citizen matters emagazine 2013 march 02

CitizenMattersCitizen

MattersLocaL news Like no one eLse does

bengaluru www.citizenmatters.in 02-Mar-2013¹neóÉ£ï ªÀiÁål¸ïð

How to get

a good roadin your neigHbourHood

Rejoice Bengaluru, your ‘Big Ben’ is here! P 9 Karnataka’s dance of democracy: Naavu ready, Neevu barteera? P 11 What you can do to ensure excellent education for all P 14 Designer sarees rule Bangalore’s fashion landscape P 15 HSR residents set example in community composting P 18 A time when ‘South End’ was really Bangalore’s southern end P 19

Living in Bengaluru is available at all major book shops like: Jayanagar/JP Nagar: Prism the Bookshop, Book Paradise, Nagashri Books, Page world (Puttenahalli), Nudi Pusthaka (BSK II Stage) Basavanagudi: Belegere Books, Ankita Pusthaka, Shree Book Centre, Koramangala: Intouch, Bookstop, City Centre: Gangaram, Higginbothams, Bookworm, Page Turner, Blossom Books, Vinayaka Book Distributors, Strand Book, Shankars (Domlur), North Bangalore: Sahitya Sadan, (Sahakaranagar), Bangalore Book Centre (Hebbal) Navakarnataka (Kumarapark west) Also available at Sapna book stores, Reliance Timeout & Crossword. AVAILABLE ONLINE at Flipkart and www.livinginbengaluru.in

“This is a very welcome book,long overdue, which should be

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“I recommend this book to every Bangalorean as it is a holistic book and every Bangalorean must have it.” - Santosh Hegde

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From covering public services to property matters, school boards to driving licenses, voting to saving water to filing FIRs and more. www.livinginbengaluru.in

Since its launch, The Living in Bengaluru book has become a hit with Bangaloreans, both recent settlers and long-time residents alike. Many bookshops including those in peripheral areas are

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dd-month-2013 CITIZEN MATTERS 3

comments

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Rejoice Bengaluru, your ‘Big Ben’ is here!

Good one. For me, the conch sounding chimes gives a feeling of impending funeral! Maybe for the trees which have escaped the axe so far, eh? :)

Nanda Ramesh

I like clocks, I think it should be in a variety of public places to remind us of the present time. In this case, however, not to mention the issued money, this design is just ugly (coarse, ungainly, grotesque). Price in relation to the appearance is astronomical! I’m sure that for the money you could make something really beautiful. If, indeed, it had to be created.

I’m disappointed, but... I love this city. Sometimes it’s difficult love ;)

Hanna Ciuba

It looks like a wall clock that somebody plonked on top of a mufussil water tank.

Meera K

These expenditures on landmarks in a city if maintained well for a long time will become heritage structures. These will be assets for generations to come.

When late K. Hanumanthaiah CM built Vidhanasoudha there was a hue and cry but today every body appreciates its architectural beauty even a replica has come up in Belgaum.

Though cost is an overriding factor such structures add beauty to every city, town , village, factory etc.

M. Lakshminath

I agree - add beauty, but this clock is just simply ugly. It’s sad that this will scare future generations. Really, we can afford a lot more.

Hanna Ciuba

@Hanna, afford is not the issue. 90L is plenty. I say we can do a lot better as far as aesthetic design is concerned. The whole structure is just ugly and Ms. Meera said it as well as anyone can. Mr. Lakshminath, Vidhanasoudha was built tastefully for that time and it has held its own until now. I doubt, this particular structure will have many fans 5-10yrs from now. There is no redeeming value that one can take away from it!

Nanda Ramesh

Vidhanasoudha is a beautiful, impressive work. Such places in Bangalore are very many, so I was unpleasantly surprised by the monster like this clock. Well, but it already exists. May be worth think about what to do to was nicer.

Hanna Ciuba

Everyone here seems to think the clock was built for the public. We need to understand that these things are always built so the contractors and everybody else in the gravy train makes money.

prj

From the bottom up it does look like the clock comes as a surprise. Seems to have been designed by an ex-BWSSB engineer. :P

But then, we are seeing a lot more of such art around the city. Like this masterpiece:https://churumuri. files. wordpress.com/2012/04/120429kpn61.jpg

Vaidya R

This the most we can expect from our pot-bellied, illiterate netas and “leaders.” - a clock? BBMP’s idea of an architectural marvel is the good old water tank and this is just a minor improvement over that ugly design. The “Shankha Naada” is to

remind us of our BJP Hindutva roots, especially for those living in South Bangalore.

Pramod Naik

A time when ‘South End’ was really Bangalore’s southern end

My first visit to Bangalore as a student was in mid-sixties when - coming from a small town - the City (just Malleswaram and Sadashivnagar which I saw) was too big for me. I wondered why there is such a big wall dividing the city into two and did not realize it is the compound wall of Tata Institute.

When I settled down in mid-seventies, the city had grown up only slightly compared to what you have written. Jayanagar was well-populated. I could get two Kali Dosas for 40 paise for breakfast and skip the coffee since I could get it at 18 paise a cup at the coffee club at my workplace. Koramangala was outside the city and there were no buses coming from Jayanagar. I had to change bus at Wilson Garden waiting 20-30 min. I once walked and found that it took only 40 min compared to an hour I was spending on two buses. So I decided to by a bike and it was fun after that

I have fond memories of forest and lakes beyond Koramangala on Sarjapur Road where I used to go and sit when I was tired of work. Road from Dairy Circle to Bannerghatta was fun.

I recall there were no sumps in most houses and water used to rise into overhead tanks with its own pressure.

A Paradise Lost? Yet it is Namma Bengaluru.

