SHAPING VIBRANT - Janaagraha

CIT IESNEIGHBOURHOOD VISION CAMPAIGN 2003

A citizens’ platform for Participatory Ward Planning

S H A P ING V IBR A NT

Shaping Vibrant CitiesNeighbourhood Vision Campaign 2003

A citizens’ platform for Participatory Ward Planning

BANGALORE, INDIA

Published in April 2004

ISBN 81-901511-4-2

Copyright©2004 Ramanathan Foundation

FIRST PUBLISHED IN INDIA BY

Ramanathan Foundation

565, 3rd Block, RMV Extension, 2nd Stage

Bangalore 560 094

AUTHOR:

Elizabeth Clay

LAYOUT AND DESIGN:

Resource Communications Pvt. Ltd

www.resourcedesign.co.in

PRINTED AT:

MYTEC Process Pvt. Ltd

www.mytec-india.com

The publisher and author intend for this document to be used freely by community

groups worldwide to plan local community development activities. Any part of this

publication may be reproduced with due acknowledgement to Janaagraha.

ANAAGRAHA, is a citizens’ movement in the city of Bangalore, the capital of the southern

state of Karnataka, India. The fundamental premise of Janaagraha is that participatory

democracy is central to good governance.

Janaagraha means the Life Force of the People: it stands for a positive, constructive firmness

that allows citizens to engage with their government.

Since its launch in December 2001, Janaagraha has achieved a great deal of success

in mainstreaming the idea of citizen participation. Over 10,000 people have taken part in

the different campaigns involving multiple stakeholders, and 250,000 residents of the city

(one in 20) have pledged support to the idea of Janaagraha through a signature campaign.

We have presented our work in international forums of the World Bank and UNDP, on best

practices in civil society action. Interest in our work is growing in other cities, both within

the state and beyond.

Janaagraha’s experiences have validated the power of well-structured citizen participation.

However, at the same time, I have seen many wrenching discontinuities in the government’s

urban planning process, and have come across issues over which citizens have little control.

This led me to think about the definition of a great city. Isn’t there more to shaping our

cities than pleasing architecture and landscapes? Why is it that we are not preserving our

heritage buildings? How do we go beyond the transactional nature of our cities? Is the wild

growth of slums a symptom of a deeper planning malaise? How DO we plan new areas?

What about the impact on the village markets, the Sunday bazaars that I have seen often

at the edge of the city? What about our own cultural identity, which seems to be getting

submerged in a sea of structural glazing?

It became clear that we needed to extend the idea of citizen participation from budgetary

numbers to neighbourhoods, into the heart of the planning process itself. Citizens are the

most permanent stakeholders in building the shape and character of their city, as well as

in determining the quality-of-life it provides. Yet, in India, urban dwellers are consistently

under-valued as resources because there is no defined process by which they can meaningfully

contribute to solving urban problems. The sense of alienation is deep. Few citizens are willing

to engage with government in any form or shape. By ignoring the role of the citizen in

the city’s decision-making process, government encourages citizen indifference and apathy

towards anything outside the walls of their homes.

This cycle of ‘US’ and ‘THEM’ is unproductive. The ‘Mobius Strip’ is an apt metaphor.

Citizens and Government are currently on two opposite sides of the strip. But give the strip

a single twist and bring the two ends together into a circle and we have a seamless surface.

This could be an end-goal—a true partnership in nation building through neighbourhood

engagement. But without appropriate expertise, how can unguided citizen participation be

expected to engage in complex planning matters? Partnerships between the citizens and the

government in neighbourhood initiatives are increasingly and innovatively being explored

in many parts of the world. Porto Alegre in Brazil and Cleveland, Ohio in the United States

are examples of city-wide initiatives. In India, Kerala has shown the way for participatory

processes that have succeeded in rural areas.

The WARD VISION CAMPAIGN involved citizens in the neighbourhood planning process.

It was an ambitious experiment in both scope and time-frame. Over 2,000 citizens participated

in constituencies that represented 10% of the city’s wards. An additional 1,500 people

FOREWORD

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volunteered in different aspects of the campaign. In designing the process, I have explored

best practices around the world and innovated for our unique environment. The citizens’

Vision Document for each ward was only one of several intended objectives. This document

is a process record and analyses the successes and shortcomings of the Ward Vision Campaign.

Where did the idea for the campaign come from? What were the boundary conditions

that determined the contours of the campaign, and why were these chosen? What constraints

did this impose on those who defined and participated in the campaign?

These are important questions to answer in any process documentation. While we intend

to have a companion volume that will bring the voices of those involved to address these

and other aspects of the campaign, we did not want to leave the reader bereft of this context.

And so, in a nutshell, the following points acted as the design guideposts for the campaign

as it came alive on paper, well before it began its life on the ground:

1. As a civil-society initiative, it needed to generate sufficient response from the political

and administrative arms of government, to be translated into reality.

2. In the scale of participatory planning exercises, this was a mid-range endeavour: neither

the re-design of a local intersection or one landmark building, nor a city-wide exercise.

3. It was critical to ensure adequate participation from all sections of the neighbourhood,

especially the poor, who generally tend to be intimidated by and left out of such processes.

4. Citizens in Bangalore form a multi-lingual, heterogenous society, with minimal experience

in participatory planning. Maps, therefore, needed to be the centrepiece of the exercise,

as a common tool.

5. There was the need for a logical sequence of workshops because of the:

a. Large range of activities: beginning with problem-solving to ending with a reasonable

vision document.

b. Enormous amount of information being thrust on participants.

c. Significant volume of work that needed to be done between joint discussions.

6. Volunteers with a wide range of skills would drive the entire campaign, and hence needed

detailed instructions and training along the way.

7. Eventually, a core group of community champions should be the ones taking things forward,

beyond the life of the campaign.

8. Solutions in the real world are complex, and require expert inputs. Hence, community

access to such information would be important, both one-time and ongoing.

We have taken much from the world of successful practices in participatory planning;

hopefully, we have added something to this body of knowledge. And more importantly, have

created a toe-hold to move power closer to citizens, as they determine the quality of life

in their neighbourhoods, jointly with their elected governments.

Building great cities is a long and challenging process, and will require the combined

energies of many people, possibly across generations. However, the statistics are creeping up

on us. India is undergoing rapid urban growth. We already have 28% of our population in

urban areas, and by the year 2030, an astounding 50% of India will be urban. The urgency

cannot be ignored.

Swati Ramanathan

Campaign Coordinator, Co-founder Janaagraha

HE Ward Vision Campaign was an ambitious experiment and a triumph of the faith and

hard work of everyday citizens. Just before we began planning the campaign, I traveled through

my hometown of Boston in the U.S., meeting with organizations that had executed participatory

planning initiatives there. Each of the experienced organizers and leaders I spoke with was

shocked and impressed with the scope of the campaign: 10 communities, thousands of citizens

and the entire thing to be coordinated by volunteers.

As a volunteer, I can testify to the fact that this campaign took tens of thousands of

people-hours to execute. Everyone’s contribution was vital: from the core team in Janaagraha’s

office, working day and night for six months, to community members walking door-to-door

to invite others to participate, to the students and working people who spent several Sundays

helping to improve communities, even other than their own. Ward Vision channeled both

the positive energy in the city and the intense frustration into constructive action.

Guided by visionary leaders in each ward and founders Ramesh and Swati Ramanathan,

the campaign took twists and turns, but achieved its goal: residents completed a plan to

improve their ward and are collectively more confident about working with the necessary

stakeholders to see it implemented. Citizen involvement in local decision-making is critical

to creating vibrant cities that furnish the needs of all residents. Bangalore is at least ten

steps closer to a fully participatory democracy, and each community that initiates a similar

program in its own ward will not only begin to improve that area, but help improve public

governance for all.

I am indebted to those who encouraged me to stay in Bangalore and be involved in

this great initiative, particularly Swati, and of course to other Janaagraha volunteers and

the communities who made me feel at home all over the city.

Elizabeth Clay

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The author can be contacted at [email protected]

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WARD VISION COORDINATING TEAM

Swati Ramanathan, CAMPAIGN DESIGN AND COORDINATOR

Ramesh Ramanathan, CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR

Elizabeth Clay, ASSISTANT CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR, CAMPAIGN DOCUMENTATION

Balaji Gopalan, COMMUNICATIONS MATERIALS AND PLANNING

Ashutosh Wakankar, COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING

Sunita Nadhamuni, CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

Anuradha Athreya, VOLUNTEER COORDINATION

Ravee Nerur, VOLUNTEER COORDINATION

Col. S.K. Rudra, ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR

Ishwar Daitota, COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR

Indu Kumar, ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT

Deepak CN, MAPS, STUDENT TRAINING, MATERIALS AND LOGISTICS

Preetha Radhakrishnan, STUDENT TRAINING, REVENUE ESTIMATION SUPPORT

Sapna Karim, MATERIALS AND LOGISTICS

Jayashree Panicker, DATABASE MANAGEMENT

Shreeja Rajan, DATABASE MANAGEMENT

Bheema Naik, URBAN POOR COORDINATOR

Karin Joanknecht, PHOTOGRAPHER

Ward CoordinatorsWard 50 Mr Venkatram

Ward 54 Mr Damodar

Ward 55 Mr Mukund

Ward 68 Mr Anil Kumar

Ward 74 Mr Nagraj M.

Ward 78 Mr Krishnamurthy

Ward 85 Mr Murali

Ward 94 Mr Shivshankaran

Ward 96 Mr Y.H. Rao

Ward 100 Mr R.C. Dutt

Vendors

Scribble, DESIGN

Thematics, GIS TECHNOLOGY

Malati Saroj, STREET THEATRE

Special Acknowledgement to:

Ray and Keshavan, DESIGN OF PARTICIPATORY PLANNING BOOK AND POSTERS

Design Co., SUPPLY OF EXHIBITION PANELS

Jayakar Jerome of the Bangalore Development Authority,

BASE MAPS FOR PROPERTY MAPPING EXERCISE AND WORKSHOPS

SCE, MAP GRAPHICS AND PRODUCTION

MYTEC Process, PROCESSING AND PRINTING

Resource Communications, DESIGN OF NEIGHBOURHOOD VISION CAMPAIGN 2003

We would especially like to acknowledge the great work of the entire team at

Resource Communications whose hard work and extraordinary talent

have brought this report alive.

VenuesWoodlands, Rotary House of Friendship,

Century Club, ING Vysya Bank,

S.Y.A. Pre-University College,

Sumangali Sevashrama, Siddhartha College,

St. Aloysius School, Mount Carmel College,

Miranda School, Jyoti Nivas College,

Regional Institute of Co-Operative Management,

Vidhya Bharathi School, SBM Jain College.

1. Introduction 9

2. Core Communities 21- Definition of Core Community

- Training

- Role in Ward Vision Campaign

3. Community Communications 25- Communications Approach

- Reaching Out to Everyone

- Learnings

- Communication Ideas

4. Ward Vision Campaign 2003 33- Background Work

- Ward Yatra

- Urban Poor Workshop

- Volunteer Training

- Workshop 1

- Workshop 2

- Citizen Anchor Workshop

- Workshop 3

- Workshop 4

- Workshop 5

- Presentation to City Administration

- Key Outcomes of the Campaign

5. Glimpses of the Wards 65- Writing the Vision

- Wards 50, 54, 55, 68, 74, 78, 85, 94, 96, 100

6. Ward Planning 2004 and Beyond 77- Introduction for All Communities

- Planning Ward Vision

- Continued Engagement

7. Annexures 87

CONTENTS

HIS document is intended both as a final report of Janaagraha’s Ward Vision Campaign

and a guide for citizens across Bangalore and in other urban areas who want to engage

in participatory community planning. (Additional materials required to hold such an exercise

are available at Janaagraha.)

Section One provides an overview of the context for this campaign, background of Bangalore

and Janaagraha, and the related and converging trends of decentralization and citizen

participation in local governance.

Section Two is an introduction to the ‘Core Community’, the group of active citizens in

each ward that coordinated the campaign.

Section Three describes the outreach approach used during the 2003 campaign and includes

a chart of possible communications strategies for any citizen action group.

Section Four is a summary of each workshop and event during the campaign. It examines

each step by looking at 5 elements: Goals, Process, Outcomes, Learnings and Highlights.

Section Five contains excerpts from the Vision Document of each of the ten participating

wards, including their introduction and recommendations for one major issue facing their

locality.

Section Six includes suggestions and a possible timeline for other communities who want

to participate in the process to develop a Ward Vision document for their area. This section

also contains details about the major campaign outcomes that the wards will carry forward

in the coming months and years.

ABOUT THE DOCUMENT

Monetary Units

Lakh: One lakh of Rupees is 100,000 Indian Rupees, approximately 2,300 U.S. Dollars.

Crore: One crore of Rupees is 10,000,000 Indian Rupees, approximately 230,000 U.S. Dollars.

Bangalore Local Government

Ward is the smallest administrative unit of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), the

municipal government in Bangalore, and there are 100 wards in the city. In 1996, the BMP

annexed fringe areas of the city under its administration, creating New or Partial Wards.

Each ward has an average population of 50,000 residents and elects a Corporator for a term

of five years.

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9

INTRODUCTION

11111

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

ANAAGRAHA is a citizens’ movement for improving public governance through

strong participatory democracy. All of its campaigns and activities have focused

on empowering and encouraging citizens to proactively engage with local government

from the planning process of public works to monitoring implementation and creating

a platform for financial accountability. The Ward Vision Campaign is another step

in the progression towards full and formal citizen participation in the future of

Bangalore.

Founded in December 2001 by Ramesh and Swati Ramanathan, Janaagraha

began with a single, central campaign: Ward Works. Inspired by the participatory

budgeting initiative in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the premise was that local citizens should

have a voice in deciding how the municipal budget is spent in their own ward.

Janaagraha provided community groups with tools to assess local infrastructure and

draw up a feasible plan to use a fraction of the budget allocation for their needs,

for example paving major roads, patching potholes or covering open drains.

Since the first campaign, community groups across the city have increased their

involvement with local government to plan and prioritize local engineering works.

The single-issue of roads that resonated with all Bangaloreans was valuable as a

starting point, since it was locally financed. However, citizens naturally wanted

to employ similar participation methods for other issues of concern in the city.

The Ward Vision Campaign was developed as a formal process for citizens to draw

up their priorities on a range of issues. Going far beyond grievance redressal, the

process included five workshops in each ward with deep participation and leadership

from local residents. Janaagraha devised this campaign because it furthers the

movement towards a fully participatory democracy and meets the four major

campaign criteria that Janaagraha set in 2001:

Impact

• A successful campaign cements the idea of participatory planning and partici-

patory democracy in the participating wards. The cumulative population of these

ten wards is over 5,80,000.

• The timing of this campaign is opportune, in that the Bangalore Development

Authority (BDA) is beginning the process of defining the Comprehensive

Development Plan (CDP) for the next 10 years of Bangalore’s growth. Outputs

of this campaign should be a key factor in influencing the content and tone

of the revisions to the CDP.

Sustainability

• The campaign began in ten wards that are already undertaking Monthly Review

Meetings with residents and government officials. These meetings are an im-

portant space for accountability and will continue to be the anchor around

which follow-up activities for the campaign will revolve.

• Both the Community Training and Janaagraha Community

Development Fund (JCDF) are meant to ensure the sustainability of citizen

involvement after the end of the campaign

The Ward Vision Campaign

was developed as a formal

process for citizens to draw

up their priorities. Going far

beyond grievance redressal,

the process included five

workshops in each ward

with deep participation and

leadership from local

residents.

J

11

• The campaign included a final workshop exclusively focused on long-term

sustainability of the action initiated during the campaign.

Replicability

• The success of this campaign will result in a ripple effect across the city, with

many more wards wanting to generate their own Ward Vision plan. The strategies

and materials used in the pilot campaign are available for other community

groups to adopt in their wards.

Scalability

• The methodology, material and learning generated from the campaign is In-

tellectual Property that can be used in many other local governments across

the state and country, to garner similar successes in participatory planning.

• The campaign represents an opening-up of the envelope of citizen participation

beyond the first campaign of Janaagraha, which dealt exclusively with roads.

This campaign will lead to a much larger canvas of engagement for citizens

in the activities of local government, and should provide for many scaling up

opportunities.

Bangalore History

Bangalore Beginnings: Legend has it that King Ballala of the Hoysala dynasty

got lost on a hunting trip in the jungle. Weary and famished, he came across

a poor, old woman who offered him her only food—some boiled beans. Grateful

to her, the king named the place “bende kaalu ooru”, “the town of boiled beans.”

However, historical evidence shows that “Bengalooru” was recorded before King

Ballala’s time in a 9th century temple inscription in the village of Begur.

Bangalore was formally founded by Kempegowda in the early 16th

century. At

that time he built a fort and mapped out the area of the city he envisioned with

four watchtowers. In the 17th and 18th centuries, power shifted between the Bijapur

Sultan, the Wodeyar Royal family of Mysore and the British. Finally in 1831, charging

Krishna Raja Wodeyar III with poor

management, the British took over the

administration of the Mysore Kingdom,

based in Bangalore. Under British rule,

modern facilities like the railways, tele-

graphs, postal and police departments as

well as social clubs and Victorian style

buildings were built. In 1881, the British

returned the city to the Wodeyars.

City Expansion: New extensions were

added to the old town by creating

Chamarajapet and Sheshadripuram in

1892. An outbreak of the plague in 1898

INTRODUCTION

Bangalore is now more

commonly known as the

‘Silicon Valley’ of India.

However, the rapid

population growth and the

consequent demand on

infrastructure and natural

resources makes some

residents wonder if this is

really progress.

caused the creation of two new bigger

extensions in 1898, Basavanagudi and

Malleshwaram. Kalasipalyam and

Gandhinagar were laid out between

1921-1931. During the post-

Independence period Kumara Park came

into existence in 1947, and Jayanagar

was inaugurated in 1948. The former

Cantonment, named as Civil and

Military Station after 1881, had several

revenue villages in it including Binnamangala, Dodkunte, Domlur, Nilasandra,

Blackpalli and Ulsoor. The names given to the roads in the Cantonment area were

according to the military arrangement and campus. Thus, there was Artillery Rd.,

Brigade Rd., Infantry Rd., Cavalry Rd., etc. The South Parade (presently Mahatma

Gandhi Road) was to the south of the Parade Ground. Much of central Bangalore

remains military property as it was laid out during the British rule. Now the

Government of India Defence Ministry continues to use these areas, which along

with the city’s parks provide ‘lungs’ for the city, while also occupying prime real

estate.

