Events

Chennai Public Transport Data Jam

On 8th August 2026, OpenCity organised the Chennai Public Transport Datajam at IIT-M Research Park, Tharamani, in collaboration with Nagariyal, CAG, Asar, ITDP, and Poovulagin Nanbargal.

The jam brought together 38 participants, ranging from transport planners, GIS practitioners, students, urban researchers, and citizen volunteers, across six teams, each working on a different problem statement related to Chennai’s public transport. You can read the full event report here.

Engage with us

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in. If you have any datasets to share, you can fill out this form with details and submit them.

Latest Datasets

Bengaluru

1. Data from the Bengaluru Bus Stop Audit, covering the state of bus stops across the city, conducted by Oorvani Foundation along with Nagariyal has been uploaded here.

2. Report from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Office (CAG) India evaluating Phase 1 and 2 of the Bengaluru Metro’s planning and implementation has been added here.

3. Land acquisition documents for K-RIDE corridors 1 and 4 have been uploaded here.

4. Draft Parking Rules 2026 from the Greater Bengaluru Authority with rules for street parking has been added here.

5. The following legislative notifications pertaining to Bengaluru, from the Urban Development Department, Government of Karnataka have been added:
   • The Bangalore Development Authority Amendment Act 2026
   • The Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Act 2026,
   • The Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) Bill 2026 which reserves 5% of parks in Bengaluru for infrastructure development
   • The Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) Amendment Act 2026 which legitimises Rule 24 granting approval to large projects initiated before the BMLTA rules were notified.

6. District wise data and documents from the CEO Karnataka for the Special Intensive Review (SIR) 2026 with details on the number of electors in the draft rolls, number in ASDDO lists has been added here.

7. Microbial water quality data for Doddagubbi Lake has been added here.

Chennai

8. Data from the Chennai Bus Stop Audit conducted by Oorvani Foundation and Nagariyal has been uploaded here.

Delhi

9. The Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2026 has been added here.

10. The Delhi High Court Order on Felling of Trees has been uploaded here.

11. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi Budget for the year 2026-27 has been added here.

National

12. The Supreme Court order directing states and UTs to demarcate wetlands has been uploaded here.

13. The latest UDISE+ 2025-26 district-level reports have been added, for Bengaluru Urban, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune here.

Articles and Explainers

Every fifth road crash death in India is a pedestrian

According to the Road Accidents in India report for 2024 1,77,175 people were killed on our streets across the country. Every fifth person killed was a pedestrian, making them the second largest group of victims after two-wheeler riders. Tamil Nadu leads in both total road crashes and pedestrian deaths, while West Bengal, which does not appear in the top 10 states by total fatalities, ranks fourth in pedestrian deaths.. Read more in our analysis here.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

Events

Upcoming - Chennai Public Transport Data Jam

OpenCity is organising a Datajam on Public Transport in Chennai on Saturday, 8th August 2026, at IIT-M Research Park, Tharamani, Chennai. This event is in collaboration with Nagariyal, CAG, Poovulagin Nanbargal, Asar, and ITDP.

Participants will analyse the state of public transport in Chennai to identify gaps in coverage across time and space. The jam will also draw on data from Oorvani Foundation’s bus stop audit, where volunteers audited 200+ bus stops across Chennai.

Anyone with an interest in public problem solving is welcome. Knowledge of data analysis, GIS, programming, or design would be helpful.

📢: Public Transport in Chennai

🗓️: Saturday, August 8, 2026

🕰️: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

📍: IIT-M Research Park, Tharamani, Chennai

Register here

Bengaluru Hyperlocal AQI Datajam

On 25th July 2026, OpenCity organised the Hyperlocal Air Quality Design Jam focused on Jayanagar, in collaboration with Rainmatter Foundation and CSTEP. The event was held at Rainmatter Foundation’s office in Jayanagar, Bengaluru.

Thirteen participants from diverse backgrounds worked across four teams on problem statements related to air quality in the neighbourhood. Teams analysed how school activity correlates with CO spikes, how AQI varies across seasons, and how to make pollution data more relatable to everyday citizens.

You can read the full event report here.

Citizen’s Manifesto Jam

On 18th July 2026, Oorvani Foundation organised a Citizens Manifesto Jam in collaboration with Janaagraha. The event was focused on Bengaluru East City Corporation (BECC) residents, where participants were tasked with identifying ward-level issues, aimed at guiding demands for the upcoming GBA elections. Key civic issues such as flooding waste management and transparency were brought up, with the aim of pushing for stronger citizen-leg Ward Development Plans.

Engage with us

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in. If you have any datasets to share, you can fill out this form with details and submit them.

Latest Datasets

Bengaluru

1. More elevated corridor documents have been added. These include the corridor from Ragigudda to Kanakapura Road–NICE Road junction, and from Yeshwantpur to KR Puram, A government order covering the elevated corridors programme has also been uploaded here.

2. Detailed Project Reports for the Bengaluru Metro Phase 3A from Hebbal to Sarjarpur have been added here.

3. The Government order notifying the Constitution of BMLTA (Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority) has been uploaded here.

4. Notification with GBA’s fees and charges for building construction permissions can be found here.

5. The draft Karnataka Apartment Ownership and Management Act 2025 (KAOMA 2025) has been uploaded here.

6. BMTC’s annual performance indicators have been updated with the numbers from 2025-26 here.

Chennai

7. Documents for the Mamallan drinking water reservoir planned between ECR and OMR on Kovalam Basin have been added here.

8. Performance indicators for Chennai Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) have been updated in this dataset.

Hyderabad

9. GTFS data for the Hyderabad Metro Rail has been added here.

National

10. UDISE+ reports from the Ministry of Education, Government of India, from 2018-19 to 2025-26 have been added here.

11. UDISE+ data in the form of csvs for 2024-25 for Bengaluru Urban, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune have also been added to OpenCity.

Articles and Explainers

WhatsApp as a Public Transit Tool

Bengaluru’s Namma Metro was the first transit service in the world to offer end-to-end QR ticketing within WhatsApp, launched in November 2022. But BMTC, which serves far more daily commuters, is still limited to a basic helpline bot. In this analysis, Dhanvi Jain examines why the gap exists, what role GTFS data plays in enabling real-time transit services on WhatsApp, and what a full BMTC WhatsApp service could look like once BMTC publishes reliable real-time data.

HCES 2023-24: Indian Cities Getting Costlier

The latest round of the Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey (2023-24) shows that it costs more than Rs. 16,000 a month for a household to survive in an Indian metro. Mumbai and Bengaluru are the costliest cities, while Bengaluru is also the most expensive city to educate children. This analysis looks at how major cities compare on housing, food, transport, education, medical expenses, online spending, and access to energy subsidies. Read it here.

Explainer: NFHS-6 Data Sheets and the Missing Indicators

The NFHS-6 fact sheets, released in May 2026, track 101 health indicators. 30 fewer than the previous NFHS-5. Among the indicators dropped are all three child and infant mortality rates, all seven anaemia breakdowns, the entire cancer screening section, and all HIV/AIDS awareness indicators. This explainer looks at what the NFHS-6 fact sheets contain, what has been dropped compared to NFHS-5, and what the government has said about fuller data releases to follow.

Household Social Consumption on Health 2025: Privatisation of Healthcare Hurting Households

In this analysis, Arjun Mhetre looks at the Household Social Consumption: Health Survey 2025, which captures how Indian households pay for healthcare. The findings show that private hospitals dominate in Bengaluru and Pune, while public hospitals remain the preferred choice in Chennai and Delhi. Most households pay out of their own savings, with many in Chennai and Hyderabad forced to borrow. Health insurance coverage remains low, especially among marginalised communities, and is particularly poor across all social groups in Hyderabad.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

Events

VisualSHIFT Design Jam

On 27th June 2026, WRI India, in partnership with Oorvani Foundation, conducted a design jam VisualSHIFT to develop visualisations on the topic of mobility and transport in Indian cities. The jam was conducted in WRI India’s office in Bengaluru.

Thirty-one participants from diverse backgrounds looked at datasets on mobility and developed visualisations that included identification of specific roads for mini-buses, ridership and feeder access along metro stations, the main bus network and connectivity across the city among others. Read more about the event here.

