Y.G. Vijayeendra, winner of the Open category title, seen with the trophy
Mysuru :
Top-seed Y.G. Vijayeendra, the former State champion from Mysuru, fourth seeded Kedar Umesh Vaze from Bengaluru, A. Augustin from Madikeri and L. Vivekananda from Mysuru tied with 7.5 points from 9 rounds, but based on a better tie-break score of 51.5 points, Vijayeendra clinched the Open Category title on the concluding day of the Smt. Sarojamma Memorial Karnataka State Open Rapid Chess Tournament-2015, conducted by the MDCA at the Chamundi Vihar Indoor Stadium here yesterday.
The winner received a cash prize of Rs. 7,000 along with the trophy. Kedar Umesh Vaze secured the second place and took home a cash prize of Rs. 5,500 along with a trophy. A. Augustin of Madikeri won the third place and secured a cash prize of Rs.4,000 and a trophy. Cash prizes were given to the winners from the fourth to the 25th place in the Open category. Trophies and certificates were given to the winners in the U-16, U-13, U-11, U-9,U-7, Unrated, Ladies, Veterans & Youngest Players section.
During the occasion, the MDCA honoured P.N. Somashekar, Vice-President, Sports Authority of Karnataka, M.P. Ajith (National Amateur champion), K.G.R. Anagha (National U-7 girls champion) and S.N. Jatin (National Ranked player).
The prizes to the winners were given away by P.N. Somashaker, Vice-President, Karnataka Sports Council, Yashasvi Shankar, Managing Director, M/s. Saanvi Technologies, Sarika Prasad, President, Inner-wheel Club of Mysuru Central, Sudharshan, Vice-President, MDCA, C.K. Muralidharan, Prof. S.K. Ananda Theertha, President, MDCA and K.S. Shivarame Gowda, Hon. Secretary, MDCA.
With farmers’ suicides in Karnataka touching 800, the highest ever in the state, the government is quickly pushing through an initiative to promote cash-rich horticulture farming by linking up the poor and marginal farmer directly to private companies that deal with agri-produce.
Using a programme devised by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance ( UPA) in its second term for integrated agriculture development through private-public-partnerships (PPP-IAD), the state’s horticulture department is dovetailing state, central and corporate initiatives to turn the farmer into a horti-business entrepreneur.
Karnataka, with lakhs of small and marginal farmers, has the third largest area under horticulture crop in the country. It is the seventh in production. The state is the highest exporter of cashew, roses, gherkins, rose onion, spices and condiments, earning a whopping Rs 8,453 crore annually.
Tomatoes grown in Kolar travel all the way to Kolkata for sale, while lemons from Bijapur are sold in Bihar. Income generation from the sector is Rs 36,000 crore. Still, Chawla sees a vast, untapped market for horticulture crop and value-added products from the state. “Why can’t the extraspicy Byadgi chilli become as famous as Mexican chilli?” he asked.
The area that the state wants to fix is the 20 to 25% post-harvest losses in the sector. The idea is to find value additions to the horticulture produce that will use up the highly perishable items without causing any loss to the farmers.
They want to do this by facilitating private intervention, rather than set minimum support prices for all products. Chawla pointed out that the government-sponsored HOPCOMS (Horticultural Producers Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society Ltd), which purchases vegetables and fruits from the farmers and sells them to consumers through stalls, covers hardly 3% of the 12,000 tonnes consumed in Bengaluru city.
Government Intervention
The horticulture department has studied several models including the PPP-IAD implemented by Maharashtra, which began functioning in 2012. Karnataka is also looking to scale up through government intervention two private, successful models in horticulture.
The sale of vegetables from groups of farmers through linked-up groups of vendors under the Samriddhi brand by IIM-A alumnus Koushalendra Kumar in Patna is one model the state wants to replicate. The other is that of the Siddhivinayak group in Maharashtra, where everything from seeds to modern, efficient technology to turning of the grown potato crop into chips and their sale is handled by the company, through agreements with farmers.
Here’s how the Karnataka model, inspired by those from the other states, works: about 20 farmers first get together and form an interest group. About 50 such groups join together and register a farmer producer organisation (FPO) under the Companies Act, complete with a board of directors with two representatives from each interest group.
The FPO is adopted by either the Indian Institute of Horticulture Research or the University of Horticulture Sciences, Bagalkote, which provides technical support. The government pitches in by paying for a technically qualified chief executive to run the FPO as management support for a period of three years. Besides this, the government gives the FPO members all the subsidies provided in the sector and Rs 90 lakh towards permanent infrastructure such as cold storages, on the condition that the FPO puts in Rs 10 lakh.
