3D planetarium at Pilikula to open on March 1

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All, Science & Technology
High-tech: A view of the Swami Vivekananda Planetarium at Dr. Shivaram Karanth Pilikula Nisargadhama in Mangaluru.
High-tech: A view of the Swami Vivekananda Planetarium at Dr. Shivaram Karanth Pilikula Nisargadhama in Mangaluru.

The public can view shows from March 2

The Swami Vivekananda Planetarium at the Dr. Shivarama Karantha Pilikula Nisargadhama here will be inaugurated on March 1.

The planetarium, on the premises of Regional Science Centre, will be thrown open to public from March 2.

According to Sasikanth Senthil S., Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada and chairman of the governing council of the nisargadhama, it is the first planetarium in the country having active 3D, 8K digital and opto-mechanical (hybrid) projection system.

Addressing presspersons after a preview show at the planetarium on Saturday, he said there would be six shows daily. The entry fee would be ₹60 per adult per show and ₹25 for children. People can book online tickets through ‘BookMyShow’ from February 27.

For those who attend the inaugural ceremony on Thursday, free passes would be given for the next two day shows, he said.

Mr. Senthil said the nisargadhama would introduce a comprehensive fee package of ₹100 per head per person from March 1. With this, visitors can see all tourist attractions inside the nisargadhama. It applies to watching the science show at the planetarium. However, the single ticket facility for each tourist attraction like for the zoo, science centre, lake garden and boating, botanical garden and cultural village would continue.

The Deputy Commissioner said a digital gallery would be set up in the planetarium this year.

He said Antrix Corporation Ltd., the commercial arm of ISRO, would organise an exhibition at the venue on the inaugural day. There would be demonstration of water rocket by ISRO.

J.R. Lobo, MLA, Mangaluru City South, said the planetarium has cost ₹36 crore.

He said the Pilikula Development Authority would be constituted this year as both Houses of the State legislature have approved the Bill to this effect.

Uncomfortable seats

Swami Vivekananda Planetarium has a 170-seating capacity. But the seats in the first three rows are the most uncomfortable for viewers, who do not get a full view of the 18 diameter dome during the science show.

During the preview on Saturday, reporters in the first three rows were not able to push the seats back to a comfortable level to get a full view of the dome. One had to either turn their head either to the right or left of the seat by taking their head out of the headrest, which is not flexible.

Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S. said it could be corrected as seats could be tilted back to the comfortable level. Terming it a minor issue, he said it would be done before the planetarium is opened to the public.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mangaluru – February 24th, 2018

Organic cultivation links Bayaluseeme with coastal belt

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment
Members of Savaya Krushika Grahaka Balaga re-packing organic rice purchased from farmers in north Karnataka. | Photo Credit: H_S_Manjunath
Members of Savaya Krushika Grahaka Balaga re-packing organic rice purchased from farmers in north Karnataka. | Photo Credit: H_S_Manjunath

A group of consumers in Mangaluru has been purchasing produce directly from farmers in north Karnataka

The organic cultivation of foodgrains has brought some farmers in north Karnataka closer to a consumer group in Mangaluru.

The Savaya Krushika Grahaka Balaga (SKGB), a group of 45 like-minded consumers of organic produce in Mangaluru, have been purchasing organic foodgrains from 10 farmers in Bayaluseeme since August 2017.

The SKGB has purchased about 2 tonnes (2,000 kg) of produce six times since then. Members of the consumer group include doctors, engineers, bank employees, home makers and advocates.

The SKGB has a WhatsApp group and collects indents on the quantity of produce required by each member every month. The produce is purchased directly from the farmers.

Once the produce arrives in Mangaluru, members of the group repack it as per the demand.

The cost of produce, transportation, repacking is calculated and the price per kilogram fixed. The produce is then taken home.

“We don’t stock any produce, as only the required quantity of produce is purchased,” Sameera Rao E. Kinya, secretary of SKGB, told The Hindu.

Explaining the benefits to both farmers and consumers, he said that the consumers got produce at a cheaper rate as compared to purchasing from organic outlets or shops. “We have found that organic produce need not be costly like in the open market,” he said.

