India’s Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals has made its first purchase of Argentina’s Escalante crude , two sources with knowledge of the tender award said, in another sign trade routes have been redrawn by the US shale oil boom.
The purchase was for loading in end-February or early March and trader Glencore will deliver a one million barrel parcel at prices flat to dated Brent, the sources said.
“If they are getting South American and Caribbean grades through spot tenders this means these grades are available at cheaper rates than their competitors in west Africa and the Middle East,” said an Asian oil trader.
“Voyage time for a cargo from South America to India is about a month. This could be the begining of South American grades gradually showing up in state refiners’ oil purchases,” he said.
It is the first time MRPL has purchased any Latin American grade.
MRPL, which operates a 300,000 barrels per day refinery in Southern India, aims to buy as much as 40,000 bpd of Latin American grades in the next fiscal year beginning from April 1, Vijay G Joshi, its refinery director said on Wednesday.
Rising US shale oil output is re-routing the flow of Algerian, Latin American, Canadian and West African crudes, which used to flow regularly to the United States.
India’s biggest refiner Indian Oil Corp last year bought one million barrels of Canadian White Rose through a spot tender, becoming India’s first state-run refiner to buy Canadian oil .
Indian refiners are seeking to diversify their oil sources as Western sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear programme squeeze imports from Iran, once India’s second-biggest supplier. Supplies from Libya and Sudan have also been disrupted.
Escalante is a medium sweet crude with a density of 24 API degrees, extracted from the basin with the same name in southern Argentina by Pan American Energy, controlled by British BP.
source: http://www.articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / Home> News> International> Business> World News / Home> Collections> Indian Oil Corp / by Reuters / January 16th, 2014
MLA Tanveer Sait is seen presenting prize to the first prize winner of State-level milking contest held at J.K. Grounds in city yesterday. Others seen are actor Darshan, MLA Vasu, Mayor N.M. Rajeshwari, MP A.H. Vishwanath, District Minister V. Sreenivasa Prasad, Ex-Mayor Dhruvakumar, MNGS President D. Nagabhushan and others.
Mysore :
Bangalore may be the Silicon city but it does not lag behind in dairy skills which came to fore yesterday when a cow from the State capital yielded 46 litres of milk to win the prize of Rs. 1 lakh at the three-day State-level milking contest held at J.K. Grounds in city in memory of Late actor Thoogudeepa Srinivas by Mysore Nagara Gopalakara Sangha (MNGS).
Dairy farmers from Bangalore also outclassed their counterparts from Mysore by winning top three positions in the contest which had been a tradition of Mysore.
Cows belonging to Pradeep Devegowda, a resident of Adugodi, Venkatesh Sommanna, residing near Nettakallapa Circle and Lakshman Hogebandi of Bangalore yielded 46.75 litres, 40.75 litres and 40.40 litres winning the first three places respectively as a cow belonging to Aishwarya, a relative of former Mysore Mayor Dhruvakumar, which yilded 39.95 litres finished fourth.
Pradeep Devegowda won Rs. 1 lakh and a pair of silver lamp weighing 2 kg. Venkatesh Somanna won Rs. 75,000 and a silver crown weighing 1 kg. Lakshman Hogebandi won Rs. 50,000 and a silver crown weighing 1 kg. as First, Second and Third prizes respectively while Aishwarya of Mysore got Rs. 25,000 as the Fourth prize.
A total of 17 cattle from different parts of State particularly from in and around Bangalore participated in the competition and the prizes were presented to the winners by actor Darshan Toogudeepa at a function organised at Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar stage at J.K. Grounds yesterday.
District in-Charge Minister V. Sreenivasa Prasad, MP A.H. Vishwanath, Mayor N.M. Rajeshwari, MLA Vasu, Mysore Nagara Gopalakara Sangha President D. Nagabhushan and others were present.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / January 20th, 2014
Karnataka Muktaka Sahitya Academy, Mysore, will confer the coveted DGV Muktaka Sahitya Award on Prof. H.S. Lakshminarayana Bhatta, popularly known as ‘Kaggada Bhatta’, during its 14th anniversary celebrations to be held on Feb. 16 in city.
