South India’s first double-decker train goes on trial run in Bangalore

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Chugging on: The Chennai-Bangalore Double-Decker AC train on a trial run in Bangalore on Sunday | Express Photo

The new Linke Holfmann Busch (LHB) double-decker train, which is the first of its kind to be introduced in South India between Chennai and Bangalore, made its trial run on Sunday.

The train, announced in the 2012-13 budget, is the third double-decker train in the country. The other two are running on the Jaipur-Delhi Sarai Rohilla and Howrah-Dhanbad routes.

Senior divisional commercial manager N Ramesh, who came to see the new rake (train) at the Bangalore City Railway Station, said, “Research Design and Standards Organisation will conduct trials by running the train for a week. This is to see if the new rake is compatible on the route before handing it over to the operations department. The operations department of the South Western Railways and Southern Railway will conduct trials for one week before introducing it as a regular train.”

The new train will have a composition of 11 coaches, each with a seating capacity of 120. Initially, the train is expected to run with eight coaches. Each coach will have a middle deck at the entry points and the middle deck will branch out to upper and lower decks.

At 4.366 metres, the new rake is marginally higher than the other LHB rakes, including the Shatabdi rake, which stands at 4.025 metres.

Ramesh said a tentative schedule had already been worked out and according to it, the train would leave Chennai at 7.25 am and arrive at Bangalore City Railway Station by 1.20 pm. On the return journey, the train would leave Bangalore city at 2.40 pm and reach Chennai at 8.45 pm.

As the train will take less than six hours for a one-way travel, this will be the fastest train between Bangalore and Chennai. The train will briefly stop at Bangalore Cantonment, Krishnarajapuram, Bangarpet, Jolarpettai, Ambur, Katpadi, Arakonam and Perumbur railway stations.

According to RDSO officials, who are conducting the trail run, the train did not have any problems while reaching Bangalore.

The present railway fare from Bangalore to Chennai in express trains is `440 for adults and `290 for male senior citizens and `250 for female senior citizens and children.

It has to be seen if the existing fares will be revised for the new train.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / Home> Cities> Bangalore / by Express News Service – Bangalore / February 25th, 2013

Indo-Canadian symposium on Nano science and technology

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Mysore, Feb.19 :

The two-day ‘Indo-Canadian Symposium on Nano-Science and Technology,’ jointly organised by the National Institute of Engineering (NIE), Mysore and McMaster University, Canada, will be inaugurated by Prof. Robert Pelton, Canada Research Chair in Interfacial Technologies and Scientific Director, SENTINEL, McMaster University at Prof. CNR Rao Rostrum, Diamond Jubilee Sports Complex, NIE here on Feb. 20 at 9.30 am.

The primary objective of this International symposium is to provide a platform for the participants from academia, research organisations and industry, who are actively involved in research on Nano-science and Technology, to present results from their ongoing work. This Symposium provides opportunities for the delegates to directly exchange new ideas and applications of Nano-science and Technology to foster business or research initiatives and to find global partners for future collaboration through their poster presentations, abstracts or full papers.

S.R.Subba Rao, Hon. President, NIE, will preside.

The proceedings of the Symposium will be released by Prof. G. U. Kulkarni, Dean – Academic, Chemistry & Physics of Materials Unit on Nano-science at JNCASR, Bangalore.

Prof. John S. Preston, Professor, Department of Engineering Physics, McMaster University, will be the guest of honour.

The Symposium features plenary talks by leading academic experts in Nano-science and Technology from McMaster University, JNCASR, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and other premier organisations. This is followed by oral presentations by research scholars working in the frontier areas like functional nanocomposites, nano-photonics and nano-electronics, advanced nano materials, synthesis of nanomaterials, nano-fluids, nano-materials for renewable energy applications and commercialisation of nanotechnology.

The Symposium has been organised in association with Ministry of Human Resources Development-World Bank’s Technical Education Quality Improvement Project (TEQIP) and Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.

The Karnataka Science and Technology Academy, Government of Karnataka, has sponsored 35 faculty members of science colleges, science teachers of engineering colleges and faculty members of medical and pharmacy colleges for the Symposium. The mega event, which is of inter-disciplinary nature, is being organised by the Centre for Nanotechnology at NIE headed by Dr. G. L. Shekar, Principal, NIE.

