The Observer Volume 22 Edition 5

Drain

N AADA HABB A DASARA GET S A GRAND END IN G

Change in procedure to adopt has couples, agencies worried

Power to issue orders goes to magistrates

By Yashaswini Sri

Parents in Bengaluru are anxious as new adoption rules are making them wait longer to adopt a child

According to a report in The Hindu, The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)

Amendment Bill, 2021, which gives District Magistrates the au thority to issue adoption orders, was approved by Parliament in July 2021 The goal of the amend ment was to avoid adoption de lays brought on by court related issues due to the high number of cases Earlier, adoption orders were issued by District Courts

An official at the State Adop tion Resource Agency informed The Observer: “Currently , we have 3,000 pending cases of adop tion So far, we had 102 children

adopted and given a new family since January 2022 ”

The number of parents/couples wanting to adopt is high, while children available for adoption are few Last year, 281 children were available to be adopted ”In Bengaluru, we have only

five adoption agencies Only 10 children are allotted per agency It’s very hard to complete every application because very few chil dren are available to be adopted,” The official added

M Nupura, who works at Saint Michael's Home, said:”We have

faced many issues with district courts while filing adoption peti tions Now that we have to file all of these petitions to a District Magistrate, we are not sure how it’s going to work It’s too early to comment on it ”

M Salma, who works for Amulya Shishu Mandir, an adop tion agency, said, “We received a new notification from CARA (the Central Adoption Resource Au thority) to bring back the pending adoption petitions from the dis trict court As of now, we are still waiting for CARA to notify us about transferring the cases to the District Magistrate. It doesn’t matter in which court we have to file adoption petitions, It’s a very lengthy process and won’t make much difference ” Pending cases are at a halt right now Only when the District Magistrate gets instructions and starts accepting existing petitions, the adoption process will resume “We have to wait for now We are not sure when the process of adoption will restart,” she added

Karnataka teenager claims fourth gold in swimming

Karnataka swimmer Hashika Ra machandra anchored her state's 4x200m freestyle relay team to victory to climb the top of podium for the fourth time in the 36th National Games here on Wednesday PTI 32

dead in shooting in Thailand

At least 32 people were killed on Thursday in a mass shooting at a chil dren's day care centre in a northeast ern province of Thailand, a police spokesperson said ANI

Sydney records wettest year since 1858

Sydney recorded its wettest year in 164 years as authorities braced for major floods in Australia's east on Thursday, with more heavy down pours expected to fall over the next three days Reuters

Indian origin student killed in US

A 20 year old Indian origin student named Varun Manish Chheda, study ing at Purdue University was found murdered in his dormitory in the US state of Indiana His Korean room mate was taken into custody, accord ing to media reports Reuters

Post-floods, unsegregated household waste has now become a headache in Bengaluru city | P 2

poses

Lead Elephant Abhimanyu carries the 750kg howdah on wednesday Jamboo Savari starting from the Mysuru palace to Bannimantapa Lord Chamundeshwari Devi idol is carried in ambari on the beautifully decked elephant The procession attracted thousands of people to the city of Mysuru after a break of two years | Cou rte sy: KPN

Firecrackers were lit during the torchlight parade at Bannimantappa on Wednesday The parade marked the end of a glorious 10 day Dasara The dazzling torchlight pa rade with laser display and amazing fireworks was a delight to thousands of spectators | Courtesy : KPN (Photo Feature on page 6)

The number of parents/couples wanting to adopt is high, while children available for adoption are few | Credit : Yashaswini Sri

ETM tickets easier to issue, we want them back, say BMTC conductors

‘Giving paper tickets is a stressful task’

By Hamsaveni N

Bengaluru’s roads need serious attention

A conductor, Shilpa, said she finds issuing paper tickets stressful

BMTC

conductors want electronic ticketing machine (ETM) tickets back, saying these will make their work easier

BMTC replaced ETM tickets with paper tickets in 2019 when many ETM machines printed blank tickets

Krishnamurthy, a conductor, informed The Observer: “ETM tickets are both conductor and citizen friendly ETMs will help us a lot while issuing tickets, mainly when the bus is crowded We got habituated to ETMs. Now issuing tickets manually is really tough. We want ETM tickets back ”

The BMTC introduced ETM tickets in 2016 In June 2021, the corporation ended its tender with Trimax IT after most machines went dysfunctional in 2019 A Hindu report dated February

