Governance

Sometimes it is good to step back a few paces, to get a better view and perspective. So it was, that earlier this week I accessed the online editions of the city’s papers while travelling out of the country and got a stark perspective that hit harder than when I see the same cityscape in person. Under the lead items on June 20th, there was a video strip showing pictures taken around the city. One was of the homeless, huddled along a pavement, and another was of a swanky flyover with vehicles whooshing along a curve. The contrast between the…

At the busy Sarakki junction, early morning traffic jams come with an additional problem - garbage piled up by the informal market set up by vendors. The vehicles coming from JP Road, Kanakapura, Banashankari go through this junction.This informal market has been operational at this junction for thirty years now. It is set up every morning at around 6am and is shut down by around 9am. It has survived despite the fact that Sarakki has two other designated market areas. Garbage piled up in Sarakki junction. Pic: Sankar C G When the vendors wind up for the day, they leave…

Residents Welfare Association of Padmanabha Nagar, under the aegis of Abhyudaya, arranged a platform for citizens to interact with Mayor  D Venkatesh Murthy and Deputy Mayor L Sreenivas at Carmel School, Banashankari, on June 2. Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy and Deputy mayor L Sreenivas, with residents of Padmanabha Nagar. Pic: Sankar C G BBMP corporators H Suresh (Kumaraswamy Layout), A H Basavaraju (Banashankari Temple ward), V R Sharma- President Abhyudaya, N S Mukunda- Secretary Abhyudaya, V V Ramakrishna-Joint Secretary Abhyudaya and activist N S Ramakantha were also present.Abhyudaya wanted to congratulate the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor on being elected…

In this year’s graduate constituency MLC election for Karnataka, the three mainstream parties BJP, Congress and JD(S) won the first, second and third places respectively. The surprise result was that of Andhra Pradesh-based Lok Satta party, which came fourth.Legislative council elections use the preferential voting system, by which voters can rank candidates in their order of preference. Initially first-preference votes for each candidate - wherein they were ranked ‘1’ - are counted. Then candidates with the least first preference votes are removed one by one, and the second preference votes marked by their voters are transferred to the respective candidates.…

Chikkanna, aged 40, a traditional handloom weaver from Chowdeshwari Nagar, Kanakapura road has decided to quit weaving after things turned worse due to debt and poverty. Three years ago when profits from his handloom died down, he took a loan to purchase a powerloom. The loan came at 12 percent interest. But he failed to repay the loan due to high interest, increasing power costs and day to day expenses. A Handloom weaver from Sarakki. Pic: Sankar C G Using a powerloom, one can make one or two saree per day. But the cost of one power loom is one…

On 8th May, BBMP issued a notice meant as a final warning to unlicensed health units to obtain trade licenses. But this was not the first time; BBMP had issued the notice thrice before - first on 5th December 2010, second in February 2011 and the third in June 2011.Despite these notices, 937 health units out of a 2648 hospitals surveyed by BBMP were unregistered as of March 2012. Early morning at 6, the bi-medical waste collectors-Maridi at work. Pic Abhishek Angad The notice makes it mandatory for health units to have an up-to-date receipt of tax payment, an authorisation…

On 3rd June, Sunday afternoon two people pretending to be BESCOM officials talked R Nagarajan and his wife Swarnalatha, residents of  BTM second stage, into buying fake CFL bulbs. R Nagarajan and his wife Swarnalatha. Pic: Abhishek Angad According to Nagarajan, one of the posers identified himself as a Junior Engineer, Srinivas. The poser then convinced Nagarajan that BESCOM was distributing CFL lamps to senior citizens to use in place of the regular incandescent bulbs. Fake CFL bulbs. Pic: Abhishek Angad Nagarajan says, “they gave us 12 lamps for free and another 12 for the cost of Rs 2400, which…

Four-term veteran Ramachandra Gowda, 74, won the graduates constituency MLC seat for Bangalore by a whisker. At the end of the first preference votes count, he was trailing the JD(S) candidate Deve Gowda. He then managed to edge past him when second preference votes we transferred from other candidates. Ramachandra Gowda (BJP). Pic: Ramachandra Gowda Ramachandra Gowda, the  incumbent, secured 8468 votes to Deve Gowda’s 8224, and Congress’ Ramoji Gowda, 39, was placed third with 5541 votes. Reformist Lok Satta party candidate Ashwin Mahesh, 42, came fourth. However his showing of 4000-plus first preference votes  has been widely seen in…

This year, I haven't seen the pre-monsoon rains that almost start by March. The monsoon is delayed and so far there has not been any good rains except maybe a couple of times. No matter how much we conserve, the water crisis is of grim proportions. We don't have Cauvery water yet, not that it is of great solace because we all know how irregular that supply is even in areas that have them. And, now BWSSB have literally left the people high and dry by suspending supply for 3 straight days in the coming week. In a thirsty and…

Names missing from the voters' list, confusion over booths allocated - it was deja vu for voters at the Graduate Constituency MLC election on Sunday. Although only 28% i.e. 30,800 off the 1,10,000 people registered showed up, voting was not smooth for many of them. In the previous MLC election, 20,000 voted out of the 70,000 graduates registered. MLA N A Haris with a voter trying to sort out the latter’s grievance. Pic: Sankar C G In many places, people faced difficulty in finding out their respective booths, as the website which carries the details of the voters list and…