Engage with us

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in. If you have any datasets to share, you can fill out this form with details and submit them.

Latest Datasets

Bengaluru

1. The Government of Karnataka through its infrastructure arm B-SMILE plans to construct 9 elevated corridors across the city! Documents for the elevated corridors at Mysore Road, Minerva to Hudson Circle, Pipeline Road at Mahalakshmi Layout, Konankunte Cross and Raghuvanahalli on Kanakapura Road, Yelahanka and MEI junction on Tumkur Road including DPRs and drawings have been uploaded on our site. Tender documents for the elevated road from UAS college staff quarters to Mehkri circle, to be developed by BDA, have been added here.

2. Road improvement work is being planned from Central Silk Board to KR Puram metro station on the Outer Ring Road. You can find the details and the documents here.

3. Detailed Project Report of the Metro Phase 3 from Hebbal to JP Nagar has been uploaded here. The Fare fixation committee report which led to a large increase in fares of the metro has been uploaded here.

4. BSWML awarded contracts to the tune of Rs. 39,000 Crore for solid waste pickup and transportation, including door-to-door collection. You can find the tender details and other documents here.

5. Vehicles registration data has been updated for 2025-26 for both Karnataka and Bengaluru Urban in their datasets.

6. List of properties of the Greater Bengaluru Authority along with location details has been added here. Karnataka High Court order on the premium FAR can be accessed here.

7. Dynamic Ground Water Resources of Karnataka report for 2025 with important tables as csvs has been added here.

Chennai

8. Maps of police jurisdictions - law and order, and traffic police - for Chennai can be accessed here. Tamil Nadu Election Board (TNEB) administrative boundaries for Chennai have been added here.

9. Pallikaranai Marsh Ramsar Information Sheet along with CMDA order restricting activities around the marshland have been uploaded here.

Hyderabad

10. Telangana socio-economic caste survey 2024 reports have been added here along with the summarised data in a csv file.

National

11. Road Accidents in India 2024 report has been published by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The report and important tables as csvs can be accessed here.

12. The National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) - 6 information sheets for India and some states and UTs have been added here.

13. The Supreme Court order on right to footpaths in its June judgement has been uploaded here.

14. Sample registration system statistical reports for 2024 have been added here. It includes state-wise data on fertility and sex ratio.

15. Data for major Indian cities from the Household Consumption and Economic Survey 2023-24 conducted by the National Statistics Office has been added here. Data from the Household Social Consumption: health survey of 2025 has been added here. This dataset has data for the entire country without being split by cities.

Articles and Explainers

Explainer: Bengaluru Elevated Corridors

B-SMILE, the infrastructure wing of the Greater Bengaluru Authority, has opened tenders to construct nine elevated corridors across the city. In this explainer, we look at where these corridors are coming up and how much they are expected to cost the exchequer.

BRTS in Indian Cities

Bus lanes and Bus Rapid Transit Systems (BRTS) are not new to Indian cities. However, it has been a mixed bag when it comes to their success. In this analysis, Siddharth M analyses the BRTS and bus lane systems in different cities in India and how they have fared, where they are still active and where they got scrapped.

Suicides in India 2024

In this analysis, we analysed the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report for 2024, with a focus on suicides. We looked at the gender and age-wise split in suicides in India as well as in major cities, and the major factors driving men and women to suicide in our cities.

Road Crashes in India 2024

In this analysis, we look at road crashes from the ADSI 2024 and the Road Accidents in India 2024 reports with a focus on pedestrian safety in our major cities. The reports show that the proportion of pedestrians in road crash fatalities has been increasing over the years with Bengaluru and Delhi being the most unsafe.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

Events

Bengaluru Stormwater Drains Jam

On 23rd May 2026, OpenCity and Mod Foundation hosted a Datajam on Bengaluru’s Stormwater drains at the BLR Design Centre, Church Street, Bengaluru. The datajam was part of the Building a Resilient Bengaluru initiative by Mod Foundation in partnership with Oorvani Foundation. WELL Labs, Biome Trust and Sponge Collaborative were partners for the event.

The initiative, supported by the Bengaluru Sustainability Forum‘s Small Grants Programme, brings together an online masterclass, a series of Guided Citizen Audits and a datajam to deepen understanding of Bengaluru’s stormwater drain (SWD) systems and to collectively build a shared, public evidence base on their condition, governance, and everyday challenges.

37 citizens, researchers and urban professionals across 6 teams spent the day analysing Bengaluru’s SWD network using citizen audit data and public datasets.

Topics analysed included everything from urban heat and land use to public health risks and flood patterns. The goal is for these findings to inform how we plan to develop our SWD systems going forward. Read more about the datajam and the outputs here.

Engage with us

We are planning to conduct bus shelter audits in Chennai and Bengaluru. If you or your organisation would be interested in partnering and helping audit the bus stops in an area, please reach out to Bhuvana Raj at bhuvana.r@oorvani.in.

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in. If you have any datasets to share, you can fill out this form with details and submit them.

Latest Datasets

Bengaluru

1. It is raining elevated corridors! Documents including DPR for the Internal Ring Road elevated corridor from Old Madras Road to Central Silk Board has been added here. Documents for another elevated corridor from Shoolay circle to St. John’s junction via Adugodi have been uploaded here.

2. The Karnataka Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Rules 2026 has been added here. Draft Karnataka Excise Reforms 2026 report has also been uploaded here.

3. BBMP work orders and payments for the financial year 2025-26 have been added here. It includes three different ward regimes - 198, 243 and 225.

4. Notification on discount for B to A Khata conversion can be accessed here. Circular on dilapidated buildings in Bengaluru Central City Corporation has been added here.

5. Map with manholes in Bengaluru under BWSSB has been added here. A map of BDA’s jurisdiction boundary with divisions and engineer details can be found here.

Chennai

6. The results from the Tamil Nadu assembly elections were announced on the 4th May. You can find the final results for Tamil Nadu here.

7. Form 20s, with polling booth level votes data for constituencies in Chennai have been added here.

8. Maps of sub-registrar and district registrar offices, and their jurisdictions have been added here. A map of public toilets in Chennai can be found here.

9. Maps with Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) and Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) boundaries for Tamil Nadu have been added here. Jurisdiction boundary for Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) can be accessed here.

Kolkata

9. Final election results for the West Bengal assembly elections have been added here.

10. Form 20s with polling booth level votes data for constituencies in Kolkata and Howrah can be found here.

National

11. Crime in India report for 2024 has been published and you can find the reports and important tables pertaining to cities uploaded here.

12. Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report for 2024 has also been published and you can find the full report with important tables pertaining to cities here.

13. Animal Welfare Board of India’s (AWBI) Circular on Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in compliance with directions from the Supreme Court of India from July 2025 has been uploaded here.

14. The latest Supreme Court order on street dogs dated 19th May 2026 can be found here.

Analysis and Explainers

Periodic Labour Force Survey 2025

The Periodic labour force survey from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation measures the state of the labour force in India - the levels of participation, (un)employment, wages received, hours worked, skills, and the fields where people are employed.

In this analysis, we look at the participation of men and women in the labour force, the gaps in wages, effects of education on labour and wages, and the sectors that are generating the most employment. The data is compared across the eight major metros in India – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

Industrial groundwater usage in Bengaluru

The National Compilation of Groundwater Resources 2025 from the Ministry of Jal Shakti is the latest edition of an important compendium on the state of groundwater usage in India. In this analysis we look at the state of extraction in major cities in India, with a focus on extraction for industrial usage. The mushrooming of water-guzzling AI data centres in cities that are already water-stressed is particularly concerning and it would be interesting to see how policy responds to it.

Showcases

Varun Phadke, an architect and urban scientist has developed an app to overlay and view masterplans for Indian cities. The app currently covers 27 different cities/urban regions and 38 masterplans.

Ashutosh Shukla analysed the recent GBA budgets for 2026-27 and developed Sankey charts to visualise the flow of revenue and expenditure in the five corporations in the GBA.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

Events

Bengaluru Stormwater Drains Jam

Mod Foundation, along with Oorvani Foundation, has been conducting guided audits of the Stormwater drain systems in Bengaluru.

