STPI Bangalore counts among the premier and oldest Internet Service Providers (ISP) in India and was created by the Ministry of Information Technology, while the International Technology Park (ITPL) was created as a result of a joint venture between India and Singapore. Electronics City, established in 1992, is located in the southern outskirts of Bangalore, is an industrial park spread over 330 acres (1.3 km²). Infosys and Wipro, India’s 2nd and 3rd largest software companies, are headquartered in Electronics City.

Biotechnology is a rapidly expanding field in the city. Bangalore accounts for at least 97 of the approximately 240 biotechnology companies in India. In 2003-2004, Karnataka attracted the maximum venture capital funding for biotechnology in the country - USD 8 million. Biocon, headquartered in Bangalore, is the nation’s leading biotechnology company and ranks 16th in the world in revenues.

Transport

Direct international flights to Bangalore were limited. However, more airlines have started flying to Bangalore in recent years. Bangalore’s HAL Airport (IATA code: BLR), functions as both a domestic and international airport. It is India’s fourth busiest airport. Lufthansa, British Airways and Air France serve Bangalore with nonstop flights from Frankfurt, London and Paris respectively.

Direct flights from Bangalore fly to other parts of Asia including Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Bahrain, Dubai, Sharjah and Muscat.

The liberalization of India’s economic policies has meant an increase in the number of domestic carriers within India. Several low-cost carriers now operate flights between Bangalore and other major Indian cities. The low-cost carrier with the greatest number of flights into and out of Bangalore is Air Deccan, which has located its hub in Bangalore. Other low-cost domestic carriers flying to Bangalore include SpiceJet, Kingfisher Airlines and Go Air.

Bangalore is well connected to the rest of the country through the Indian Railways. The Rajdhani Express connects Bangalore to New Delhi. The city is also connected to Mumbai (Udayan, Chalukya, Kurla Express), Chennai (Madras Mail, Brindavan Express), Kolkata (Yeshvanthpur-Howrah Express), Hyderabad and Mangalore.

Black and yellow, diesel operated auto rickshaws, referred to as autos are a popular form of transport. They are metered and can accomodate upto three passengers. Taxi service within Bangalore is provided by several operators commonly referred to as “City Taxi” providers. Taxis can take in upto four passengers and are usually metered and relatively more expensive that auto rickshaws. Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) busses, formerly known as Bangalore Transport Service (BTS) busses provide transport within the city. A fleet of 3,207 BMTC busses operates daily, servicing an average of 2,800,000 commuters [13].

Demographics

As of 2005, Bangalore had a population of over 6 million, making it the 3rd largest city in India and the 27th largest city in the world [14]. The city has experienced a growth rate of 34.8% for the decade 1991-2001, considerably higher than the 21.54% decadal growth rate of the country. Residents of Bangalore are referred to as Bangaloreans or Bangalorites, regardless of their religious or linguistic origin.

Kannadigas accounted for 38% of the population, which, given Bangalore’s cosmopolitan nature, constitutes a virtual majority. Sizable ethnic minorities in Bangalore include residents from neighboring states Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Bangalore’s progress in the fields of Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has also led to the growth of a large pool of migrant workers from North India. Scheduled Castes and Tribes account for 14.3% of the city’s population. Kannada, the official language of the state of Karnataka, is widely spoken in Bangalore, as are Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. English is the lingua franca of the city’s white collar workforce.

According to the 2001 census of India, 79.37% of Bangalore’s population is Hindu - roughly the same as the national average [15]. Muslims comprise 13.37% of the population, which again, is roughly the same as the national average. Christians and Jains account for 5.79% and 1.05% of the population respectively, double that of their national averages.

Women make up 47.5% of Bangalore’s population. Bangalore’s literacy rate is considerably higher than India’s average literacy rate, at 83%. Bangalore’s workforce structure is also different to that of the rest of the country. 6% of Bangalore’s workforce was engaged in agriculture related activities (39% of rural Bangalore was engaged in agriculture and 99.8% of the urban worker population was engaged in non-agriculture related industries.) Roughly 8% of Bangalore’s population lives in slums. [16]. Bangalore’s per capita income, at 2001 levels is USD 1,110.03 (Rs. 53,625) [17].

The 2003 National Crime Records Bureau statistics indicate that Bangalore has a higher incidence of crime than other large cities in India. [18].

Culture

Bangalore is known as the Garden City of India, because of its climate, greenery and the presence of many public parks, including the Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park.

