Uncategorized

  Bengaluru this week February 4th 2016     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     We have lots in store for you this week! No more gas cylinders? GAIL’s plans for Bengaluru will get piped gas to your kitchen as they plan to connect the entire city, over the next few years. Do check out two important campaigns that you can easily get involved in - Green Spot Challenge and My City My Budget. We also have the first article in our series on Disappearing Professions. All this and more. This week’s highlight: GAIL…

  Bengaluru this week January 28th 2016     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     This week, we present to you several stories that will make you think about the time we spend on the road - What is the toll that bad roads take on the economy? Should Bengaluru adopt the odd-even policy? Does the city really need dedicated lanes for cyclists? How a new railway track to Tirupathi could possibly decongest traffic on Old Madras Road. We also invite you to collaborate with us to document Bengaluru for a new series. This…

  Bengaluru this week January 21st 2016     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     Can you imagine if it was possible to take a train for your commute within Bengaluru? For starters, it would be cheaper, it would decongest the roads, and you’d possibly get to where you wanted much quicker. This may become a possibility if you extend your support to the Namma Railu campaign. In this edition, we tell you how you can #SupportNammaRailu, ahead of the railway budget and beyond. Also read the latest updates on what is happening with…

With the absence of major rivers, floods in Bengaluru are caused only by rainfall. Knowing which are the months that are vulnerable to floods helps in taking necessary precautions. Primary rainy season in the city is from June to September when Bengaluru receives rain from South-West Monsoon, and secondary rainy season is from November to December when it receives rain from North-East Monsoon. Here is the raw data for rainfall in 100 years, from 1901 to 2000. This exhaustive data is plotted in graphs for each month.    100 years rainfall graph for the month of January  100 years rainfall…

Why is the city of Bengaluru full of traffic? Why does everyone prefer private vehicles as opposed to public transport? If one decides to use public transport, will s/he be able to do it comfortably? The answer to all the above questions is: Bengaluru doesn’t have a reliable, predictable public transport network yet, which forces people to use private vehicles. Result: Traffic jams, with average speeds of 6-9 kmph on road! Bengaluru has been blessed with good rail network (Check the list here). This can be used effectively to beat the traffic woes of the city. In fact, many parts…

  Bengaluru this week January 14th 2016     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     Everybody knows Bengaluru roads are unsafe. In all likelihood, you or someone you know personally has had an accident - whether inside a vehicle, or more commonly as a pedestrian. While roads of bad quality and unscientific traffic design are one reason, how do we minimise the risk? The government says: wear helmets. So we wrote up an FAQ on that! In parallel, there are a bunch of things the state needs to do. This and more in this…

  A day filled with joy and fun–Cycle Day–themed Masti ki Pathshala, was hosted jointly by the Rotaract Club, Presidency College and the residents of Coffee Board Layout in Nagavara on January 10th. The event as usual started with warm-up sessions and three rounds of cycle rides around the beautiful avenues of Nagavara. Many residents of Coffee Board Layout came out to celebrate the cycling and the open streets. They also enjoyed the various games that were conducted which included lagori, badminton, chess, ludo etc.  Young and old, with or without cycles, many people turned up to support the cause and…

  Bengaluru this week December 21st 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     Seasons greetings! Our #EnableChange fundraiser has come to a close. To all of you who pitched in - by making a donation, by becoming members, by spreading the word, by writing for us - a big, big thank you from all of us at Citizen Matters. It is only because of your support that we will be able to continue doing what we do. Please give yourselves a pat on the back, for it is your help that will…

Bengaluru is included alongside 75 of the biggest cities of the world in a survey of global youth. Your response could help Bengaluru be a more livable city. Over the last two decades, Bengaluru has witnessed rapid growth of urbanisation. This has also brought a plethora of formidable challenges for the city, such as traffic congestion, urban sprawl, poor infrastructure and a perceived lack of basic facilities such as drinking water, Solid and Liquid Waste Disposal. It is very unfortunate that, although Bengaluru has transformed into an internationally known metropolis and mostly known to the world as the Silicon Valley…