The initiative, supported by the Bengaluru Sustainability Forum Small Grants Programme, brings together an online masterclass, a series of Guided Citizen Audits and a datajam to deepen understanding of Bengaluru’s stormwater drain (SWD) systems and to collectively build a shared, public evidence base on their condition, governance, and everyday challenges. All data collected through these audits feeds directly into a public, open-access dashboard, making citizen observations visible, comparable, and usable for wider civic and planning conversations.

Project website: https://buildingaresilientbengaluru.com/

Interactive stormwater map: https://buildingaresilientbengaluru.com/ecology-map/

We will be conducting a datajam using this data in May. Watch out for the announcement with details on our social media handles, whatsapp groups and in your inbox!

Engage with us

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in. If you have any datasets to share, you can fill out this form with details and submit them.

Latest Datasets

Chennai

1. Documents for the Greater Chennai Corporation Budget 2026-27 including the budget books, budget at a glance, zone-wise receipts and expenditure have been added to this dataset.

2. For the assembly elections that concluded last week in Chennai, you can find the final list of candidates, polling booth maps and locations of polling stations, affidavits of the main candidates in Chennai constituencies and the final number of electors on the last day of nomination on our site.

3. Voter turnout data including total number of votes for Chennai constituencies has been added here. While the number of voters and turnout data for Tamil Nadu has not been made public by the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu, we will add it to this dataset as and when it becomes available.

Bengaluru

4. Draft building bye-laws for the five corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority have been notified and they can be accessed here.

5. Trade license data - renewals as well as new applications - under the GBA area have been updated in this dataset. The data was obtained by Vivek Mathew.

6. Sec 4.1.b of the RTI makes it mandatory for government departments to make important documents publicly available on their websites without needing RTI to access them. CIVIC Bangalore did an audit of the different government websites to check compliance with this rule. You can read their report here.

7. The Karnataka High Court commissioned the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to conduct a study on the Vrishbhavathi river for rejuvenation and restoration of the river. The reports, submitted in January and May 2021 can be found here.

8. Maps of registered NGOs in Karnataka and Bengaluru have been added here.

Kolkata

9. The final number of voters at constituency-level as on the last day of nomination for West Bengal has been added here.

10. Affidavits of candidates from the leading parties contesting in constituencies in Kolkata have been added here.

Mumbai

11. BMC Civic Diary is a document from the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation with details of people to contact and their contact details in all departments of the BMC. You can find the 2026 diary here.

Bhubaneswar

12. Administrative boundaries including ward boundaries for Bhubaneswar have been added here.

National

13. The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is a survey by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation under the Government of India on the state of the workforce including employment and unemployment in India. You can find the complete data for the PLFS 2025 here.

Analysis and Explainers

GBA Budgets 2026-27

The five corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority announced a total budget of Rs. 20,000 Cr. In this analysis, we look at the split-ups across the corporations, how they have managed to spend money over the years and if they have managed to raise the income they planned to in their budgets.

GCC Budget 2026-27

The Greater Chennai Corporation announced a budget of Rs. 9000 Cr for the year 2026-27. In this analysis we look at how the money is expected to be spent. We also analyse how the corporation has managed over the years in terms of meeting its budget targets for both revenue and expenditure.

Chennai election tables

Tamil Nadu went to the polls at the end of April. For the elections we came up with a series of tables detailing public assets and services in the different constituencies in Chennai. It includes Public health centres, presence of informal settlements, government schools and other such services.

As part of the Chennai constituencies datajam, one of the teams comprising Prasanna, Harini, Kathir, Abdullah and Santhosh came up with data on government schools in the different constituencies and how they are doing in terms of facilities and availability of teachers. You can find the tables here.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

Events

Bengaluru Public Transport Datajam

The “Bengaluru Public Transport Datajam” was held on the 7th March 2026 at Samagata Foundation, Church Street, Bengaluru. WRI India, Friends of BMTC, Bengawalk and Centre of Data for Public Good were the partners for the event. 36 participants from diverse backgrounds looked at the state of public transport in different parts of the city and proposed solutions to increase public transport coverage and make it more accessible. Read our event report to find out more about the event.

Chennai Constituencies Datajam

The “Chennai Constituencies Datajam” was held on the 28th March 2026 at Bhumi Alwarpet, Chennai - 600018. Nargiyal, CAG Chennai and Reach the Unreached were the partners for the event. 30 participants from diverse backgrounds, including five high school students from Sunnyside Learning, looked at data on education, health, sanitation, open spaces, urban heat and voter turnout to evaluate the constituencies on multiple parameters. How do the constituencies stack up? Read our event report to find out.

Engage with us

With the elections happening in Tamil Nadu on the 23rd April, we are looking for volunteers to help us with MLA and Constituency profiles for Chennai. If you’d like to volunteer, please reach out to Bhuvana Raj, our community anchor, at bhuvana.r@oorani.in.

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in. If you have any datasets to share, you can fill out this form with details and submit them.

Latest Datasets

Chennai

1. With elections announced in Tamil Nadu for the 23rd April we are putting together resources that can help people with their voting. Detailed data for past elections - 2011, 2016 and 2021 can be found on our site.

2. Political party manifestos are being added to this dataset. Citizen manifestos with demands from the upcoming government are being added here.

3. Assembly Constituency boundary maps for Tamil Nadu and Chennai have been added to this dataset.

4. The Greater Chennai Corporation Budget for 2026-27 can be found in this dataset. Currently only the chairman’s speech is available, more documents will be added as they become public. The Climate budget 2025-26 of the GCC has been uploaded here.

Bengaluru

5. Budgets from the five corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority for the year 2026-27 have been added here.

6. Final voter rolls for the upcoming GBA elections have been added here. Final ward-wise reservation list and map have been added to this dataset.

7. The Economic Survey of Karnataka 2025-26 report along with important tables as CSVs can be found in this dataset.

8. Documents for the proposed Outer Ring Road improvement works from KR Puram to Central Silk Board have been added here. Documents for the proposed elevated corridor from UAS Staff quarters to Mehkri circle on Bellary Road are being added here.

9. Corridor Improvement Plan is a report from Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) to improve traffic along Hebbal junction. The reports can be found here.

10. Annual rainfall data for Taluks and districts of Karnataka have been added to this dataset along with the annual report from Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Centre (KSNDMC).

Kolkata

9. Elections have also been announced in West Bengal. The electoral rolls data after the SIR can be found here.

10. Maps of Assembly Constituencies in West Bengal have been added here. Manifestos from political parties are being added here.

11. Budgets for Kolkata Municipal Corporation have been added to this dataset.

Mumbai and Pune

12. Budget documents from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for 2026-27 have been added here.

13. Budget documents from Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for 2026-27 have been added to this dataset. The report is in Marathi.

14. The Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2025-26 has been added here along with important tables as CSVs.

Delhi

15. Budget documents for New Delhi Municipal Corporation for 2026-27 have been added here.

National

16. National Assessment of Shoreline Changes Along Indian Coast is a report from the Ministry of Earth Sciences from July 2018. It covers 26 years from 1990 to 2016. You can find the report here.

17. National Compilation of Ground Water Resources 2025 is an annual report from the Central Ground Water Board under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India. It has detailed data on the state of groundwater at the districts and Taluk level. The report along with important tables as CSVs has been uploaded here.

Analysis and Explainers

BMC Budget 2026-27

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) announced a budget of over Rs. 80,000 Crore for 2026-27. While the increase this year is only 8.7% from last year, the budget has more than doubled from the Rs. 39,000 Cr allocation in 2021-22. How is this large amount split among various heads? We try to answer these questions and more in this analysis.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

Events

Bengaluru Public Transport Datajam

We are excited to invite you to our next datajam on “Public Transport in Bengaluru”. In this datajam, participants will analyse the state of public transport in Bengaluru, considering buses, metro and the upcoming suburban rail. They will look to identify how the public transport can better support the commuting needs of the city. Gaps in coverage, both in times of time and space, in specific areas can be identified for addressing as part of the jam.

📢: Public Transport in Bengaluru

🗓️: Saturday, March 7, 2026

🕰️: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

📍: Samagata, Church Street, Bengaluru - 560001.

