CITIZEN MATTERS
Bangalore’s own interactive newsmagazine
Speak up, it’s your city!  

Citizen Matters co-founder Meera K receiving Manthan award in New Delhi. Pic: Navya P K

We are very proud to announce that your local web newsmagazine Citizen Matters has won the Manthan Award (South Asia and Asia Pacific) in the e-News and Journalism category. Our co-founder Meera K received the citation last week at the award ceremony in New Delhi. This is our sixth award in six years! Thank you, for your unfailing support to us, by reading, giving feedback, contributing findings, data, articles and donating… It truly reinforces our faith in the work that we do!

Also read: What another award for Citizen Matters means to me – Citizen Matters co-founder, Subbu Vincent’s take on awards in general.

City news that matters

And before the summary of our own stories, here’s a curation of the latest news from Bengaluru.

• Following the alleged rape of a woman in an Uber cab in Delhi, when other states have banned Uber, Karnataka has framed 25-point guidelines to be followed by cab aggregators and operators. The companies now have to compulsorily register themselves with the Transport Department. A month’s time has been given to them, and most aggregators have welcomed it.
• This news reveals a LOT about the mindset of our politicians: A BJP MLA was caught on camera by a TV channel in the assembly, studying the anatomy of a Congress leader: He was watching Priyanka Gandhi on his cell phone; he even zoomed into the picture, to see god-knows-what. Another MLA was caught on camera playing Candy Crush Saga. Isn’t it time to ban mobiles in the assembly?
• In an effort to keep a check on water theft in the city, BWSSB plans to take up a pilot project to install automatic meter readers that will emit radio frequency signals and record readings through the day.
• Plans to implement the suburban rail network in the city may have gotten a boost, with IISc presenting a paper stating that such a network would help decongest the city. 
• Bengaluru and Chennai have joined the ‘100 Resilient Cities’ network in a bid to become more resilient to physical, social and economic challenges. They were to only two Indian cities to be selected from 331 applications from across the world.
• A TV channel showed a list of alleged fake Occupancy Certificates (OCs) given to many big housing projects from reputed builders, without paying BBMP. FIRs have been filed against 100+ BBMP officials for being involved in this scam. Make sure your apartment has legally valid OC, before buying a property! (Meanwhile we are on it, we will give you the full story soon!)
• A water tanker mowed down a pedestrian in Electronic City. Following this, villagers went on the rampage, setting the water tanker on fire and blocking the road.
• BRICS rating projects IISc as the No.1 university in India.
• Namma Bengaluru Foundation award nominations are on. Click here to nominate your heroes..

This week’s highlight

Between flames, fumes and bare hands – The untold story of Bengaluru’s e-waste

Informal recyclers extracting resources from e-waste with their bare hands. Pic: Varsha Parashiva Murthy

» Have you ever wondered about what happens to the e-waste that you generate? The quantity of waste generated is unknown, and facilities for scientific processing, non-existent. How then, does the e-waste get processed? Our intern, Varsha Parashiva Murthy finds out: The journey of e-waste in the city. 

A step back in time

» Chandra Shekhar Balachandran goes down memory lane in his column, Southern Bengaluru Chronicles. This time it is about Mangamma, and her uncompromising attitude towards work. Read: “If I drop everything and rush there, will he come back to life?”

Food for thought

» 30 years ago, the rape of a 16-year-old Dalit girl in a police station led to the formation of rape laws in India. Sakuntala Narasimham asks: From Mathura rape case to Nirbhaya and beyond: What has changed between now and then?

»  All along the railway tracks, from Bengaluru to New Delhi, there are huge quantities of litter strewn all over, by passengers and Railway employees. Is it perhaps time for the Railways to clean up its act?  

Living in the city

» Construction of the Peripheral Ring Road, BDA’s much-awaited infrastructure project is slated to begin by mid-2015. The cost, initially pegged at 550 crores, has now gone up to 9,600 crores.

» As talks are under-way to split BBMP for better administration, Mathew Idiculla explains why it is important to examine how decisions regarding cities and their boundaries are taken. Read: Who decides where your city ends?

» The Subramaniam Committee has prepared and submitted its report on amending environment and forest-related laws. Read the report that was submitted by PM Modi’s on amending green laws.

» The latest from Bellandur – Completion of Green Glen layout road, ground water and biodiversity survey and blood donation drive on December 13th. Read the Bellandur Buzz newsletter.

Culturati

» Chitra Srikrishna writes about her experience at The Raga Connection, a workshop to introduce children to ragas, by tracing the roots of popular Bollywood music.

» The children of Cooke Town have planned a special fundraiser event on December 14th to give a new lease of life to their beloved neighbourhood hangout, High Street Park. Read: The Amazing Super Mela.

» Malleshwaram is all set to become the domain of cyclists and skaters. The first Sunday of every month has been earmarked as Cycle Day. Here’s all that transpired at Malleshwaram’s very first Cycle Day.

Nature feature

» Have you ever observed how a bird fishes? Deepa Mohan is back with her column Nature Feature, with a lovely write-up on the fishing technique adopted by Painted Storks. Read: Umbrella fishing by Painted Storks.

» Puttenahalli Lake has some visitors from Europe. Garganey Ducks, which were first sighted at the lake in 2011, are back again this year for the winter. Read: The Garganey Ducks are back.

Events this weekend

• The Kolkata Photographers Club will be presenting An Ensemble of Stories – 2, a photo exhibition, at Vismaya Art Gallery from December 12th to 14th.
• Strawberry Fields, Bengaluru’s rock festival is taking place from December 12th to 14th at National Law School. Be there at the music festival which launched renowned bands like Motherjane and Thermal and a Quarter.
• The Bangalore Chamber Singers is performing a variety of melodic choral pieces at Nava Spoorthi Kendra on December 13th.
• Pradarshana Kalaa Samsthe is staging Vaave, a Kannada play based on the unclear relationships that one has is life, at KH Kala Soudha on December 13th.
• Catch one of Bengaluru’s most-loved comedy performances, The Improv, where the actors improvise on the spot based on situations given by the audience, on December 14th at Alliance Francaise.
• Bangalore International Centre is hosting a talk with author and theatre personality Poile Sengupta on her book Inga on December 15th.

You can also have a look at the complete listing of events coming up in Bengaluru here. 

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