Women Steal the Show

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All

Bengaluru :

It wasn’t only in Delhi that women took centre stage during the Republic Day celebrations.

While the all-women’s contingents of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force stole the show at the Republic Day parade in Delhi,  Bengaluru girls also won many accolades in the Republic Day march past here.

The accomplishment could not have been more timely, considering that this year, the theme for the celebration is women’s empowerment.

The CRPF women’s team headed by Usha Shetty won second place in the march past in group one while the NCC girls and the Civil Defence girls’ teams won first and third place respectively in group three. The NCC girls’ team was headed by Ranjita Raj G while the Civil Defence team was headed by Pavithra Raghu. In group four too, two of the prizes were won by teams led by women, including SARS Carmel School (first) led by Hima Gowri and SARS Florence Public School (third) led by Bindushree. In group four, the first and second place was won by women-led teams, including Asha P of BMS College Ranger School and Gayatri Prabhakaran of Alpine Public School.

“The most difficult part was moving our hands and feet together with those beside and in front of us,” said Himashree, who participated in the march past.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> City> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / January 27th, 2015

M’luru professor wins award for scientific work on ferns

Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All
Dr Smitha Hegde
Dr Smitha Hegde

Dr Smitha Hegde, associate professor, department of post-graduate studies and research in biotechnology, St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, has been awarded the Professor SS Bir gold medal in Pteridology for her scientific work towards advancement of science in the area of ferns.

The award was recently handed over by Dr PS Ahuja, director general, Council of Industrial Research (CSIR) and Dr SP Khullar, secretary treasurer of Indian Fern Society at the National Conference on ‘Modern Approaches to Pteridophytes: Biology, Biodiversity and Bioresource’ at the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur.

Dr Hegde is currently screening ferns of the Western Ghats region, particularly the Kudremukh National Park region, for their capacity of hyper accumulation of heavy metals. She said, “As a first step, a field guide has been written reporting 38 ferns of the region.
Simultaneously, I am undertaking a project on DNA fingerprinting of ferns of the region to confirm the identity of selected ferns of the region.” She has developed a technique of encapsulating sporophytes produced in vitro as ‘Protocorm-like bodies’ in Alginate beads to enable transportation of the in vitro produced planting material to the field with minimum shock and damage, thus producing the first ‘Synthetic seeds’ for ferns in 1995.

She worked on (Cyathea spp) tree ferns of the Western Ghats for post-doctoral studies .

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> News> State / by Deepthi Sanjiv, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / January 12th, 2015

Tribute to R.K. Laxman : A Mysurean at heart

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Born in Mysuru on Oct. 24, 1921, R.K. Laxman grew up in the old locality of Laxmipuram and was always enthralled by the sights and soul of the city. It was the charm of the old Mysuru that moulded Laxman’s simple yet fascinating world view and honed his eye for details.

He used to visit his old haunts like the Devaraja Market, Clock Tower and Sayyaji Rao road whenever he used to visit Mysuru.

R.K. Laxman shared a great bond with Maharaja’s College where he had studied Politics, Economics and Philosophy from 1942 to 1944. During one of his recent visits to the city, Laxman visited his college more as an alumnus rather than as a guest. He had searched for an etching he had made in one of the class-rooms and had found the scribble “RKL” on one of the walls along with ‘RKS’ (R.K. Srinivasan), ‘RKP’ (R.K. Pattabhi) and ‘RKN’ (R.K. Narayan) — his brothers. Laxman had also recalled that it was his English lecturer, B.S. Keshavan, who had encouraged him to draw cartoons.

The last time Laxman visited Mysuru was in 2009. He was bound to a wheel-chair and had visited Maharaja’s College with his wife Kamala. When asked by a student what his connection with Mysuru was, since he was not living here, Laxman had said, “I always miss Mysuru and Maharaja’s College.”

