The Hindu : Good response to PROOF initiative from students

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 14, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Good response to PROOF initiative from students

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE July 13. "Do you know that the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) has secured loans on your name? If you stop paying taxes, the civic body may have to sell the City to foreigners. Would you not want to know more about your City and the functioning of the authorities that govern it?"

These were issues that dominated a workshop for college students on "Sensitive Citizenry" and "Conscious Youth" deliberated on all these and much more. Over a hundred students from 22 colleges in the City participated in the workshop that was organised by VOICES, partner of the PROOF campaign here on Sunday. Suryanath Kamath, historian, inaugurated the three-day workshop at the N.M.K.R.V. College here. Students from Jyothi Nivas College, Mount Carmel, N.M.K.R.V., Maharani Lakshmi Ammani, Hasnath, S.B.M. Jain College, R.C.College, Government Arts College, and Bishop Cotton participated in the workshop.

Mr. Kamath gave a presentation on the history of Bangalore. The inaugural session included presentations by the former Mayor, Narayanswamy, on the functioning of the BMP, and the BMP PRO, B.C.Veerappa, on "Pracheena Bangalore".

Interactive sessions were held in between the presentations to sensitize students and create interest in them to "take ownership of the City and participate in the campaign". Vinay from Adarsh College, who spoke on behalf of the students, said students were grateful to the PROOF (Public Record of Operations and Finance) campaign for considering them as important citizens. "Now we know about the BMP budget, capital expenditure for ward works, property tax collection, Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP), and other civic issues," he said. As part of the workshop, over 100 students have been divided into five groups and each group assigned a location in the City. On Monday, they have been asked to make visit the BMP Referral Hospital on Siddaiah Road, a BMP school, two markets, or shopping complexes of their choice, parking lots, and gardens.

They will present papers on health, education, markets, and greenery in the City on Tuesday, when the workshop concludes.

To enable students know more about the BMP's revenues, they have been asked to approach BMP officials. Earlier, the Director of VOICES, Ashish Sen, spoke on PROOF and its activities.

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Good response to PROOF initiative from students