Four eminent personalities — Dr. V.S. Sampathkumaracharya (Music), Dr. J.S. Hegde (Medicine), Prof. B.N. Manjunathaiah (Education) and Prof. S. Shivaji Jois (Literature) — who have rendered yeoman service in their recpective fields will be felicitated on the occasion.
Profile of Prof. Bhatta
Born in 1946, Prof. Bhatta is a M.Sc. Degree holder in Physics, a ‘Visharada’ from All India Hindi Prachara Sabha, an ‘Uttama’ from All India Bhagawad Geetha Study Centre, Gorakhpur. He has served as Professor of Physics in Visweshwarapuram Science College, Bangalore and also as Principal of the same college.
He has given a number of discourses and lectures on DVG’s Mankutimmana Kagga and other Muktaka literatures in and outside the State. He has aired a number of programmes on Kagga on Doordarshan and Akashavani and has participated in online programmes with listeners.
Prof. Bhatta has to his credit a number of books on Kannada Literature including his Ghamaghamisuva Vanasuma, DVG – Timmaguruvina Darshana (Gundopanishat). He has received a number of awards and titles for his work in this field.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / January 20th, 2014
Lakshmi, a homemaker from Periyapatna, who delivered her first child at government-run Chaluvamba Hospital here years ago, chose the same hospital for her second delivery, the lack of privacy notwithstanding.
The 27-year-old Lakshmi was one of 200 new mothers crammed into the wards of the century-old hospital, which sees, on an average, 40 new babies coming into the world daily. The rate at which deliveries happen at the hospital makes it Karnataka’s busiest maternity ward.
Like her, many mothers have to struggle for beds as large number of women from across the state comes here. With wards always being full, new mothers have to make do with the floor, awaiting their turn for cots. However, beds and necessary treatment will be provided to them while they wait for cots.
Hospital’s medical chief Dr B Krishnamurthy said that women from Bangalore, Ramnagara, Bidadi and Chikkamagalur have delivered here apart from women from old Mysore region of five districts. He claims may be the busiest maternity hospital in state because even in Bangalore’s Vani Vilas hospital not many deliveries are conducted than us. “I have attended state level health meetings but have never come across so many deliveries taking place in single day in any other hospital in Karnataka.”
Even Sumaya Banu from Hunsur preferred this hospital for her second delivery. Her husband, Jaffer, a driver, says the facility is no less than private hospital. Even 20-year-old Ciema Kauser, who delivered her first child, too was fine with the hospital’s situation.
Biggest challenge is to accommodate all mother to-be arriving here. We can’t say no to anyone but if they agree to the situation, we are okay with it but we ensure to provide quality treatment without for free, the medical superintendent says.
Of the total 420 beds available in hospital, over 50 pc beds are reserved for new moms, who will be treated for three days in case of normal deliveries and five days for C-section deliveries Nearly 80 pc deliveries are normal. Claiming people throng here because of quality treatment, Krishnamurthy, head of department of pediatrics, says we have improved services and security to prevent deaths and baby-swapping over the years.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mysore> Private Hospital / by Lawrence Milton, TNN / January 11th, 2014
St Agnes Convent, Bendore is all set to celebrate the centenary of its Foundation Day (1914-2014) with a public function on Sunday January 12. The Convent was started in 1914 in order to reach out for the education of girls in the suburban area around Kadri and Kankanady. St Ann’s School, Bolar started by the Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel, founded by Mother Veronica of the Passion, an English woman, in 1870; St Mary’s School, Falnir started to accommodate the increasing number of students; and Victoria Caste School, Dongenkery, Kodialbail (later shifted to Ladyhill) started at the persistent appeal of GSB Community for the education of their daughters, were the only three schools in South Canara district, to impart quality education exclusively for girls, in the much valued medium of English.
