Elections 2014 - Manifesto for Bengaluru !

kbsyed61 - 12-MAR-2014

Come April 17th, people of Bengaluru city along with other districts across the state will be exercising their right to elect their political representatives to represent them in the temple of largest democracy - Parliament.

Bangalore's Development - Who is incharge?

kbsyed61 - 18-OCT-2013

Since the new government has taken charge, no week passes without hearing some news or the other about new works to develop Bengaluru city.

Source - The Hindu

State Govt to develop towns around Bengaluru- Better late than never!

kbsyed61 - 23-JUL-2013

If news paper reports is to be believed, state government is slowly realizing that, it is in the public interest that towns around Bengaluru are developed.

Source - Deccan Herald

2013 Karnataka State Budget - What's in for Bangalore?

kbsyed61 - 8-FEB-2013

Today, Shri. Jagadish Shettar, CM, Government of Karnataka presented his maiden and last budget before the state elections slated in Mid-April. Tried to collect some details on what is being doled out to improvements in Bangalore. Here is a summary list that was published in Deccan Herald.

Where is the city headed?

idontspam - 1-JUL-2011

Nobody has clue how 2020 or 2030 Bangalore Transportation should be MADE to look. Remember this is different from how it will look if left to go on like now.

Re-Imagining the World-Class City

chris.kurian - 18-NOV-2010

The Indian Institute for Human Settlements [www.iihs.ac.in] announces an Institute on 'Re-Imagining the World-Class City' at Bengaluru from the 3rd to the 9th of January 2011.

Bengaluru Green Belt

idontspam - 25-JUL-2010

 Browsing through all the posts under the topic of living->environment, I was surprised to find no material around green belt or plan for urban forests etc. Discovered that the so called green topics on this site, are reflex reactions to posts on the traffic & road widening threads. Thought of digging into this concept of green belt which existed in Ramakrishna Hegde's time.

Forced into jay-walking

murali772 - 23-JUN-2010

Today, I had this strange experience. I had been invited to this meeting convened by Mr A Ravindra, advisor to the CM on urban issues, at the instance of the Bangalore Environment Trust, on the matter of 'road-widening', at 3.30 PM at the Vikas Soudha (On what transpired at the meeting, I will post separately - nothing too earth-shaking, though).

I reached well ahead of time, parked my car in the paid parking lot in the Cubbon park, near the library, and walked upto the Vikas Soudha main-gate. But, to reach the main gate, I had to cross the busy Vidhan Veedhi. There was a convenient pedestrian crossing, with signal lights, though the zebra markings had mostly got obliterated. The signal was showing red as I reached it, and the law-abiding citizen that I like to be seen to be, I waited for it to turn green, even as many people were crossing all over, darting through the speeding traffic. After some patient waiting, it suddenly occurred to me that a whole new cycle had started, even as the pedestrian signal had remained red right through.

A blessing or a curse?

psaram42 - 4-JUN-2010

 The Global Investors Meet (GIM) which concluded on Friday the 4^th June 2010, has thrown up a new monitory scale of lakh crore. With the all too common inflation this is no surprise. It can expand to infinity. The Tata nano has started its production line, when there is no parking space in metros like New Delhi, Bangalore etc.  Unfortunately the space on the planet earth is limited however much we wish it is not true.

Killing the golden goose?

murali772 - 21-MAY-2010

India is the world's most competitive telecommunications market. But, the 3G spectrum auction is going to land things as a fiasco for the common man, even while it is a bonanza for the exchequer.

The outcome of the 3G spectrum auction in the UK was disastrous. The 3G network did not diffuse for a decade thereafter, because firms were broke. They had no money left to invest in infrastructure after paying for the spectrum licence and interest. The telecom firms could not generate positive cash flow from 3G activities for a decade. In fact, the principal UK telecom company, BT, sold its wireless business to pay off debts incurred to acquire 3G spectrum licences!

What happened in the UK can happen in India. The firms that have bid Rs 67,719 crore for 3G licences may not have finances left to fund infrastructure. If they borrow substantially, the combination of licence and interest costs, to be factored into pricing decisions, will make 3G services expensive or completely unaffordable. And, as everybody knows, it is low price that enables high offtake of any product or service.