As the farmers have been identified after thorough examination and field visits by some organic farmers from Dakshina Kannada, the members need not have any doubt about the quality of the produce.

On the other hand, the growers got a good price for their produce.

Mr. Rao said that the SKGB mainly purchases foodgrains because they are not grown in the coastal belt. The suppliers are marginal farmers with land holdings of up to 20 acres.

If more consumers form such mini groups and purchase produce directly, it would ensure a sustained market for organic farmers. It would also prompt more farmers to go the organic way, he said.

To create more avenues to their suppliers, the SKGB organised a two-day organic mela in Mangaluru from February 24 at Balam Bhat Hall.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by Raviprasad Kamila / February 24th, 2018

Classical music festival in Hubballi

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

A two-day national Hindustani classical music festival, Hindustani Sangeet Sambhrama, is being organised in Hubballi on Sunday and Monday. Bharatiya Sangeet Vidyalay, Dharwad, Kshamata Seva Samsthe and Mangala Bharati, founded by MP Pralhad Joshi, are jointly organising the event where musical tributes will be paid to legendary musicians Sitar Ratna Rahimat Khan, Pt. Sawai Gandharva, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Mallikarjun Mansur and Gangubai Hangal.

Mr. Pralhad Joshi told presspersons here on Friday that the festival would begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday at Gokul Garden on Gokul Road in Hubballi.

Pt. Ganapati Bhat Hasanagi, Pt. Anand Bhate (Pune), Anuradha Kuber, Savni Shende, Vasanth Kambra (Sarod, Jodhpur), Pt. Kushal Das (Sitar, Kolkata), among others, would perform on the inaugural day, he said.

On Monday, the festival would begin at 5.30 p.m. and vocalist Pt. Venkateshkumar (Dharwad) and flautist Pt. Rajendra Prasanna (Delhi) would perform, he said.

Pt. Ravindra Yavagal, Udayaraj Karpur, Ravikiran Nakod, Sridhar Mandre, Raghavendra Nakod will accompany the artistes on the tabla and Sudhanshu Kulkarni, Sarang Kulkarni, Guruprasad Hegde will provide accompaniment on the harmonium.

Entry is free. Passes can be collected from Hotel Swati, Hotel Ganesh, Hotel Chalukya, Hotel Krishna Bhavan, Hotel Ananth Residency in Hubballi and from Hotel Brindavan, Hotel Hoysala, Bharatiya Sangeet Vidyalay, Hotel Maitri Palace in Dharwad.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Hubballi – February 24th, 2018

Honour for SOAHS faculty member

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Abraham Samuel Babu, Associate Professor in the Department of Physiotherapy, School of Allied Health Sciences (SOAHS), has been made ‘Endeavour Ambassador’ by the Department of Education and Training, Australian High Commission, India.

The 2018 Ambassadors’ event was held in New Delhi on February 16.

As many as 20 ambassadors from India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh have been appointed.

Among them, 10 are from India: Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bhopal, Mizoram, and New Delhi.

They will also be recognized in the Australian government publications and events and will have the opportunity to meet and network with others from the region.

For MAHE, Dr. Abraham is the second ambassador. The first was Arun Chawla, Professor, Department of Urology, Kasturba Medical College (KMC) here.

Dr Abraham received the Endeavour Executive Fellowship in 2015 to train in heart rate variability measurements and scale development under the supervision of David Hare, Department of Cardiology, Austin Health, University of Melbourne, Australia. MAHE has also been home to 13 various Endeavour Fellow recipients.

Following his training, he was offered an Honorary Research Fellow position in the Department of Cardiology at Austin Health, Melbourne to continue research activities.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by Special Correspondent / Manipal – February 24th, 2018

Writer Vijaya Dabbe dead

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

Noted writer Vijaya Dabbe, 67, a native of Dabbe in Belur taluk, died in Mysuru on Friday evening. The writer had settled at Dabbe village with her siblings. According to her family members, she had developed breathing problems four days ago and her sister had taken her to Mysuru for treatment. But she developed complications on Friday evening again, and she breathed her last on the way to hospital.

