Monthly Archives: January 2013

Orange fair at Lalbagh gardens

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

The Lalbagh Botanical Gardens will host an Orange Mela from January 4 to 6.
The exhibition is being organied to provide a platform for farmers producing oranges to directly interact with their potential buyers.

While farmers will have a better profit for their yield, the orange produced will be cheaply available to the customers, M Jagadeesh, Joint Director of Horticulture (Parks and Gardens), said.

About 20 tonnes of oranges from different parts of the country such as Rajasthan, Maharastra, Punjab, North East, Nagpur, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and several districts of Karnataka, including Kodagu, Chikmaglur, Hassan will be exhibited at the Mela.

The event will be hosted by the National Horticulture Board, along with the State department.

The regional variety of oranges vary in their production technique, climate, type of irrigation and so on, Dr S V Hittalmani, Additional Director of Horticulture (Fruits) said.

For example, Coorg mandarins are grown like an intercrop in Kodagu. The irrigation is not regular and as a result they are tight-jacketed (peel), whereas the Nagpur oranges, due to proper irrigation have loose jackets,” he added.

Apart from oranges, the exhibition will also have 40 stalls of processed and dehydrated orange products, saffron, capsicum, exotic vegetables, spices and dry fruits, grapes, raisins, flowers, biofertilizers and vegetation tools. The exhibition will not carry any additional fee for the visitor.

Karnataka, with over 5,000 hectares of production area, has a huge potential from such exposition and ultimately the farmers will benefits from such wider network, Jagadeesh said.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> City / Bangalore, DHNS / January 04th, 2013

Bangalorean helped physicist calculate a second

Science & Technology, Uncategorized

Bangalore :

American physicist David J Wineland, who along with French scientist Serge Haroche won the 2012 Nobel Prize for his works in quantum physics, has a Bangalore connection. This link, incidentally, contributed significantly to the works that eventually got the physicist the honour.

Dr Bhanu Pratap Das, the top boss of the city’s Indian Institute of Astrophysics, has known Dr Wineland since 1984 when both were involved in academic works in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at Colorado, US.

The scientists share a common interest: developing extremely precise clocks. They kept in touch after Das moved back to India.

According to Das, Cesium ions were used to measure time accurately until scientists like Wineland started using aluminum ions which got better results. “The time taken by a Cesium ion to give out a frequency of 9192631770 Hz was considered the most accurate calculation for a second,” he said, “until the scientists started experimenting with aluminum ions.”

In 2010, Wineland asked Das to reduce the error in calculating time. “He was not very sure whether the black body radiation figures which are instrumental in calculating a second were correct or not,” Das said. Blackbody radiation refers to an object or system which absorbs all radiation incidents upon it and re-radiates energy.

Das, his former students, HS Nataraj and BK Sahoo, and their two foreign research collaborators, Lucas Visscher and Mihaly Kallay, concluded their theoretical experiments in less than a year. “Our Blackbody Radiation Shift calculation had reduced the systematic error by about 28%,” said Das.

Das’s work was published in a journal in March 2011. The next year, Wineland’s work based on conclusions of Das, fetched the American physicist the Nobel for ‘ground-breaking experimental methods which enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems’.

What was the Nobel for

Wineland’s finding has enabled scientists take the “first steps towards building a new type of super fast computer based on quantum physics. Perhaps the quantum computer will change our everyday lives in this century in the same radical way as the classical computer did in the last century. The research has also led to the construction of extremely precise clocks that could become the future basis for a new standard of time, with more than hundred-fold greater precision than present-day caesium clocks”, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Bangalore> Physicist / TNN / January 02nd, 2013

Colle Farmers Market Says UAS Organic Technology is “A Step Forward”

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Science & Technology

On January 1, Colle Farmers Market, an online farmers market community, continues to bring awareness of the organic movement as it spreads at a global rate. Colle recognizes the developing technologies of University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) an India based organization that is developing organic production technologies for major crops.

