Global software major Infosys Ltd became the world’s first IT firm to file a sustainability report based on the latest global reporting initiative (GRI) framework, the IT bellwether said on Wednesday.
“As a value-driven company, we follow the highest levels of disclosure, besides ensuring compliance with the laws of the land.
“The sustainability report demonstrates our reporting practices and addresses expectations of our stakeholders,” the $8.3-billion company said in a statement.
GRI’s fourth generation (G4) is the widely respected sustainability reporting framework, worldwide.
Reporting as per G4 guidelines demonstrates the company’s commitment to advocate the adoption of integrated reporting practices globally.
The company’s integrated reporting framework provides synergy between its economic, social and environmental strategies, action plans and desired outcomes.
“The framework has helped us achieve our sustainability goals, reducing per capita electricity and fresh water consumption by 44 per cent and 35 per cent during the last fiscal (2013-14),” the statement said.
The company’s sustainability efforts have recently won gold at the Ashden awards in London, considered the Green Oscars, for its achievements in building energy efficiency.
The company also contributed to the well being of local communities through various projects undertaken by its foundation.
source: http://www.ibnlive.in.com / IBN Live / Home> News / IANS / Bangalore – July 02nd, 2014
‘Beeja Jathre,’ a festival of seeds and grains will be held at Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry in city on July 5 and 6 under the aegis of Sahaja Samrudha.
Farmers and consumers can apprise themselves of nearly 1,500 indigenous varieties of seeds, of which more than 900 will be of different varieties of paddy, said G. Seema of Sahaja Samrudha and State Coordinator of Save Our Rice Movement here yesterday.
Krishnaprasad, founder of Sahaja Samrudha, said that more than 50 groups of seed conservators from all over South India will participate and showcase at least 35 varieties of ragi, 50 varieties of brinjal and more than 900 varieties of rice.
In addition, indigenous delicacies made of organic products will be displayed and also sold during the festival.
This is the first such seed fest being held in Mysore, and on the occasion, the organisers will felicitate some farmers who have taken up seed conservation.
The festival will be inaugurated by Zilla Panchayat CEO P.A. Gopal. A book titled “Beeja Bangara” authored by G.S. Jayadeva of Deenabandhu Trust will be released on the occasion.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / July 03rd,2014
Mysore city is blessed in more ways than many other cities of South India. Its location is ideal. An imposing hill with a temple of Goddess Chamundeshwari. River Cauvery flows just 12 kms away. River Kabini is just 35 kms away. A green cover all around with a salubrious climate. Even summer is forgotten as fast as one started complaining of the heat with the monsoon setting in by May end.
If these are nature’s bounty bestowed on our city, providence too has been kind with the Wadiyar dynasty ruling the Kingdom of Mysore with this city as its capital. And blessed are the people because the Kings who ruled after 1800 AD have all been good kings with most of them being patrons of art, literature and music. And during the long reign of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV the Kingdom became a Rama Rajya as Gandhiji called it and the King himself was a Rajarishi. Philosopher-king. It was this king who ruled the kingdom with the help of renowned Dewans [Prime Ministers]. One among them was Sir Mirza Ismail.
For some years I was a member of ‘Freemasons,’ sort of secret club known as The Grand Lodge of India, Lodge Mysore. Recently I was going through its publication known as ‘The Square and Compasses’ and was intrigued to find the name of Sir Mirza Ismail being mentioned in it in glowing terms just as his work in Mysore was much appreciated.
His name was mentioned in connection with the problems the ruler and administrators faced in the Kingdom of Jaipur, Rajasthan, from vested groups. The situation was similar to what happened during the building of the Great Temple in Jerusalem after Jews were freed from their Babylonian captivity after 70 years of exile.
It appears during the year of exile of Jews, there was no government of any kind in the country and many outlaws, murderers, debtors and others with dubious characters from neighbouring countries came and settled in the Jewish country, specially in the city of Jerusalem. These people resented the arrival of Jews, from their Babylonian exile, trying to restore law and order. There was daily strife between the two warring sides which compelled the labourers at the temple area literally to work with the ‘trowel in hand and sword by the side.’ This, of course, has become part of the traditional ritual in the Freemason ceremony.
Recalling this historic ancient incident, the report in the magazine connects it to an incident in modern times. It says, “In our own times, we have heard of Sir Mirza Ismail — Special Officer entrusted with the task of beautification of the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan. With undaunted courage and determination, he went on with pulling down dozens of houses as per his masterplan without fear or favour, even those of big and influential citizens who naturally tried to oppose his doings.”
