Governance

Citizens participating in an Aadhaar enrolment drive. File pic. Aadhaar card, though has been challenged in various courts, is still considered as an important identity card by many. The queues in Aadhaar enrolment centres are a testimony to this. Aadhaar card is not mandatory, according to Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI). Now that the Supreme Court has given an interim order banning making Aadhaar compulsory to avail government subsidies, the demand for Aadhaar card should go down - but that’s not the case. All subsidies, including LPG subsidy, are meant to be for poor people. Interestingly, LPG subsidy is…

A press note released on November 10 said that intensive verification of ration cards has begun in Bangalore, which will soon be extended to the other cities, districts and taluks in the State. Commissioner for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Harsh Gupta said in the press note that in view of the large number of complaints received from the public on the alleged bogus ration cards and misuse of ration by the Fair Price Shops, the Department has taken this initiative. How is verification carried out? Gupta said that the Department, which has 42 Food Inspectors in the Bangalore Informal Rationing…

Here’s one of the reasons why Bengaluru's administrator BBMP has a severe fund-crunch. Every year BBMP budget expects crores of rupees to be collected as advertising revenue. But, the actual amount collected by the BMBP is way below expectations. Budget estimates for 2012-13 predicted that the advertising department could bring in Rs. 45 crore, but the actual revenue collected from registered hoardings was only Rs.22 crore - thereby causing a deficit of 23 crores. BBMP advertising department manager Lakshmi M has the reason: “Many advertisers who fail to pay their taxes or renew their license are considered as illegal advertisers.…

Online voter roll registrations in Beengaluru were closed for sometime, on September 26, 2013. Those who logged in to the Karnataka Election Commission website received a message, saying that the voter registration will reopen after the publishing of the draft electoral roll. Now it is that time of the cycle when the draft rolls will be out soon and registrations will re-open. Karnataka Chief Election Officer Anil Kumar Jha talks about the Election Commission's plans, in an interview with Citizen Matters. Voters registration was suppossed to be open from August 10 till November 11, 2013. Why did it close now?…

Problems in Bengaluru • There is no leadership of the city. Most of the important public services are in the hands of the State government, which is more concerned with its State-level priorities than with the city’s. Mayors serve short, uneventful terms. • There is hardly any planning. BDA does no more than zoning of areas for different uses, and even this is very poorly enforced. Other agencies plan-as-they-go, without any reference to a regional or city-level perspective. There is no commonality of jurisdiction among agencies, either. • The legal steps (outlined in the 74th Constitution Amendment Act, 1992) to…

Only six states of the country have Legislative Councils in addition to Legislative Assemblies. Karnataka is one among them. Assembly and Council together form the legislature. MLCs have almost equal authorities, opportunities and responsibilities as MLAs. There have been several prominent ministers from the Council. Common man does not vote in legislative council elections. Legislative Councils have separate electoral rolls and constituencies different from Assembly Elections. 75 seats in legislative council of Karnataka are divided as: Teachers constituency - 7 Graduate constituency - 7 Nominated by Governor - 11 Elected by MLAs - 25 Local Authorities constituency - 25 Teachers'…

Police atrocities can be questioned once the Police Complaint Authority is completely functional. File pic. The Police Complaint Authority (PCA) that existed only on papers for the past three years has now finally been formed. However, it doesn’t have punitive powers - it can only recommend action after an inquiry. The State Police Complaint Authority has started functioning in Karnataka from September 2, 2013.Retired high court judge Justice M P Chinnappa has been appointed as the chairman of the state Police Complaint Authority. The members are retired additional chief secretary Abhay Prakash, IGP- Grievances Alok Kumar and IGP- KSRP Malini…

Over 68 lakh people out of total 96 lakh have already enrolled for Aadhaar card in Bengaluru. Most are waiting for the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme to roll out, and for the LPG subsidy to come to the bank accounts mapped. While everyone was under the impression that Aadhaar card is mandatory for all government subsidies and services, a Supreme Court interim order issued on September 23, 2013, ruled that Aadhaar card cannot be made mandatory, it has to be voluntary. Retired justice Puttaswamy, the man behind the PIL filed in Supreme Court against UIDAI. Pic: Bosky Khanna Justice Puttaswamy,…

Did you know that there are committees in BBMP to decide the budgeting and requirements related to various issues of Bengaluru’s governance? These committees came into existence after the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Amendment Bill - 2010 was approved. A gazette notification by Karnataka government dated July 30, 2010 mandated that the BBMP should have 12 standing committees to cover various aspects of city governance. Each has a clearly defined role and responsibility. Standing Committee for Taxation and Finance: This deals with all matters relating to finance and taxation and all other matters not specifically assigned to any other standing committee.…

  October 13, 2012. A student of National Law School of India University (NLSIU) was abducted and raped by an eight-member gang inside the Jnanabharathi campus of Bangalore University, adjacent to NLSIU, when she was with a male friend. She bade goodbye to Bengaluru after the incident and returned to her hometown. She is not the only one - there are hundreds of cases of violence on women that go unreported for various reasons. Such mindless violence can be countered with intelligent precaution and sufficient safety measures. What if the victim had some sort of alarming or alerting system handy,…