Jayanth Malathi Basavaraju launches platform to track 159 Bengaluru civic projects

Jayanth Malathi Basavaraju, a 26-year-old innovator from Mandya, has developed and launched an open-source platform called ForThePeople.in to track 159 active infrastructure projects in Bengaluru. The free, ad-free platform aggregates scattered public government data into accessible dashboards, allowing citizens to monitor local metro expansions, road works, and water supply upgrades.

The platform, which is currently live in nine districts across seven states, aims to simplify access to complex governance data. It tracks various public domains, including government schemes, crop prices, dam levels, exam notifications, and civic issues. All data is sourced from official portals under India’s Open Data Policy (NDSAP).

The concept originated in 2018 when Basavaraju, then an engineering student preparing for UPSC exams, struggled to find basic information about his own district due to crashing websites and scattered data portals. What began as personal frustration evolved into a long-term vision to make public data usable for ordinary citizens.

Basavaraju began building the platform after gaining expertise in automation and product development. He faced systemic challenges during the process, noting that government platforms are often not designed for public usability, with critical information locked in PDFs and spreadsheets.

To address this, the platform uses a layered backend. Government data forms the foundation, supplemented by an AI-driven layer that cross-references news updates and state-level portals. Basavaraju manually verifies every data point displayed on the platform. The system also features a "Report Issue" tool for users to flag errors, with plans to introduce a verification badge to highlight data inconsistencies.

In Bengaluru, the platform specifically monitors 159 active infrastructure projects, detailing budgets, timelines, and delays. It also features a district health scoring system to evaluate governance data quality and an exam tracker popular among students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Basavaraju plans to scale the platform to over 780 districts across India by 2026. Future updates will include a dynamic map of India providing personalized insights based on PIN codes, fiscal accountability tracking, and anonymized public opinion tools.