Monthly Archives: April 2015

As darkness looms, weavers spin success story

Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

Hubballi :

At Vishwanath Kenchi’s handloom unit at Gajendragad in Gadag district, the steady clacks of the looms belie all expectations. At a time when the handloom sector appears to be losing the fight to power looms, the 43-year-old has taken 75 weavers under his wing to ensure that their livelihood isn’t affected by the winds of change.
Kenchi’s organization – Adishakti Kaimagga Nekarara Sahakari Sangh Niyamita – which boasts of a flat structure, has been receiving a steady stream of orders since its inception as a self-help group in 2007. In the cooperative society’s success story lies a potential model for the handloom sector’s revival.

The climb to self-sustenance, though, wasn’t smooth. Kenchi found himself without work in 2007 when a cash-strapped Karnataka Handloom Development Corporation (KHDC) stopped giving him assignments. Hundreds of weavers were left in the lurch and were forced to migrate at the time.
But even in the face of such hardship, Kenchi decided to stick to his ‘family profession’. Work orders were few and far between, but he drew courage and solace from his handloom. Soon, a few others joined his self-help group.

During a visit to Heggodu in January 2008, Kenchi was inspired by theatre director and activist Prasanna, who has, time and again, taken up the cudgels for handloom weavers. Prasanna helped him and other weavers land more orders.

Things soon began to look up. “To meeting the growing demand, we had to buy another loom,” says Kenchi, who had to drop out of school after Class 3.

The Gajendragad resident was also egged on by the Deshpande Foundation in Hubballi. The NGO conferred on him the Navodyami Award in 2011. “Apart from the cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, it helped him get a bank loan of Rs 5 lakh.”

The loan was used to buy 3,634 sqft of land in Gajendragad to help the weavers expand their business.

Shrikant Chuncha, an employee of the sangh, credits the flat structure of the organization for the success of its business model. “As all employees are also members of the sangh, we get profit dividends, besides our wages, at the end of a year,” he explains.

Shadimbi Shantagiri, another employee, says members are paid Rs 17 per metre. “We weave about 10 m per day. Some of us manage to go up to 20 m.”
Another worker, Drakshayani Ashapur, 50, says flexible working hours between 6am and 6pm help a number of women find part-time JOBS.

Gururaj, Kenchi’s son, says the sangh has 251 members and 75 members-cum-employees. “We plan to create about 1,000 JOBS here by 2020. We produce saris, and clothes for shirts and coats.”

Orders come from Charaka, a women’s cooperative society specializing in natural dyes and handloom weaving founded by Prasanna, KHDC and other organizations from across the state, he says.

The sangh has prepared a proposal, seeking 6-7 acres of land from the department of handloom and textile. “We provide insurance cover to weavers and scholarships to their children with the help of government schemes,” says Gururaj.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hubballi / by Sangamesh Mena Sinakai, TNN / April 10th, 2015

Performance Institute Crosses Milestone

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
From In Such A State, adapted from U R Ananthamurthy's Avasthe. The centre, founded by actor-director Prakash Belawadi, is presenting six plays
From In Such A State, adapted from U R Ananthamurthy’s Avasthe. The centre, founded by actor-director Prakash Belawadi, is presenting six plays

Banashankari /JP Nagar :

Centre for Film and Drama (CFD), which turned 10 last August, will stage six plays, Tuesday onwards, as part of a milieu of events spread across this landmark year.

“We wanted an institute for training in integrated media and production,” says co-founder Prakash Belawadi. Now, he says, this has become so commonplace that even the term ‘convergence’ has gone out of use.

When CFD took off, its facility on Millers Road had, in addition to a performance space, an art gallery. But in 2010, it was mandated as a trust under Suchitra Cinema and Cultural Academy, and the school building coming up in its premises in Banashankari Stage II will be ready by the end of this year, the actor-director estimates.