Ms. Dabbe is a well-known name in the Kannada literary world. She has written poetry, travelogues, criticism, and brought out many research papers. Her collections of poetry include Iruttave, Neeru Lohada Chinte and Tirugininta Prashne. She has brought out readers on Tirumalamba, Shyamaladevi Belgaumkar and Saraswati Gowda – all writers. She had done extensive research on the first generation of women writers of modern Kannada.

She taught Kannada literature at Kuvempu Kannada Adhyayana Samsthe in Mysore University for many years.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Hassan – February 24th, 2018

App to link farmers with buyers and sellers launched

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology
A girl trying to climb a coconut tree with the support of climbing equipment during the Krishi Sangama programme at Oddur Farm at Ganjimutt near Mangaluru. | Photo Credit: H_S_Manjunath
A girl trying to climb a coconut tree with the support of climbing equipment during the Krishi Sangama programme at Oddur Farm at Ganjimutt near Mangaluru. | Photo Credit: H_S_Manjunath

IT and BT Dept. has sanctioned IRs. 8 lakh for mobile application

A mobile application, Farmsurge, to connect farmers, scientists, institutions, buyers and sellers, developed by Arunya Foundation, Mangaluru, was released during the inauguration of the two-day Krishi Sangama, a farm fair, which began at Ganjimath, near here, on Saturday.

Speaking after launching it, H. Kempe Gowda, Joint Director, Agriculture, Dakshina Kannada, said the app can provide information on government facilities and schemes available to farmers from time to time.

Mr. Gowda said that the app has options to create different groups, like farmers cultivating arecanut, coconut, paddy, jowar, ragi etc., and provides a platform for interaction. It has ‘buy request’ and ‘sell request’ categories for farmers and a category of notification.

He said the IT and BT Department of the government has sanctioned ₹8 lakh to the foundation for developing the app under the innovation promotion scheme of the government. In that, the government has released ₹4 lakh and the balance would be released later.

The team of youth, who developed the app, had to compete with others who have developed similar apps. The government selected this app after its own assessment. B.K. Deva Rao of Mittabagilu, near Ujire in Dakshina Kannada, who has preserved about 150 varieties of paddy, and who inaugurated the Krishi Sangama asked youth not to drift away from paddy cultivation.

He asked them to pursue education and other professions by reserving some time for paddy cultivation.

The youth can cultivate paddy in fields which have been left barren by its owners for various reasons. Mr. Rao said his efforts in conserving paddy variants has won him about 15 awards, including the SRISTI (Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions) Samman award. The 73-year-old Mr. Rao, explained how use of chemical fertilisers brought down 45 varieties of paddy being cultivated by him since 1960s to about eight varieties in the late 1980s. He quit application of chemical fertilisers in 1988 and went the organic way, thus saving up to 150 varieties. Since the shelf life of paddy seeds is only up to eight months, he has to grow them every year in small plots to preserve the seeds.

The foundation has organised the Krishi Sangama at Oddur farm.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by Special Correspondent / Mangaluru – February 05th, 2018

Khelo India: Srihari makes a splash in 100m backstroke

Records, All, Sports
Champions all: Bhupender Singh, flanked by silver medallist C. Praveen, right, and Mohd Shahrukh strikes a pose after claiming the long jump gold on Thursday. bbfd
Champions all: Bhupender Singh, flanked by silver medallist C. Praveen, right, and Mohd Shahrukh strikes a pose after claiming the long jump gold on Thursday. bbfd

Bhupender Singh upstages Praveen to corner glory in long jump

Karnataka’s Srihari Nataraj took the honours in the swimming pool on Day Two of the Khelo India School Games here on Thursday, winning the 100m backstroke gold in 56.90 seconds to set a new National mark in the event. The previous record of 56.99s was set by him at the Asian age group championship in Tashkent last year.

Srihari also added the 4x100m freestyle gold to his kitty, combining with Saif Chandan Ali KS — who won an individual bronze for himself in the 400m freestyle category — Prassiddh Krishna and Aditya Bopanna as Karnataka leapfrogged into top spot on the table with ten medals, seven of them gold. Tamil Nadu had more medals overall (12) with most of them bronze.

Most of Tamil Nadu’s medals continued to come in track and field. C. Praveen’s hopes of a golden double were dashed when he was pushed to second spot in the long jump by Haryana’s Bhupender Singh in the second-last attempt.