According to The Times of India, “To encourage farmers to switch over to organic farming, Institute of Organic Farming of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (UAS) has developed organic production technologies for major crops.” The UAS organic technology program focuses on “studying productivity, profitability, suitability, quality and input use efficiency in different crops and cropping system under organic production in comparison with conventional and integrated systems under rain-fed conditions,” reports The Times of India.

The article states that the prof. HB Babalad, Institute of Organic Farming, commented on the UAS making a “significant contribution by standardizing organic farming practices in important crops of north Karnataka region.”

The Times of India further reports that “The organic agriculture captures and store more water than soils under conventional cultivation Production in organic agriculture systems is thus less prone to extreme weather conditions, such as drought, flooding, and water logging.”

Colle Farmers Market believes that the UAS organic technology program is a step forward for a global [organic farmers market. Organic technology is improving and the more institutions that invest in this technology, the more populated our farm lands will become with organic products. Organic farming has become more than a passing phase adds Colle Farmers Market representatives. The farming communities deserve the best in organic technology and this can happen one step at a time.

source: http://www.FoodWorldNews.com  / Home / January 02nd, 2013

Bangalore boy gets Grammy nod

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

Grammy nominee Arun Shenoy has come a long way from his school days in Bangalore. Arun, who is now involved in audio production in  Singapore , released his debut album ‘Rumbadoodle’, which has been nominated for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category. Excerpts from a chat with Arun…

( Arun Shenoy )

How does it feel to have your debut album recognized on a world scale?

I am yet to come to terms with the magnitude of the fact that I am nominated for an award at this pinnacle of excellence in the music business. I am extremely proud of this labour of love, and happy that others believe in it too.

There are two other Indians — the late Pandit Ravi Shankar and  Anoushka Shankar  â€” who have been nominated for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. What does this say about the impact Indian musicians are making internationally?

Both of them are already legends and globally established stars. I believe there is another Indian gentleman, though, whose name I chanced upon recently, who is nominated as well — Krishna Das, for Best New Age Album. It is interesting to see the growing impact musicians of Indian origin are making on the international music stage.

Why did you decide to bring out a gypsy rumba flamenco album for your debut?

I have always enjoyed fusion music. And as a world music form, gypsy rumba flamenco appeals to me for its raw intensity, with its rapid flourishes and passionate harmonies. I am not a traditional world artist. Rather, I decided to use this as a theme and incorporate other popular music sensibilities from pop, rock, funk and jazz. All of these forms have influenced me deeply and have been a part of my musical journey  and growth. So it was only fitting that I put together a project to pay tribute to them and create my own signature sound that is instantly recognizable.

We heard that you are acquainted with Kannada film star Puneeth Rajkumar.

Puneeth is a great artist and a down-to-earth individual. He is very keen on encouraging local talent and active in promoting Bangalore and India-based artists. He came to know of my work and he was quite enthusiastic about the fact that it’s by a former Bangalore person.

Puneeth speaks:

Arun Shenoy is my friend’s brother-in-law. I’ve heard his music. You feel extremely proud that he’s, first of all, from our city, a Kannadiga, and, above all, an Indian who has achieved so much.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Entertainment> Regional> Kannada> Fusion Music / by Anjali Muthanna, TNN / Deember 14th, 2012

Two-Day Beary festival from Dec.30

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Mysore :

Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy will be organising a two-day Beary cultural, traditional and literary fest from Dec. 30 in Mysore. The festival named Beary Sahitya Samskruthika-Sauhardha Mela is being organised in association with Mysore Beary Welfare Association and Bangalore based Hydrose Haji Memorial Charitable Trust.

Addressing the press persons at Pathrakarthara Bhavan, Academy President Rahim Uchchil said that various literary, cultural events will be held on Dec 30 from 9 am to 9 pm at JK Grounds and Milanji and Painting competitions have also been organised between 9 am and 11 am on the same day. The event will be inaugurated by MUDA Chairman L. Nagendra. Later, an interaction on Mysore Beary has been organised in which literary scholars will present their views.

