Governance

Balraj J applied for the birth certificate of his daughter in April 2013, but he had to wait for more than 90 days before he could get it. He needed the birth certificate urgently, in order to apply for the Bhagyalakshmi Scheme (launched by the government to promote birth of girl child in Below Poverty Line families.) He says, "My daughter was born in Avhieta Hospital, Hennur Bagalur Main Road. But, we were not guided regarding the process of applying for a Birth Certificate in the hospital. When I approached the concerned department at the BBMP office in Kothanur, I…

Changing name on the electricity bill is easy. Pic: Shree D N I am a resident of Belathur in Kadugodi(Whitefield) area. Being a new apartment buyer, I started looking for getting things done, such as Electricity name change, Khata registration and others. I was surprised when the builder offered to get the name change in electricity metres done by paying bribe, without me having to visit any government office—he demanded Rs 2,000! I thought of understanding what the actual process is, and what are the fees involved, and tried to do it on my own. To my surprise, after a…

Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) wrote to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi congratulating his party for winning 100 seats with 40% of votes in the recently concluded BBMP elections.  In the letter, B.PAC has urged the BJP corporators, who may soon take the oath of office, to take another oath publicly, "Na Khaoonga, Na Khane Dunga", following the public assurance given to the citizens of India by the Prime Minister.  This will ensure that elected BJP corporators give a public commitment to assure corruption-free governance during their term in their office, and focus on delivering transparent and citizen-centric governance at…

It is less than a week since Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the BBMP election. It was a bit of a puzzle to many when Indian National Congress (INC) leaders announced that they were ready to sit in opposition. Anyway BJP has “won” the election. Is there any choice for INC other than sitting in opposition? Of course yes. INC has an option. And it comes from the nature of the council, and the number of seats BJP got this time, which have not actually given a full majority as far as the Council is concerned. BBMP Council is not…

Public transport service is likely to be affected in Bengaluru on September 2nd, in the wake of the strike called by the public transportation sector. KSRTC buses and autorickshaws will remain off road from 6 am to 6 pm on September 2nd. The nation-wide strike is called by Central trade unions urging the government to fulfill their various demands. The four public transportation companies in Karnataka- Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) and North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), have extended support to the bandh to place…

BBMP elections are over, but Mayoral elections are still pending. While many corporators are holed up in resorts and Congress and JDS seem to have struck an alliance, the BBMP Commissioner and regional district commissioner are preparing for mayoral elections. Here is the full list of voters eligible to vote in mayoral elections, and will play an important role on which party will get the mayor's post in Bengaluru. The list has been prepared by the BBMP Commissioner. It includes the names of nominated MLCs, though at this point, it is not clear whether can be included or not in…

Collage: Akshatha M Former mayor Shantha Kumari N, who owned five properties in 2011, is now the owner of 15 houses and sites. L Srinivas who has been re-elected as the corporator from Kumaraswamy Layout, had a total asset of Rs 13.37 crore way back in 2011. Now value of his assets is Rs 29.13 crore. Quite a growth in four years! Voters of Bengaluru have re-elected 34 ex-corporators this time. A comparison of the declared assets of these 34 re-elected corporators shows that the assets of most of the corporators have increased in last five years. Citizen Matters did…

  I recently discovered this site and it was a pleasure to find a forum to engage with fellow residents of Bengaluru city. While I am not a Kannadiga, or indeed a localite, I have been in Bengaluru (on and off) for a total of about 11 years now. I woke up this morning to several news items, across India, about the horrendous behavior of men. Eve-teasing... what not...? It got me thinking... Isn't Bengaluru too a victim of this? I have never understood why (predominantly) Indian men, do not seem to understand the difference between staring, letching, ogling and…

Namma Bengaluru Foundation and the Bengaluru Residents Associations Confederation Ensemble (BRACE) congratulates all the corporators elected to the BBMP. Bengalureans have reposed immense faith in corporators across party lines to reshape the future of our city. Bengaluru is already one of the fastest growing metropolises in India, and will become one of the largest and most populous cities by 2025. Scams, financial irregularities, corruption, bankruptcy etc have plagued BBMP in the last five years. Despite this, Bengalureans came out to elect their corporators. This is a testimony to Bengalureans unwavering faith in the political process, and an opportunity for the…