Governance

Note: This website will soon be migrated to a new system.  If you face any issues, do mail us. You can also reach us through Twitter or Facebook! Bengaluru This Week Get our free weekly newsletter. Name Email Bengaluru This Week archives. Karnataka Election Watch (KEW) today announced the launch of a smart phone app for citizens of Karnataka called KEW CRAMAT (Karnataka Election Watch -Citizens' Reporting and Mapping Tool). This app can be installed free of cost on any android based smart phone by downloading it from Internet. This the first time it is being used in India or perhaps…

The recent trend of flowering trees blooming simultaneously has experts worried, though not panicked. Yet, this unnatural phenomenon is just one of the many warning signs that should be heeded. With its severe water shortage, rampant building activity, axing of beautiful, healthy trees and pollution of water bodies, Bangalore could be facing a disastrous situation. If this is not reversed, it could have severe repercussions.Whitefield is one example of how irrational and unscientific construction activity has severely affected the area. The sudden spurt in building activity began about 10 years ago despite no improvement or change in the water supply…

In part-I, I argued that our planners, politicians and administrators put Bengaluru's development on steroids over the last 10 years, the way farmers sometimes do for agriculture, only to find that the soil dies later.I also argued that we have built a Bengaluru in the form of a giant shining saucer that is suspended at 10,000 feet above the real land of this city. There is one single pipe holding up the saucer and through this pipe, water, services, resources and low-income jobs are sucked through to the fast-paced life above. The pipe though is now bursting at the seams,…

In the run up to elections in Karnataka, a nationally telecast TV news programme last weekend focussed on the massive deterioration of civic life in Bengaluru. On display was the breakdown of garbage management, water supply, rise of the contractor and tanker mafia and the link to politicians, the state's political parties becoming personality-led factions and in all, a capital city and the silicon valley of India hopelessly caught in a disastrous spiral. Citizen Matters was interviewed for the telecast as well. It ended though with a hopeful note that when voters have a chance to reverse things. (Headlines Today,…

For LATEST FAQ on 2014 Elections, click here. To know the procedure for online voter registration, click here. The Election Commission has announced a special summary revision of photo electoral rolls. This will help enrol first time voters, voters whose names are not in the rolls, voters who have shifted residences and already enrolled voters who need to correct their details. All citizens who will be 18 years or above, as on January 1st 2013, are eligible. [This article, published in Dec 2012 has been updated 4 Apr 2013]  How to check your name on the voter roll How to…

It is that time of year when we have to pay the property tax for the current year. There are two different types - White (Form IV) in bilingual, and Blue (Form V) For the properties, where there is no change in any field - either in category (residential / non-residential), dimensions (any addition / deletion to the structure) or usage (tenanted / self-occupied) one has to use the white form (Form.IV). Unlike previous years, the Form IV has already reached all the help centres this time. Pic: Shreyas B K The block period for this term came to an…

With the expected implementation of new Ward Committee Bye-laws/Rules drafted by the BBMP, the citizens can now question the ward committees on litter or garbage in their ward. The best part is, they can even move court if the complaints to the ward committee or the corporator do not solve the problem. Councillors had debated on whether BBMP should form Bengaluru-level ‘Bye-laws’ or state-level ‘Rules’, for ward committees. File Pic. The draft of the Byelaws/Rules for Ward Committees has been sent to the state government for approval. The final push for the formation of ward committees had come as a…

The Lok Satta party headed by Jayaprakash Narayan is flexing its muscles in Bangalore as the state gets ready for elections in May. The party has named 15 candidates for MLA elections in the state, including a second list that was released on March 27th. Nine are contesting in Bangalore city itself, and the rest from other parts of Karnataka. Lok Satta has a reformist positioning in the Indian political sphere. It supports clean governance, setting up of a strong Lokpal, liberalising agriculture, closing of populist subsidies, FDI in retail, and so forth. Jayaprakash Narayan. Pic: Loksattaparty.org Jayaprakash Narayan, 57,…

Dear Friends and fellow Bangaloreans,Elections to our Assembly has been announced and it is time to bring in change. Mohandas Pai. File pic: Wikimedia commons. Every Bangalorean above the age of 18 would need to register, get his or her voter card and vote to create the Bangalore of our dreams. B.PAC and SmartVote have been running a campaign online, within company offices and campuses, college campuses and other places to get voter to register. Our volunteers are going all out to get 1 million new voters to register!The difficulties have been many. The EC-Karnataka has an antiquated IT portal…

Earlier this month, I sent the following letter to the The Chief Justice of Karnataka regarding storm water drains, an issue that I have tried to take up with the concerned government authorities without much success. Remarks that the High Court (HC) of Karnataka made on storm water drains prompted me to write this.The Chief JusticeHigh Court of KarnatakaBangalore 560001 March 13, 2013KIND ATTN: The Honourable Judges of Karnataka High CourtSubject: STORM WATER DRAINS (SWD's) IN BANGALORE CITYI understand from the newspapers that the Honourable Court is seized with a matter concerning storm water drains in the city and has…