The state is expecting a range of companies, including the Big Four consulting firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young, to come forward to bid for tenders to provide manpower to support this project on the marketing, BPO and IT side. The government is likely to give each FPO seed money of Rs 25 lakh, while the centrallyfunded Small Farmers Agriculture-Business Consortium (SFAC) will give an equity linked grant of Rs 10 lakh that the state will facilitate. Besides this, NABARD is committed to give each FPO Rs 5 lakh.
Horticulture officials and farmers discussing how to store and market vegetables through the FPO
The FPO draws up a detailed project report with help from the horticulture department and focuses on a specific area. For example, Yogananda of the alreadyregistered FPO in Chikkamagaluru district, told ET Magazine that their FPO will focus on vegetables including tomato, potato, cabbage, beans and green chillies. And they are planning a cold storage to store them and sell them to FPOs in districts that don’t grow vegetables, or to other private outlets. “Farmers are not getting good prices, so these FPOs that we have formed among ourselves are a very good idea to ensure that we don’t suffer.
The FPO will get fertilisers and pesticides at cost and sell them to all of us shareholders, who have paid Rs 1,100 to join it, at cost. We will also get all benefits and no taxes. There will be no intermediaries and we will sell directly to the consumers or the company that links up with us,” Yogananda explained. The state is aiming to register 92 FPOs this financial year and get them off the ground.
The horticulture department insists that the FPO model will work better than the cooperatives that have been racked with politics and power play. Yogananda pointed out that he was a BJP supporter, but Congress and JD(S) farmers were also present in his FPO. Rudresh, a director of another registered FPO in Davanagere district, said: “Politics may come in at some point, but currently, we are all just farmers who are working together for the welfare of all. We can plan who will put what crop and work out benefits for everyone.
As an initiative, this FPO idea is very good and can work at the ground level.” The government is further incentivising FPOs by giving them trader licences in the agriculture produce market committee (APMC) markets that sell agriculture products in each district. The FPO can itself sell to consumers directly at these markets without going through any agents, as they are a group of farmers and not individuals. The FPOs also get priority storage space in all APMCs.
IT Support
All FPOs will be linked up through a database that can be accessed by any company which wants to work with them. The horticulture department will identify five local resource persons who will geo-map the land owned or leased or used by each FPO member. There will be constant updates in all the project area and at any point in time, the state of the land, the fertilisers that have been used, the state of the crop and how it is progressing towards harvest, can be accessed at fingertips.
“A package of practices, which is a set of prescribed practices like the seeds, pest and disease details, pesticides and fertilisers and so on, recommended by University of Horticulture Sciences, Bagalkote will be given to the farmers. These will be monitored at every step through an app, developed for the purpose,” Kshama Patil, deputy director of horticulture (project monitoring unit), told ET Magazine.
Chawla has written to several companies that linked up with the contract farmers in Maharashtra and other states, besides all food processing majors and super-markets including Hindustan Unilever and Metro Cash and Carry, inviting them to attend a workshop on the project and begin the linkage process. “The companies can directly link up with the FPOs and control the whole process of growing their raw material, like providing the seeds, the fertilisers, the know-how and finally purchase the product.
However, unlike contract farming, if the farmers want to sell the produce to someone else who will give them a better rate, they are free to do so. They are not bound to the company. So the company will have to pay them market rates,” Chawla explained. Prabhakar Rao, trustee of the Sri Sri Institute of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Trust, said he has expressed interest in attending the workshop. “I believe the PPP-IHD model has great potential as demonstrated by the Sri Sri Farmers Market we have going in Madhya Pradesh. It is fully run by The Art of Living as a direct linkage between farmers and consumers.
With government support, we believe that there is tremendous potential to take it further,” he told ET Magazine in an emailed response. Hemant Gaur, managing director of Siddhivinayak Agri Processing, pointed to the success of his model in Maharashtra, where everything from seeds to the final marketing of potatoes was done by his company, benefitting everyone along the line. “I don’t believe that the middleman or the dealer has managed to make a lot of money between the consumer and the producer as, if that was the case, the middleman should now be very rich. That has not happened. But what we are looking at is control of the quality of the product that we deliver to the consumer and, for that, this system is very effective,” he said.
source: http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com / www.etsmallbiz.com / ET Home> Small Biz> Entrepreneurship / by Sowmya Aji, ET Bureau / November 29th, 2015
She had been engaged to pilot Rajiv Hoskote who perished in a Pawan Hans chopper crash in Arunachal Pradesh 3 months ago and cremated in city on Aug.14
Mysuru :
Nischitha Ramakrishna,who was engaged to marry city based pilot Rajiv Hoskote, who perished in a Pawan Hans Chopper crash in Arunachal Pradesh on Aug.4, 2015, passed away at a private hospital in city following brief illness.