Tushar Prabhu

4 CITIZEN MATTERS DD-month-2013

Guides and Primers

The distance between two stones should not be more than 15 cm. Difference in the first

layer being as per standards and otherwise.Taken by Anil Kumar


‘‘It is close to four years now and there has not been a single

repair work of the road," says Anil Kumar, but the RTI activist is not complaining! "It is strong, inspite of the many floods since 2008 when it was laid" says Kumar.

A conversation with Kumar makes it apparent that it is not just the roads themselves but the monitoring of the entire process that residents need to be aware of in order to ensure that a good road is laid.

In 1995, Ejipura was a new ward that lacked many basic civic amenities. A group of people from the locality decided to strategically work with the government to fulfil the infrastructural needs of a ‘new ward'. They took part in the participatory budgeting exercise organised by Janaagraha in 2001-02 that helped them draw up a plan for roads and other required civic amenities, and submitted the proposal to the Corporator. After negotiations, the Corporator made some budgetary allowance for laying of road in the area. That is not all that the group achieved - it merely marked the beginning of a road that would strictly match the desired standards.

What is a good road ?You don't have to be a civil

engineer to know that. However you need to familiarise yourself with a few things to be able to tell if the road that is being laid in front of your house is going to last as long as roads normally should - which is a minimum of five years.

Urban roads are of 5 kinds (see box) and speaking strictly of local roads, we can say that the following should help you gauge the quality of the road for yourself:

Simple monitoring steps formulated from the RTI filed by Anil Kumar and the experience of the small group of people in the neighbourhood where a new road was to be laid

The "Guidelines for construction and maintenance of roads" brought out by the BBMP and compiled by K.N. Shivashankara Rao, retired Chief Engineer, Public Works Department. The engineers in charge of the road construction work should have a copy of this book.

An RTI requesting the work order of the road - with laying schedules and supporting documents such as the civil engineering drawings of the road.

An alternative to procuring the

work order document through an RTI is looking for the tender details on BBMP's website. If you get the tender number of the public utility works to be implemented in your area you can look for the details here. The document mostly covers the cost details and project agreement details but Sections 6 (Specifications), section 7 (Drawings) and section 8 (Bill of Quantities) may be useful. Engineering Drawings are made available on the site but the resolution of these make it rather useless (one might just get an idea of the construction but the specs are not clear from the pictures of the drawings posted on the website)

With access to the above information, you could yourself ensure that your tax money is being spent justifiably on a ‘quality' road in your ward.

In the Ejipura example, the monitoring was done under the guidance of Dr. C.E.G Justo (Prof. Civil Engineering, (Retd.), Bangalore University).

The first step in laying a new road is to ensure that all that goes below the road is carefully planned for - the water pipes, sewage and stormwater drains, manholes.

"The drain for laying water

ParticiPatorY GoVernance

How to get a good road in your neigHbourHood

A local initiative led by an RTI activist in Koramangala shows how citizen’s participation in governance can ensure better roads and civic infrastructure in general.

Guides and Primers


pipes by BWSSB needs to be 3 feet as per the work order document., we measured it to be 2.5 feet and brought it to the notice of the engineer who then ordered digging as per standards specified in the work order document. The first step to laying the road was completed only then. The depth of the culvert needs to be checked, as otherwise the engineer could try to make a profit on the labour cost for digging work," says Kumar.

Once the actual laying of the road begins, there are three important checks to be made.

Check 1: Ensure that the first layer of stones are not more than 15 cm apart (density). They have to be dense and must cover the surface of the path well. The roller has to run over this layer five times.

Check 2: The second layer (the thickness of this will be specified in your work order document, it is normally 10 cm or 20 cm) is called the wet mix (technical name: "Wet

Mix Macadam (WMM)") and this needs to be a mix of jelly, quarry dust and cement. Usually the contractors only spread a layer of jelly stones as the second layer. WMM compaction needs to be done using a roller at a speed of not more than 5 km/hour. Rolling has to proceed from lower edge towards upper edge and parallel to the centre line of the road. The next layer can be placed above this after a minimum of 24 hours. No traffic movement should be allowed in this time.

Check 3: Asphalting - This is the final layer of bitumen and needs to be only 5 cm thick. Traffic may now be allowed.

Anil Kumar has even devised a gauge to check the thickness of the materials laid. It is simple, rugged and useful.

"Normally road cutting is done within half a day. But it took two days for a recent road cutting work to be finished. That's how strong our road is" Kumar proudly claims.

The Tender SURE specifications

The Directorate Or Urban Transport, Bangalore City Connect Foundation, a platform to solve city issues, and India Urban Space Foundation have published Tender SURE, a planning and design standards for urban roads. The specification also includes processes related to procurement and execution. The document is available on the India Urban Space Foundation website.

Tender SURE specifications are used for construction of new arterial and sub arterial roads. For local roads resurfacing works for local roads, BBMP refers to the guidelines book.

The Tender SURE document is inclusive and looks at urban roads as "the stage where the tableau of urban society can share space equitably - pedestrians, cyclists, hawkers, buses, motorists". The recommended design is based

The easy-to-make gauge that can measure the depth of the road. Taken by Shamala

Kittane

Guides and Primers


on City Connect's experience in designing Vittal Mallya Road and Walton Road in Bangalore, says V Ravichandar of City Connect.

Tender SURE currently is not planned as a citizen monitored road. Ravichandar however says, "we would love it if that can be enabled. What we have pushed for is an independent third party professional audit as part of the project.". B. T. Ramesh, Chief Engineer (Roads), BBMP concurs.

The recent state budget has allotted 200 crores (maybe revised to 310 crores to include BWSSB works) of Tender SURE roads. And five roads in Metro Reach-1 between MG Road and Byappanahalli will use the Tender Sure standards." according to Ravichandar and that puts 50 roads (arterial and subarterial) on the Tender SURE list.

