Civic

I belong to a volunteer group called Clean and Green, which has been going out on trips to the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and cleaning up as much of the plastic trash as possible in the time available. On the last two occasions, Wipro has both sponsored the trip, as well as providing volunteers to help us with our task.I thought I would post about how a cleanup usually happens....this is probably the 16th or 17th such trip we are making. This time, the trash collected in two hours was 167 kg, and I am happy to say that the amount…

Vijay Narnampatti and I had been to Seshadri Road yesterday to talk to the members of the Empowered Committee as they inspected the road, on which dozens of majestic trees are slated to be felled.While we were waiting for them, this caught my eye....I am going to let the banner speak for itself!Comments, though, are welcome! ⊕

Vijay Narnampatti and I had been to Seshadri Road yesterday to talk to the members of the Empowered Committee as they inspected the road, on which dozens of majestic trees are slated to be felled.While we were waiting for them, this caught my eye....I am going to let the banner speak for itself!Comments, though, are welcome! ⊕

Amongst the many images and impressions at that I saw and experienced at the "Namma Raste, Namma Ooru" walk on Sunday, 9th November 2008, was the picture of this tiny tot; She didn't seem to be angry, or against anything; she made a peaceful statement that surely none of us can disagree with...and was calmly eating something that a tree gave her, too!Surely, if a little one like her can come out to express her opinion, the rest of us can take heed and protect the trees we have left!Update: What a coincidence! I shared this image with Hasiru Usiru...and…

Amongst the many images and impressions at that I saw and experienced at the "Namma Raste, Namma Ooru" walk on Sunday, 9th November 2008, was the picture of this tiny tot; She didn't seem to be angry, or against anything; she made a peaceful statement that surely none of us can disagree with...and was calmly eating something that a tree gave her, too!Surely, if a little one like her can come out to express her opinion, the rest of us can take heed and protect the trees we have left!Update: What a coincidence! I shared this image with Hasiru Usiru...and…

I very often find that cables (probably TV cable, and perhaps optic fibre cable too) is taken across the tops of buildings, or even strung across roads, with no care or thought of safety or even aesthetics.To illustrate this, I took this snap of one area in Jayanagar, near the Post Office:Do the building owners not mind the huge safety hazard that this poses, and are they not bothered (at least) about how ugly that nest of wires looks?We are mealy-mouthed hypocrites who talk a lot about the beauty of Bangalore and then keep quiet while economic considerations take precedence…

Recently, on 1st July 2008, the High Court of Karnataka declared that personal information of the public authorities cannot be made available through the Right To Inforamtion Act, 2005. The order was a result of a writ petition filed by H E Rajashekarappa, Joint Director (Statistics) at Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services Department, at Ambedkar Veedhi, Bangalore. Rajashekarappa filed the case on 30th June 2006. On 17 March 2006, one Narasimha Murthy, retired statistical inspector filed an RTI application with the PIO at the Government Planning and Statistics Department, M S Building, asking for the total assets and liablities of…

I very often find that cables (probably TV cable, and perhaps optic fibre cable too) is taken across the tops of buildings, or even strung across roads, with no care or thought of safety or even aesthetics.To illustrate this, I took this snap of one area in Jayanagar, near the Post Office:Do the building owners not mind the huge safety hazard that this poses, and are they not bothered (at least) about how ugly that nest of wires looks?We are mealy-mouthed hypocrites who talk a lot about the beauty of Bangalore and then keep quiet while economic considerations take precedence…

Recently, on 1st July 2008, the High Court of Karnataka declared that personal information of the public authorities cannot be made available through the Right To Inforamtion Act, 2005. The order was a result of a writ petition filed by H E Rajashekarappa, Joint Director (Statistics) at Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services Department, at Ambedkar Veedhi, Bangalore. Rajashekarappa filed the case on 30th June 2006. On 17 March 2006, one Narasimha Murthy, retired statistical inspector filed an RTI application with the PIO at the Government Planning and Statistics Department, M S Building, asking for the total assets and liablities of…

A key right-to-information question was resolved when the Karanataka High Court on 30 June 2008, declared that registered Co-operative Societies are not public authorities under the RTI Act, 2005. Citing the RTI Act, the High Court said that 'public authority' under this act is a body of self-government established by the appropriate (state legislature, central) government. A non-governmental organisation substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate government is also a 'public authority'. Furthermore, the court noted that while the Co-operative Societies Act and the Karnataka LokAyuktha Act both defined office-bearers of co-operative societies to be 'public…