It may be recalled that Rajiv Hoskote, a resident of Ramanuja Road was engaged to marry the Delhi-based techie Nischitha, daughter of Ramakrishna, a resident of Srirangapatna in Mandya district and the reception of their wedding had been slated for Oct.4 in Mysuru.
Pilot Manjunath, a friend of Rajiv told Star of Mysore that Nischitha, who could not bear the loss of Rajiv had slipped into depression for which she had been treated at several hospital but in vain.
Manjunath also said that Nischitha’s last rites were performed at Srirangapatna yesterday.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / November 29th, 2015
The centuries old Kayani at Hinka village which is being renovated by the Yuva Brigade and the villagers.
Mysuru :
Villagers of Hinkal on Hunsur road in the city have pledged to save the centuries old Kalyani (water pond), a portion of which was about to become the property of someone else due to the negligence of MUDA authorities.
The historical Nanneshwara Temple of the village originally had an area of 42 acres, out of which only about 3 acres is now remaining with the temple. The MUDA after acquiring a portion of this land, sanctioned it to an educational institution. The land sanctioned by MUDA included centuries old Kalyani (water pond) measuring 100ft x 100ft.
The Kalyani had shrunk to a large extent as time went by, with mud and shrubs covering more than half of the pond, posing a threat to the very existence of the Kalyani. The villagers drew the attention of the people representatives about the status of the pond. But the people’s representatives including the MLA, MP and other local leaders did not pay much attention to saving the Kalyani then.
The Yuva Brigade along with Hinkal villagers taking keen interest in saving the pond, visited almost every household in the village seeking co-operation.
A few days later, the villagers led by Yuva Brigade leader Lohit Urs, started a voluntary Shramadan to save the pond.
MP Pratap Simha who came to know of the villagers resolve to save the pond, visited the spot and summoned MUDA officials, who later took up works on cleaning the pond of weeds, mud and filth by deploying excavating machines.
But the MUDA which began renovation works with great enthusiasm a few days ago, stopped the works all of a sudden yesterday, which angered Hinkal residents.
Strongly condemning the MUDA’s action of abruptly stopping the renovation works, thousands of Hinkal residents staged a demonstration at the site yesterday.
MUDA member Rakesh Papanna, who hails from Hinkal, held talks with MUDA officials and asked them to resume renovation works immediately, it is learnt.
MUDA Commissioner Dr. N. Mahesh reacting to the protest, admitted that the CA site allotted to the education institution included a portion of the Kalyani and added that the confusion arose as the Kalyani’ appeared to be a small water pond.
Meanwhile, MUDA Chairman K.R. Mohan Kumar speaking to SOM said that “As soon as we came to know of the existence of the Kalyani, we cancelled the allotment of sites around the pond and took possession of the Kalyani. The MUDA sent a JCB to excavate the pond for development and added that measures are taken to develop the Kalyani.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / November 29th, 2015
The more than 360-year-old monolith of Nandi, located mid-way on Mysuru-Chamundi Hill Road, was today, bathed in more than 30 items like milk, honey, curds, kumkum, ghee, dry fruits, tender coconut, sandal, turmeric, rice flour, etc., as devotees performed ‘Mahabhishekha’ to it.
It may be recalled that the event is being jointly organised annually by the members of ‘Bettada Balaga’ (a group of regular morning walkers to the hill) and ‘Srikshethra Chamundi Bettada Sri Nandiya Puja Mahotsava Samiti’ since 2006.
Legend has it that performing the ritual on third Sunday of Kartikamasa of the Hindu calendar enhances the life of the stone statue. It is also said that the practice of performing Mahasbhishekha to the monolith existed during the reigns of Wadiyars.
Prior to the Mahabhishekha, the statue was cleaned with water before a group of over a dozen priests conducted the abhishekha, which was witnessed by thousands of devotees and tourists.
The ritual, which began at around 10.30 am with Suttur Seer Sri Shivaratri Deshikendra Swamiji performing the ‘abhishekha’ in the presence of Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, Datta Vijayananda Swamiji, Junior Pontiff of Ganapathy Ashram, Chidananda Swamiji of Hosamutt, Jamanagiri Swamiji, Vyaghramukharudrapada Cave in Nandi premises and others, continued for more than four hours.
