Sarod maestro Pandit Rajeev Taranath has been chosen for the 2018 ‘Rajya Sangeetha Vidwan Gourava Prashasthi’, given to eminent musicians by the State government.
The selection committee, headed by M. Venkateshkumar, Dharwad, selected Pt. Rajeev Taranath, said an official release.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Staff Reporter / Bengaluru – October 09th, 2018
Team spots rare and endangered species of medicinal plants
Eight researchers from Indian Institute of Astrophysics cycled all the way from Koramangala to The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences & Technology in Yelahanka to explore rare and endangered species of ancient medicinal plants. The tour started at 6 am on Sunday.
The researchers reached their destination in three hours and their excursion proved to be worth the pain. They encountered rare medicinal plants that find mention even in Ayurveda and other Vedic texts.
Binu Kumar Nair, postdoctoral researcher at IIAP, says, “The campus has all those plants that can grow in the South Indian climate. Being an Astrophysics scholar, it was interesting to come across and know about so many plant species. These are plants that we come across every day, but we don’t know about their value.”
Since TDU also has a hospital on the campus, the patients are treated using the herbs and medicinal plants found here.
The university campus has about 1,600 species of medicinal plants and 600 of them available at their nursery for people to take at minimal costs. Of the 1,600 species available, 200 are endangered species.
When Ganesh Babu, Senior Research Officer, visited IIAP a couple of days ago to identify and name the plants available in IIAP, he had invited the researchers to come and explore a variety of species at the Trans-Disciplinary University. He explains, “We have a cure for almost all diseases through our medicinal plants. PterocarpusMarsupium is used for diabetes, Syzygium Caryophyllatum gives nutricious fruits like jamuns which are very sweet, and Wild Moringa helps in joint pains. There are 10 such trees with such rots that are used in medicines. We have 45 tree gardens in all demarcated according to the medicinal uses for example one for treating fever, one for diabetes, one that enhances water quality and so on.”
The researchers also came across the Seetha Ashok tree which helps with female infertility and is endangered, the Rudraksha tree which cures blood pressure, and the Camphor tree and four different types of incense stick trees.
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore / by Reya Mehrotra, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / October 09th, 2018
The project aims at integrating and managing all aspects of a hospital’s operations such as medical, financial, administrative, legal and compliance, health records online.
Bengaluru :
Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO) has become the first government hospital in Karnataka to execute the Central government’s e-hospital project, the first round of implementation for which started last week. The project aims at integrating and managing all aspects of a hospital’s operations such as medical, financial, administrative, legal and compliance, health records online.
“This system will also ensure that people coming from rural areas across the state need not wait for hours or struggle with losing files,” said Dr C Ramachandra, Director, KMIO.
How will it work?
E-hospital Kidwai will register the patient in the hospital system at the OPD (out patient department) on entering. A patient identification number and a patient-specific barcode will be generated, after which the patient will be given a ‘health card’. At the electronic queue management centre, they will be issued a token which will tell them where to go and which doctor to see.
A senior doctor from KMIO explained that a doctor will scan the patient’s barcode to receive information about the patient, such as medical history, allergies, and demographic data. After the consultation, he will then enter the diagnosis, prescription, and any further tests which should be taken into the system. “For instance, if you were to take a blood test, then you would be directed to the lab and the technician will have already received information about you. The blood sample will then be labelled with a barcode, enabling the technician to retrieve vital information before recording the test results,” he explained.
Digital healthcare
A team from Infosys Foundation is helping the doctors at Kidwai to streamline the data and also link the departments.
On the benefits of digital health care, the director said, “It is one of the answers to our disorganized, overcrowded state hospitals, and the inconsistent quality of hospital services. It is also instrumental in managing information more efficiently.”
He explained that it improves connectivity within healthcare institutions, so there is better coordination between healthcare personnel and also recorded data. Individuals from disadvantaged or low-income backgrounds, who do not manage their health due to poverty or lack of awareness, will be able to have the hospitals manage their health for them, he said.
Dr C Ramachandra also added that Kidwai was the first hospital to ensure that the OT was operational even on holidays.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Chetana Belagere / by Express News Service / Ocotober 09th, 2018
In the future, Sandesh hopes to open his own restaurant, one where he can practise exactly what he likes.
Bengaluru :
“Cooking is my girlfriend,” says Sandesh Adugemane, who has spent most of his life in the kitchen of his father’s restaurant in Gangavati, a town in the state. Now, the chef, who works in Hyderabad and is here in the city for an event, says that his ability to cook blindfolded for hours, has brought him fame.
