Governance

Citizens of Mahadevapura and East zones, including Bellandur and Whitefield area are up in arms against the system that surrounds them. They pay taxes every year, but the infrastructure around them is broken. They have to fight with the system everyday for everything: good roads, clean water, garbage disposal, pollution, traffic problems and more. There is a good amount of citizen activism in the area where there is a presence of well-educated people employed in various corporates. However, the issues don’t get sorted as quickly as they should. This brings us to the question: how did a part of the…

Ward offices say they don't have the addresses of the voters, which poses a problem when there is a need to print the voter id card once again. File pic. Being a responsible citizen who has not missed a voting opportunity in the last 20+ years, I was horrified to discover recently that my voter id was missing – did I leave it in the bank while opening an account six months ago, or was it in one of the photocopying shops, or was it at the mobile phone outlet…? I went back to all places where I had used…

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner G Kumar Naik has warned the politicians and political parties to adhere to the model code of conduct, in the BBMP election background. He directed the election officers to act against any violation of code of conduct, including erection of flex boards and banners and meetings by elected representatives. Organisers of any political programmes and campaigns must take prior permission and adhere to the rules, barring which the officials must take strict action, he added. Total voters Number of wards - 198 Polling stations - 6,733 Male voters - 37,68,498 Female voters - 34,10,388…

A meeting conducted on June 26, 2015, between the government and the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) decided that the government will help the telecom service providers get a “speedy clearance” for laying Optical Fibre Cables (OFCs). According to this meeting, the applications received were to be cleared within 15 days by the Chief Engineer, BBMP (OFC), who will also have to provide security to the digging staff through police, if requested. There will be no criminal charges or penalties levied on telecom companies, for the damages if any, if restored within 96 hours of a notice. There is no mention…

CIVIC, a non-governmental organisation in Bengaluru has registered its concerns regarding new garbage tenders published in June 2015 by the BBMP. Here is the summary of the letter sent by CIVIC to the BBMP Administrator T M Vijayabhaskar. Overall concerns 1.     Outsourcing of garbage disposal to contractors needs to be discontinued and contract PKs regularised CIVIC feels that outsourcing of garbage disposal by BBMP to contractors should be discontinued as garbage disposal is a “core” and “perennial” activity of BBMP which cannot be outsourced as per the Contract Labour (Abolition & Regulation) Act. CIVIC suggests that the current contract workers…

Pic courtesy: Wikimedia Commons Bengaluru-based Centre for Internet and Society has participated in the Expert Committee for DNA Profiling constituted by the Department of Biotechnology in 2012 for the purpose of deliberating on and finalising the draft Human DNA Profiling Bill and appreciates this opportunity. CIS respectively dissents from the January 2015 draft of the Bill. Based on the final draft of the Human DNA Profiling Bill that was circulated on the 13th of January 2015 by the committee, the Centre for Internet and Society is issuing this note of dissent on the following grounds: The Centre for Internet and…

Dhanya M, an HR Consultant, had stopped at Empire Restaurant in Frazer Town to pick up food. As she made her way through the crowd, a man ‘accidentally’ touched her breasts. When Dhanya questioned him, the man feigned ignorance. His friend too joined in to defend him, while the crowd merely stood by. The excuse the friend gave was this: “Please forgive him. He is drunk!” After a five minute argument, where sentences like, “Being drunk is no excuse to molest”, and “What if he did this to your sister?” were uttered, the two men apologised and left. Though Dhanya…

  Like it or not, most of either dread or experience discomfort at the thought of a visit to the police station. But what if you find yourself in a situation where you have to visit one to register that all important document - the FIR? Vigilance Director, and former DG/IGP of Karnataka, M D Singh answers our queries on the same. What is an FIR? The information about a cognizable offence given by a complainant and recorded in a prescribed format by the police is called a First Information Report (FIR). Under Indian law offences are divided into cognizable…

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ನಗರಪಾಲಿಕೆ ಚುನಾವಣೆಯ ಸುತ್ತಮುತ್ತ ಹಬ್ಬಿದ್ದ ಅನಿಶ್ಚಿತತೆ ಕೊನೆಗೊಂಡಿದೆ, ಬಿಬಿಎಂಪಿ ಚುನಾವಣೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಮುಂದಿದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಓದುಗರಾದ ನೀವು ಈ ಚುನಾವಣಾ ಪೂರ್ವ ಸಮೀಕ್ಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಬೇಕೆಂಬುದು ನಮ್ಮ ಬಯಕೆ. ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವಿಕೆ, ನೀವು ಪಾಲಿಕೆ ಮಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಡಳಿತವು ಯಾವರೀತಿ ನಡೆದಿದೆ ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಂಡಿರುವಿರಿ ಎನ್ನುವುದನ್ನು ನಮಗೆ ಅರ್ಥ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಸಹಕರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದರೊಂದಿಗೆ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಇತ್ತೀಚಿನ ಕಾರ್ಪೊರೇಟರ್ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನಾಗರಿಕ ವರದಿ ತಯಾರಿಸಲು ನಮಗೆ ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡುತ್ತದೆ. * ಕಳೆದ ಚುನಾವಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಗೆದ್ದವರು ಯಾರೆಂದು ನೋಡಲು ನಿಮಗೆ ಈ ಲಿಂಕ್ ಸಹಾಯಮಾಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಇದನ್ನು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಯುವ ಸಾಫ್ಟ್‌ವೇರ್ ಪರಿಣತರಲ್ಲೋರ್ವ ತೇಜೇಶ್ ಜಿ ಎನ್ ತಯಾರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. * ನೀವು ಈ ಸಮೀಕ್ಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಲು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಜಿ ಮೈಲ್ ಅಕೌಂಟ್ ನಿಂದ ಲಾಗ್ ಇನ್ ಆಗಬೇಕು. * ನೀವು ಈ ಸಮೀಕ್ಷೆಯ ಫಾರ್ಮನ್ನು ಒಮ್ಮೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ತುಂಬಬಹುದು. * ಫಾರ್ಮ್ ಕೆಳಗೆ ಕಾಣಿಸದಿದ್ದರೆ ಈ ಲಿಂಕ್ ನ್ನು ಒತ್ತಿ. ಸಮೀಕ್ಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿ; ನಮ್ಮ…

Public hearing on restructuring, held at Mahadevapura zonal office. From left: V Ravichandar, BS Patil, Siddaiah. Pic: Meera K As a member of the BBMP Restructuring Committee, it’s been an exhilarating exercise engaging with city stakeholders, researching, evaluating options and finally putting out the report. And though this was a Monday morning release (wisely so, given the interest in Baahubali), one got a sense of what a movie producer, director feels after the baby is out in public! There have been bouquets and brickbats. Firstly, thank you for the compliments and it was heartening to note that even the staunchest…