Interestingly, both Pramoda Devi and Yaduveer also performed abhishekhas.
It is said that this is the 10th Mahabhishekha being performed by the ‘Bettada Balaga’ which spends more than Rs. 2 lakh for the ‘Mahabhishekha’ annually.
Organisers had arranged lunch for more than 5,000 devotees and visitors while the employees of JSS Hospital have organised a Deepotsava at the Nandi premises on Nov.30 at 6.30 pm.
Samiti Convenor S. Shivakumar, Balaga President S. Prakashan, Working President N. Govinda, Secretary H.S. Jagannath, Treasurer V.N. Sundhar were among those present.
Scenes of foreign tourists and locals clicking pictures of the celebrations on their mobile phones and cameras were common at the venue which had been provided tight security with vehicular traffic being restricted.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / November 29th, 2015
IGU Western India Ladies & Junior Girls Amateur Golf
Pranavi S. Urs winner of the ‘Category ‘C’ title in the IGU Western India Ladies & Junior Girls Amateur Golf Tournament seen with her trophy.
Mumbai :
Pranavi S. Urs of JWGC, Mysuru, taking part in the IGU Western India Ladies and Junior Girls Amateur Golf Championship held at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club, won the ‘Category C’ title with a three-day aggregate score of 220 (74+76+70) yesterday.
Pranavi S. Urs returned with a card of two-under 70 on the final day to clinch the title by four strokes. Nayanika Sanga of Maharashtra with three-day aggregate score of 224 (77+75+72) finished second and the over-night leader Anika Verma of Delhi secured the third place with a three-day aggregate score of 226 (73+75+78).
Mysuru girl Dyuthi K. Urs finished 17th in the Category ‘B’ with a three-day aggregate score of 271 (97+85+89). Diksha Dagar of Delhi with a three-day score of 227 won the Category ‘B’ title.
Tvesa Malik of Delhi with a three-day card of 228 won the Ladies title, while Sehar Atwal of Delhi with a three-day score of 218 won the Category ‘A’ title.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / Friday – November 27th, 2015
B. Manush, a X std student of CFTRI School, set a record in State-level shot put by winning first place with a throw of 14.29 mts in the Inter District Junior Athletic Championship held at Bidar recently.
Previously, he won gold medal in Karnataka State Junior and Senior Athletic Championship held at Bengaluru in August.
Manush is the son of Balaram and Dharanishakthi. He is trained by Benaka Prasad and Srikanth.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / Friday – November 27th, 2015
City’s and Karnataka’s top junior athlete P.S. Uma, representing Karnataka in the 31st National Junior Athletic Championships which concluded at Ranchi on Wednesday, won the silver medal in the U-20 girls Shot Put event.
Uma a product of DYES, Mysuru, and a student of Teresian College of Women, Mysuru, threw the shot put to a distance of 13.17 mts to clinch the silver. Meghana Devanga of Maharashtra won the gold with a throw of 13.73mts. Nidhi of Uttar Pradesh took the bronze with a throw of 11.83 mts. In the U-20 women’s 4×400 mts relay event, Mysuru girl M.Likitha, R.A. Chitra, H.R. Navami, G.K. Vijayakumari, representing Karnataka ‘A’ team, won the bronze medal with a timing of 3:58.46 sec.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / Friday – November 27th, 2015
Chandrasekhara Kambar’s “Shivarathri” is a complex work of dramatic art.
Chandrasekhara Kambar, a Kannada poet and playwright, is one of the most significant dramatists of India who catapulted to national fame because of his rare gift to explore mythical and folk characters to recreate and reinterpret them to evolve a distinct modern Indian theatre idiom. He has also invented a format based on the folk form known as Bayalata which invests his dramatic art with intensity and lyricism.
A scene from the play
An innovator of Indian theatre, Kambar creates plays which are frequently seen in Hindi versions on the Delhi stage. Some of the notable productions include “Jokumaraswami” as “Aur Tota Bola” directed by Rajinder Nath and “Siri Sampige” as “Aks Tamasha” produced by the National School of Drama Repertory Company under the direction of Bhanu Bharti. These two productions have been treated as the masterpieces of contemporary Indian theatre. Recently, we have seen several versions of his Mahamayi.
