CitizenMatters.in hopes to raise civic awareness amongst Bangalore residents
Quality of life in Bangalore has deteriorated horribly over last few years. I witnessed it myself during my recent India trip - from the traffic woes to pollution to parking chaos to noise. Majority of the folks turn a blind eye to all these issues and move on. Civic issues are taken lightly and life goes on as normal.
CitizenMatters is a new startup that hopes to highlight and address these civic issues and bring them into the limelight.
To quote them,
Our in-depth stories on the civic issues of Bangalore and coverage of our city’s vibrant arts and culture scene will not only help you understand the changing nature of our city, but you will also be provoked to get involved and shape Bangalore for the better.
The site has some pretty compelling content, especially if you are a Bangalore resident. Issues ranging from ‘Auto rate hike’ to ‘Metro work slows’, the site does a really good job at highlighting some of these issues affecting majority of Bangloreans. They also have an arts and culture section and list Bangalore events.
The site is developed in Rails and has a nice, intuitive design. As the usage and pageviews grow, I’d guess revenue would come from advertising from local sponsors.
Overall, I love the site for two reasons:
1) The site is an awesome initiative. Too often, people bitch about traffic and bad roads etc. amongst their friends. They go to sleep at night and next morning, its business as usual. This startup had the balls to finally take an initiative and do something about it. If they keep up the content quotient, it can turn out to be a lucrative, viable opportunity as well.
2) They explain why they started CitizenMatters:
We found that there are enough citizens bored of running into so much news and views about Britney Spears’ problems and Rakhi Sawant’s tantrums.
After my rant earlier today, I’d say I absolutely love these guys.
I wish these guys good luck for their venture and if you happen to be a Bangalore resident (or event otherwise), definitely check them out.