Since its opening production, Brian Friel’s Translations directed by Mallika Prasad, in 2004, the group has averaged about four productions a year. And the selection of plays, on the whole, Belawadi says, are concerned with identity and identity crises.

“All our actors and directors are people who are interested in theatre as well as literature and other arts, and work with other groups in Bengaluru as well. So most of our plays are not only Indian, they are also very Kannadiga,” he says.

Like many of his peers, he rubbishes the notion that the technology that has led to this media integration has robbed theatre of this audience and artistes.

“I’ve been in theatre for about 30 years and every year, someone asks me about this. If anything, mainstream Kannada cinema is at risk because you can’t experiment in film and serials the way you can in theatre and get away with it,” he says.

But the journey so far for CFD, as it is for anyone in the field of theatre, hasn’t been free of hardship, nor is it likely to be. “One of the main challenges is that you’re constantly borrowing, trying to make things work in the box office because there is hardly any sponsorship in theatre,” he says, adding that this ensures that those who stick to theatre, usually, are the ones who love it most.

But while this passion for theatre remains in the artistes, Belawadi has observed that it has rather fizzled out in those who write about it.

“Earlier, staging a play was a risk, and reviewing it was equally risky,” he recalls, adding that critics were also people who were part of the theatre community, like himself.

“They deeply cared about it, and would get hated for the kind of reviews they wrote. This kind of engagement with the writer is something I miss,” he says. And this, he notes, is a problem common to cinema and music as well.

Even at the institute, he says, though he and the other faculty would like to train students in the art of theatre criticism, few are interested. “Most come to learn editing or acting,” he says.

So what does he feel is the solution to this? Conferences that facilitate interaction between members of the theatre community and those who write about them, and discussions of fresh scripts, he replies.

Plays next week

Tuesday – Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen

Wednesday –  Aatankavaadiya Aakasmika Saavu (Kannada)

Thursday – The Other Side Of History, a translation of Baaki Itihas by Badal Sircar

Friday – Badal Sircar’s Bogola Charit Manas (Bengali)

Saturday – In Such A State, based on U R Ananthamurthy’s Avasthe

Sunday – U R Ananthamurthy’s Avasthe (Kannada)

About the centre

Centre for Film and Drama offers year-long courses and works from Suchitra Film Society, Banashankari. Phone: 99868 63615

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Chetana Divya Vasudev / April 11th, 2015

Fellowship award for Chauhan

Records, All, Science & Technology

O.P. Chauhan, scientist, Defence Food Research Laboratory, has secured the ‘Bioved Fellowship award 2015’ for his contribution in the field of food technology from Bioved Research Institute of Agriculture and Technology.

Mr. Chauhan’s research areas include post-harvest handling of fruits and vegetables, high pressure processing, pulsed electric field processing, microwave dehydration, vacuum frying and modified/controlled atmosphere packaging/storage of fruits and vegetables.

His research findings have appeared in over 60 international and national peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings.

He has authored five international and six national book chapters.

Apart from this he has seven patents to his credit. — Staff Correspondent

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / Mysuru – April 12th, 2015

Mangaluru beauty to promote breast cancer awareness

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinion

Mangaluru :

When she was 12, she knew she would do something big. Thirteen years down the line, Aafreen Rachel Vaz, the first runner-up at fbb Femina Miss India 2015, has done it.

She will launch her own institute – Early Detection for a Better Future (EDBF) – which will work towards spreading awareness about breast cancer among Indian women. The institute, which will be launched on Tuesday, will concentrate on breast cancer. It will, later, bring under its umbrella other diseases which can be detected early.

“I do have a reason (for taking up breast cancer) – but that reason just served as a trigger. I lost a loved one at a very young age in Mumbai simply because it was misdiagnosed. I don’t think misdiagnosis on cancer should lead to someone’s death,” Aafreen, a third-year medical student at AJ Institute of medical science, Mangaluru, told TOI.

