BBMP

The Ministry of Environment and Forests has notified the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011. In Bengaluru, the ban will be in effect from today.Banning thin plastic bags and charging consumers is only the first step. BBMP has announced plans to setup waste segregation and plastic collection centres in ward. Some points covered by the centre's notification.• Plastic carry bags shall either be white or only with those pigments and colourants which are in conformity with the bar prescribed by  the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). • Plastic carry bags shall not be less than 40 microns in thickness.…

I've written about the Tabebuia argentea and the Jacaranda blooms welcoming summer into the city....but another sight, that is full of colour, but that is far less welcome, is one that's started staring me in the eye: Water and power shortages are here, with no apologies on the part of the Government.⊕

I've written about the Tabebuia argentea and the Jacaranda blooms welcoming summer into the city....but another sight, that is full of colour, but that is far less welcome, is one that's started staring me in the eye: Water and power shortages are here, with no apologies on the part of the Government.⊕

I was travelling back from Delhi when I saw a young man, also boarding for the same flight, who had an interesting looking trophy with him: I said hello to him, congratulated him because he had obviously won something, and asked what it was about. "This is the trophy that Karnataka won this year, for the best float in the Republic Day Parade," he replied. "We've won it a few times in the past, and if we win three years running, the rolling trophy will become ours." Having, rather uncharacteristically, missed watching the Republic Day Parade this year as I…

I was travelling back from Delhi when I saw a young man, also boarding for the same flight, who had an interesting looking trophy with him: I said hello to him, congratulated him because he had obviously won something, and asked what it was about. "This is the trophy that Karnataka won this year, for the best float in the Republic Day Parade," he replied. "We've won it a few times in the past, and if we win three years running, the rolling trophy will become ours." Having, rather uncharacteristically, missed watching the Republic Day Parade this year as I…

Sometime back, we noted that the government had renamed Karnataka’s Urban Development Department as The Great Bengaluru Land Scam Department. Since then, developments have spiralled further and deeper into the mysterious inner workings of our system, and behold: another name change is being announced at the fag end of the year.BBMP is being renamed U-TURN-MP on January 1st!Surprised? You should not be, actually. Here’s the evidence:After repeatedly insisting that a link road was a must through forestland in the prestigious University of Agricultural Sciences’ GKVK campus in north Bangalore and cutting over 680 trees in 2009, BBMP is now, at…

Sometime back, we noted that the government had renamed Karnataka’s Urban Development Department as The Great Bengaluru Land Scam Department. Since then, developments have spiralled further and deeper into the mysterious inner workings of our system, and behold: another name change is being announced at the fag end of the year.BBMP is being renamed U-TURN-MP on January 1st!Surprised? You should not be, actually. Here’s the evidence:After repeatedly insisting that a link road was a must through forestland in the prestigious University of Agricultural Sciences’ GKVK campus in north Bangalore and cutting over 680 trees in 2009, BBMP is now, at…

"Bangalore is not a garden city any more!" is a common refrain that I have been hearing for over 3 years. It is definitely not the cool town that we had visited a few times during summer in the mid 1980's, escaping the scorching Chennai heat. (Apparently, it was still a pleasant place when my husband started his career here over a decade ago). This situation reminds me of the song Ayyayyo Bengaluru lamenting this city's deterioration rendered during the first edition of Namma Jathre (Freedom Festival) in Cubbon Park in 2006. So what are the reasons for this live…

"Bangalore is not a garden city any more!" is a common refrain that I have been hearing for over 3 years. It is definitely not the cool town that we had visited a few times during summer in the mid 1980's, escaping the scorching Chennai heat. (Apparently, it was still a pleasant place when my husband started his career here over a decade ago). This situation reminds me of the song Ayyayyo Bengaluru lamenting this city's deterioration rendered during the first edition of Namma Jathre (Freedom Festival) in Cubbon Park in 2006. So what are the reasons for this live…

  I answered the knock on my door and found two smiling ladies outside, who asked me if our names were already on the electoral rolls. "No," I said, explaining how we could not find our names either in our old locality or our present one. The ladies, Padma and Nagaratna, immediately gave me two forms to fill, and submit, along with passport photographs, for including our names in the electoral rolls.  It was good to see these ladies going to all the apartments and taking down details, meticulously. If only every government employee were as hard-working as this!  Three cheers for Padma and…