Karnataka Economic Summit to be held on December 16 and 17

Business & Economy

Bangalore :

Industry body Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce  (BCIC), with the support of the state government, is organizing the first Karnataka Economic Summit beginning December 16.

Conceptualized to be a recurring annual event, the two-day summit will discuss, debate, understand and propose solutions to Karnataka’s economic issues.

“The idea is to look at solutions to the issues that are facing the state with an objective to develop thought leadership and initiatives to propel the state in to a higher growth orbit,” said H V Harish, president, BCIC.

He added that the big picture of the summit was to closely examine the state’s economic performance. “The focus is not industry alone, but industry as an element of the economy,” he said. Some of the key economic focus areas that the summit would touch upon include, governance, urbanization, infrastructure, and social infrastructure.

Global consultancy firm Deloitte will bring out a white paper that compares Karnataka with other states on parameters such as infrastructure, investment opportunities, human resource and skill sets availability, ease of doing business, and taxation policy.

Former state bureaucrat A Ravindra, now chairman of Centre for Sustainable Development, said that the summit also would discuss ways to spread urban development to other regions in the state such as Hubli-Dharwad, Mysore, and Belgaum.

“We don’t just want to close the summit with a good set of conversations that are intellectually stimulating. We would request the government to set up a project management office, which will work along with BCIC to try and implement some of the measures emanating out of the summit,” said S Vaitheeswaran, MD, Manipal Global Education Services.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Business> India Business / by Anshul Dhamija, TNN / December 07th, 2013

‘BAREFOOT’ girl wins cross country championship

Sports

Mysore :

ManjulaBF21dec2013The girl who ran barefoot at the 48th Karnataka State Cross Country Championship organised by Mysore District Athletic Association at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium emerged victorious.

M. Manjula, a native of Kurubur in T. Narasipur Taluk, ran the 4-km run for girls in U-18 category, bare foot and emerged victorious.

The race witnessed athletes from various districts across the State participating in the event wearing sports shoe but Manjula was a lone athlete who ran barefoot. Though she ran barefoot Manjula was faster than the other athletes.

Apart from the prize announced, she was also given a pair of shoes and other sports items by the Athletic Association.

A few people who saw Manjula running barefoot had doubted about her completing the run. But Manjula proved them wrong by winning the race. Manjula hails from a poor background. Mahadevaswamy, her father, is a farmer and Madalambike, her mother, is a home-maker. She has been practicing for the past 7 years and yesterday was Manjula’s first ever participation in the cross country championship.

MLA Vasu, who is also the President of Mysore Athletics Club, apart from handing over the shoe and other items, also gave her the prize money.

District In-charge Minister V. Sreenivasa Prasad, Youth Empowerment and Sports Minister Abhaychandra Jain and Co-operation Minister Mahadevaprasad also lauded Manjula for her achievement.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / December 15th, 2013

Pune, Bangalore NGOs to work for shared parenting

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Uncategorized

Seeking to eliminate parental alienation of children of separated and divorced parents, a Bangalore-based NGO Saturday said it has joined hands with the city’s Men’s Rights Association (MRA) to work against gender-biased laws.

“Children’s Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting, Bangalore and MRA, Pune will jointly take forward the cause for children who suffer on account of their estranged parents due to increasing separation or divorce cases,” CRISP president Kumar V. Jahgirdar told IANS.

With a strong presence in Mumbai, Delhi, Nagpur, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and other cities, Jahgirdar hopes that the Pune chapter with MRA would help mitigate the sufferings of men who are at a disadvantage owing to gender-biased laws.

“We are a pro-family and pro-life NGO engaged in promoting social harmony and comprise people from all walks of life like IT, medical, teaching and business who have been deprived of children’s love due to the anti-father mindset prevalent in our society,” said MRA president Mahesh Shinde.

Usually, in divorce cases, one of vengeful parents deprives the child of the love, affection and care of the other parents which is a form of child abuse, he said.

As a result kids suffer from consequences of permanent psychological damage due to the parental alienation syndrome and reactive associative disorders, in which they don’t establish healthy bonds with others, Shinde said.

