In an attempt to solve the city’s civic issues, a group of students and software professionals will, over the next three weeks, carry out field work at selected localities in Bangalore and also conduct brainstorming sessions to come up with solutions to make the city clean, green and safe.
The students will undergo the Urban Action Internship under the banner “ Bengaluru Needs You ” and will work in teams and engage with civic officials and work on waste management, design of public spaces and urban mobility among others.
Neesha Nagaraj(21), an engineering student, said she hoped to learn what individuals could do in their own capacity to push for better governance. “There is a need to step up pressure on the administration. I want to understand how an individual can contribute to the effective administration of the city,” she added.
Rajeev Gowda, Professor, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and Congress member, who is leading the internship, said that although there was a lot of ideation there was no emphasis on action. “We want to get youngsters to participate in finding solutions. We have also designed our programme to make sure that the youngsters work with officials on the field,” he added.
The first day of the workshop on Sunday coincided with National Youth Day to commemorate Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary and began with an introductory session by various speakers. K. Jairaj, Secretary of Bangalore Political Action Committee and retired IAS officer, said the civic body’s finances were limited. He said that there was a need for the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike to have a separate act for governance.