Bangalore in the 21st Century: With a total population of 5.5 million across

100 administrative wards, Bangalore is one of the fastest growing Asian cities and

currently the fifth largest in India. In the 1980’s and 90’s many major developers

came to the temperate city to buy up central properties and bungalows, and turn

them into large apartment complexes. Bangalore was known as ‘Pensioner’s Paradise’

and the ‘Garden City’ of India for the last few decades. However, since local

entrepreneurs and the technology giant Texas Instruments discovered its potential

as a high-tech city in the early 1980s, Bangalore has seen an explosion in the

technology sector. It is now home to more than 250 high-tech companies and

growing supportive service industries such as call centres. Homegrown giants like

Wipro and Infosys are symbols of the IT boom in India and Bangalore’s new global

prominence. Bangalore is now more commonly known as the ‘Silicon Valley’ of

India; with its ever-expanding IT parks and campuses and a new international

airport planned many hope that this moniker will last. However, the rapid population

growth and the consequent demand on infrastructure and natural resources makes

some long-time residents wonder if all this urban growth is really progress.

Decentralisation in India: Deepening Democracy

The 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution pushed decision-making down

to the level of local government, making local citizen involvement both meaningful

and essential to improving villages, towns and cities. India’s move to decentralised

government in 1992 was part of a trend of dozens of developing countries in the

1990’s.

The 73rd Amendment, for rural India, included protocols for active citizen

participation including the Gram Sabha, the assembly of all adult residents in the

13

village, which can exercise the powers and perform such functions as the legislature

of a state. This institution is over and above the structural differences between

rural and urban governance; for every 40 rural citizens there is an elected official,

while there is one for every 4000 urban citizens. In major cities like Bangalore

that relationship is even more threadbare, with one representative for 40,000 citizens.

So while the rural governments have the systems to reach Mahatma Gandhi’s dream

of 3,00,000 self-governing villages, no formal platform for participation exists in

growing urban India.

Growth of Participatory Initiatives/Participation Typology and

Framework

Legislation to increase the power of local governments, alone, does not guarantee

good governance. We are in the midst of a global paradigm shift towards increased

citizen participation in government activities including planning, implementation

and monitoring of development projects.

Participation takes several forms based on length of engagement and depth

of participation. The initiators of most large-scale participation programmes have

been the government (e.g. Government of Kerala or Delhi, City of Reno, Nevada)

or donor agencies such as the World Bank. While in some cases the initiators

may involve citizens because they believe that citizens have an intrinsic right to

be heard, others simply understand that users have better knowledge of infrastructure

and service needs, therefore it is prac-

tical for them to be a part of the process.

Janaagraha is actively working to-

wards the final steps: partnerships and

full citizen control over local works and

services. By strengthening accountability

mechanisms, informing citizens and

creating forums for cooperation between

government officials and citizens the

campaigns transcends the superficial par-

ticipation approaches.

Sherry Arnstein is an expert in

the field of citizen participation in local

development initiatives. Her “Ladder of

Participation” is a common framework for

looking at the depth of citizen participation

with government.

Ladder of Participation

1 Manipulation and 2 Therapy: Both are non participative. The aim is to cure or

educate the participants. The proposed plan is best and the job of participation is to

achieve public support by public relations.

3 Informing: A most important first step to legitimate participation. But too frequently

the emphasis is on a one way flow of information. No channel for feedback.

4 Consultation: Again a legitimate step attitude surveys, neighbourhood meetings and

public enquiries. But Arnstein still feels this is just a window dressing ritual.

5 Placation: For example, co-option of hand-picked ‘worthies’ onto committees. It

allows citizens to advise or plan ad infinitum but retains for power holders the right to

judge the legitimacy or feasibility of the advice.

6 Partnership: Power is in fact redistributed through negotiation between citizens and

power holders. Planning and decision-making responsibilities are shared e.g. through joint

committees.

7 Delegated power: Citizens holding a clear majority of seats on committees with

delegated powers to make decisions. Public now has the power to assure accountability

of the programme to them.

8 Citizen Control: Have-nots handle the entire job of planning, policy making and

managing a programme e.g. neighbourhood corporation with no intermediaries between

it and the source of funds.

Arnstein, Sherry R. “A Ladder of Citizen Participation,” Journal of the American Planning Association,

Vol. 35, No. 4, July 1969, pp. 216-224.

Residents arriving at Ward 94 workshop

INTRODUCTION

Goals of the Ward Vision Campaign

• For residents of the ten participating wards to create a vision document for

the betterment of their ward that reflects the needs of all citizens

• To create a formal space for citizens to be involved with local planning and

policy decisions

• Further development of community leaders’ capacities and widen the base of

actively involved citizens, including the economically weaker sections

• To foster working relationships within the communities for active and confident

engagement with local elected officials and administration

• To support each community in achieving its goal of successful community

organizing and dialogue for a common goal

Ten participating wards

50 Vishveshwarapuram

54 Srinivasanagar

55 Padmanabhanagar

68 Ejipura

74 Jeevanbhimanagar

78 Vasanthnagar

85 Sarvagnanagar

94 Kadugondanahalli

96 Hebbal

100 Sanjaynagar

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Approaches

A participatory planning campaign is not only about the eventual outcome, but

also about the methods to get there and the lessons and gems found along the

way. To achieve the goals set for the campaign, Janaagraha (both the volunteers

and active community members) employed a set of broad strategies and guiding

principles from the initial stages.

Building Local Capacity: Ward Vision was the first of Janaagraha’s campaigns that

was steered by the community members in each participating ward. Community-

level ownership of both the process and the outcome is critical to the long-term

sustainability of citizen action for ward development. In the months leading up

to the campaign, Core Community members participated in formal team building

and meeting-management training sessions. Strengthening local capacity was both

an end goal for the campaign and the guiding principle for all activities.

Working on a Human Scale: The motto of this initiative, “Change your Ward

to Change the World”, highlights the local scope of the campaign. Problems at

this level are seen and felt by residents on a daily basis, and small changes can

have a tangible impact. The plan was for a 3-Year time frame because each Corporator

had three years left in his term as of December 2003 and would be politically

accountable to his constituents in 2006. Also, the participants are able to monitor

progress more rigourously than if a 10 or 20-year vision was adopted.

Professional Approach: A systematic method is central to all Janaagraha activities.

This included the following elements in the campaign:

• Diligent planning and preparation of supporting materials before each workshop

and event

• Staying on schedule and keeping commitments

• Exhaustive training of volunteers for all roles and responsibilities

Providing Tools of Participation: One major barrier to public participation is the

lack of information available to the citizen about certain issues. Between May and

September, Janaagraha volunteers prepared useful tools for all aspects of the

campaign:

Best Practices: The coordinators researched participatory planning initiatives in

other parts of the world. One volunteer visited Kerala and another Boston,

US to collect information of other experiences in participatory planning.

Civic Information: Other volunteers collected ward details such as local election

details, number of schools and hospitals and infrastructure information to create

Ward “Fact Files”. A list of 250 problems across 25 issues was defined for citizens

to easily note their concerns in a system that would be quantifiable. Janaagraha

also published a book that gives on-the-ground realities of urban issues in

Bangalore from Tree Planting to Stray Dogs to Water Services. All of the

information went into the planning of the campaign and was distributed to

participants.

The motto of this initiative,

“Change your Ward to

Change the World”,

highlights the local scope of

the campaign.

City-wide community event

Volunteer talking to community members

in Ward 96

INTRODUCTION

Maps: The series of workshops were planned as the best possible forum for

collecting citizen inputs on a mass scale, and property maps and stickers were

provided so that neither levels of literacy nor language would be a barricade

to involvement.

Using Accurate Data: What distinguished this campaign from standard grievance

redressal mechanisms or “wish lists” was the use of detailed and specific data about

each issue. As background work for the campaign, over 500 college students

completed a comprehensive property survey of nine wards. This equipped each

community with high-quality maps for use in the workshops, and information for

potential revenue estimation. During the first workshop, problems were identified

and collected systematically so that reports could be generated and sent to the

agencies and elected officials. Each issue was broken down into quantifiable problems

at a specified location. This enabled the community and agencies to work towards

constructive solutions. For prioritization of engineering works the citizens costed

each problem using worksheets that provided benchmark costing guidelines.

Involving all sections of the community: Janaagraha is committed to enhancing

the decision-making role of citizens for the development of the wards and the

city. The fundamental belief in the role of the resident encompasses a commitment

to inclusiveness so that all voices are heard. This includes reaching out to those

who are typically marginalized in decision-making, such as the urban poor and

young people. Also, communities are made up of more than residents; there are

institutions and business owners who have an interest in the future of the ward

and can work together with residents to improve their locality.

17

Comparative study of the Janaagraha Participatory Design and Planning Campaign of the Bhagidari and Kerala Initiatives

INTRODUCTION

Comparative study of the Janaagraha Participatory Design and Planning Campaign of the Bhagidari and Kerala Initiatives (contd)

19

Major Innovations in Ward Vision Campaign

Participants came into the workshops with minimal or no background on how the

process works. Hence, well-accepted tools and methods of collaborative planning

such as charettes, maps and transact walks were used, with many innovations and

adaptations. Some aspects of these were:

1. Breaking down each ward into smaller, recognisable areas or neighbourhoods.

For example, a ward may actually be composed of 10 areas, each of which

is a cluster of neighbourhoods. At the point of registration, citizens identified

their area, and participated in the entire workshop process as residents of that

particular area. This allowed citizens to “connect” more easily to a familiar

space, rather than the entire ward. It also creates a group identity in an area.

In addition, there were many opportunities to connect as a ward as well.

2. The process began with issue identification, and moved to solutions only

after group discussions had taken place, so that participants could see the

granularity inherent in many of the issues, and the possible differences in

perception of the same issue by different people.

3. Expert panels were constituted to provide the necessary information to the

participants on any particular issue. Janaagraha collected information from the

city administration and as well as architects, lawyers, engineers and other

professionals. For example, expert notes were available on roads, street lighting,

solid waste management, water supply, sanitation, building zones, building by-

laws, illegal slums, parking, tree-cutting, civic amenity sites, stray dogs etc. These

expert notes served to inform the participant, and reduce the scope for “phantom”

experts to hijack discussions. Expert notes captured multiple points of view

where there were divergent opinions on an issue; costing methodologies; policy

clarifications; innovative approaches, if any; time required, if relevant; agencies

involved.

4. These expert notes were made available to participants only after detailed

discussions on issues had taken place, in keeping with the pedagogical approach

of experiential continuum, i.e. allow the participants to go through the

experience of coming forth on their issues, discussing these among themselves,

and then be in a more prepared state of mind to receive the information.

5. The entire process was an inside-out one, growing in increasingly larger

concentric circles. All activity started at the individual level, then moved into

group discussion, then the neighborhood discussion, and finally a discussion

at the level of the entire ward.

21

CORE COMMUNITIES

| Definition of Core Community | Training | Role in Ward Vision Campaign |

22222

CORE COMMUNITIES

ANAAGRAHA is a stage for civic engagement, and the citizens in each locality

are the actors. While Janaagraha provides tools for productive participation, each

area needs its own directors to drive the process. Throughout the campaign, the

Core Community had the critical role in the direction of their wards’ activities.

The Core Community is the group of citizens in each ward who took the initiative

and the commitment to lead the Ward Planning Campaign. In each of the wards,

a dedicated group ranging in size from 5 to 25 was the driving force that made

the programme a success. Members of the Core Community come from all back-

grounds: retired engineers, teachers, homemakers and IT professionals are only some

of the roles these individuals play outside of Janaagraha. While some are life-long

Bangaloreans, several of them have moved here after decades in other parts of

the country. Many of these individuals are community champions who had been

engaging with local government for a few months or years through meetings or

by frequent visits to agency offices. However, some of the most dedicated and

effective members had minimal experience with government before they began.

A CC leader takes on a lot of responsibility, but the role can have significant

rewards, both personally and for the

community. Alongside are comments

from some of the leaders:

In July, Janaagraha founders intro-

duced the idea of the Ward Vision

Campaign to 15 active community

groups in Bangalore and spelled out the

intense six-month commitment from the

core group of citizens. Ten wards com-

mitted to the campaign that evening.

Core Community members spent any-

where from four to twenty hours per

week on the Ward Planning Campaign,

depending on specific factors in the

ward. The campaign was primarily fo-

cused on getting a wide group of citizens

involved in the planning process, but it

was also an opportunity for leadership

development.

Training

The ten wards that participated in the Ward Vision Campaign each availed of

an opportunity for training sessions by Competency Development Services (CDS).

Janaagraha hired CDS to develop training modules to help pull together a het-

erogeneous group of citizens to work together. CDS is a company that provides

training in managerial skills traditionally to the corporate sector. To prepare for

these unique training sessions they spent two months researching the wards,

attending Monthly Review Meetings and interviewing community members. They

J

Mr Shivashankaran speaking at a panel

discussion

“The most important role as a Core Community leader is to mobilize people. The

people should be convinced that any issue can be solved collectively.”

–Srinath, Ward 50

“We all should share the same vision & look at the big picture. Share the burden of

work. Be responsive to appeal & give constructive criticism. Organise Events as often as

possible to various age groups.”

–Nagraj M., Ward 74

“Organised activity of Core Community is a must. Without organisation, Ward Vision

details cannot be attended.”

–Shivashankaran, Ward 94

“I believe that the formation of a very strong federation depends on the way the core

group internalises participatory democracy. If the core group understands this properly

and then put it across effectively to their group there would be a lot more participa-

tion: there are lots of people out there who are waiting to be convinced.”

–Mukund, Ward 55

23

assessed the needs of the communities and created training modules accordingly.

The training sessions included “Managing Meetings” and “Team Bonding” and

were intended to strengthen the groups’ ability to work together productively for

a common purpose with the principle of cooperation rather than confrontation.

In each ward between eight and thirty people participated in the training sessions,

which lasted for three days. The average rating of the program a 4.1 on a scale

of 5 and participants gave the following comments:

Responsibilities

With this campaign, Janaagraha made a

unique shift of transferring the burden

of success or failure onto the commu-

nities. They were partners in the process,

not merely participants. The Janaagraha

office provided materials and tools that

were necessary in the process, as well

as volunteers, but the bulk of the work

and the reward was for the ward and

its residents. The Core Community was

responsible for the following major parts

of the campaign:

• Outreach to the entire ward: distributing flyers, door-to-door

invitations, contacting other associations

• Marking neighborhood areas and corrections on the map

• Regular contact with Elected Officials and local Administration

• Organizing the venue for all ward-level workshops

• Facilitating “mini-workshops” (Issue Identification sessions for 10-20 people in

one neighborhood of the ward) and other meetings

• Staying in touch with workshop participants

• Coordinating the writing of the Ward Vision Document

“Very educative and informative; good program learnt a lot of things; facilitator is

superb in analysing program.” –Ward 55

“Training program to be repeated every 6 months.” –Ward 55

“The program was delightful. The games were highly innovative... Learnt a lot, very

good and educative.” –Ward 78

“Very good, more practice is required” –Ward 96

“I have learnt a lot in the seminar conducted, it was very valuable. It inspires to team

spirit and leadership. I wish the same to be extended to other wards and citizens will

be educated about their responsibilities and respect of civic amenities.”

–Ward 94

Mr Murali explaining costing at Ward 85 workshop



OMMUNITY organizing practices focus on mobilizing people to take up common

issues. Encouraging people to participate, and to stay dedicated is the foundation

of participatory democracy and citizen-led development. Community Communi-

cation for this campaign included all of the strategies to inform and interest citizens

in local development activities. While in previous campaigns, the bulk of com-

munications has come directly from Janaagraha, in this campaign the Core

Community was encouraged to take more ownership over communications decisions,

especially direct outreach to other residents.

Communications for the 2003 Ward Vision Campaign

The outreach and organizing for the Ward Vision Campaign was planned over

several meetings with all ten communities, volunteers and media professionals. The

actual communication method for the Ward Vision Campaign had two components:

1. Janaagraha launched a city-wide advertising campaign and provided flyers, hoard-

ings (billboards), banners and leaflets to the ten wards. All communications

material was printed in both English and Kannada.

2. The Core Community members took up the majority of the local communications

effort.

• Visited residents door-to-door to talk about the campaign

• Met with other associations and social groups

• Advertised on local cable and in local newspapers

• Planned local events (street theatre, cricket matches, festival events)

• Distributed flyers

Five-step workshop process in book

distributed to communities.

Janaagraha’s

Communications Activities

July-August: Momentum (a brand

strategy firm), organized an offsite

discussion to discuss the communica-

tions strategy for the campaign. Other

brainstorming and planning sessions

were held with experts in the field..

Janaagraha Book/Flip-Chart was

completed and distributed to Core

Community to help them explain the

idea to newcomers.

Aug 15th: 1,40,000 Citizen Quotient

Quiz inserts in newspapers (ultimately

distributed to six of ten wards)

Aug 17th: For WARD YATRA: Fre-

quently Asked Questions on Ward

Vision campaign leaflet, Fact File with

map of ward

Sept 6th-21st: Tempo Hoardings (on

the sides of trucks) went around most

of the wards for one to four days;

Half-page advertisement in seven major

newspapers; Radio City (leading FM

station) Advertisements, Contest and

announcements by Radio Jockeys.

Pamphlets in Tamil and Urdu created and distributed by Pillana Garden Association in Ward 94

C

27

While newspaper ads and hoardings can inform a wide range of citizens, to

get them really interested and committed, they must have contact with those who

are involved. This also gave the opportunity for flexibility and variety in the

approaches. In Kadugondanahalli, a particularly diverse ward, the Core Community

realized that having materials only in English and Kannada would not reach out

to a majority of the ward, so they created and disseminated thousands of simple

pamphlets with pictures in English, Kannada, Tamil and Urdu.

Targeted Outreach: Reaching out to the Urban Poor

For a variety of reasons, mainstream outreach methods may not effectively reach

the urban poor. People who are illiterate will have difficulty with text-filled pamphlets

and may feel that they would not understand the workshop or meeting. To reach

out to the urban poor and ensure that their problems were included, Janaagraha

held a workshop specifically for slum-dwellers in the ten target wards at the beginning

of the campaign. In some wards, particularly those with less development overall,

either the CC visited the slum areas to talk about the campaign or Janaagraha

volunteers active in those areas met with some residents there. NGOs active in

each area were also informed of the campaign and asked to invite their groups

to participate fully. (See section on workshop for the Urban Poor)

Local success in reaching out the to poor depended on the following elements:

• Size of slum population in the ward: In wards with a large population of slum-

dwellers there was some representation at the early workshops. In the wards

with one or two small, unofficial slums, there was no representation.