Lessons

The coming together of the neighbourhood to participate in

the monitoring activity of the road construction led to the formation of an active representative group that regularly interacted with the corporator and other government agencies. This had other benefits as well.

Some neglected areas lacked properly metalled roads, drains, foot-paths, water supply & underground drainage; these areas were provided for by the efforts of the group.Grape garden, Anjaneyappa garden, Kuttiappa garden, Sundari

memorial school area, Gundappa Gowda block,Venkatappa garden,Muneshwara block, Ashwini Layout,Venugopalasawamy Layout, Nadugatta,Jakkasandra and S.T. bed layout saw improvement.

The PROOF (Public Record of Operations & Finances) campaign that involved scrutiny of BBMP budgetary allocations and expenditure was started during 2002-03; this was used to analyse the BBMP budget and give inputs to BBMP every quarter. Later on, it

The easy-to-make gauge that can measure the depth of the road. Taken by Shamala

Kittane

The design for a 8m and 9m local roads. Picture taken from tender SURE document.

Tender SURE design for Local road of 8m (which is the case presented above) to include Travel line (tl) and footpaths on either side

Guides and Primers


became a half-yearly review, but was eventually discontinued due to the objections from Corporators as well as officials of BBMP to the campaign.

The group also Initiated monthly review meetings between residents and officials from various departments such as BWSSB, BESCOM, BMTC and the Police. This cumulative effort helped in timely resolution of issues within the ward.

As a result of the regular interaction in 2003, a document detailing issues concerning various departments like BWSSB, BESCOM, BMTC, POLICE was compiled as a part of the ‘ward vision' exercise. Some of the issues covered in this vision document were: door to door garbage collection system, proper channels for storm/rainwater and sewage water, installation of distribution transformers to avoid low voltage, increase in frequency of BMTC buses from Ejipura and Koramangala to different destinations.

Kumar informed Citizen Matters that this was brought to the notice of the then Mayor P.R. Ramesh who did not take any action on the ward vision documents presented by 10 wards. However, they followed up with individual departments and were successful in accomplishing the objective of making Ejipura as one of the well developed wards.

"This is ideally how Ward Committees should work. They should work alongside BBMP to draw up long-term plans (5-year period) for every ward addressing the need for various civic amenities & infrastructure like roads, storm water drains, underground drains, water supply, rain water harvesting, traffic management etc. These can be finalised by the BBMP in consultation with all stakeholders," Kumar points out. An approach of this sort works best rather than filing

complaints against executed plans which we did not bother becoming a part of.

Kumar himself has taken away several interesting learnings from his experience of working with the government.Through this exercise, he learnt the importance of being aware of the powers and functions of MPs, MLAs, Ministers, corporators and the officials of the corporators; knowing all of this could save one a lot of effort and time.

Interestingly, he cautions "Spouses of the Corporator should be kept out. Resident committees should refuse to recognize them or deal with spouses of the corporator. They are unelected and unaccountable, and could be a source of great mischief."

According to Kumar, "Our attempts at Participatory governance did not bring unalloyed

success and produced only mixed results. However our experience holds many useful lessons." And of course, a very well done job on a road!

Shamala Kittane Subramanyan is a freelance

writer and cycle enthusiast.

Urban roads are classified into five categories according to the Tender Sure (Specifications for Urban Roads Execution) document 2011:1) Arterial : These are high trip density corridors like the ring roads that would connect the business hubs to residential areas. Roads connecting National Highways, State Highways also fall under this category.2) Sub arterial Roads: relatively lower density of traffic.3) Collector Roads: They aggregate traffic from local road networks within residential neighbourhoods, commercial roads, and industrial areas and link this to sub arterial and arterial roads. High volumes of traffic.4) Local Roads: These form the access networks for individual dwellings and residential developments. Majority of trips in urban areas originate from and terminate here. Such roads must allow for streamlined parking and safe and comfortable cyclist and pedestrian movement. Heavy traffic and commercial traffic must be restricted on these roads with adequate traffic calming measures designed for each street and intersection.5) Sub-local streets / Access streets (conservancies): In some of Bangalore’s older neighbourhoods such as Chamrajpet, Basavanagudi and Malleshwaram narrow lanes were reserved as conservancies and used for utilities such as drainage, sewage and in the recent past for electrical poles and transformers. Over time these are being used as access roads for parts of properties facing the conservancies.

Guides and Primers


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The city’s new ‘sky-kissing’ clock tower cost the exchequer all of Rs 90 lakh, but whose needs does it really address?

If you live within three km of South End circle, you have good news

- you can throw away your wall clocks and wrist-watches, for the city administration has now put in place for you a fancy timekeeper, a 61 foot high ‘sky-kissing', ambara chumbana clock tower at the traffic intersection that chimes out the hour, every hour.

With elections approaching, perhaps those sitting in decision-making kursis felt that just as the rural raitaru have been promised free electricity and other handouts, we the educated urban citizens too needed some goodies and gifts, so that we do not feel left out. And what better gift, than a showpiece clock tower, since we do not need fertilisers or subsidised pesticides or electricity to irrigate our fields?

Costing all of Rs 90 lakh, this showpiece -- the state's tallest clock -- is meant to make life sweeter for us. Visually and aurally. It not only chimes out the hours but even changes colour through the week — if it is yellow, it must be Thursday,

misPLaced Priorities oF GoVernance

rejoice bengaluru, your ‘big ben’ is Here!

Jayanagar clock tower. Pic: Anush Shetty


so you can throw away your new calendars too.Step a few metres to the south and north of this

intersection, and you have rubble strewn all along the roads and pavements, thanks to the Metro line work that has been going on around South End for some years now, turning the once-green-and-pastoral-and-peaceful neigbourhood into one massive dust bowl. (There used to be so much open space and greenery around South End when I was a new bride, five decades ago, that it used to look desolate).

