Brand Bengaluru: How Karnataka government plans to revive India’s Silicon Valley

Note: The podcast was recorded on July 25, 2023Brand Bengaluru is Karnataka government’s campaign to improve *Bengaluru’s infrastructure, mobility, urban planning, waste management to be improved with citizen support Bengaluru development minister DK Shivakumar has invited proposals and feedback from citizens on how to improve Bengaluru’s living conditions What are the main concerns being echoed by residents and business-owners for Brand Bengaluru? How fast can the government address these concerns? In Deep Dive, understanding the Brand Bengaluru vision and analysing its efficacyIn this Deep Dive, we take a look at Brand Bengaluru, the Karnataka government’s campaign to improve the city’s infrastructure, mobility, urban planning, waste management with the help of its own residents. Bengaluru development minister DK Shivakumar has asked the city’s residents and business owners for suggestions across themes like environment, e-governance, urban mobility, public and animal health. Ideas have already poured in for Brand Bengaluru from various stakeholders. But some questions remain: How fast will these be acted upon? Who are the most notable stakeholders in this? And Will this initiative really take Bengaluru to the next level? Times of India’s Niranjan Kaggere, who writes on Bengaluru, helps us dissect Brand Bengaluru in this Deep Dive. Excerpts… Q: Can you tell us about how an initiative like Brand Bangalore came to be and what were some of the factors driving this idea? A: There was a change of government in terms of administration in Karnataka just a month ago from the previous BJP government. And the Congress came back with a thumping majority. Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, has been entrusted with the Bengaluru development portfolio. There is a lot at stake as Bengaluru is making rapid strides in the IT and tech sectors and is also expanding rapidly while its civic infrastructure is not in tandem with the developments that are happening at the tech side. More and more people are coming into Bengaluru, more and more automobiles are being added to the existing infrastructure. The infrastructure has remained the same and people feel frustrated with this traffic system, broken roads, and repeated flooding during every monsoon. The Congress came up with the blueprint to give a positive spin to the city’s brand image, which was getting dented at the global level because of these factors, especially in the run-up to the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and also the civic polls for the local municipal corporation, which is Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. medium110341113Q: Do you know how these suggestions would be implemented? Is there a timeframe? A: Pursuing this idea of building Brand Bengaluru, it is not just an all-of-a-sudden or an at-the-moment decision. There is a lot of planning and homework being done to execute various plans under this exercise. For example, Shivakumar initially started off with consultations and visits to areas which are replete with problems like flooding, traffic congestion, pollution. He has identified spots that were problematic in terms of civic infrastructure. He has begun visiting these areas and at the same time, holding consultations with various stakeholders of Bangalore. It could be IT firms, start-up founders, or it could be some of the entrepreneurs, industry bodies, resident welfare associations. He is going a step ahead and holding consultation with children and youngsters of the city, to include what they think the city needs to have for them to pursue their career, education, activities. He’s literally going up to every stakeholder of Bangalore and asking them for suggestions so that a vibrant Bangalore can be rebuilt. Finally, they came up with seven categories. One is on transport, another one is on garbage management, which is under the Clean Bangalore concept. Another one is the greening of Bengaluru because concrete constructions are completely taking over the city skyline. For the full conversation, please listen to the podcast. Audio production: Shantanu Nanoti