Governance

The first year of BJP administration in the state has been marked by lack of democratic process and increased corruption and violence, according to a report by DAKSH, an independant civil society group. The report assesses the overall functioning of Karnataka state government from June 2008 to November 2009.  The detailed master report was released in January 2010 while the summary report was available a month earlier. The report was compiled from data obtained through RTI applications, annual reports of government departments, newspapers and reports by various national agencies and NGOs. Daksh 2009 Review of the Karnataka Govt. The Daksh…

Kempe Gowda ward. Chowdeshwari ward. Atturu. Yelahanka Satellite town. Jakkur. Thanisandra. Byatarayanapura. Kodigehalli. Vidyaranyapura. Dodda Bommasandra. Kuvempu Nagar.If you reside in any of these wards, it is likely that you have either been visited or will soon be, by officials seeking information about your property. These are officials of a not-for-profit organisation called My Bhumi, who are carrying out a 'property survey' on behalf of the BBMP, for Wards 1 to 11 in North Bangalore.“Many people are not paying tax, that's why we are doing this. We will feed this into the computer. We will get name of owner, type…

WARD 178 - Sarakki, JP Nagar 6th Phase, LIC Quarters.North: By Sarakki Main Road 9th Cross.East: By 13th Main, 13th Cross, 8th A Main Road,Outer Ring Road, 12th Main Road.South: By 17th A Cross, 15th Main 18th Cross, 17thCross, Cross Road(Existing WardBoundary),22nd Main, Existing WardBoundary, Cross Road,Source: bbmpwards.infoWhen Citizen Matters approached the residents of Sarakki (Ward 178), they echoed concerns about garbage clearance, regulating traffic, encroachments on footpaths, and the condition of roads.Mahesh A R and M S Ramesh who run businesses on Sarakki main road, hoped that the authorities would take note of the traffic congestion in this area,…

City elections may not happen on February 21st. On January 28th the Supreme Court directed the Karnataka state government to follow the ruling of the Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka of December 8th. In that ruling, the High Court had asked the government to re-do the ward reservations list for Bengaluru in line with the 2001 census data for the Bangalore municipal area. With the ward reservation list quashed, the BBMP council elections are likely to not take place as scheduled. Pic: Vaishnavi Vittal The State Election Commission (SEC) today told Citizen Matters that they have written…

Recently, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and his band of Ministers, R Ashoka, Katta Subramanya Naidu and S Suresh Kumar, laid the foundation stone for a housing complex in JP Nagar. The housing complex will come up where a low income neighbourhood (slum) now exists with over 1000 houses. For now, around 100 houses have been razed and the families shifted nearby, in tin sheds.Speaking to these residents, they complained about the water problem, lack of toilet facilities, families of five were living in a cramped space, the tin sheds scratched them, they were sleeping on mud floors. Many refused…

With BBMP elections slated to be held next month, there's still time for you to enrol yourself to vote, if you haven't done it yet. The last date for registering is January 29th 2010, ten days before the last date for filing nominations. Click here for more details. Also click here for a list of VFCs in Bangalore.You can also search for your name on the electoral list here.If you do not have an Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), you can produce a ration card, driving license or passport at the time of voting. The State Election Commission website now…

“You always need an occasion. We need something to ignite”, says Major P Kapur, a resident of Bangalore South's Koramangala area. Major Kapur is referring to the coming together of citizens of Koramangala to form what is called the Koramangala United Citizens Council or the KUCC. This federation has been set up to take up common causes of all the eight Koramangala blocks, Jakkasandra extension, ST Bed layout and Nirgun Mandir area. “There are common areas of concern for the whole area like water, roads, drainage. We can tackle them together”, says Major Kapur, who is the convenor of KUCC.…

A few weeks ago, we, the residents of Brigade Millennium apartments in JP Nagar were alarmed to notice red markings on the external walls of the Millennium Avenue. These were the indications of the now familiar road widening plans of BBMP. On further investigation, we uncovered a notification (Notification No EE/MR[SE]/PR/04/09-10 dated 3-8-09, Road widening Bommanahalli Zone) of which we were previously unaware. Marking like this are found all along Millennium Avenue Brigade Millennium is a unique campus, the first of its kind, which was formed by BDA. It was developed by Brigade Enterprises Ltd as a group housing scheme,…

Early last week, I heard of the consultation with children and other stakeholders to frame guidelines on play spaces in Bangalore's parks that BBMP had approached Kilikili to help develop. I was glad that this event included kids but expected adults to hog the limelight. So, it was a pleasant surprise to see that the latter, namely, Kavita Ratna and Roshni Nuggehalli from the Concerned for Working Children, Prarthana Unkalkar of iVolunteer Bengaluru, Usha Bala from the Association of People with Disability, Kavitha Krishnamoorthy and Kanika Mittal of Kilikili, Joy Srinivasan from Makkala Jagriti, Amrutha, a consultant for children with autistim and other…

In every election, it has become standard to observe that the quality of our political leadership and governance is suffering because the educated, urban middle class does not turn up to vote. Now that we have another election before us - the BBMP Council- it may be worth asking, why is this, and how can this be changed?First, some clarification. While the overall voting percentage numbers certainly bear out the apathy of the middle class, there is still a section of this group that does turn out vote, in election after election.The more pertinent question, therefore, may be: "why do…