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Dr Mohan Alva recieves National Kannada Ratna Award

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

Mumbai :

“The intelligence of present day children is unique.  Schools have the ability to tie minds as truth.  The educational institutes should not accept failure even when the parents fail.  The institutes should pull the children towards education and morals and tie their minds.  Let us understand the changing times in education and challenges faced due to globalization”, said Alvas Virasat and Nudisiri fame Dr M Mohan Alva, Managing director of Alvas educational institutes.

Dr Alva was speaking after receiving ‘National Kannada Ratna award 2014’ in a programme held at Chembur High School of Chembur Ghatla Village by Chembur Karnataka Sangha.

Sangha01BF13apr2014

“It is the responsibility of scholars to inform the difference between culture and entertainment.  As the anniversaries are the mouthpieces of educational institutions, it should be the responsibility of society to impart education and morals.  As we know the youth who lose their way by facebook, whatsup, internet, Skype, Twitter, Vchat etc, we feel insecure.  Let us find the needs of minds in order to know the wealth of humanity and grow value based minds living in harmony”, said Dr Alva.

Sangha02BF13apr2014

The programme presided by Sangha president Jaya N Shetty was inaugurated by Vidyavihar Sri Ambika Adinatheshwara Mahaganapathi temple chief priest Vedamurthi Pernankila Haridas Bhat by lighting the lamp.

Bantara Sangha president C A Shankara B Shetty, Vice president Karnire Vishwanatha Shetty and former president of Bhandari Maha Mandal Kadandale Suresh S Bhandary and others were present as guests of honor.

The Sangha develops the minds of Kannadiga’s by literature acquaintance.  It is praiseworthy to see the contribution to the language. The programme of the blind group has added music to the programme and made us see the inner eyes of the blind, said Pernankila Haridas Bhat.

Shanker Shetty spoke that the thoughts of Alva are his too.  Though there are many educational institutions, the ones that make the children grow are handful, he said.

“I have arrived at the Chembur Karnataka Sangha institute in the past also. However the institute has grown and has changed the appearance of the surroundings”, opined Karnire Vishwanatha Shetty.

Suresh Bhandary spoke saying that felicitation to Mohan Alva is like felicitating the culture.  Alva who has grown as a human being with all the good qualities is more valuable than Kannada jewel.  Alva is a talent who materializes the dreams that are not possible by us, said Bhandary.

The institute which has been teaching Kannada, plans to start law courses which is a great project.  It will materialize with the goodwill of people who value education, said Jaya Shetty, in his presidential address.

Senior teacher Y G Shetty was awarded annual excellent teacher award that is given to teachers for their contribution and Subbayya Shetty charity award was given to social worker S K Sunder.  The recipients spoke and thanked for the felicitation.

Sangha vice president Advocate H K Sudhakar, Tresurer Yogesh V Gujaran, Joint treasurer Rama Poojary, former president Prabhakar Bolar and other office bearers were present.

Sangha office bearers, working committee members Vishwanath S Shenava, Devadas K Shettigar, Ranjan Kumar R Amin, Sunder N Kotian, Madhukar G Bailur, Mohan S Kanchan, Raju B Sanil, Chandrashekar Anchan, Jaya M Shetty, Sudhakar Anchan, Sanjiv Shetty, scholars, Tulu Kannadigas and Kannada lovers were present.

The programme started with the prayer by Satish Poojary and Ganapathi adoration. Saumya Acharya presented a devotional dance.  Assistant secretary T R Shetty welcomed.  Dayasagar Chowta introduced the guests and felicitators.  Nandu Kadam and Saumya Acharya presented flower bouquets to the guests.  Honorary chief secretary Gunakara H Hegde thanked.