Dignitaries tweet tributes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “India will miss you R.K. Laxman. We are grateful to you for adding the much needed humour in our lives & always bringing smiles on our faces. My condolences to the family & countless well-wishers of a legend whose demise leaves a major void in our lives. RIP R.K. Laxman.”

Sonia Gandhi: “Shri Laxman’s ‘Common Man’, for more than one generation, represented India, served as conscience-keeper of establishment. His death is passing away of an institution.”

Sachin Tendulkar: “The man who expressed so much for and as the Common Man is no more. Deepest condolences to his family and friends.”

Ramachandra Guha: “R.K. Laxman was the greatest member of a great Mysore generation — among them M.N. Srinivas, R.K. Narayan, T.S. Satyan, A.K. Ramanujan…”

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Tuesday – January 27th, 2015

State-level milking contest : Bengaluru cow owners rule the roost

Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All, Sports

Lakshman Hogebandi’s cow bags first place, yields 43.35 kg milk

Actor Darshan is seen after presenting the first prize to Lakshman Hogebandi (with garland) of Bengaluru at the State-level milking contest organised by the Mysuru City Cow Owners Association at J.K. Grounds in city on Sunday as Mayor R. Lingappa, Hotelier Sandesh of Sandesh the Prince, Hunsur MLA H.P. Manjunath, former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar and others look on.
Actor Darshan is seen after presenting the first prize to Lakshman Hogebandi (with garland) of Bengaluru at the State-level milking contest organised by the Mysuru City Cow Owners Association at J.K. Grounds in city on Sunday as Mayor R. Lingappa, Hotelier Sandesh of Sandesh the Prince, Hunsur MLA H.P. Manjunath, former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar and others look on.

 

Mysuru :

Cow owners from Bengaluru dominated the State-level Milking contest organised by the Mysuru City Cow Owners Association in memory of late actor Thoogudeepa Srinivas at J.K. Grounds here on Sunday by bagging all the five prizes that were at stake.

Lakshman Hogebandi of Beguru in Bengaluru won the first prize of Rs. 1 lakh cash and a two-kg silver lamp, by milking a total of 43.35 kg milk in two sessions.

Nagaraj of Chandapura Circle, Anekal taluk, bagged the second prize of Rs. 75,000 cash and silver articles weighing 1 kg, by milking a total 41.2 kg, while M.G. Somanna of Nettakallappa Circle, Basavanagudi, won the third prize (Rs. 50, 000 cash and 1 kg silver articles) by milking a total of 40.30 kg milk.

C. Chowdappa of Padarayanapura won the fourth prize (Rs. 25,000 cash and 1 kg silver article) by milking 39.80 kg of milk and Gagan Reddy of Nirmal Milk Suppliers, Lalbagh West, Basavanagudi, womn the fifth prize (RS. 20,000 cash and 1 kg silver article) by milking 37.9 kg of milk.

More than 25 cow owners from Mysuru, Bengaluru, Hassan and other districts took part in the contest. Cine actor Darshan Toogudeepa gave away the prizes.

Hunsur MLA H.P. Manjunath, Mayor R. Lingappa, Cauvery-CADA Chairman C. Dasegowda, Hotelier Sandesh and other dignitaries were felicitated on the occasion.

Former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar, Corporator D. Nagabushan, former MDCC Bank President C. Basavegowda, Congress leader Siddaraju, Cow Ownwers Association President Desigowda, actor Dhruva Keerthi, Veterinary Department Deputy Director Dr. Devadas and others were present on the occasion.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Tuesday – January 27th, 2015

City Cops get President’s Medal

Records, All
1. Ravindra. 2) Aiyanna
1. Ravindra. 2) Aiyanna

Mysuru :

Two Policemen from the city are among the 20 cops from the State, who have been conferred President’s Police Medal for meritorious service on the occasion of Republic Day yesterday.

Also, four other Police Officers from the State were conferred with the President’s medal for distinguished service.

