School for entrepreneurs at Kharagpur

IIT-Kharagpur plans to open next year a school for entrepreneurship. It would target students with “financially secure backgrounds”, says the IIT director D Acharya, adding that the school isn’t for job seekers, but for “potential employment generators”. A school, I guess, for the kin and close cousins of the Birlas, Nandas, Ambanis; the tech-millionaires, and of those who have [...]

Residents initiative to turn the city green

Tabloids are not just about scandals, glambiz and other trivia. Bangalore Mirror and a local private trust have clubbed up to promote tree planting in the city. Mrs. Janet Yegneswaran, who founded the trust a couple of years back in memory of her husband, has been engaged in encouraging Bangalore residents and neighborhood communities to chip [...]

Cooking gas from kitchen waste

Left over food and vegetable waste discarded in a dump near our apartment complex raise a stink. Apartment residents hold their breath; and curse the municipal waste disposal staff, as they pass by the roadside dump. We could do something about it, if only we are so inclined, thanks to the work
done by Pune-based [...]

Alerting ICICI account holders

The e-mail looked authentic, and even carried the ICICI Bank logo; the message was clear; and I was close to getting conned online. They call it phishing – pronounced as ‘fishing’. The idea is to fish for sensitive information from unsuspecting customers. The e-mail said my bank account information needed updating “as part of our continuing [...]

Raising ‘halla’ over ‘Sakrama’

Agreed. Violators have rights. Right to protest government action, to appeal against penalty for their violations. Several residents associations in Bangalore have moved the court, seeking a stay on the Karnataka Sakrama scheme; which gives house-owners time till Dec.15 to 1) admit violation of municipal laws in their buildings; and 2) seek regularization on payment [...]

Mega land grab in silicon city

It is absurd; it’s pure theatre; and it is unacceptable. My reference is to the records tampering allegation a Karnataka Congress MLC has made  against the chairman of the joint legislature committee that exposed a 45,000 acre land grab in greater Bangalore. I didn’t think Mr A T Ramaswamy would be recommended for a Rajosthava award for carrying out a thankless task of [...]