The new Jammu and Kashmir government has a Karnataka link.
Mohammad Ashraf Mir, who took oath as a minister in the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Cabinet in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, is married to a girl from this port town.
Residents of Bhatkal, especially the Navayath community members, celebrated the news of Mir’s appointment as a minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mir was also in the news after he defeated former chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah from Sonawar constituency in last year’s Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
While, Mir secured 14,283 votes, Omar Abdullah managed just 9,500 votes.
Mir married Zareen in Bengaluru in 1996. Zareen is the daughter of Farooq Udyavar, a businessman, who is a resident of Port Road in Bhatkal.
A close relative of the family told Express that Mir and Zareen’s marriage was love-cum-arranged.
Mir and Zareen did MBA at a private college in Bengaluru. At present, Zareen’s parents are residing in Bengaluru as they are renovating their old house in Bhatkal town.
The family members are planning to visit Srinagar to congratulate Mir.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Marx Tejaswi / March 02nd, 2015
Suttur seer Shivaratri Deshikendra Swami inaugurating the Raitha Mitra FarmersProducer Company Ltd. in Mysuru on Monday.— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM
Farmers in the State have turned entrepreneurial.
They have launched a start-up company to market their produce and provide agricultural inputs, including seeds and fertilizer, at less than market price. The Raitha Mitra Farmers Producer Company Ltd. took 8 months in the making and has 1,000 members from across the State.
Inspired by a similar endeavour of turmeric producers in Erode in Tamil Nadu and coconut cultivators in Kerala, the company was inaugurated by Suttur seer Shivaratri Deshikendra Swami on Tuesday.
The membership is open only to genuine land-holding farmers. Membership is restricted to one representative from each farmer family.
Besides proving agricultural implements at lower price, the company intends extend to loan at nominal interest, create warehouse facilities so that farmers can hold on to their produce instead of engaging in distress sale when the market slumps, said Kurubur Shanthakumar, chairman of the company.
Described as the first-of-its-kind initiative in the State, there are members from Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Karwar, Dharwad, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Haveri to name a few, he said.
“Each member farmer has to buy 50 company shares at the rate of Rs. 100 each and the capital will be used in part for financing some of its activities and profits shared in accordance with the share held by the members,” he added.
One of the main objectives is to help reduce cultivation cost by procuring agricultural inputs at cost price and selling it to the members at less than market price, which will add to the company’s profit while resulting in helping farmers save.
“The scourge of middlemen in agriculture will be eliminated to a large extent and the sale of spurious seeds and fertilizers will be scorched,” Mr. Shanthakumar said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by R. Krishna Kumar / Musuru – March 03rd, 2015
Bangalore Medical College students exulting during the convocation at the institute on Sunday I NAGESH POLALI
Bengaluru :
“I want to serve my nation that has given me an identity as a doctor,” said Dr Gowra Chattannavar, who received five gold medals at the convocation ceremony held by Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute for the 2009 batch MBBS students on Sunday.
She secured gold medals in biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, general medicine and pediatrics.
Dr Kishen Rao, who hails from Sullia, received the best outgoing student award in sports category. He said, “Now I want to pursue my IAS exam to serve my people and make my poor parents proud of me.”
Dr P K Devadas, dean, Bangalore Medical College and Research, said a trauma centre at Victoria Hospital will become operational from next month. The disaster management unit would be the first in the state, and would have 40 beds for disaster management and 40 beds for intensive care.
Dr Devadas congratulated the 150 graduates and asked them to serve patients without any bias. He said BMCRI has already started the construction of a new seven-storey complex, which will have all the latest facilities including a food court and gym. This will be at a cost of `130 crore.
Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil said more than the students, parents should be congratulated for taking the pain to educate their children.
Dr S S Harsoor, director of medical education, Dr T K Ramesh, director of Minto Eye Hospital, Dr Syed Iqbalulla Khadri, medical superintendent of Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, Dr Girish, special officer of PMSSY Hospital, Dr I Durganna, medical superintendent of Victoria Hospital, and Dr Gangadhar Velvadi, medical superintendent of Vani Vilas Hospital were present.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / March 02nd, 2015
After a long career rat race that took him across the country and the globe, life has come full circle for Chandrakantha Rao, 53, of Inna Village near Padubidri, about 50km from here.
After being the director & president, Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises of Aditya Birla Group and managing operations in nine countries, he retired when he turned 50 and settled down at his Praakruti Fruit Farm – a modern model farm with a 1,250 sqft wood house.
He and his wife, Supriya, moved 14 times all over India in the first 24 years of his career and even all over the world in the last five years. And all the while, one question remained on top of his mind: Where to?
Rao said: “What you see around the fruit farm today is a result of my search for that question. It is a model farm getting developed just to show case possibilities in the fertile land of the coast. It started with a dream of putting our quiet village Inna on the map and to create a world class farm to show case possibilities.”