Citing studies, he cautioned that such children tend to become criminals later in life for which society itself is responsible, unless shared parenthood is properly permitted.

One of the measures suggested was setting up of special courts to dispose of child custody cases within six months and Supreme Court guidelines on the issue, Jahgirdar said.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> News-IANS> Human Interest-Society / by IANS / Pune – December 14th, 2013

B’lore lab helping develop first TB vaccine in 100 years

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Scientists at Max Planck Institute of Infection Biology, Germany, are trying to develop a tuberculosis vaccine for adu-lts which will be the first in nearly hundred years since the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for children was developed. Lending a helping hand in this is a clinical lab at St John’s Research Institute (SJRI) in Bangalore.

The SJRI has been commissioned to come up with biomarkers to test the efficacy of the new vaccine, which is set to go into phase three trials.

The vaccine being developed by Max director Stefan H E Kaufmann is considered the most promising among a clutch of other candidates that have appeared following a renewed interest on account of the emergence of drug-resistant varieties of the disease.

Kaufmann, who was in Bangalore last week, has tied up with John Kenneth, head of the infectious disease unit and molecular diagnostics at SJRI, to locate biomarkers that will establish the efficacy of any tuberculosis vaccine administered to patients.

“All current vaccine candidates are relatively low on ambition. They all attempt to contain mycobacterium tuberculosis. We do not have a candidate that claims to prevent infection or eradicates the pathogens,” Kaufmann said.

Max has created a vaccine against adult TB of the lungs by working with a recombinant version of the BCG vaccine that prevents TB in children.

The vaccine had been sub-licensed to Serum Research Institute of India that wants to test it, Kaufmann said.

“When you put the vaccine candidate into the trial cycle you need an end point measure of the efficacy of the vaccine to indicate that antibodies have been produced to provide immunity. We don’t have that marker at present,” Kenneth of SJRI said. The presence of a biological databank and a TB patients to carry out tests for biomarkers is key to the tie-up between Max and SJRI.

“Biomarkers are critical factors for the future research on TB. They are critical factors for better vaccines, better drug design and better diagnosis,” Kaufmann said. One of the questions that the researchers are trying to answer in the quest for biomarkers for TB is, what distinguishes patients with active TB and those who remain healthy.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home / Bangalore, Saturday – December 14th, 2013

Mangalore doctor re-elected to AOMSI

Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technology

Mangalore :

City based oral and maxillofacial surgeon Manjunath Rai has been re-elected as the honorary general Secretary of Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons of India (AOMSI) for 3 years term.

Election for the new office bearers was held during the 38th national annual conference of AOMSI at Bubaneshwar, Orissa. Dr Rai is having the rare distinction of being the youngest person to hold the post of honorary general secretary when he was elected unanimously in 2010 for a term of 3 years.

Presently, he is the vice principal and head, department of oral and maxillofacial surgery, KVG Dental College and Hospital, Sullia. He is also the consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Father Muller’s Medical College and Hospital. He is a practitioner running a successful practice at Rai Dental Specialty clinic in the city. He is also the elected Senate member of the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore from the Professor category. He has made the City proud by organising the First Asian PG convention in August 2013 at Mangalore.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangalore> Health Sciences / by Vinobha KT, TNN / December 06th, 2013

Yoga tourism in Mysore can be a big money-spinner

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Travel, World Opinion

by N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC

BallalBF18dec2013How many of you are aware of the fact that Mysore is the yoga capital of India? About 4 to 5000 students stay in the city for a period of three months throughout the year getting training in about 10 centres spread across the city. It is also a well-known fact that several Hollywood stars and celebrities have got their yoga training from masters teaching at these very centres. Think of the economic benefit of this form of tourism to this great city if the number of students double.

But as usual, our officials of Department of Tourism are laid back and are not taking advantage of this phenomena to bring in more yoga tourists to Mysore. The fact that Mysore is an important destination for yoga is not at all publicised and even our own people are not aware of this. It is not necessary that we depend on only foreign tourists but well-heeled gentry from our own country can come here for training. Yoga tourism can be a big money-spinner and since it involves local talent, it will ensure the overall benefit for the city.

