As the city expands, activists and residents are going hyperlocal online to connect with the community

Bengaluru is having a thousand local conversations these days, with the rise of community websites, blogs and social media groups.

These hyperlocal forums pick up the latest on civic issues, easy commute options, property listings and upcoming events. Bengaluru became ‘bruhat’ Bengaluru, indicating its growing stature, and residents are flexing their civic strengths to highlight their own localities.

The city’s citizen activism is getting a boost through online engagement, while newer residents get a quick wrap-up of their locality even before they arrive.

Nithya Reddy from the Citizen Welfare Association of Richmond and Langford Town, says the local Town Crier newsletter has been around for a while, but has been given a makeover to connect with residents even more closely.

“We felt that so many civic issues need to be addressed and it can’t just be one or two people or the association office bearers looking into them. The newsletter and a Facebook page — Reclaim Richmond and Langford Town — let residents get in touch with councillors and so on. These forums let people know there is an association and how they can get in touch. We list our meetings with the traffic and law and order police, for instance. Politicians have also taken notice of the Association, as a result,” she said. The Association has a WhatsApp group for each street.

Residents of Indiranagar have a collective blog named ‘I Change Indira Nagar.’

“We wanted to invite residents to write. We also collect ward-wise information and provide links to newspaper articles about the area. For those who want to get in touch, there is a contact form with details of residents’ associations,” said Swarna Venkatraman. With the arrival of real time interactions, such as on social media and WhatsApp, the blog took a backseat, though. There is a plan to revamp the blog soon.

Vocal suburbs

The fast-growing suburb of Whitefield has an eponymous umbrella body for residents’ associations, called Whitefield Rising. It has a cyber presence through a newsletter and website. Zibi Jamal from the website said it is a repository — a one-stop shop — for the movement which turns five this year.

“City-scale news is available in newspapers, but what is more relevant to residents is locality-specific information. The newsletter is not as regular as we want it to be, but it hits the inbox when it comes to campaigns such as ‘Million Voter Rising.’ Upcoming events, and follow-up on issues and actions is there,” she said. Despite its vast reach on social media, though, it is still hard to reach out to everyone.

Newsletters, she added, lend formality and seriousness to the initiatives that people are taking in their community.