Governance

In a few day’s time the city’s bustle will have a different flavour. The Election Commission will announce the poll dates for the Lok Sabha Elections, parties will announce their candidates, buntings will line the streets of Bengaluru. The cronies will put up photoshopped posters with mug shots of themselves with their favourite candidate. It is that time when the citizenry become aware of the forthcoming elections and subconsciously make a choice, to vote or not to vote, both groups convincing the other about the merits of their choice. I belong to the former group and have evolved from going…

I was deeply moved by the Carlton fire tragedy and I strongly feel that such deaths could have been avoided. The following simple innovative suggestions are for serious consideration and implementation so that lives of people can be saved: Make fireproof ropes available near windows: In all hi-rise buildings, glass boxes containing 100 to 300 feet of sturdy, fireproof rope (thickness of two to three inches), duly knotted at every two meters of length, must be kept ready.  One end of the rope must be secured to a steel hook embedded to the masonry structure.  In case of fire or…

Over 750 Resident Welfare Associations representing more than ten lakh Bangalore citizens under the platform of Namma Bengaluru Foundation and Bengaluru Residents Association Confederation Ensemble (BRACE) launched a protest against government’s failure to address citizens' concerns about massive corruption in Bangalore and the nexus of corrupt builders and some politicians that is destroying Bengaluru. The campaign that’s a result of the lackadaisical approach by the government despite the repeated pleas over a year now by the forum of BRACE will see a city wide signature campaign demanding the government for a Corruption free city that does not cater to mafias and…

Appendix-3.7 (Reference: Paragraph 3.16, Page-116) Details of donations made by BDA during 2009-12 Sl. No. Recipient of the donation Amount donated (` in lakh) Date of payment Purpose for which donation given 2009-10 1. Mahabodhi Society, Bangalore 5.00 25 April 2009 Celebrating 2553rd Buddha Jayanthi 2. Karnataka Olympic Association 1.50 12 May 2009 Awareness to donate human organs in an accident 3. Vidyarthi Shikshana Seva Trust 2.00 15 May 2009 Sponsorship of Techno fair 4. Bangalore Nagara Zilla Kannada Sahitya Parishath 2.00 14 July 2009 Contribution for 5th Bangalore Nagara Zilla Kannada Sahitya Parishath 5. VHD Central Institute of Home…

The audit report by Comptroller Auditor General of India for the year ending March 2013 reveals that Bangalore Development Authority, which lacks funds for the development works it is supposed to undertake, donated Rs.10.19 crore for various purposes, including Chief Minister’s relief fund and flood relief fund by a TV channel. An amount of Rs. 2 crore each was donated to Chief Ministers’ Relief fund and Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, while the Institute of Nephro Urology and Karnataka Chalana Chitra Academy for Rs 1 crore each. Similarly Rs 5 to 10 lakh was donated to many institutions under…

Personal Info | Assets & Liabilities | Positions Held | Performance | Local Issues | MPLAD Funds | Controversy Count   Ananth Kumar is a five-time Lok Sabha MP who represents the Bangalore South constituency. The constituency comprises of Govindraj Nagar, Vijay Nagar, Chickpet, Padmanabha Nagar, Bommanahalli, Basavanagudi, BTM Layout and Jayanagar assembly constituencies. In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, Kumar defeated Krishna Byregowda (INC), a sitting MLA for Byatarayanapura, by a margin of over 37,000 votes. In the past, when the NDA regime was in power, Kumar was a Union Cabinet Minister serving multiple ministries including Civil Aviation, Urban…

The High Court on Wednesday, February 19th, 2014, disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (WP 3676/2008) filed by Citizen Action Forum (CAF) and a few other civic groups in Bengaluru, that challenged the Draft Revised Master Plan (RMP) - 2015, prepared by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), that allowed commercial use of residential areas, through a land use category called "mixed residential." A division bench comprising Chief Justice DH Waghela and Justice BV Nagarathna issued a direction to the State government to amend the land use change rules of the BDA's Revised Master Plan to allow only the ancillary use…

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBBMP) on February 17th 2014 presented a Budget of Rs 7773.08 crore for 2014-15. However, there are not many new projects, while the emphasis is made on paying pending bills and continuing spill over works. Debt-ridden cash-strapped BBMP had come under fire in last July for presenting an imaginative Budget of Rs 8498 crore. Out of the expected Rs 8445,26 crore, BBMP could collect only Rs 3208.95 crore. This reduced the estimated expenditure for 2013-14 to Rs 3236.15 crore, and the pending payments and announced works in the last Budget spilled over to the 2014-15 Budget.…

Bangalore Political Action Committeee (BPAC) conducted a Google Hangout panel discussion on the budget, on February 14th, 2013. The panelists included BPAC President Kiran M Shaw, Vice-president TV Mohandas Pai, social entrepreneur Ashwin Mahesh and urbanist V Ravichandar. The debate was moderated by Revathy Ashok of BPAC. Mohandas Pai said though in terms of growth the average of the state is better than the national average, he wants to see a large vision in the budget to develop the entire region and industries in terms of infrastructure. He said he wasn't happy with the 7.2 % growth in service economy,…