But where is the festival of yoga being held in India? Surprised ? It is not in Mysore but in “Goa.” Ironical but true. We have a pro-active tourism officials of that State who capitalised on this idea and are holding a festival of yoga in their State in the month of December 2013. Better late than never, let us at least try to recreate these festivals which are called “Life spirit festivals” next year in our city to capitalise on the advantage of being the yoga capital of India.

There are 5 yoga festivals planned currently all over the world and I would like to enumerate them for the benefit of readers for them to get an idea of the variety on offer.

1. Zambhala in Goa, December 2013: This festival planned on December 21 and 22 is supposed to be the biggest yoga festival in India. The two-day event promises to bring in 70 of the best yoga teachers, spiritual teachers, practitioners and healers from all over the world. That is not all; the festival also has special sessions on sufi-whirling and special workshops on new and different meditation techniques, crystal healing, chanting and also star-gazing.

2. Bali Spirit Festival in Ubud, March 2014: This festival started in 2008 and now has become a hot tourist spot for practitioners of various forms of yoga, meditation and other spiritual healing. The festival has about 150 day-time workshops by top instructors and special “bhakthi” series of devotional music. This festival has some special classes for children also.

3. Berlin Yoga Festival, June 2014: One of the largest 4-day festivals of Europe, the festival presents health related, philosophical and special emphasis on sports aspects of yoga therapy. Yoga experts from all over the world share their experience in the interactive sessions.

4. Wanderlust Festival at Oahu, Hawaii: This fest brings together Chefs, DJ and other forms of music therapy and also combines music and meditation along with hiking, all-night chakra-spinning sessions and tasting of farm to table dinners.

5. Caribbean Yoga Conference at Jamaica, Jan. 2014: This four-day festival is hosted at Jamaica. One learns the core spiritual values of ayurveda practice, that is sahana, seva and sangha. This festival has a nice circus yoga programme, an enjoyable event for children.

I have a suggestion. The Department of Tourism officials can go on a jaunt to at least two of these festivals to find out as to how these international events are planned and executed.

We have three revered Godmen — Sri Ravishankar Guruji, Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev — who would go out of the way to help develop Mysore. They have a huge following and any festival held with their blessings would automatically become a success.

Mysore has only one activity, that is Dasara and one more big event in the form of yoga festival can be a big money-spinner for the city. A vibrant yoga festival, world class, held year after year means tremendous economic benefit for the local population. But this event need not be a government-sponsored one. It can be a private enterprise also. All the ten centres of yoga training can come together, hire an event manager and do this, with active support from the Seers. There is no use waiting for our government which is in a hibernation mode to get up and act. They will wake up only by next June or July for next year’s Dasara.

We have a huge agarbathi industry, which can also sponsor this event with professional help to ensure that this event can be a profitable venture. A win-win venture. Think of the TV coverages and advertisements; both national and international. I sincerely appeal R. Guru, Chairman, Rangarao & Sons, to give active support for such an event. Sir, once you give the green signal, other like-minded Mysoreans will follow. Let us not wait for this government to wake up. Let me at least dream of an international yoga festival for next year at Mysore and hope it comes true.

[e-mail: ananthballal@ yahoo.com]

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / December 12th, 2013

Krishna Samrat Dr.Devagi Prafulla Chandra passes away

Green Initiatives / Environment, Leaders, Nature

Shimoga :

Well-known agriculturist and technologist Dr. Devangi Prafulla Chandra passed away at a private hospital here yesterday following heart attack. He was 80.

He leaves behind his wife Sathyavathi Prafulla Chandra and two sons, Savyasachee and Ikshu, who are doing well in the field of agriculture.

Former Forest Secretary A.C. Lakshman, who has condoled the death of Dr. Devangi Prafulla Chandra, has said that Prafulla Chandra had become a legend during his life time for his perseverance, innovative successful experiments and a great missionary in different fields of agriculture.

