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About Harshitha Venkatesh

Politics, Policy Aficionado. Caffeine addict. Biotech Engineer on paper. Passionate about helping elected representatives deliver better. Coordinates political engagement programs.

Empowering Youth with Green Skills: Paving the Path to a Sustainable World

“Humanity depends on the boundless energy, ideas and contributions of youth everywhere. Today and every day, let’s support and stand with young people in shaping a just and sustainable world, for people and the planet." UN Secretary-General António Guterres The theme for this year's International Youth Day is "Green Skills for Youth: Towards a Sustainable World." This day serves [...]

By |2023-08-11T20:18:23+05:30August 11th, 2023|Categories: B.ENGAGED|0 Comments

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike BBMP Act 2020

The Constitution of India has made detailed provisions for ensuring protection of democracy in Parliament and in State Legislatures. Through the 74th amendment, the urban local bodies have a framework to operate under. This article explores the previous KMC act of 1974 under which BBMP was functioning and the current BBMP Act 2020. But first, let us understand the [...]

By |2022-12-22T17:45:53+05:30December 22nd, 2022|Categories: B.ENGAGED|0 Comments

Fostering Civic Engagement Within The students

B.PAC’s Endeavours To Enable Active Participation Among Students India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. In 2020, the average age of an Indian was 29 years, a lot of the students were under various technical and non-technical courses, but one aspect of their student [...]

By |2022-11-16T16:05:30+05:30November 16th, 2022|Categories: B.ENGAGED|0 Comments

BBMP Ward Committees

Ward Committees are an effective concept for citizen engagement at the ward level and critical to our local self-governance in the municipalities. They help in the decentralization of functions and provide better supervision for Ward governance.  Composition and functions of a Ward Committee are outlined in the 74th Constitutional amendment to ensure that there is equal representation for all sections [...]

Common Minimum Program – keeping the interest of the citizens in a coalition government

May 2018 elections to the Karnataka State Assembly threw up a hung house with no single political party able to garner majority mark. The situation lead to the formation of a government by two political parties, Indian National Congress and Janata Dal (S), without any pre-poll alliance, and who had fought the electoral battle bitterly. During the election campaigning, each [...]

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike – Past, Present and Future

Background The Constitution of India has made detailed provisions for ensuring the protection of democracy in Parliament and in State Legislatures. But it did not provide adequate powers for the local self-government/ governance leading to democracy not being stable in municipal governance. 74th Amendment of the Constitution The Bill as reported by the Joint Parliamentary Committee was taken up for [...]

By |2022-06-06T15:10:38+05:30August 20th, 2018|Categories: Participatory Democracy Program, Policy, Politics|0 Comments

Electronic Voting Machine [EVM] and VVPAT [Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail]

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional authority responsible for the conduction of free and fair elections in our country. Article 324 of the Constitution vests in the Election Commission the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State [...]

Simultaneous Elections in India

Twenty Nine States and Seven Union territories of India have an elected government, going to polls approximately once in five years. About five to seven  State Assemblies/UTs on an average, come up for elections, every year, often spread through the months. Given the resources needed to conduct such frequent elections and the load on the governance thereof, many stakeholders have [...]

By |2024-03-26T17:29:56+05:30February 23rd, 2018|Categories: Elections, Participatory Democracy Program, Politics|0 Comments

Reforming Political Donations in India

Elections, in general, come with a cost, to state exchequer political parties and candidates. Election Commission of India spends a lot of money to conduct free and fair elections to safeguard our democracy. In the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections alone, INR 3,426 Cr was spent by the government, a substantial increase from the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections, INR 1,483 Cr was spent. [...]

By |2024-03-26T17:24:35+05:30February 20th, 2018|Categories: Elections, Participatory Democracy Program, Politics|0 Comments

Prioritise Fire Safety demand by Beyond Carlton to the Political Parties of Karnataka

As the Karnataka state goes to elections in the next few months, we must ensure our wants and needs for Bengaluru city and should communicate to the political parties seeking our votes. We often miss out on talking beyond essential public goods in our needs; fire safety is never seen as a major concern. The need to bring this to [...]

By |2024-03-28T12:59:27+05:30February 14th, 2018|Categories: B.SAFE, Elections, Making Bengaluru Better, Policy|0 Comments
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