Deepavali, the “Festival of Lights”, transcends demographic and religious lines and is celebrated with great vigor. Dussera, a traditional celebratory hallmark of the old Kingdom of Mysore is another important festival. Other traditional Indian festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Ugadi, Sankranthi, Eid ul-Fitr and Christmas are also celebrated.

Bangalore is home to the Kannada film industry which churns out about 80 movies each year in Kannada.

The diversity of the cuisine available is reflective of the social and economic diversity of Bangalore. Roadside vendors, tea stalls, South Indian, North Indian, Chinese and Western fast food are all very popular in the city. Udupi restaurants are very popular and serve predominantly vegetarian, regional cuisine.

Bangalore has many clubs and bars, and is sometimes referred to as the Pub Capital of India. Popular nightspots in Bangalore include Hint, Blue Bar (Taj West End), Pecos and TGIF.

Cricket in Bangalore, just as in the rest of the nation, is the most popular sport. A significant number of national cricketers has come from Bangalore including current Indian cricket team captain Rahul Dravid, Gundappa Vishwanath and Anil Kumble. Many of the city’s children play gully cricket on the roads and in city’s many public fields. Bangalore’s main international cricket stadium is the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, which hosted its first match in 1974. International Cricket was played at the Central College grounds before moving to the current venue.

Bangalore has a number of elite clubs, like the Bangalore Golf Club, Bowring Institute and the exclusive Bangalore Club, which counts among its previous members Winston Churchill and the Maharajah of Mysore.

Education

The school system in Bangalore, like those in the rest of the country, are either run by the Government of Karnataka or by private, sometimes religious, organizations. Private schools in Bangalore typically use English as the medium of instruction and are affiliated with either the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) or the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board.

After completing their secondary eduction, students typically enroll in Junior College (also known as Pre-University) in one of three streams - Arts, Commerce or Science. Upon completing the required coursework, students enroll in general or professional degrees.

Bangalore is home to the Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Management (IIM-Bangalore), National Law School of India University and Bangalore Medical College. All of these institutions are nationally renowned - the National Law School is consistently ranked as the top law school in the country and both St. John’s Medical College and Bangalore Medical College are consistently ranked among the top ten medical schools in India.

Bangalore has the most engineering colleges of any city in the world [citation needed] thus fuelling its IT industry with an abundant graduate workforce. Some of the city’s engineering colleges include Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering (RVCE), BMS College of Engineering (BMSCE) and PES Institute of Technology (PESIT) .

Media

Bangalore commands one of the largest mass media markets in India. Major national English newspapers have subsidiary publications for the city, including the Times of India (Bangalore Times), Hindustan Times, The Hindu and Indian Express. The Deccan Herald is the largest circulating newspaper in the city and is headquartered in Bangalore. The Prajavani, a sister publication of the Deccan Herald is the largest circulating Kannada newspaper in the city. Newspapers in other regional languages are also available in the city.

National periodic journals and magazines such as India Today, Frontline and Outlook India also circulate heavily in the city. Kannada periodic magazines such as Sudha, Taranga and Mayura are also widely circulated.

In addition to the numerous AM radio stations run by All India Radio (AIR), Bangalore has three FM radio stations - Radio City, Gyanvani and All India Radio’s Rainbow FM. Plans to six new FM stations have been approved by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Successful bidders for radio broadcast licensing in Bangalore include Radio Mirchi and Radio Mid-Day [19].

The state run, nationally broadcast Doordarshan provides both national and localized television coverage. Cable Television providers air independently owned, private networks such as STAR TV and Udaya TV, whose cable channels are broadcast in English and Hindi, as well as in Kannada.

Civic Administration

The city of Bangalore is administered by the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), and represents the third level of government. The city council comprises 100 elected representatives, called “corporators”, one from each of the 100 wards (localities) of the city. Elections to the council are held once every 4 years, with results being decided by popular vote. Members contesting elections to council represent one of more of the state’s political parties.

A mayor and commissioner of the council are also elected, though not by popular vote. The post of the mayor and deputy mayor are filled through a quota system to a Scheduled Castes and Tribes candidate or to an Other Backward Class female candidate [20]. The current mayor and commissioner of the BMP are Mumtaz Begum and K. Jothiramalingam.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike is responsible for civic and infrastructural assets of the city. It often works in conjunction with other civic bodies such as the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) and the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to design and implement civic and infrastructural projects. Recently, the BMP has come under fire from the Karnataka High Court, citizens and corporations for failing to effectively address the crumbling road and traffic infrastructure of Bangalore. The BMP was formerly known as Bangalore City Corporation (BCC).