He went on breaking records after records for production of paddy, and sugarcane. He broke the State record, improved them continuously, set National record and ultimately reached a world record. Prafulla Chandra was honoured by the food and agriculture organisation in 1988, an honour first of its kind to an Asian. He was given a State award by the Govt. of Karnataka for his life time contribution to the field of agriculture.

He was also a walking encyclopedia on agriculture. His farm was an open agriculture university whose doors were open to farmers 24×7. His innovative experiments lead to the development of new ovens where firewood consumption was considerably reduced. He had proved that the Areca leaves are sufficient for curing Areca nuts. This was a great contribution from the point of forest conservation. He was able to save thousands of acres of forest fire wood trees from felling.

His services were used by the Govt. of Karnataka in many forms. He was a member of Senate Agricultural University Bangalore and served in different Boards at the State and also at National level.

He was the recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwar and Kuvempu University, Shimoga for his work towards technology transfer to rural development.

He is the brother-in-law of renowned Kannada poet and literary personality, the late Kuvempu.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / December 12th, 2013

WADIYAR: A Profile

Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All

WadiyarAProfileBF17dec2013

Born to Jayachamaraja Wadiyar and Tripura Sundarammanni couple on Feb.20, 1953, Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar completed BA degree in Political Science from Maharaja’s College and acquired Master’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Mysore.

During his student days, Wadiyar also captained the Mysore University Cricket team and was known for his friendly relationship.

After being coroneted as the Yuvaraja in 1974, Wadiyar got married to Pramodadevi in 1976 and later got elected to Lok Sabha from Mysore Constituency in 1984, 1989, 1996 and 1999 on Congress ticket, during which period, he strived for conversion of Mysore-Bangalore Railway track into Broad Guage.

In the changed political scenario, Wadiyar quit Congress and joined the BJP to unsuccessfully contest from Mysore Parliamentary Constituency, thus facing first defeat of his illustrious political career.

After serving as the President of Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) between 2007-2010, Wadiyar, teaming up with Brijesh Patel swept the elections to the KSCA earlier this month in Bangalore winning all the 24 seats.

Besides taking active part in sporting activities, Wadiyar, who evinced interest in other activities passed an examination on Western Music at the Trinity College of Music in London.

Wadiyar, who served as the Chairman of Chamarajendra Art Gallery in Jaganmohan Palace, Lakshamma Ammanni Education Trust, Jayacahmarajendra Education Trust also performed as a visiting lecturer in the Department of Political Science in Manasagangotri.

Besides having the hobby of collecting antiques, watches and fancy cars, the late scion had actively taken part in activities of Mysore Race Club, Bangalore Turf Club, Delhi Race Club and many other sporting bodies.

He was also the Chairman of Mysore International Travel Agency, Manjunatha Packaging Works, Gayathri Enterprises, Saraswathi Enterprises, Venkateshwara Real Estate Agency etc.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / December 11th, 2013

Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat remembers art connoisseur Wadiyar

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All

( Left -1) City’s renowned artist Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat interviewed by K.B. Ganapathy, Editor -in-Chief, Star of Mysore.( Right - 2) The Wadiyar couple with artist Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat. [Pic by by S. Thippeswamy]
( Left -1) City’s renowned artist Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat interviewed by K.B. Ganapathy, Editor -in-Chief, Star of Mysore.( Right – 2) The Wadiyar couple with artist Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat. [Pic by by S. Thippeswamy]
by K.B. Ganapathy

I first met Mahaswami at the Palace along with the Taranga Kannada Weekly Editor Santosh Kumar Gulwadi. That was for the purpose of interviewing Wadiyar for an article on his Private Durbar. He was shown some of my paintings, including Ganjifa paintings. He went through those paintings showing keen interest and said that his great-grandfather Krishnaraja Wadiyar III was in fact the creator of 18 Ganjifa card games and also wrote the slokas for those paintings on each card,” said the renowned city artist Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat, who is responsible for reviving the Ganjifa paintings, which was on the verge of extinction.