15, 2022, said: “The selected firm will provide 12,000 Android based electronic ticketing machines that can accept UPI QR code, NCMC (National Common Mobility Card) and closed loop cards ” A senior BMTC official informed the paper that a tender had been floated to implement the automatic fare collection system in all buses at an estimated cost of Rs 45 crore A group of conductors at the

Yeshwantpur depot shared:

“ETMs are the best way to issue tickets They are conductor friendly. We can issue tickets to a group of people at a time which is not possible with paper tickets. Entering stage is the simplest job with ETMs but the toughest while entering manually There are high chances of committing errors for which we are fined We are waiting for ETMs to come back ”

“We have to simultaneously issue tickets, enter stage and also ensure that nobody is missed out ETMs are easy to handle The ticket gives clear information about from where to where, the fare and issue timing We are waiting for ETMs to come back as they are more convenient and citizen friendly ”

An official working at the BMTC systems department confirmed they have issued a tender and ETM trails are already happening at some depots

“Owing to the pandemic, tendering and processing for the same got delayed We are working on the same, but can’t say how many days it will take . ETMs are helpful for the corporation as a whole We will bring them back… at the earliest ”

Recently, the BMTC introduced a new method of issuing bus passes Under it, a passenger can scan a QR code and buy a bus pass via an online transaction hamsaveni n@iijnm org

Post-floods, unsegregated household waste has become a headache for many

Citizens should help us out, says KSPCB

By Arsha B.S

Afterthe flooding in August and September 2022, Bengaluru is facing issues with waste management

Unsegregated household waste has become a problem in several flood affected areas like Indiranagar, HSR Layout, Bellandur and Mahadevapura

The agencies concerned are yet to find a solution to the problem

A Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) official who did not want to be named informed The Observer: “Unsegregated waste is a huge problem for us We already have a lot of things in hand When waste is unsegregated, it becomes harder for us to recycle it. What people need to understand is that the whole system, including local bodies, should work together to make this possible Household wastes could be managed if they are disposed properly The plastic wastes and biodegradable wastes are often mixed together leaving us helpless ”

He added, :”We acknowledge the issue But we cannot do anything alone ”

“A large number of petitions

have been filed against the KSPCB over improper waste management,” he shared Sayed Ali, a BBMP official, said: “We try to follow what the authorities ask us to But I do not think 100 per cent segregation of all waste takes place Zonal officers and commissioners should work on that ”

According to Rule 4 of the Solid Waste Management Rules of

KSPCB, 2016, it is mandatory to have incinerators for segregated waste But there are no incinerators in places like Indiranagar or Mahadevapura, both densely populated residential areas

Vedika Thimmaiah, resident and volunteer of Solid Waste Management Round Table, an initiative run by a group of people, said: “For waste to be

segregated properly, dry waste must be kept dry But with flooding what happens is that even the segregated dry waste becomes drenched, making it harder to recycle. Household waste segregatioin is only possible if people take the initiative ”

Improper waste management has been an issue in Bengaluru for years now But after the floods, it has increased to a large extent

While the authorities have found a way to manage industrial waste, they are yet to find a solution to managing unsegregated household waste

The problem could have long lasting effects on the lives of the residents The drenched waste left out in the open could even cause the spread of diseases

In September 2022, the National Green Tribunal ordered the Maharashtra government to pay an “environmental compensation” of Rs 12,000 crore for its improper waste management. This has further brought the Karnataka administration to a point that they need to implement certain rules that would require people to follow 3Rs Reduce, Reuse, Recycle even in their daily lives

The issue of waste management across the city of Bengaluru needs to be looked upon on a serious note arsha s@iijnm org

The stretch from Whitefield to HSR Layout has become terrible The potholes on it is insane Overall, Bengaluru needs a revamp. Using its roads is becoming dangerous as IT companies are growing in number

Sai Yashwanth

BBMP should pay more attention to roads

A city like Bengaluru may attract people from other states, but all that people talk about is its bad roads While some find it thrilling, they make the rest fear for their lives I think the BBMP needs to put extra efforts to solve this problem

Janani Srinivas

Ola and Uber fares skyrocket at night

There is a rise in the fares of auto and cab aggregators like Ola and Uber. At night, Ola and Uber auto drivers refuse to accept rides and demand money over the already in creased fare It's a big trouble to people like me working on the night shift