Take a poll today, and you will find that the incidence of respiratory ailments among residents here has shot up significantly over the last three years since the Metro construction began, but now a chiming public clock can take our minds off our asthma and coughs. Ninety lakhs is perhaps a small price to pay, for such public diversions, almost a son-e'lumiere, sound and light show, like they have in Paris and London.

Paris reminds me -- remember the French queen Mary Antoinette, who said, when told that the janata were unhappy because they had no bread to eat, "Let ‘em eat cake" ? She was beheaded for her insensitivity. But that was in the bad old days of monarchy. We are a modern democracy, where governance is "by the people, for the people, of the people" as we all learned from our social studies textbooks in school.

Ah, the people -- that reminds me again, where were the people for whom this swanky clock tower has been put up using taxpayers' money? The Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) of the area were not invited to the inauguration ceremony on Saturday February 23, forget about their being consulted on the clock project before it was undertaken.

Getting them on board for deciding what they would want, could cause hassles, you see -- RWAs have a way of raising uncomfortable questions, like "If you have Rs 90 lakhs to spend, why don't you use it to improve the pavements in these blocks, repair the potholes, and remove rotting rubbish from the roadside and install garbage bins?"

These ‘concerned citizens' do not understand the value and importance of ‘image'. A city that can boast of the tallest clock in the state acquires an image, people will come from all over to see and marvel over this structure that the state government has put up, even tourists will flock to see it after they have done the mandatory tours of Lalbagh and the Bull temple.

As for garbage and potholes, they are always there,

why not help people take their minds off such dreary dimensions of their daily lives, by giving them something new, something fancy? Like cake, instead of bread.

As BJP leader Ananthakumar put it at the inaugural function, the tall clock tower is proof that we have "development 24X7" -- and the hourly chimes will

be a constant reminder of that fact (never mind if those chimes disturb the concentration of a child preparing for the forthcoming annual examinations, or the sleep of an exhausted senior citizen having a siesta.) And never mind if the 20 second conch sound that the clock makes hourly, is seen as a "nuisance" by some residents. Conch, you see, is part of our ancient rituals of

Hindu prayers, and reviving our heritage and traditional customs is what development is all about, at least the way the ruling party sees it.

The clock also gives us something more to divert ourselves with - you can have fun placing bets about how long the chimes will work, how soon the ‘daily colours' will stop functioning, when the first breakdown is likely to be. All this fun and diversion, for just Rs 90 lakhs. Good value for money, wouldn't you say? Filling potholes with that amount, or providing garbage bins, doesn't have the same glamour and diversionary value, right ?

I live within three km of South End. And I hate the sound of conches, somehow it reminds me of gloomy, sad observances; its cadences carry a dimension of desolation, perhaps because of a childhood association with a visit to a temple where a bull was being prepared for butchering, to the accompaniment of the blowing of conches. I don't particularly look forward to the sound of the conch from this modern clock tower -- except that mercifully, in the pervasive din that the traffic around South End raises, the sound of the conch doesn't reach me indoors.

And as they tell me, at the police station and corporation offices, as a senior citizen I am "better off staying indoors." That's Bengaluru for you, in the twenty first century...

SaKuntala naraSimhan is a Jayanagar based writer, musician and consumer activist.

And never mind if the 20 second conch sound that the clock makes hourly, is seen as a “nuisance” by some residents.

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oPinion

The stage is set. December 2009: A 100 people ask to Empower

Lokayukta and remove Section 19 of Prevention of Corruption Act.

March 2010: Bangalore records <40% voting in the BBMP elections. None of the citizen candidates win.

December 2010: 900 people join the Corruption Saaku! rally on UN Anti Corruption Day. Saaku! was the top trending topic on Twitter.

Jan 2011: 300 people gather on MG Road in a nation wide protest seeking People's Lokpal, later rechristened Jan Lokpal

April 2011: India Against Corruption's first fast at Freedom Park. There were more police than people. On day 2, there were only 7 people on the fast.

August 2011: Thousands of people flock to Freedom Park every day making it the second largest city for IAC after Delhi. Students, Senior Citizens, School children, Unions, Business leaders, Freedom fighters.

Dec 2011: Lokpal draft diluted. Toothless bill tabled. The IAC movement fizzles out.

June 2012: Bangalore MLC Graduate Elections. 300 volunteers drive 17% of city vote for citizen candidate, Ashwin Mahesh in an unprecedented wave. Traditional parties take notice of a new ‘votebank' taking shape.

April 2013: The biggest dance of democracy in Karnataka. Naavu ready, neevu barteera?I've seen it all.When Loksatta first organized an Empower

Lokayukta walk in December 2009, we were a skeletal 10 people when the reporters arrived. The crowd swelled slowly to a 100 as we walked from the MS Building to MG Road, seeking more powers to Lokayukta and the removal of Section 19 of Prevention of Corruption Act that protects wrongdoers.

I've seen students from many colleges carry the Saaku baton when we did Corruption Saaku! in December 2010. I've witnessed literally thousands of people walk into Freedom Park and vent their anger by screaming Vande Maataram and, most recently I've seen thousands pour out onto the streets without any banners or leaders or brands, seeking justice for rape victims and reminding the government of their fundamental duty - safety.

All necessary, heartening and good!

However, what I haven't seen is people's participation in the institution of democracy. By participation, I do not mean voting and standing in elections. I mean taking an active role during the elections. Persuading real community leaders to contest elections, supporting them by volunteering in campaigns, getting more citizens out to vote based on candidate credentials, countering money and muscle power in elections by presenting the public service work and vision of good

Change requires participation in democratic processes, not just exercise of voting rights; as the state readies for the 2013 Assembly elections, how can you engage yourself to make a difference?

assemBLY eLections 2013

KarnataKa’s dance of democracy: naavu ready, neevu barteera?

