Governance

Bengaluru is in the process of preparing yet another master plan. What does the process involve and what does it aim to achieve? To understand this, let us go back to the time when Kempegowda first founded our great city, Bengaluru.   Challenge: Bangalore was on a high plateau and had no water resources.   Only way it could host a city: Rain water harvesting, and lots of it. Best option to do it was through lakes, using them as water sinks. First thing on his agenda: Build many lakes, more than the population the city then had would require.…

Bengaluru is in the process of preparing yet another master plan. What does the process involve and what does it aim to achieve? To understand this, let us go back to the time when Kempegowda first founded our great city, Bengaluru.   Challenge: Bangalore was on a high plateau and had no water resources.   Only way it could host a city: Rain water harvesting, and lots of it. Best option to do it was through lakes, using them as water sinks. First thing on his agenda: Build many lakes, more than the population the city then had would require.…

After many visits and several polite requests and "Please"s and "Thank You"s, I finally got some money. Here is my first sighting of the 2K note.     Now comes the problem of trying to get change for Rs.2000 from a vegetable vendor or a chaatwalla!  

After many visits and several polite requests and "Please"s and "Thank You"s, I finally got some money. Here is my first sighting of the 2K note.     Now comes the problem of trying to get change for Rs.2000 from a vegetable vendor or a chaatwalla!  

The BMRDA Act was passed in the mid-1980s, to set up the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, and to empower it to direct the planned development of the state capital region. Since its founding, however, the BMRDA has done nothing useful, because the state government has always preferred it that way. Why was the BMRDA set up, then, if no one wanted it to do anything? It's hard to be certain, but if I had to guess, I would say the answer lies with Ramakrishna Hegde. Hegde was an unusual Chief Minister, in one very important way that we are…

The BMRDA Act was passed in the mid-1980s, to set up the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, and to empower it to direct the planned development of the state capital region. Since its founding, however, the BMRDA has done nothing useful, because the state government has always preferred it that way. Why was the BMRDA set up, then, if no one wanted it to do anything? It's hard to be certain, but if I had to guess, I would say the answer lies with Ramakrishna Hegde. Hegde was an unusual Chief Minister, in one very important way that we are…

On the afternoon of 28th april 2014, I had set myself the task of observing two street corners at either end of Noronha road at Russell market in Shivajinagar - a corner at the Broadway street end and a corner at the St.Mary’s Basilica end (Fig.1). I am reproducing here what I noted and what I sketched there. These were ordinary activities. They probably happen everyday. I observed the urban space – how the vendors create their informal selling spaces on the street and how walkers/shoppers enter these selling spaces and engage in a bargain, a conversation or a purchase.…

On the afternoon of 28th april 2014, I had set myself the task of observing two street corners at either end of Noronha road at Russell market in Shivajinagar - a corner at the Broadway street end and a corner at the St.Mary’s Basilica end (Fig.1). I am reproducing here what I noted and what I sketched there. These were ordinary activities. They probably happen everyday. I observed the urban space – how the vendors create their informal selling spaces on the street and how walkers/shoppers enter these selling spaces and engage in a bargain, a conversation or a purchase.…

A friend writes: No body questions the intent behind the recent move to demonetize Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes.   It is the ham handed  implementation by the Babus, living in their 7th Pay commision cocooned largesse,  who did not consider the following points,  and who were blind to the intended consequences,because they have never lived lives of the common man.   1) Absence of card swiping machines in most villages.   2)The honesty of the vast majority, for whom the only avenue was exchange in banks,apart from topping up their vehicles with equivalent  value of demonetised notes,and foregoing the balance.The acceptance…

A friend writes: No body questions the intent behind the recent move to demonetize Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes.   It is the ham handed  implementation by the Babus, living in their 7th Pay commision cocooned largesse,  who did not consider the following points,  and who were blind to the intended consequences,because they have never lived lives of the common man.   1) Absence of card swiping machines in most villages.   2)The honesty of the vast majority, for whom the only avenue was exchange in banks,apart from topping up their vehicles with equivalent  value of demonetised notes,and foregoing the balance.The acceptance…