“I first cooked blindfolded at 18. Since I’ve been in the kitchen since I was about three – I was able to identify ingredients such as turmeric, chilli, tamarind by then – cooking is something that comes to me naturally, and I was confident enough to cook without being able to see,” says Sandesh.
He had to drop out of college in his second year due to personal problems. He started working in the hotel and that’s when the idea to do something different came to him. “Even though word spread that I was cooking blindfolded, my father didn’t support me. People would come from different states to watch me, but my dad didn’t think what I was doing was worthwhile,” he says, adding that the longest he has cooked blindfolded was six hours. He has appeared in over 100 local cooking shows, he says.
It took him over a year to perfect his technique.
“The first dish I made blindfolded was gobi manchurian. A well-wisher happened to take a video and circulated it,” says Sandesh, who can make Indian and Chinese dishes blindfolded, but is trying to perfect continental cuisine.
About the mishaps when he just started cooking blindfolded, Sandesh says, “I can’t count the number of time I spilt hot oil onto myself. One time, because of being blindfolded and working in the kitchen for hours, my eyes had swollen up so big that I couldn’t open them for two days. My mother was worried and tried to get me to stop, but I was determined.”
In the future, Sandesh hopes to open his own restaurant, one where he can practise exactly what he likes.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Lifestyle> Food / by Express News Service / October 08th, 2018
With organ donation picking up in the State, awareness on the concept of skin donation is also catching up. The State’s first skin bank set up in the government-run Victoria Hospital has had 85 donations ever since its inception in March 2016. Donated skin has been used for grafting in nearly 40 patients, with skin damage due to burns.
One among the beneficiaries is an eight-year-old boy, who recently suffered third-degree burns after he tried to imitate a stunt that he saw during a Muharram procession.
The son of a driver from Tilaknagar in the city, the boy had burns on his chest, feet, and upper limbs, and was rushed to the Mahabodhi burns ward in Victoria Hospital. Skin grafting and it was done on him 10 days ago.
K.T. Ramesh, head of the department of plastic surgery in Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI), told The Hindu, “Although some patches of skin from his thigh area were used, it was not enough. We used donated skin on a major portion of his chest, and the boy is doing well now. He will be discharged in a few days.”
With the burns ward in the hospital getting nearly 220 admissions (of which over 70% are serious cases), the skin bank is of great help to patients who deal with the trauma of disfigurement. Hospitals from across the State are placing requests for the facility.
“The skin bank is a boon for patients as there is no blood-group matching required in skin grafting. Anyone over 18 years, who does not have skin disease or infections can donate,” Dr. Ramesh said.
The bank, set up in association with Rotary Bangalore Midtown and Ashirvad Pipes (Rotary Ashirvad BMCRI Skin Bank), did not get a good response in the first year. BMCRI then roped in Kannada cine stars — Prem and Kumar Bangarappa — to popularise the concept of skin donations. “While the actors participated in a few awareness programmes, our skin bank team comprising of paramedics — Nagaraj, Prasanna, and Lakshmikanth — have been doing yeoman service. Apart from visiting colleges and public functions to create awareness, the team also accompanies grief counsellors from Jeevasarthakathe, the State-run body that facilitates the cadaver organ transplantation programme, to hospitals where brain deaths are declared,” said Dr. Ramesh.
Earlier, despite counselling, relatives of patients who breathe their last in Victoria Hospital (where the bank is located), were not ready to come forward. “Now, we are glad that people call us when there is a death in the family and say they are interested in donating skin. This apart, we have received over 1,500 pledges so far,” the doctor added.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Shan Yasmeen / Bengaluru – October 05th, 2018
14-year-old Mihir S Avalakki, a Class IX student at National Public School, Rajajinagar, Bengaluru, driving for birelArt India, won the Round 2 of FMSCI Rotax Max National Karting Championship 2018 (Junior Category), at ChicaneCircuit, Hyderabad recently.
Being the fastest, he earned P1 position in the qualifying round. After finishing P2 in Heat 1 and P4 in Heat 2, he stared at P2 in the pre-finals and moved to P1 in the very first corner itself and held on to the same till the end of pre-finals.
The final was a closely fought battle where Mihir started at P1 and held on to the position, for a nail-biting finish.
Mihir started his professional racing a year ago where he finished the 2017 FMSCI Rotax Max Championship at a promising sixth place, being a rookie.
