City’s noted snake rescuer and wildlife conservationist popularly known as Snake Shyam who has been elected as the Corporator of MCC Ward No. 17 was featured in Daily Mail, a UK tabloid on July 23.
The article in the tabloid says that Snake Shyam, despite being allergic to most anti-venom, catches some of the deadly species in Mysore every day.
It also says that this serpent-lover had been bitten four times and the doctors discovered that their treatments were prompting a severe allergic reaction which could kill him.
That means that Snake Shyam’s next call-out could be his last – but despite the dangers, he refuses to give up.
The article also features photographs of Shyam catching snakes, documenting them, his Maruti Omni Van and video of him catching a snake.
Reaches 28,000 mark yesterday
With the rescue of a Rat Snake at a steel godown in Bannimantap here yesterday, Shyam has so far rescued 28,000 snakes.
Snake Shyam speaking to SOM said that he began catching snakes in 1980 and had not documented them till 1997. He further said that on the advice of some, he began to document the snakes he had rescued from 1997 and has so far rescued 28,000 snakes and released them into their habitat far from urban areas.
He has called upon the people not to kill them, but instead call him on Mob; 94480-69399 and keep a watch on the snake till he arrives.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / July 25th, 2014
Ajai Appachu, Fouaad Mirza and Nadia Haridass, three of Karnataka’s senior show jumpers, would take part in the equestrian event of the 17th Asian Games to be held in Incheon, South Korea, from September 19 to October 4.
Appachu, Mirza and Haridass train in Bangalore’s Embassy International Riding School (EIRS) and have qualified through five trials, qualifiers and competitions which were held from October last year to April this year, said a media release today.
There were five jury members involved in making the selections for each of the competition’s disciplines – jumping, dressage and eventing.
Appachu has earned several equestrian accolades at events world-wide and recently placed second at the Hopetoun Commonwealth Cup in Scotland and is also the chief instructor for budding equestrians at the school.
Mirza, 22, placed fourth at the Hopetoun Commonwealth Cup earlier this year while Nadia has been a consistent performer in the dressage category – representing the country at international meets, the release said.
The equestrian sport has been featured in the pan-Asian sports spectacle since the New Delhi Games in 1982 and to date, Japan leads the honours list, followed by South Korea and India in that order.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National> News / Press Trust of India / Mumbai – July 24th, 2014
Chayaa nanjappa National Best Entrepreneur Award From the Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs of India was presented toher in Hyderabad on Monday. |EPS
Bangalore :
From Srirangapatna to Europe, it has been a long and difficult journey for 42-year-old Chayaa Nanjappa. But she has battled the odds and today heads a rural enterprise which produces high-quality honey that sweetens many a home even in Europe and the United States.
As a reward for her hard work, Chayaa was on Monday awarded this year’s ‘National Best Entrepreneur Award’ in food processing by the Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs of India.
Her path to success has not been a smooth one; she had to overcome many an adversity, physical abuse and traumatic relationships. But now, this gentle, self-made woman provides a livelihood for not only many illiterates of Mysore and Mandya districts, but also some tribals across the state. She is also the largest buyer of forest honey from Malayalis and tribes like Siddis and Jenu Kurubas.
She began her journey by setting up a small unit at Bommanahalli with the help of a `10-lakh loan. She then shifted operations to Nanjangud and later, to Srirangapatna.
Today her enterprise Nectar Fresh, which produces monofloral honey, has a capacity of 200 tonnes and is worth `6 crore. It is one of the largest bulk suppliers and packers of honey in the country and falls in the top five bulk exporters of raw as well as processed honey. Nectar Fresh also has the ISO 22000:2005 certification.
Chayaa told Express, “With no work experience or exposure, I started a rural industry in 2007 that could be identified with my hometown, Coorg. After doing a basic course from Central Bee Research and Training Institute (CBRTI), I jumped into the industry completely, sourcing honey from tribes and farmers.” She has 20 mobile apiary vans across the country.
Going International
To earn her brand a significant international presence, she decided to market it as a basket of products, including jams and sauces. The result: it found a place in the European market. “I added jams and sauces to my basket by purchasing pulp from sick units run by women in places like Bangalore and Mangalore, and sourcing fruits like papaya and tomato directly from farmers,” she said.