Mother Aloysia, the second Superior General of the Apostolic Carmel after five years of assiduous search and negotiations for some twenty different sites between Kankanady and Kadri, including a plot of “Hulli Mulli” an arid area, and the surrounding plots, which were inhabited by sixteen proprietors in clustered huts and cottages measuring twelve acres of land, were bought on June 29, 1913.
February 8, 1914 was a memorable day in the history of the Apostolic Carmel when Dr Paul Perini, Bishop of Mangalore blessed the whole property and laid the foundation for St Agnes Convent, the residence for the Sisters to carry out their service to women through education. The next day a Secondary English Medium School, as it was called then, was opened with Classes I and II. There were 80 pupils on roll. A week later, an elementary school was opened for the poorer children with 46 pupils on roll. Since then the campus has grown with St Agnes School started in 1914, St Agnes College (the first college in India by an Indian private Management), St Agnes Special School for the Mentally Challenged started in 1970, as the Centenary Memorial of the establishment of the Apostolic Carmel. As the sisters of St Agnes Convent celebrate the hundred years of prayer and service on 12th January 2014, we remain ever grateful to God in transforming the Hulli Mulli Hill into an Educational hub, a light house, a city built on the hill where hundreds of students have been educated and enlightened over the past hundred glorious years and sent out to the wide world as the ambassadors of St Agnes to proclaim to all people that God is our Strength.
The concluding function of the Centenary of St Agnes Convent will be held on January 12. The Centenary Mass will be celebrated by Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza, Bishop of Mangalore, with a large number of priests concelebrating with him at St Agnes College Auditorium. The Open Air public function that follows will have the Bishop as the president, Dr Sr Agatha Mary, Superior General of the Apostolic Carmel will be the chief guest, Sr Linette, Provincial Superior, J R Lobo, local MLA and Flavia Agnes, alumna, St Agnes and legal and social activist from Mumbai will be the guests of honour. A documentary on the history of St Agnes Convent and a dance drama on the life and times of Mother Aloysia, the founder St Agnes Convent will be the highlights of the programme. The former Superiors of the Convent will also be felicitated. Among the Centenary projects will be the poor students’ fund to be initiated.
St Agnes Convent – Centenary Celebrations
(1914 – 2014)
“Foremost in the roll of Indian women educationists stands the name of Mother Aloysia of the Sacred Heart, the second Superior General of the Apostolic Carmel. Almost a pioneer in the west coast field of education, she has for half a century and more laboured with untiring energy to raise the intellectual standard of our girls to the highest accepted grade.”
This was the tribute paid by J B Machado, Secretary of the Indian Christian Civic League, Mangalore, for the achievements of Mother Aloysia, in the field of education when nominated for the Kaiser-i-Hind, Gold Medal I Class award from the British Administration, in recognition of her services. We are presenting this valiant woman and her band of committed sisters, who founded St Agnes Convent, Bendore, Mangalore as we are poised to celebrate the Centenary of its establishment and that of the school, St Agnes School. The lamp that was lit by Mother Aloysia at St Agnes in the year 1914 has been kept burning for the past hundred years by every sister who lived at St Agnes with the oil of love, prayer, sacrifice and service.
Old Primary School
St Agnes in 1921
‘The Rest’ where St Agnes Special School was started
Mother Veronica, nee Sophie Leeves, an English woman was chosen and called by God to found a “Carmel for the Missions” in India towards the faith formation of the Catholics and the education of the young girls along the west coast. The dream of education that Mother Veronica harboured in her heart when she was serving in Calicut as a sister of St Joseph of the Apparition, “…all along the coast the young girls are entirely without any means of instruction…”, was realized when she started the Apostolic Carmel in France in 1868 and the three sisters trained by her arrived in Mangalore on 19th November 1870. Mother Marie des Anges, French by origin was the First Superior General and was called the Nurturing Mother while the one who shaped the Apostolic Carmel education was Mother Aloysia nee Mary Pia Rosario. The pioneering of quality education for girls thus belongs to the Apostolic Carmel with the starting of St Ann’s Convent and School in 1870, at Pandeshwar, Mangalore preceding even a school of this caliber for boys’ education which happened only in 1880.