Velagandula Sai Varun

Pending cases cause delays in adoption

Continued from page 1

VKishore, a parent who adopted a child through CARA, explained: “Adopting a child has become very complicated in our country. I was lucky because my process was completed in six months Usually, it takes at least one to two years for the adoption process to finish I know of a lot of parents who wanted to adopt children, but they had to back off due to the long process ”

Explaining the legal aspect, lawyer Shaik Gousse said: “Be it a District Sessions court, a family court or a District Magistrate, the delay in processing of adoption petition doesn’t depend on courts

After CARA is done with its verification of background of the parents and assigns them a welfare officer, the parent is eligible to file an OP (open petition) to the court for the final clearance for the adoption ”

He added, “CARA and the assigned welfare officer stand as the official witness and testify to the court that the parents are eligible to adopt a child So it depends on the summons of the respective judge The process is supposed to be completed in 90 days, but given the number of pending cases in every field, the delay happens ”

So far, there has been a halt in process of adoption District Magistrate is yet to be notified yashaswini s@iijnm org

A senior BMTC official said that a tender had been floated to implement the fare collection system | Credit: Hamsaveni N

Improper waste management has been an issue in Bengaluru for years

But after the floods, it has increased to a large extent The drenched waste could cause the spread of diseases | Credit : Arsha B S

Some of Bengaluru’s skywalks are in urgent need of attention

Emergency Nos. painted next to lifts are scraped

By Janani Srinivas

rity guard around, nor are there BBMP emergency numbers ”

Lifts

at Bengaluru’s sky walks do not seem to have received attention from peo ple responsible for their upkeep While some lifts are not opera tional, emergency numbers painted next to some have been partly erased

Kishan Joshi, a security guard at a skywalk on Ballari Road, in formed The Observer: “I have no idea who scraped those numbers, but there has not been a require ment to use those numbers Often, people have dialled the numbers placed next to the lift, and the numbers have been re sponsive ”

Khairunisa Qadar, a school worker, has been using the lift at the skywalk, said: “There have been times when people have tried calling those numbers, but they have turned out to be un available Tomorrow if the lift gets stuck, there is no guarantee that a security guard will be pres ent at the site Even if they are BBMP numbers and have been scraped, authorities need to en sure that there’s accessibility of those numbers at all times ”

Jayant Kumar, a retired per son, said: “I have been frequently

going by the Ballari Road sky walk and have never observed the numbers being painted next to the lift. For a senior citizen, it is a cause for concern since people would be wanting to travel by the lift ”

The Observer called the num bers painted next to the lift at the skywalk Two of them were of the BBMP Control Room, while the other two were inaccessible

The numbers painted next to the lifts at the KG Road skywalk are readable, the lifts are stuck Abdul Rahman, a hawker sell ing goods next to the skywalk, said: “Ever since the floods oc curred, the lifts have been inac cessible The number has been painted inside the lift, but now

that it is not working, nobody can access the lift or the number.”

Rafiq Khan, a bag seller, said: “I have been selling bags in this area for a long time There was a security guard deployed, and peo ple often used the lift, but since drunkards were creating a ruckus, the lift would be closed in the evening ”

The skywalk and the lift at Kasturba Road are unused for two years

Murugan R, a contract worker for a private agency who in spected the lift, said: “It has been three years since the skywalk was built Often, people get stuck in side the lift I am still trying to figure out what is making the lift run very slow There is no secu

Senthil Ramalingam, an em ployee at Mercedes Benz, ob served: “The numbers at Kasturba Road were painted, but they have been removed due to unknown reasons It has been three years since the lift has been left unrepaired Neither have peo ple traveled by the lift nor have they walked over the skywalk ” Ujesh Kumar Yadav and Arpit Singh, students at Allen’s Career Institute, shared that they have been using the lift at the Ballari Road skywalk regularly, but have never noticed the numbers painted next to the lifts “We take the elevator for our convenience A security guard is present dur ing the day, but we have never noticed the numbers next to the lift.”

