To meet the demand to adopt children, the State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA) is taking measures to add adoption agencies in 10 districts besides identifying children who can be adopted from other child care institutions. At present, there are about 1,300 prospective adoptive parents registered in the state while only about 200 children are free for adoption.

Besides seeking good education, young students from Africa come here in the hope of having an international experience, learning about a new country, its culture and people. Unfortunately, most of them end up being cheated by agents and even the local experience is unlike what they expect. “The agent said India would be a good place to study, so I came here, even though I didn’t know anyone. They told us that we would get part-time jobs here, like students do in the US but there are no jobs for us,” a student from Nigeria, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

A handheld explosive detector developed by a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) could make airports in the country safer for travellers. The laser science and technology centre (LASTEC) of DRDO, based in New Delhi, has developed the portable device which uses a laser beam to detect explosives in a matter of seconds. A scientist from LASTEC, who was at the centre’s stall in Aero India, explained that metal detectors and x-ray scanners were not effective enough to detect explosives which a person could carry in gel, liquid or powder forms, among others.

Mental health is little understood and little discussed topic owing to the stigma associated with such issues. In an attempt to dispel this stigma and make mental healthcare more accessible, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) is working with White Swan Foundation, a non-profit, to train people who influence society. Targeting the grassroot population, they will collaborate to train ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers. “These women are from within the community and they have great influence on the people around them. They are already trained to deal with physical illnesses. We will train them on mental illnesses because the two cannot be separated,” said Dr Prasanthi Nattala, associate professor in the department of nursing, Nimhans.

Sneha Nayak is an eighth standard student who likes to play games such as kho-kho, football and badminton. She would love to be able to play every evening, but homework keeps her indoors. The few times she does step out for a game of badminton, she has to play on the streets. “We try to play on the road but the vehicles disturb us. We have no choice because there are no playgrounds near my house” is her lament. Schools give too much importance to academics and hardly ever encourage sports, notes Sadhish Kumar, a class 10 student in the city. “We don’t have a playground on the school premises so we go to a public ground nearby. There are no basketball courts or nets for playing throwball or badminton.”

Starting from September, Vanitha Sahayavani (VSV), the women’s helpline and counselling centre, will be conducting workshops and awareness programmes in corporate companies for the benefit of their large women workforce. The centre, which works out of the office of the Commissioner of Police on Infantry Road, is run by the Bengaluru City Police and NGO Parihar and it receives hundreds of calls everyday on their helpline 1091.

Concerned about the future of lakes in their area, members of the Sarjapur Resident Welfare Association (RWA) are organising a 10K marathon on August 21 to raise awareness among local residents. Scarcity of water in this year’s harsh summer forced people in several apartment complexes to shell out more money to purchase the precious resource. Thinking about how bad the situation could get in the next few years, the residents made it their mission to learn about the lakes in their neighbourhood and take steps to protect them. A survey revealed that within a radius of seven kilometres of the Sarjapur Circle, there were 26 lakes — large, medium and mall — covering a total area of about 600 acres. The two biggest lakes are Bidaraguppe, spread over an area of 240 acres and Sarjapur lake sprawling over 204 acres.

The attack on a doctor by Uttara Kannada Member of Parliament Ananth Kumar Hegde in January 2017, brought the focus back on the vulnerability of medical personnel. This report looks at the implementation of existing laws, concerns of doctors and solutions adopted by hospitals to deal with such attacks.

As President Pranab Mukherjee waved a green flag on Saturday evening, a Metro train decked with flowers rumbled out from the Sampige Road station. It was a remote flag-off, with Mukherjee doing the honours from the Vidhana Soudha, but one Bengaluru had looked forward to for years.

While the government focuses on making the car ride to the airport smoother, citizens are demanding better public transport and a pedestrian-friendly city. Praveen S, a resident of Indiranagar, asks why the government is spending public money on the flyover when citizens are in need of better roads, footpaths and public transport. “Why is the government catering only to car users? There will never be enough road or parking space for vehicles. The more roads you provide, vehicle numbers will also increase.” he says.

Residents of Defence Colony, Indiranagar, fear that land sharks are out to grab their playground. Defence Colony Park 3, situated between Fourth Main and Sixth Main in Indiranagar, off 100 Feet Road, is a popular playground for youngsters in the area. Schools in the neighbourhood use the field for sports meets as well. However, since November 2016, unknown persons have fenced off a portion of the playground claiming that the land belongs to them

Nearly four months after the Ayurveda unit was opened at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology in the city, patients who visit the unit have to return disappointed as there are no medicines to treat their illness. Until medicines are supplied, the few patients who visit the unit have to make do with advice about lifestyle and diet changes they can adopt. Sometimes, they are prescribed reasonably-priced medicines which they can buy from other pharmacies.