Akhiyonke Joronkose handicapped troupe presented entertainment programme, Suresh Poojary Irvathur presented devotional song and school children presented cultural programme.

source: http://www.daijiworld.com / DaijiWorld.com / Home> Mumbai / by Rons Bantwal – Daijiworld Media Network –  Mumbai(EP) / April 02nd, 2014

Nexus, Intel invest Rs 53 crore in ElasticBox founded by University of Mysore Engineer

Business & Economy, Nri's / Pio's, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Bangalore : 

Nexus Venture Partners  and Intel  Capital have together closed a Rs 53-crore investment in US-based cloud technology startup ElasticBox.

ElasticBox helps firms like Netflix, a TV and movie streaming service, to create, deploy and manages applications quickly and will use the funds to scale up its research and development and hire talent across Asia and Europe.

(ElasticBox helps firms…)
(ElasticBox helps firms…)

Even though cloud technology has improved how people access and use infrastructure, developing cloud-based applications is a lengthy, expensive and broken process.

“It is stuck in the dark ages, like way back in the days of bare metal,” said Ravi Srivatsav, co founder and chief executive of ElasticBox which had raised seed funding from A16Z Seed and Sierra Ventures .

The startup actually empowers the developers with preconfigured boxes that they can mix and match to create applications.

“It is similar to the way a DJ blends beats and samples to create new music. It brings Dr Dre-like creativity to enterprise application development,” said Srivatsav, a computer science engineer from University of Mysore, who co-founded the company in 2011 along with his Microsoft colleague Alberto Arias Maestro.

Experts say there have been two pivotal moments in enterprise infrastructure development: the creation and implementation of the virtual machine, and the rise of cloud services.

ElasticBox is now overhauling enterprise application development deployment and management within this cloud.

“We think this is the biggest step in cloud innovation since VMware and Amazon web services,” said Jishnu Bhattacharjee, managing director at Nexus.

Most industries like finance and pharma develop hundreds or thousands of applications internally to support business processes.

ElasticBox said it empowers these enterprises to build better applications faster.

source: http://www.articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / Home> News> Startups / by Peerazada Abrar, ET Bureau / April 03rd, 2014

First day, First Show for TAAQ

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
Thermal and a Quarter will screen their first film at B Flat this evening
Thermal and a Quarter will screen their first film at B Flat this evening

This evening, Bangalore home boys Thermal and a Quarter are all set to show their very first movie. It is titled WFW/DFD, and will be screened at B Flat, Indiranagar at 9 pm.

Bruce Lee Mani, the frontman, gives us a devilish laugh before telling us he cannot reveal the meaning behind the title. “You might find out when you watch the movie, even though it’s not explicitly spelt out. But you just might,” he teases.

“It’s a very simple movie. It’s not a full length feature film, it’s neither fiction nor a documentary. It basically aims to showcase the work of artistes and their life, what it’s like to be in this line of work,” he explains.

He says artistes are constantly questioned by people who tell them it’s not a real job they are doing, and they will never make any money. “Basically, the film is about making a life in the arts and what it does to you,” Bruce says.

40 days in UK

The movie has been almost entirely shot in the UK, while the band was touring last year, doing 30 gigs there in 40 days. While the movie was directed by the band, the man behind the lens was the band’s close friend and publicity photographer, Harmit Singh.

“He traveled along with us and shot footage every day. We didn’t really anticipate a movie to come out of it. But once we were back, and we looked through the footage, we realised we had something. The experience of the festival motivated us into doing this,” he says.

The band has no clue what they’ll do with the 30-minute movie after this Saturday, but they plan to find out along the way.

The screening will be followed by a gig, featuring quite a few covers. “The gig is also connected to the movie in some way. We’re going to play some obscure songs by well known bands and then some obscure songs by some obscure bands,” informs Bruce.

The gig will featue an addition to the three man group, with Ramanan Chandramouli, from the now defunct band The Bicycle Days, taking on guitar duties.

WFW/DFD, B Flat, Indiranagar, 6.30 pm

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore / by Shyama Krishnan Kumar – Bangalore / April 05th, 2014

Medical Clinic Chain Funded

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, Uncategorized, World Opinion

United States

Bangalore-based Modern Family Doctor Pvt. Ltd., which runs a 25 primary healthcare clinics and pharmacies in Bangalore and Pune, has secured a second round of investment of Rs. 24 crore ($4 million) from Bamboo Finance, with participation by existing investor Saama Capital.