Balakrishna Shetty, BBMP As sistant Engineer, Traffic Engi neering Cell, said that the lifts at the skywalks are owned and op erated by private companies, not BBMP “In times of need, the BBMP Control Room has always come to the aid of the public Maintenance is required, (and) I will look into the matter closely ” Three BBMP skywalks are under construction and there are more to come

“We will ensure that a security guard is posted In case of emer gencies, we shall place the con tacts for better accessibility,” he added janani s@iijnm org

Most visitors to Yeshwantpur railway station fail to buy platform tickets

It’s difficult to convince them, say officials

By Yashaswini Sri

Staff at the Yeshwantpur railway station collect a penalty of up to Rs 50,000 daily from people who don’t buy platform tickets

“People lack common sense De spite (us) creating awareness in all possible ways, commuters choose to be this way Collecting penalty from them almost feels like an exercise,” Diwakar, Chief Ticket Inspector, informed The Observer

Railway officials say it’s tough to make people who violate the rules pay penalty

During Dasara, the railways temporarily increased the plat form ticket from Rs 10 to Rs 20 This has led to the overall penalty collection rising to 70,000 per day

The railways are finding ways to make things easy for both

ticket collectors and visitors to train stations Commercial Su pervisor Umesh Naik said: “I’m proud of people who buy plat form tickets It’s the people who neglect it that make our lives

hard ”

On August 27, 2022, The Ob server witnessed an argument be tween a group of men and a railway official This group had not purchased platform tickets

The official had a hard time mak ing them understand the rules and regulations of the Indian Railways Travellers who rush to platforms to board trains are now constantly stopped by officials to check platform tickets People standing in long queues to buy platform tickets paint a picture of order But officials at the railway station have an opposite story to tell Every day, fines between Rs 35,000 and Rs 50,000 are col lected from people who do not buy platform tickets

Sunil G said: “I came here to drop my sister off I didn’t think it was necessary to buy a platform ticket for 10 minutes of my stay at the railway station ”

Navya T, another visitor, shared: “Who wants to stand in long queues to buy a platform ticket? Not me ”Most people ig nore notices displayed with the penalty mentioned The result of this ignorance comes with a penalty of Rs 250 plus the cost of a platform ticket yashaswini s@iijnm org

See Full Story:www weeklyob

Hampi

Located by the banks of the river Tungabhadra in Kar nataka, Hampi is known for its historical ruins and relics of the grand Vijaynagar King dom and the marvelous showcase of art has made it one of the Seven Wonders in India The charming site is recognized as a World Her itage Site by UNESCO and comprises stunning architec tural ruins of temples and monuments Located in Kar nataka near the modern era city of Hosapete, Hampi's ruins are spread over 4,100 hectares (16 sq mi)

Source: Wikipedia

Quote of the Week

“

Imagination is more important than knowledge For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand Albert Einstein

Did You Know?

The Flying Fox is not really a fox but actually the com mon name for a genus of megabats considered to be amongst the largest bats in the world

Quiz Questions

1 Name the four members of the British band The Beetles

2 Which political party won the first Post Apartheid election in South Africa ?

3 What does the greek word ‘Eureka’ translate to in the eng lish language?

4 Name the ship which sent the first SOS message

5 When was The Treaty of Ver sailles signed ?

6 Who has won the most total Academy Awards?

7 How many elements are in the periodic table?

8 How many faces does a Do decahedron have?

While some lifts are not operational, emergency numbers painted next to some have been partly erased|Credit: Janani Srinivas

Most people ignore notices displayed with the penalty mentioned

|Credit: Yashaswini Sri

Incomplete drain construction on Mysuru Rd poses danger for people

It has become a breeding place for mosquitoes

By Hamsaveni N

Around the city

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Incomplete

drainage construc tion from Kumbalgodu to An chepalya towards Kengeri has created problems for pedestrians and shop owners on this stretch

The work was started a year ago The drains are not closed prop erly, exposing people walking on the stretch to the danger of trip ping and falling

The road has shops, hotels and an orphanage Uma, who owns a shop on the stretch, informed The Observer she is fed up of telling the work ers to close the drain in front of her shop. “I am done complaining. I have temporarily levelled the dug up space in front of my shop with mud My son had a small bone fracture when he fell while playing near the shop because of this drain It stinks very badly Mosquitoes are another big con cern We are scared of falling ill ” Dilip Buildcon, the contractor for the widening of National

Quiz answers

Highway 275 (Bengaluru to My suru) is also responsible for the construction of drainage

A member of the Dilip Buildcon team who did not want to be named said: “It is not a big deal for us to complete 10 per cent of the work when we have done 90 per cent We often don’t get good support from the public There are some issues with land over

there. Also, there are water pipelines and electric wires which we should keep in mind, so in order to work on the same, we have left some space in between We have started working on it again… Within two more months, we should be able to com plete the drain work ”

Dakshayani, who runs a bakery on the same road, shared: “The

drain work is going on for the past 7 8 months It has not been completed yet properly. The drain runs right in front of my bakery It is half closed near my shop Customers find it difficult to come to my shop There are a lot of mosquitoes as waste on the road gets accumulated near the un closed drain ”

