COMMENTS

@Muralidhar , There should be option in Praja for voting on a perticular subject, which will be open to voting for one week or so. Only 2/3 majority should be considered as consensus to be pursued further. If one voting fails such issue should not be post for voting for at least say 6 months. Otherwise there will be always dissent and no "consensus" can be achieved.

Another voting tactics is initially giving multiple options, later only top 2 voted options going for voting again. In the final voting the issue should get 2/3 majority.

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@rackstar - good suggestion.

Shall we setup a detailed poll to collect opinion on Local governance bill (draft). If 20-30 of us can get 10-20 of our friends to take the poll, we will have decent sized sample set (300+) to check prajagale's opinion on the draft.

Outline of the poll

Do you like the idea of directly elected Mayor.

• Yes
• no

What issues do you see with concept of nominated members?

• no issues - its a good idea to get quality people involved,
• nominations can be bought (like Rajya Sabha seats),
• nominated members don't guarantee quality

What is the top problem with current local governance setup (BBMP) - if you had pick only one of these

• BBMP lacks financial autonomy,
• Other non-elected agencies interfere (BDA, BMRDA)
• Corporators don't involve people
• Ministers interfere with BBMP functions (refer Ministers in-charge of Bangalore)
• Key areas are outside of BBMP's control - BWSSB, BMTC

Did you vote in last BBMP elections

• Yes
• No - no particular reason
• No - not happy with candidates in my area

Sounds good?

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Direct mayor is not liked by anybody, he will become dictator with veto power. The bill gives option for both direct and indirect mayor. As for BDA and BMRDA are not exactly non-elected bodies, but controlled by state govt which is elected by karnataka people, but not only by bangalore people. And as for corporators involving people i would say the otherwise that people dont contact corporator. All this are my own opinions and go as one vote.

but poll such as "did you vote in last elections" we cant take any action while outcome of other polls can be pursued. if an action gets very high support in a poll then even those who voted no also should join the cause and give basic support for the effort.

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The affairs of a cash-strapped BBMP took a nasty turn on Thursday. Mayor R Sharadamma threatened to resign after home and city in-charge minister R Ashoka downsized the mayor and deputy mayor funds. - - -  Sources said the mayor was miffed because she had made commitments to her aides that works would be taken up under her fund to benefit them.

"The minister (Ashoka) was upset that a chunk of the mayor and deputy mayor funds is being misused. The funds have been set up to meet the city's needs. The minister took objection to usage of the funds for works in the wards of the mayor and her deputy at the cost of the rest of the city," sources told TOI. - - - - Ashoka asked Sharadamma as to what inspections she had conducted before asking the commissioner to take up works under the mayor's fund.

The mayor remained incommunicado for four hours after Ashoka gave her a dressing down. - - - - Asked about Ashoka's downsizing of the fund, she said: " I do not want to speak ill of anyone. I have become mayor because of them. I will not resign".

For the full report in the ToI, click here.

Now, while the minister's pursuit towards seeking accountability from the Mayor is indeed laudable, what about his own accountability to the public as the Home and Transport minister? His is one name that appears to figure in each and every scam that we have been reading about almost on a daily basis ever since this ministry took charge, the TTMC scam being just one of them. Anyone a bit more knowledgeable than a Sharadamma (check this), I am sure, would certainly have hit back on even terms.

And, that brings us to the question of the standing of the Mayor, as well the Municipal council itself, vis-a-vis the city. The government seems happy to retain things as they are, in total violation of the spirit of the 74th amendment, so that the positions like the Mayor can be doled out to their sycophants as and when it suits them, and thereafter keep them under their thumbs. The biggest irony of it all is that then you go on to refer to them as 'worshipful'.

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That there is no consensus on the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Bill, 2010 in its present form, is clear. At a meeting held on Wednesday to discuss the Community Participation Law in the form of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, 2011, activists, representatives of RWAs, former and present members of municipalities of other districts, made it clear that they do not want the bill to be discussed, let alone be passed. The attendees of the state-level meeting on — 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (Nagarapalika Act) and Ward committees in Karnataka: Status in 2010 and future — termed the bill elitist saying it would only serve investors seeking access to the state’s resources, mainly land.

S Krishna Kumar, former advisor to the governor, suggested that authors withdraw the bill and give themselves time to reflect on the recommendations. Emphasising on planning at this stage is a misplaced priority when governance at all stages is deteriorating.

For the full report in the DNA, click here.

The event was announced on PRAJA here, and the subject has been discussed on this blog, apart from here, as also in a few other blogs. It's over 8 years since the passing of the 74th amendment (in '93), and the matter has been in the offing from then. All the same, the janata (as well as most of the panelists) that had gathered for the seminar, appeared more keen to put it off indefinitely, rather than engage in any constructive criticism. And, sensing the general mood, some of the panelists, who you would normally have expected to exercise some degree of moderation, surprisingly, turned quite strident. More and more, I find such seminars not leading anywhere, bringing again to focus the relevance of PRAJA as the right kind of platform for such extended debates. And, once some kind of a consensus has been arrived at through these debates, there can be a physical meet for finalisation, before taking the matter to the elected representatives for a last round of debate (if required), and adoption.   

Shouldn't Bengaluru be setting such a trend, particularly when it's becoming more and more difficult to convene, or arrive at any consensus, over physical meetings?
 

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