“The lack of good primary healthcare is very apparent in India because hospital outpatient departments are flooded with patients, 70% of whose needs are primary in nature but they have no other option,” said Naresh Malhotra, CEO and founder of MFD. “Going to a hospital means travel, time, inconvenience, exposure to infections and higher expense.”

The former CEO of the Café Coffee Day chain, Malhotra was an operating partner at Sequoia Capital India. MFD, which received $2 million in a first round from Saama Capital, plans to use the funds to expand to more than 100 clinics. “Bamboo Finance was created to support commercially viable businesses that provide access to essential products and services to underserved communities and MFD fits perfectly with our fund’s mission,” said Bamboo chief investment officer Eric Berkowitz. Nishith Desai Associates was MFD’s legal counsel for the deal.

source: http: //www.indiawest.com / IndiaWest / Home> News> Business / by Richard Springer, Staff Reporter / April 05th, 2014

Healthcare industry leaders outline vision for future of healthcare

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Mumbai :

Healthcare industry leaders gathered in the city to discuss key issues plaguing the sector and to look for solutions to deal with them.

“Healthcare is basically disease management. We should build our system from the ground up to create a new blue-print of India’s healthcare. We have over 800,000 ASHAs (Accredited Social Healthcare Activists) in India but they lack medical skills. All we have to do is to upscale their skills so that they can be the eyes and ears of the healthcare system on the ground.” He added that ASHA volunteers will be a big help in ensuring quick diagnosis of diseases and reducing the incidence of non-communicable diseases.

Dr Devi Shetty, founder & chairman of Narayana Health spoke about the acute shortage of medical specialists in the country. “While the US has 19,000 undergraduate medical seats and 32,000 PG seats, in India it is the opposite – the country has close to 50,000 undergraduate medical seats but only 14,000 PG seats,” he said.

He added, “The low number of PG seats results in a shortage of specialists. This can have terrible consequences on the ground. For example, India has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world and this is unrelated to the amount of money we spend on healthcare. The reason is that we have created a regulatory structure where only a specialist can perform certain tasks, and the country simply doesn’t produce enough of these specialists,” he said.

Shetty suggested that to tide over the problem, the country needs medical educational institutions on the line of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) in Maharashtra which would offer diploma courses in fields like anesthesia, gynecology, and pediatrics to medical graduates. “This can convert the entire 50,000 medical graduates produced in India every year into specialists who can then help reduce maternal mortality in India,” he added. “If we want to deliver better healthcare outcomes, India doesn’t require money. We only require policy changes. This will not happen till the Government looks at medical education as integral part of the country’s development.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mumbai / by Sumitra Deb Roy, TNN / March 29th, 2014

105-year-old IISc has its first formal convocation

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

Bangalore :

March 29, 2014 will go down in the history of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) as a day when a trend was set. For the first time in its 105-year’s of existence, IISc, a deemed university, held its formal convocation, where 289 students received their degrees. The amusement at the JN Tata auditorium was palpable. None was used to such an event. After all, it was a long-drawn tradition that was being overstepped.

As many as 47 students received gold medals, while 289 students got their degrees. When the institute started admitting students in 1911, it didn't award degrees but only diplomas. It was in 1958 that IISc was declared a deemed university and degrees started rolling out.
As many as 47 students received gold medals, while 289 students got their degrees. When the institute started admitting students in 1911, it didn’t award degrees but only diplomas. It was in 1958 that IISc was declared a deemed university and degrees started rolling out.

But there weren’t the usual formalities of a convocation either. No flowing robes, no flying caps, The participants wore no robes, caps did not fly up in the air, not even the trademark procession. There was no solemn air, but no resounding applause or cheers either.

While most managed to stick to the ‘white’ dress code, some didn’t bother. Looks were the last thing on their mind; One came in mundu, wearing a sunshade with green rim, but appearances did not matter.

