Governance

In India, thousands of men and women are affected by sexual violence every year. In 2014, a report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund revealed that 77 percent of young girls between 15 and 19 years of age were affected by rape, forced sexual intercourse, and physical abuse by partners. In Bengaluru alone, there has been an alarming increase in the number of cases of child sexual assault.  DURGA (Dare to Understand behaviour, Respond appropriately and Guard ourselves Ably) is a unique citizen’s initiative to help young women and girls harness important life skills to deter crime. By creating…

At the public hearing conducted by Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on February 6th, several civic groups objected to BESCOM's proposed hike for electricity tariff for the financial year 2016. BESCOM had earlier filed an application proposing a tariff hike of 80 paisa per unit across all consumer categories. B.PAC represented by TV Mohandas Pai, Vice President, Dr Hari Parameshwar, Head of Regulatory affairs and Revathy Ashok, CEO and Managing Trustee, and Aam Aadmi Party - Karnataka (AAP), represented by Ravi Krishna Reddy and Shanthala Damle, submitted their objections to KERC. Eliminate cross-subsidy variation; government should bear cost for farmers:…

After close to four years of doing Mallathahalli to Bellandur in Bengaluru, and enduring much travails with BMTC’s 500K, my commute changed, for the worse. The workplace shifted to Mahadevapura and there was a whole new paradigm of traffic jams and pile-ups to deal with. I put my money on the bus route 333T, a Volvo service which runs from the BDA complex in Nagarabhavi to ITPL, cutting through the heart of the city, via Okalipuram, Majestic, Old Airport Road and then Marathahalli Bridge. I would get down at the bridge and hitch my way towards Mahadevapura in the perennial…

This post is my vent on the rotten experience we LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) consumers, in Bangalore, had to face due to Center’s decision of deciding to transfer our LPG subsidy to our bank accounts directly. This meant that our Aadhar number had to be linked to the LPG account and to the bank. Here, I have to mention this to Mr Nilekani: whatever might have been the noble intentions behind the Aadhar card, it was not done properly. We spent a lot of our precious time to get the card done, when it was introduced. We had to make…

The BBMP Council in its monthly Council meeting on January 28, 2015, passed several resolutions renaming / giving new names to the parks, roads, lakes etc in the city. The BBMP projects sanctioned in order to repair or maintain these public properties will hitherto have these names. Here is the list of old names and new names: List of public place New names Park at Ward No. 168,Jayanagar 4th Black , 7th Main Road Brindavana Park Kaigondaralli Lake in Ward No. 150 Swamy Vivekananda Parisara Dhama Road stretching from 8th Main Road to Veerabhadreshwara Theatre Shakthi Ganapathi Nagar, Ward No.…

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) passed a resolution in its Council meeting on Wednesday, January 28th, 2015, demanding that the State government extend the term of the Council for six more months, if at all the Karnataka government has plans to postpone the BBMP election. BJP Councillor Padmanabha Reddy moved a private resolution in the Council expressing his displeasure over the state government trying to postpone the BBMP polls citing Palike restructuring as the reason. "The term of the present Council ends on April 22nd, 2015. As per the 74th amendment to the Constitution, election should be held to…

Like many private layouts in the rapidly urbanising outskirts, Classic Orchards is a quiet residential community, with large independent houses. In 2010, the residents of Classic Orchards woke up one day to see the construction of an apartment complex on a piece of land they thought was a common amenity for the layout. If you are a resident of a private layout, this story will matter to you. Battles between property developers and property buyers are not uncommon. In a city like Bengaluru, where there are multiple government agencies involved in handling building approvals, one is often not sure if…

Bengaluru-based Citizen Action Forum (CAF) has suspected a possible delay of BBMP election due to Palike restructuring process, and said it should be opposed. Addressing media persons here on Thursday, January 23rd, 2015, CAF Secretary Mahalakshmi Parthasarathy said that the Forum fears that the State government would use restructuring as an excuse to delay the election. "The BBMP election has to happen in time. Inordinate delay would only hamper the process of forming functional Metropolitan Planning Council and ward committees. The government issued an order on November 19, 2014, mentioning that the restructuring committee report has to be submitted within…

  Despite several measures taken, as claimed by the Chief Electoral Officer - Karnataka, to avoid errors in the electoral rolls, it seems the attempts have not yielded in a foolproof result. Like every year, there are glaring errors found in the final electoral roll published on CEO-KA website in the first week of this month, and the error pattern is almost repetition of the previous years. Complaints, suggestions and requests by various forums and active citizens for the improved electoral rolls, perhaps, seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Though BBMP election is only a few months away, it…

Google search gives about 8,17,000 results for a ghar wapsi (home coming or re-conversion of religion). Member of Parliament Sakshi Maharaj says, ” [it] is no conversion but just a process to guide these people to the faith where they actually belong.” Budhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity and many other religions all grew by converting believers of other religions. Conversions from these religions would then be ghar wapsi. However, adding fuel to fire, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP, Asaduddin Owaisi, told in a public speech that every person is born a Muslim and later converted to other faiths. Thus…