Midweek Musings 2 17.12.2025

 

Idling under the Neem Tree

By Malini Shankar

Digital Discourse Foundation

While the transition from Bangalore Municipal Corporation or Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to Greater Bangalore Authority has grabbed headlines, the transition has not been fantastic in the less glamorous areas: servers, officers and their terms of reference…Worse there is still no will to set right the mess created by lack of discipline in solid waste management.

Standardised packaging ware? Being the avant garde city that Bengaluru is, - reputed to be the Silicon city its administrators and politicians have not shown either the will or political support in introducing standards in manufacture and packaging material itself. Standardised packaging ware will make a huge reduction in waste generation as it conforms to recyclable standards.

No protocols defined, much less monitored in supplanting trees that are felled in urban areas for “development”. Before you know it Bangalore / Bengaluru will be sheared clean of its green cover, going by the rate of tree felling. Garden City no longer… we don’t have to blame just the real estate sharks; all those entrepreneurs who do not want to move out of Bangalore need to be apportioned blame. These so called entrepreneurs are making the city unlivable for future generations. They insist on Bangalore not because of educated labour or infrastructure but because of the beautiful weather it still offers.

The Tree Court, provided for in the landmark Karnataka Tree Protection Act of 1976 is still not gazetted. So it is still not functioning. One dynamic forest service officer had founded A Popular Peoples Court to streamline administration of tree felling permissions in 1995 with appointment of ‘honorary’ tree wardens who would submit confidential tree warden inspection reports from the site / location – regarding merits of tree felling application. This best practice needs to be gazetted as per provisions of Tree Protection Act 1976 and replicated all over the country, indeed as an urban development best practice all over the world: #SDGs.

On the flip side of this green proviso those responsible for illegal felling of green cover have to be penalized in conformation to the penal provisions of the Tree Protection Act. Compounding illegal tree felling is not sustainable as it bleeds tree cover without adequate penalties and without adequate green cover substitution. Compounded fines does not penalize the criminal. He or she does not feel the pinch of the crime. Atleast 10 days of judicial custody for felling a tree without written permission and a financial deposit for securing written permission to fell a tree serves as a deterrent. These provisions are there in the Karnataka Tree Protection Act of 1976. Amendments need to be made to the law suitably if necessary. Time to make illegal tree felling a criminal offence. This not just an activist agenda. Early Tuesday morning fog induced multi vehicle accident on the Agra Expressway claimed lives. Such is the manifestation of Climate Change.  

Civil Engineers and architects must be pinned the responsibility and accountability to retain green cover commensurate with Floor Space Ration (FSR) / Floor Area Ration (FAR). Similarly these professionals must make it possible to use grey water / recycled water for construction.   Sewage Treatment Plants will be able to sustainably supply treated water… making it a win-win sustainable and viable green economic initiative. That way fresh water will be conserved sustainably for the next generation.

What are citizens doing to mitigate Climate Change? How many of us will consciously avoid usage of air conditioners? For example ACs were not at all necessary in Bangalore in the 1970s and even 1980s. These entrepreneurs and software industry leaders wanted western standards of living and working so they insisted on usage of ACs in Bangalore – the so called IT Capital / Silicon Valley of India. Result: Bangalore has warmed up like a heat Island.

The captains of software industry / or software entrepreneurs leveraged their political pull by getting lands granted for “Electronics City”. Today there are residential townships in this “Electronics City” that do not legally belong to the administration of Bangalore Municipal Corporation or Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. Land sharks who have colluded with corrupt Babus and Netas to create illegal residential plots in “Electronics City” need to be held to account… they can hide but the scars remain. I, as an aware citizen demand accountability. Publicity seeking software leaders in “Electronics City” too --- answer please.

If you also need answers or feel as strongly I do on this issue, please share this blog on your social media handles and let us collectively draw attention of the corrupt Netas. I am not going to accept political blame games in any case.