• Level of door-to-door outreach: In the wards where door-to-door outreach was

the primary method of communication (rather than flyers or local newspaper

ads), slum-dwellers were more informed of the campaign.

• Sustained engagement of one or more recognized leaders in a slum community:

Even where the urban poor were present, only when they were involved as

Citizen Anchors were their needs directly expressed in the final document.

Where they participated, but did not frequently sit with the CC to draft the

document, middle-class citizens spoke for them, rather than the slum-dwellers

speaking for themselves.

• Commitment of local CC for inclusion: In a few wards the community was

proactive in reaching out to the poor because they were committed to helping

those with the greatest need engage with local government on the same platform,

rather than being concerned only with their own streets. This has proved to

be the most important community characteristic to predict a lasting involvement

of the urban poor with the local Residents’ Association or Federation.

Targeted Outreach: Reaching out to Youth

Young people are the future of their communities and the city. Everyone from

schoolchildren to young professionals has a place in community initiatives. In this

campaign, over 120 college students and many young working people from across

the city served as volunteers in the workshops. The citywide advertisements (such

as Radio City spots) did reach young people. However, few attended as residents,

Street Theatre

Bala Janaagraha Civic Exhibition


perhaps because they were not subsequently approached by young people who were

involved or they believed that community action was only meant for heads of

households.

Through the Bala Janaagraha program, 1100 school students held a civic

exhibition in December 2003. They had researched urban issues facing their ward,

complimented by field trips to various municipal sites, and wrote reports and created

models of how their ward could improve. The students’ excellent and thoughtful

presentations proved that young people are paying attention to their surroundings

and when invited, they can be a part of developing a positive vision for the future.

Advertisement in most major newspapers

introducing the Ward Vision Campaign

Learnings

The goal of the total communications approach was to inform and attract as many

ward residents as possible to attend the first workshop through a blend of mass

media and personal contact. In half the wards the initial turnout was not as high

as the communities had hoped (under 200 ward-level participants). This may have

been due in part to shortcomings in the communications approach.

Representation: While a few wards had a good level of representation across the

boundaries of neighborhoods, economic class and age, across the board the most

active participants were predominantly middle-class men over the age of 55. Different

people bring unique perspectives on the condition of the neighborhood; therefore

homogeneity among participants is imprudent because the final outcome may not

reflect the needs of all residents. In future endeavors, communities that want

comprehensive representation will need to do some targeted outreach and ensure

access for the urban poor, young people, and women from all neighborhoods.

29

Frequently Asked Questions about the

Campaign, in Kannada, distributed by local

communities

Decentralized Approach: The goals and methodology of this campaign entailed

that most activities were done at the ward level, with coordination from Janaagraha

across the wards. In some instances, because of imprecise coordination, deadlines

were missed and activities were planned but not executed. When several groups

are coordinating a single project, each party should take clear responsibility over

each portion to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.

Ad-hoc Outreach: Many of the Residents Associations have a fixed group of

members and do not regularly reach out to the larger community to invite them

to meetings or talk about their work. Similarly, Janaagraha had not done any major

advertising in over one year. Outstanding community organizing must be continuous.

If residents only hear about an initiative once, they are likely to be skeptical. Long-

term outreach efforts would most effectively unearth the practical needs of the

community and create a sense of trust among residents.


Community Communications Ideas

31

Community Communications Ideas (contd)

THE WARD VISION CAMPAIGN AUG-DEC 2003

THE WARD VISION CAMPAIGN

Background Work

July-September 2003

Extensive background work went into developing the materials and tools of the

Ward Vision workshops. Hundreds of volunteers, from college students to senior

professionals and government officials, helped form the foundation of the campaign

so that the communities would have access to the most up-to-date information

and techniques for problem and solution identification.

Creation of Citizen Handbook for Participatory Planning

Effective participatory planning that transcends a “wish list” required citizens to

have a base of knowledge on current policies and processes at work in Bangalore.

While citizens, as users have a good understanding of the gaps in infrastructure

and services, they may not have the “formal knowledge” behind the decisions made

by government officials. There was no single source for citizens to understand the

existing laws or the procedures for many civic issues, for example how to change

the land use of a house or the correct process for cutting down a tree blocking

a footpath. During the campaign, Swati Ramanathan conceptualized and released

a book to fill in some of the gaps in information.

The “Citizen Handbook” is a compilation of information on 21 important civic

issues from Roads to Rainwater Harvesting. Information on each issue was collected

methodically, and cross-checked with many of the leading experts in Bangalore.

Five Chartered Accounting interns: Chaitra, Swetha, Anoop, Anjali and Pawan

from Singhvi, Dev & Unni worked full-time on collecting and documenting this

information for 6 weeks. Each student visited the relevant government agencies,

non-governmental organizations, companies and individuals to find the existing

policy on the subject, as well as critical debates and innovative ideas.

This handbook was planned to be

a “ready reckoner” on urban issues,

giving citizens the basic information nec-

essary to understand the broader context

of their local grievance and think about

solutions. Each chapter gives back-

ground information and also includes

Problem & Solution Grids (a matrix to

match each problem with the possible

solutions) and then further defines the

solution according to implementation

time, financial requirement, agency and

stakeholders.

The book was printed in October

2003 and its chapter-wise contents were

provided to the Citizen Anchors for their

further information on the subject. Writ-

ers Shashi Deshpande and Vyasaraya

Ballala officially launched the book to

AUG-DEC 2003

Comments on the book:

“The extensive compilation of research is a

guiding lamp for citizens. With all its

formulas to awaken people from their

slumber, this Handbook is a ‘knowledge

house of life’ and a must for every

household.”

–Vishnuvardhan, Kannada film matinee idol

“This handbook will empower citizens to

understand and participate in the decision

making processes which shape their city.”

–Dr H. Sudarshan, Vigilance Director,

Karnataka Lokayukta, GOK

Printed in English and Kannada, Designed by Ray & Keshavan, Illustrated by Rajandra Bagate

Book release at Strand Book Fair

35

the public at the Strand Book Fair in December. Many citizens have been pleased

with the book and have found it very useful for understanding complex urban

issues.

SWOT Analysis of the Wards

Facts and figures are critical for active citizens to make thoughtful assessments

of the current situation. However, evocative pictures are also important to create

a comprehensive understanding and impression of the ward. Janaagraha invited

30 Mass Media and Communications

students to make posters of the ten

wards, looking at the Strengths, Weak-

nesses, Opportunities and Threats with

photographs.

Pictures, unlike statistics stir up the

feelings of residents, feelings of disap-

pointment or pride about their own

streets or parks and new interest about

other parts of their ward. These posters

were displayed at local events and the

workshops.

BDA/Janaagraha Student Survey and Maps

While the first phase of Janaagraha was about numbers, this campaign was about

space. Maps are critical to thoughtful, effective planning processes and significant

work went into making the maps both attractive and informative.

High-quality, state-of-the-art digital maps with up-to-date spatial data at very

good resolution were used as the central planning device. These maps of 1:1000

scale, and had details at the individual property level. The property level details

compiled by the student survey were combined with information on tree locations,

major landmarks, water and public transportation information at the ward level.

Several benefits accrued from the use of the map as the primary tool for the

workshops:

1. Maps are language-independent

2. Maps cut across social boundaries

3. Maps allow citizens to relate to the spatial character of their areas, see patterns

that were hitherto not visible, and begin to take ownership over their neigh-

borhoods.

4. Citizens can make additions/ modifications/ deletions to the data on the maps,

since they have the latest information. These can be used to enrich the database

of the city.

5. The information being generated through the planning process will be invaluable

to the BDA in the development of the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP)

and land use maps for the city, one that includes the legitimate outputs of

the citizens.

Voices of the Volunteers

Student comments at the Volunteer Appreciation Ceremony

“It was a real learning for all of us, going to different wards, meeting the residents,

clicking photographs, not just for the sake of clicking but for understanding the pros and

cons of our darling city Bangalore.

Though we covered only 10 wards coming under the BMP, it has always been an

amazing experience for all of us.

These certificates are a real surprise and huge motivator for us to do more and more

for ourselves, our society and of course, Namma Bangalore.

Believing that hand in hand we can create a better Bangalore, we thank you once

again for inspiring us and appreciating our works.”

–Dewakar, Surana College

Surana College President and students


6. Maps are an important community visual tool for participation and negotiation

between different parts of a ward, so that more equitable decisions can be reached.

As an example, the distribution of civic amenities like parks and playgrounds

can be easily seen.

7. The various revenue sources in the ward can be estimated fairly accurately

from the maps themselves. With property-level details being available by type

of property, property taxes can be estimated; trade license revenues can be

estimated, as can advertising and parking fees.

8. Most plans and projects of various agencies can best be visually represented

on the maps: water supply plans, garbage routes, park development etc.

Over 500 college students partici-

pated in a comprehensive survey of nine

of Bangalore’s wards. Swati Ramanathan

and Janaagraha volunteers gave students

half-day training sessions and continu-

ous support throughout the process. Stu-

dents from each college worked for

approximately one full week to complete

the areas in their ward. They surveyed

the use of every property as well as

several street features in the wards.

The BDA and Janaagraha held a

Student Volunteer Appreciation Event

for the participants on August 30th.

Prizes were given to the best groups in

each college and certificates and t-shirts

were awarded to each student.

Janaagraha also signed a MoU with

the BDA to create great property-level

area maps. A French company SCE was responsible for map production and nine

wards were able to use these maps for identifying problems in specific locations

at their first workshop. An agreement with Eicher allowed the use of their very

high quality road maps. These maps, which include major buildings and landmarks,

were used in the Fact Files distributed to all citizens.

These surveys are not only critical in the present campaign, but are relevant

from a historical context and will make a difference for the future. It has been

200 years since the Great Trigonometric Survey in India that was a landmark event

in the science of mapping. In both the United Kingdom and India major exhibits

were planned in 2003 to commemorate this event. Their theme was neighborhood

mapping, and these surveys represent some of the best grassroots work done in

neighborhood mapping today.

Participating Colleges

1. Garden City College

2. R.B.A.N.M. College

3. Mt. Carmel College

4. S.B.M. Jain College

5. Yelahanka Sheshadripuram College

6. Jyothi Nivas College

7. M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Management



“Mahatma Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.” While this

thought has a lot to do with empowerment, it also talks a great deal about responsibil-

ity, and accountability. Our stint at Janaagraha was a refreshing reminder of the fact that

we are a part of society, and are both responsible and accountable for the society we

live in.

While the project itself was arduous to some extent, I am positive that without

exception, all of us found it interesting, mainly due to the novelty of the activities, and

in addition, due to the fact that we were made aware of the ‘big picture’, and made

to feel that we were an integral part of that picture. This empowerment, and sense of

participation, and direct influence upon the functions of the Bangalore Development

Authority, inculcated in us a feeling of belonging, and responsibility, which motivated us

towards working better.

Indeed, the fortnight that we spent volunteering for Janaagraha’s campaign made us

aware that management does not confine itself to commerce and industry alone, but

can also be utilized as a tool to improve the living standards of people and provide

them with the basic civic amenities which are so difficult to come by in a vast nation

like India.”

–Nilesh Iyer, M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Management

37



“To begin with, we always think about what our city or our corporation provides us

with rather than in what way we can help them, and even if we think about this we

never know where to begin helping. And for all such people, which includes us,

Janaagraha was the means. We thank Janaagraha for that.

The first day when we just got introduced to this surveying information, we felt it

was something which was big for us. And this made us accept it with a challenge.

We JNC volunteers had a great time surveying. It was fun walking through places,

acting responsible and explaining to some people that we are not plotting a burglary.

It won’t be fair on my part if I say it was all fun and no problems at all. We did

face some obstacles, which we overcame with a challenge. This enhanced our talent to

handle difficult situations. Some of them were, when some of my friends had to survey

the bar areas, slums and places where there were less decent people and more

indecent ones. Some of us had got vast localities through which we had to walk and

walk and walk. I think because we completed our assignment overcoming these

obstacles we now have a sense of accomplishment.”

–Charitha Niluki T.A, Jyoti Nivas College

Students get trained in surveying methods


Workshop Tools

1. Issue/Problem Booklet: Before attempting to systematically collate the problems

of thousands of individuals, we needed to create a uniform classification. The

possible concerns were first separated into 4 CATEGORIES, 22 ISSUES, then

between 6 and 30 PROBLEMS within each issue.

2. Stickers and Individual maps: The property and street-level maps that were

updated with the student survey were made available for each participant to

use in his issue identification. With maps as the central planning device, we

devised stickers to represent each issue. The stickers were color-coded by category,

then given a simple icon. Accompanied by numerical stickers on the small

map given, this would express a problem at a specific location.

3. Database & Data Capture Sheets: Once identified by each participant, the

problem needed to be recorded for inclusion in the vision document and

appropriate follow-up by agencies. The coordinating team developed forms that

would capture necessary information from the stickers and maps or directly

from the participants. The format given at the workshops was linked to a database

created at Janaagraha’s office to store all of the problems identified and generate

reports for each stakeholder including problem summary reports for the ward.

4. Problem & Solution Grids: Through the research on issues, we identified the

range of possible solutions to the problems that could be identified. This would

become an important tool, as citizens could easily identify the problems, but

not instinctively find the possible solutions or understand the different stake-

holders and requirements involved. This tool provided quick, issue-by-issue

awareness for the citizen. The Problem & Solution Grid was a basic matrix

matching each problem with one or more solutions. Complementing this, a

second grid “Determining factors for each solution” detailed each solution by:

• Finance (one-time or ongoing expenditure)

• Policy-Related (need for awareness, enforcement or change in current policy)

• Citizen Involvement (one-time or ongoing)

• Implementation Time (<6 mo., 6-12mo., 1-3 yrs., >3 yrs.)

• Jurisdiction of solution (individual, neighborhood, ward, multi-ward)

• Agencies concerned

5. Costing Grids: These worksheets were based on the benchmark costing of major

engineering works adapted from Bangalore City Corporation’s own schedule

of works. This sheet allows citizens to enter the measurements of a road or

drain, or the number of streetlights needed and estimate the cost of works

for the street or ward. Janaagraha put this into a user-friendly format that

encouraged use by lay-persons.

Category: Environmental Resources (Green)

Issue: Trees

Problem No 1: No trees on street or park

Problem No 5: Tree is touching electrical lines

(See complete Issue/Problem List at end)

39

Ward Yatra

Date: August 17th, 2003

Goals: As the opening event of the campaign, the aims

were to:

• Sensitize community members to the administrative

boundary of the political unit called the “ward” and

about the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities,

Threats (S.W.O.T.) facing all neighborhoods within it,

from the most developed blocks to the slum areas.

• Increase awareness and excitement about the Ward

Vision campaign in all sectors of the community.

• Start dialogue between active residents (many of whom

were acting alone)

Process: Each community planned their own Ward Yatra and each was unique.

They all began by meeting at one location in the ward early Sunday morning

with banners, signs and Janaagraha materials. After a sizable group had arrived

(and in most cases the Corporator), the swelling groups began to walk through

main streets and back roads of the ward passing out flyers and talking to residents

who came out of homes and shops to watch the processions. The infectious

excitement created by some the groups on each street encouraged others to join

in and ask questions. Many community groups had invited leaders and local

personalities to participate as residents of the ward. In some cases the community

chanted slogans, but in other wards they marched quietly. Citizens talked to one

another about the condition of the roads and drains, and were able to feel that

they were not alone in wanting a better community to live in. In all communities

the local police were informed, and they participated in the walk. The walks ranged

in time from 45 minutes to 2 hours.

After the walk, each community met back at a central school or park for a

short presentation by the organizing associations and special guests. Janaagraha

provided maps of the ward with bright markers for participants to write comments

and observations that they saw along the yatra route. The Core Community in

most wards also provided breakfast for all participants.

Outcomes: The primary outcome of this was that more residents of the ward were

aware of the local Residents Associations and Janaagraha. The Ward Yatra was

an important communications exercise, because it really touched the pulse of the

community and streets. Meeting people face to face or seeing a group of residents

taking time on a Sunday morning generated more interest than a flyer or hoarding.

The other benefit of the Yatra was that participants linked up with other community

members to understand the problems across their ward rather than only their neigh-

borhood. It started the campaign with the need for problem solving and introduced

the plan for constructive engagement through the workshops. Many of those who

attended the Yatra also attended the workshops.Ward Yatras


Learnings: Depending on the size of the

ward, it may be useful to have more than

one yatra so that all areas are covered

rather than only 2 or 3 neighborhoods

in one morning.

Highlights: In 8 out of 10 wards the

Corporator joined the communities

during the Ward Yatra.

Most of the wards invited groups of

local school children and college stu-

dents to get involved. The students

helped hold the banners, distribute flyers

and other tasks for the events. The

energy of youth enlivened the walk and

gave them a tangible experience with

community organizing. Many commu-

nity members have reported that local

youth enjoyed the event tremendously

and are keen for other such programmes.

“The Ward Yatra was a defining moment

for us. We were all up until 2 am

making placards! Without that nothing

more would have been done.”

–A. Shivashankaran, Ward 94

Deccan Herald coverage of Ward 100

Yatra. The campaign received good

media coverage in 7 languages and 14

newspapers in Bangalore and across

the country

41

Urban Poor Workshop

Date: September 6th, 2003

A large segment of the city’s population lives in slums, and each of these slums,

“legal” or “illegal”, is part of a ward. The everyday needs of these communities

are related to basic infrastructure such as water supply, community toilets, sewerage,

and health. We hosted a preliminary workshop for residents of all 41 slums in

the ten focus wards.

Goals: There were four distinct goals for this preliminary workshop of the Ward

Vision Campaign.

• Create a forum between community and Government that transcends grievance

redressal and instead analyzes specific answers and solutions from each agency.

• Orient the urban poor to the methodologies to be used in the larger Ward

Vision workshops including exercises, use of maps, and methodical identification

of problems and solutions. This will make their participation a fruitful experience

that will lead to the full inclusion of their concerns.

• Understand the complex nature of both the problems and solutions (as some

will be different from middle-class areas) and take steps towards addressing

them.

• Encourage the slumdwellers to participate in the five workshops held in their

ward between September and December.

Process: For this pre-workshop, as distinct from the rest of the campaign, the

smaller sessions were divided by issue rather than neighborhood. The ten issues

were identified through discussion held with multiple NGOs. None of these concerns

are new to slumdwellers, in fact the lack of infrastructure defines the slum area.