The same day afternoon between 2 pm and 4.30 pm, cultural programmes have been orga-nised. After the cultural progra-mmes, a multi-lingual kavighosti will be held under the Chairmanship of Mohd. Badoor, he said.

The valedictory of the events will be held on the same day in the presence of District In-charge Minister S.A. Ramdas. The Academy will felicitate Beary community achievers B.M. Mumtaz Ali, Maulana V.K. Abdul Khadar, Althaf Hussain Katipalla and Ibrahim on the occasion. Later, a Beary comic play ‘Pokarakogo Pursotille’ will be staged from 6.30 pm at the venue.

On Dec. 31, a procession ‘Halli-Hallig Beary Sandal’ has been organised in Narasimharaja and Chamaraja Assembly constituencies. The youths participating in the rally will sing folk songs of Oppenpat, Kolkali, Taleem, Dhaf and Beary communities. The procession will be inaugurated by MLA Tanveer Sait in front of Dufferin Clock Tower and pass through Bassapaji Circle in Udayagiri, Al-Badra Circle in Rajivnagar, Kyathamaranahalli Circle, Shantinagar, Bannimantap and Mission Hospital Road.

source: http://www.Starof Mysore.com / Home> General News / December 27th, 2012

Studies a priority for budding cricketers – Anil Kumble Interview

Leaders, Sports

Anil Kumble is a simple and modest man. Despite being chased by media and fans for his contribution to the game, the legendary leggie remains grounded and has never been carried away by the glories, glitz and moolah in the game.

He is one such sportsman who has emphasised on education and has set an example of being among the very few who have a professional course degree. He is an engineer and passed out of well-known institute called Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering (RVCE) in Bangalore and as the president of Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), he expects his young cricketers to focus on studies in the next few months which kicks off the exams fever.

“There has always been competition over the years. For the youth today, it has definitely become more intense, especially in terms of what must be achieved in education,” Kumble, who was in a preachy mood, told Sportskeeda when we caught up with the legend for a quick chat during his evening rounds at KSCA.

“During my days, 85-90 percent was termed as really good. But today, even if you get 90 percent, you are ranked in the 100s. In that sense, the competition in life is more complex and intense,” he adds.

Aware of the increasing pressure faced by young cricketers who are pursuing their studies and are appearing for board exams, KSCA has made a calendar of events, keeping in view the exam season.

“Kumble and Srinath are very particular about studies and expect all young cricketers to do well in their exams. That was the reason why we didn’t go by the request of KPL (Karnataka Premier League) team owners to have the tournament in Feb-Mar,” explained Vijay Bharadwaj, former India cricketer and committee member of KSCA.

“If you see the calendar of events, you will find fewer tournaments in the month of Feb and March. Even if there are any it, would be for U-25 and not for junior cricketers, Bharadwaj added.

So, what’s been Kumble’s mantra to find success in cricket as well as pursue his studies?

“Personally, what held me in good stead was unwavering focus, commitment and work ethic. This was what helped me play for the country for as long as I did and has given me the kind of career I have had,” added the task master.

Who according to Kumble is an ideal role model?

Not himself, not Sachin Tendulkar or even the most hardworking Rahul Dravid. It is actually badminton legend Prakash Padukone. Kumble believes that the living legend is a perfect example of simplicity and being down-to-earth. “It is difficult to be relentless in your quest for greater things when you are playing an individual sport, more so when your achievements don’t get the kind of appreciation they deserve. Padukone didn’t quite get the recognition he deserved but continued to excel at the highest level. He is a great role model for the youth,” he concluded and hoped that the new year would bring glory to Indian cricket and refused to comment on the recent debacle in Test and ODI.

source: http://www.sportskeeda.com / Home> Cricket> Interview