Recalling his memories about Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the last scion of the Mysore Royal Family who died yesterday in Bangalore, Bhat said that Wadiyar had visited his art museum Chitra Saale in Srirangapatna about three times, twice with his wife Pramodadevi and spent about an hour going through the exhibited art works with great interest and even wrote his opinion in the visitors book.

Bhat recalled Wadiyar calling him and asking him to get a few artists from the artists camp that was going on at that time. Accordingly, Bhat took artists Srihari, Vijay Hagargundi, Nagure and another two to the Palace. Wadiyar received them warmly, served them with coffee in silverware and went through their paintings rather critically.

Bhat was astonished at the immense knowledge about paintings Wadiyar displayed when the latter chanted a Sanskrit sloka ‘Kauthuka Nidhi’ from the book ‘Srithatva Nidhi’ written by Sri Krishnaraja Wadiyar III, on seeing a painting of Devi. Looking at the colour of the saree of the Devi he asked the artist as to the basis on which he had used that particular red colour when according to the sloka the colour should have been of yellow shade. Wadiyar also suggested a minor change required in the crown of the Devi as per the tradition.

Raghupathi Bhat, who used to be called to the Palace by Wadiyar to discuss about matters relating to paintings and even about book-bindings to restore old books, was proud to disclose that he had made a portrait in water colour of Wadiyar which was published in The Times of India on the occasion of his 55th birthday.

Raghupathi remembers with nostalgia the suggestion made by Wadiyar that he (Bhat) should shift to Mysore as there was greater opportunity for developing the museum and also scope for his creative works. Bhat says that he took Wadiyar’s suggestion seriously and that was how he moved to Mysore for good. And Wadiyar was one of the first persons to congratulate Bhat when he got the President’s National Award as an artist.

According to Raghupathi Bhat, the Wadiyar dynasty was a blessing to the world of art and also artists whose number increased in old Mysore under their patronage. Expressing deep sorrow at the untimely passing away of Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, Bhat mentioned about Wadiyar’s appreciation of the gold-leaf restoration work he had executed in the Palace Durbar Hall and part of Kalyana Mantap this year.

“I feel, I have lost a father figure in Wadiyar’s death,” said Bhat his eyes going wet.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / December 11th, 2013

Stage set for animation festival in Mysore

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

The event will feature some of the best names in animation industry such as DreamWorks Animation.

The Association of Bangalore Animation Industry will stage ABAI 2013, India’s first exclusive film and digital arts festival for animation, VFX and gaming on December 6 and 7. The event will unfold at three venues in the Manasagangotri campus of University of Mysore — Senate hall, humanities auditorium and the open air theatre — on both days from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The event will feature some of the best names in animation industry such as DreamWorks Animation. Feature films, short films, game cinematics and visual effects will be featured. Raman International Institute of Information Technology (RiiiT), an IT finishing school here, has given local support to the event.

Addressing presspersons here, ABAI convener and executive committee member Archana Krishnamurthy said the animation industry in India is growing and needs talent to keep it going. There are plenty of employment opportunities in the field. Mysore can become the animation hub over the years. The combination of art, culture, technology and heritage works well for this industry. For this reason, ABAI has been brought to Mysore.

Animation is used in the fields of education, medicine, defence etc. It is used by the corporate world for training and assessment. But, there is not much awareness about animation and this needs to be addressed seriously,” Ms. Krishnamurthy said.

Stan Lee, the co-creator of Spiderman, Hulk, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Iron Man and the Avengers, along with Sharad Devarajan of Graphic India, will showcase Indian superhero Chakra.

Ron Diamond, member of the Academy of Motion Pictures will present ‘The Giants’ First Steps’ and the ABAI special edition of ‘Show of Shows’. Shelley Page of DreamWorks Animation will present her ‘Eye Candy Show’.

There will be a screening of Shilpa Ranade’s ‘World of Goopi and Bagha’, a film based on Satyajit Ray’s Goopy Gayne Bagha Bayne. The 3D animation film ‘The Croods’ will also be screened. Animation artistes from the State have contributed significantly to making the film.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mysore – December 05th, 2013