With exports to Germany and France, Nectar Fresh has broken the monopoly of global companies like Bereenberg, Darbo and Bonne Maman. “We met the stringent standards necessary for approval to export to Germany and made a strong impact by packaging our honey and jam in polypropylene sachets for high quality and shelf life. The European competitors feel threatened by our presence,” said Chayaa, who is now busy tying up with a Saudi Arabian company for the production of jams from dates.
She credited the Karnataka Village Industries Board (KVIB), CBRTI, the Horticulture Department, the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Le Meridien, ITC Foods and a host of others who supported her. “Any small and marginal farmer in Karnataka producing quality honey can contact me. My sole aim is to promote rural products and help women in distress by providing employment opportunities,” she said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Meera Bhardwaj / July 31st, 2014
Anticipating policy support from the Modi government at the Centre, Tata Solar Power (TSP) announced expansion of its manufacturing facility from 125 MW TO 200 MW at Bangalore.
The TSP officials also praised the Commerce Ministry’s initiative of levying Anti-Dumping Duties (ADD) and Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) of solar cells on US, Malaysia and China, as a positive move to level the playing field for the domestic producers.
Ajay Goel, the CEO of TSP, said, “This substantial expansion, in an extremely competitive and price-sensitive sector, is a testimony to the superior quality and global competitiveness of our products. Though the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) originally intends to promote domestic producers in the Solar power manufacturing industry, there are barely few takers for such schemes as the cost of capital will still remain high in the presence of cheap flowing from the Chinese market,” he said.
Incidentally, the company officials maintained that it has not received any expression of interest from the Karnataka government, which in recent day has been actively in news for promoting roof-top solar panels for domestic users under Karnataka Solar policy.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore / Express News Service / Bangalore – May 28th, 2014
Canara Bank has lanched a unique skill development programme of making stationery and gift items with pressed flowers, craft paper bags designed for women inmates of central prison, Parappana Agrahara, here.
The three-day skill training programme at the women’s block of the central prison was organized under the CSR initiative of the bank. It was meant to engage the women to generate income while within the prison wall as well to equip them to make their livelihood on release.
Canara Bank DGM K Virupaksha assured the women further training support and added that the bank will support in marketing the products made by the women through the high-tech mobile sales van “Nammura Santhe” which is a unique initiative of the bank for helping micro women entrepreneurs in the City of Bangalore.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bangalore / M.K. Madhusoodan, TNN / July 30th, 2014
Members from the Institute of Karate and Allied Arts (IKAA), headquartered in Mangalore, won the top honours at ‘Beat Down 2014’ a two-day national level martial arts extravaganza organised by Wakayama Karate-Do India at Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bangalore recently.
As many as 22 students from the institute took part in this competition, led by senior instructors Sensei Derick Kishan (Malpe), Sensei Clement Sequeira (Puttur), Sensei Ashok Suvarna (Karkala) and Sensei Dayananthan (Bangalore). Over 2,500 competitors from all over India in different styles of Karate, Tae Kwon do, Wushu, Kung fu and so on participated in the competition.
IKAA bagged 18 prizes which included 16 individual events and two team events. In the team events, two teams from Banaswadi emerged victorious by bagging the first place in the men’s team Kumite and the third place in Black Belts Team Kumite.
The uniqueness of the winning team is that most of its members are Mangaloreans who moved to Bangalore a few years ago for pursuing their careers in different fields, but their passion for karate and martial arts still continues to be very strong. In spite of being occupied and busy with their full time jobs in multi-national companies, they make it a point to continue their training on a regular basis and not lose touch with the art they learnt in Mangalore during their college days.
Derick Kishan runs a full time karate institute in Bangalore while Clement Sequeira, Ashok Suvarna and Daya conduct karate classes during their free time and weekends, assisted by other black belts and senior instructors in Bangalore. They also conduct several self defense and safety awareness workshops and sessions for corporates, schools and general public specially focused towards women and children’s safety. The winners in the competition are as follows:
Team Kumite (Fight) Colour Belts – First Place
1. Deviprakash Bhandary
2. Suraj Acharya
3. Bhavish Kumar
4. Arkodeb Chakraborty
5. Merwin D’ Almeida Team Kumite (Fight) Black Belts – Third Place
1. Clement Sequeira
2. Gopal V
3. Amarnath PV Shetty
4. Sunil Rai
5. Roshan Rao
6. Sukesh P Gowda Individual Kata: First Place
1. Sanvi
2. Ayush Individual Kumite (Fight)
First Place
1. Kushal Babu
2. Sharan Kumar
3. Shreyas
4. Deepika
5. Bhavish Kumar
6. Deviprakash Bhandary Second Place
1. Merwin D’ Almeida
2. Roshan Rao
3. Sunil Rai
4. Sukesh P
5. Arkodeb Chakraborty Third Place
1. Gopal V
2. Suraj Acharya
3. Madhusudhan
source: http://www.daijiworld.com / DaijiWorld.com / Home> Top Stories / Monday – July 23rd, 2014
City based music institute, Sri Veena Vani Music School (SVMS) located in Banahankari has received a green signal from Guinness Book of World Records’ for its dream of gaining the title of Guinness.