In the first decade of the 20th century, St Ann’s High School flourished and St Mary’s, Marjil, the offshoot of St Ann’s, to accommodate the growing number of students and the Victoria Caste School at Dongerkery, Kodialbail, (later shifted to Ladyhill) the outcome of the persistent appeal of the GSB community for the education of their daughters were the only schools in South Canara district, to impart education exclusively for girls, in the much valued medium of English. These schools were nearer the central location of Mangalore. At this time, Mother Aloysia, who was elected as the Second Superior General and who was literally the brain behind the three schools, with her wide vision and deep apostolic spirit saw the need for extending the facilities to a larger number of girls by opening a school for girls in Bendore, the suburb and an underdeveloped area away from the township at Bolar. After five years of assiduous search and negotiations for some twenty different sites, a plot of “Hulli Mulli”, an arid area belonging to the ancestors of Sr Julia’s and the surrounding plots which were inhabited by sixteen proprietors in clustered huts and cottages measuring twelve acres of land, were bought on June 29, 1913.
February 8, 1914 was a memorable day in the history of the Apostolic Carmel when Dr Paul Perini, Bishop of Mangalore blessed the whole property and laid the foundation for St Agnes Convent. The next day a Secondary English Medium School, as it was called then, was opened with Classes I and II. There were 80 pupils on roll. A week later, an elementary school was opened for the poorer children with 46 pupils on roll. Mother Aloysia chose St Agnes as the patron saint of the convent and of all the institutions on the campus with the motto “God is our strength”. Young girls desirous of studying in English medium flocked to St Agnes Convent from Udupi, Kallianpur, Kundapur, Karkal. Mulki, Kinnigoli, Belthangady and other surrounding villages. The original old cottages were fitted up as dormitories and a boarding house was started.
Realizing that girls from their sheltered homes would hardly dare to go as far as Madras, Mother Aloysia envisioned higher education for girls. July 2, 1921 was another day of significance in the history of St Agnes when a college was started under her dynamic leadership and far sighted vision. St Agnes First Grade College was the only one for women in South India and the first in the whole of India to be run by an Indian private management. To meet the ever growing demands for admissions that came in from the rural areas a temporary “L” shaped building was put up on the plot closest to the road. This block stood for 82 years when more spacious buildings came up to accommodate the growing number of students.
Mother Theodosia another woman of caliber and a dynamic personality with practical experience took charge as Principal in 1934. She took the initiative of introducing Science into the Intermediate Course, an option till then not available to women. By adding subjects such as Mathematics in 1936, Natural science in 1937 and Chemistry in 1939, the college gradually blossomed. Through the years under the leadership of Principals and faculty with dynamism and commitment, St Agnes College has grown with several more courses and programmes. In 2007 St Agnes College obtained academic autonomy. Soon after, the Post Graduate Programmes were introduced and another block was erected for the same.
The Intermediate Course was changed into Pre-University in 1955 and at the same time St Agnes College parted ways from Madras University with the re-organization of states and was affiliated under Mysore University. In 2001 St Agnes Pre-university College was bifurcated and was accommodated in a new building.
The year 1970 was a landmark in the history of the Apostolic Carmel, the year of the Centenary of the establishment of the Apostolic Carmel in India. The pioneers of girls’ education in Mangalore had fresher avenues to explore and the education of children with disabilities was found to be the best Centenary Memorial to fill this void in Mangalore as there was no provision for the education of children with disabilities, in particular, the mentally challenged children. St Agnes Special School, the first school for the mentally challenged in the district, was inaugurated on August 4, 1970 with five children, in ‘The Rest’, a cozy house on St Agnes Convent premises with the motto, ‘In Love We Grow’. In 1973 the children were shifted to the premises opposite St Agnes Convent in the new building that was constructed.