Rao, who completed his graduation from NIT-K with distinction in 1983, wanted to hang his boots when he turned 50. And he worked towards this end. “That was the plan. As soon as I felt independent I decided it to call a day. Once you decide, then you will work towards reasonable financial independence. I was quite clear that I wanted to retire at 50,” he said and added, “The company thinks I’m on sabbatical.”
He quit in 2012 and returned to his village where did his school.
The farm house – built of Green Teak and designed by his Thai friend Nattapoom Raksakul — was completed in 2011. The house is named “Su Kantha I” – derived from Su-priya and Chandra-Kantha) and `I’ from Inna.
Rao visited several progressive farms in Kochi, Karkala, Naravi, Hiriyadka, Belthangady, Puttur and Kundapur and designed the farm with the help of Amit Soans of West Coast Nursery at Uchila. His farm has an acre each for cultivation of mango, chikoo, rambutan, guava, mangosteen and coconut.
He said that an excellent farm cannot be complete without a farm house. A small team from Thailand (Kanchanpuri) guided a local team of 12 carpenters to complete this project in less than three months.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / by Stanley Pinto, TNN / March 02nd, 2015
AshaBhat returned to her alma mater, RV College of Engineering, for the first time after being crowned Miss Supranatural in Poland last December. The 22-year-old was in college for the inauguration of 8th Mile, the college fest. Like a true beauty queen, she was thankful (and less nostalgic, unlike an alumnus) and talked about her days as a newbie in college three years ago. Apparently, the lady “didn’t know anyone” and “approaching the teachers was always difficult”. Oh, that’s the story of 99 per cent of the student population. Of course, things have changed for Bhat in the last four months. Along with the crown came attention (and new found confidence to approach old teachers), which she said was all new to her. “But nice.”
Lit lite
THE Lahore Literary festival which concluded last week was a resounding success. Lahoris queued up by the hundreds to cock a snook at the terror threats and hear some excellent panel discussions. Your diarist, a guest of the festival, was particularly delighted to see the re-emergence of two ladies of a certain vintage into the limelight. We spotted Meher Tarrar, she of the Shashi Tharoor fame, hobnobbing with the Indian contingent. In her heyday, Tarrar had acted in a film or two and her journalistic avatar was a fairly recent one, we were told. The other woman, Tehmina Durrani, of equal renown, was not to be physically espied but was very much a guiding spirit behind the LLF. Those with long memories might recall her as the author of My Feudal Lord, a pulpish bestseller that recounted her years of abusive marriage to powerful Pakistani politician Ghulam Mustafa Khar. With that one book, she became something of an icon on both sides of the border. Tehmina has since moved on. She is now married to Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s brother who is also the chief minister of Punjab and a great patron of the LLF. Tehmina, whose taste in men clearly runs to the powerful kind, has told her friends that even though Sharif has married again, she is treated well. Phew!
Hair matters
Doppelgangers, they are — Michael Antony Dias of Mad Orange Fireworks and musician Vasu Dixit of Swarathma. People talk to Dias thinking he is Dixit and vice versa. Blame it on their almost identical funky sky-scraper hairdo. While the duo has a hearty laugh over the mistaken identity, people around them are left confused. Perhaps, a haircut would help. But that’s asking for the moon, isn’t it? Especially when it concerns these two.
Tailpiece
If the diarist were Srinivasan Narayanan, former director of Mumbai Film Festival, the diarist would be doing cartwheels now. The prestigious Sundance Institute has partnered with Drishyam (Narayanan’s baby), a production company, for the Sundance Institute screenwriters lab that will be held in Goa from April. After films like Margarita, With a Straw and Umrika (won the audience award in the world cinema dramatic category at Sundance this year; and from Drishyam’s stable) and Masaan came out of Sundance Screenwriters Lab, one can only think of the gems that will emerge after the Goa Lab. 2015 seems like a good year for Indian cinema.
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Columns> Code 560 / Bangalore Mirror Bureau / March 01st, 2015
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will launch the facility on Sunday
Henceforth Kannada bookworms need not keep heavy books for reference. They can just download NewsHunt App on their cell phones and access over 30 classic works of Kannada for free, thanks to the Department of Kannada and Culture that signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NewsHunt, for making available its publication to the mobile phone readers.
Cell phone users can browse, download and read the largest collection of works brought out by the Department of Kannada and Culture in the recent years, including; Kaviraja Marga Mattu Kannada Jagattu by K.V. Subbanna, Uttara Karnatakada Janapada Kathegalu, Kanakadasara Kavya, Aramane by Kum. Veerabhradappa and Shataka Samputa .