Register here

India Civic Summit 2026

We had a terrific response to The India Civic Summit 2026 held in Chennai on the 14th February 2026. The day long event brought together active citizens, changemakers and experts in a vibrant day-long event in Chennai.

You can read more about the event here. You can watch the videos of the talks and panels here.

Urban Heat in Hyderabad

The Urban Heat in Hyderabad datajam was held on the 21st February 2026 at the verdant campus of IIIT Hyderabad. Uncharted Science, IIIT Hyderabad, Climate Front Telangana, Hyticos and the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union were the partners for the event. 26 participants across five teams looked at different parts of the city and mapped the vulnerability for not only humans but also the voiceless denizens of the city. What did they find? Read our report here.

We want your feedback!

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in. If you have any datasets to share, you can fill out this form with details and submit them.

Latest Datasets

Chennai

1. With elections around the corner in Tamil Nadu, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Election Commission has been making the news. The final electoral rolls have been published by the EC, along with the number deleted due to SIR. You can find the constituency-wise numbers here.

2. After the tragic stampede during Vijay Joseph’s rally in Karur, the Government of Tamil Nadu has released Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for public gatherings and their management. You can find the SOP here.

3. Road Crashes data for Chennai from 1998 to 2025 has been added to this dataset. Vehicle registration data for Chennai and Tamil Nadu up to 2024-25 has also been updated in their datasets.

Bengaluru

4. The Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority (Amendment) Act 2025, reducing the buffer around lakes is now final. You can find the gazzette here.

5. The report from the Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC) on the Eco-sensitive Zone (ESZ) of Bannerghatta National Park was published on January 2026. You can find the report here.

6. Traffic violations data from Bengaluru Traffic Police has been updated till 2025 in this dataset. Station-wise road crashes data has also been updated in this dataset. Crime data for Karnataka for 2025 has been added to this dataset.

7. Documents for the renovation of the Malleswaram Market Complex have been added to this dataset. It includes tender details as well as drawings of the project.

8. The BBMP Tree Census data has been updated till January 2026 in this dataset. While it now enumerates 7.82 Lakh trees, its continuation is mired in uncertainty with the splitting of the corporations.

Hyderabad

9. Map of Bus stops as well as GTFS data for TSRTC have been added here.

   Maps of waterbodies in Telangana as well as Hyderabad have been added here

10. Masterplan for the core part of Hyderabad City with Land Use information can be accessed here.

Delhi

11. Budget documents for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for 2025-26 have been uploaded here.

Pune

12. Documents including EIA, SIA and alignment maps of the upcoming Outer Ring Road around Pune can be accessed here.

Others

13. International and domestic aviation data for major cities - Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune have been updated till 2025. It includes number of passengers monthly for domestic and quarterly for international destinations.

National

14. The Government of India has issued guidelines for installation and operation of Electric Vehicle Charging infrastructure from the Government of India in September 2024. You can access them here.

Analysis and Explainers

Mumbai Street Dogs Survey

In 2024, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) conducted a survey of street dogs in Mumbai. The survey also recorded details like the state of sterilisation of dogs, sex and life stage. In this analysis we look at what this report says at a ward level, where the numbers have increased and where intervention is needed in terms of sterilization.

Tabebuia Blooms in Bengaluru

It is spring and many roads in Bengaluru are awash with pink as the Tabebuia trees are blooming. Many citizens are using the data from the (incomplete) BBMP tree census to map the presence of these trees. We have showcased some of the efforts here.

Revenue Optimization for Bengaluru Metro

Ridership data for August and September 2025 were obtained through RTI by Vivek Mathew. In this analysis Karthik Devan analyses this data to understand movement of passengers and how BMRCL can use it to optimize their revenue without resorting to massive fare increases.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

If you are new to our work, here is a quick note: OpenCity is the data programme of Oorvani Foundation - the civic tech platform is India’s largest urban data commons. We also enable civic participation through datajams, design jams, open data days and other events. Follow us on X, LinkedIn and Instagram. Learn more about Oorvani Foundation.

Events

India Civic Summit 2026

We are super excited to invite you to our annual event -- The India Civic Summit 2026.

Scheduled for Saturday, February 14 2026, in Chennai, the day-long event will host curated talks, panels, workshops and interactive events around the theme Citizens and Urban Governance.

Since its launch in 2024, the India Civic Summit has quickly emerged as a unique national forum for citizen-led civic action. It brings together urban communities, active citizens, changemakers and experts to discuss, learn, collaborate and spark civic and climate action.

This year promises to be exciting for all, as attendees explore the critical role of citizens in transforming urban governance and learn about the power of citizen agency in addressing India’s urban challenges. So if you want to make a difference in your city, and network with like-minded individuals as well as changemakers, do come and join us.

Registration and details

Bengaluru’s Stormwater Story: Understanding the System, Acting Together.

Mod Foundation and Oorvani Foundation, is collaborating on an initiative titled “Bengaluru’s Stormwater Story: Understanding the System, Acting Together” – to make the city’s stormwater network visible, understandable, and actionable.

Project website: https://buildingaresilientbengaluru.com/

Interactive stormwater map: https://buildingaresilientbengaluru.com/ecology-map/

On January 9th, we conducted an online masterclass followed by a guided stormwater drain walk. Missed it? Don’t worry—We have more guided walks planned. Follow our social media handle to stay updated and join the next exploration.

We want your feedback!

We have completely redesigned our data platform. It’s lighter, faster and we’ve made it easier to find the data you are looking for! Do check it out if you haven’t, and let us know what you think of it.

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in. If you have any datasets to share, you can fill out this form with details and submit them.

Latest Datasets

Bengaluru

1. In the lead up to its elections, the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has announced ward-wise reservations. You can find the complete list here. For the elections, ward-level voter rolls data can be found here.

2. GBA’s amendment to building regulations has been finalised. The amendment proposes changes to setbacks and the number of floors for residential and commercial buildings. The final version, and draft, can be accessed here.

3. The Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) has come up with draft rules for its functioning, which have been added here.

4. Road accidents in Karnataka 2024 is a report with district-wise statistics on road crashes in Karnataka. It has been added to this dataset. Crime in Karnataka 2024 is a compendium of crime statistics for Karnataka, and has been added to this dataset.

Delhi

5. The Delhi Statistical Handbook for 2025 has been added to this dataset. Vehicle registrations data for 2024-25 have been updated from that report to this dataset.

Chennai

6. Tamil Nadu Crime Review 2023 with district-level statistics on crime and road crashes in Tamil Nadu in 2023 has been added here.

Mumbai

7. Documents for the proposed Versova Dahisar Link Road including the DPR, EIA and CRZ approval have been added here.

8. Ward-wise winners of the BMC elections and their number of votes has been added here. The results are in Marathi but the English version has been added as a CSV.

9. The BMC conducted a street dogs survey in 2024 to enumerate the number of dogs and the status of sterilization. The report has ward-level data on dogs as well as cats. You can find the report and important tables as csvs here.

Pune

10. Ward-wise winners of the PMC elections have been added here. The results are in Marathi, but the English version is added as a CSV file.

Others

11. Air quality reports at 15 minute intervals for 2024 and 2025 have been to the following cities to the linked datasets - Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. The data is from CPCB.

12. Microwatershed maps from the Soil and Land Use Survey of India (SLUSI) have been added for the following cities/districts - Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

13. Annual births and deaths data up to 2024 have been updated for Bengaluru, Chennai(2025) and Delhi.

National

14. Solid Waste Management Rules 2026 have been notified by the Central Government. Effective April 2026, the rules mandate four-stream segregation at source. You can find the notification here.

Analysis and Explainers

BCG report for BBMP financial sustainability

In 2024, the BBMP hired Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to look at its finances and suggest ways to ensure long term financial sustainability, especially with large infrastructure projects looming. The five-part report from BCG, added here, suggested changes to how BBMP is taxing its citizens, on trade licenses, solid-waste management among others. In this analysis we look at the suggestions from BCG on the topic of property tax and what changes are being proposed to the existing system.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

If you are new to our work, here is a quick note: OpenCity is the data programme of Oorvani Foundation - the civic tech platform is India’s largest urban data commons. We also enable civic participation through datajams, design jams, open data days and other events. Follow us on X, LinkedIn and Instagram. Learn more about Oorvani Foundation.