Aafreen’s resolve was strengthened when she won a scholarship from the Royal Society of Breast Cancer, New Zealand, and worked in the field for a year. She completed her Bachelor in Science with a major in physiology from the University of Otago, New Zealand, apart from doing a one-year course in radiation therapy from the same university.

Miss India was not even on cards; it happened by chance. Aafreen had directed a 45-minute film, ‘The Untrodden Path’, to enter a competition at Jipmer, Puducherry. Just then, Campus Princess, a pageant of the Times Group, was held. Aafreen was chosen winner, giving her automatic entry into Femina Miss India.

“I knew it was a one-month thing and studies would lag. But what better platform to launch many things which I dreamt of early, and why would not I go for it?” said Aafreen.

“It’s selfish to promote an NGO for a cause from which I will get a lot of satisfaction,” she quipped.

How will she balance her studies and handle the new responsibility? “The stress factor will be governed by my plan of action and how well my college is going to work with me. If I feel the stress is taking me to a point where I can’t handle it — I doubt it will happen — I will take a break from studies. But I will complete it (medicine). I have not thought about specialization, but oncology or psychiatry would be the choice,” Aafreen said.

Her Mangaluru roots are “too complicated to explain”. But her father would love a good chat in Konkani, she said, adding her parents were very happy to hear about her success. “I came to know that my mother had a shrill voice when she screamed with joy over the phone from New Zealand,” said Aafreen.

Getting into medicine was made easier by her parents, who asked her to go for what she is naturally good at, what she would enjoy doing and be successful at. “I’m good at human body systems. I’m lucky that my cause and my chosen career path go hand in hand.”

She will not refuse offers from Bollywood, Aafreen said. “I have been given offers, but my present commitment will not allow. Acting is natural to me as it has helped me get out of many a situation.”

She plans to hold a women’s marathon in Mangaluru soon to promote EDBF and raise awareness on breast cancer. “This will happen in a couple of months as I will away with Miss World commitments.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / TNN / April 07th, 2015

MIT solar flair will provide impetus to rural Karnataka

Green Initiatives / Environment, Science & Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has roped in city-based Selco Foundation to run pilot project to ultimately benefit Karnataka

The MIT software will help minimise cost of installing solar micro-grids fo 10-50 kW to ensure uninterrupted power supply
The MIT software will help minimise cost of installing solar micro-grids fo 10-50 kW to ensure uninterrupted power supply

​US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Selco Foundation in Bengaluru are sowing the seeds for large-scale rural solar electrification in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The aim is to pepper rural landscapes with well-placed 10-50 kW solar power micro-grids to directly supply uninterrupted power supply at minimal cost to small clusters of houses in villages.

The idea is to install solar power micro-grids in villages so that larger electric supply grids using conventional thermal/hydel power could more easily meet the growing urban demand for power in future.
Selco Foundation, a non-profit organisation focusing on enhancing quality of life and wealth creation in rural India through sustainable energy applications, is scheduled to run a pilot project in Munger district in Bihar to test an MIT-developed software tool that automatically analyses ideal locations for installing micro-grids.
According to MIT, a team of its graduate students and data scientists developed a software tool that identifies houses from readily-available satellite imagery and automatically analyses precise locations for setting up solar micro-grids in villages.
An MIT News Office release on the project said once the locations of houses are determined the computer runs thousands of combinations on where solar panels, battery packs, and distribution wires could be located.

