshwanthpur Interviews Krishna Byregowda D Venkatesh Murthy: BBMP should be split Yogaiah V C: From RWA to MLA Candidate Michael Fernandes: I will keep working for people Sridhar Pabbisetty: knows policy, can he practice? DR M R V Prasad:Want to cure…

BANGALORE SOUTH » Report on debate between Bangalore South candidates, organised by Smart Vote and News9 » Comparison chart of candidates at myneta.info Ananth Kumar - BJP Four terms as an MP. Served as a Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Tourism and Culture, Youth Affairs and Urban Development. Age: 50 years; Assets: Rs. 122.06 Lakhs; Criminal Record: None since 2004 Citizen Matters' interview of Ananth Kumar Click here for detailed profile. Capt Gopinath - Independent With an MBA and degrees from the NDA Captain has working life that includes 8 yrs service in the Indian Army, 17 years in Farming…

25 years after the 74th Constitutional Amendment (Nagarapalika Act) prescribed effective citizen participation through ward committees, to bring in accountability of the local councillor to the community, an opportunity is at last being given to citizens to get into ward committees.  Till now, if at all the ward committees were constituted; councillors were themselves nominating the individual members and registered associations who would sit on ward committees.  It was not surprising that the ward committees used to be filled with the councillors’ own party-men and cronies, defeating the purpose of the ward committees. The two seats for registered associations used…

Being a Public Policy student from Mount Carmel College and currently working as an intern in Co Media Lab, I got an assignment of talking to a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), to understand how MLAs manage their expenses. I chose to talk to Priya Krishna, the MLA from Govindrajanagar constituency. He has been holding this position since 2009, re-elected in 2013 elections. I assumed that an MLA, being a public figure, needs to give an appointment to meet him. Last week of April went in vain, as I was trying to reach Priya Krishna's Personal Assistant (PA), one Mr.…

Finally, the first phase of Bengaluru Metro is going to be fully functional on June 18th 2017, with the inauguration of final leg running from Swastik station to Yelachenahalli to be done on June 17th, by the President of India. That’s a major relief for many people, including me! I'm a new entrant to the Metro User Club, and a skeptic-turned-admirer. It all started with me waiting in the bus stop in front of Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic College, for a BMTC bus to take me to Kempegowda Bus Station, and not seeing a single bus for 10 minutes. Spending more than…

In the recently undertaken Swacch Survekshan 2017, a cleanliness ranking of cities published by the Ministry of Urban Development of the Government of India, Chennai’s ranking plummeted from 37 in 2016 to 235! Corporation officials have explained this saying that the “independent observation” was done a few days after Cyclone Vardah, which is why there has been a dip in the rankings. However, even if Chennai had scored the same on all parameters as in 2016, our rank would have been 120 for 2017, after Srikakulam (Rank 119, Marks 1198). Moreover, independent observation had a weight of only 25% in the…

Chennai has had an inordinately long wait for the local body elections this year. Even while the dates are yet to be announced, citizens have woken up to the need of engaging themselves in the process in a proactive manner, ensuring that the people select the right candidates, elect them and hold them accountable so as to have a truly representative and participatory democracy. A group of citizens residing in Zone 13 of the Corporation, covering Wards 170 to 182, have come together under a single umbrella to create an urban ward manifesto, and create interface systems between the ward…

Water flooded through an open footpath near Shivananda Circle, during the rain that lashed the city in May 3rd week. Pic: Shree D N The heavy rains that lashed Bengaluru in last two weeks caused havoc in the city. The flooded homes, waterlogged streets, uprooted trees, deaths, only reflected the unpreparedness of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to handle the rains. The rain on May 14th claimed the lives of two due to a wall collapse in Johnson Market. The following week, heavy rains flooded several areas including three slum pockets in Bommanahalli. Roads in Hosakerehalli were flooded due to…