B.M. Ravindra and N.U. Aiyanna, both Head Constables at 5th Battalion, KSRP Mysuru, are the city cops who have been conferred the Medal.

B.M. Ravindra, originally hailing from Napoklu in Madikeri Taluk, has been serving in the Department for over 30 years while Aiyanna, who hails from Kushalnagar in Kodagu district, is associated with the Department for over 34 years.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Tuesday – January 27th, 2015

Natl. Mountain biking championship : City boy wins Silver medal

Sports

HariVidyalayaBF27jan2015

Mysuru :

Tejaswi, a 10th std. student of Hari Vidyalaya in Bogadi, representing Karnataka for the first time has won a second place at the 11th National Mountain Biking Championship held from Jan. 18 to 22 in Pune.

The selection process was done in two stages. In the time trial stage, Tejaswi won the bronze medal and won the silver medal in the Mass Start stage. Tejaswi was trained by Nagaraj and Ekalavya awardee Lokesh. Tejaswi is the son of G. Shambulingegowda, Biology lecturer at Government Pre Univer- sity College in Akkihebbal and P.K. Nagaratna.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / Tuesday – January 27th, 2015

Malpe UHC switches to solar power in a first for India

Green Initiatives / Environment, Records, All, Science & Technology

Manipal :

Urban Health Centre in Malpe, about 10 kilometres from here, became a solar powered clinic on Wednesday. Srinivas Prasad, CEO Philips Innovation campus, Bengaluru inaugurated the solar facility provided by Philips at a simple function. It is a first of its kind in India. Started in 1967 by Dr T M A Pai, the Centre provides maternal and child health services and also takes care of general ailments of people in the region.

The centre under administrative care of department of community medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal recently started screening activities for oral, breast and cervix cancers with support from Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. With ever-increasing work at the clinic, need for uninterrupted power supply became imperative.

The solar energy which became operational on Wednesday will greatly help to improve patient care.

In view of urgency and importance of having uninterrupted power in the clinic, Manipal University and Philips signed a memorandum of understanding for the pilot project. The Centre will henceforth not depend on electricity to run appliances. This innovation by Philips is a centralized solar DC grid, which reduces dependency on grid power and contributes towards green energy. The solar solution provided in Malpe Clinic consists of 6 KWp solar panels.

It is expected to generate on an average nearly 12 units per day, and the consumption of the Malpe clinic is around 8 units per day presently. Srinivas Prasad, a former Karnataka Ranji Trophy player said, “We are associated with Manipal University for over a decade now. So we decided to do this project with the University first. This initiative can serve as a model solution which can be replicated in tier 2 and tier 3 cities and rural areas across the country.”

Pramod Madhwaraj, Udupi MLA said he was extremely happy that Philips has decided to have the pilot project in his constituency. He urged Prasad to provide solar facilities to entire state. Even Dr Vinod Bhat, Pro Vice-Chancellor urged Philips CEO to use Technology to improve villages across India, “Because we cannot depend electricity alone to fulfill the needs,” he said. Dr Veena Kamath, head of department of community medicine welcomed the gathering.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / by Jaideep Shenoy, TNN / January 22nd, 2015

Anatomy Prof Preserves Bodies of Mother, Sister in College Lab

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

Mysuru :

An anatomy professor has chosen a unique way of educating people about the need to donate bodies as well as ways to preserve them.

Dr N M Shama Sundar of JSS Medical College has preserved his mother’s body in the anatomy lab ever since she passed away five years ago. Now, he has preserved his sister’s body too. His sister, N M Nagamani (74), a

retired KSRTC employee, died some months ago, and her body now lies in an adjacent room. Sundar has used a method called plastination to preserve the bodies longer. Plastination is a technique of tissue preservation developed by Dr Gunther von Hagens in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1977.

Sundar, who is also secretary of the JSS Body Donation Association, said Nagamani and other members of his family had donated their bodies to research.