This format enabled them to connect with residents from other areas facing the

same problem and talk with experts and government officials in each area for two

hours.

1. Conductor welcomed participants and presented list of sectors (including Health,

Education, Water, Toilets and 6 other issues); Communities divided their group

so that there was representation for the most pressing issues. Everyone moved

into smaller rooms to discuss the nature of the problems within one issue area.

2. In 10 sector rooms: Each room discussion focused on a single issue only.

Discussion of Problems and Solutions affecting each slum within that particular

sector(using pre-determined grid, guided by facilitator, documented by volun-

teer).

3. Interactive session between communities and agency head and/or sector expert

to discuss feasibility of solutions in each slum represented. Large maps of each

of the focus wards with the slums marked off were also available to facilitate

conversation about specific problems in each area.

Outcomes: The turnout at this workshop was strong, with over 250 participants

representing 31 (of 41) slums in the ten wards. From this workshop concrete outcomes


based on the discussions were identified. The table above includes the major problems

discussed by slumdwellers in each area that was represented.

Janaagraha compiled the issues identified at these sessions and sent them to

the responsible city agencies and the Core Community in each ward.

Learnings: For this workshop, we invited experts in each field who had some

experience with the concerns of slumdwellers in Bangalore. Though there was a

set agenda for the session, some of the facilitators did not fully understand the

process and though general problems were discussed they did not talk about specific

possible solutions. Involving them early in the brainstorming process might have

improved everyone’s understanding of the goals and limitations and strengthened

the focus of the workshop sessions.

Outcomes of Urban Poor Workshop for four slums. During workshops, issues were identified with local NGOs.

43

For the problems identified here to be solved, persistent follow-up is required.

Janaagraha sent the reports generated from this session to the heads of each agency,

but the communities themselves must do the follow-up. Few problems are solved

from one meeting, and the workshop was aimed at getting this segment of the

population to participate in the larger campaign where they would have an

opportunity to continue engaging with officials.

Highlights: Where leadership emerged in some of the discussion rooms, other

residents felt comfortable opening up and speaking candidly about their concerns

and issues. In some areas this leadership carried into the workshops and a few

individuals ensured that the concerns of the poor were included in the final vision.

This targeted workshop introduced many existing local leaders to the idea of

Janaagraha and built bridges with the Residents Associations and Federations of

the middle-class to begin the process of collective problem solving.

Three slums in Jeevanbhimanagar


Volunteer Orientation

Date: September 7th, 2003

Goals: The goal of the orientation was to explain the structure and goals of the

Ward Vision Campaign to the volunteers who would be helping to run the workshops.

Specifically, the focus was on the first workshop, and training them for their specific

role so there would be a consistently positive experience across the wards.

Process:

1. The volunteers registered, then proceeded to sit in groups of the wards they

would be working in, so they could meet their fellow volunteers. The program

began with a presentation by Swati Ramanathan on the Ward Vision Campaign

and its ultimate goal of improving Bangalore through citizens’ input. The rest

of the orientation would be structured like the 1st workshop, so that the

volunteers would experience what would happen on that day.

2. As the beginning of the “mock workshop”, Swati began by doing an open house

and asking the volunteers to name major issues in their areas such as Roads

or Stray Dogs.

3. Next, the personal maps were distributed. Swati led an open house on problems

(the specific concerns within issues). The booklet with all issues and problems

was distributed for the volunteers to see which concerns could be addressed

during this campaign. With this information, they began marking issues and

problems on the maps.

4. The large area maps were carried to each group and the volunteers did a trial

in groups of transferring the problems from the personal maps to the area map.

5. The coordinators then discussed the roles and responsibilities for the first

workshop and subsequent workshops and distributed a note of “Hints for

Facilitators”. This was followed by several questions by the volunteers.

Outcomes: The outcome of this workshop was 250 new volunteers who were

prepared to take on their roles in the upcoming workshops. Bangaloreans from

across the city including students from eight colleges, professionals from many IT

companies learned about how to play their roles.

Learnings: At the orientation at Rotary, the group was very large and the set-

up was not ideal for the detailed type of training that the facilitators needed. While

the style was adequate for the volunteers with a less complex role, the facilitators

needed more individualised training. Though many questions were addressed in

the Q&A portion, some volunteers gave feedback after the first workshop that

they did not feel fully prepared for their task. On the other hand, those who

had a smaller training had the opportunity to ask all their questions.

Highlights: The campaign was a great opportunity to tap into the goodwill of

Bangalore’s citizens. Many people from all backgrounds were willing to be involved

and were enthusiastic and curious about the power of local participation in making

As with all of Janaagraha’s activities,

volunteers handle every aspect, from

making the background materials to

setting up the maps and facilitating

community sessions. While community

members played the largest role in

organizing the venue, it was important

that on the day of the workshop they

had the opportunity to play a role as

residents and concerned citizens voicing

their issues, not mired in logistical details.

Over 400 people participated in the

workshops as “Workshop Volunteers”,

“Data Capturers”, “Facilitators” and

“Conductors”.

Throughout September, there were

several evening training sessions at

Janaagraha’s office. Swati, Sunita and

Elizabeth conducted these smaller

meetings for facilitators and conductors.

Volunteers were constantly updated by

phone and email on changes to

processes and important learnings before

their workshop.

Anuradha speaks to student volunteers

45

changes in the community. The volunteers infused much needed youth energy into

the entire campaign; most volunteers were between 18-40.

This was also an important trial run of the structure of the first workshop,

from the open house, to the issue list and stickers on the map. Most volunteers

were impressed by the process and maps and felt that such a structure would help

them collect quality information from a large group of citizens.

Volunteers at orientation session

Volunteers

“The training session and the tools provided by Janaagraha were very useful in enabling

me to do a good job at Workshop 1. In fact, I have been trying to plough back into

my work life some of the learnings on how to run a meeting. The spreadsheet with

timings, participants and roles was awesome.”

–Krishna Hegde, Volunteer, Ward 100

“Volunteering definitely helped me...it enriched my mind with some great ideas and

methods, and gave me a good oppurtunity to interact and deal with “people”, which I

enjoy a lot. Most of all, being very passionate about my country, it feels great to be

a part of this citizen movement, hopefully for the better.”

–Srikrishna, Volunteer, Ward 54


Workshop #1: Issue Identification

Dates: September 14th and 21st, 2003

Goal: For a large group of residents to identify the problems in their ward, and

connect with other community members facing the same issues. At this introductory

workshop, some citizens will be introduced to the local Resident Associations and

the idea of Janaagraha.

Process:

1. The Vision campaign experience

began as soon as the participants

arrived at the venue on Sunday

morning. In each ward the Core

Community had identified a location

for all five workshops to be held,

usually a school with several class-

rooms and one large auditorium.

Near the entrance, large panels were

set up with information for residents

to look at, including transport and

water supply maps, maps of the slum

areas and the SWOT collages made

by the students. Participants were

allowed to write their own thoughts

on the SWOT of their ward. At the

registration tables, community mem-

bers helped each resident identify his

neighborhood block area in the ward

for small group discussion.

2. In all wards, the programme began

with a welcoming address by the

Conductor and Core Community

leader. The conductor briefed the crowd about the agenda for the day and

the idea of the Three-Year Vision document that would be the final output

of the process. The crowd then dispersed into separate rooms for each neigh-

borhood area.

3. Inside the neighborhood rooms, the facilitator began with the “Open House”,

giving all community members a chance to bring up the issues facing their

area for 20 minutes. All of these issues were written up on a large piece of

paper at the front of the room.

4. Next, the participants were given a pamphlet of the “Issues” and “Problems”

(see Annexure) that could be identified. They were also provided with detailed

area maps and stickers that the facilitator explained. Each participant was given

time to mark their problems on their own map for 15-30 minutes.

Resources

Material

Panel Boards: In each ward, volunteers erected 7’x16' panel boards in the central

space of the venue to post important materials.

Issue/Problem Booklet: List of over 200 possible problems for systematic identification.

Neighborhood Map: This map of the ward is demarcated into 8-13 different blocks, so

that citizens could begin their issue identification with their immediate neighbors.

Individual Maps: Each resident was given a 16"x20" map with the streets and properties

in their area, for them to identify local issues.

Stickers: Each resident was given a sheet of coded stickers for their individual map.

Data Capture Grids: The issue-specific DC grids were the repositories of the problems

identified by the residents to be returned and entered into the database.

Volunteers

Workshop Volunteers: At the first workshop between five and ten college students

served as volunteers to help set up the panels and rooms, and guide citizens in the

process.

Facilitator: The volunteer facilitators each led a neighborhood room session. They

explained the program to the residents and guided them through each step.

Conductor: The volunteer in charge of leading the workshop with a welcoming remark

and by helping to coordinate all the facilitators.

47

5. After each person in the room noted their own issue, the facilitators helped

the group to unite their problems onto one large map at the front of the room.

Citizens rotated to place the stickers on the large map and this gave the group

a chance to see the most common problems.

6. Volunteers who had been helping in the room transferred the information from

the maps onto Data Capture Grids that were returned to Janaagraha.

7. In most wards, the first workshop lasted 3-4 hours and ended with lunch at

the venue organized by the Core Community group. In a few wards the discussion

continued after lunch.

“I was especially proud to be a

Janaagrahi.”

–Preetha, Volunteer, Ward 94

“It is different that the problems are

identified by the people themselves

who are residing in the respective

areas.”

–PP Sashidharan, Ward 96.

One citizen’s problems on property map.

Issues highlighted are with respect to

roads, rainwater harvesting, water supply,

tree planting and law and order.

Outcomes

Participation: Across all ten wards there were almost 2000 citizen participants,

with turnout ranging from 70 to 430. During the planning of the campaign, the

communities had split the ward into eight or more distinct neighborhoods. In the

workshop, the neighborhood groups discussions ranged in size from 6 to 50

participants. Volunteer energy was extremely high.

Data: At these workshops an enormous amount of data was generated about the

issues affecting citizens’ lives in these communities. The ten wards are a mix of

Old, Partial and New Wards and faced all types of concerns related to infrastructure,

services and quality of life issues in their areas. Of the 10,000 problems identified

across the wards, the issues that were noted the most often include:


• Roads

• Drains

• Solid Waste Management

• Stray Dogs

• Traffic

Within these, dozens of specific problems were noted. The greatest number

of neighborhoods frequently reported the following problems: “Roads have many

potholes. Roads have uneven surface. Side Drains Clogged with debris. Stray Dogs

barking at all times.” The newer wards of the city mentioned, “No individual water

connections. No Under-Ground Sewerage Lines. Currently only mud road.” While

basic infrastructure proved to be the most critical to people across the city, many

other issues that citizens rarely get the opportunity to be involved with were also

noted as important such as: Building Violations, Land Use Conversions, Rainwater

Harvesting, Public Transport.

Learnings: Throughout the campaign, five wards held workshops first, and five

wards on the following Sunday. After the first workshop and feedback from

Janaagraha volunteers and community members changes in the programme were

incorporated and communicated within the day for the next week’s sessions including

distribution of materials prior to the break out sessions, adding more maps in each

room and making the agenda more flexible to suit each neighborhood. More learning

came out of the feedback forms and the community meetings in the weeks following

the workshops.

Some volunteers did not sufficiently understand the process and could not guide

the communities efficiently. Community members in two wards were also concerned

that some volunteers did not speak Kannada. It is very important that the facilitators

and the additional volunteers who guide the session can speak in the local languages

of the neighborhood.

Feedback on the maps was mixed. In some of the wards the participants had

difficulty locating roads and landmarks. Some Core Community members reported

that putting the stickers on the maps was very “time-consuming” and “difficult”.

Based on the feedback forms approximately 3/4 of participants were very pleased

with the structure of the programme and found the maps useful. A mock-workshop

with a representative group of citizens could have helped identify the exact sources

of difficulty for some citizens and prevent them in the main workshop.

Highlights: While the immense amount of data coming from the workshops was

the important quantifiable outcome, there were important highlights from the first

workshop. It was an important triumph for the Core Community groups in each

ward, some of whom had spent weeks reaching out to other residents of the ward

to get them involved in the movement. Notably, the Abhyudaya Federation in

Padmanabhanagar and the Pillana Garden 3rd and 4th Stage Resident Welfare

Association brought in 440 and 450 residents respectively.

Core Community members from Padmanabhanagar had decided to be facilitators

for a neighboring ward as well as their own and underwent the same training

Mr Ramakrishna of Ward 85 makes a

point during the workshop

49

as other facilitators, while playing an active role in planning their own event and

doing outreach. A team of 6 facilitators and co-facilitators did a great job in adjacent

Srinivasanagar. In their own ward, with a high number of participants, they did

an exceptional job of planning, managing and facilitating the workshop winning

heaping praise from the few outside volunteers who were there. In other wards

there were occasional complaints that the facilitators did not know the locality.

This ward certainly proved that committed local volunteers are the optimal choice

for leading the workshops. Community facilitation encourages useful cross-ward

interaction and gives the facilitating group a new perspective on community behavior.

In subsequent workshops, many Core Community members also played the role

of facilitators.

Residents were deeply respectful and thankful to all the volunteers and facilitators

who worked without any compensation or benefit. Even in the wards where lunch

was not provided, the CC provided all the volunteers (between 10-20 in each

ward) with a full meal.

“The workshop made us realise that we can take up the issues and problems as a

community and help solve them.”

–TD Bhojwani, Ward 74, Jeevanbhimanagar

“It may be possible to count the pebbles on the beach, it may be possible to count the

stars in the sky. But, it is almost impossible to evaluate the contribution of Janaagraha and

Federation [Abhyudaya] in the development of Bangalore and Ward 55.”

–BV Shankar, Ward 55, Padmanabhanagar

“The possibility of indulging in ecstatic participation in town planning issues was

something I looked forward to. I was well aware that just like how the consumer

shouldn’t expect the product purchased to conform in any way to the advertised

properties of the product, I shoudn’t relate the existing governmental policies with the

actual implementations! The whole reason why I was there was to try and correlate

these together in consensus with other residents of my ward. Being a facilitator for the

workshop in addition to being a resident helped in understanding the process better. At

the end of it, I was assured that comunities can make a difference for sure after

witnessing their zeal in articulating issues affecting them.”

–Sandeep, volunteer and resident, Ward 100, Sanjaynagar


Between the Workshops

A wealth of new data was created at each workshop that needed to be organized

for it to be valuable to communities and local government officials. Between the

workshops, Janaagraha volunteers offered important technical and logistical support

that enabled the communities.

Issues and Problems Database (Between the 1st and 2nd workshops): Before

the first workshop, the JAGRATI (Janaagraha Technology Initiative) team developed

a basic database to collect all of the problems from the data capture sheets used

in the workshops. Over two weeks, six volunteers entered 10,000 problems and

produced issue-wise reports for the communities, Corporator and appropriate agency.

Correspondence to Zonal Officers (Between the 1st and 2nd workshops): This

campaign was the first time a large group of citizens reported all of their civic

problems through a single, citizen-led system. Volunteers helped the communities

send reports of the problems to the appropriate local officers. These reports were

sent directly to the Zonal Deputy Commissioner or Executive Engineer, followed

by phone calls and office visits to explain the workshops and involve the agencies

through written response or by attending the second workshop.

51

Workshop #2: Exploring Solutions

Dates: October 12th and 19th, 2003

Goal: For the participants of the campaign to analyze the possible solutions to

the problems identified at the first workshop. Citizens had an opportunity to interact

with officials from various city agencies and discuss local concerns in a constructive

manner. Finally, at this workshop “Citizen Anchors” volunteered for specific issues

that they were responsible for addressing in the ward’s 3-year plan and build the

ranks of community leadership.

Process:

1. As before, the programme began with a welcoming address and a briefing of

the day’s program by the CC leader and Conductor. The first session was based

on costing issues at the neighborhood-level, while the second was on non-

cost issues for which citizens could split up depending on their interest. In

the wards with a large turnout, they again split into neighborhood rooms, while

in other wards all participants stayed in the large room for the first session.

2. The first discussion was around the “Costing” issues: Roads, Footpaths, Drains,

Parks and Streetlights. These issues were separated because they are planned

at the ward level and the costs can easily be estimated by citizens using the

BMP’s own costing parameters (see Annexure). The reports generated from

the first workshop were made available, and the facilitator helped guide the

group through a sheet on solutions. Finally, for each neighborhood one or two

persons volunteered to be the “Citizen Anchor” and collect the costing details

for the next workshop.

3. Participants were then invited to go to other issue rooms to discuss possible

solutions to Non-Cost Problems divided into sections: Land and Property, En-

vironmental Resources, Water and Sewerage, Solid Waste Management and Law

and Order. They used the Problem Solution Grids (see Annexure) to guide

discussion on the context and complexities of their particular concerns.

4. In all wards at least one agency official was present. When they were there,

they participated in discussions on their issue and discussed future plans and

answered the citizens’ questions.

5. At the completion of the second session, individuals volunteered to be Citizen

Anchors for these issues. Instead of measuring roads and drains, they pledged

to learn more about the issue, talk to other community members and write

a note for the Ward Vision document. Each CA was immediately provided

with important materials to begin her task:

• The relevant chapters of Participatory Planning: A Citizen’s Handbook

• The full report of the problems identified locally in their issue at the first

workshop

• Costing Grids for Roads, Footpaths, Drains, Parks & Streetlights

• The Problem & Solution Grid


I have volunteered to be a Citizen Anchor? What happens next?

As a Citizen Anchor, you have chosen one or more issues that are important to you

and to your community. At the 2nd workshop of the Ward Vision Campaign in your

ward, the workshop facilitator will provide you with two important documents (please

collect them before you leave):

1. A Report on all the problems identified by citizens of your ward on this issue

during the 1st Workshop

2. The chapter on this issue from the Participatory Planning Handbook. This is the

most up-to-date information about the rules and polices surrounding each issue,

with inputs from government and non-government experts on the subject.

Over the next few weeks, you will play a leadership role on this issue in your ward.

What if I am not an expert? How can I learn more about this issue?

To be a citizen anchor you do not need to have special knowledge about the subject,

but you should be committed to engaging with local government to see improvement

in your community. The information from the Participatory Planning Handbook will be

very useful on the specific topic. In addition to that, you are encouraged to follow-up

after the workshop with the experts and find more information. If you and other

citizens are interested in having a brief training on that topic, we can help you identify

good resources.

How can I make sure that our problems are addressed?

• The first step to making sure the problems of your ward are heard is to include

the problems and best solutions in the Three-Year Plan. This plan will be developed

at the end of the workshops and will respresent your ward’s vision. Each issue will

be part of the document as a “note” which will include the most pressing prob-

lems, the solutions that you and the other citizens feel are best and your expecta-

tions about the timeline.