The mission of the sisters of St Agnes Convent in educating the youth from Kindergarten to Post graduation has attained fruition where 5330 students illumine the campus today not merely aspiring towards academic excellence but very importantly using the many opportunities for strengthening faith and values of the students. Besides educating the youth, the sisters offer humane services to the society, the local church and the society at large in every possible way. In 1998 the Apostolic Carmel Association (ACA) was started for the purpose of sharing the spirituality of the congregation with lay people.
With heads bowed and hands folded in gratitude to God, as we, the sisters of St Agnes Convent celebrate the hundred years of prayer and service on January 12, we remain ever grateful to God in transforming the Hulli Mulli Hill into an educational hub, a light house, a city built on the hill where hundreds of students have been educated and enlightened over the past hundred glorious years and sent out to the wide world as the ambassadors of St Agnes to proclaim to all people that God is our Strength.
source: http://www.daijiworld.com / DaijiWorld.com / Home> Top Stories / by Sr M Lydia, St.Agnes Convent / Mangalore – January 09th, 2014
Facebook has acquired Little Eye Labs, a Bangalore-based start-up, according to the company’s announcement on 8 January.
The company builds mobile app analysis tools for app developers and testers.
“This is Facebook’s first acquisition of an Indian company, and we are happy to become part of such an incredible team,” the company said on its website.
The acquisition price has not been disclosed. However, TechCrunch reports Facebook paid between US$10 and $15 million to acquire the Indian startup.
According to the company, Little Eye Labs was founded about a year ago by a bunch of program analysis geeks who wanted to build better tools for Mobile developers. They were later backed by GSF and VenturEast Tenet Fund.
The company had released their official version of Little Eye for Android in early April last year.
“The entire Little Eye Labs team will move to Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California,” the company has stated. “From there, we’ll be able to leverage Facebook’s world-class infrastructure and help improve performance of their already awesome apps. For us, this is an opportunity to make an impact on the more than 1 billion people who use Facebook.”
Current customers of Little Eye will receive further information on plans to offer a free version of Little Eye until June 30, 2014, the company has assured.
source: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk / PC Advisor / Home> News / by Zafar Anjum, MIS Asia / January 10th, 2014
(From left) Vipin Lokesh, Laksh Shetty and N. Amruth
Mysore :
Young minds needs to be encouraged at an earlier stage for them to flourish in their field of interest. Three students of St. Joseph’s Central School, Vijayanagar, have made the city proud by emerging victorious in the South Zone Qualifier round of BrainCafe Budding Scientist contest held in Bangalore recently.
Vipin Lokesh, a II Std. student, created a device which can light up 26,000 bulbs of Mysore Palace using an improvised windmill. He has been selected as a finalist for the National level BrainCafe Science contest final to be held in Mumbai on Jan 18. There were 28 contestants in this category during the contest held in Bangalore.
Another student, Laksh Shetty, of VI Std., secured the second place in his category. His project demonstrated the application of scissor mechanism and hydraulics to make equipments we use in everyday life. The project exhibited innovative models of foldable water pipe and folding bridge designed using scissor mechanism. Similarly, foldable water pipe developed by Laksh is easy to manufacture, affordable, convenient to use and facilitates in conservation of water. There is also hydraulic scissor lift, hydraulic elevator and a simpler version of Doremi’s scissor mechanism gadget which can be used to reach objects that are beyond our reach.
N. Amruth, a student of IV Std., has created a device called ‘Makeway Add Life.’ The device is placed in the dashboard of an ambulance. The LED blubs glows in the dashboard and people will get to know that they should make way for the ambulance.
Amruth was awarded the third place in the contest.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / January 17th, 2014
Lounge in Marathahalli gives an “adda” for bikers to congregate, plan rides, discuss technicalities, and hone their riding skills.