This allows the team to pick configurations that provide power to the greatest number of houses with the least wiring to minimise costs.
Niraj Marathe, project lead, Selco Foundation, told Bangalore Mirror, “If proven accurate and effective, it can be used by project developers as an affordable planning tool as it will consider optimum costing as basis for planning and design of a (solar power) micro-grid system.”
In a pre-pilot trial run conducted by MIT in an unnamed Indian village, it was found that the process indeed saved considerable time and money otherwise spent in sending teams from village to village to identify locations.
The MIT findings have been published in the journal Big Data.
After the pre-pilot trial, MIT roped in Selco Foundation to conduct the pilot project in Munger.
Marathe said following the successful completion of the pilot in Munger, Selco plans to scout for villages in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to install solar power-grids using the MIT software.
“We will work on two micro-grids simultaneously (in Munger). One will be planned and designed using the MIT tool, while the other will follow conventional planning and design methodology of Selco,” Marathe explained. “This will help us evaluate the effectiveness of the tool. Following the execution and detailed monitoring, we will evaluate the tool, incorporate necessary changes and use the tool again on planning different sets of micro-grids.”
MIT will select four more Indian villages for the next phase of testing: Two will have solar micro-grids installed using existing methods, and two installed by using patterns selected by the MIT software. These villages will then be compared for the actual costs and performance of the systems to determine the benefits.
This is the right time for installing micro-grids. In keeping with the state’s new solar power policy, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) earlier in April decided to keep only solar power units of more than 5 MW under the concerned acts for issuing licences. KSPCB chairman, Vaman Acharya, said this meant that public who installed solar power plants of capacity less than 5 MW need not get ‘No Objection Certificates’. Solar power comes under green category in the industry categorisation of Pollution Control Act.
“We’re hoping that public agencies eventually see the wisdom of mapping 100 million rural households…,” MIT News Office quoted Stewart Craine, chair of UN Foundation’s mapping group and head of DevelopmentMaps.org, a company offering satellite-based mapping services.

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Others / by Nirad Mudur, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / April 13th, 2015

Sci-fi writer Rajshekhar passes away

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technology

Dharwad :

Science fiction writer and physics professor Rajshekhar Bhusnurmath, 77, died at his Dharwad residence in the early hours of Sunday.

From Nidagundi in Ron taluk, Rajshekhar earned Master’s in physics and taught at Karnatak Science College in Dharwad. Son of noted writer SS Bhusnurmath, Rajshekhar was a popular sci-fi writer in Kannada and has produced several programmes for All India Radio.

Many of his novels were serialized in newspapers and magazines. Post retirement, he was guiding youngsters in astronomy. He is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / TNN  / April 13th, 2015

Online Database of City Launched

About Bangalore(Bengaluru) / Karnataka, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Records, All
Bengaluru :
An online database on Bengaluru, Justadz.com, has been launched recently by Naveen, a city-based entrepreneur.

Justadz is a comprehensive search platform developed and carefully assessed over a period of two years.

“We are mainly engaged in providing specific answers to the queries we receive. What counts most is a specific accessible answer to one’s requirements. Simply put, we strive to connect every single person searching for a solution with the apt service provider in his locality,” Justadz told Express.

“With numerous facilities such as online and offline search, classified listings, lead generations, promotions and discount offers along with several value-added services, Justadz.com aims to become Bengaluru’s best local search engine,” said Khussaal Jain, Naveen’s technical guide and mentor.

Naveen said the website will be updated bi-annually so that all the content on it is up-to-date and relevant for users.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / April 13th, 2015

The Indian-American dream – At 17, Indian-origin girl gets into all Ivy League schools

Education, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Pooja, the only daughter of two engineers who immigrated to the US from Bangalore, got a SAT score of 2390 out of 2400, a 4.57 grade point average and aced all 13 of her Advanced Placement exams.

At just 17, an Indian-origin girl has earned admission to 14 top US universities, including all eight Ivy League schools that are considered the most prestigious varsities worldwide.

Virginia-born Pooja Chandrashekar decided to apply to all eight colleges hoping to get into just one of them. But now she has the choice to get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania besides six other elite universities in the US, including Stanford and MIT.

Pooja, the only daughter of two engineers who immigrated to the US from Bangalore, got a SAT score of 2390 out of 2400, a 4.57 grade point average and aced all 13 of her Advanced Placement exams.