It may be recalled here that NIE has signed a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with McMaster University, Canada, to jointly work in areas of Nano-science, Energy and Water. In this regard, a few faculty members from NIE paid a visit to McMaster University and some of the well-known academicians from McMaster University have visited NIE.

One of the research students of NIE is pursuing Master’s at McMaster University and working on bio-active paper sensors developed by the SENTINEL Solutions under Prof. Robert Pelton. In fact, NIE has taken the responsibility of conducting a pilot study to test the water quality in nearby villages using these bioactive paper sensors.

As part of the academic cooperation, the first Indo-Canadian international Symposium on Nanoscience and Technology is being organised by the Centre for Nanotechnology (CNT) at NIE. The valedictory programme will be held on Feb. 21at 5.30 pm.

Prof. Peter Mascher, Professor and William Sinclair Chair in Optoelectronics, Associate Dean (Research and External Relations), Faculty of Engineering, McMaster University, will deliver the valedictory address.

Prof. Rajasekara Murthy, Emeritus Scientist, National Water Research Institute, Canada, will be the guest of honour. H.N.Ramathirtha, Past President and Director, NIE, will preside over the function.

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / Home> General News / February 19th, 2013

This 73-year-old man is a green warrior

Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nature

Mallikarjun Shetty , a 73-year-old retired superintendent  engineer , is known as Anna Hazare  of Belgaum for his activism in protecting the environment. He was instrumental in getting the construction of Suvarna Vidhana Soudha shifted from Vaccine Depot to the present location at Halaga Bastwad.

Shetty, who worked with Maharashtra Electricity Supply Board, threatened to go on a hunger strike if Suvarna Vidhana Soudha was constructed at Vaccine Depot. The 200-acre land is full of trees and houses lot of animals and birds. He wrote many letters to the chief minister urging that Vaccine Depot be protected and came down heavily on the government for the proposed indoor stadium at the spot. He has also planted thousands of trees in Belgaum and also in Maharashtra. Shetty also creates awareness among people, especially the student community, about the importance of ecological balance. He has distributed nearly 200 eco-friendly bags to students and public. He is also credited with introducing door-to-door garbage collection in his area, which was the first in Belgaum city. The system was later followed across the city.

He also creates awareness on the judicious use of water and rainwater harvesting.

Every morning, armed with a broom, Shetty sweeps his locality and bus stand in Hanumanagar. Incidentally, Shetty joined hands with a philanthropist and helped construct the bus stand in Hanumanagar in 2003.

Sunil Basavaraj Nimbal, a businessperson, who was inspired by Shetty’s work, says: “He is a role model. Even at this age, he is very active. Inspired by his concern for the environment, I started using the bicycle instead of my bike or car.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Hubli / by R. Uday Kumar, TNN / February 24th, 2013

Natl. seminar on cultural tourism held at Mahajana Institute

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

The book ‘Pravasodyama Abhivruddhi – Hosa Aayama’ (New perspectives of tourism development), authored by Prof. K.S. Nagapathi (extreme right), Director of Mahajana Toursim Development Institute, was released at the national seminar held at the Institute premises in city on Friday.

Others seen are (from left) L.N. Swamy of the Institute, Samskruthi Subramanya, Mahajana Education Society President R. Vasudeva Murthy, Director of Epigraphy Branch-ASI, Mysore, T.S. Ravishankar and former Director of Kerala State Archaeology, Chennai, T. Satyamurthy.

Mysore, Feb. 18 :

Former Director of Kerala State Archaeology, Chennai, T. Satyamurthy inaugurated the two-day national seminar on ‘Archaeological, Historical and Cultural Tourism in South India’ organised by Mahajana Tourism Development Institute on KRS Road in city on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that development of tourism in the country is largely dependent on culture and added that the culture of the nation should be portrayed in a fitting man- ner to make tourism an effective medium to attract the masses.

Every village in India has its own essence of tourism, with unique culture, practices and historical values. When all these aspects are depicted in an effective manner tourism will witness development, he opined.

Pointing out that the god’s own country Kerala is ranked first in tourism sectors in the Nation, Sathyamurthy said that the State does not have much of historical, monuments and places of attractions, but still has excellent scope for health and environment tourism. Though Odisha has a rich combination of history and heritage, it does not stand on par with Kerala when it comes to tourist footfall, he stated.