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will dedicate the facility on Sunday, besides re-launching the website onVachana and Dasa literature. According to the Director of Kannada and Culture K.A. Dayananda, the attempt is aimed at making volumes of Kannada classics available to younger generation, who don’t have time to refer to hard volumes, but can browse and read on their mobile during their leisure time. Similarly e-readers can access 26,000 Vachanas besides over 13,000 Dasa keerthanas. They can also listen to Vachanas and Keerthanas in musical form by visiting kannadasiri.in website.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Muralidhara Khajane / Bengaluru – March 01st, 2015
Dr Narasimha Pai, Associate Professor in the Department of Cardiology, KMC Hospital Ambedkar Circle, here has been made fellow of the elite panel of American College of Cardiology (FACC).
The certification and citation will be officially presented to him at the annual convocation of the college on March 6 in San Diego, California.
“KMC Hospital Mangalore is proud to have Dr Pai on the panel of consultants in Interventional Cardiology. We congratulate him on his achievement” said Dr Anand Venugopal, Medical Superintendent.
Every year, the American College of Cardiology recognizes selected cardiologists from around the world, based on their long term contribution to the field of Cardiology, and inducts them as a fellow of American College of Cardiology (FACC). American College of Cardiology is the foremost professional society, representing heart specialists in the UD and throughout the world. Based on their outstanding credentials, achievements and community contribution to cardiovascular medicine, those who are elected to fellowship can use fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC) as a professional designation.
Fellow of the ACC generally are adult cardiologists, paediatric cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, researchers and academicians or specialists in the cardiovascular – related field.
Candidates are selected to the elite panel of FACC based on letters of sponsorship from other fellows or faculty, who attest professional competence and commitment to excellence that are at par with the best international standards.
source:http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / by Stanley Pinto, TNN / February 27th, 2015
City-lad M.Vikas, a 10th standard student of Ramakrishna Vidyashala, Mysuru, taking part in the 60th National School Games Federation of India’s Diving Competitions held at Gujarat recently won the bronze medal in the U-17 section for Karnataka.
Vikas is a being trained by Ramakrishna Vidyashala, Mysuru’s Diving Coach Guruprasad.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / Monday – February 23rd, 2015
Success story: Musthafa believes it was team work all the way that helped.
Musthafa P.C, a school dropout who went on to study at IIMB, quit his software job to start an enterprise that sold idly-dosa batter. His is a success story that has trickled down to his 600 –odd rural employees too
A young techie who could just about make himself daal, rice and papad in his bachelor days now runs a company with a 70 crore turnover that provides almost five lakh idlis a day to hungry Bengalureans. Most young working people in the city in a rush, simply fish out the now-famous “iD Fresh” readymade idly/dosa batter from their refrigerator for their quick breakfast fix.
While Bengaluru is where all this began for techie-turned-entrepreneur Musthafa P.C, his idlis and dosas find a place on the breakfast tables in households in Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, and even Dubai! And it’s not limited to idlys and dosas anymore. Their oeuvre now includes parotas, chapattis and chutneys too, all made without chemicals and preservatives, Musthafa is quick to add.
It started in a small corner of the city’s Thippasandra locality where Musthafa’s cousins ran a grocery store. “This was eight years ago, and a local supplier would sell idly/dosa batter in an unbranded plain plastic bag tied up with a rubberband, on weekends. There was a great demand, but they couldn’t keep up the quality. That’s when I felt there was a gap in the market,” says the 42-year-old Musthafa, CEO of iD Fresh Food, one of the new-age food startups in the city.
And then, one can conclude, the Malayali business instinct kicked in!
The enterprising cousins set up a 50 square foot kitchen — “our so-called factory” laughs Musthafa, and started a trial in 10 stores in and around Indiranagar. “In a year’s time we were selling 100 packets of batter a day.” During that time, Musthafa had quit his plum job to study his MBA at the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B). “I did a proper survey and found that Bangalore then had a production requirement of 5,000 kg of batter a day.” The sales and the survey gave them the confidence to set up a 600 square foot kitchen in Kaggadasapura, where Musthafa pumped in six lakh from his savings. They were still using regular household grinders to make the batter. “I had a high-profile job in Dubai. I had worked with Motorola, Citibank, had lived in the U.K., and then later even worked with Intel. But I wanted to come back to India to pursue higher studies, spend time with my parents, and give something back to society,” says Musthafa of making the proverbial switch.
It is with this intent that Musthafa is very particular that they identify “smart guys from rural areas who are unemployed” and provide them opportunities in their company. Today they employ 650 such people from the eight regions they work in across India. “I come from a life of poverty in Wayanad (Kerala) where my dad was a coolie, and breakfast was a luxury. I was a school dropout after I failed my sixth standard. The teacher persuaded me to repeat the class and continue my studies.”
