Governance

With the onset of IT&BT industry, women work in night shifts. It is the responsibility of the firm to provide office transportation to such employees. Pic: Akshatha M When the sexual assault incident on a woman BPO employee came to light a few days ago, a general opinion prevailed all over. Police as well as public believed that the unfortunate incident would have been avoided, had the BPO company she was working for provided her official transportation facility to reach home safe. There are rules in place which mandate providing transportation to women who work after 8 pm. However, the…

Women corporators have outnumbered men in the new BBMP council. Pic: Akshatha M “As a teacher, I have always practised discipline, cleanliness and hygiene. This does not satisfy me enough, I want to render my service across Bengaluru. Hold the vision, trust the process.” These were the words of an aspiring corporator candidate who filled our Candidate Survey form, before BBMP elections. A B A-Tch graduate, she appeared to be a confident and strong woman in the candidate information form. The form was quite impressively filled. Now she has won the election and is a corporator. With a hope to…

A few rickshaw drivers in the auto stand on Mohankumar Nagar Main Road point towards a shelter for homeless children in Pampa Nagar, when asked where the night shelter in Yeshwanthpur is. No one in the locality of Mohankumar Nagar seems to know that there is a night shelter for the homeless in their area. This is not without reason. After asking around and finally spotting 3rd cross road on Google maps, we manage to find a nondescript building that has ‘16, 3rd cross, Mohankumar Nagar’ written on it, but there is no mention of it being a shelter for…

For Bengalureans, who were getting soaked in frequent evening showers during last fortnight, unbridled load shedding came as a shocker. Load shedding that began with two hours of power cut everyday, was revised to four hours. Load shedding has been withdrawn as of now and people are yet again enjoying non-stop power supply, but the apprehension continues to loom large. Long time residents of Bengaluru felt that it was almost after a 5-6 years they were facing such an inordinate power cut in the city. Normally, monsoon season, that is, June to September, is considered as pressure-free period due to…

A Bill drafted by the Karnataka government on functioning of elite clubs in the State has received severe criticism from the Club office-bearers and members. The government notified the Karnataka Entry into Public Places (Removal of Restriction on Dress and Regulation of Membership and Fee) Bill, 2015, on September 3rd, calling for objections and suggestions. Of all the aspects in the Bill, two points have drawn the attention of many. 1)  The Bill mandates the recreation clubs and trusts to sanction membership to MLAs and MLCs. It also makes it mandatory to give membership to ex-servicemen, people with meritorious contribution…

Bangalore Development Authority Headquarters (courtesy: BDA) A large scam emerged in the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) with finance members investing money in equity mutual funds and trying to cover this up across different organisations. There were mysterious arrests of ex-BDA officials and a BDA cashier, alleging their involvement in the multi-crore scam. What is it all about? Whose money went where? The money was allegedly invested in mutual funds, which is recoverable. Why is this still called a scam? Here's some insight. Apparently, Sandeep Dash, former finance head of the BDA and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) was a…

Garbage dumped on a streetside, due to the lack of secondary storage. Pic: Kathyayini Chamraj I think Bengaluru was better off when it had garbage bins at the corner of roads. At least people would throw garbage in the bins. But now, all of Bengaluru is littered with garbage. In every area, there are two or three spots where garbage is thrown by people, on the road or in front of someone else's home. So why has the Swachh Bengaluru campaign failed?  Because BBMP collection guys demand money to collect garbage from house to house. No proper timings intimated to…

Amidst speculation over the alliance in Mayoral election, the Congress and JD(S) have successfully entered into coalition to come to power in the BBMP. Third time Congress Corporator B N Manjunath Reddy from Madivala ward was elected as the Bengaluru Mayor and JDS’s first time corporator S P Hemalatha from Vrishabhavathi ward was elected as  the Deputy Mayor, on Friday. In the election that was conducted at BBMP Council hall amidst tight police security, Regional Commissioner M V Jayanthi declared Manjunath Reddy as the elected Mayor. Of the 260 councillors including elected corporators, MLAs, MLCs and MPs, 131 members voted…