It was celebration time for the students and the institute.

P Balram, the director of the institute, read out no annual report as is customary in any convocation. Instead, he chose to speak about the institute. “We never had a formal convocation. Periodically, students wanted it. But from the stories I have heard, the directors resisted it. Any tradition is hard to break. Our tradition has always been to work quietly, take degrees quietly, and go out into the world. Not to have a convocation was not just about modesty, it was also about the tradition. In effect, what we are carrying out is an experiment. We hope to make it more formal in the coming years,” he said.

“A convocation is about getting old students back and the faculty together. There are a lot of people outside the institute who has seen it grown. They are here. And we get to listen to a chief guest every year,” he added.

The award distribution was equally casual. For instance, at one point a gold medal fell off the ribbon to which it was tied and landed on the floor with a clink; another time, the chief guest had to tie the ribbon around the winner’s neck. The degrees too weren’t awarded personally. ; but they posed for photographs, department wise. The groups had a handful of girls each.

As many as 47 students received gold medals, while 289 students got their degrees. When the institute started admitting students in 1911, it didn’t award degrees but only diplomas. It was in 1958 that IISc was declared a deemed university and degrees started rolling out.

From the chief guest

A strong entrepreneurship culture is highly desirable in its planning. The research programmes certainly need to focus on frontier topics and at the same time be selective, thereby helping to channelize its collective energy into solving large scale problems…The Institute in a year or so has to develop a strategy and an action plan to ensure its place among the first 50 of the globally ranked educational institutions in 5 years.

K Kasturirangan, member, planning commission, government of India

“In a recent report, the author observes that many findings of research have doubtful authenticity being the result of shoddy experiment or poor analysis… The issue is a complex interplay of the anxiety to make a mark through “publish or perish” philosophy in a highly competitive field, publisher looking for catchy results and therefore reluctant to publish negative results and peer review process not adequately fool proof.”

Topper’s take

I am from West Bengal. The Howrah bridge and Victoria Memorial always fascinated me. The stint at IISc was an experience. Everybody here is motivated to work and it’s contagious. Now, I am teaching in IIT-Kharagpur and I am enjoying it.. I teach mechanics for under grads.

The interaction with them and challenging questions are fascinating.

Debarghya Chakraborty, best phd thesis in civil engineering

It’s nice that IISc is coming up with a formal convocation. Last year when I came for the convocation, I was in a pair of jeans. This time, we got a late email asking us to come in white shirts. The place where I teach now has a proper convocation. Hopefully, IISc will go to that level, for good or bad, I don’t know.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Education> News / TNN / March 30th, 2014

Art Park Bengaluru is new cultural hub

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

 Bangalore :

The city now has a new cultural adda – Art Park Bengaluru. This initiative launched by city-based contemporary artists will happen on the first Sunday of every month at the Sculpture Garden (Shilpavana) in Ravindra Kalakshetra complex on J C Road.
The first event took place on Sunday where 20 eminent local artists spent the entire day working at the venue to enable art lovers to see, appreciate and understand art. The day-long event gave artists and public a platform to engage in critical conversations to help them develop a deeper understanding of art and artists across time, location and culture.

The activities of Art Park Bengaluru are meant to introduce the local public and tourists to the many art activities that regularly take part in the city and also to bridge the gap between visual art and the public. This initiative is promoted by Samyojita Trust with financial support from the department of Kannada and Culture.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bangalore / TNN / March 31st, 2014

Online is going to disrupt offline business model: Mukesh Bansal

Business & Economy

Interview with Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Myntra

Mukesh Bansal
Mukesh Bansal

After Flipkart, another Bangalore-based e-commerce company, Myntra, has set its eyes on crossing $1 billion in annual gross sales. The Bangalore-based online fashion retailer has also decided to offer marketplace model, in addition to its existing model. In an interview with Bibhu Ranjan Mishra, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Mukesh Bansal talks about the rationale behind such moves and the new areas of opportunities. Excerpts:

You recently completed three years in fashion space . Where do you see Myntra here on?

