BBMP chief hints at 'consensual' plastic ban Deccan Herald - Bangalore, November 8, 2010

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner has hinted at banning plastic in the capital city.
Speaking with mediapersons here on Monday, BBMP commissioner Siddaiah said the Palike was giving 'serious thought' on banning plastic in the City, particularly in shopping complexes and supermarkets. "The proposal would be discussed with the Mayor, standing committee members and major shopping establishments. The matter would be tabled before the Council if a consensus is evolved," he said.   Check out the full story...

Garbage? Get set to pay user fee Times of India, Nov 9, 2010

BANGALORE: You may soon have to pay a user fee for the garbage you generate in your home! After a meeting with a delegation from San Francisco here on Monday, BBMP commissioner Siddaiah said: "There are different opinions on garbage fess. In San Francisco, there is no outgo from the civic agency and the public pay directly to the private company. But in Bangalore, BBMP pays to contractors for the solid waste that they collect."   Check out the full story...

Waste segregation at source must Times of India, Nov 9, 2010

Robert Haley, recycling program manager, Department of the environment, and Tamar Hurwitz, environmental education manager, from City of County of San Francisco, give their views on waste management.   Check out the full story...

Cisco Enters the Sustainability Game with San Francisco Partnership GreenBeat by Camille Ricketts, December 2, 2009

Cisco Systems has officially launched its Smart+Connected Communities program in San Francisco, signing on to provide multiple technologies to make the city more sustainable, and partnering with local government, and maybe even the United Nations, in a new laboratory working to reduce global warming and make urban living more eco-friendly. Mayor Gavin Newsom signed the deal while touring Cisco's Smart+Connected facility in Bangalore, where it researches tactics to reduce fossil fuel use, carbon emissions and the costs of sustainable technologies. The company will be especially active in drawing up a vision of what a greener, 21st Century San Francisco would look like -- setting a goal to work toward.   Check out the full story...

San Francisco Can Show Bangalore the Way Daily News & Analysis, DNAIndia by Prahlad Rao, December 2, 2009

"It took 17 years of planning, 72 hours to install," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in May this year while dedicating the first public plaza (a pedestrian refuge). The plaza was an underutilized street and the movement is knows as Pavement to Parks.   Check out the full story...

Stronger Ties Forged with India San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, SF Gate City Insider by Heather Knight, December 1, 2009

Mayor Gavin Newsom's trip to Bangalore, India, to cement San Francisco's relationship with its 15th sister city is off to a fast start. Monday, Newsom met with B.S. Yeddyurappa, chief minister of Karnataka (Bangalore is the capital of the state of Karnataka) to discuss technology, biotech and business. Bangalore, home to 6 million people, is known as the "Silicon Valley of India" because it is home to 1,000 information technology and biotech companies.   Check out the full story...

San Francisco Chooses Bangalore as its Indian Sister The Times of India, TNN, December 1, 2009

BANGALORE: It was touted as the next Singapore and Shanghai. Now, Bangalore could be another San Francisco. That's because India's IT capital is the first in the country to have a 'sister city' arrangement with the world's Silicon Valley. An MOU to this effect was signed by the two cities in October last year.   Check out the full story...

Mayor Keeping Busy in Bangalore San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, SFGate City Insider by Heather Knight, November 30, 2009

Mayor Gavin Newsom's trip to Bangalore, India to cement San Francisco's relationship with its 15th sister city is off to a fast start.Today, Newsom met with His Excellency B.S. Yeddyurappa, chief minister of Karnataka (Bangalore is the capital of the state of Karnataka) to discuss technology, biotech and business. Bangalore, home to six million people, is known as "The Silicon Valley of India" for hosting 1,000 information technology and biotech companies.   Check out the full story...

Some Similarities, Few Surprises The Times of India, TNN, November 30, 2009

BANGALORE: A growing city, its pleasant weather, the technology, high-rises, the busy life and colourfully dressed people - these are perhaps a few features that stand out amid the many similarities between the two sister cities -- Bangalore and San Francisco. But this outing was more than a chance to unwind for the American delegates, who are in town for the three-day interaction between the two cities that starts on Monday.   Check out the full story...

SF to Show the Way for Clean and Fast Bangalore Daily News & Analysis, DNAIndia by Sunitha Rao R, November 30, 2009

BANGALORE: Thinking global, Bangalore's administrators have realised, is the best way to tackle the seemingly local problems staring the city in the face. As a first move, the city's civic agencies will be signing eight MOUs with their San Francisco counterparts here on Monday.   Check out the full story...