Indian tourism is perhaps one among the oldest tourism countries on account of religious, historical, heritage and cultural reasons, he added.

The Director of Epigraphy branch, Archaelogical Survey of India, Mysore, T.S. Ravishankar said that numerous historical manuscripts available in India contain information about the country’s heritage and culture. He said, appropriate measures should be taken to make foreign tourists know about such antiques.

‘Pravasodyama Abhivruddhi- Hosa Aayama’ (New perspectives of tourism development), a book authored by Prof. K. S. Nagapathi, Director of the Mahajana Tourism Institute was released on the occasion.

Mahajana Education Society President R. Vasudeva Murthy, Samskruti Subbanna and L. N. Swamy of the institute were present on the occasion.

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / Home> General News / February 18th, 2013

Azim Premji transfers Rs 12,300 crore to his not-for-profit foundation

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technology

Bangalore :

Azim Premji, chairman of the Azim Premji   Foundation, announced on Friday that he has transferred 295.5 million equity shares representing 12% of the total shares of Wipro Ltd , held by certain entities controlled by him, to an irrevocable trust. With this transfer (valued at about Rs 12,300 crore based on current market price), the trust’s shareholding in Wipro will go up to about 19.93%.

This trust will utilize the endowment to fund social, not-for-profit initiatives of the foundation, which are expected to scale significantly over the next few years.

The “Giving Pledge” campaign had recently announced that Premji was amongst the billionaires around the world to commit half their wealth to philanthropy. The campaign, led by billionaires  Warren Buffet, Bill Gates  and others, is a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.

Azim Premji Foundation  is a not-for-profit organization set up in 2001 with the goal to create and sustain initiatives to contribute to a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society. The foundation has worked largely in rural India, often in close partnership with various state governments, to help contribute to the improvement of quality and equity of school education.

Currently the foundation’s work is spread across Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

The foundation’s strategy focuses on creating and scaling up a network of institutions at various levels to contribute to improvement in the school education system and allied areas. As part of this strategy, over the last two years, the foundation has set up the Azim Premji University  at Bangalore, state level institutes in three states, district level institutes in seven districts and six demonstration schools associated with the district institutes. Seven more district level institutes are in various stages of formation.

The University has been established with the social purpose of developing outstanding professionals in the domains of education and development for the entire country. The University does this through offering various kinds of degree programmes, continuing education programmes and creation of knowledge in education and allied development areas. Currently, the university offers MA Education and MA Development programmes. It offers specializations in school leadership & management and curriculum & pedagogy under MA in education, and livelihood, public policy, health & nutrition and law & governance under MA in Development.

As part of scaling up of the institutional strategy, over the next 4 to 5 years, the number of district level institutions will expand to 50-60, state level institutions to 6-8 and the university will expand to have 3,500 students with 350 faculty members across multiple programs. The foundation will also have 50-100 demonstration schools associated with district level institutions. During this period, the team size is expected to grow from the current 800 people to about 4,000 people.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Tech> Tech News> Software & Services / by Sujit John, TNN / February 22nd, 2013

Bamboo markets proposed at Sankeshwar, Shimoga

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

‘Intention is to provide market linkage for bamboo growers’

As part of an initiative to promote bamboo cultivation and create a marketing network for bamboo, it has been proposed to set up bamboo markets at Sankeshwar and Shimoga in Karnataka.

Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of the Bamboo Mela here on Tuesday, Chief Conservator of Forests of National Forestry Action Programme (NFAP) and Liaison Officer for Karnataka for National Bamboo Mission A.C. Keshavamurthy said that the proposals were aimed at providing market linkage for bamboo growers.

Mr. Keshavmurthy said that the structure of the bamboo markets was being worked out. “We are contemplating whether to have an APMC yard type set-up for the bamboo market. We will plan and send a proposal to the bamboo mission for approval and release of funds,” he said.

Market at Kushalnagar?

To a query, Mr. Keshavmurthy said that initially, a bamboo market was to be set up at Bangalore, but the idea was dropped in view of huge transportation costs.

“However, we are considering setting up a bamboo market at Kushalnagar in Kodagu.

“It is still in the planning stage,” he said.

He said that market linkage and other programmes related to bamboo cultivation would be easier if growers came forward with declarations regarding cultivation of bamboo.