Events

Bengaluru Biodiversity Datajam

The Decoding Urban Bengaluru datajam was held on the 13th December 2025 in collaboration with Bird Count India, Nature Classrooms and Season Watch. Samagata Foundation were the venue partners for the event. 34 participants across five teams looked to answer different questions about biodiversity in Bengaluru. What did they find? Read our event report to know more.

Bengaluru’s Stormwater Audits

Mod Foundation, along with Oorvani Foundation, is organising a learning and action initiative titled “Bengaluru’s Stormwater Story: Understanding the System, Acting Together.”

The initiative, supported by the Bengaluru Sustainability Forum Small Grants Programme, brings together an online masterclass and a series of Guided Citizen Audits to deepen understanding of Bengaluru’s stormwater drain (SWD) systems and to collectively build a shared, public evidence base on their condition, governance, and everyday challenges.

Project website: https://buildingaresilientbengaluru.com/

Interactive stormwater map: https://buildingaresilientbengaluru.com/ecology-map/

1. Masterclass (Online):

An introduction to Bengaluru’s stormwater systems and hands-on training on citizen audits using digital tools.

🗓️ : Friday, January 9, 2026
🕰️ : 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Register here

2. Guided Citizen Audit – C100: Koramangala–Challaghatta Valley
We are planning multiple Guided Citizen Audits as part of this initiative, with the C100 drain audit being the first. There is no registration needed for the guided walk, you are requested to show up directly as per the details below.

🗓️ : Saturday, January 10, 2026
🕰️ : 10:30 AM - 12 PM
📍 : Meeting point: Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Ulsoor

Participants will also be encouraged to identify a drain stretch or area of their choice and carry out further audits independently.

We want your feedback!

We have completely redesigned our data platform. It’s lighter, faster and we’ve made it easier to find the data you are looking for! Do check it out if you haven’t, and let us know what you think of it.

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in. If you have any datasets to share, you can fill out this form with details and submit them.

Latest Datasets

Bengaluru

1. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was tasked with providing consultancy on improving BBMP’s financial stability and also on their big-ticket infrastructure projects. Mr. Devare, of the Bangalore Environment Trust, obtained the final reports through RTI and shared them with us. You can find the reports here.

2. Dynamic ground water resources of Karnataka is an annual report from the Groundwater Authority under the Government of Karnataka. You can find the reports for 2023 and 2024 uploaded on our site.

3. The Karnataka Data Center Policy of 2022 outlines vision as well as guidelines for operating Data Centers in Karnataka. You can find the report here. A map of data centers in Bengaluru as provided by the Data Center Map, a Danish website, can be found here. Note that it is a link to the external site.

4. The Karnataka Rent (Amendment) Bill of 2025 seeks to amend the rules governing renting of properties in Karnataka, including houses. You can read the bill here. The Urban Development Department notified changes to rules governing setbacks when constructing buildings in Bengaluru. You can find the notified changes in this dataset.

Hyderabad

5. Map of the sewage network in Hyderabad has been added here.

6. Cadastral map of Hyderabad can be found here.

7. Maps of police stations in Hyderabad and Telangana can be found here. The source of these maps is the Government of Telangana.

Chennai

8. Documents pertaining to the Chennai Peripheral Ring Road connecting Mahabalipuram to Ennore Port have been added here. The road passes through Singaperumalkoil, Sriperumbudur, Thiruvallur, Thamaraipakkam,Periyapalayam, Puduvoyal and Kattupalli. The documents include the EIA, SIA, map, environmental monitoring and Environmental Clearance among others.

Mumbai

9. Documents for the Trans-harbour Link Project connecting Sewri in Mumbai with Navi Mumbai have been added here. The documents include the EIA, SIA and EC.

10. Citizen’s Manifesto for Maharashtra’s Municipal Elections is a people’s manifesto prepared by Praja Foundation for the upcoming Urban Local Body elections across Maharashtra.

Pune

11. Map of crematoria and burial grounds in Pune has been added here. The map is from PMC.

Analysis and Explainers

Bengaluru and Ground Water - 2024

Bengaluru is a city that has a constant dalliance with water scarcity. It is also one of the biggest extractors of ground water among Indian cities. After the drought of 2023, the summer of 2024 saw widespread water distress in Bengaluru. The Dynamic Ground Water Resources of Karnataka 2024 reflects this distress as ground water extraction reached unprecedented levels. Read more in our analysis.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

If you are new to our work, here is a quick note: OpenCity is the data programme of Oorvani Foundation - the civic tech platform is India’s largest urban data commons. We also enable civic participation through datajams, design jams, open data days and other events. Follow us on X, LinkedIn and Instagram. Learn more about Oorvani Foundation.

Events

Bengaluru Biodiversity Datajam

We’re excited to announce our next datajam in Bengaluru on the topic “Decoding Urban Biodiversity in Bengaluru”. In this datajam, participants will analyse citizen science data from iNaturalist, eBird and SeasonWatch databases and correlate them with urban data in the form of land-use, lakes, climate, pollution etc.

📢: Decoding Urban Biodiversity in Bengaluru

🗓️: Saturday, Dec 13, 2025

🕰️: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

📍: Samagata, Church Street, Bengaluru - 560001.

Register here

Everyday Stories Lab 2025: The Migration Edition

Over the years, Oorvani Foundation and Citizen Matters have worked closely with residents who care about their cities and want to document what they see. Many of the most meaningful stories on our platform have come from ordinary citizens. These stories have sparked conversations, action, and better understanding within communities. We want to enable more citizens to tell stories about their cities.

Join us for the Everyday Stories Lab 2025: The Migration Edition. Learn the craft of storytelling from journalists, media practitioners, and community leaders. If you’re enthusiastic about shaping your city and want to build these skills, please join.

Details and registration

We want your feedback!

At Oorvani, we believe strong communities start with informed citizens. Through Citizen Matters, OpenCity and our workshops we have been working to empower civic voices. And now, we want to hear yours.

Tell us how our work has made a difference, and how we can do better. It takes less than 5 minutes.

Take our survey

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in. If you have any datasets to share, you can fill out this form with details and submit them.

Latest Datasets

Bengaluru

1. The Greater Bengaluru Authority(GBA) has released the details of the final wards delimitation - the GBA area is set to have 369 wards. You can access the final map files and pdfs released in this dataset. You can also browse the final wards map on this interactive map.

2. It is raining tunnel roads! While the controversy over the tunnel roads from Hebbal to Silk Board rages on, the Government has proposed a set of parallel twin roads at Hebbal between Esteem Mall and the Veterinary College. The Detailed Project Report(DPR) for this project can be accessed here. We thank Mr. Devare for contributing the DPR.

3. The last Master Plan for Bengaluru, the RMP 2031, was scrapped in 2020, and since then the city has been without a Master Plan. The Bangalore Development Authority is calling for tenders for the drafting of the Master Plan for Bengaluru for the year 2041. You can find the tender documents here, contributed by Vivek Mathew.

4. The Phase 3 of Bengaluru’s Metro from Hebbal to JP Nagar passing through the west of the city is gathering steam. The DPR for the double decker flyover along the metro line has been published and you can find it here.

5. CIVIC Bangalore, a non-profit has released a report card for the Karnataka Government’s performance over the past 2.5 years based on its own manifesto. You can find the report here.

Pune

6. Map of Sewage treatment plants in Pune has been added here. Maps of the storm-water drain network and its components can be found here.

7. Road centerline map for Pune has been added here. Maps of parks and gardens in Pune have been added here.

8. Maps of wards, prabhags and zone boundaries of PMC over the years have been added here.

9. Revenue map of Pune, with details of each land parcel has been added here. The source of all these maps is the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

Chennai

10. “Report Card - On Tamil Nadu Government’s Performance on Promised Improvement of Environmental, Health and Economic Status of Ennore-Manali Region” is a report from the Save Ennore Creek campaign on the promises made by the Tamil Nadu government and their performance in fulfilling those promises. You can read the report here.