No wonder the grateful citizens of Jaipur named a major road after Sir Mirza Ismail. Now compare this with ourselves. Is there a road named after this great Dewan of Mysore Sir Mirza Ismail? I don’t know. Is there a road named after Sir M. Visveswaraya? I do not know. Yes, someone told me there indeed is a Mirza Road but it does not run even a km length in Nazarbad. In Jaipur, I have seen Sir Mirza Ismail Road, a double road, running to a few km length in keeping with his stature. Yes, there is also one inconspicuous Circle named after Sir MV ! Could they not have a statue of Sir MV there just like the other two statues of Maharajas?
Incidentally, the message from the Grand Master Most Worshipful Brother Vasudev J. Masurekar, OSM, has the opening paragraph that takes you to 2nd century BC and then brings you to 2014 AD. It speaks of Delphic Oracle in Greece where I had been about five years back, hence my interest. The Grand Master says:
The temple of Apollo at Delphi, built in the 2nd century BC, has three phrases carved into the stone. First is, “Know thyself,” second “Nothing in excess” and the third is “Make a pledge and mischief is nigh.”
These three statements have made the Oracle of Delphi famous universally.
All the three statements are profound and impacts on every individual’s life. Because we do not try to know ourselves, we delude ourselves as someone that we are not. Buddha has taught us to follow the golden path, the middle path. Nothing in excess. Neither more nor less. The third statement is rather complex. No wonder over the centuries there have been many interpretations of these words and debates by philosophers and scholars.
However, let me venture to interpret the third statement in the light, nay in the dim light, of my own wisdom. It says, “Make a Pledge and Mischief is Nigh.” These are the days where politicians in our democratic country keep making pledges, from swearing on our Constitution, to protect and preserve it, to provide a good administration and infrastructure. But, our experience has been that they seldom keep their pledge. That is why I interpret this statement to mean, ‘when you make a pledge, you are near a mischief.’ You are upto some mischief! Read politician in the place of you. Howzzat?
e-mail: kbg@starofmysore.com
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Abracadabra….Abracadabra / by K.B. Ganapathy / July 02nd, 2014
Veena, the beneficiary of Lions Club’s donation of an autorickshaw, is seen overwhelmed with emotion in front of the gifted autorickshaw along with her mother Lakshmamma.
Mysore :
The first woman auto driver in city, Veena, was all smiles today as she got an autorickshaw from Lions Club of Mysore Heritage City at a function organised at the premises of Mangalore Motors on Dewan’s Road here today.
The Lions Club, which felicitated Veena during Women’s Day celebrations recently, had agreed to get her an autorickshaw and the keys of the same were handed over to Veena by Kiran Bolar, Proprietor of Mangalore Motors and President of Lions Club of Mysore Heritage City.
Speaking to Star of Mysore, Veena, 39, mother of two daughters, said that she was deserted by her husband 10 years ago and was living with her mother since then. She said that she was unable to eke out a livelihood by driving a rented auto and was now happy to have one of her own.
When asked about the behaviour of male auto drivers with her, she said that they were very cordial and had no qualms.
Club Vice-President C.H. Mallepura, Secretary Gangadharappa, Treasurer K.S. Kumar and Veena’s mother Lakshmamma were present.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / July 02nd, 2014
Karnataka’s top ranked chess player from city, IM M.S. Thejkumar of South Western Railways, won Chaturya 1st Satara FIDE Rating Open Rapid Chess Tournament 2014 held at Satara on June 28 and 29.
Thejkumar, sponsored by M/S.Saanvi Technologies, USA and www.mysoresport.com had an unbeaten record in the tournament and with his performance in this tournament has added 6.3 points to his present rating of 2446.
Thejkumar won his last round match against Soham Dattar of Pune and won a cash prize of Rs.15,000 along with a trophy.
He had wins over Dalal Ambar Abhay of Goa, Mokashi Rohit of Sangli, L. Saurabh of Nagpur, Gopal Rathod of Sholapur, Bhambhure Shantanu of Pune, S. Bartakke Amardeep, Kulkarni Rakesh and Soham Dattar. He drew his lone game against WFM Pujari Rucha of Kholapur.
Bhambure Shantanu of Pune finished second with 7.5 points and was followed by Kulkarni Rakesh (7.5 pts), WHM Pujari Rucha and B. Amardeep of Railways with 7 points each.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com/ Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / July 01st, 2014
The Administrative Training Institute (ATI), Mysore, is emerging as one of the premier training institute in the country by augmenting the infrastructure and training facilities in the last three years.
