Received this mail about a great initiative – do pitch in for your areas!

The Government Civil Defense department (the dept. which runs the area Surakasha Mita scheme) has requested our support for a tree-planting drive set-to kick off this month.

The group Hasiru Usiru is set to help them in their ambitious plan to plant 50,000 saplings. The planting will happen in the next couple of weeks since the roots of tree saplings register MAXIMUM growth during end June to mid September.

We need volunteers to help in this drive. If you are interested, please contact Sheshadri – 98455 68182, prepress555@rediffmail.com or Santosh Min – 99860 37010 , santhosh_b_min@yahoo.com

The area wise planting has been planned as follows –

1. Bangalore University. 20,000 saplings
Each and every one of them are endemic like terminalia arjuna, mitragyna parviflora, Hebbiduru ,thespesia populnea etc for lakesides. albizzia procera , Gmelina arborea, putranjeeva for plains.Ficus racemosa (atti mara) and pride of india for valleys, also fancy species like saraca ashoka and of course honge jackfruit nerle etc…

2.Arekere. 10,000 saplings including bamboos and pride of india for lakeside for below areas we had to include exotics like tabebuia,mahogany, jacaranda coz no choice.

3. Rajarajeshwarinagar . 10,000 saplings

4. Jayanagar 2000 saplings.

5. KPTCL Layout, Sarjapur road , 2000 saplings

6. D J Halli 6000 and Ulsoor lake and the homeguards campus.
approx figures.

If you live around or close by, do contact the numbers mentioned!

Karnataka Wine Board had a concerted effort to promote wine tourism, a very first a three day wine festival which was organized in Lalbagh this weekend, people took this opportunity to test and buy different types of wines from leading wine manufacturers like Grover, Kinvah and Naka… (more…)

For all you Bangloreans who always wanted to have a say in shaping the city, heres your chance to be a part of it.

ABIDe, which stands for Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development Task Force is an initiative of Chief Minister, Karnataka, Mr B.S Yeddyurappa and comprises of several noted citizens and leaders who have come forward to build a better Bengaluru. Member of Parliament Mr Ananth Kumar is the Vice Chairman of ABIDe, Member of Parliament,Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar is the Convenor.
Since its inception, ABIDe members have put together a series of recommendations before the Government on specific issues
Ø  Regional Governance
Ø  Traffic and Transport
Ø  Heritage
These recommendations are contained in the reports published by ABIDe, and available online at www.abidebengaluru.in.  The recommendations also contain a blueprint for action by the government, to create rapid changes in the areas of focus.
At this juncture, the government is considering the Task Force’s recommendations to strengthen regional governance, and will very likely introduce legislation based on the recommendations in the coming months. At this time, we are keen to therefore seek the citizen’s inputs to refining the recommendations further, and to have your voice heard by the lawmakers as well. A series of public consultations is being scheduled in the city. The first such consultation will be held at the following venue:
National Games Village, Builder’s Club-Koramangala.
Date & Time: Sunday 12th July 2009 at 11 am
We hope you will attend this upcoming event, and help members of the ABIDe Task Force in gathering citizen inputs for subsequent action to build a better Bengaluru.
I look forward to seeing you this Sunday at the venue of the first public consultation.

Citizen Matters, Bangalore’s own community news magazine, is planning a local
panel discussion & interaction on “Know more about water: water harvesting, water
quality testing, water diseases and more” at JP Nagar on 11 July, Saturday morning.
The panel will have both experienced citizens and experts demonstrating simple
techniques and ideas, and taking questions from the participants. The interaction
will run for around 1.5 hours.
at JP Nagar on 11 July, Saturday at 12.00pm to 1.30pm.

The panel
Mr Nagaraj (rainwater harvesting user at Jayanagar)
Mr Navneeth (Project Engineer, Indian Institute of Science)
Mr Sharada Prasad (Argyam, water NGO)
Dr Balagangadhar (Scientist, KSPCB)
Dr Robert Joseph (St Johns Hospital)

This will be an interactive session and will run for around
90 minutes.
Venue for this event is
Magnus School of Business
13th Cross, 6th main road
J.P.Nagar 3rd Phase
Thanka & Regards
Raghavendra,
9611106477
Ops & Mktg Lead, Oorvani Media
Publisher: Citizen Matters, Bangalore’s own newsmagazine

Citizen Matters online
http://www.citizenmatters.in

Citizen Matters print
http://www.citizenmatters.in/print
15,000 copies, available in JP Nagar+BTM only

In the true spirit of creating the community of practitioners sharing their perspectives on the subject of Innovation and Creativity, every month Wipro hosts WiCamps at various cities in India. After very successfully hosting the Delhi edition of WiCamp at IIT Delhi, the camp now moves to Bangalore. These un-conference styled meeting grounds are essentially discussion forums where startups, researchers, professionals, freelancers, faculty members, students, and investors, among others, gather and further their understanding on a subject.