Mihir also got a great International exposure where he represented birelArt India at the EasyKart Championship in Europe.
He raced in six different International Racing Circuits in Italy and is currently placed at seventh in the championship among 32 total drivers. This international exposure has helped him raise his level of racing in India, which was evident in his win in the Round 2 of the Indian FMSCI Rotax Max Championship.
Earlier, Mihir was the National Champion at FMSCI National 4 Stroke Karting Championship 2017, which earned him a free ticket to the FMSCI Rotax Max Championship for 2017.
Marco Bartoli, Owner of birelArt India and Former Formula 3 Racer said, “He drove like an experienced driver and he handled the pressure really well. He is shown to have great mix of technical skills, speed, consistency and maturity which are very rare for a driver of his limited experience. He is definitely proving to be a bright star of the future”.
Preetham Muniyappa, co-owner of birelArt India and former Asia Karting Champion, said, “I have been monitoring him from the time he has been driving with our team and he has proved that he is a champion in the making, which was evident in the round 2 of the National Level Championship at Hyderabad. This is the beginning for his long career.”
He is the son of Sushmitha Narayana and Suman Avalakki . His father said: “Mihir is so dedicated, which gives my wife and I, the confidence that he is going to be a great Racer for India even in international circuits.”
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Others / by Bangalore Mirror Bureau / October 06th, 2018
Y. Eshwar Rao, a progressive farmer in Vijayapura camp of Ballari taluk, has opted for natural farming on a sprawling 25-acre land.
He has been following the Palekar model of agriculture, including integrated farming, in his experiment since two years.
Mr. Rao says the yield, as of now, is not important. But what matters is that the soil health has been considerably improving and this has a lot of value.
“For 25 years, I adopted the conventional method of cultivation. I have used chemical fertilizers and pesticides and got good yield too. But after getting to know about organic/natural farming and the Palekar model of agriculture with thrust on zero budget farming, I decided to give it a try and adopted it on my entire piece of land,” he told The Hindu.
Mr. Rao said that he has never met Mr. Palekar, but acquired knowledge by reading his books and watching videos on the subject.
Sharing his experience, he said under natural farming, the input cost was less compared to farming using fertilizers and pesticides.
Presently, Mr. Rao has cultivated sugarcane on about 10 acres, fig on 8 acres, banana on about 2 acres, guava in 3 acres, and paddy on 2.5 acres. In addition, he has also taken up inter-cropping raising beans, cowpea, and drumsticks, which will not only supplement his income but also help increase nitrogen fixation. He has made use of drip irrigation, a facility that he had already had. The drip facility is also used to supply organic fertilizer. He uses manual labour for spraying organic pesticides.
According to him, the labour cost was on the higher side in the initial stage but dependence on it was coming down gradually.
“I will be happy to share my experience with other farmers and also guide them properly if they are willing to adopt natural farming,” he says.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by M. Ahiraj / Ballari – October 03rd, 2018
The idea of ‘holy compost’ is fast gaining ground after one temple in Bengaluru made compost out of its waste, branded it and sold it at a premium. Now, nearly 40 temples have installed leaf composters to process flower waste. They are yet to market the compost, but the trend shows that an increasing number of temples are adopting eco-friendly measures.
A leaf composter was installed at the Venugopalaswamy temple in Malleswaram on Tuesday while two will be installed in the Kadu Malleswara temple complex next week.
According to Vasuki Iyengar, who helped install these composters, most temples use flowers, such as marigolds, chrysanthemum and tulsi. “Some temples are also keen on composting vegetable peels, coffee and tea grounds, apart from the leaf bowls (donne in Kannada) that are used to distribute prasad,” he said. “A lot more temple managements are now open to discussing in situ processing solutions, as there is better awareness. That apart, such solutions require little investment and are not dependent on heavy machinery.”
At the Venugopalaswamy temple, Mr. Iyengar has trained three people to manage the leaf composter. “The temple has two desi cows. Their dung will be used as slurry, along with coco peat to aid composting,” he said.
One of the first temples to compost flower and kitchen waste was the Shakthi Mahaganapathy temple in Kalyan Nagar. The ‘zero waste’ temple has also invested in drum digesters for kitchen waste, said Ashok Betraj, temple trustee.
After installing these in June 2016, the temple management harvested over three tonnes of ‘holy compost’ in October last year and sold it at a premium. The temple’s success story seems to have captured the attention of the managements of many other temples in the city.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Special Correspondent / October 04th, 2018