Category Archives: Records, All

A spelling bee with a difference

Education, Records, All, Sports
Winners of the spelling bee contest: (from left) Bindu Shree (3rd place), Sandhya (2nd place), Archana N.S. (1st place), Syed Arbaz (4th place), and Vishwanath R. (5th place). / The Hindu
Winners of the spelling bee contest: (from left) Bindu Shree (3rd place), Sandhya (2nd place), Archana N.S. (1st place), Syed Arbaz (4th place), and Vishwanath R. (5th place). / The Hindu

The air is thick with tension as students from 23 schools across the city struggle to get their words right.

“How do you spell Gemini?” a judge asks Preethy of Madivala Government High School. She hesitates and asks for a Kannada translation, then proceeds to answer correctly, amid loud claps and cheers.

It was the sixth year that Sahasra Deepika International for Education (SDIE) was holding a spelling bee competition for Class 9 students of Kannada-medium government high schools across the city.

It is unique in many ways: the students do not come from top private schools and many cannot speak English beyond constructing basic sentences. As many as 92 students were drawn from 23 schools as part of a programme to impart English grammar and vocabulary skills among Kannada-medium students. They performed admirably, tackling words from ‘celebration’ and ‘vague’ to ‘heliocentric’ and ‘echinodermata’. The winning word was ‘chorus’.

“We want to give these children an opportunity to be on stage, and to gain confidence through such competitions,” says Vijayalakshmi Ramakrishnan, founder and treasurer of the SDIE. “Some of these kids have never celebrated a birthday. Some do not get English textbooks until the end of the school year.”

The goal is to try to ensure that these children do not feel left out, she says, pointing out that without a working knowledge of English, the children have little chance of getting jobs in the future.

The winners of the event are: Archana, Krishna Iyer School; Sandhya, Honnagonahatti Government High School; Bindu Shree, Honnagonahatti High School; Syed Arbaz, Fort High School, and Vishwanath Doddagolarahatti Government High School.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Cinthya Anand /Bengaluru – February 01st, 2015

Techies to help make digitised Kannada books accessible

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

WikiBF01feb2015

They will also create 5,000 Kannada Wiki pages based on these books

Hyderabad-based Osmania University Digital Library has 2,133 digitised Kannada books, but they are not easy to access because their titles are not listed in the Kannada script.

Three young techies from Karnataka — Om Shivaprakash H.L., Pavithra Hanchagaiah and Devaraj K. — are now setting right this anomaly by not only transliterating the titles and names of authors and publishers into the Kannada script, but also embarking on creating 5,000 Kannada Wiki pages related to these books. The trio has created a crowd-sourcing platform called ‘Samooha Sanchaya’ (http://samooha.sanchaya.net) to get help from people to transliterate, so that the work can be completed faster.

In the next phase, the team is planning to take up a similar project with 3,335 Kannada books in the Digital Library of India, a total of 7,19,327 pages.

“We hope to enhance the reachability of digitised books and also add value to Kannada Wikipedia by contributing Wiki pages,” says Mr. Shivaprakash, who heads the team. Along with this, the team is also launching its own book site ‘Pustaka Sanchaya’ (http://pustaka.sanchaya.net) in a few days which hopes to provide exhaustive bibliographic information.

Mr. Shivaprakash says that access is a problem across languages in digitised libraries. “In all existing digitised projects, they have not taken care of the accessibility of regional language books. They should have got the book names indexed in the respective languages,” he says. “We can help people do the same exercise in other languages if they need help in making books easier to search and find.”

The same team has put together Vachana literature of the 12th Century and Dasa literature on an online platform designed to help researchers.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Bageshree S / Bengaluru – February 01st, 2015

Natl. workshop on ‘ Reviving the Indian Intellectual Tradition ‘ from tomorrow

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

Mysuru :

A three-day National Workshop on ‘Reviving the Indian Intellectual Tradition’ has been organised by Samkriti Foundation at Rama Mandira Hall in Krishnamurthypuram from Jan. 26 to 28.

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Bengaluru Chairman N. Ramanuja will inaugurate the Seminar on Jan. 26 at 6.30 pm. Researcher Chittaranjan Naik will be the chief guest and Samkriti Foundation President Prof. M.A. Lakshmithathachar will preside over the inaugural.