• These workshops are a very constructive step towards improvement of the ward,

but citizens will need to have continued contact with the Agencies to see that

improvments are made. Janaagraha will facilitate meetings with the agencies for

Citizen Anchors across the wards.

• The Monthly Review Meeting (MRM) process helps to ensure that the projects are

undertaken by the agencies, and that they are implemented well by increasing

citizen knowledge and government accountability. MRMs are already happening in

your ward, and citizens meet with BMP Engineers to check on the progress of

works in the ward. By inviting other agencies into this forum, you will promote

long-term accountability.

Outcomes:

Participation: The participation in the 2nd workshop was not as high as the

first. On average, each ward had 30-50% of its initial turnout. However, those

who participated in this session showed genuine commitment and continued

to attend the subsequent workshops.

The significant outcome was the sign-up of Citizen Anchors in every ward.

In total, 217 people signed up and half of the Anchors took on multiple issues.

Note given to all Citizen Anchors

Data: At this session, no major new data was collected, instead the Citizen

Anchors were given the report of all problems identified on their issue and

chapters of the book Participatory Planning to give them information on the

topic.

53

Learnings: Two crucial learnings came from the second workshop. The turnout

was lower than some of the communities had expected. In some cases the citizens

may not have understood, or been interested in the longer process of civic

participation, but were more comfortable giving a note of their problem and leaving

it. They saw this as a grievance redressal and expected the problem to be solved

by others. Also, the Core Community members had not reached out to the residents

as vigorously as for the first workshop and there was less advertising to remind

them. Important festivals were also a factor in some areas.

The second important lesson from the workshop itself was that the structure

of the session and the size of the room can determine the tone of discussion.

In two wards, the agency representatives were brought to the stage or front of

the room to answer questions. In both instances, the number of residents was over

50. The sessions (both on Water & Sewerage issues) quickly degenerated into heated

grievance redressal sessions rather than constructive discussions. The agency officials

became defensive and the communities did not feel that they were getting honest

responses.

These concerns underscore the constant effort needed to encourage all stake-

holders to accept the spirit of coorperative partnership between citizens and

government.

Highlights

Productive Interaction with the Agencies: Most discussions across the wards where

the official was present were very valuable. In many wards, representatives from

the BMTC, BWSSB, BMP and/or the Bangalore Police sat in the classrooms

during the discussions. There was nearly 50% attendance of local-level agency

officials across the city. Small groups of five to twenty community members

brought up the common concerns of the ward, rather than individual gripes

and had a productive talk. Agency presence and participation was taking place

for the first time at the local level and helped gain credibility for the Core

Community and their RWA or Federation from newly active residents.

Emergence of Leadership-Citizen Anchors: Over 200 residents (most who were

not already part of the Core Community) were ready to take responsibility over

one issue and make sure that it was fully addressed in the ward vision document.

This showed a level of commitment that is crucial for long-term community

empowerment and citizen participation. Seventy-seven percent of participants

thought the idea of Citizen Anchors was a ‘Very Good’ or ‘Excellent’ idea.

“The sense of commitment was more

prevalent in the participants of work-

shop. The initial cynicism changed to

confidence and optimism while the

workshop progressed. The presence of

the government officials on a Sunday

really made the participants to believe

that there’s more than watching cricket

on a holiday!”

–Sandeep, Volunteer, Ward 100

“Gave me a feeling that I was doing

something useful for the community, a

feeling of involvement.”

–Navneet, Volunteer, Ward 74


Between the Workshops: Citizen Anchor Workshop

Dates: October 22nd, 2003

Goals: The aim of this special city-wide workshop was to explain to all the new

Citizen Anchors what their role would be and give them guidance in planning

their documents.

Process:

1. The Citizen Anchors and Core Community members from each of the ten wards

were invited on a Wednesday evening to participate in this additional workshop

at a central location. The large room was set up with tables for each ward,

and the large room was soon overflowing with participants.

2. Campaign Coordinators Swati and Ramesh began by talking about the goals

of the Ward Vision Campaign and the final documents that this group would

write. They led a group reading of the Community Board #8 Annual Report

from New York City, US, an example of formal citizen planning at the community

level. Each of the 59 community boards in New York City represents a specific

geographic district. The board, comprised of up to 50 unsalaried members, makes

recommendations on issues ranging from land use, zoning, and the city budget

to municipal service delivery and local planning.

3. Next, the CAs rearranged themselves according to issues: Engineering (ward-

wise), Land and Property, Environmental Resources, Water and Sewerage, Solid

Waste Management and Law and Order. In these groups they again looked

through the Problem & Solution Grids and came up with lists of the top five

problems and solutions in that issue. They also discussed what other information

they needed to make an accurate assessment for their ward.

55

Issue experts were invited for a set of meetings for all Citizen Anchors in the following weeks.

Almost 100 CAs participated in one of these sessions.

Expert Panel on Stray Dogs and Solid Waste Management (with CUPA, Stray Dog Free

Bangalore, Almitra Patel and SAHAAS)

Meeting for Citizen Anchors at the BDA on Zoning, Building Violations and Civic

Amenity Sites with Mr Mukund, Town Planning Member

2 discussions on Rainwater Harvesting, Lakes and Water Conservation with

Mr Hariharan of Bio Diversity Conserve India, Ltd.

Outcomes: This workshop was a critical supplement to the 2nd workshop where

the CAs volunteered. In this session they were able to ask questions of the Core

Community and Janaagraha volunteers to fully understand their role and how it

fit into the entire campaign. The issue specific brainstorming sessions were meant

to open up the broad scope of possible solutions including the role of the community

in implementation.

Highlights: This workshop was a tremendous success from beginning to end. With

a higher than expected turnout the room buzzed with energy. The participants

were enthusiastic about their chosen issues and looking forward to learning more

about them. Though this event was not part of the original 5-workshop plan, in

hindsight the campaign would not have been the same without it. The seamless

incorporation of this element is a testament to the ability of the campaign team

to think on its feet and be flexible throughout the process.

This workshop was a tremendous boost to the Core Community, some of whom

were becoming weary after nine busy weeks of activity. Not only were these

newcomers ready to help with the workload, but it was an important boost for

the community spirit to know that so many people were interested. The infusion

of new participants at this time showed that there were committed people in each

ward who only needed to become aware of useful activities to join in, and that

people will get involved on issues that are most important for them.

Mr Hariharan explains details of rainwater

harvesting


Workshop #3: Costing and Revenue

Dates: November 2nd, 9th and 16th, 2003

Goals: Inform communities about the potential revenue that their ward can generate

through property taxes based on the Janaagraha/BDA property survey. For Citizen

Anchors (specifically for costing issues) to share their extensive measurement and

costing work with the other citizens.

Process: After the second workshop, the communities would no longer be broken

into neighborhood groups at the workshops, and only one conductor would be

present (rather than several facilitators). The workshops were less uniform across

the wards, but all addressed the following issues as well as they were prepared.

1. The Citizen Anchors for the costing issues shared their neighborhood-level

costing reports (see next page) and came up with a total cost needed for the

ward.

2. The Anchors for other issues read their Ward Vision note or discussed their

findings to that point.

3. The groups discussed the Revenue data provided by Janaagraha (chart below).

This sheet (provided for each ward) gives details of the number and types of

properties, the current tax collected and the potential tax revenue based on

a recent survey. In a few wards government officials were present, including

Ward-level Revenue Inspectors, and they confirmed the validity of the survey

results.

Outcomes: The first major outcome was the combined list of all costing needs

across the ward. This comprehensive list, generally between 1 and 4 crores, became

a critical jumping off point for the communities to identify priorities and plan

for discussions with the administration and their elected representatives.

Less tangible, but also important was the sharing of knowledge about potential

property tax revenue in each ward. Many communities realized that if they could

50 2.39 7.50

54 1.79 8.00

55 3.44 10.50

68 2.80 8.00

74 4.36 8.00

78 7.76 19.50

85 1.22 3.00

94 0.61 2.50

96 1.20 7.50

100 1.86 4.50

Total Rs 27.43 crores Rs 79.00 crores

Ward No. BMP Revenues Janaagraha Estimates

57

increase the revenue collected, and keep some those funds in their ward, they

could pay for all of their potholes, silted drains, broken footpaths and other such

needs in 2-3 years. Some community members asked for property lists from the

Revenue Department to find out who was already paying. This meeting was a

starting point for the idea of Ward RECI-P (Revenue Enhancement with Citizen

Participation).

Learnings: In some wards, the Citizen Anchors were not completely prepared with

their cost information, and the compilation of necessary data was delayed. It is

important that someone follow up with all CAs on a regular basis, otherwise one

or two late entries can delay the entire process.

Highlights: Many full-time Janaagraha volunteers as well as Core Community

members said that this was the best workshop and felt like “a family gathering”.

By this point, the attendees were committed to the full process and were accustomed

to the Sunday morning functions. The content was also quite good because the

reporting of the costing information was very concrete and tangible, an obvious

outcome of meaningful, hard work. The revenue data was also quite revealing

and gave the citizens a feeling of optimism that funds were available, and they

need the incremental funds for local development.

Costing Sheet for Citizen Anchors to fill out for all works in that neighborhood


Meeting with the BMP Commissioner

Date: November 7th, 2003

During the campaign, the idea of Ward RECI-P escalated in importance for the citizens,

as they realized that their total infrastructure needs could not be met with their existing

fund base. The aim of this meeting was to express their thoughts to the BMP

Commissioner Srinivasa Murthy and impress upon him the value of citizen participation

in increasing revenue generation and keeping incremental funds collected for local area

development. Mr. L.C. Jain, ex-member GOI Planning Commission and a supporter of

Janaagraha, was also invited to participate as he is an eminently respected advocate of

decentralisation.

The day prior to the meeting, the community members met to plan their strategy of

engagement with the Commissioner. During the mock session, they were firm and even

aggressive about the right of citizens to be involved in local property tax issues and

pushed the mock-Commissioner to answer them directly.

Nine out of the ten communities were represented by their Ward Coordinator at the

meeting in the Commissioner’s office. Mr. Shivashankaran of Ward 94 began by talking

about the Ward Vision campaign and how these active communities had come to the

point of wanting to help increase the revenues in their wards.

The Commissioner listened to the citizens, and began by saying that he was happy that

Bangalore had such active citizens. Next, he firmly stated that they needed to get the

interest and endorsement of the Corporators, starting with their own. Many of the

community members spoke up and said that their Corporators were interested, but that

they wanted to hear if the Commissioner was supportive of the idea. The Commis-

sioner stuck to his point that he could not single-handedly push through this agenda,

and he also mentioned other upcoming plans to increase property taxes and levy

garbage cesses at the end of the year. He also felt that it would have to happen at

the city-level, and not as a pilot for ten wards. The citizens continued to ask questions,

and the Commissioner stayed positive, but did not budge on the issues at hand.

Mr. L.C. Jain suggested that the best next step would be to approach finance policy

makers at the State and Centre with a paper on the proposal. Within days, Janaagraha

planned a high-profile panel discussion for December on the idea of Ward RECI-P that

would include urban development and finance experts from Karnataka and beyond.

Between the Workshops

Costing and Prioritising Grids (Between the 2nd and 4th workshops)

Dozens of citizens carried out the exacting task of detailing the engineering problems

and calculating the cost for each work. Janaagraha volunteers collated all of the

data collected by the citizens, entered it into a single format for simple ward-

level prioritisation.

59

Workshop #4: Prioritisation

Dates: November 16th-30th, 2003

Goal: For the participants in each ward to prioritise the list to engineering works

required in their ward.

Process: Following the pattern with the previous workshops, the Core Community

took increased control over the structure of the workshop and facilitating the sessions.

At most of the prioritisation workshops the participants met with the Corporator,

Deputy Commissioner and revenue officers and briefed them about the costing

and revenue figures that had been calculated.

All of the following models were suggestions that had to be modified for each

ward. The Core Community Leader guided the process of identifying a good model,

then neighborhood-level prioritisation when necessary. Finally the outcome was

a ranked list of works included in each Ward Vision Document.

Model A: Each year, give each area,

(whether or not it has been repre-

sented in the workshops) an equal

amount of funds for development and

repairs.

Model B: Put certain portion of funds

every year (20-50%) for the common

and critical areas and distribute the rest

evenly to all areas.

Model C: In the first year use all funds

for addressing the common areas, in

years 2 and 3 distribute the funds

among neighborhood areas.

Model D: Decide on a minimal level of

development (paved roads, pukka drains)

and give all funding in the first (and

maybe second) year to works to bring

all areas in the ward up to that level.

After every area has these basics, funds

can be distributed among all areas for

repairs, park development and other

projects.

Learnings: In planning the workshop, an alternative high-tech strategy had been

proposed to make the process of group prioritisation more scientific. The Interpretive

Structural Modeling software counts the preferences of all participants on each

possible pair of options. We tested the program in the Thursday Campaign meeting

and the consensus was that not only was the software just as time-consuming

as extended discussion, but it did not allow for the nuances of these works that

could be thrashed out in conversation. This was an important choice to use a

low-tech method that encouraged in-depth participation.

This was an important workshop for a broad range of citizens to participate

in, at the least, all the participants from the Issue Identification workshop. However,

the turnout had dropped to 20-70 active participants who did not fully represent

the needs of the ward. Though a wide sweep of works were costed, ultimately

the prioritisation is a critical step that most citizens should be involved in. Most

Core Communities were consumed with the details of costing and arranging the

participation of the Corporator rather than on community outreach despite repeated

urgings from Janaagraha to keep all participants informed of the progress and dates.


Workshop #5: Taking it Forward

Date: November 30th, 2003

Goals: The final workshop, Taking it Forward, was focused on generating ideas

about how the workshop outcomes could make a difference on the ground in each

ward. The Ward Vision documents created by each community are not meant to

sit on a shelf, but instead be living charters that can help the citizens to make

the standard of living better for everyone in the ward.

Process: The fifth workshop was held jointly for all wards on Sunday morning

at Jain College in Basavanagudi. After a brief statement from the school’s director,

Mr. Chenraj Jain and refreshments, the discussion began at 10:30 am.

First, Mr. Mukund (Secretary of Abhyudaya Federation) and Ramesh discussed

the Federation. This body is the highest level of informal governance, an apex

body of the ward, and can represent all citizens and institutions in the ward. Several

wards already have federations, and each is operating differently.

Ramesh and the communities decided to prioritize the morning’s agenda and

focus on the following important topics in the remaining hour:

1. Building a relationship with the Corporator.

2. How to take forward the Ward RECI-P idea

3. How to get more people involved and make the Ward Vision meaningful.

4. Community participation in Ward Vision Document Presentation to Commis-

sioner on Dec. 6th

5. Janaagraha response to recent events

Each topic was open for the eighty community members from all ten wards

to give their ideas, suggestions and share past experience.

Outcomes: After 15 minutes of discussion, the following is a list of ideas of how

the community can build positive ties with the Corporator.

• Include Corporator in Federation

• Inform Corporator regularly of meeting minutes from Association/Federation

• Start small project in the ward and include the Corporator

• Show your strength in numbers

• Give felicitation/public praise to your Corporator for a special event or completion

of a work

Action steps on taking Ward RECI-P forward

• Make formal presentation to the Mayor (and possibly other Corporators)

• Request lists of properties paying taxes

• Inform other citizens in adjoining wards (under same Revenue jurisdiction)

• Panel discussion (planned for Dec. 17th)

• Make presentation to CM

61

Also discussed were how each community could get more people involved. Since

the Ward Vision was completed by a small percentage of the ward, it is important

that more citizens take ownership over the Vision document. Each ward needs

to make its own plan of action for this task. Below is a list of ideas on how the

goals can be achieved.

• Contact opinion leaders in Ward, get them to endorse the Vision

• Send letter about Vision (in Kannada) to Ward Committee members

• Letter to new members (of Federation)

• Do program that shows immediate benefits

• Formation of sub-committees to take up certain issues in Vision (led by Citizen

Anchors)

• Publicize Ward Vision through regular meetings (eg. every Saturday evening

at local school )

• Translate vision into local languages

• Printed copied of the Vision to be put in public places

• Send notices about WV to Bala Janaagraha parents (or through other schools)

• Publicize in special Janaagraha Times section and give out to residents

Learnings: Unlike the other workshops that were held in each ward with hundreds

of citizens, this was a single session for all ten wards. In addition, most of the

attendees were Core Community members who were giving their thoughts and

comments. However, this was a very important workshop and great ideas were

expressed. It would be important for a similar discussion to happen at the ward

level where the work will actually take place.

Highlights: The multi-ward arrangement of this session allowed communities to

share ideas and learn from each others’ experience. Mr. Mukund and Ramesh led

an inspiring discussion about Abyhudaya and the potential of a strong Federation.

Other communities gave their experiences and asked questions. Finally, several other

wards expressed the interest in starting their own Federation within a year.

Presentation of Ward Vision Documents

On the evening of December 6th, approximately 300 citizens from the ten

wards packed the Rotary House of Friendship to present their completed Ward

Vision documents to city government officials. Those present were the Mayor

P.R. Ramesh, Commissioner Sreenivasa Murthy and Special Commissioner Subash

Chandra. Senior officials from major city agencies were also present including the

Managing Director of the BMTC. The agency representatives listened as 6

citizens spoke about the structure and outcomes of the campaign. The citizens

were firm and forceful in discussing the value of their participation and impressing

upon officials why they should be involved.

The Commissioner spoke about some of the citizen-centric approaches adopted by the BMP. Mr. P.R. Ramesh,

the newly elected mayor, appreciated the role of Janaagrahis and assured that their Ward Vision documents will

be examined and wherever possible included in the development plans and implemented.

Over 300 citizens at presenting of

Ward Vision Documents event

Mayor, Commissioner and Special

Commissioner of Bangalore


Key Outcomes of the Campaign

Citizen Participation in Planning is an Accepted Concept: The Ward Planning

Campaign created a forum for citizen engagement with local authorities for planning

and maintenance of infrastructure and services. This was the first Indian example

of citizen-led participatory planning in a large urban setting and with its success

disproves those who claim that it can’t work here. Through positive media coverage,

agency participation and the dedicated outreach of active citizens, Bangaloreans

are aware of the process and believe that it is the right of the public to have

a voice in planning. Beginning with ten percent of the city, the stage has now

been set for increased citizen engagement for local development.