In order to place ATI Mysore and streamline the Training activities, ATI had applied for ISO 9001:2008 Certification and all the process have been completed.
A team under the leadership of Rajesh Iyer and 4 members TUV InterCert SAAR IndiaPvt. Ltd. visited ATI on June 17 to assess and audit the Institute as per the ISO norms and standards for recommending ATI, Mysore for ISO 9001:2008 certification.
The team has appreciated the efforts of ATI in imparting training to Officers of the Government of Karnataka and also for other States.
The team also visited State Institute for Urban Development (SIUD) and Abdul Nazir Sab State Institute of Rural Development (ANSSIRD) which are located in the same premises. The team was pleased with the Audit and compliance of ATI, ANSSIRD and SIUD to qualify for ISO Certification.
Based on the team’s report, ATI, ANSSIRD and SIUD, Mysore have received the ISO 9001:2008 Certification in Design of Training, Preparation of Reading Material, Impart of Training and Provide Work related Input to Government Officers deputed for training for 3 years. The certificate was formally received by Dr. Amita Prasad, Director-General, ATI, yesterday from the representative of TUV InterCert Saar India Pvt. Ltd (Group of TUV Saarland Regulation).
source: http://www.starofmysore.com/ Star of Mysore / Home> General News / July 01st, 2014
Chief Editor B A Viveka Rai, flanked by associate editors Muddu Moodbelle (right) and Vaman Nandavar at the Mangalore Darshana project office in Mangalore | RAJESH SHETTY BALLALBAGH
Mangalore :
A team of erudite scholars, at the behest of Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim, began work on a gigantic project chronicling 2,000 years of Mangalore’s history.
The 1,000-page ‘Mangalore Darshana,’ to be published in two volumes, will highlight plurality of Mangalore, Chief Editor of Mangalore Darshana, Prof B A Viveka Rai said.
The book begins from Christian era where Roman geographer Claudius Ptolemy mentions the Netravathy river. Govinda Pai in one of his works also quotes Ptolemy, said Rai.
From Alupa dynasty, the first kings who ruled Mangalore from sixth century to 14th century, the narration will cover arrival of Portuguese in 1526, rise of Hyder Ali and beginning of British rule in Mangalore from 1799 onwards.
Information available in travelogues of Abdul Razak (a Persian ambassador who visited Mangalore in 1132 AD), Scottish doctor Francis Buccaneer (who visited Mangalore in 1801), is being utilised to liven up the account.
Rai said a sea trader Abraham Ben Yaju’s account of his stay in Mangalore, including being married to a local woman Ashur, his metal industry, lifestyle from 1132 to 1149 which was in old Arabic was translated to English two years ago.
People from different parts of world, including Jews, came and settled in Mangalore. Before Islam became an institution country wide, many in Mangalore were converted to Islam, he said.
Archives on Mangalore
Besides history, geography, geology, epigraphy, socio-cultural development in the region, the unique influence of natha cult, transport, media, industries, administration, heritage buildings, sports, visit of Gandhiji, Tagore, hotels and more will be included in Darshana, associate editors Vaman Nandavar and Muddu Moodbelle said.
On their approach, Rai said discussions were still in formative stages. “The framework, strategies keep changing, but we have a vision and know what needs to be done,” he said.
Chronicling history is nothing new to Prof Rai. While serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University, he chronicled 50 years of the state’s history.
As the V-C of Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), he initiated work on chronicling history of Mysore and his successor published Mysore Darshana in four volumes.
It was his work in Mysore Darshana that was noticed by Ibrahim.
“The DC asked us to complete Mangalore Darshana within a year and most importantly spared us a headache of maintaining accounts,” he said.
Unlike anything before they had done, Mangalore Darshana project is challenging, admits Rai.
Unlike Mysore Palace, Mangalore has had no culture of maintaining archives.
A previous compilation of Mangalore’s history, ‘Sturrock Manual,’ borrowed for a doctoral thesis was never returned. “We will have to tap information outside Mangalore and India. For instance we will be at Asiatic Society of India in Kolkata to know about plants,” Rai said.
“I am lucky for the fact that I have good network of scholars who will not turn down my request,” he said.
The work will begin with interview of elderly residents to shed light on life in bygone era. Next experts will contribute 100 articles of 10 pages each about Mangalore.
“We hope that an archive of Mangalore will be a byproduct of this initiative,” Rai said.