Our focus will be on building the scale. We think 2014 and 2015 are the years when e-commerce will become mainstream. Already, e-commerce is about 0.5 per cent of retail and by end of this year, it will cross one per cent. If you compare that with organised retail, the later is only around eight per cent of the overall retail opportunities. Most of that growth in organised retail in India is happening online.

After your previous round of funding (of $50 million, led by Premji Invest ), is there any plan to raise a fresh fund?

No. For now, the earlier round will take care of the investment into growth, marketing, supply chain and technology. We’ve money for the next two years.

When most of your peers were moving to marketplace, you did not consider it. Are you moving to it because of the pressure from investors?

The decision has nothing to do with investors. It makes sense for the business. We have already saturated with the big brands; we now want to go after the small boutique brands across the country. The best way to get them on the platform is through the marketplace model. We can’t engage with them under the ‘buy and sell’ model because they have very small inventory.

Can you share the blueprint of your marketplace model?

In one year, we want to cross 1,000 boutique brands. Every city has certain local flavours, be it Lucknow, Hyderabad or Bangalore. We are reaching out to those local markets and the dominant brands to replicate local city experience in the online world.

What will be the mix of your traditional model and marketplace business in the next couple of years?

In the long term, we expect the marketplace model to contribute around 20 or a maximum of 25 per cent of our business, with the traditional ‘buy & sell’ model the rest.

Since you have your private labels , don’t you think those will face competition from boutique brands?

Their (private labels) positioning is different and the price points are also different. So, there is not much of overlap. When the whole business is growing, other brands will also grow with us. But private brands are growing at a faster rate and are priced lower, too.

You have seven private labels. What is the reason behind going so aggressively after those?

The margins they offer are much better. They also give us exclusive products, not available elsewhere; it helps create differentiation.

Have you started focusing on profit? By when do you expect to be profitable?

We are not profitable today but are continuously making progress. If we want, we can be profitable today. But that will mean we will have to stop investing in new opportunities, which is not the right for the company today. Today, we are not profitable by choice.

What is your view on the warning from some electronics goods manufacturers against buying from e-commerce companies?

Any new industry is disruptive for the existing one. Online is a powerful medium and will be disruptive for the offline business model. It will also force offline retailers to rethink their strategy. A lot of them will also start their own online models. It is going in the expected direction.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies / by Bhibu Ranjan Mishra / Bangalore – April 02nd, 2014

Plan to develop Hubli-Dharwad as design, printing hub

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Bangalore :  

Efforts are on to develop Hubli-Dharwad as a design and printing hub.

The twin cities are on the development path with many micro, small and medium industries creating job opportunities for youths in the region, and design and printing is one such sector.

“As printing and design industry is slowly and firmly getting established in the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad. We plan to develop it a hub,” said D Chandrashekhar, Director MSME Hubli, after inaugurating a seminar on ‘Design Awareness Seminar’ organised jointly by the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, MSME, Hubli, and Hubli Print Cluster under NID’s Design Clinic scheme.

Chandrashekhar further said the Central Government had launched various schemes and projects, including subsidies and financial assistance to promote industrial growth in the country. “It is offering 70 per cent subsidy for industry development activities. As a result of the Centre’s stress on industrial growth, several industrial clusters have come up in the State to cater to the needs of growers of specific farm produces and industrial products. ”

Speaking on the occasion, BVBCET CTE Director, Nithin Kulkarni, said though there were a lot of opportunities for growth in the twin cities, majority of youths were migrate to metro cities. Establishing more and more industries and creating job opportunities is the only solution to this problem.

Kulkarni using latest technologies to boost industrial production is one area the young entrepreneurs should look at. Youths should make use of government facilities such as subsidy, financial assistance and skill development programmes, to launch their own ventures to come up in life.

NID South Zone Project Officer, Pratapmurthy GV, said the liberalisation and globalisation poses a challenge to small and micro industries. But small and micro industrialists should determine to face the challenges effectively by supplying goods that match the best standards.