Participatory Planning: A Citizen’s Handbook

Citizens are kept out of the planning process directly through the dearth of formal

spaces for involvement, and indirectly because they have not been provided with

the necessary information to examine

the issues in depth. While some of the

most active citizens or those with tech-

nical expertise might have learned the

details of water supply or zoning laws,

that information was not available in a

single place. The book was envisaged to

give campaign participants background

information on the major issues they

would have a chance to address in the

campaign.

Inter-ward Communication: Thursday Community Meetings

The regular Thursday afternoon meetings began in August as campaign meetings

to discuss the planning of the workshops and events. During Janaagraha’s previous

campaigns, the meetings had been “internal”, only for the full-time volunteers.

Ward Vision was different, and the Thursday meeting was the primary space in

which this new dynamic was expressed. At most meetings each of the wards was

represented by two participants, with more attending in the “workshop weeks”.

Generally the meetings were led by the founders Ramesh and Swati, but towards

the end of the campaign, the community members rotated in leading the meetings

as well. At the end of the campaign, citizens decided to keep the Thursday meeting

as a regular forum for inter-ward discussion and idea sharing, and it is now active

community leaders who set the agenda each week and lead the meeting.

Harnessing Volunteer Energy

In this campaign Janaagraha had the opportunity to involve hundreds of Bangaloreans

who did not live in the focus wards as volunteers. These individuals both employed

and expanded their skills by providing or capturing important data and facilitating

these workshops. In the feedback we collected from volunteers, many felt that

63

this was a unique opportunity for them to give service to others, and also to be

a part of something that would improve their city. Inspired by the Core Communities

in some wards, several volunteers have gone on to found or join Residents’

Associations in their own neighborhoods.

Agency Awareness and Participation

In Janaagraha’s first two campaigns, Ward Works and PROOF, the focus was on

citizen engagement with the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. This campaign, by looking

at all issues gave citizens a chance to interact collectively with other major agencies

such as the Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Bangalore

Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and the Bangalore Development

Authority (BDA). Some agencies were very open and enthusiastic about the

opportunity to work directly with citizens, while others were hesitant—but it was

a very good first step towards structured engagement across the agencies. Since

the workshops, communities have invited some of the other agencies, to Monthly

Review Meetings to begin the same structured accountability mechanism that has

worked with the BMP.

Citizens working with Executive Engineer in Sanjaynagar

65

GLIMPSES OF THE WARDS

| Writing the Vision | Wards 50, 54, 55, 68, 74, 78, 85, 94, 96, 100 |

55555

GLIMPSES OF THE WARDS

Writing the Vision

In November, the Core Community members and Citizen Anchors set down to

work on the ultimate task of the campaign. Each ward went through a different

process of writing the vision, but by December they were all complete and bound.

Janaagraha hosted informal CA meetings with all of the wards to give suggestions

and share tips and encouraged wards that had finished the document to show

their drafts to others.

In Wards 54 and 55, community members met every night for two weeks to

discuss each issue in depth and came to a consensus before writing it down. On

the other side of the spectrum the Ward Coordinator wrote the document alone,

taking the inputs from the CAs and making the document uniform.

The typical structure of each citizens’ Ward Vision Document is:

1. Introduction to the Ward and Campaign

2. Prioritised grid of Costed Issues

3. All other (Non-Costed) issues

4. Annexures (Maps, Costing Sheets, Student Documentation, Campaign Summary,

Slum Details)

The next ten pages show a snapshot of each ward’s Vision Document, beginning

with a part of the introduction or preamble to the document, then giving their

vision or suggestions for one issue that was important in their area.

67Population: 31,899

Old Ward

A Citizen’s Dream

This document is a transcription of dreams. Dreams of thousands of citizens of

Ward 50—Vishveshwarapuram. Dreams which demonstrate the commitment to be

partners in the development of their neighborhood. This document bears the

signatures of that zealous handful of people who volunteered to represent their

ward in a movement, or rather, a ‘momentum’ called JANAAGRAHA.

TOTAL COST OF NEEDS IDENTIFIED: 64 lakhs CURRENT REVENUE: 2.39 crores POTENTIAL REVENUE: 7.50 crores

WARD 50: VISHVESHWARAPURAM

Major issue: Stray dogs

One of the larger problems of Ward 50 is stray dogs. Their population has grown unchecked in the last few years and is a

menace to riders of two wheelers, passers by, children playing on the street and the public in general. Stray dogs cause

accidents, create havoc at night and spread rabies, besides other problems. India has the highest number of stray dogs in the

world. It is estimated that Bangalore had 200,000 stray dogs by the end of year 2000.

Vision: To make Ward 50 (and the city of Bangalore) free of stray dogs through proactive and sustained efforts of BMP with

able participation by NGOs and Citizen Forums. It would not be possible to have just one ward of a city free of stray dogs;

dogs are territorial in nature and each dog fights for and controls a particular area. Elimination of stray dogs in a particular area

will result in dogs from other areas migrating or spreading to that area.

Results of Local Survey and Suggested Solutions:

1. About 60% of the respondents opined that stray dogs should be totally eliminated from the streets. Balance 40% did not

show awareness of the problems associated with stray dogs. Interestingly, this 40% was made up of street vendors, slum

dwellers and homeless with very less formal education.

Solution: Streets should be free of stray dogs in 3 years. Until such period, stray dogs must be vaccinated/ sterilized and

kept in dog pounds for adoption for a limited period of time. Un-adopted and old / sick dogs must be euthanized.

2. 45% say that measures taken by BMP and the animal welfare organizations to check the population of stray dogs are grossly

inadequate. Those who have lodged a complaint are not happy with the response received for the complaint. Solution: BMP

together with NGOs must establish telephone help-lines for receiving complaints and must attend to complaints promptly.

This facility must also help dog bite victims. Private veterinarians must be enlisted for additional help in vaccination and

euthanasia.

3. General opinion prevailing is that BMP should take full onus for solving the problem and that it has has not set any target

for achieving its goals but just working at its own slow pace. People also said that they would support a movement if it is

initiated and actively driven by the BMP; it was also felt that citizens’ forums and individuals are too small to attempt a

solution. Solution: Eliminating stray dogs from the streets of Bangalore must be driven by BMP but must be monitored by

NGOs and Citizen Forums.

Other solutions:

1. Streets to be free from garbage dumps. Garbage must be collected door-to-door and transferred directly to garbage trucks

for removal.

2. Vaccination, Leash / Collar and License must be made mandatory for all pet dogs and adopted dogs.

3. BMP should publicize its efforts towards making Bangalore free of stray dogs. Campaigns must be taken to grass-root level to

children in schools and colleges.

4. General insurance companies must fully reimburse cost of treatment in cases of dog bites.

The neighborhoods of Srinivasanagar

Areas 1 & 2: Channamanakere Achkat is located in a valley providing beautiful

scenic view and fertile landscape. Drainage systems can be planned with ease and

effectiveness. Water table is reasonably accessible. Roads have been neglected for

a long period and need attention.

Area 3: This is not a developed area with a larger extent of slum pocket needing

improvement.

Areas 4 & 6: These are reasonably well-developed areas as per plan. The areas

require improvement in illumination and solid waste management.

Area 5: This is a very undeveloped area requiring comprehensive planning.

Areas 7 & 8: These areas have been mostly developed on revenue lands without

proper developmental plan. The roads as well as house constructions have been

carried out in an unplanned way. Many of the civic amenities are missing and

open drainages are causing danger to life. This needs an intensive development

program.

Area 9: Many mud roads in this area need asphalting.

Areas 10 & 11: These are reasonably developed areas needing further development

to make them the best part of the locality.

Areas 12 & 13: This is an area developed by a private cooperative society but

can be made better, if handed over to corporation.

WARD 54: SRINIVASANAGAR

TOTAL COST OF NEEDS IDENTIFIED: 1.75 crores CURRENT REVENUE: 1.79 crores POTENTIAL REVENUE: 8.00 crores

Major Issue: Public Transport

Travel today is relatively faster and people in Bangalore are traveling more than ever before. An efficient public transport system

can provide mobility to all sections of society. In spite of bad roads and ill maintained vehicles, even to this day public transport

meets a high percentage of travel demands. The dream of mobility through private vehicles is fast turning into a nightmare of

immobility and creating a lung busting pollution. Taxis and three wheelers are badly maintained and run on adulterated fuels

causing severe pollution. Transport planners should pay attention to creating and maintaining an efficient public transport system.

Some suggestions in this direction are:

1. Introduce more fuel-efficient, less polluting buses with lower cruising speeds, alternate fuels and higher acceleration.

2. Introduce mini buses on narrow roads and in suburbs to act as feeder services to link main bus stops and ring road.

3. Increase the frequency and quality of service provided by BMTC buses.

4. Introduce following policies to discourage the use of private vehicles: a) Enhanced road tax on private vehicles, b) No parking

zones on busy roads and lanes carrying public transport, c) Public transport operators to be taxed less, d) Higher parking

fees to be levied on cars and two wheelers.

5. School timings to be changed suitably to avoid clash with office goers. Operate two trips exclusively for school children from

each locality.

With specific reference to ward 54 following suggestions have been made to improve quality of service.

1. Introduce a circular route which starts from Girinagar 2nd stage->30th main road of BSK II stage. This route can either be

extended to Jayanagar or go to South-end Circle via Tata-Silk Farm and Nagasandra Circle.

2. Extend buses terminating at Hosakere Halli water tank to Chowdeshwari Talkies.

Population: 82,072

New Ward

69Population: 1,12,184

New Ward

Ward 55, our ward, is the largest ward of our great city and has over the years

grown substantially as well as haphazardly.

Community Vision: Ward # 55 values its people, strives to provide opportunities

for all, and protects and enhances quality of life for present and future generations.

Each generation makes its own contribution to the legacy of the community.

The Wards dream of a community that can endure for the following generations

is embodied in our Ward Vision. While part of the vision is to continue the qualities

people value most about living in Ward 55 today, its focus is on what the ward

could be like 10 years from now, in the year 2015—despite inevitable change.

Ward 55 is not “in this” alone. It has important roles to play in helping the

region achieve its successful future. By directing growth into a compact community

form, Ward 55 will support other communities as viable, distinct places, with

their own identities.

WARD 55: PADMANABHANAGAR

TOTAL COST OF NEEDS IDENTIFIED: 19 crores CURRENT REVENUE: 3.44 crores POTENTIAL REVENUE: 10.50 crores

Major Issue: Roads

Roads provide connectivity and are one of the most essential requirements of any area. The characteristics of a good road

network are as follows:

1. It should provide easy connectivity among various areas of the ward.

2. It should be capable of taking the expected volume of traffic not only for the present but also for the foreseeable future.

3. The size of the roads should be such that it is capable of accommodating all kinds of vehicles that are expected to use the

road including the projected mix of public and private vehicles.

4. It should have proper provision to accommodate footpaths of sufficient width and side drains.

In an ideal scenario, our ward should have one or two arterial roads which can take up heavy volume of traffic including large

volume of public transport like BMTC buses, trucks, a crisscrossing network of main roads interconnecting the various areas of

our ward and capable of handling medium level of traffic including a low volume of Public Transport and the remaining length of

roads should be residential roads capable of handling small volume, intermittent traffic consisting mainly of light motor vehicles and

2 and 3 wheelers.

WARD 68: EJIPURA

Population: 40,856

New Ward

This is a ‘New Ward’, a mix of a few older areas and many new layouts added

to the ward since 1995, comprises some well developed pockets of Koramangala

at one end and Indira Gandhi slum at the other end. In between there are a

number of semi-developed, under-developed and undeveloped areas with varying

degrees of civic facilities. The latter were once revenue pockets—these present

rather a picture of neglect with narrow mud roads and overflowing and stinking

side drains, whereas the older (corporation) areas present a complete contrast. Not

that they have no problems but they differ qualitatively from those of the newly

added areas. Thus a significant feature of the ward is that development has been

uneven.

Another notable feature that needs special mention is the fast growing com-

mercial activities and the consequent ever increasing population. It is understood

that at the last count there were over 100 IT companies based in Koramangala

(covering wards 67 and 68). This has naturally drawn large numbers of professionals

to this area and its proximity to other hubs of IT units. Bad roads, unsatisfactory

safe drinking water supply and lack of underground sewerage lines, inadequate

arrangements for garbage disposal continue to be major problems; annual flooding

and overflowing of rainwater mixed with sewage and chemical pollutants from the

Storm Water Drain is a further source of misery to a large number of residents,

many of whom naturally and legitimately expect much better conditions in keeping

with the city’s reputation as one poised to become a global city.

Major Issue: Land and Property

1. Zoning and land use conversions.

i. Copies of the booklet containing approved zoning plan and the rules and procedures for approvals for changes in land use

may be made available to citizens and resident associations.

ii. Zoning regulations (for all agencies) relevant to particular wards may be displayed at the Ward offices.

iii. BMP could consider sending information reg. pending applications to the neighbours or to the local resident association.

2. Building violation and land encroachment.

i. Make the rules citizen-friendly by modifying the same taking into account inputs from the public.

ii. Preferably there should be a separate enforcement agency which includes citizen/RWA representative (not just for enforcing

building laws but also other rules and terms of sanctions).

iii. The final inspection should be by an independent officer (not connected with the ward engineering staff) and in case of any

deviation, penalty as prescribed by the rules should be imposed and officers in charge of monitoring the construction (or

those who approved plans not conforming to the building laws) should be held accountable.

iv. Before approving plans to multi story structures they should get NOC from neighbouring residents and also ensure whether

the infrastructure (Road/UGD/Water Supply/Electricity) will bear the additional load, if not completely deny the sanction.

v. Rules may be amended to provide that houses not conforming to the approved plans would be denied permanent electricity,

water and sewerage connections; these should be given only on production of a completion certificate or NOC by the

authorized officers.

CURRENT REVENUE: 2.80 crores POTENTIAL REVENUE: 8.00 crores


Partial Ward

Ward 74 is located in the east zone of Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP). It

has a total road network of 11 sq. km. It houses the big businesses such as Leela

Palace and prestigious educational institutions such as National Public School and

New Hoizon Educational Institute. It also houses the residences of several prominent

citizens.

The citizens of ward 74 would like make this an ideal ward of Bangalore

Mahanagara Palike. To achieve this, the citizens, various institutions, commercial

establishments and residents’ welfare association would work in partnership with

the local government machinery such as Civil Engineering Department, Health

Department, Revenue Department and most importantly Corporator of the Ward.

The citizens and the government will be working together towards prosperity of

the ward and not towards any kind of confrontation. This will be the main motto

of Citizens Forum.

WARD 74: JEEVANBHIMANAGAR

Major Issue: Rainwater Harvesting and Trees

In General

• Plant trees with proper planning, taking into consideration, water supply and other amenity lines running underground.

• Consult the RWA for selection of saplings.

• Coordinate cutting and collection of cut branches.

• Penalize the contractors if the debris are left for more than a day.

• Make rainwater harvesting mandatory to new and old buildings.

• Implement rainwater harvesting in all the neighborhood parks with the help of RWAs.

• Create awareness among the public.

In Particular

Tree planting: The Department of Forest and Horticulture departments of BMP should work closely with the Civil Engineering

Department.

• The Citizens Forum would like to analyze the cost involved in keeping such departments (horticulture/forest departments)

going in terms of revenue expenditure as against to the benefits they are providing (value addition) to the communities in

general.

• What is happening in our ward is residents are planting trees and maintaining gardens on the footpaths randomly.

• During the footpath work, by the civil engineering department, above mentioned encroachments will have to be severely

dealt with and fines imposed on the residents responsible for such action.

• Also care should be taken to see the new saplings being planted are not the ones that have roots which will damage the

roads, footpaths and drains (classic example: Double Road intersecting with CMH Road).

Rainwater harvesting: Should be made mandatory to all residential units having bore well facility (as a first step) and then extend

the rule to all the single family residential units as well.

• All parks should have rainwater harvesting mechanism (cost involved: Rs.16,200 for 6 parks, 1.5 cu mt each).

TOTAL COST OF NEEDS IDENTIFIED: 80 lakhs CURRENT REVENUE: 4.36 crores POTENTIAL REVENUE: 8.00 crores

Population: 36,928

Old Ward

It is clear from the below chart that the revenue potential is vast and untapped.

Vasanthanagar ward though small in size (2.35 Sq km) has the distinct advantage

over other wards in terms of location. Centrally located, this old ward is surrounded

by defense and government land and no further expansion in size is possible. All

basic amenities are already well set in place and our only current goal will be

to best utilize and maintain the existing infrastructure.

Bangalore is growing everyday in leaps and bounds. The problems are becoming

manifold. The stakeholders in general and the BMP in particular cannot afford

to remain in stupor any longer. Unsolved problems of the citizens for a lengthy

period of time leads to social unrest and manifests in antisocial forms, which will

threaten the peace, and harmony of social life.

WARD 78: VASANTHNAGAR

Major Issue: Solid Waste Management

What needs to be done?

I will quote from the Shuchi Samachar News letter of Swachha Bangalore: ‘’Citizen Participation is critical for a sustainable solution

to a clean, garbage free city’’. Civic minded citizens should volunteer to devote time to take on the responsibility of partnering

with the BMP to ensure cleanliness of the Ward and monitor local conditions.’’

Therefore, to fulfill our vision for our Ward, we need:

1. To involve the residents…….this is critical for anything to happen. We first need to sensitize as many residents and commer-

cial establishments as possible through a sustained Awareness campaign.

2. To facilitate the BMP Health Department in keeping the ward clean with the help of the BATF Swachha Bangalore. We will

need BMP’s cooperation in planning a joint Awareness campaign to ensure its success. Several meetings will have to be held

with them to “Plan the Work and Work the Plan’. This will eventually involve printing leaflets with virtually a door-to-door

campaign to educate the residents…also through the various ward associations.

3. Composting—Meetings with the BMP Health/Horti Depts to earmark empty spaces preferably in the ward parks for

vermicomposting from the biodegradable waste collected from the residences/roads. (Vermicomposting is preferred as there is

no foul smelling liquid residue which would result in complaints)

4. Commercial establishments particularly eating places in crowded areas such as 8th Main Vasant Nagar, Tasker Town and

Shivajinagar to provide dustbins for their plastic waste. Waste bins will also be provided at appropriate locations in these areas

for pedestrians to throw litter. Hopefully, the very same shops/restaurants could be persuaded to contribute towards the costs

of purchase and maintenance.

5. To enlist the corporate offices in the ward to contribute funds towards maintenance and purchase of garbage bins. The bins

could have their names painted on them e.g. ‘’Donated by………for a Clean Ward 78’’ which will provide free publicity for

them as well.