No one supported his decision to quit the IT industry; it was a job that had brought stability to the family, helped him build a home and marry off siblings. Even his wife’s family was upset that he was becoming a “rice merchant”.
But by 2008, his company had expanded into a proper factory in Hoskote, with the help of the Karnataka State Industrial Development Council (KSIDC). Custom-made grinders were brought in from America. “With Indian grinders, cleaning is the most difficult task. Moreover the small grinders would take an hour to grind a kilo of dal. So we had to import these large, modified grinders that self-sterilise at the touch of a button.” Musthafa swears the actual batter making process is “the same that your mom uses at home, starting with the soaking”. “We are only professional assistants to the homemaker. Our products will always be ready to cook, not ready to eat. So they don’t reach the dining table; they first go into the kitchen. If the idli is good, the homemaker gets the credit; if the idli turns out bad, iD takes the credit!” All the products, he says, are first tested on his children aged 12, nine, and five.
Business is of course growing phenomenally with venture capital (VC) firms wanting to invest in them; 60 companies evinced interest in pumping money; mostly American. Finally Helion Venture invested Rs. 35 crore in their expansion plans. “We are targeting expansion to 10 Middle-Eastern cities over the next five years. As well as expanding into north India, especially Delhi.” While initially a friend named it iD for “idly-dosa”, Musthafa says it now stands for their “identity”.
Every employee in the company is an entrepeneur like he is, believes Musthafa.
Musthafa makes it a point to stress on the fact that it has been team work all along the way; first his cousins came on board, then his engineering classmates and then family friends, to start the operation in various cities. “We don’t work on an employment basis; there is no fixed pay. Every employee is a micro-entrepreneur. For example, each area sales team is given a vehicle and “they have to maintain their own profit and loss account,” explains Musthafa. Whitefield, Jayanagar, Indiranagar and Koramangala is where they do their best business, he says. They have a SAP-based backend platform so that they have a zero inventory model – 90 per cent of the products are sold on the same day; a mobile app keeps track of sales patterns in each store.
Musthafa’s personal favourite from his company is the wheat parota. “We eat our idli and dosa once a week at home, then three days of wheat parota,” he breaks into a boyish grin.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Bhumika .K / February 26th, 2015
Tennis is a global sport and Mysuru has been producing talented tennis players from time to time who have gone on to represent the country in different levels. One such player who has made her mark in the International level in the Junior Girls section is city’s Dhruthi T. Venugopal. She has represented India in the junior-level and is presently taking part in the women’s circuit. Dhruthi has been consistently performing well in the ITF tournaments. Recently taking part in the 25,000$ ITF Women’s Tennis Tourney in Delhi from Feb. 16 to 22, 2015, Dhruthi qualified for the tournament proper and lost in the pre-quarter-finals in the Women’s Singles and Doubles events. She has took part in the ITF Tourney in Eqypt in the previous month and performed well. She is our ‘Star This Week.’
Dhruthi is the daughter of Venugopal and Vanamala of our city who encourage her to the maximum. Dhruthi trains in Pune and is coached by Sandeep Kirtane. Dhruthi, presently ranked No. 41 in the country and No.3 in the State in the women’s section, has been performing well in the ITF women’s circuit. Dhruthi has represented India in the Junior section and has also played in the Australian Open Junior Girls event. Dhruthi, taking part in the 25,000$ ITF Women’s Tennis Tournament in Delhi from Feb. 16 to 22, 2015, lost in the pre-quarter-finals in the women’s singles to Slovakia’s Tadeja Majevic 2-6, 4-6. In the first round, Dhruthi beat Katherina Lehnert (Phi) 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-0.
In the qualifying rounds, Dhruthi beat Abou Zekry of Egypt 6-3, 6-2 and entered the main draw. In the second round she beat Ching-wen Hsu (Tpe) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 and in the first round got past China’s Yukun Zhang 6-1, 6-3.
In the Women’s Doubles event, Dhruthi, partnering Snehadevi Reddy of India, went down to the Japanese pair of Miyu Kato and Riko Sawayanagi 1-6, 2-6. Dhruthi also took part in the three legs of the Sharam El Sheikh 10,000$ ITF Women’s Tournament held at Egypt and performed consistently and entered the main draw in two tournaments after playing the qualifying rounds.
In the tournament held from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1 at Eqypt, Dhruthi lost finals in the qualifying round in the Women’s Singles going down to Federica Prati of Italy 6-3, 6-7 (10), 3-6. In the first round, Dhruthi beat Russia’s Ekaterina Lavvikova 7-6 (4), 7-6(4). Dhruthi was ranked No 4 in the country in the Junior Girls (U-18) section and is now taking part in the women’s circuit. Dhruthi is an attacking player with a double handed backhand and is quite consistent in her performances in the women’s ITF circuit representing the country.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / Sunday – February 22nd, 2015