Bangalore, San Francisco now 'sister cities' Deccan Herald, Bangalore, DH News Service, November 30, 2009

Bangalore and San Francisco on Monday signed seven Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) strengthening the 'sister cities' arrangement. The MoUs were signed in the presence of Chief Minister Yedddyurappa and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom at Vidhana Soudha.

"The sister cities concept is unique - it is a two-way process, which ensures give and take by both the sides," the Chief Minister told reporters.

Healthcare, water and sanitation, education and research, art, museum and culture, trade and commerce and fashion technology were the areas wherein MoUs were signed.   Check out the full story...

SF Mayor in India Pioneering Deals San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, Bottom Line by Andrew Ross, November 29, 2009

Hot on the heels of India's prime ministerial visit to Washington, a 50-plus-member Bay Area delegation arrived in Bangalore today, ready to do business.

San Francisco's developing ties with the "Silicon Valley of India" might not quite achieve the status as a "defining partnership of the 21st century" - as President Obama described the U.S. relationship with India - but the delegation, headed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, is scheduled to sign some concrete deals during its three-day trip, some in fields, like clean energy, in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Obama said the two countries would cooperate.
Check out the full story...

Sister City Relationship Hopes to Bring Jobs Home The focus of the San Francisco Bangalore Sister City Relationship is to create jobs and new business in the Bay Area
It's possible that the words "sister cities" are enough to make you roll your eyes and conjure up images of a bunch of fluffy feel-good events. But that's what San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and a group of Bay Area residents are trying to change through San Francisco's newest sister city relationship. At the end of this month, Newsom and a group of approxmiately 50 people - primarily entrepreneurs and professionals from Silicon Valley - will visit Bangalore, where they plan to sign trade and cultural agreements with their counterparts in the city that's often referred to as the Indian Silicon Valley.   Check out the full story...

Tammerlin Drummond: Bay Area looks to India for economic boost A MENTION of India to many may bring to mind the image of offshore call centers. You know, when you call up to inquire about your credit card balance or to get help with a computer problem and you're patched clear across the world to a customer service agent who tries very hard to hide that he or she is based in Mumbai and not Des Moines.

With millions of American workers being laid off, the outsourcing of jobs by U.S. companies to India has touched off a nerve and created a political backlash. There was even a movie a few years back called "Outsourced" in which a Seattle call center manager was fired - then rehired as a consultant - to travel to India to train his Indian replacement.

Yet what might come as a surprise is that India has actually begun to send jobs back to the U.S. in a trend that some have begun to refer to as "reverse outsourcing."   Check out the full story...

Bangalore sister city celebrated November 19, 2009 (by Tamara Straus) - Interested in tabla lessons or perhaps some instruction in Indian classical music? The Asian Art Museum is hosting an afternoon of music and art Saturday in celebration of the San Francisco-Bangalore sister city relationship, which became official last month. The event, which starts at 11:15 a.m. and runs until 4:15 p.m., includes tabla lessons led by drumming phenomenon Robin Sukhadia, Indian stories for families, a docent tour of the museum's South Asian galleries, a Karnatic musical concert led by Mohan Rangan Govindaraj and an Indian classical singing lesson led by Gautam Tejas Ganeshan.   Check out the full story...

Sister city relationships pay real dividends Last August, I carried a letter from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to the chief minister of Karnataka, B.S. Yeddyurappa. I delivered it over a breakfast meeting, and then I carried a letter back from the chief minister for the mayor. I assumed the role of a postman because the letters carried the seeds of something I believed in - the San Francisco Bangalore Sister Cities relationship.   Check out the full story...

India West: SF Sister City Delegation to Visit Bangalore in November A delegation of more than 40 San Francisco city officials, including Mayor Gavin Newsom, and heavyweights from the Silicon Valley tech industry will travel to Bangalore Nov. 27, in the inaugural trip of the San Francisco-Bangalore sister city collaboration.   Check out the full story...

The San Francisco Chronicle: SF Sustains Ties with Bangalore San Francisco is turning its eyes toward India.
Next month, a delegation of city officials and corporate executives, led by Mayor Gavin Newsom, will be spending three days in Bangalore, where initial agreements on projects involving sustainable building, health technology, water treatment and solid waste management are expected to be signed.   Check out the full story...

The Economic Times: Reva may Sport Made-in-US Tag NEW DELHI: Bangalore-based electric car maker, Reva Electric Car Company may become India's first auto company to make its vehicles in the US, by assembling its next generation NXR smart car in New York.   Check out the full story...