6. Residents groups will have to be formed in different areas for monitoring the above.



Partial Ward

TOTAL COST OF NEEDS IDENTIFIED: 1.14 crores CURRENT REVENUE: 1.22 crores POTENTIAL REVENUE: 3 crores

Sarvagnanagar is one of the oldest wards in Bangalore, with defense area nestled

in the centre and civilian-residential areas on the periphery including old Cox

Town area. The total area, now comprises of 4.2 square km with the Bangalore

Mahanagara Palike, recently adding new under-developed hamlets to it and

expectedly the last two Programme of Works have focused its attention on these

areas.

Spacious Colonial period Cottages and Bungalows on the main tree lined Roads

of old Cox Town are giving way to Apartments, and property bifurcations are leading

to smaller houses in other areas, with very little open spaces and hardly any place

available for large parks and play grounds, as is the trend elsewhere in Bangalore.

Wheeler Main Road, apart from being an arterial access Road to far-flung and

many other newer layouts, is becoming a Commercial hub, with Complexes

mushrooming of late and the traffic bottleneck at the railway level crossing becoming

very acute with each passing day. This has heavily taxed the road capacity, increased

noise and pollution levels and overloaded the existing civic infrastructure. An all-

round approach is emerging to solve these myriad problems on co-operative basis

from all stakeholders involved in the process of development and maintenance

of infrastructural facilties.

WARD 85: SARVAGNANAGAR

Major Issue: Storm Water Drains

Sarvagnanagar, due to its proximity to the Ulsoor Lake has a unique set of problems due to inadequate rainwater drainage

during heavy storms and overflow in flood plains adjoining existing storm water drains. The entire military areas were once flood

plains and till recently these large areas used to have sheets of water for many days after heavy storms. However, one major

area which is below flood level is the section of Wheeler Road between Komala Junction up to the other storm water drain

near Post and Telegraph Office building adjoining India Gymkhana grounds. During heavy storms not only Wheeler Road on this

stretch gets flooded but the adjoining houses are also inundated. This major issue is set to get more complicated, due to the

immediate plan to construct a flyover.

(Some) Specific and immediate solutions have to be undertaken by Bangalore Mahanagara Palike:

1. Flood Levels on the section of Wheeler Road from Komala Junction to the Second Storm Water Drain near Post Telegraph

Office, Buddha Vihar Road and Bachammal Road and their footpaths and side drains need to be Surveyed and Raised above

Flood Levels.

Immediate nature—Major Cost Issue—Time One Year—Special Grant/Finance is required—Agency: BMP

2. Covering of Storm Water Drains from Police Station upto Sundaramurthi Road—Assaye Road Junction with slabs to prevent

Solid Waste disposal from public and to prevent mosquito breeding and stench.

Time: 2 years—Agency: BMP.

3. Construction of a new wider drain diverting waste/ storm water from military area to the existing drain nearby, in

Kadrenapalya and widening of drains in Bandappa Colony.

Time: One year—Agency: BMP

4. Installation of grills in these SWDs at regular intervals and periodic de-silting / clearing is of utmost importance.

Periodic—Agency: BMP.

Dissemination of information to citizens regarding proper disposal of Solid Waste is very important and is to be undertaken both

through the citizens’ associations and the BMP.

Population: 60,606

New Ward

Ward 94 was formed from some layouts developed by Bangalore Development

Authority, some layouts by private parties, revenue pocket areas, and large slum

areas. The level of available civic amenities including essential requirements such

as roads, electricity supply, water, sewerage, schools, hospitals, is much below as

compared to most of the other 99 wards of Bangalore.

In spite of the ward being under BMP for nearly 10 years, developmental activities

have been neglected and only marginal improvements have been effected during

the last two years. As there has been lack of public awareness of the ward

development plans, communities have been only complaining about lack of

amenities, and no worth-while documentation has been prepared either by com-

munities or by the elected representatives, which resulted in neglect and irrespon-

sibility by Civic bodies and the contractors in turn, turning out this ward as one

of the least developed.

WARD 94: KADUGONDANA HALLI

Action plan for present and future activities

Present Activities

1. Hold neighborhood meetings and act as catalyst to form neighborhood committees.

2. Hold discussions with trading community to get them actively involved and contribute their mite towards their obligations to

local government as well as to the neighborhood welfare activities.

3. Interact with educational institutions for greater participation in social sector by the management, staff and students.

4. Interact with police officials for friendly and positive relationship, encouraging safety.

5. Form separate sub committee for the above and provide structured training to members to update their knowledge and

encourage them to assume leadership.

6. Establish and promote inter-ward contacts, contacts with organisation such as Janaagraha, in order to have proper understand-

ing, co-operation and cohesiveness at city level.

Future Plans

1. Plan connecting roads at suitable distances to cross the railway line and from Hennur Road to Nagawara Road.

2. Plan at least two more First Grade colleges and 10 more high schools and primary schools to cover every neighborhood

blocks in Ward 94 by the year 2015.

3. Form Block Level committees to plan, implement and supervise local activities covering social amenities, cultural activities and

sports activities.

4. Provide vocational training institutes in every neighborhood area to utilize talents of school drop outs, unemployed youth and

retired professionals.

5. To arrange a sports stadium to seat 5,000 to 7,500 spectators with minimum infrastructure facilities and institute sports

events, scholarship etc., or a systematic process by holding inter-block competition and inter-ward friendly matches etc., this

can be a self supporting activity provide the local business community take the leadership.

6. Rearrange the Kadugondanahalli police station to jurisdiction to cover the entire ward 94 exclusively.

TOTAL COST OF NEEDS IDENTIFIED: 2.59 crores CURRENT REVENUE: 61 lakhs POTENTIAL REVENUE: 2.50 crores


New Ward

Earlier Hebbal was a notified area and a committee was responsible for taking

up civic amenity works. During 1995 this area has been brought under the purview

of BMP as Ward no. 96. This ward comprises mainly villages and revenue pockets,

which have been developed by individual landowners according to their own plans,

therefore there are no civic amenities.

To provide basic civic amenities the citizens of the entire ward, continuous

efforts have been made by the corporator and the citizens. Still a lot of developmental

works remain to be taken up to achieve minimum living standard. To achieve

this, this vision statement has been prepared.

It is a common man’s dream to have minimum standard of living, such as

pure drinking water, sanitation, good roads, transport, environment and other needed

facilities for day-to-day living. Corporation is trying its level best to provide this

to its residents for which they are collecting revenues. Participation of active citizens

along with corporation to boost their activities, encouraging them in turn to reach

the goal in a shorter period, is the objective.

WARD 96: HEBBAL


Major Issue: Civic Amenity Sites

Except in Anandanagar, CIL & Amarjyoti layouts no other areas are having specified earmarked CA sites There are few private

lands in some areas which could be identified and acquired by the BMP for the CA sites and for the welfare of the residents.

The following locations are proposed for the purpose

1. Kanakanagar—Big vacant land exists between 10th and 12th crossroads linked to 2nd main road for the use of park,

playground, and shopping complex.

2. Kanakanagar—Big vacant land exists at the Sultanpalya-V. Nagenahalli main road which could be acquired for erecting a City

Bus stand

3. CIL Layout—There is around half acre land of CA site behind water tank, which could be used for city bus Terminal

station.

4. CIL Layout—There is around 100X200 CA site at 1st cross linked to V. Nagenahalli Road, which could be utilized for

shopping complex including provision for post office and library.

Population: 52,189

New Ward

The health of an area is judged by the ease of driving and walking through it,

the comfort of living in it, the safety, the quality of education and recreation.

The ability to attract increased revenue is invariably linked to the ability to attract

more residents into the area, the attraction criteria being the very same factors.

The quality of the amenities is also a reflection on the citizens in that community,

a factor which most of us ignore, pretending that the enjoyment of these facilities

is our right and that it is the government’s responsibility to provide them. While

this is true to a certain extent, we, the citizens, are mainly responsible for the

abuse of facilities, sometimes directly, at times indirectly. The upkeep and upgradation

of existing facilities, planning and development of new areas, and our involvement

in maintaining standards in new projects, we believe, is our joint responsibility

and achieving this is our main vision in the coming months and years.

This document covers major facilities like Roads, Footpaths, Drains and

Streetlights, Solid Waste Management, Parks, Civic Amenity sites etc. and providing

them is the process of planning. There are numerous ways in which these facilities

are abused and norms flouted. The challenge, we believe, is in the prevention

of such happenings which nullify all efforts and question our credibility as a social

and ethical animal. In the long run, this is perhaps the crucial area where we,

as citizens, can contribute, not by evolving mechanisms for monitoring aberrations,

but by creating an atmosphere of self-discipline and responsibility that will eventually

spread to all the parties involved in converting this vision into reality.

WARD 100: SANJAYNAGAR

Major Issue: Parks

True to its name “Garden City”, Bangalore has a total of 630 parks and innumerable gardens. These parks beautify the city and

give us a chance to witness flowers blooming throughout the year. These parks are built and maintained by the B.M.P. and

B.D.A., but there are several shortcomings in this work. Parks are of different types, the most suitable for our ward being the

tree and ornamental type categorised under “Daily Use and Neighborhood Beautification”. Daily Use Parks are designed to have

bushes / plants putting out flowers throughout the year. The very sight of these lush, attractive, colourful and well-designed plants

soothes the mind and makes the neighborhood a pleasant and happy place to live in.

Maintenance of such parks becomes easier if cobblestone jogging lanes or trails are laid out neatly and maintained with care.

These are to be integrated into a rain water harvesting scheme which includes collection of water in sumps or wells and

pumping it back into the garden through sprinklers, thus making the whole park always look green.

These parks could be made ‘Pay Parks’ in which the entry fees would reduce the maintenance cost and ensure proper usage if

only because their use has been paid for. The gardener in these parks should have the required incentive and involvement.

The community has an important role to play in the planning and maintenance of the park, in monitoring the gardener’s work,

in the use of sprinklers and in ensuring that the park is always kept neat and clean. It is extremely important to prevent grazing

by cattle, dumping of garbage, carry bags, containers of food items and all kinds of litter.


77

66666WARD PLANNING 2004

AND BEYOND

| Introduction for All Communities | Planning Ward Vision

| Continued Engagement |

WARD PLANNING 2004 AND BEYOND


n July 2003, there were ten wards in Bangalore with the interest and the

commitment to take up Janaagraha’s participatory ward planning campaign. These

communities and the volunteers were pioneers in the efforts to coordinate these

types of workshops and work towards the outcome of a Ward Vision document.

In this effort, the only guides were campaigns in Kerala and those in foreign countries,

often led by governments rather than citizens. Now the fruits of their experiences,

both the strong points and weaknesses are open for the use of other Residents’

Associations and committed individuals in their own neighborhoods and wards.

If you are considering this in your own area, the charts on the following pages will

help you think about planning a campaign.

• If you are from a ward that has strong Residents’ Associations, is participating in

Monthly Review Meetings with local engineers and has a group of people ready to

be part of the Core Community, then please use the Ward Planning Guide for

Active Communities (on page no 79)

• If you are beginning to get involved with your local government, or the Resident

Associations in your area are not yet active or connected to each other, you may want

to use the Ward Planning Guide for New Communities that will help give a vision

for a new group of active citizens, and steps to move forward (on page no 81)

It is not necessary that everyone follow the exact structure of the 2003 Ward

Vision Campaign. Each community has its own unique situation and pressing issues

to deal with. The Core Community in each area may consider the state of basic

infrastructure and services, the strength of local organizations as well as the level

of engagement between the citizens and local government.

Whichever steps your community takes towards creating a Ward Vision, there

will be regular support from Janaagraha. Full-time and part-time Janaagraha

volunteers are enthusiastic about working towards a better city and look forward

to working with all communities. Support will be available to you including the

following:

• Flyers and Communications materials

• Good Quality Ward maps

• Ward Planning Database at the Janaagraha Office that will generate reports

from the problems identified by citizens

• Regular meetings at the Janaagraha Office to talk with other communities

• Interactive page on the Janaagraha website to host a “Ward Message Board”

to post documents, community meetings in your area and discuss the issues

As a Core Community, it is critical that you have realistic expectations of the

possible campaign outcomes and that you express those to other residents. The

campaign itself will not solve each problem in the ward. Citizens should not expect

to write down their problem and get an immediate solution. The campaign is a

platform for citizens to engage with local government and agencies so that problems

will consistently be solved in a timely manner and citizens will have a role in

local-level planning. Many effects of the campaign may not be felt in the first

few months, but will take root now and bear fruit over the next few years.

I

Ramesh Ramanathan meeting residents

79

Ward Planning Guide for Active Communities


Ward planning guide for Active Communities (contd)

Estimated campaign timeline: 5 months

81

Ward Planning Guide for New Communities


Ward Planning Guide for New Communities (contd)

Additional points for all Communities

Estimated timeline: 6 months

83

Suggestions for all Communities

Access: People will participate in the meetings and workshops only if they want

to attend and they are able to attend. You can get them interested with advertisements

and solid information about the work that will be done. However, if all of the

meetings are inconvenient for them, they will never come even if they are interested.

When you hold mini-workshops and meetings, make sure they are accessible to

all citizens.

• Locations should be convenient and spread throughout the ward

• If there are multiple meetings ensure that the timings of some are convenient

for working people and housewives

• Any person in the area should be able to understand the basic content of

the meetings and have their opinion heard regardless of literacy and language

Constant Communication: At the beginning of the campaign in your ward, you

will be reaching out to thousands of residents across the ward directly (door-to-

door, small meetings) and indirectly (flyers, advertisements). Once the workshops

begin and the Core Community is involved with the main issues and meeting with

government officials, you should not forget to communicate with the first participants

and the wider resident base. Through a constant communication stream you will

earn trust. With regular information updates by phone calls or through newsletters,

instead of feeling like attendees at an event, residents will begin to own the process

and become active participants and eventually area leaders.

You can also use the media to spread the message of your community development

activities throughout. Create relationships with reporters at the city-wide level,

and make sure that any local newspaper is fully involved with the process.

Distribution of Responsibility: Once every few weeks at the Thursday community

meeting, a community leader would come and begin to complain about the long

hours of work he had put in, without any help from others. Others, who had

been working tirelessly as lone soldiers for years, were less burdened each week.

This reflected not only a difference in the levels of participation, but also in the

ability of the leader to effectively share responsibility. Some wards asked community

volunteers to act as “Block Captains”, individuals who would inform the thirty

or forty homes on their own street. Ward 54 used an intricate but highly valuable

Telephone Tree, so that after the Ward Coordinator received information, he could

share it with three people who would in turn share it with three more people

each. The Ward Coordinator could trust that information would reach almost all

of the active participants within a short time without having to make all the calls.

Sharing Experiences: As the Core Community in a recently active ward, you may

face a few situations and challenges that are new to you. You can learn important

strategies from leaders in other communities and with time, share your experiences

with others. There are several very active citizens who will be happy to work closely

with your group and offer suggestions and support.

With regular updates by

phone calls or through

newsletters, instead of feeling

like attendees at an event,

residents will begin to own

the process and become

active participants and

eventually area leaders.

Swati Ramanathan in a discussion with

Meera Mukund of Ward 55


Continuing Engagement

Expanded MRMs: Citizen participation

needs to be more than just an idea; it

requires citizens to make participation

a continuous process of engagement with

the government. Solid information forms

the basis for any kind of debate, discus-

sion or decision-making. In 2002,

Janaagraha created a formal space for

this regular engagement in the Monthly

Review Meeting (MRM). The leadership

of the BMP sanctioned these meetings,

mandated attendance by their engineers

and established that points raised in

these meetings were official record. The

process began with all residents/resident

associations of the ward and the respec-

tive Engineering Department.

These meetings have been underway

for over one year, and just as citizens

were ready to discuss their concerns

with all agencies in the Ward Vision

Campaign, they also wanted the same,

structured follow-up mechanism to be in

place for all concerns. Since engaging

in the campaign, many wards have

hosted officials from the BWSSB, Ban-

galore Police, BMP Health Department

and BMP Electrical Department at their

meetings. In the coming months, the

Food and Civil Supply Department will

also participate to keep residents up to

date about ration cards and fair price

shops in the ward.

For citizens to hold their elected

representatives or service providers ac-

countable, they must have a space and

a method to enforce their disapproval.

Establishing regularity is an important step towards this aim. The Monthly Review

Meeting is a critical formal space for citizens to hold the agencies responsible for

ward-level issues and press forward with the agenda of their vision document with

the spirit of trust and partnership.

Ward RECI-P: “A Recipe for Success” Incentives for Local Development

Financial requirements: There are issues in the Ward Vision such as roads, streetlights

and parks that require detailed costing to be done. For such issues, a reasonable

costing methodology has been created to help citizens arrive at the total cost for their

needs. The requirements of the citizens in most wards is more than the current funds

allocated for the development of the ward; this begs the question of sources of

additional funding.

The proposal: The campaign breaks new ground here by examining the incremental

revenue opportunities for the BMP from within the ward itself, i.e. from its existing

revenue sources: property taxes, building licenses, hoardings, parking fees, trade licenses

etc. Compliance in the payment of these taxes/charges is currently low, due to a

variety of factors. The central premise is that with citizen participation, compliance can

be increased substantially. However, citizens are willing to take on this responsibility only

if there is an enticement for them. They suggest a Revenue-Sharing formula where

incremental revenues being raised can be ploughed back into development activities in

their ward, in the projects that they have identified. The rationale of this argument is

quite sound: when citizens begin to see their money working for them, they will be

willing to pay their fair share. This will result in buoyant revenues, and ensure that

these revenues are being put into projects that citizens have asked for, through

discussions with their Ward Corporator.

Benefits: There is a win-win-win for all parties concerned:

• The BMP administration gets more revenues, and meets its development

obligations

• The Corporator gets a larger share of development resources into his/her ward

• The Citizens get more resources allocated for the projects that they have identified

in their neighbourhoods

Potential revenue enhancement: Considerable work has been done by citizens in

estimating the potential revenues that can accrue to the BMP in the participating wards.

It is estimated that in the 10 participating wards, the gap in Property Tax alone is

around Rs 50 crores, about 200% of the current level. In addition, there are other

sources of revenue like building licenses, trade licenses etc. that can also be increased

at the Ward Level.

Revenue estimation methodology: A robust estimation methodology has been adopted

to arrive at Property tax figures.

Base GIS maps for each of the 10 wards were procured from the BDA. These

maps contained NRSA aerial data as of 1998, with property-level images. However,

this information was incomplete on two counts:

• While it identified the aerial footprint of a property, it did not have details like

number of floors, building type, property usage etc.