The Corruption Saaku campaign, Dec 2010


candidates, taking the message to all sections of voters and therefore helping throw out the current lot of lousy politicians.

The only vehicle of real change in a democratic society is politics. In India, politics itself is in dire need of change. Three elements in society need to converge to drive this change:

A voter base that is frustrated with the current lot of politicians and malgovernance.

Inspiring candidates who have an impressive public service record and the credentials

to become lawmakers and represent us.

Effective campaigns that connect the candidate with every single voter in person and change the debate from caste to resume in how the electorate casts its vote.I was proud to be the campaign

manager for NS Ramakanth in the BBMP 2010 elections and for Dr. Ashwin Mahesh in 2012 Bangalore Graduate MLC elections. And having managed election campaigns and experienced election cycles in their full glory, I can say that we often fall

short in #3.Elections in India are often

referred to as the biggest Dance of Democracy. Democracy is not a spectator sport, it is a Do It Yourself kit. And if we don't do it, it will not be done.

Come April 2013, Karnataka will host, what might well be, the dance of the decade! A state reputed for advances in technology, higher education, diversity, natural beauty, cultural glory, peace and harmony is now battered by a string of corruption scams and led by people that have elevated the looting of

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public wealth into a fine art. We have all kinds of jokers masquerading as leaders and unleashing billions of rupees into the election marketplace with impunity.

Today's election campaigns have been reduced to shouting "..."Zindabad" and "Vote for..." in massive rallies, where paid people are mobilized as a show of support. The leader of the party makes generous promises, the candidate stands glittering on the dais with duly folded hands and everyone goes home smiling with a fat pocket having left behind plenty of trash

and traffic.A real election campaign in a

democracy is about persuading voters by getting the core message of the candidate and the party out.

Why should you seriously consider voting for her?

What does he stand for and what experience and skill does he possess?

Does the party of the candidate align with your values?

Election campaign work includes message creation, brand building, marketing collateral preparation, grass roots activities, field work, communication via traditional as well as electronic media, raising funds in a transparent manner, co-ordinating volunteer activity, management, accounting, data gathering, data analysis, vendor relationships, geography and demographics and representing the candidate.

It is a legitimate project, with objectives, success criteria, metrics, project resourcing, skills building, management, budget and

deadlines. It is not about rhetoric. It's not about loudspeakers violating your ears. And it is certainly not about beer and biryani.

I hereby ask my fellow citizens of Bangalore and Karnataka: Are you ready to set aside the candles and come join the inspiring citizen campaigns for the 2013 Assembly elections? Are you ready to put down your placards and protests and perform the dance of democracy?

To reiterate, democracy is not a spectator sport, it is a Do It Yourself kit. If we don't do it, it will not be done. We need you to perform this dance. Naavu ready, neevu barteera?

SrinivaS alavilli is a software professional and passionate

about governance and politics. as a member of loksatta party,

he believes that true change is possible when we change

the politicial culture and the players. Srinivas is one of the

founders of 'Corruption Saaku!' movement in bangalore.

Srinivas Alavilli with his campaign team. Courtesy: Srinivas Alavilli

Bangaloreans fasting indefinitely at Freedom Park to support Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption crusade, April 2011. File pic.

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Voices

Consider the following scenario. You are the parent of a five

year old. You want your child to get quality education. Since you have decided to go for an English medium school, government schools are ruled out. You feel that without quality English medium schooling, your child will not have the education and therefore the opportunity to do well in life. So you approach all the reputed English medium schools that you can and secure your child's admission in one of them.

Believable, right? A parent is never willing to send his or her child to low-cost private school when he or she has the means to send the child to an expensive private school. The question is one of ability and not of willingness.

Consider another scenario. You have to travel to another city on an overnight journey by train. Would you choose to go by sleeper class or AC class? Since you have decided you need to be able to sleep comfortably during the journey, general class is ruled out. You decide to travel by sleeper class.

Believable, right? High-quality education is often considered a necessity but high-quality travel, a luxury.

As individuals, we often get our priorities right. As a group

of individuals, we often get them wrong. There are many low-cost private schools in our neighborhoods which provide low-quality education. It is an unfortunate skew of our priorities as a group that we are able to build high-quality, low-cost metros for intra-city travel but are not able to provide high-quality, low-cost education to all. Low-cost, high-quality education is the passport for a large majority of children to economically and emotionally secure futures. Without that, we are building a society which is foundationally weak since a poorly educated workforce is a poorly-functioning and ill-productive workforce.

Can we, as a group, do something to ensure that the basic necessities of life can be met with high quality services? This is actually the responsibility of the state, but when the state does not fulfill its obligations, others have to step up and fill the gap. The other entity could be a business, it could be a not-for-profit organization, or it could be an academic institution. Of course, these entities do not enjoy the same scale as the state but they often have better processes and better culture in place, at least in our country.

So what exactly can these non-

government entities do? Quite a bit, actually. Businesses can adopt low-cost private schools and support them in focused, result-oriented ways. Specifically, they can:

Support teacher salaries at government pay scales at a bare minimum. Typically these schools pay teacher salaries well below government pay scales. Businesses can step up to fill the salary gap as part of their corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Support teacher training programs. NGOs provide long term teacher training programs of one to two years' duration which have been shown to measurably improve student performance.

Evaluate student performance through independent student assessment agencies. These assessments should be held at least twice during the school year: at the beginning and at the end of the year.

Support student performance through supporting employee engagement with the students in the form of after-school student tutoring in the employees' neighborhoods.