The brainy teenager, who graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a top-ranked magnet school in Virginia, has developed a mobile app that analyses speech patterns and predicts with 96 per cent accuracy if a person has Parkinson’s disease. She has also founded a organisation that encourages middle-school American girls to participate in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programmes. Pooja said that she decided to apply to all eight ivies hoping to get into just one of them, “because college admissions are really unpredictable.”

“They are all fantastic schools, so I couldn’t discount any of them…I wanted to make sure I could get into a really good school and have more choices,” she told The Washington Post.

She has narrowed her list to Harvard, Stanford and Brown, where she got into a programme that guarantees her admission to the university’s medical school. Pooja said that what sets her apart is her passion for promoting STEM among young girls. Her non-profit ProjectCSGirls, hosts nationwide computer science competitions, “dedicated to closing the tech gender gap.”

She wrote one of her college application essays about being a woman interested in a career in computer science, a field long dominated by men. She said she was often one of just a handful of girls in her high school technology classes. “I want to encourage diversity in the field,” she told the daily.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> International / by PTI / April 12th, 2015

Biotech Forum Office-bearers Elected

Leaders, Science & Technology

Bengaluru :

The executive council of the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE) has elected Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon, as its first non-executive chairman in an honorary capacity.

Dr P M Murali, managing director and CEO, Evolva Biotech, has been re-elected president of ABLE for a second term. Shrikumar Suryanarayan, chairman of Sea6 Energy, has been elected vice-president, while Dr Goutam Das, Chief Operating Officer of ABLE, has been elected as secretary and will also hold the treasury portfolio. The term of the new office-bearers is from 2015 to 2018.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / April 09th, 2015

83-year-old woman gets her house back

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

 

Stella D’Souza was cheated by her relative.
Stella D’Souza was cheated by her relative.

Ravindranath Shanbhag, president of Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF), said on Tuesday that the foundation had helped one more senior citizen get back her house that was fraudulently taken from her by a relative in Mangaluru.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Shanbhag said that Stella D’Souza (83), who was a spinster and retired teacher, had a house at Vamanjur in Mangaluru.

Ms. D’Souza had not adopted any children. Her relative, a woman, used to visit her house under the pretext of enquiring about her welfare. During these visits, she used to persuade Ms. D’Souza to keep the land documents safe, preferably in the Sub-Registrar’s Office.

Trusting her relative, Ms. D’Souza agreed to her suggestion. Her relative took Ms. D’Souza to the Sub Registrar’s Office in Mangaluru on August 30, 2011, where the latter signed some papers, which she believed was for safe-keeping the land records. But Ms. D’Souza signed a sale deed selling the house to the relative for Rs. 3.31 lakh. “The motive appeared to be to grab the property after Ms. D’Souza’s death,” Mr. Shanbhag said.

A year later, Ms. D’Souza came to know that she had been tricked by her relative and she filed a case in the JMFC court in Mangaluru in 2013. Then she approached the HRPF here.

The HRPF took her case under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 to the court of the Sub Divisional Magistrate of Mangaluru.

The Sub Divisional Magistrate (Assistant Commissioner) ordered cancellation of the sale deed on March 9, 2015 and Ms. D’Souza got back her house, Mr. Shanbhag said.

Relook at the Act

He said that as per the Act, a case should be disposed in 90 days. But in this case, it took six months as Assistant Commissioner was busy. Besides, the Assistant Commissioner gave every opportunity to the relative to explain her position.

“It will be better if the government amended the Act and made a provision for interim order by the Sub Divisional Magistrate. There is no provision for an interim order in the Act,” he said.

Not many people knew about the Act. The government should create awareness about the Act among the public and also officials, Mr. Shanbhag said.

Ms. D’Souza, who was present at the press meet, said that she had been tense for the last four years. “Now I am delighted at getting back my house,” she said.

Mr. Shanbhag said that the HRPF had received 392 cases of fraud performed on senior citizens either by their children or relatives from different parts of the State. Of these, 12 cases had been disposed and 45 cases had been settled out of court, he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Ganesh Prabhu / Udupi – April 10th, 2015