It would also become easy for the Forest Department to extend facilities and subsidies to them.

Subsidy given

He said that, at present, a subsidy of Rs. 8,000 an acre was being given to growers if they took up micro-irrigation to cultivate bamboo. Even bamboo saplings were being supplied at subsidised rates to SC/ST farmers as well as marginal farmers.

Mr. Keshavmurthy said that there was a need to extend subsidies to all farmers cultivating bamboo. The bamboo mission was yet to take a decision on it.

He said that though the bamboo mission had written letters to the State government and all deputy commissioners on creating awareness about schemes for the promotion of bamboo cultivation, officials at the district- and taluk-level seemed indifferent.

He said unless the officials were interested and created awareness, it would be difficult to motivate farmers.

  • ‘We will send a proposal to bamboo mission for approval, funding’
  • ‘There is a need to extend subsidies to all farmers cultivating bamboo’
  • _________________________________________________________________________
  • source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> National> Karnataka / by Staff Correspondent / Hubli, February 20th, 2013

    • Infosys launches new analytics platform for BigData

    Business & Economy, Science & Technology

    Will simplify the complex task of analysing BigData to discover relevant information

    India’s second largest IT services company Infosys today announced the launch of new analytics platform called as BigDataEdge.

    The company claims that the new platform will simplify the complex task of analysing Big Data to discover relevant information. With the new strategy ‘Infosys 3.0’  the company has started focusing on products and platforms and has already launched various platforms like Infosys BrandEdge, Infosys CommerceEdge, Infosys WalletEdge, Infosys TradeEdge among others.

    Vishnu Bhat, Vice President and Global Head–Cloud, Infosys said, “Enterprises today cannot afford to spend an inordinate amount of time making sense of the data deluge that surrounds them. Infosys BigDataEdge draws upon our deep research and development capabilities and proven expertise in Big Data and analytics to help clients turn data into revenues faster. This unique platform is already enabling ten global organizations to develop actionable insights in a matter of days and act on them from day one.”

    With Infosys BigDataEdge, enterprises can reduce the time taken to extract information by up to 40% and generate insights up to eight times faster, the company said in a press release.

    source: http://www.Business-Standard.com / Home> Companies> News> N ews / by Pradeesh Chandran / Bangalore, February 20th, 2013

    Cheer for bookworms, Gangarams comes to Church Street

    Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

    The famed Gangarams will be opening shortly on Church Street —Satish B.

    Bengaluru:

    The landmark Gangaram’s Book Bureau, which closed down last March, 35 years after it first opened on M.G. Road on May 9, 1977, will be back in business by the month-end.

    The iconic store, that was the only one of its kind in the city for book lovers before the onslaught of the big box book retailers, will now be located on the second floor of Triumph Towers on Church Street, two floors above Habitat, the well known audio/video circulating library. The building is diagonally opposite the popular restaurant Mainland China.

    While the earlier store was spread across three floors spanning 7,500 sqft –  one floor dedicated to stationery, one for general books and another for academic books – the new store will be spread across one spacious floor spanning 8,200 sqft, but minus the stationery.

    “Selling stationery is not very profitable, therefore we are discontinuing it. Our new store is spacious, allows for easy browsing and will offer one million titles across categories”, said Atmaram N. Gangaram.

    On how different the new store will be, he said, “Any customer who walks into our store looking for books will get whatever he or she wants within 24 hours. If he’s looking for two books in a category, he will get 10, that’s the kind of variety we will offer. If the book that a customer wants is not available in India, we will source and deliver it to them from anywhere in the world within four working days” he said.

    On entering the store, you will see an entire selection of bestsellers from fiction and non-fiction categories under the name ‘Gangaram’s Picks’. The largest section in the store is dedicated to children’s books, and in the fiction category, some of the oldest titles which are 70-80 years old from authors such as H.G. Wells, will be available.

    The new book store was originally due to open above Koshy’s on St Mark’s Road where the British Council was located earlier. The property belongs to the St Mark’s Cathedral.

