Governance

CIVIC, a non-governmental organisation in Bengaluru has registered its concerns regarding new garbage tenders published in June 2015 by the BBMP. Here is the summary of the letter sent by CIVIC to the BBMP Administrator T M Vijayabhaskar. Overall concerns 1.     Outsourcing of garbage disposal to contractors needs to be discontinued and contract PKs regularised CIVIC feels that outsourcing of garbage disposal by BBMP to contractors should be discontinued as garbage disposal is a “core” and “perennial” activity of BBMP which cannot be outsourced as per the Contract Labour (Abolition & Regulation) Act. CIVIC suggests that the current contract workers…

Pic courtesy: Wikimedia Commons Bengaluru-based Centre for Internet and Society has participated in the Expert Committee for DNA Profiling constituted by the Department of Biotechnology in 2012 for the purpose of deliberating on and finalising the draft Human DNA Profiling Bill and appreciates this opportunity. CIS respectively dissents from the January 2015 draft of the Bill. Based on the final draft of the Human DNA Profiling Bill that was circulated on the 13th of January 2015 by the committee, the Centre for Internet and Society is issuing this note of dissent on the following grounds: The Centre for Internet and…

Dhanya M, an HR Consultant, had stopped at Empire Restaurant in Frazer Town to pick up food. As she made her way through the crowd, a man ‘accidentally’ touched her breasts. When Dhanya questioned him, the man feigned ignorance. His friend too joined in to defend him, while the crowd merely stood by. The excuse the friend gave was this: “Please forgive him. He is drunk!” After a five minute argument, where sentences like, “Being drunk is no excuse to molest”, and “What if he did this to your sister?” were uttered, the two men apologised and left. Though Dhanya…

  Like it or not, most of either dread or experience discomfort at the thought of a visit to the police station. But what if you find yourself in a situation where you have to visit one to register that all important document - the FIR? Vigilance Director, and former DG/IGP of Karnataka, M D Singh answers our queries on the same. What is an FIR? The information about a cognizable offence given by a complainant and recorded in a prescribed format by the police is called a First Information Report (FIR). Under Indian law offences are divided into cognizable…

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ನಗರಪಾಲಿಕೆ ಚುನಾವಣೆಯ ಸುತ್ತಮುತ್ತ ಹಬ್ಬಿದ್ದ ಅನಿಶ್ಚಿತತೆ ಕೊನೆಗೊಂಡಿದೆ, ಬಿಬಿಎಂಪಿ ಚುನಾವಣೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಮುಂದಿದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಓದುಗರಾದ ನೀವು ಈ ಚುನಾವಣಾ ಪೂರ್ವ ಸಮೀಕ್ಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಬೇಕೆಂಬುದು ನಮ್ಮ ಬಯಕೆ. ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುವಿಕೆ, ನೀವು ಪಾಲಿಕೆ ಮಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಡಳಿತವು ಯಾವರೀತಿ ನಡೆದಿದೆ ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಂಡಿರುವಿರಿ ಎನ್ನುವುದನ್ನು ನಮಗೆ ಅರ್ಥ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಸಹಕರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದರೊಂದಿಗೆ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಇತ್ತೀಚಿನ ಕಾರ್ಪೊರೇಟರ್ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನಾಗರಿಕ ವರದಿ ತಯಾರಿಸಲು ನಮಗೆ ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡುತ್ತದೆ. * ಕಳೆದ ಚುನಾವಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಗೆದ್ದವರು ಯಾರೆಂದು ನೋಡಲು ನಿಮಗೆ ಈ ಲಿಂಕ್ ಸಹಾಯಮಾಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಇದನ್ನು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಯುವ ಸಾಫ್ಟ್‌ವೇರ್ ಪರಿಣತರಲ್ಲೋರ್ವ ತೇಜೇಶ್ ಜಿ ಎನ್ ತಯಾರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. * ನೀವು ಈ ಸಮೀಕ್ಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಲು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಜಿ ಮೈಲ್ ಅಕೌಂಟ್ ನಿಂದ ಲಾಗ್ ಇನ್ ಆಗಬೇಕು. * ನೀವು ಈ ಸಮೀಕ್ಷೆಯ ಫಾರ್ಮನ್ನು ಒಮ್ಮೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ತುಂಬಬಹುದು. * ಫಾರ್ಮ್ ಕೆಳಗೆ ಕಾಣಿಸದಿದ್ದರೆ ಈ ಲಿಂಕ್ ನ್ನು ಒತ್ತಿ. ಸಮೀಕ್ಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿ; ನಮ್ಮ…

Public hearing on restructuring, held at Mahadevapura zonal office. From left: V Ravichandar, BS Patil, Siddaiah. Pic: Meera K As a member of the BBMP Restructuring Committee, it’s been an exhilarating exercise engaging with city stakeholders, researching, evaluating options and finally putting out the report. And though this was a Monday morning release (wisely so, given the interest in Baahubali), one got a sense of what a movie producer, director feels after the baby is out in public! There have been bouquets and brickbats. Firstly, thank you for the compliments and it was heartening to note that even the staunchest…

After a long court battle, the State Election Commission has declared BBMP polls for the second time. According to the fresh calendar of events, BBMP polls will be held on August 22nd, and model code of conduct will be in effect from July 17th. State Election Commissioner P N Sreenivasachari in a press meet on Thursday, declared the freshly prepared election schedule. During the hearing of the election related petition in the High Court on July 13th, the SEC had assured the HC that it would submit the fresh election schedule by Friday. Announcing the calendar of events, Sreenivasachari said…

The much awaited final report on Restructuring BBMP has been submitted to the government. The recommendations of the Committee which range from a three-tier system of governance to restructuring Bengaluru into five corporations to establishment of Greater Bengaluru Financial Commission and extension of Mayor’s term to five years, have been appreciated as well as criticised. Citizen Matters tried to pool the opinions of representatives from various political parties, urban experts and citizens on what they had to say about the Restructuring Committee report. One aspect that was talked about by majority of them was the formation of Greater Bengaluru Authority…

The BBMP Restructuring Committee, in its final report, has recommended the splitting of BBMP into five corporations and integrating them under an umbrella institution called the Greater Bengaluru Authority. The Committee has also advocated for introducing a three-tier system in Bengaluru for efficient governance. The committee which was constituted by the State government to study and prepare a report on restructuring Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had submitted an interim report earlier. The Committee submitted its final report to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday, July 13th 2015. The State government had formed the BBMP Restructuring Committee with retired IAS officer…

Gone are the days of indefinite wait—the BBMP elections are here again. We would like you, our readers, to fill this survey, to help us understand how you perceive the local governance in your area. This will also help us in preparing citizens’ report cards for the existing corporators. Here's an extra pointer to see who won in last election, in which ward. The map is prepared by Bengaluru-based techie Thejesh G N. You need to log on to your gmail id if you want to enter the survey. You can fill the survey only once. If you are unable…