• It captured development activity only as of 1998; many parts of the city have seen

substantial additional activity since then

With the help of professional survey techniques, a detailed property-level survey was

conducted in 9 of the 10 wards. Over 700 students spent over 50,000 hours in

85

generating detailed information. All this information has been fed back into GIS maps to

create a comprehensive “data bank” of property-level information. This “data bank” has

been used as the core information on which property tax estimates have been

prepared for each ward. Assumptions about zone, age, and construction type have

been made; these assumptions can be changed as required to arrive at more specific

estimates.

Issues to consider: Creating a formula for ward-level revenue sharing is a complex

exercise. A variety of factors like current level of development of the ward, current

level of expenditures in the ward, compliance levels in the ward have to be taken into

account. In the absence of this, all wards can claim the return of revenues back into

their ward. This will create significant “equity” issues; one example is if highly devel-

oped areas like MG Road and the Central Business District suggests that their property

tax collections went into development only of the Central Business District area.

Ideally, a MINIMUM INFRASTRUCTURE INDEX (MII) must be created, against which wards

can be measured; if their WARD INFRASTRUCTURE INDEX is higher than the minimum,

they would have to share a larger percentage of their revenues; if their index is lower,

then they would get to keep their revenues, and get a subsidy from the central pool,

until their index reaches the minimum level. Such an approach would ensure equity.

Criteria for the MINIMUM INFRASTRUCTURE INDEX need to be devised through discussions

and consensus building. Examples of such criteria could be :100% water supply, 100%

sewerage connection; 100% asphalted roads; 100% street lighting; community toilet

facility for slum areas etc.

Suggested road ahead: While the idea of a MINIMUM INFRASTRUCTURE INDEX would

take some time to take hold, an interim proposal could be considered, to allow for

experimentation on an idea like WARD RECI-P.

This interim proposal could work as follows:

i. The CURRENT LEVEL OF REVENUES from a ward can be the BASELINE BENCHMARK

for that ward.

ii. Any incremental revenues accruing through citizen participation in that ward can be

subject to a revenue-sharing mechanism.

iii. As an example, Ward No 100:

1 Baseline Property Taxes: Rs 1.86 crores

2 Revenue generated through incentives: Rs 2.50 crores

3 Incremental revenues generated: Rs 0.74 crores

4 Revenue sharing back to ward (75%): Rs 0.55 crores

5 Revenue sharing to common pool (25%): Rs 0.19 crores

This measure could create the positive effect of showing the benefits of citizen

participation, while a more measured and calibrated approach of developing an Index

could be done over the medium-term. Through such an exercise, equity issues are

effectively addressed, since the baseline revenues will continue to be treated in the

original manner, i.e. go into a central pool and get divided from there for all develop-

ment activities.

Ward RECI-P (Revenue Enhance-

ment with Citizen Participation): In

the first two campaigns, Ward Works and

PROOF, citizens were sensitized to the

local budget and learned more about

both the revenues collected by the city

as well as the expenditures. In Ward

Works, the citizens limited their priori-

ties to the 50 lakhs (average) available

to each ward, though the need was much

greater for both repairs of problems and

new infrastructure where needed. The

requirements of the citizens will be more

than the current funds being allocated

for the development of the ward; this

begs the question of sources of additional

funding. Given the financial constraints

facing the BMP as a whole, addressing

the question of sustainable revenue

enhancement assumes some signifi-

cance.

Senior government officials participating

in Ward RECI-P panel discussion. After

detailed discussion, the panel supported

the idea of citizen involvement in revenue

enhancement


Federations and Janaagraha Community Development Fund (JCDF)

The federation is the apex body of citizens’ associations in each ward. Across

Bangalore there are seven existing Federations working to improve the community

in various ways. Each Federation may be different, choosing to focus on activities

critical for that area, but some of the general features are the same:

1. Federations represent the entire ward and take up local improvement activities

and causes

2. Raise funds through membership from individuals, associations and local in-

stitutions and companies

3. Federations bring together residents associations, trade associations, institutions

and other local groups

4. Conduct citizen awareness programmes on various topics including civic re-

sponsibilities and tax payment

5. Interact with other Federations and NGOs on issues affecting the city or area

The Janaagraha Community Development Fund is a program to help finance

Federations for the first few years of their activity. Funded originally by the

Ramanathan Foundation, the 6 lakh rupees over three years helps Federations rent

a local office, hire one support staff person, generate communications materials

and hold meetings. After three years the Federation should be self-sufficient through

its membership fees and donations. For a Federation to receive JCDF funds it must

abide by certain standards that include:

• Quarterly reports on activities with a steady growth in membership

• Continued outreach to all sectors of the ward

• No political party affiliation and members cannot hold any political office

Strengthening the Federations where they exist and encouraging other com-

munities to begin them is a central goal of Janaagraha. The Federation is the structure

that can carry forward structured citizen engagement with various agencies and

help the other local groups take up local awareness and improvement campaigns.

As the highest ward-level body of informal political engagement, it can work with

the local administration and elected representatives towards development.

The Ward Vision Campaign was a step towards full citizen participation and

the improvement of local services and infrastructure. In some wards, it was the

first or second step, other communities had some experience, but for every community

the end of the campaign meant moving closer to a more participatory democracy.

The Core Communities, now fortified with new members are reaching out to residents

regularly, confidently engaging with local government and planning new initiatives

and projects to improve their communities.

ANNEXURES

Problem and Solution Grid. A sample issue: Solid Waste Management.

A tool to inform communities about current names and policies across all issues.

ANNEXURES

Zoning and land use conversions

1 Lack of awareness of policy requirements

2 Change in land use causing undesirable living conditions

3 Notifications of land use conversions not always

seen by residents

4 Commercial land use in a residential area

5 Lawsuit on land conversion still in court, yet building

being used

6 Residential areas with commercial buildings: Noise, traffic,

loss of privacy

7 Single-family homes replaced with multi-storey aptmnts

violates privacy, infrastrc burden

8 Inadequate public spaces

9 Public land used for unauthorizd religious construction

10 Lawsuit on zoning violation still in court, yet building

being used

Building violation and land encroachment

1 Lack of clarity on by-laws

2 Violation of setbacks from n’bouring property

3 Violation of setbacks from street front

4 Violation of f.a.r.

5 Sanctioning of illegal plans

6 Occupancy certificate to illegal construction

7 Illegal additions / alterations to existing bldgs

8 Construction material and debris blocking road

9 Construction noise

10 Private planting of trees on footpaths blocking passage

11 Lawsuit on govt. Building violation still in court,

yet building being used

12 Encroachment on government land

13 Encroachment on private land

14 Building encroachment on public land / ftpths

15 Lawsuit on govt. Land encroachment still in court, yet

building being used

Civic amenity sites

1 Insufficient public service buildings, post offices, library etc

2 No community spaces like park, playground

3 No success/ response from BDA on application for ca site

4 Too expensive to lease a CA site from the BDA

5 CA site violating prescribed use and conditions

6 Empty CA site being neglected

7 Illegal construction on CA site

8 Continuing use after lease expiration

Heritage site preservation

1 No suitable laws on construction, preservation

and restoration

2 Public heritage building / site being demolished / monitized

3 Public heritage building / site in poor condition

4 Privately owned heritage property / building not main-

tained

5 Heritage buildings / sites house only government functions.

not accessible to public

6 Not enough skilled workforce to renovate

heritage architecture

7 Not enough funds for restoration

8 Surrounding construction not sensitive to existing landscape

around heritage properties

9 Road cutting by new houses not repaired or

improperly repaired

Slums

1 Public / private land taken over illegally

2 Complaints of illegal slums not addressed

3 Notice of declaration of slums not adequate

4 Slum not yet declared

5 No documentary proof for declaration

6 Lost proof of declaration—Form 3(p)

7 Lonstant threat of eviction

8 Improper/lack of housing

9 No basic facilities for slums

Visual pollution

1 Unauthorized movie posters and graffiti on public and

Private properety

2 Banners and buntings left unremoved by the political

parties

3 Banners, hoardings, etc put up in prohibited areas

4 Unsightly hoardings approved in residntl n’hoods

5 Unsightly hoardings approved in commercial n’hoods

6 Hoarding larger than allowable size

7 Hoardings allowed in pvt property by owners, spoiling the

neighbourhood aesthetics

8 Citizens not consulted about hoardings in residential areas

LAND AND PROPERTY

Issue / Problem list, distributed to all workshop participants

91

Parks

1 No water supply

2 No / inadequate lighting

3 Lack of security

4 Unsavory activities

5 Used as garbage dump

6 Dense undergrowth and weeds

7 Unattractive

8 Lack of maintenance

Tree planting and tree cutting

1 No trees on street / park / playground / pvt garden

2 Planting and maintenance of saplings in public areas

3 Trees planted inconveniently in the middle of footpaths,

road edges (in tree felling?)

4 Tree is blocking traffic

5 Tree is touching electric lines

6 Tree is infected

7 No action being taken on request to cut tree

8 Blocking footpath

9 Tree dangerously close to falling

10 Fallen tree to be cleared

11 Unauthorised felling of trees

Rainwater harvesting

1 No utilization of rain water for individual homes

2 Too expensive to implement for individual homes

3 No sump / well / bore well to store rainwater

4 Rainwater stored getting algae

5 Rainwater insufficient to meet water requirements

6 Not enough awareness on methods

7 Government buildings and projects not utilizing rainwater

harvesting techniques

8 Parks not utilizing rainwater harvesting

9 Rainwater harvesting not utilized for raising the ground

water level

Lakes

1 Lake very polluted

2 Sewage entering lake

3 High levels of silt

4 Bio-diversity and fresh water species threatened

5 Breeding ground for infection

6 Not enough water

7 Water covered with hyacinth, weeds

8 No revetment

9 Garbage dumping and clothes washing done at lake

10 Not attractive as a recreation spot

Storm Water Drains (SWD)

1 Storm water drain flooding in low-lying areas and homes

2 Inefficient storm water drain network

3 Service lines and other obstructions block flow of water

4 Regular disposal of household and commercial

waste in SWD

5 Sewerage pipes let into swd

6 SWD is clogged with sewerage and solid waste

7 SWD not de-silted for long

8 Polluted storm water from drains getting into lakes

9 SWD damaged

10 SWD attracts pests (rodents, mosquitos, stray dogs)

ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS

Issue / Problem list

ANNEXURES

Water supply

1 No water supply to individual buildings

2 Poor water pressure in individual home and in public taps

3 Supply of water at inconvenient timings

4 Leakages from public taps

5 Unauthorized public taps

6 Unauthorized re-routing of public taps

7 Theft from public taps

8 Unauthorized BWSSB service connections

9 Water meter tampering

10 Leakages from BWSSB pipe lines

11 Theft from networked pipe lines

12 Non-availability of water to the poor

13 High cost of water

14 Irregular timings of water supply trucks

15 Contamination of water

Sewerage

16 Damaged BWSSB pipe lines allowing sewage contamination

into water supply system

17 Water and sewage lines placed at close proximity

18 Households without sewage connections

19 Household sewage not connected to sewage mains

20 Clogged sewage lines resulting in overflow from manholes

21 Broken sewage lines

22 Disposal of sewage into SWD

Roads

1 Currently only mud road

2 Currently only jelly layer

3 Existing sub-base is eroded

4 Improper slope, rainwater stagnant

5 Road has many potholes

6 Road has uneven surface

7 Road dug up at the edges

8 Repeated road cuts by optic fibre cable providers

9 Road cutting by new houses not repaired or

improperly repaired

10 Poor quality execution of works

11 Dangerous speeds

12 Heavy duty vehicles on residential streets

13 Street name boards missing / broken

14 High/ low manholes from road surface

15 High/ low culvert drains

16 Broken culvert cover slabs

17 Dangerous road bumps on road

18 Leaking water / sewer pipes

Footpaths

19 Dense weed growth on earth footpath

20 Uneven surface

21 Footpath stones damaged

22 No paving on footpath

23 Broken kerb stones

24 Missing kerbstones

25 Obstructions on footpath

26 No place for footpaths

Drains

Shoulder drains

27 Missing under footpaths causing water stagnation

28 Clogged shoulder drains

Side drains

29 Drains are clogged with debris

30 Side drains are kutcha and have weeds

31 Flooring and sides of drain are damaged

32 Some parts are not constructed

33 Water stagnates in certain places

34 Cover slabs broken

35 Household garbage / construction debris thrown into

drain

Culverts

36 Culverts are clogged with debris

37 Culverts are damaged

38 Service lines blocking culvert

Solid waste management

1 No door-to-door collection of garbage

2 Littering around bins

3 Improper segregation

4 No pick-up from collection points

5 No processing

6 Disposal environmently unsound

7 Commercial/ hospital waste not taken care of properly

8 Slums in unhygenic state

9 Streets unclean

10 Mosquitos and other insects causing infections and

disease

11 No provision for house hold toxic waste

12 Burning of garbage

13 Construction debris dumped in empty sites

INFRASTRUCTURAL SERVICE


93

Public transport

1 No bus stops in neighbourhood

2 Bus stops too far apart

3 Buses don’t make the stop

4 Not enough frequency of buses

5 Round-about route between points

6 Bus routes going into narrow residential roads

7 Local buses for night-time travel not available

8 Arbitrary cancelling of stops on route

9 Bus timings not maintained

10 Rash driving by drivers in order to meet timing causing frequent

accidents

11 Overloading of buses more than available capacity

12 Buses stop at unpredictable locations making people run to board

the bus

13 No bus “bay” provided at bus stop causing traffic inconveniences

14 Inconveniently located stop jamming traffic

15 No route map and bus nos indicated at stops or inside buses

16 Bus tickets too expensive

17 Disorganized terminals / depots

18 No guidance at terminals / depots

19 Poorly maintained terminals / depots

20 Parking of long-distance use buses inconveniencing local residents

Street lighting

1 Insufficient street lights

2 Light pole without tube lights

3 Flickering tubelight

4 No street lights during load shedding causing danger to pedestrians

and drivers

5 Waste of power due to extended lighting during daytime

6 Busy intersection requiring stronger lighting

Parking

1 Commercial vehicles parking on residential streets

2 Insufficient public parking

3 Resdntl parking blocks traffic

4 Commrcl parkng blocks traffic

5 Unidentified vehicles parked in residential areas

6 Parking fee too high

7 Parking attendants have no I.D.

Public toilets

1 Existing but badly maintained

2 Existing, but at inappropriate location

3 Use of open public spaces as toilet

4 Lack of facility for temporary construction workers

5 No public toilet (residential area)

6 Existing toilet infrastructure, but no water supply

7 User fees of public toilets too high

Crime

1 High incidence of robbery (homes; vehicles; offices)

2 High incidence of personal crime (theft of jewelry or

personal items; eveteasing and other threats)

3 High incidence of violent crime (assault; rape;

kidnapping; murder)

4 Inaction / brutality by the police

5 No police station close to neighbourhood

6 No beat cop

7 Undesirable activities in neighbourhood (liquor shops;

drug dealing; brothels)

Traffic

1 Vehicles drive too fast/recklessly down local streets

2 Speedbreakers not clearly marked

3 Vehicles ignore traffic signs

4 Vehicles cross centre lane on main road

5 High incidence of accidents due to “blind turning”

6 High incidence of accidents due to no/poor lighting

7 Traffic problems on main road caused by high # of

buses and stops

8 Noise pollution

9 Traffic congestions

10 Increasing number of vehicles on the roads

Street vendors

1 Vendors obstructing footpaths

2 Vendors obstructing vehicular and pedestrian traffic

3 Unfair harassment of street vendors by police

4 Re-emergence of vendors after complaint & removal

5 Littering by street vendors (eg: coconut vendors)

6 Encroachment on footpaths by shops displaying wares

Stray dogs

1 Stray dogs barking

2 Traffic inconvenience / accidents

3 Stray dogs biting people, causing rabies; threat of

diseases

4 Impounding the stray dogs / inhumane treatment

5 Increasing population of stray dogs

6 Unsafe walking / riding (two wheelers) in the nights

LAW, ORDER AND SAFETYINFRASTRUCTURAL SERVICE


ANNEXURES

Summary Sheet of Revenue in Ward 55

95

Facilitators and Workshop Volunteers

“Janaagraha for me is like a re-charging station. I come here and get my batteries charged.”

— Smitha Srinath, Resident

"One day or the other we are going to reach our goal. When we came to the area we were

really desperate, we thought nothing would happen, but now that is changed. First it was an

individual struggle because we didn't know whom to contact or the proper channels to go,

now because of the local Association and Janaagraha we know where to go and how to go

and all our dreams will come true. Through Janaagraha we got a strong platform to express

our views.”—Malini Soans, Resident

"As far as the Ward Vision is concerned, that is our guideline for the next 3 years. For

anything and everything for the development of the ward, we will consult the document,

and accordingly we will have to mobilize to make the stakeholders understand this vision.

So the next three years is only action.”

—Krishnamurthy, President, PACE Residents' Welfare Association

"Volunteering helped me understand the problems facing the city in depth. Prior to this,

I either cribbed about the issue or took steps to insulate myself from the impact. Now I

understand that I can play a role in its improvement.”

—Krishna Hegde, Volunteer

"We are feeling that we are a part of the system, and we were thinking that we were out of

the system. Now, we know that we are a part of the system and to make that part a strong

part is our effort. That's what Janaagraha has done by giving a certain amount of structured

activity and training so we get there as a team, and not as individuals.”

—A. Shivashankaran, President, Pillanna Garden Residents' Welfare Association

anaagraha is a citizens’ movement in

the city of Bangalore, the capital of the

southern state of Karnataka, India. The

fundamental premise of Janaagraha is

that participatory democracy is central

to good governance. Janaagraha means

the Life Force of the People: it stands

for a positive, constructive firmness that

allows citizens to engage with their

government.

In 2003, Janaagraha launched the

Ward Vision Campaign, a participatory

community planning initiative in ten

areas of the city. Thousands of citizens

participated in their own

neighbourhoods or volunteered to

help others, all working together for a

better Bangalore.

DESIG

NED

BY R

ESO

UR

CE. P

RIN

TED

AT M

YTEC

.

ISBN 81-901511-4-2

PARTICIPATORY WARD PLANNING

J

#198, Nandidurg Road, Bangalore-560 046 INDIA

Phone : 91-80-2354 2381 , 2354 2382 , 2354 2977

Fax : 91-80-2354 2966 email : [email protected]

Website : www.janaagraha.org

SHAPING VIBRANT - Janaagraha

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