Leading till the very end, with a jump of 6.93 metres, Praveen had to settle for second spot after Bhupender managed distances of 6.99 and 7.04 in his last two attempts. But Praveen, who had won the triple jump on Day One, became the third double medallist in track and field competition, along with the Kerala duo of Ancy Sojan E and Sandra Babu.

Ancy won gold in long jump — despite managing just two legitimate jumps — and silver in the 200m while Sandra added a long jump silver to go with her second spot in triple jump.

In the boys’ javelin throw event, Maharashtra’s Vikas Yadav claimed gold with a final attempt of 75.02m to overtake Yashveer Singh of Haryana, who had three throws of over 70 metres in an event where the top four finishers crossed the 70m mark.

The results: Athletics: 200m: Boys: 1. Shashikanth VA 21.82s, 2. Karan Hegiste 21.98, 3. Anshul 22.27s; Girls: 1. Chanveer Kaur 24.76s, 2. Ancy Sojan E 25.31, 3. M. Santra Teresa Martin 25.44

Javelin: Boys: 1. Vikas Yadav 75.02m, 2. Yashveer Singh 73.87, 3. Arpit Yadav 71.90; Girls: 1. Jyoti 40.59m, 2. Auhona Roy 39.90, 3. Jashanpreet Kaur 37.10m.

Long jump: Boys: 1. Bhupender Singh 7.04, 2. C. Praveen 6.93, 3. Mohd. Shahrukh 6.87; Girls: 1. Ancy Sojan E 5.80, 2. Sandra Babu 5.68, P. Babisha 5.62.

Pole vault: Girls: 1. T. Sathya 3.50, 2. Reshma Patil 2.80, 3. R. Sreelakshmi R 2.40.

Swimming: 400m freestyle: Boys: 1. Mohit Venkatesh 4:18.10s, 2. Zidane Iqbal Sayed 4:18.43, 3. Saif Chandan Ali KS 4:19.10; Girls: 1. Khushi Dinesh 4:39.52, 2. Prachi Tokas 4:41.55, 3. Poojitha G. Murthy 4:46.83.

100m backstroke: Boys: 1. Srihari Nataraj 56.90, 2. Xavier Michael D’Souza 1:00.03, 3. Vedant Bapna 1:01.31; Girls: 1. Suvana C. Bhaskar 1:08.23, 2. Khushi Jain 1:09.58, 3. Pratyasa Ray 1:10.05.

200m breaststroke: Boys: 1. Lohith M 2:25.99, 2. Swadesh Mondal 2:26.70, 3. Maibam Mangalsana Meitei 2:30.38; Girls: 1. Saloni Dalal 2:46.57, 2. Kenisha Gupta 2:48.50, 3. Aaliyah Singh 2:51.75.

100m butterfly: Boys: 1. Xavier Michael D’Souza 57.85, 2. Neel Roy 58.42, 3. Adhithya D 58.56; Girls: 1. Firdoush Kayamkhani 1:08.15, 2. Aastha Choudhury 1:09.68, 3. Poojitha G. Murthy and Priyanga Pugazharasu 1:09.94.

4x100m freestyle: Boys: 1. Karnataka 3:44.11, 2. Tamil Nadu 3:44.94, 3. Maharashtra 3:48.32.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / by Uthra Ganesan / New Delhi – February 01st, 2018

Chickballapur district formation decennial events from Friday

About Bangalore(Bengaluru) / Karnataka, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Records, All

A three-day-long decennial event to mark formation of Chickballapur district will be held from Friday at Sir M. Visveswaraya Stadium. The district was carved out from undivided Kolar district in 2007.

MP representing Chickballapur Lok Sabha constituency M. Veerappa Moily will flag off a procession. Home Minister and district in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy will inaugurate the programme. Deputy Speaker of Legislative Assembly N.H. Shivashankar Reddy will inaugurate a flower show organised as part of the celebrations.

Watersports have been organised at Srinivasasagar tank and Kandavara tank. A seminar on education and culture is also being conducted at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Bhavan. Retired professor B. Gangadharmurthy will preside over the seminar.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Karnataka / by Staff Reporter / Kolar – February 01st, 2018