Governance

A cardinal principle in administration and policy making is that one should never introduce a rule or law that cannot be enforced. The dangers are manifold -- those who flout the rule get away with impunity, and the rest of the citizenry gets the message that laws mean nothing, they need not be obeyed. Take the BBMP's latest decisions for ‘cleaning up' the mess that the city has become.Residents whose dogs mess up the pavements and public places, are now warned that they will be fined and penalised. Walk with me a short distance -- less than 300 metres --…

On October 13th, a National Law School of India University (NLSIU) student was gang raped in the adjoining Bangalore University campus near Nagarbhavi.By now we all know enough details about the student to construct an image of who she might be. Her age, her boyfriend's name, age, his job profile, that he owned a car, where they both are from, insinuations towards their intimacy levels, whether she got into trouble with hostel authorities earlier for ‘this' kind of behaviour. All this information was culled out in the name of journalism and served as news reports.By now it is almost rhetorical…

Election Commission of India's (ECI) letter dated 12 April 2012 to Karnataka's Chief Election Officer asks him to conduct a survey of Knowledge, Attitude, Behavior, Belief, and Practices (KABBP) of electors, with the help of professional agencies. The letter shows concern about low registration and poor participation of citizens in the election process. A report on the findings of the survey was to have been submitted to ECI latest by 31 August 2012.The concern of ECI about KABBP is welcome. Anthony Downs in an essay named Economic Theory of Democracy, published in 1957 discusses the forces that play in voting.…

Election is the mechanism to form a government by the people. Every person ruled by such government should have participated in the elections to make it truly a government by the people.Under Article 326 of the constitution, every Indian citizen above the age 18 years can register as a voter. We do not discriminate based on sex, race and religion. However, only the citizens whose names appear in the electoral roll have the right to vote. Citizen casting his vote. Pic: Sankar C G Election Commission of India states that about 61 percent of the population would be above 18.…

BBMP has booted out a senior forest officer, on the ground that he was too expensive - the expense being an additional Rs 5 lakh per year. Brijesh Kumar, IFS, was deputed by state government to BBMP, to take care of lakes, horticulture and forests, since these resources are in a sorry state. Government had created the post of CCF (Chief Conservator of Forests) in BBMP, and appointed Kumar on May 17th.On October 17th, just as he completed five months, Kumar was relieved of his charge. BBMP's Standing Committee on Establishment and Administrative Reforms had made this decision in August.…

Many of us have been discussing the garbage issue and these are some of the comments.I live along a street near the Jayanagar shopping complex that has mainly commercial outlets. I have been segregating wet waste for years, I am interested in lending a hand with keeping the city clean, but once I segregate, where do I go ? ‘Door to door' collection is a farce -- no one knows when the garbage collection van comes, at what time, and whether it announces its arrival with a bell or whatever. I also leave the house early, and do not return…

Rajvir Pratap Sharma, head of BMTF (Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force), has been in the news recently for taking on the state government. While Sharma acted in accordance to BMTF's powers, against BBMP officers who permitted unauthorised constructions, the state government had tried to transfer him. Government first tried to bring BMTF under BBMP, then there were the BBMP officers who went on strike asking for Sharma's removal. Finally, Sharma was accused of constructing an illegal building, and government ordered his transfer based on this, in August. Sharma challenged the order in CAT (Central Administrative Tribunal), and won. CAT rapped the…

Assembly elections are going to be held in May 2013. Parties are beginning to announce their candidates for various constituencies. Each constituency’s report card will start showing up, with ‘progress’ of various kinds highlighted. Bangalore has 28 assembly constituencies, each MLA will flaunt his or her scorecard.But what is topmost on Bangalorean voters’ mind? Garbage is raising stink for last three months, Cauvery is the bone of contention again, even as phase II, stage IV, shows signs of  materialising and traffic woes still top all discussions about the city.  What are our ministers in-charge saying and doing about these issues?…

Lok Satta party announced two of its candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in a press conference on October 4th. Shanthala Damle and Dr Meenakshi Bharath are the two candidates, who will contest from Basavanagudi and Malleswaram constituencies respectively. The party also invited members from the general public who are interested in contesting elections under Lok Satta ticket.Dr Meenakshi has contested as Lok Satta candidate in the 2010 BBMP ward elections. She is currently the Bangalore district President of the party. A practising gynaecologist, she is also active in the civic initiatives Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT) and Citizens…

BBMP has created an Action Plan on waste management for the next 1.5 years. It will submit the plan in High Court in a hearing on November 6th. HC has been hearing two PILs that are asking for BBMP to dispose of solid waste properly. Two parties - an Indiranagar resident named Kavitha Shankar, and an advocate G R Mohan - had filed separate cases in HC. The two cases have clubbed together by the Court. In these cases, last month the court had directed BBMP to collect segregated waste, to put realistic penalties on citizens who do not segregate…