The current edition of WiCamp is hosted at the esteemed Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

The details of the event follow:

Theme: Green Innovations

Day and Date: Saturday, 9th May, 2009

Venue: Seminar Hall, Dept. of Management Studies, IISc Bangalore

Duration: 10:00 AM till 5:00 PM (Lunch and High Tea Included)

(more…)

The Bangalore Chapter of United Way has been set up as recently as 15th July 2008. On 7th March 2009, Saturday, 7 am, United Way of Bengaluru (UWB) has organized a Walkathon at Cubbon Park to advance its program in support of the blind, named ICARE.

Organised along with Sankara Eye Care, the ICARE Walkathon will raise funds toward corrective cataract surgery for a thousand people in Karnataka, who otherwise cannot afford it. It also aims to provide funds for preventive eye care programs for children, eye banking and corneal transplantation. Your participation
fee of Rs. 100 will help make this difference. It aims to raise funds to treat vision related problems among the poor, with no cost to them.

Details are given on the website www.uwbengaluru.org.

Do come out in support by participating in the event!

Seven attacks in ten days. In response to the recent attacks against women in the city of Bangalore, many individuals and organsiations have come together to form FEARLESS KARNATAKA or Nirbhaya Karnataka to reclaim public spaces and promote safety for all.

In the wake of a series of attacks in Mangalore (the latest one was reported on February 24, 2009), women have been targeted in the name of morality, culture and “public decency”. The attacks in Bangalore seem to be a continuation of those that took place in Mangalore and coastal Karnataka regions – even though the identity of the attackers (and the organizations they belong to) could have differed.

In an attempt to fight against the climate of fear, the Fearless Karnataka collective would like to announce the following activities:
1. A protest march to the office of Dr. Ajai Kumar Singh, DG & IGP, on March 7, 2009.
2. A ‘Take Back the Night’ campaign on March 8, 2009
3. A poster campaign asking bystanders who witness attacks on women to act

There are several other efforts, including signature campaigns, art exhibitions, etc which are happening simultaneously..
(more…)

The ABIDe (Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure & Development) Task Force, with the Chief Minister as Chairman, Mr. Ananth Kumar (MP-Bangalore South) as Vice Chairman and Mr. Rajeev Chandrashekar (MP – Rajya Sabha) as Convener, has been constituted to revive and rebuild Bengaluru through a combination of Comprehensive planning, improved municipal services and new investments into infrastructure. ABIDe also owns the task of providing a blue-print for sustainable and orderly development of Bangalore under Bengaluru Vision 2020.

ABIDe has formulated several draft reports and action plans and blueprints in the areas of Governance, Road Traffic Management & Transportation, Urban Poor, and Public Security. These reports are available here. Citizen inputs to help develop these further is welcome.
(more…)

Join Yours Truly Theatre as they try to address current issues.

It’s time to stop complaining about bad roads, corrupt politicians and unfair reservations.

Join the audience as they try, with the cast, to tackle the problems plaguing our city and country. Voicing these problems is an important step towards resolving them!

The issues MIGHT range from terrorism to traffic .
SHARE YOUR OPINIONS, VIEWS, IDEAS, DREAMS AND STORIES
OF YOUNG INDIA AND WATCH THEM BEING ENACTED ON STAGE, IMPROPMTU.

WE WILL ALSO HAVE VOLUNTEERS from Jaago Re! One Billion Votes’
JOINING FOR THE SHOW AND TO ANSWER QUERIES .

Yours truly theatre presents
Wake up india
an interactive theatre performance

Date – 28th feb 2009
Time – 6pm
venue – nayana auditorium,
Ravindra kalakshetra,
JC raod, Bangalore –
map – www.yourstruly-theatre.com/nayan.jpg

Call 9845853093/9845243051 for telebooking or email yourstrulytheatre@gmail.com. Also check out site www.yourstruly-theatre.com

The Lions Club of Bangalore Sanjaynagar, in association with Kamadhenu
Mahila Abhivrudhi Samsthe and Sree Vinayaka Gelayaru Sangha will organize
a voluntary blood donation camp this Sunday. This effort is towards
augmenting the blood bank at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health / Hospital.

This is a good opportunity for enrolled donors / others staying in South Bangalore
to donate blood if eligible. Mr Alphonse Kurian, the “chief motivator” from the Lions
Club, requests you to spread the word among your networking circles – especially
those living in or near Jayanagar. A free cataract eye screening camp will also be
conducted at the same venue around the same time.

Date : Sunday 22nd Feb 2009
Timings : 10.00 am to 12.00 noon
Venue : Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health / Hospital.
Sree Someshwara Swamy Temple Compound,
Siddapura, Lalbagh,
Jayanagar 1st Block,
Bangalore

Message from Mr Aphonse Kurian

In case you need any additional information please contact me. Kindly mail /
inform if you are joining for the camp so that we have an idea of the likely
response. I will be at the camp on Sunday and it will be my pleasure to meet
you. Do ask for me when you reach the venue.

Alphonse Kurian
Lions Club of Bangalore Sanjaynagar
(M) 94488 12330
Email: mail@lionsbloodline.com
Visit www.lionsbloodline.com and enroll as voluntary blood donor