It is Payback Time
Mangalore: Prof Viveka Rai, who returned from Germany in October 2013, where he serves as guest professor, Chair of Indology, University of Wurzburg, is presently translating Basava’s vachanas to Tulu. He is bringing out a volume (300 pages) on classical Kannada in English translations with Prof C N Ramachandra. He is also working on another book, translating English grammar to Kannada which will be completed within a week. Despite being pre-occupied with close-academic work, he was still drawn to Mangalore Darshana because he loved the subject. “I have lived in Mangalore since 1968 and the city has given me everything,” he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Harsha / June 30th, 2014
Startup posterboy Mu Sigma is making its first acquisition by buying Singapore-based social media analytics company Webfluenz. The Bangalore company, which is valued at $1 billion and counts Microsoft, Pfizer, and Dell among its clients, will integrate Webfluenz’s technology to create products to mine real-time intelligence from huge chunks of data.
“Webfluenz will add significantly to Mu Sigma’s products portfolio in serving our clients’ advanced needs going beyond traditional social media monitoring,” said Deepinder Dhingra, head of products and strategy at the data analytics company.
Mu Sigma, which employs around 3,500 employees, declined to reveal financial details of the deal. Investment banking firm Nine Rivers Capital was the advisor to Webfluenz, which was founded by National Institute of Design graduate Bharani Setlur and Chennai Mathematical Institute alumnus Harish Madabushi in 2010.The team created a platform to monitor, analyse and manage social media and the realtime web. “We are excited to be a part of Mu Sigma,” said Setlur, the 33-year-old chief executive officer of Webfluenz.
The firm has helped customers such as toy retailer Hamleys, Publicis Omnicom Group and Japanese advertising firm Dentsu to track and analyse social media conversations on topics or brands . The platform includes technology such as natural language processing, multi lingual text analytics and advanced algorithms for sentiment mining, according to the company.
Experts said the acquisition comes during a time when Mu Sigma, which is services firm, is trying hard to make its mark in the big data products space dominated by global players such as Palantir Cloudera and Splunk. The demand for big data analytics product companies has increased rapidly because of their ability to draw sophisticated insights from large volumes of information.
For example, US-based Palantir helped intelligence agencies eliminate terrorist financing networks and find trends in roadside bomb attacks. Its technology was also used in tracking down Osama bin Laden. This year the market for big data will reach $16.1 billion (Rs 96,000 crore), growing six times faster than the overall IT market, according to research firm IDC .
There have been 159 merger and acquisition transactions worth $1.78 billion (Rs 10,000 crore) involving Indian technology product companies since 2010, according to software product think-tank iSpirt and advisory firm Signal Hill .
source: http://www.articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / Home> News> Emerging Businesses> Startups / by Peerzada Abrar, ET Bureau / July 01st, 2014
A second year Computer Science student at SJCE in city.
Theodore Roosevelt said, ‘Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing’ and for Ashwin M. Prabhu life has offered him not just a chance to work hard at what he loves doing, but has also given him the best and costliest prize he has bagged till date — a kitty of Rs. 5 lakhs!
Meet 18-year-old Ashwin M. Prabhu from Mysore, who won the ‘Star Singer’ award in the Star Singer contest hosted by Suvarna TV, the finals of which was held on June 8. Ashwin reached the finals with two of his fellow contestants marching ahead of 14 others.
“I’m too young and it’s too early for me to speak about my achievements, as I have a long way to go. I am happy I won the contest and every opportunity like this gives me a chance to work harder and accomplish something more in the field of music,” says the youngster for whom academic excellence too comes as easy as the trophies he wins at music competitions!
A 2nd year student of Computer Science at SJCE in city, Ashwin has been a topper throughout and has no problems juggling between his studies and his passion.
Winning the title was good but what was more heartening and gave him a sense of achievement was when the legendary singer S. Janaki, who was the judge for the finals, was so impressed with Ashwin’s singing that she walked up to the dais and hugged him! “It was very overwhelming for me to be appreciated thus by a singer of her stature…That was an award by itself!” says Ashwin who never failed to impress the other two judges — well-known singer Vijay Prakash and Music Director Giridhar Dewan — throughout the contest.
Starting his music lessons with his first guru S. Ratna, Ashwin learnt Karnatak classical under Vid. C. A. Sridhar and Gamaka vocal with Shubha Raghavendra. He is now training for senior-level in Karnatak music under Vid. R. S. Nandakumar.