    “The building was very weak and the Church, Koshy’s and us had committed to jointly renovating and strengthening the structure. However, Prem Koshy decided not to go ahead because of the cost involved and therefore, that did not work out for us. Hence, the delay in re-opening our store”, said Atmaram.

    source: http://wwww.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> News> Current Affairs / by DC, Sangeetha Chengappa / February 21st, 2013

    Mumbai: Kannada Sangha celebrates 55th annual day

    Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

    Mumbai, Feb 18:

    Kannada Sangha recently celebrated its 55th annual day at Billava Bhavan’s Shree Naryana Guru Convention hall at Santa Cruz East.

    Veteran hotelier Padmanabha S Payyode inaugurated the programme in the presidential presence of L V Amin.

     

    Businessmen Suresh R Kanchan distributed annual scholarships to students.

    Naryana S Shetty former advisor of the organization was also felicitated on the occasion.

    B D Suvarna, BR Punja, vice president Nithyanada D Kotiyan, honorary chief secretary Sujatha R Shetty, honorary treasurer Chandrahasa J Kotiyan, joint secretary JR Bangera, joint treasurer RP Hegde, auditor Dinesh Amin, were present on the dais.

    Education committee secretary Sudhakar Uchil, social and cultural committee working president Prema R Kotian, secretary Shardha S Poojary, organization member Shivaram Kotiyan, Mahesh Karkal, Suma M Poojary, Raghunath B Poojary and all committee members were present on the occasion.

    source: http://www.Daijiworld.com / Home> Mumbai / by Rons Bantwal, Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai (DV) / Monday, February 18th, 2013

    Police personnel honoured at ‘Abhimana -2013’

    Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

    Cultural prog. enthralls audience

    Retd. DGP Shankar Bidari being honoured during Abhimana-2013 in city yesterday while IGP Dr. Ramachandra Rao, Umadevi Bidari, Chamarajanagar SP P. Rajendra Prasad, City Police Commissioner K.L. Sudhir and film producer S.R. Govind look on. Picture right shows actress Harshika Poonacha and other artistes presenting a dance.

    Mysore, Feb. 17 :

    The Chamundi Vihar Stadium in city yesterday witnessed a rare occasion as Police personnel, far from their regular rigorous daily routine, enjoyed an evening filled with entertainment at the Abhimana-2013 programme in which several of them were felicitated for their outstanding services.

    The programme which had been organised by New Dimension Media and Entertainment organisation was inaugurated by film producer S.R.Govind with Sridhar Jain and troupes presenting a melodious Ganesha Stuthi which gave a devotional touch to the occasion.

    It was followed by DCP Basavaraj Malagathi rendering the ever-memorable song ‘Baare Baare’ from a popular Kannada blockbuster Nagarahaavu.

    Police officials Anand, M.Nagaraj, T.P. Manjunath, Mallikarjunaswamy, C. Prabhakar, C.G. Mahadevappa, Anwar Pasha, Guruswamy Nayak, Radha, Krishnaiah, B.L. Yogesh Kumar, Seetha Ramu, Kaveerappa, Vijayendra, Kalashaiah, Ravi, Nanjundaswamy, Tirumalesh, Basappa and others were felicitated for their services.

    Former MLA Vatal Nagaraj, retd. DGP Shankar Bidari, IGP (Southern Range) Dr. Ramachandra Rao, SP R. Dileep, City Police Commissioner K.L.Sudheer, DCP K.P. Bheemaiah, Director of New Dimension Shanmugappa, M.P. Prakash, Krish Amarnath, BBMP Commissioner R.P. Sharma, cine stars Jayamala, Sai Kumar, Krishna, Sanjana, Amulya and SPs of Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu and Hassan were present.

    I was instrumental in Police getting trousers

    Former MLA Vatal Nagaraj, participating in the function, said that it was he who was instrumental for Police personnel getting trousers instead of knickers, stating that ever since he was beaten up by the Police in 1967, he has had a very friendly relation with them which made him successfully take up the issue of providing Police personnel with trousers with the Government.

    He also demanded that Policemen who brave the vagaries of nature while performing their duties be given additional allowances for maintenance of physical fitness which plays a major role in Policemen performing their duties.

    Cine star Jayamala, in her address thanked the Police Department for protecting lives and properties of citizens during crisis. Reacting to this, IGP (Southern Range) Dr. Ramachandra Rao said it was the duty of the Police to protect lives and properties and urged citizens to encourage Police personnel in their good work.

    source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / Home> General News / February 17th, 2013