Academic Sessions on Jan. 27 will feature paper presentation by Vid. Gangadhar V. Bhat, James Boag, Dr. K.S. Kannan and Dr. Chittaranjan Naik, Dr. M.A. Narasimhan, Dr. N.S. Govindarajan, Dr. H.L. Chandrashekhar and Prof. M.A. Lakshmithathachar. Prof. S.K. Kiran Kumar and Prof. Chittaranjan Naik will chair the sessions.

On Jan. 28, Academic Sessions will feature paper presentation from Vid. Umakant Bhat, Vid. H.V. Nagaraja Rao, Dr. S.K. Kiran Kumar, Retd. Prof. of Psychology, Dr. Mukundan Cadambi, Chennai, V. Lakshminarayanan, Director, Vishvakshema Trust, Mysore and Dr. M.A. Alwar, Asst. Professor, Maharaja Sanskrit College, Mysuru. The session will be chaired by Prof. M.A. Lakshmithathachar.

Panel Discussion and Valedictory Session will be held at 4.30 pm on Jan. 28, according to a press release.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / January 25th, 2015

Women Steal the Show

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All

Bengaluru :

It wasn’t only in Delhi that women took centre stage during the Republic Day celebrations.

While the all-women’s contingents of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force stole the show at the Republic Day parade in Delhi,  Bengaluru girls also won many accolades in the Republic Day march past here.

The accomplishment could not have been more timely, considering that this year, the theme for the celebration is women’s empowerment.

The CRPF women’s team headed by Usha Shetty won second place in the march past in group one while the NCC girls and the Civil Defence girls’ teams won first and third place respectively in group three. The NCC girls’ team was headed by Ranjita Raj G while the Civil Defence team was headed by Pavithra Raghu. In group four too, two of the prizes were won by teams led by women, including SARS Carmel School (first) led by Hima Gowri and SARS Florence Public School (third) led by Bindushree. In group four, the first and second place was won by women-led teams, including Asha P of BMS College Ranger School and Gayatri Prabhakaran of Alpine Public School.

“The most difficult part was moving our hands and feet together with those beside and in front of us,” said Himashree, who participated in the march past.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> City> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / January 27th, 2015

M’luru professor wins award for scientific work on ferns

Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All
Dr Smitha Hegde
Dr Smitha Hegde

Dr Smitha Hegde, associate professor, department of post-graduate studies and research in biotechnology, St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, has been awarded the Professor SS Bir gold medal in Pteridology for her scientific work towards advancement of science in the area of ferns.

The award was recently handed over by Dr PS Ahuja, director general, Council of Industrial Research (CSIR) and Dr SP Khullar, secretary treasurer of Indian Fern Society at the National Conference on ‘Modern Approaches to Pteridophytes: Biology, Biodiversity and Bioresource’ at the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur.

Dr Hegde is currently screening ferns of the Western Ghats region, particularly the Kudremukh National Park region, for their capacity of hyper accumulation of heavy metals. She said, “As a first step, a field guide has been written reporting 38 ferns of the region.
Simultaneously, I am undertaking a project on DNA fingerprinting of ferns of the region to confirm the identity of selected ferns of the region.” She has developed a technique of encapsulating sporophytes produced in vitro as ‘Protocorm-like bodies’ in Alginate beads to enable transportation of the in vitro produced planting material to the field with minimum shock and damage, thus producing the first ‘Synthetic seeds’ for ferns in 1995.

She worked on (Cyathea spp) tree ferns of the Western Ghats for post-doctoral studies .

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> News> State / by Deepthi Sanjiv, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / January 12th, 2015

State-level milking contest : Bengaluru cow owners rule the roost

Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All, Sports

Lakshman Hogebandi’s cow bags first place, yields 43.35 kg milk

Actor Darshan is seen after presenting the first prize to Lakshman Hogebandi (with garland) of Bengaluru at the State-level milking contest organised by the Mysuru City Cow Owners Association at J.K. Grounds in city on Sunday as Mayor R. Lingappa, Hotelier Sandesh of Sandesh the Prince, Hunsur MLA H.P. Manjunath, former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar and others look on.
Actor Darshan is seen after presenting the first prize to Lakshman Hogebandi (with garland) of Bengaluru at the State-level milking contest organised by the Mysuru City Cow Owners Association at J.K. Grounds in city on Sunday as Mayor R. Lingappa, Hotelier Sandesh of Sandesh the Prince, Hunsur MLA H.P. Manjunath, former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar and others look on.