With a sound base in classical music, Ashwin’s love for Sugam Sangeeth was kindled by the well-known singer late Raju Ananthaswamy. Raju, who had his own inimitable style of singing, encouraged Ashwin to sing more of songs in the sugam sangeet genre. Music has no boundaries and Ashwin is into all genres of singing today, making him a versatile singer.
“Raju Sir was an embodiment of talent as a singer and a presenter. One needs to learn from him the art of presenting songs in the sugam sangeet genre where lyrics are the real show stealers. He used to bring alive the sentiments of the poets so well that it would reach out to a listener who knew nothing about music too,” reminisces Ashwin who tries hard to follow in his master’s foot-steps. He has accompanied Raju in many music programmes.
Winning has become almost a habit for Ashwin ever since he started participating in contests since the age of 6. Among several prizes and titles that he has won, the most notable ones are he being recognised as Mysore district-level ‘Extraordinary Music Talent’ by the Women and Child Welfare Department, Government of Karnataka, for the year 2010 and winning the first place in the State-level Bhavageete contest twice, conducted by Sugam Sangeeth Academy of well-known singer H.R. Leelavathi. He also stood 4th for Mysore in the Junior Karnatak vocal exam and 1st for Mysore in the Gamaka Prathama vocal conducted by Karnataka Gamaka Parishat. He also presided over one of the sessions of State-level 2nd Children’s Gamaka Conference held at Udupi in November 2011 under the aegis of Karnataka Gamaka Kala Parishat.
Among the TV shows, Ashwin had gone up to the semi-finals in the Sarigamapa Little Champs on Zee Kannada and Little Star Singer on Suvarna TV.
Ashwin has accompanied well- known singers on stage shows in the city and other places and was specially invited by noted singer Sangeeta Katti Kulkarni to sing in Bendre Geethe Yaatre held in city last year.
Ashwin emphasises that there is nothing ‘fake’ about Reality Shows on TV! “All the shows that I have attended have been real and there was no drama or anything fake about it. All comments we get too are as seen on TV and no drama added,” he says adding he doesn’t find anything negative about such shows and on the other hand these shows have given him a chance to experience how it feels to sing in front of a camera.
In fact many of the special judges on the show, who were so impressed with his dashing looks and screen presence on the show wanted to know if Ashwin would join the movies! Ashwin is a very good calligraphist and a creative painter too!
But for this talented youngster who took up engineering instead of medicine, so he would have more time to pursue music, it’s only his academic studies and music lessons right now, as he knows there’s a lot of hard work and dedication needed if he wants to make a mark in the field of music, especially classical music. S.P. Balasubramanyam and Mohd. Rafi are his idols who enchant and inspire him everytime he hears them singing.
His proud parents Mohandas Prabhu, Head-Operations at VST Tillers and Tractors in city and mother Jyothi Prabhu too agree that academics cannot take a backseat. Ashwin’s elder brother Sandeep Prabhu, who is pursuing his MBA at TAPMI, Manipal, has been his constant support.
All the accolades he has earned at such a young age sit lightly on his shoulder for he knows that these achievements are only his stepping stones to a bigger ones.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / by Nandini Srinivasan / Saturday – June 28th, 2014
Two PU students from city have been invited to participate in the Global Young Leaders Conference to be held at Washington DC and New York from July 2 to 19.
The students who have been invited are; Anahata Harikumar, a 1st PU Commerce student at MICA Mahesh PU College and Madhumitha B. Kumar, a 1st PU Science student at Mahesh PU College. They are the former students of Manasarowar Pushkarini Vidyashrama School in city.
Anahata is the daughter of B. Harikumar, General Manager, Radisson Blu Hotel in city and Harshida, Principal, Manasarowar Pushkarini Vidyashrama School in city, while Madhumitha is the daughter of Baby Kumar, proprietor of Ramu Steels and Aruna Kumar, a home maker.
As part of the conference, Anahata and Madhumitha will visit international embassies, participate in Global Issues Workshops and will interact with key leaders.
The activities will culminate at the Global Summit Simulation, challenging students to debate, negotiate and build coalitions to resolve emerging global challenges.
The purpose of the Global Young Leaders Conference (GYLC) is to distinguish a select group of exceptional high school students from around the world for their scholastic merit and demonstrated leadership ability and to provide them with the opportunity to gain more global perspective through interaction with students from around the world; who are actively involved in the decision-making processes in both government and private sector; and to immerse them in a challenging curriculum that will further develop their leadership skills.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Friday – June 27th, 2014