The reason for focusing effort on empowerment of teachers is that a great teacher can bring about up to three standard deviations of improvement in performance

aFFordaBiLitY Vs QuaLitY in education

wHat you can do to ensure excellent education for allWhat can guarantee affordable, yet quality education for all? A citizen is looking to implement some key measures across ten low-cost private schools in Bangalore.


in Focus

as compared to other factors such as improving school infrastructure, using more resources in the classroom, changing student-to-teacher ratio which usually bring about improvements of a fraction of a standard deviation.

An example where this experiment has been successfully implemented is the set of Navyug schools in New Delhi. Navyug School is described as an experimental school for the talented children from economically weaker section of the society and is free; The students and the teachers go through a rigorous screening procedure, placing these schools at par with any good private school in India. (Src:Wikipedia)

I am taking up a project called Eklavya to make excellence in education a reality in ten low-cost private schools in Bangalore. If you know a recipient school or a donor individual, business or NGO to help achieve this, please contact me and I would be happy to help or receive your help.

If you are part of an education-related NGO or a company CSR initiative, will you take up the challenge of creating a well-educated and productive society through excellence in education at low-cost private schools? Will you unlock the full potential of a thousand minds? The choice is yours.

an engineer by profession, aJay Gupta has a fondness

for, and also teaches mathematics, yoga and

running. he volunteers with asha for education,

bangalore chapter.

Traditional or new age designs, the sari is celebrated as one of the most versatile garments, that suits every slender or sizable figure.The transformation in saree-designing has seen a rapid ‘renaissance'

in the past decade, thanks to the innovative skills of gifted creators and designers. The ‘Desi Drape', a global fashion symbol today, is now available in a stylish array of designs and in an all new ‘ready to wear' mode! Many of the creators and leading designers are women entrepreneurs, working on making Bengaluru the new- age designer-saree capital of the South.

Celebrity designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee's version of the saree for Bollywood has certainly given the saree industry a much needed shot in the arm. The fashion market in Bengaluru is buzzing with professionally qualified, artistic, young women, reaching out to a global audience with their latest creations on this front.

Every independent designer has an interesting success story to share. Says Neeta Rajendran, the CEO and founder of SAKHI FASHIONS, a designer

Latest FasHion trends

designer sarees rule bangalore’s fasHion landscape

A host of designer ventures focusing on chic and novel forms of the desi drape reveal the latest rage in the city’s fashion circles.

A pink & gold delicate-designer blouse with intricate hand embroidery from Bhuvi’s creations.


in Focus

saree manufacturer and exporter, "The saree is a versatile, timeless, sensuous and constantly evolving garment ... a bigger canvas for a tip to toe display." Neeta is a qualified designer from the National Institute of FashionTechnology and runs the business with her mom, Chandra Rajendran. SAKHI primarily specialises in the ‘Kanchivaram,' designed in a trendy, easy-to-wear format for the younger generation. Neeta says they are now flooded with orders from across the globe for their ready-to-wear, pre-pleated sarees.

Neeta and Chandra began with a single boutique about a decade ago, today they have two show rooms in Bangalore's Jayanagar and Indiranagar and another in Hyderabad; their new shop is due to open in Sadashivanagar. Their store houses a new range of Kanchivaram ‘queen of silks' collection, enriched with crafts such as cut work and Kalamkari as well as creations in tussar, crepe, etc.

Prices of designer Kanchivaram sarees range from Rs. 8000 for a simple one up to Rs. 45,000 for a bridal Kanchivaram special with heavy bead work and pure gold zari. The designs include ‘Concept sarees', the ‘PatliPallu', (with pleats appearing in 3 different shades), the ‘Half and Half' concept , the ‘peacock cut-work sarees'.

******Another entrepreneur is Bhuvi

Kilpady, the founder of 'MAPLE'. The boutique housed in her Malleswaram home was started after the former home-maker attended a short course in women's entrepreneurship. At present, more than 20 workers and tailors work in her enterprise. She is now forced to expand her limited business range owing to huge demand For her grand and glittery blouse creations. Her handloom designer sarees,

Indo-Western designer sarees (a mix of Chiffon and georgette) with mix-and-match blouses, and bridal wear are a prime choice with buyers.

******Another flourishing boutique

that's tucked away in the quieter part of Mahalakshmipuram is ‘VIRGO'. Priya Wodeyar and her older sibling Lakshmi Wodeyar, have transformed their once-spacious home on the ground floor into a successful little shop. Their designer boutique has a mix of customised sarees, latest formal wear, kurtis and salwars. The work-shop in the first floor houses workers who deal with the designing and embroidery. Their mother Rekha, who ran a play school earlier, supported her daughters in this enterprise and Priya is a qualified designer from the Royal school of fashion.

At Virgo, old, pure silk sarees are also customised to the likes of individual clients into totally new designer wear. They also

take special orders in making ‘bridal trousseau' (designing bridal ghaghras). The owners do not plan to expand at the moment, as they are currently focussed on keeping up their consistency in quality. "Entrepreneurship is a great

The SR 0201 amazing Multi concept Kanchi saree. Pic courtesy: Sakhi

Neeta with mother and mentor, Chandra. Pic courtesy: Neeta


in Focus

opportunity for women today," says Rekha. "I had struggled to begin my play school years ago, but with financial offers from many banks and professional courses to train youngsters today, independent ventures like ours are not just dream projects anymore."

"The market for fashion and design is on the up" says Priya, "My clientiele is increasing and I find it hard to take even a week off from work!" The Wodeyars also supply all the waste materials from their boutique to an NGO called ‘MITU'(Multiple Initiatives Towards Upliftment) that employs women workers to make arty cloth envelopes, hand bags and so on.

******Young buyers and the elite

seem extremely pleased with the professional service at many of these boutiques and the good value for money they get at these. "My daughter is very choosy about what she wears at every occasion," says

Ranjani, mother of a young lawyer whom I met at one of these places.

