Articles by Sneha Banerjee

It was one of those humid and dry Bangalore summer days when I stepped out with my friend and future roommate Manjusha to look out for accommodation in the city. The journey from Kumbalgodu to Marathalli took the two of us almost three whole hours. We weren’t discouraged as we were in one of those victorious moods – we were recruited by a leading news agency.It was a prestigious and laudable moment in our lives; hence the long BMTC journey seemed very petty. Our bus halted at this seemingly bizarre location, which looked like a cross between a highway and…

Devranjan is a tailor employed at a small shop on Brigade Road who gets paid Rs. 200 on a daily basis. He lives on Hosur Road and travels to Brigade Road every day for work, shelling out between Rs. 35-40 every day. As there are no direct buses to his place, he needs to switch between buses every day. This clearly shows that Devranjan spends at least 17 per cent of his monthly income on commuting to and from his workplace. He is one among the many who face the wrath of expensive public transport in Bangalore. Connectivity between buses…

Karnataka has witnessed a steep hike in the number of senior citizens looking for jobs over the years. Nightingale Empowerment Foundation, an organisation that helps senior citizens of Bangalore to get jobs, has recently seen a very high rate of enrollment. Unfortunately since October 2011, out of 1100 registrations, the organization has been able to get employment for only 260 of them.Swathi Bhandary, Project Manager at Nightingale said: "Employers should realise that most of the eligible citizens are very much capable of getting recruited."Accountancy, call-centre and other clerical jobs are areas wherein senior citizens are recruited.The Directorate of Welfare of…

Disabled citizens are struggling to get government issued benefit cards because the offices are situated on higher floors of buildings.  Karvy Technologies has been hired to collect biometric information for the UID project, by the government. One of its centres is located on the first floor of a building at Sampige road in Malleswaram. This centre has no provisions like nurses, elevators or even a ramp to support a wheel chair. Karvy technologies at Sampige Road. Pic: Author Venkatesan has been trying to get an Aadhar card for his physically challenged wife. He said: "I have been in touch with…