 

Mysuru :

Cow owners from Bengaluru dominated the State-level Milking contest organised by the Mysuru City Cow Owners Association in memory of late actor Thoogudeepa Srinivas at J.K. Grounds here on Sunday by bagging all the five prizes that were at stake.

Lakshman Hogebandi of Beguru in Bengaluru won the first prize of Rs. 1 lakh cash and a two-kg silver lamp, by milking a total of 43.35 kg milk in two sessions.

Nagaraj of Chandapura Circle, Anekal taluk, bagged the second prize of Rs. 75,000 cash and silver articles weighing 1 kg, by milking a total 41.2 kg, while M.G. Somanna of Nettakallappa Circle, Basavanagudi, won the third prize (Rs. 50, 000 cash and 1 kg silver articles) by milking a total of 40.30 kg milk.

C. Chowdappa of Padarayanapura won the fourth prize (Rs. 25,000 cash and 1 kg silver article) by milking 39.80 kg of milk and Gagan Reddy of Nirmal Milk Suppliers, Lalbagh West, Basavanagudi, womn the fifth prize (RS. 20,000 cash and 1 kg silver article) by milking 37.9 kg of milk.

More than 25 cow owners from Mysuru, Bengaluru, Hassan and other districts took part in the contest. Cine actor Darshan Toogudeepa gave away the prizes.

Hunsur MLA H.P. Manjunath, Mayor R. Lingappa, Cauvery-CADA Chairman C. Dasegowda, Hotelier Sandesh and other dignitaries were felicitated on the occasion.

Former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar, Corporator D. Nagabushan, former MDCC Bank President C. Basavegowda, Congress leader Siddaraju, Cow Ownwers Association President Desigowda, actor Dhruva Keerthi, Veterinary Department Deputy Director Dr. Devadas and others were present on the occasion.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Tuesday – January 27th, 2015

City Cops get President’s Medal

Records, All
1. Ravindra. 2) Aiyanna
1. Ravindra. 2) Aiyanna

Mysuru :

Two Policemen from the city are among the 20 cops from the State, who have been conferred President’s Police Medal for meritorious service on the occasion of Republic Day yesterday.

Also, four other Police Officers from the State were conferred with the President’s medal for distinguished service.

B.M. Ravindra and N.U. Aiyanna, both Head Constables at 5th Battalion, KSRP Mysuru, are the city cops who have been conferred the Medal.

B.M. Ravindra, originally hailing from Napoklu in Madikeri Taluk, has been serving in the Department for over 30 years while Aiyanna, who hails from Kushalnagar in Kodagu district, is associated with the Department for over 34 years.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Tuesday – January 27th, 2015

Malpe UHC switches to solar power in a first for India

Green Initiatives / Environment, Records, All, Science & Technology

Manipal :

Urban Health Centre in Malpe, about 10 kilometres from here, became a solar powered clinic on Wednesday. Srinivas Prasad, CEO Philips Innovation campus, Bengaluru inaugurated the solar facility provided by Philips at a simple function. It is a first of its kind in India. Started in 1967 by Dr T M A Pai, the Centre provides maternal and child health services and also takes care of general ailments of people in the region.

The centre under administrative care of department of community medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal recently started screening activities for oral, breast and cervix cancers with support from Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. With ever-increasing work at the clinic, need for uninterrupted power supply became imperative.

The solar energy which became operational on Wednesday will greatly help to improve patient care.

In view of urgency and importance of having uninterrupted power in the clinic, Manipal University and Philips signed a memorandum of understanding for the pilot project. The Centre will henceforth not depend on electricity to run appliances. This innovation by Philips is a centralized solar DC grid, which reduces dependency on grid power and contributes towards green energy. The solar solution provided in Malpe Clinic consists of 6 KWp solar panels.

It is expected to generate on an average nearly 12 units per day, and the consumption of the Malpe clinic is around 8 units per day presently. Srinivas Prasad, a former Karnataka Ranji Trophy player said, “We are associated with Manipal University for over a decade now. So we decided to do this project with the University first. This initiative can serve as a model solution which can be replicated in tier 2 and tier 3 cities and rural areas across the country.”