The SVMS is planning for a Carnatic classical keyboard performance in the month of October 2014 and enter the Guinness Book of World Records . The program is to ensemble about 500 key board players, collectively performing the national anthem, national song and a Carnatic piece of music in a western instrument on one stage.
The committee of Guinness Book of World Records has communicated with the city based music school and confirmed the participation of its judges and members and they will be arriving to city in October.
B Gireesh Kumar, president of the school told dna,”We have received the official confirmation of participation from Guinness Book of World Records and asked us to pay the registration and judge fee of 8,700 US dollars. Committee has also confirmed the time for the event and it would be in October,” he said.
After getting inspired by the prestigious Guinness Book of World Records as largest keyboard ensemble created involving 175 keyboard players in USA on July 2013, the city based music school Sri Veena Vani Music School in Banashankari has been aiming to enter the Guinness Book of World Records by playing the western keyboard by over 500 keyboard players and singing Carnatic Classic Music by over 500 singers on the same stage.
Speciality of the event is, an attempt is made to adapt keyboard a full fledge western musical instrument to Carnatic Music and for the first time over 500 keyboard players and 500 Carnatic classical singers will perform on the stage by singing only swara for about 40-45 minutes during the third week of October.
The largest keyboard ensemble consisted of 229 participants and was conducted by M.S. Martin and organized by Sangeetha Sriram at Chennai Trade Centre in Chennai, India, on 16 January 2014. And now Sri Veena Vani music school wants to break that record and want to create such a record in Bangalore with over 1000 musicians including singers and musicians.
Now the school has started this unique model for all keyboard music aspirants who would want to be a part of the event and providing training for age groups from 7-60 years. The lessons are imparted via video, through online modules including Skype and Offline classes and also in the Institute premises, Gireesh added.
source: http://www.dnaindia.con / DNA / Home> Bangalore / Place: Bangalore, Agency: DNA / Monday – July 21st, 2014
Sanskrit scholar Bannanje Govindacharya is seen launching the website as Prof. Bhashyam Swamiji, Vid. Seshadri, Vid. H.M. Shingappa and Sudharma editor K.V. Sampath Kumar look on.
Mysore :
The country’s first Sanskrit newspaper Sudharma launched its website www.sudharmasanskritdaily.in to mark its 45th anniversary celebrations at a function held at Vidyashankara Kalyana Mantapa near Gun House here on Sunday.
The newspaper was conceived by K.N. Vardaraja Iyengar in 1970 with the objective of reviving the language by bringing current events to readers in Sanskrit. The daily is now being managed by his son K.V. Sampath Kumar, who doubles up as a reporter-cum-proof-reader and editor.
“The launch of the website marks a major milestone in the annals of our newspaper, which has a print subscription of 3,000 copies, but over 1,00,000 people access the e-paper from all over the world,” said Sampath Kumar and added the e-paper could now be accessed through its website.
Renowned Sanskrit scholar Bannanje Govindacharya, who was the chief guest, launched the website. Prof. Bhashyam Swamiji, Principal, Maharaja’s Sanskrit College, was present.
On the occasion, a set of books in Sanskrit were also released.
Vid. H.M. Shingappa, retired professor of Maharaja’s Sanskrit College and Vid. Seshadri of Sri Lakshmivenkataramanaswamy temple were felicitated.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / July 21st, 2014
Dr. C.G. Betsurmath, Commissioner, Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage, is seen leading a team of postal trainees in front of Kote Anjaneya Swamy Temple during the Heritage Cycle Rally which began from Town Hall premises here yesterday morning.
Mysore:
The trainees of the Postal Training Centre (PTC), Mysore, explored the heritage of the city on cycles yesterday.
The cycle rally, organised by the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage, was flagged off by Veena Kumari, Director of PTC from the Town Hall premises at 7 am. It was led by Dr. C.G. Betsurmath, Commissioner, Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage.