"Customised sarees are a good option for any festive or social gathering" feels the daughter. "They are well - designed to suit each person and the designers always come out with the best suggestions and make you feel great!"

The designers too give importance to customers' needs. "We are present at all our branches to take care of our customers personally," says Neeta. In fact, Sakhi also organised ‘fashion shows' and ‘coffee mornings' to launch a new range of ‘terracotta jewellery' to go with designer sarees, owing to a rising demand from many of their customers.

Bhuvi feels immensely rewarded in being able to lift the morale of her clients with custom designing."My clients trust me to the core and that makes me proud of my creations!"

Nishita Shetty Rao, a gynaecologist and a keen follower

of latest fashion trends feels "Designer sarees are a classy mix of tradition and modernity." According to her, customised sarees add that bit of bewitching charm, glamour and oomph in parties - probably much more than what western wear can offer!

But how did this trend catch on? Mrs Subbarao, a long-time resident of Bengaluru is quick to note, "Designer sarees were popularised by some of the Bollywood movies like ‘Hum SaathSaathHain'..." Creative designer Mark Jacob's collection too featured Kanchivaram and Benares brocades to create western gowns, recalls Neeta adding, "Kareena Kapoor wore a saree transformed into a dress for her ‘Vogue' feature."Sakhi's Kanchivaram designer wear has been a top choice with southern movie star Roja and Kiron Kher, at various awards functions.

Priya feels Ektaa Kapoor's soaps on prime-time TV boosted the designer saree market. Aishwarya Bachchan's penchant for the 6-yard-drape was a super hit at Cannes 2012.

Western Fashion is most certainly charming. Nevertheless, the ‘Desi Drape' in its myriad fabrics and classy craft-forms is now vying for attention not just from the younger generation, but also from celebrity designers, the world over. Thanks to some great work in creative designing, the designer drape is the in-thing in the world of fashion today. Bengaluru, the ‘designer saree capital', looks all set to go ‘big' in creating and marketing this style of women's wear.

anuradha SrinivaSan

Bhuvi Kilpady in her own creation - designer blue cotton-silk with Zaribhuttas

and an antique border.A custom-made saree from Virgo in green

and gold.


On February 23rd, residents of HSR Layout 3rd sector

got together for installation of a composting device in the Twin Park, taking another step towards responsible citizen engagement in waste management.

On 1st September, 2012, a Walkathon had been flagged off by the HSR corporator K Latha Narasimhamurthy, initiating a mission to make the neighbourhood plastic-free and implement effective segregation of garbage. However, thereafter, there was not much significant progress noted on the solid waste management front. The issue, in general, turned big for Bangalore which turned into Garbage City, as we saw everyday in the daily newspapers and on TV.

Members of the 3rd Sector Welfare Society geared up to the marathon task of initiating waste segregation and tried to ensure segregation through door to door campaigns, distribution of pamphlets, SMSes and e-mails to educate residents about the importance of adopting the system.

Social activists, Karunaprasad Kanavi, Dr Shanthi and others contributed their time and energy for this noble cause. The drive gained further momentum in the Layout as the Federation of HSR Layout took initiative to pass on the spirit and raise awareness among all the sector associations, so that they too geared up the campaign in their respective sectors in larger public interest.

On 18th February, 2013, H Jannappa, the new joint commissioner of BBMP,

Bommanahalli Zone piloted a practical campaign on disposal of garbage by organising a demo by different agencies dealing in various compost devices. This meet, held at the HSR BDA Complex, emphasised the need to stop mixing waste. It showed to a larger audience that it was possible to utilize wet waste and convert it into garden manure in any scale - even at home, through the devices kept readily for demonstration.

This event impressed the residents and the RWAs, and they were enthused by the thought of having one of these devices to convert garbage into garden manure; perhaps, more so, as they were already fed up with garbage contractors who failed to execute proper door to door collection of wet and dry garbage. Many residents had complained that the BBMP collecting agency itself was mixing wet and dry garbage, thus worsening the process of management of solid waste.

Among the composting machines exhibited were Greentechlife Easy Indoor

Composters, MorpH and EPOS Alternative Solution Compost Shredder. We preferred the MorpH manual compost device, which converts wet waste into garden manure which is a must for the park in which we planned to install it. Thus, on the morning of February 23rd, we organised installation of the device in the 3rd Sector Twin Park, presided over by Latha Narasimhamurthy and H Jannappa.

There were no red carpets or garlands, no puja or rituals......it was a simple, no-frills, developmental activity with the primary objective of demonstrating the functioning of the compost device installed. Residents were impressed and they feel proud now to bring their kitchen waste to the park from neighbouring houses and put it into the device as instructed, in a systematic manner with smiles on their faces.

h m Javali is General Secretary, 3rd Sector Welfare Society

(regd) & Secretary General of the Federation of hSr layout

rWas.

LocaL matters

citiZen initiatiVe in Waste seGreGation

Hsr residents set example in community compostingResidents of the 3rd sector now take their kitchen waste to a compost device that was recently installed in the neighbourhood Twin Park.

The composter at HSR Layout. Pic courtesy: Shrinivas Hegde


HeritaGe

When I was looking recently at some old books at home,

I came across a guide book on Bangalore. It was published in 1956 by Satyaprakash and Company. In the preface, it says " The necessity of a proper guide book to the city of Bangalore need hardly be emphasized. The importance of Bangalore ...is greatly increased. This city of 'long distances' is growing industrially and commercially.."

I have tried represent the city of that time and have included some photos and quoted lines from the book.

Bangalore in 1956

The most interesting part of the book is the map shown in Pic #1. It is not to scale. Do not search for places like Indiranagar, Koramangala, Sadashivanagar, JP Nagar or Vijaynagar. They were not even

thought of, at that point of time. You will find Jayanagar and Rajajinagar. Well, they were just names then. Some people had settled down here and there in those localities. Of course, the central part of the city has remained almost the same.