Others

11. “The urgency and potential of aviation impact mitigation in India” is a report from cBalance addressed to IT Companies, Policymakers, Administrators and Civil Society. The report covers the impacts from aviation on climate change. You can read the report here.

Analysis and Explainers

ADSI Report - 2023

The Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India(ADSI) - 2023 is an annual report from the National Crime Records Bureau, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. It has detailed data on accidental deaths - deaths from road and railway accidents, unnatural deaths, etc - and suicides. In this report, we analyse the data on suicides for India and its major cities, and what it tells us about the situation in different states and cities. Read our analysis here.

Hebbal tunnel roads between Esteem Mall and Veterinary College

The Government of Karnataka is planning a set of smaller tunnels at Hebbal, between Esteem Mall and Veterinary College to cover a distance of close to two kilometers. In this explainer, we go over the main features of the proposed project - locations, cost, construction methods etc. Read our explainer here.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

If you are new to our work, here is a quick note: OpenCity is the data programme of Oorvani Foundation - the civic tech platform is India’s largest urban data commons. We also enable civic participation through datajams, design jams, open data days and other events. Follow us on X, LinkedIn and Instagram. Learn more about Oorvani Foundation.

Events

Oorvani Change Network

We’re excited to host the third online session of Oorvani Change Network - learning from the Doers — a space where communities across cities come together to learn from one another, share what works, and spark civic action.

This time we are going to hear from three citizen groups based in Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru about their efforts to clean up their neighbourhoods.

📢: Communities in action: Cleaning for change

🗓️: Saturday, Nov 1st, 2025

🕰️: 5:30 PM

Register here

Coming up: Mumbai Waste Design Jam

We are planning to conduct our next design jam in Mumbai on the topic of solid waste management. Watch out for details and registration here and on our social media handles.

We want your feedback!

At Oorvani, we believe strong communities start with informed citizens. Through Citizen Matters, OpenCity and our workshops we have been working to empower civic voices. And now, we want to hear yours.

Tell us how our work has made a difference, and how we can do better. It takes less than 5 minutes.

Take our survey

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in. If you have any datasets to share, you can fill out this form with details and submit them.

Latest Datasets

Bengaluru

1. An expert committee under Siddanagouda Hegaraddi was constituted to study the DPR for the Hebbal-Silk Board Tunnel Roads. You can find their report and inference here. We thank DT Devare, who shared the report obtained through RTI.

2. The draft wards map for Greater Bengaluru Authority with 368 wards with population details of each ward has been added here.

3. The final notification on drains buffer area change from the Urban Development Department has been added here. The Karnataka Tanks Conservation and Development Authority Bill 2025 with changes to lake buffer areas can be found here.

4. The Government of Karnataka has proposed the Karnataka Domestic Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill 2025 to regulate the employment of domestic workers. You can find the draft here.

5. Documents including DPRs and drawings of the rotary flyover at IOC junction with an attached ROB at Baiyappanahalli, and for the KWIN City project undertaken by the Karnataka Industrial Development Board (KIADB) at Doddaballapur road have been added to our site.

6. Documents on white-topping to be undertaken in Gandhinagar with maps of roads has been added here.

7. Station-wise ridership data from BMRCL from August 1st to August 18th were obtained through RTI by Vivek Mathew. The data can be accessed here.

8. Impact Evaluation of the Five Guarantees of the Government of Karnataka is a study by Indus Action and CSDS-Lokniti to study the impact of the five guarantees on people’s lives. The main report and supporting documents can be accessed here.

Mumbai

9. The Draft Zonal Masterplan for the Eco-sensitive Zone of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which proposes to make changes to the national park area, has been uploaded here.

Chennai

10. A map of Aadhaar enrollment centres can be found here. Maps of bus shelters in Chennai and Tamil Nadu have been added here. The maps are from tngis.tn.gov.in.

National

11. Crime in India 2023 report from the National Crime Records Bureau has been added here. Tables pertaining to cities have been added as separate resources.

12. Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2023 from the National Crime Records Bureau has also been added here. Tables pertaining to cities have been added as separate resources.

Analysis and Explainers

Tanker Water Survey - 2025

We conducted a tanker water survey in the summer of 2025 to see how the water situation has changed in the past one year. In our analysis we found that while the water situation seems to have improved, tankers still rule the roost. Eastern suburbs near Whitefield were seen to be paying the most for tanker water compared to other areas.

Road Crashes in Indian Cities

In the second part of our analysis on the Road Accidents in India - 2023, we looked at the major cities in India and how safe they are for motorists and pedestrians. We found that Bengaluru and Delhi, with their large number of private vehicles, were also leading in road crashes and fatalities. Read our analysis here.

Crime in Indian Cities

In the first of our two-part analysis we looked at the overall cases being registered in our major cities, and how the justice system is tackling them. This analysis also gave us an insight into the backlog of cases in our courts and whether the log is increasing or decreasing with time.

In the second part, we looked at specific types of crimes - crimes against women, children, economic offences and cyber crimes in the eight major cities in India. We found that while Delhi leads in crimes against women and children, Bengaluru was ahead by a large margin when it comes to cyber crimes. Worryingly, the police investigations on cyber crimes were leading nowhere with few convictions.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

If you are new to our work, here is a quick note: OpenCity is the data programme of Oorvani Foundation - the civic tech platform is India’s largest urban data commons. We also enable civic participation through datajams, design jams, open data days and other events. Follow us on X, LinkedIn and Instagram. Learn more about Oorvani Foundation.

Events

Chennai Lakes Datajam

The Chennai Lakes Datajam was held on the 27th August 2025 in partnership with CAG Chennai, Care Earth Trust, WELL Labs, Poovulagin Nanbargal and Reach the Unreached.

In the datajam, participants from diverse backgrounds came together to analyse the state of lakes in Chennai using data and make recommendations to improve their status. Read our event report to know more.

IndiaFoss 2025

We were at IndiaFOSS 2025. It was great to hear about how people were leveraging open source technologies and building on open data. It was incredible to hear about the role OpenCity was playing in enabling analysis of urban topics and helping people tell important stories about our cities – from understanding tree cover to tracking your netas! . Read more about it here.

Engage

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us at opencity@oorvani.in.

Latest Datasets

Bengaluru

1. Maps of zones, boundaries and the final five corporations in the Greater Bengaluru Authority area have been added to this dataset.

2. The Government of Karnataka has proposed new rules for the buffers around lakes and the drains connecting the lakes. The lake buffers are being amended through the Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority (KTCDA) (Amendment) Bill 2024 which you can find here and the Urban Development Department has notified the new buffers for drains and are inviting objections. You can find the notification here.

3. Documents on the 10-lane Major Arterial Road connecting the Bengaluru Mysore Highway and Magadi Road passing through Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout have been added here. Alignment maps for the Peripheral Ring Road from the BDA have been added to this dataset.

4. List of junctions to be improved as part of the Suraksha 75 scheme have been added here. Road safety reports from the Bengaluru Traffic Police with data on road crashes in Bengaluru can be found here. Updates on filling of potholes in the Bengaluru Central Corporation area are being updated here.

5. Report of the audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Office (CAG) of Public Sector Undertakings in Karnataka including BDA, BESCOM and BWSSB has been added here. CAG’s audit of BMTC can be found here.

6. Performance indicators for BMTC have been updated for the year 2024-25 and can be accessed in this dataset. Fiscal Effects of the Shakti Scheme is a study by the Government of Karnataka and can be found here.

7. Suvarnamukhi Catchment Rejuvenation is a report of a study conducted by multiple organisations on the Suvarnamukhi catchment in South Bengaluru.

Chennai

8. Chennai City Biodiversity Index is a report from the Government of Tamil Nadu listing the biodiversity of Chennai.

National

9. The Road Accidents in India report for 2023 has been finally published by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). You can find the report as well as important tables as CSVs here.

10. Data from the Comprehensive Modular Survey - Education from 2024-25 has been added here.

11. Guidelines from the Government of India on regulating Motor Vehicle Aggregators have been added here. It includes guidelines from 2020 and 2025.

