Our Bangalore

When they were launched, the then Web-based and now app-based cab companies had come in as a breath of fresh air for consumers dog tired of what they were having to deal with. But just a few years down the line, many consumers are now sobering up to the contention that they (the companies) are pretty much like the errant auto-wallahs and callous taxi-drivers that they had promised to replace. Not a day goes by without an adverse report on these cab companies, be it Meru or Ola, be it Uber or...

Statistics of road accidents in Bangalore are a classic example of what numbers can tell depending on whether you have an ulterior motive in interpretation, or just want to look at figures dispassionately. Contrary to the popular notion that road safety scenario is worsening in the city, the situation has actually been improving over the years. Marginally yes, but improving nevertheless. The numbers are actually going down All the data that we had at our disposal were the six columns of numbers...

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has staved off an immediate political crisis by asking for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the lottery scandal, but his worries are far from over. Barely two months after the state government had knocked at the CBI’s doors to ensure that there was a fair probe into the mysterious death of IAS officer DK Ravi, little could Siddaramiah have imagined that he would again have to seek the help of the country's top investigating agency to...

There is something surreal about the way people – from politicians to citizens – have been reacting to two incidents: the order of the National Green Tribunal penalising two real estate developers for unauthorised constructions in the city's lakes, and the frothing over of Varthur lake. The decay and obliteration of Bangalore's lakes is not news, and neither are the reactions of one and sundry. The outrage is misplaced, since it seems politicians and real estate developers are the only ones...

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who completed two years in office on Wednesday, will find the going get tougher by the day. Two elections are looming large on the horizon, and neither augurs well. The first is a prestige issue. The state government has been directed by the Supreme Court to hold elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) within August 5, something that Siddaramaiah has been stalling for a while. Being asked to hold elections, itself, is a loss of face for...