South Bangalore

‘South End' was really the southern end of the city. Nimhans, which had its beginning in a place

BanGaLore in tHe 1950s

a time wHen ‘soutH end’ was really bangalore’s soutHern endThe 50’s was a time when ‘Mental Hospital ‘ was the southeastern corner of the city. When milkmen used to deliver milk to homes. Masala Dosa cost 25 paisa, … but the ‘Vrishabhavati’ was already starting to get polluted.

Kalasipalyam bus stand: the place from which all buses started, looks quite nice; as everybody knows, today the place is chaotic and full of filth.


known those days as 'Mental Hospital ' was the southeastern corner of the city. The Bangalore Dairy did not exist. I remember that milkmen used to deliver milk to homes. Then as one went eastward (probably on mud roads), there was nothing at all until one reached the Madiwala village. The man who was to fill that part of the city and still further with a lot of 'Information' was probably still a schoolboy in Mysore at that time.

North, Northwest and North East

The Indian Institute of Science and Yeshwantpur marked the northwestern border of the city. Palace Orchards in the north central area was exactly what the name implies and not a place for mammoth gatherings as it is today . The Cantonment area (nobody uses that word now a days) with MG Road, Brigade Road , Commercial street , Cox Town etc were the northeastern and northcentral parts.

In the northwest, Rajajinagar was getting its first settlers. Mysore Road was the western boundary and the only Vijayanagar one knew at that time was in Hampi . There were many farms between Byatarayanapura (near the present satellite bus stand) and Kengeri. There was also the river ‘Vrishabhavati' which was already getting polluted. As one went towards Mysore, a big tank signalled the entry to Kengeri. Kumbalagodu was a village and Bidadi was just another small station on the Bangalore-Mysore railroad.

As for its population, no hard numbers are given and it is said to be around one million. The area of the city is given as 40 square miles. This means the maximum distance between any two places was about ten kilometers. There were a total of nine postal zones. The telephone numbers were in four digits. For example, the number for Police was

4444 and the Railways 3000. Even the personal phone number (2538) of the Chief Minister was listed! I remember that our telephone number was 2842 for a long time.

Transport

The guide book says that cycles are the common mode of

conveyance. The total number of BTC (Bangalore Transport Corporation) routes was around 42.

Route No 1 ran from City Market to Yediyur terminus (South end) and Route No 42 from Majestic Circle to Rajaji Nagar. There were ‘Sundays only' services to some 'far off' areas like Hebbal, Jalahalli and Banaswadi.

HeritaGe


Auto rickshaws allowed only two passengers and the charges were four annas (1/4 of a rupee) for one mile. Horse-drawn jutkas also charged the same amount for a mile but four people could sit in it. Taxis charged double this amount for the same distance .

I remember that a masala dosa

would cost 25-30 paise. It is about Rs 30 today, a factor of 100 increase compared with an auto fare increase of about 70.

The speed limit was 30 mph for cars (48 kmph) . On some other roads like Old Madras Road this was restricted to 10 mph (16 kmph). It is probably same today because of the

huge traffic.

Going out of town

The guide book has details of outstation buses, trains and planes. There were only seven direct buses between Bangalore and Mysore. The farthest the Government buses went was to Harihar and Tirupati.

HeritaGe

The Puttanachetty Town hall looks splendid in isolation; today it is dwarfed by other buildings.


oPinion


oPinion

The broad gauge trains were only six and they were all Bangalore-Madras trains. The narrow gauge from Bangalore to Bangarapet via Nandi etc took eight hours to cover a distance of around 80 kilometers.

Airfare from Bangalore to Bombay was Rs 285 (return); today, the fare has gone up by a factor of 30-40. The flight time from Madras to Bangalore was one hour and ten minutes.

Eat out, Movies, Shopping

There were a total of 32 cinema theatres in Bangalore. The number of ' western type' hotels was six! West end Hotel was probably the most well known . There were also the Shilton Hotel.

There is a long list of Choultries which showed many people still relied on them. The Thotadappa Choultry near the railway station was quite well known.

As for shops and manufacturers, most were listed under postal zones of Bangalore One and Two - the City market/Majestic area and the Cantonment area.

United Breweries are listed under Aerated Water manufacturers. There was a shop for guns called GUNCRAFT on South Parade (Today's MG Road) .If you wanted hats, you had a choice of four shops, two of which are Sri Rama Cap mart and Imperial Hat Works.

Some other well known shops were Ms Saleh Ahmed (Furniture), T Ramarao and Khaleel - (Clocks), Muller Paten (Medicine), Addison and George Oakes (Automobiles), International Book House and Higginbothams (Books), Bata and Casino (Footwear), Spencers (General merchandise), Mulani and Lawrence and Mayo (Spectacles), EGK amd GK Vales (Photo goods), Officers Wear Depot (Tailoring) and Ram Mohan (Travel). There are several agarbathi (perfume stick) manufacturers too.

Water Supply

The book says " The water supply is provided from two lakes - Hesaraghatta lake and Thippagondanahalli. The supply was nearly 11 million gallons per day" . This is about 10 gallons i.e. about 35 litres per

capita per day. Today's BWSSB supply is said to be 900 million litres (238 million gallons). Therefore the city is getting a factor of 20 increase in water. Since the population has gone up by a factor of only 7-10, the excess water is probably for industries and factories.

It is important to note that the book says, "Until a couple of decades ago, it was popularly known as the ‘pensioners' paradise'". The point it makes is that Bangalore had already left its pleasant past by the 1950s and was on its way to become a modern vibrant city.

(I had written a blog 'EARLY DAYS IN BEAN TOWN' five years ago in Citizen Matters. This guide book corroborates many of the observations in that blog)

palahalli viShWanath

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