The discerning theatre audience of Delhi had the opportunity to watch his “Shivarathri” in original Kannada at the festival of performing arts organised by Sangeet Natak Akademi at LTG auditorium recently under the direction of C.R. Jambe, an eminent theatre personality of Karnataka and the recipient of SNA award for 2014 for his contribution to Indian theatre as a director.
Transcending the language barrier, “Shivarathri” is a complex work of dramatic art with the narrative moving through action to climax logically and coherently which is at once disturbing and provocative, signally the end of darkness and dawn of a humane social order.
The play recreates the 12t Century radical movement in Karnataka led by Basavanna, a religious leader who wants to establish his system of universal brotherhood, replacing a social system dominated by Brahminical culture, perpetuating the inhuman Varana system. The playwright explores the inherent antagonistic contradictions of a society based on the exploitation of Dalits. The ruling classes headed by Brahmins and kings resorts to violence means to crush the movement of Basavanna. Endowed with the gift of presenting his social thesis through dramatic conflict, playwright Kambar opens his play on a tense note with every event contributing to reinforce the conflict between the values of Brahminical system and the values of Dalits. In the backdrop here is a social turmoil and violent agitation against the marriage of a Brahmin girl with a Dalit boy, destroying the colony of the Dalits. The social backdrop is formed by a vast landscape – the theft of a precious necklace by a Brahmin boy from the palace of the king to please a prostitute, the menacing distant sounds of march of Brahmins towards Dalit colony.
With a view to give a proper dramatic form to the narrative the entire action takes place in the brothel of prostitute Saavanthri. Fierce polemics starts as soon as Bijala, the king of the land, is informed by Saavanthri that his favourite prostitute is not available to serve him because she has another client to entertain. King Bijala is a frequent visitor to the brothel who comes in the night in disguise. He considers his favourite prostitute his personal property.
In the course of fierce debate, Saavanthri exposes the hypocrisy of the ruling class, asserting the values of her own class which follows values free from pretentions. They earned their bread after working hard physical labour. Her class has no value for necklace adored by the ladies of the royalty. She tells the king that the necklace kept under heavy security in the royal palace is just thrown in the garbage in her brothel.
A scene from the play
Director Jambe has aptly designed his production. The main action takes place on the centrestage. Dowan staged on either side are seen as human images with weapon evoking the sense of suspense, worry and fright. As the curtain goes up, a huge piece of cloth spreads out covering the whole space. In the dim light a huge giant like image emerges. The image tends to be an allegorical statement that the seeds of destruction are present in the womb itself of an exploitative system.
The production is aptly cast throughout. Suguna M.M. as Basavanna gives an excellent performance. The serenity of his soul and his convictions of the essential goodness of all humans is reflected in his gestures, gait and steadied style of dialogue delivery. Here is a man at peace with his inner-self to create a new social order. Lingaraju R. as king Bijala faces the indignity at the hands of a prostitute and defiance of his own minister, trying to retain a brave face. Sheela R. as Saavanthri vividly displays the courage of her convictions to confront the king, asserting her human dignity.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Friday Review / by Diwan Singh Bajeli / November 26th, 2015
Disha Karigar demonstrating her bicycle generator.— Photo: VAIDYA
Event is an initiative of Ministry of Science and Technology
The project to generate electricity from a stationary bicycle developed by Disha Karigar, a class VII student of Mythri Higher Primary School at Shikaripur, has been selected for a national-level science exhibition, being conducted as part of Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The State-level exhibition (INSPIRE) was held at B.K. School at Belagavi, recently.
The model displayed by Ms. Karigar won the first place and thereby, she was chosen for the national-level event scheduled to be held at New Delhi on December 5.
The title of the project is Homemade bicycle generator. K.R. Dayanand, administrative officer of the school, said in a press release that the generator worked on Faraday’s law of electro-magnetic induction. The rim of the bicycle wheel is attached to the shaft of the DC motor of 12-volt capacity with a driving belt. When the bicycle is peddled, the belt and the shaft revolve concurrently, creating an electromagnetic field. With the effect of the electromagnetic field, electricity is generated. In this project, 150 Watts of power can be generated with 1,500 revolutions a minute (RPM).The electricity generated here could be used for domestic lighting and recharging of mobile sets. The stand and the rim of the bicycle has been fabricated to suit the purpose. Peddling of this bicycle is good for health, besides generating power through environment-friendly method, he said.
Ms. Karigar hails from Gagri, a village in Shikaripur taluk. Her father Nagaraj Karigar is a lecturer in a private Industrial Training Institute here and her mother is a homemaker.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / Veerendra P M / Shivamogga – November 26th, 2015