A security person at Basava gangothri Ashram said: “Recent rains have created havoc near our ashram Rainwater has remained stagnant It stinks too It is hard to cross the open drain and walk inside the ashram We want our surroundings to be neat and clean ”

A pedestrian who refused to be named said: “Any person who is new to this road will surely trip and fall, as I did The contractor who started the construction should have completed the work then moved further. The work is improper and incomplete Con struction material is left on the drain, and there is debris on the road I hope the work gets over as early as possible The road looks very dirty ” NH275 highway is now open for vehicles travelling from Ben galuru towards Mysuru hamsaveni n@iijnm org

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SuperMayan A Standup Comedy special in Tamil, 7:00 PM onwards, 08 Oct 2022, Artkhoj, JP Nagar

Shravan P Live by Tharle Box, 5 PM onwards, 09 Oct 2022, Shades of Coffee, HSR Layout

Jokes Aaj Kal: Stand Up Com edy, 06 Oct 22 to 08 Oct 2022, Multiple Venues, Blr

Those who are not doing their own startup in Bangalore should be considered as mi nority

Sexually harassed men choose be silent

Fear that they will not be taken seriously

By Priya Pathak

Menwho are sexually assaulted choose to be silent about the incidents, scared that their complaints will not be taken seriously

Aditya Nair (name changed) faced violent behaviour from his father When he was in class 5, he was hit with sharp objects and asked to remove his clothes as a punishment for complaints against him in school The incident has left him feel disgusted

“Being loud and threatening a male child leads to spoiling their morality at a young age, ” Aditya said

Small instances of abuse have a big impact on men Such incidents usually happen in schools, restrooms and public places.

Praveen Chitnagar, sub inspector of the Indiranagar police station, informed The Observer that no cases of sexual assault against men are registered because they feel ashamed to approach the police Psychologist Naomi Bhatia said: “We live in a society where men are considered stronger than

women, and dominating and overpowering women. If men complain about sexual assaults , they will be considered inferior in society ” They are expected to be strong enough to handle any situation “They bear either emotional or physical pain Emotional pain comes into consideration when it’s speaking about an incident and they do not feel accepted in society There are also myths like a ‘boy cannot be sexually assaulted; it is his fault;

he enjoyed it; only gay men get assaulted; and men abused by females got lucky’ Usually, it is assumed that a male survivor of abuse will himself turn an abuser, which is not always the case, ” she added Co founder of Support Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Swati Shah (name changed) said: “One important fact is that at least half the instances of sexual harassment faced by men are caused by other men: instances of

physical and verbal sexual harassment Some kinds of sexual harassment that women commit on men are stalking or insisting on relationships in spite of them saying no

“There is a deep gender angle rooted in sexual assault, gender discrimination and stereotyping in society ” There are laws to deal with sexual assaults faced by women, but there is no law against harassment of men, “which makes it difficult for men to address and mention the incidents they face ”

Counselling psychologist Juilee Ghokale said: “The toxic masculinity of assuming that men are strong enough and can always fight back makes it difficult for them to get acceptance of assault on them

“There are the basic three steps of abuse: Grooming which means growing and building trust with the person they usually want to abuse The second step is abuse, which in most cases happens multiple times with the victim The last step is accommodation which speaks about threatening, scaring and normalising abuse in the mind of the victim Due to which they are scared to tell any close one ”

Often men are told by their elders that they should not cry, but behind the tears of every human being, there lies an untold story priya p@iijnm

Drains are not closed exposing people to danger of falling | Credit: Hamsaveni N

Sahil Patni (@vibewithsahil)

Grand finale of Karnataka’s Dasara

Dasara in Kar nataka comes to an end after ten da ys of celebrations Photo cour tesy: KPN

Dasara festival marks Ravana Dahana, which symbolises the triumph of good over evil

Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, wife of late Srikantadatta Wadiyar, attended the Jamboo Savari She was invited by the Mysuru district minister ST Somashekhar

Procession of Devi Chamundeshwari Idol which is popularly called as ‘Jamboo Savari, is the special attraction of Naada Habba in Mysuru

The Dasara procession in Belagavi showcases beautiful idols whch are different from the usual Five devi chariots are showcased during the procession

A procession of Sri Sharada idol is taken from Sri Gokarnanatheshwara temple at Kudroli to join the Dasara procession in Mangaluru