Pramod Madhwaraj, Udupi MLA said he was extremely happy that Philips has decided to have the pilot project in his constituency. He urged Prasad to provide solar facilities to entire state. Even Dr Vinod Bhat, Pro Vice-Chancellor urged Philips CEO to use Technology to improve villages across India, “Because we cannot depend electricity alone to fulfill the needs,” he said. Dr Veena Kamath, head of department of community medicine welcomed the gathering.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / by Jaideep Shenoy, TNN / January 22nd, 2015

Anatomy Prof Preserves Bodies of Mother, Sister in College Lab

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

Mysuru :

An anatomy professor has chosen a unique way of educating people about the need to donate bodies as well as ways to preserve them.

Dr N M Shama Sundar of JSS Medical College has preserved his mother’s body in the anatomy lab ever since she passed away five years ago. Now, he has preserved his sister’s body too. His sister, N M Nagamani (74), a

retired KSRTC employee, died some months ago, and her body now lies in an adjacent room. Sundar has used a method called plastination to preserve the bodies longer. Plastination is a technique of tissue preservation developed by Dr Gunther von Hagens in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1977.

Sundar, who is also secretary of the JSS Body Donation Association, said Nagamani and other members of his family had donated their bodies to research.

He said preserving the bodies also allowed his relatives settled abroad who could not come to India at the time of his mother’s death to later “see her”. One of Sundar’s brothers, who lives in Australia, flew down two months after the death and saw his mother’s body.

Murali Mohan, another of Sundar’s brothers and a retired deputy chief engineer at Kolar gold mines, said he visits the lab whenever he feels like seeing his mother and sister.

Six of Sundar’s nephews and nieces who live abroad could not make it when his mother died. They came after many months, he said.

The Brahmin family did not perform any death rites for the two bodies. “My mother was against religious rituals,” Sundar told Express.

He said the proximity of two bodies of close relatives does not affect his work in the lab. He said his gesture had inspired several others to pledge their bodies.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Vincent D’Souza / January 25th, 2015

Konkan Railways’ Ro-Ro turns 16

Business & Economy, Records, All

Mangaluru :

This Republic Day, the innovative Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) service of Konkan Railway will complete 16 years of successful operation.

The Ro-Ro service has earned Konkan Railway Rs 53.31 crore in 2014-15 up to December as compared to Rs 47.4 crore in corresponding period in the previous year. More than 40,000 trucks were carried through Ro-Ro service in 2014-15 up to December.

Konkan Railways came up with the innovative Ro-Ro service service in 1999 whereby loaded goods trucks are carried piggy back on railway flat wagons. This service is unique only to Konkan Railways.

The popularity of the service can be seen from the fact that about four lakh goods trucks have been carried by this service in the past 16 years. The service has helped the railways get back the piecemeal traffic which had got diverted to the road sector.

The service benefits truck owners as well as the railways, while saving precious diesel for the country. It saves wear and tear of tyres, reduces maintenance cost of trucks, enables faster delivery of goods and gives higher profits. The service has also helped decongest the national highway and gives a hassle-free ride to truck drivers.

There are two Ro-Ro services-one between Kolad (145 km from Mumbai) and Verna (a distance of 417 km), and the other between Kolad and Surathkal (a distance of 721 km). The delivery is within 12 hours for Kolad-Verna, and within 22 hours for Kolad-Surathkal, which, by road, will take at least 24 hours and 40 hours, respectively.

!RPF rescued 54 minors last year !The Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Konkan Railway rescued as many as 54 children who had run away from their ho mes from January to December 2014. All the rescued children were below 15 years and were either found loitering in the statio ns on the Konkan Railway route or found travelling unaccompanied by elders in trains. Most of the rescued children were reunited with their parents and others were handed over to the child helpline. The children and their parents were also counselled by the RPF officials. During the year, RPF also seized more than 35,000 liquor bottles, valued at more than Rs 30.6 lakh, carried illegally in trains and at premises of different stations and handed these over to the State Excise department. RPF also registered 593 cases under the Railways Act against anti-social elements in the railway premises in 2014. A total fine amount of Rs 3.41 lakh was collected from the offenders. As many as 183 cigarette smoking cases were also detected and the offenders were charged a fine of Rs 36,600.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / TNN / January 25th, 2015