12. Beyond Free Rides is an independent study on subsidised travel schemes for women in Indian cities conducted by the Sustainable Mobility Network and can be accessed here.

Stories and Explainers

Chennai Traffic Impact Calculator

Raja Ramamoorthy has developed a calculator for Chennai to measure the impact of an individual’s commute choices in terms of emissions as well as on the individual’s wallet. In this article he explains the motivation behind the calculator, how it works and how someone can develop a similar tool for their own city.

Road Crashes in India

More than 1.7 Lakh people died due to road crashes in India in 2023, according to the Road Accidents in India 2023 report from MoRTH. Of these, more than 35,000 were pedestrians. Sadly, both numbers have been steadily rising each year. Read our detailed analysis of the report here.

Uptake of Electric Vehicles in Indian Cities

Shifting a large proportion of the transport fleet to Electric Vehicles has been an ambitious goal at the national as well as city level to achieve emission targets and also reduce the import bill for oil. How exactly is this shift happening in our cities? Are some cities embracing EVs more than others? Read our analysis to find out.

Sample Surveys in India

The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MosPI) conducts periodic surveys to assess the state of the economy, the living conditions of people and whether welfare schemes are reaching them. The most recent ones are the Comprehensive Modular Survey Telecom (CMS Telecom) and CMS Education to measure telecom penetration and the reliance of coaching as well expenses on education for households. In this analysis we look at how recent surveys suffer from having very few samples, especially for southern cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad as compared to Delhi or Mumbai.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

If you are new to our work, here is a quick note: OpenCity is the data programme of Oorvani Foundation - the civic tech platform is India’s largest urban data commons. We also enable civic participation through datajams, design jams, open data days and other events. Follow us on X, LinkedIn and Instagram. Learn more about Oorvani Foundation.

Oorvani brings you the platforms and pathways to learn, share, collaborate and co-create solutions towards better cities!

• Citizen Matters for insight into civic and urban issues, ideas and solutions

• OpenCity.in for key public documents and datasets

• And the many learning sessions, workshops datajams, hackathons for civic problem solving!

Share your story, contribute data, and support our work — here are the many ways you can get involved and power civic changemaking: oorvani.org/get-involved

Events

Bengaluru Climate Hackathon
The Bengaluru Climate Hackathon was held on the 23rd August in partnership with the BBMP Climate Action Cell, WRI India and MOD Foundation. In the hackathon participants from diverse backgrounds came together to develop dashboards to track the progress of the Bengaluru Climate Action Plan. Read our event report to know more.

Oorvani Change Network
We’re excited to host the second session of Oorvani Change Network - learning from the Doers — a space where communities across cities come together to learn from one another, share what works, and spark civic action. It is an online(zoom) session.

📢: Ripples of change: Community action for revival of waterbodies
🗓️: Saturday, Aug 30, 2025
🕰️:10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Register here

Chennai Datajam
We are planning to conduct a datajam on Lakes in Chennai in the second half of September. Follow us on our social media handles (X , LinkedIn, Instagram) if you aren’t already, for the announcement and to register for the datajam.

Engage

Are you interested in, or have done an accessibility audit of public spaces? We are looking at the space, and would love to hear from you! Write to us at opencity@oorvani.in.

If you know of any datasets that have come out recently and need to be on our site, please let us know by writing to us on the email id above.

Latest Datasets

Bengaluru

1. More documents for the Hebbal-Silk Board Details like tenders, bidding documents, updated DPR and tender responses have been added to this dataset. The Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT) wrote to the BBMP Chief Commissioner on the tunnel roads, with their study and feasibility report. You can find the report and the letters here. They were obtained through RTI by Mr. D.T Devare.

2. Tenders and other details for the Rajakaluve improvement works in two different parts of Bengaluru - near Nagawara and Rajarajeshwari nagar have been added here. The documents were obtained by Vivek Mathew.

3. Changes in building bye-laws have been proposed by the BBMP to allow stilt parking. You can find the bill here. Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority (KTCDA) (Amendment) Bill 2025 seeks to make changes to lake conservation rules. You can find the draft bill here.

4. BESCOM has issued a notification about fire-fighting equipment in communities and how they will be charged for power usage. You can find the notification here.

5. “Rising Heat and Waste Workers” is a report by Hasiru Dala and HeatWatch on how heat is affecting pourakarmikas. You can read the report here.

Mumbai

6. Documents including the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Mulund-Goregaon Link Road have been added here. They were obtained from the MoEFCC’s Parivesh portal.

National:

7. Results from the Swach Survekshan Survey for 2024-25 have been updated here.

8. Heat Wave Action Plans for the following states and cities have been added: Ahmedabad, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

9. RTO-wise vehicle registrations data from 2021 to June 2025 for Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune have been added to our site. This data includes month-wise details on types of vehicles added including category and fuel. The data was scraped from Parivaahan dashboard by Vivek Mathew.

10. The Supreme Court order on street dogs from August 2025 has been added here.

Stories and Explainers

Mumbai’s Traffic Violations

Mumbai has among the highest number of private vehicles in India closing in on 5 million vehicles. With such a high number of vehicles and high congestion, traffic violations are expected to be high and to be an important source of revenue for the state. What does the challans data for 2024 tell us about traffic violations and road safety in Mumbai? Read our analysis to find out.

Pedestrian Safety in Mumbai

A collateral of road traffic that we have learnt to live with is road crashes. In every Indian city they account for hundreds of deaths every year, with at least a death per day in most large cities. Pedestrians, despite not operating any vehicles are among the most affected cohorts in Indian cities. In this analysis we look at the Road Safety Annual Report for Mumbai from 2023 to analyse pedestrian road safety and how they are affected on Mumbai’s roads.

BBMP Work Orders Data

BBMP work orders reflect how money was spent by BBMP through contracts. It includes contracts for all activities from maintaining streetlights to white-topping roads. What does the data on work orders in 2024-25 tell us about where they money was spent and on what? Read our analysis here.

Bholakpur Heat Analysis

Bholakpur is a central part of Hyderabad set right next to the Hussain Sagar lake. How has the area changed in the last 10 years in terms of land use and how is this reflected in the heat profile of the area? Bharat Oraon digs into satellite data to find out. Read his analysis here.

BBMP Advertisement Bye-laws

The BBMP, in July 2025, notified new rules to govern advertisements in its vast area. The news rules are ostensibly to regulate hoardings and billboards, restricting their size and proliferation, while also earning BBMP revenue from them. What do these rules say? What is allowed and what is prohibited? Read our explainer to find out.

And that's all from us for this month.

Best regards,
Team Oorvani
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

Hello!

Here’s the July 2025 edition of the OpenCity newsletter.

We have moved recently to substack – please spread the word and share with your friends. If you have got this as a forward, click here to subscribe. We also host a Whatsapp data community - write to us if you would like to join!

If you are new to our work, here is a quick note: OpenCity is the data programme of Oorvani Foundation - the civic tech platform is India’s largest urban data commons. We also enable civic participation through datajams, design jams, open data days and other events. Learn more about Oorvani Foundation.

Oorvani brings you the platforms and pathways to learn, share, collaborate and co-create solutions towards better cities!

• Citizen Matters for insight into civic and urban issues, ideas and solutions

• OpenCity.in for key public documents and datasets

• And the many learning sessions, workshops datajams, hackathons for civic problem solving!

Share your story, contribute data, and support our work — here are the many ways you can get involved and power civic changemaking: oorvani.org/get-involved

Upcoming Events

We are planning to conduct a Climate Hackathon to be held in Bengaluru in the latter half of August. The goal is to build a climate related dashboard for Bengaluru. Follow our social media handles for the announcement and details!

Latest Datasets

Bengaluru

1. The Greater Bengaluru Authority notification of 2025 splits BBMP into five different municipalities. The notification and a map of the new bodies can be found here.

2. Karnataka gets ready to start work on the Tunnel Road from Hebbal and Silk Board,. Tender documents and updated DPR added here.

3. Bengaluru Urban Forest manual here. Ward-wise work orders and payments for 2024-25 have been added here.

4. Government notifications on new rules regarding Occupancy and Commencement Certificates have been added here. BBMP’s bye-laws on advertisements have been finalised and you can find the rules here.