The participants covered Clock Tower, Chamaraja Circle, K.R. Circle, Lansdowne Building. Banumaiah’s College, Mysore City Corporation, Jaganmohan Palace, Parakala Mutt, Commercial Tax Office, Lokayukta Office, Oriental Research Institute, Crawford Hall, Maharaja’s College, Yuvaraja’s College, Maharani’s College, Metropole Hotel, Railway Station, Divisional Railway Office, K.R. Hospital, Govt. Ayurveda College, Central Library, Devaraja Market and the Dufferin Clock Tower on cycles.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Betsurmath said that yesterday’s rally was the second with the first being the rally conducted for the staff of Indian Overseas Bank.
He said that there were demands for such rallies from other institutions and offices and added that trainees of Administrative Training Institute (ATI) would participate in the next rally on Sunday.
Resource persons in the rally included retired professor of the Department of Ancient History, University of Mysore, Dr. N.S. Rangaraju, Deputy Director and Heritage In-charge Gavi Siddaiah, journalist Echanur Kumar and Curator in the Archaeology Department L.L. Gowda.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / July 21st, 2014
A lovely green patch at the site of the soil biotechnology plant at Herohalli tank / The Hindu
Water mixed with sewage is being treated through a process called Soil Bio-technology and let into the Herohalli tank.
When a city hits a plateau with regard to water availability it perforce needs to become innovative in identifying alternative options. Right now many problems exercise the minds of citizens and institutions; garbage, sewage in stormwater drains and lake destruction are on top of them.
As you drive west out of the city on Magadi Road, a little after Sunkadakatte Cross you see a tank on your right. This is Herohalli tank, with a water-spread of about 14.50 hectares. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been working to restore it. The tank has been fenced to protect it from encroachment; a bund has been created to enable walkers to go around it. A major stormwater drain brings in water mixed with sewage as well as debris including plastic. An underground sewage line runs across the periphery of the tank too. This sewage line carries about 6 to 8 million litres of waste-water daily. The water from the storm drains is not enough to fill the tank.
A quite but dedicated team of engineers from the BBMP and a competent and young team of designers are working to resuscitate this water body. A new technology called Soil Bio-technology or SBT is being applied for the first time in Karnataka at a scale of 1.50 million litres per day treatment.
Use of strainers
Using the concept of sewage mining, the SBT system taps into the sewage line and draws 1.50 MLD into a small wet well. From here the water is strained using 20 mm and possibly 10 mm strainers to remove solids, plastics, grit and large sediments. This will be collected and removed separately. The remaining waste-water is then allowed to percolate gradually through a specially prepared bed of soil and stones which harbour million of good bacteria. These bacteria eat away at the carbon in the sewage and also change the composition of nitrates and adsorb phosphates to clean up the water.
As the water trickles down the special medium, it is collected at the bottom. If necessary it can be re-circulated to allow the bacteria to have another go at cleaning it up. The treated sewage that comes out of the system is crystal clear and meets the requirement necessary to be led into the tank.
From the top the SBT plant looks like a garden, beautifully landscaped and full of colourful flowers and grass. There is no smell and no unsightly scenes. The SBT plant occupies 2,000 square metres as a foot-print, a really small component of the tank. Eventually Herohalli tank will receive treated waste-water and will be full. This water, cleaned by nature, will in turn recharge the surrounding aquifers and be available as additional supply to the local residents. Bangalore will have converted sewage water into usable water using the SBT and the tank as nature’s kidneys.
Sewage flowing in the stormwater drains can also be diverted to the SBT plant and then allowed into the tank. The design provides for it.
There are problems though. Plastics and garbage thrown into the storm drains end up clogging the bars and creating a backflow in the drains. These also end up in the tank. Sewage flow is sometimes mixed with industrial waste-water. This is highly toxic and cannot be treated. What the SBT plant does for now is to allow this water to flow past and then pick up only domestic sewage.
None of the problems are of a nature that cannot be overcome. All we need is community participation and institutional responsibilities. What the city now realises is that everything is tied up — garbage management, stormwater management, sewage management, lake restoration and groundwater recharge. Citizens and others should visit the SBT plant and Herohalli tank, understand how an eco-system can be managed and try to do the same for the water bodies in their neighbourhood. The time to seize this challenge and overcome it is now or else we will have lost our lakes and will run out of water for the city.
source: http://www. thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Habitat / by S. Vishwanath / Bangalore – July 25th, 2014