The maiden biker’s lounge in the country, 6000 Miles to Isle of Man, was inaugurated in the city by the MD of Kawasaki Motors India, Yuji Horiuchi, and Dy MD Shigeto Nishikawa on Saturday. – DNA
With biking catching up in a big way in Bangalore, bikers in the city are often left in the lurch when it comes to places to hang out and discuss about their motorcycles and plan their rides. However, now it appears like they have finally got an “adda” to call their own. And it is not some quaint corner in a mechanic’s shop.
A swanky lounge ready to host biking groups, the “adda” comes alive with a screen showcasing motorsports, coupled with a unit selling everything from riding and safety gear to technicians ready to explain intricate details of different bikes.
Called 6000 Miles to Isle of Man, the lounge is expected to be the ultimate place for all bikers to congregate, debate and discuss, plan biking tours, get details on technicalities, and hone their riding skills.
“The idea is mainly to get bikers to bond with each other, and get to know their bikes better,” says Pushpchand Chordia, CEO, Khivraj Motors.
He says bikers in India surf the net, catch up with like minded people and plan rides together.
“Instead of hanging out in some cafe or restaurant, bikers can come to this biking lounge, which is designed just for them,” says Chordia.
Veteran biker Jaidas Menon, who runs Motorsport Inc, says, in the past, bikers would sit in workshops or mechanic shops, and discuss and plan things.
“A lounge is a nice concept as bikers can not only just relax with their friends, but also buy riding gear, understand their bikes, and upgrade their skills,” says Menon.
The lounge, located in Marathahalli, will also hold courses for riders, apart from having technicians who will encourage bikers to better understand their bikes, and learn to handle everything from tyres to suspension.
Moreover, the lounge also intends to screen movies focused on biking like Riding Solo on Top of the World, and Once Crazy Ride.
“We will also get the director of these films to come and interact with bikers, and brief them on what it takes to ride in places like Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh,” says Anil Kumar S from Apex Riding Academy.
Kumar adds that the lounge will also organise bike rides to nearby places like Coorg, Mysore, Mangalore on a monthly and bi-monthly basis.
Khivraj Motors, along with India Kawasaki Motors, is planning to open four more such lounges in Rajajinagar, Central, South and North Bangalore.
source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Bangalore> Report / by DNA Correspondent / Place: Bangalore, Agency:DNA / Sunday – January 05th, 2014
Rea Elizabeth Achiah, Akash Aradhya and Kaviraj Prithvi, of Mysore, who emerged winners at the 10th National Ice-Skating Championships held at Simla recently.
Mysore :
Mysore’s skaters, representing Karnataka in the 10th National Ice-Skating Championships held at Simla recently, performed creditably.
Rea Elizabeth Achiah won 3 golds, while Kaviraj Prithvi won 2 gold and 1 silver medal. Akash Aradhya won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal in the Championships. All the three skaters are coached by K. Srikanta Rao, Ekalavya awardee and Indian team coach.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / January 14th, 2014
Three Bhatnagar Awards and one Bharat Ratna were awarded to city scientists in 2013. Prof D D Sarma, chairman of the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit of IISc, said, “2013 has been a good year for science in India and for the city.”
A research group, led by Prof C N R Rao of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Science, established the most important ingredient for high catalytic activity for artificial photosynthesis that will ‘break’ water to produce high energy, hydrogen and oxygen. This ingredient is a single electron in a particular orbital in the oxides of manganese and cobalt.
The group of Prof D D Sarma of the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit of IISc, Bangalore, discovered that manganese ions, dropped in small quantities into semiconductor nanocrystals, such as zinc sulphide or cadmium sulphide, can emit intense colours of all hues from green to red, when excited with UV radiation.
This has huge significance in the field of display and lighting and can change the way nanocrystals are used in practical devices.
Researchers like Yamuna Krishnan, who won the Bhatnagar award this year at NCBS, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), devised a new cell biology technology that can simultaneously measure the pH in two different places in one cell.
In another study, a group led by Prof Arindam Ghosh of the Department of Physics, IISc, who too got a Bhatnagar award this year, established some remarkable properties of a hybrid layer of graphene on molybdenum disulfide, in a recent publication.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore / January 02nd, 2014