5. The BBMP tree census has added another lakh trees in the past 3 months. The latest tranche has been added here. List of arterial and sub-arterial roads of BBMP can be found here. Flood vulnerable locations and low-lying areas maps from BBMP have been added here.

6. Water treatment data from the Doddabele dual STPs obtained through RTI by Paani.Earth have been added here. Efficacy of Kere Mitra Programme is a report by Action Aid and can be accessed here.

Mumbai

7. Status of Civic Issues in Mumbai - 2025 is a report by Praja highlighting the issues that the government should be focusing on. Road safety data including crashes from 2021 to 2023 have been added to this dataset. Traffic challans data for 2024, in both pdf and csv format, has been added here.

Chennai

8. Clean Air Action Plan - 2021 for Chennai Urban Area from the Government of Tamil Nadu can be accessed here.

Delhi

9. Maps of disaster vulnerable locations in Delhi have been added here. The Government of Delhi published a Heat Action Plan in April 2025. It can be found here.

Pune

10. Annual statistics for 2023-24 and 2024-25 for Pune’s bus service - PMPML have been added here.

More:

11. Comprehensive Mobility Plans: CMPs for the following cities have been added: Mumbai from 2016, Goa from 2020, Visakhapatnam (year not mentioned in the CMP) and Greater Noida from 2015.

12. Air Quality Data: Hourly air quality data from the respective state PCBs, CPCB and other bodies have been made public by CPCB from 2017 to 2023 for all stations here. Data for Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune have been added to our site.

Stories and Explainers

Analysis of Bengaluru’s civic complaints

The BBMP has an app where people can register their grievances. Data from the app from 2020 to 2025 have been added to our site. Ashutosh Shukla analysed the data from 2025 to look at different aspects of the grievances - where they are being filed from, what are they mainly about, how are they getting resolved and if there’s a temporal aspect to grievances. Read here.

Analysis of Climate Action plans

Indian cities are busy rolling out Climate Action Plans and Heat Action Plans to tackle climate related challenges and make themselves climate-resilient. Anjali Karol Mohan takes a broader perspective to look at how inclusive these plans are, and how they balance mitigation and adaptation. Read here.

Urban Heat Island of Hyderabad

Urban Heat Islands are now an important topic as people are waking up to the realisation that our cities are highly affected by heat. In this analysis, Bharat Oraon, looks at Hyderabad’s ward 104 which includes the Hitech City on one end and a congested, densely populated residential area on the other, to see how heat affects the different parts and how things have changed in the last ten years. Read here.

Bengaluru Road density visualisation

Anyone living in Bengaluru can tell you that some areas are more congested than others. How does road density affect this congestion? Is it the same across the city? Siddharth M tries to find out how road density varies amongst wards as well as at the constituency level. Read here.

Taking stock of Bengaluru Climate Action Plan

The Bengaluru Climate Action Plan was released in November 2023 and a Climate Action Cell was also constituted to implement the plan. It has been 20 months since the Cell was begun and it is a good time to take stock of its performance. Dattatraya Devare reviews the performance of the Cell to note their achievements, and disappointments with recommendations on what needs to happen in the future. Read his important analysis here.

Report: State of Bengaluru Lakes

We are happy to share the draft version of the first ever community-sourced report on "State of Bengaluru lakes" -- https://opencity.in/status-of-bengaluru-lakes-2024-25

The last two years, we have had multiple projects on Bengaluru's lakes with learning sessions and volunteer-led lake audits. At the lake jam last year, we had teams collate ground observations and other data to document the state of the lakes

We are grateful to the dozens of committed lake volunteers, data analysts, urban planners, and many other contributors, along with an amazing set of partners -- Friends of Lakes, WELL Labs, Biome and Paani.

Please do share your feedback, comment, corrections and more with opencity@oorvani.in

And that's all from us for this month.

As always, follow us on X (formerly twitter), LinkedIn and Instagram if you aren't already. And do reach out to us through those handles or on email if you have any data to contribute, need help with existing datasets or finding any data.

Your support enables this work. Every donation—whether a one-time gift or a recurring contribution—helps empower citizens with information, tools, and resources to make our cities more sustainable, liveable and equitable.

Support Us

Best regards,
Team OpenCity
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org

We’re glad to bring you the June 2025 edition of the OpenCity newsletter.

Events

We conducted our first datajam in Mumbai on the topic of Urban Heat, on the 7th June 2025. Thanks to our partners and the participants for making it a great experience! Read more about the datajam in the Stories section.

Datasets

Bengaluru: Trade licenses data from 2021 to 2025 has been added here. The data is split by constituency and you can find the ward details inside. Grievances data for BBMP from Feb 2020 to June 2025 has been added here. The data is organised by year. Both datasets were contributed by Vivek Mathew.

Stormwater Drains Maps in pdf format from BBMP with details on existing, proposed and in progress networks has been added to this dataset. KSNDMC publishes an annual rainfall report for all the districts in Karnataka. The report for Bengaluru Urban for 2024 with the rainfall details at hobli level split by pre-monsoon, South-West Monsoon and North-East Monsoon, have been added to this dataset.

The Government of Karnataka has proposed amendments to Bengaluru’s building bye-laws to encourage stilt parking. You can find the draft regulations here. The World Bank has approved a loan of USD 426 Million to BBMP and BWSSB to improve flood resilience and water security in Bengaluru. You can find the details of the loans in this dataset.

Report Cards for Bengaluru MPs and MLAs based on their performance with funds as well as attendance have been added here. The report was compiled using data by CIVIC Bengaluru. List of homeless shelters under BBMP can be found here.

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation published a Climate budget document for 2025-26 for Mumbai based on the Climate Action Plan. The report has been added to this dataset.

National: The Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, has prepared a draft ‘The Registration Bill 2025’ to align it with a modern, online, paperless and citizen-centric registration system. Once enacted, the Bill shall replace the pre-Constitution Registration Act, 1908. This will affect all land transactions. You can access the draft here.

The Periodic Labour Force Survey 2024 measures key unemployment indicators across the country. You can find the national level data (raw and csv), as well as data for major cities here.

Data from the Comprehensive Modular Survey Telecom (CMST) 80th Round from the NSSO can be found here. This is a subset of the CAMS survey with the telecom related data separated out.

Stories and Explainers

Twenty-eight participants from diverse backgrounds participated in the Mumbai Urban Heat datajam, our very first datajam in Mumbai conducted in partnership with with the Maharashtra State Climate Action Cell, Climate Group, C40 Cities, Heatwave Action Coalition India, WRI India, and the Blue Ribbon Movement. It was held at St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), who were the venue partners. What did the participants find? Read here.

The IISc Sustainable Transportation Lab, in partnership with the Oorvani Foundation conducted a design jam - Reimagine Liveable Bengaluru, on the 10th of May 2025. The jam was conducted in the run up to the First World Symposium on Sustainable Transport and Livability (WSSTL 2025) that IISc is hosting from the 25th to 27th June 2025. The jam focused on the theme of “mobility”, and the various factors that impact and are impacted by it. Read more about the event and what the participants found here.

The BBMP’s budget for 2025-26 allocated close to Rs. 20,000 Crore. With such large amounts, it is important that people know how and where this money is planned to be spent. In this explainer, we delve into the details of the budget document and how one can read and understand the nuances of the spending and receipts.

The World Bank approved a loan of USD 426 million to BBMP and BWSSB to build water resilience and water security for Bengaluru. How will this money to be spent on the ground? Read our explainer here.

Bharat Oraon, our intern, looked at the satellite LST data for Bellandur ward. He tried to analyse the changes that have happened over the last ten years in terms of built-up area and vegetation and how that has correlated with Urban Heat Islands. Read his analysis here.

And that's all from us for this month.

As always, follow us on X (formerly twitter), LinkedIn and Instagram if you aren't already. And do reach out to us through those handles or on email if you have any data to contribute, need help with existing datasets or finding any data.

Your support enables this work. Every donation—whether a one-time gift or a recurring contribution—helps empower citizens with information, tools, and resources to make our cities more sustainable, liveable and equitable.

Support Us

Best regards,
Team OpenCity
Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram
oorvani.org