The Centre had been offering several schemes to medium, small and micro industrialists to upgrade their knowledge and technology to keep pace with the changing times.

Resource persons Shandilya Sushilkumar, Prabuddha Dasgupta, Satish Nayak, Vinayak Munipalli and Girish Joshi, President, Hubli Print Cluster, were present. More than 70 delegates participated in the programme.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> News> National / The Hindu Bureau / Bangalore – March 30th, 2014

Bidar abounds in wildlife

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Travel
Diverse fauna B V Prakash finds a sizeable population of blackbucks in the plains of blackbucks roaming freelyin the wild together witha variety of birds, foxes, porcupines and hares.
BidarBF08apr2014

The northern part of the state is generally considered to be a dry belt, devoid of water bodies, vegetation and wildlife. But the surroundings of Bidar, the northern most district, seems to be an exception. 
For not only a few large reservoirs like the Karanja are around, but pockets of sparsely wooded forests are found fairly well in these parts.The vast grasslands and the wooded country are home to blackbucks and a plethora of bird species.
After Ranebennur Blackbuck Sanctuary in Haveri district and Jayamangali Blackbuck Conservation Reserve in Tumkur district, a sizeable population of blackbucks is found in the plains of Bidar as I learnt during a recent visit here.
Apart from sighting free roaming blackbucks in the wild, one can also spot a good variety of birds, some rare species at that.Some smaller animals like the fox, porcupine, black-naped hare and wild boars add to the diverse fauna.
The weather was fair and the sky, a clear blue as I arrived after an exhaustive train journey of 18 hours.
As the drive to the grasslands to sight the blackbucks was slated for the afternoon, lunch and rest was the only immediate occupation.
However, I utilised the time to take a walk around and familiarise with the place.
Abundant greenery
Situated near a small village called Khanapur at about 16 km west of Bidar, the location itself is in a scenic surrounding with a gently forested hill to the east gradually sloping towards west to the brink of a beautiful blue lake.
Called Vilaspur tank after the village nearby, it is an expansive reservoir built for the purpose of drinking and irrigation.
With a chain of not so tall hillocks on the other side, the lake is almost hidden.
The afternoon safari took off in right earnest with Nipun, the enthusiastic manager joining me for the drive.
It was not just a driver but a well-informed naturalist as I learnt during the safari. Passing through the town, we drove southward to a vast field of grassy meadows.
The terrain with undulating ups and downs, abundant grass and bushes and a small tank is quite ideal for the blackbucks.
The far side of the plains is walled off by the air force station which being out of bounds for visitors, has become a boon for the these animals to roam around freely.
As we drove into the fields, we could see groups of blackbucks like tiny specks from the distance.

But the first denizen that we bumped into was the Indian fox, which is a rare sighting here.

When the fox felt our presence was not too comfortable, it galloped away into the bushes.

Driving further we were more closer to the blackbucks.
They usually wander in groups of 10 to 30 or even more with one or two males in charge of the  herd.
The males have a pair of antlers and are dark brownish and black.
The females are light fawn coloured and smaller in size.
It was a surprise for me to know that the blackbucks are native only to the Indian subcontinent.
The blackbucks once roamed freely all over the plains of India but their numbers reduced drastically with excessive hunting and encroachment of their habitat for agriculture and industry.
However, categorising blackbucks as ‘near threatened species’ by International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2003, has come as a blessing and their population seems to have stabilised to some extent.
We drove along several herds of them, grazing, strolling or sparring before spotting a rare bird, the Indian Courser.The following morning we went out for a nature walk amidst the nature.The bird-life here is pretty good with scores of green bee eaters, robins, sunbirds and red vented bulbuls.

But the best sighting was that of the white-browed bulbul.

The evening was spent on a coracle ride spotting more birds.
As ducks, cormorants and kingfishers  passed by, a panoramic sunset marked the end of the day.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Spectrum / by B V Prakas / DHNS / April 08th, 2014