Governance

On Monday, October 21st, Maharashtra will be voting to elect the members to its Legislative Assembly. Take a look at the profiles of candidates in the fray in the four key constituencies of Colaba, Mumbadevi, Malabar Hill and Worli. Constituency: Colaba Incumbent MLA: Raj Purohit, BJP Name, Education, Profession Party Assets Pending court case rating* Agenda Rahul Narwekar, LLB, Advocate Bharatiya Janata Party 34.85 crore 3 Did not share Ashok Jagtap, B.Sc., Trade Union Leader & Businessman Indian National Congress 21.08 crore 4 Did not share Arjun Rukhe, SSC, Service Bahujan Samaj Party 50,000 None To provide justice to the…

On Monday, October 21st, Maharashtra will be voting to elect the members to its Legislative Assembly. Take a look at the profiles of candidates in the fray in the four key constituencies of Colaba, Mumbadevi, Malabar Hill and Worli. Constituency: Colaba Incumbent MLA: Raj Purohit, BJP Name, Education, Profession Party Assets Pending court case rating* Agenda Rahul Narwekar, LLB, Advocate Bharatiya Janata Party 34.85 crore 3 Did not share Ashok Jagtap, B.Sc., Trade Union Leader & Businessman Indian National Congress 21.08 crore 4 Did not share Arjun Rukhe, SSC, Service Bahujan Samaj Party 50,000 None To provide justice to the…

On Monday, October 21st, Maharashtra will be voting to elect the members to its Legislative Assembly. Take a look at the profiles of candidates in the fray in the four key constituencies of Borivali, Dahisar, Magathane and Mulund. Constituency: Borivali Incumbent MLA: Vinod Tawde, BJP Name, Education, Profession Party Assets Pending court case rating * Agenda Rajesh Mallah, SSC, Labourer BSP 20.01 thousand 15 Did not share Sunil Rane, B.Com, Secretary BJP 1.7 crore None Did not share Kumar Khilare, B.A. Business Indian National Congress 31.45 lakh None Did not share Dhirubhai Gohil, 7th standard, embroidery work Sardar Vallabhai Patel…

On Monday, October 21st, Maharashtra will be voting to elect the members to its Legislative Assembly. Take a look at the profiles of candidates in the fray in the four key constituencies of Borivali, Dahisar, Magathane and Mulund. Constituency: Borivali Incumbent MLA: Vinod Tawde, BJP Name, Education, Profession Party Assets Pending court case rating * Agenda Rajesh Mallah, SSC, Labourer BSP 20.01 thousand 15 Did not share Sunil Rane, B.Com, Secretary BJP 1.7 crore None Did not share Kumar Khilare, B.A. Business Indian National Congress 31.45 lakh None Did not share Dhirubhai Gohil, 7th standard, embroidery work Sardar Vallabhai Patel…

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the Smart Cities Mission in 2015, which aims to execute ‘smart solutions’ that help develop cities in a people-friendly, sustainable way. Chennai Smart City Limited (CSCL) is the local arm of this initiative. It is also the organisation behind the upcoming pedestrian plaza at T-Nagar and other key projects. Below are excerpts from a chat with its CEO, Raj Cherubal. What is your vision of a Smart Chennai? The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has the concept of a liveability index, which basically focuses on improving the quality of life. Electronics,…

Today, the BBMP Council elected M Gowtham Kumar as Bengaluru's new Mayor. Kumar, the BJP corporator from Jogupalya ward, replaces Gangambike Mallikarjun of the Congress. Here is a look at Gangambike's accomplishments, and the causes she had taken up in her tenure as Mayor. Pushing for ward committee meetings: In BBMP Council’s monthly session in November 2018, Gangambike announced that ward committee meetings should mandatorily be held in all 198 wards on the first Saturday of each month, starting immediately. Her announcement came after the city’s civic activists ran several campaigns for the cause over the years. Ward committee meetings…

This year, thousands of Bengalureans could not vote in the Lok Sabha election since their names went missing from the electoral rolls mysteriously. Among them were people who had voted in the assembly elections just last year. Thousands of applications for new enrolment also lay unprocessed for months before the election, which prevented many others from voting. Those who couldn't vote took to social media to voice their anger, and some even went to the High Court. The problem of voters missing from electoral rolls was reported from other cities too. From September 1st to October 15th, Election Commission of…

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon that saw the launch of  a new political party in Bengaluru. Now, in an already overcrowded political spectrum, this should not be news. Yet the launch of Bengaluru Navanirmana Party (BNP) has some unique facets to it, that should get us to sit up and take notice. For one, it is possibly the first of its kind 'city' party. Launched with the specific idea of starting its political journey with the 2020 BBMP elections, BNP has no ambitions beyond Bengaluru, and none of its founders are politicians. They are just regular citizens, many of…

As the eighth woman to become Bengaluru's Mayor, Gangambike Mallikarjun has had an eventful tenure since she took charge in September 2018. She prioritised ward committee meetings much to the pleasure of those who had been fighting for it for years, weathered the political turmoil at Vidhana Soudha, and even sheepishly coughed up fines (twice) for using plastic bags. With less than a week left for her to step down from office, she sat down for a chat with Citizens' Live, to talk about all she could accomplish in her tenure and couldn't accomplish. Her major achievement that made headlines,…

In a bid to regularise the posts of 4000 pourakarmikas in the city, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) called for online applications in a circular dated 27th August. There are 18,000 pourakarmikas in the city who have been receiving their salaries under the direct payment system since January 2018, and the state government had earlier promised to regularise all of them. The pourakarmikas therefore are frustrated that only 4000 workers may be regularised instead of all 18,000. In this context, the BBMP Pourakarmikara Sangha, affiliated with the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), organised a protest on…