He said preserving the bodies also allowed his relatives settled abroad who could not come to India at the time of his mother’s death to later “see her”. One of Sundar’s brothers, who lives in Australia, flew down two months after the death and saw his mother’s body.

Murali Mohan, another of Sundar’s brothers and a retired deputy chief engineer at Kolar gold mines, said he visits the lab whenever he feels like seeing his mother and sister.

Six of Sundar’s nephews and nieces who live abroad could not make it when his mother died. They came after many months, he said.

The Brahmin family did not perform any death rites for the two bodies. “My mother was against religious rituals,” Sundar told Express.

He said the proximity of two bodies of close relatives does not affect his work in the lab. He said his gesture had inspired several others to pledge their bodies.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Vincent D’Souza / January 25th, 2015

Konkan Railways’ Ro-Ro turns 16

Business & Economy, Records, All

Mangaluru :

This Republic Day, the innovative Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) service of Konkan Railway will complete 16 years of successful operation.

The Ro-Ro service has earned Konkan Railway Rs 53.31 crore in 2014-15 up to December as compared to Rs 47.4 crore in corresponding period in the previous year. More than 40,000 trucks were carried through Ro-Ro service in 2014-15 up to December.

Konkan Railways came up with the innovative Ro-Ro service service in 1999 whereby loaded goods trucks are carried piggy back on railway flat wagons. This service is unique only to Konkan Railways.

The popularity of the service can be seen from the fact that about four lakh goods trucks have been carried by this service in the past 16 years. The service has helped the railways get back the piecemeal traffic which had got diverted to the road sector.

The service benefits truck owners as well as the railways, while saving precious diesel for the country. It saves wear and tear of tyres, reduces maintenance cost of trucks, enables faster delivery of goods and gives higher profits. The service has also helped decongest the national highway and gives a hassle-free ride to truck drivers.

There are two Ro-Ro services-one between Kolad (145 km from Mumbai) and Verna (a distance of 417 km), and the other between Kolad and Surathkal (a distance of 721 km). The delivery is within 12 hours for Kolad-Verna, and within 22 hours for Kolad-Surathkal, which, by road, will take at least 24 hours and 40 hours, respectively.

!RPF rescued 54 minors last year !The Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Konkan Railway rescued as many as 54 children who had run away from their ho mes from January to December 2014. All the rescued children were below 15 years and were either found loitering in the statio ns on the Konkan Railway route or found travelling unaccompanied by elders in trains. Most of the rescued children were reunited with their parents and others were handed over to the child helpline. The children and their parents were also counselled by the RPF officials. During the year, RPF also seized more than 35,000 liquor bottles, valued at more than Rs 30.6 lakh, carried illegally in trains and at premises of different stations and handed these over to the State Excise department. RPF also registered 593 cases under the Railways Act against anti-social elements in the railway premises in 2014. A total fine amount of Rs 3.41 lakh was collected from the offenders. As many as 183 cigarette smoking cases were also detected and the offenders were charged a fine of Rs 36,600.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / TNN / January 25th, 2015

12-year wait ends, all eyes on 42-ft-tall Karkala Bahubali

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Travel

Mangaluru :

The 10-day Mahamastakabhisheka ceremony for the 42-foot-tall monolithic stone image of Lord Bahubali atop a rocky hill will begin in Karkala on Wednesday.

Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts could be called the land of Bahubali as they host three towering monolithic statues at Karkala, Venur and Dharmasthala. Among them, the Karkala Gomateshwara is the tallest at 42 feet. Karkala — an evolved version of the original ‘Kari Kallu’ — derives its name from the black stones that cover the vast landscape.

Mahamastakabhisheka was performed at Karkala in 1951, 1957, 1962, 1990 and 2002. The gap of 12 years was not maintained for various reasons and the anointing in 1990 was held after a gap of 28 years due to problems caused by the implementation of the Land Reforms Act.

The imposing monument was installed by King Veera Pandya Bairarasa at the behest of guru Lalithakeerthi, a pontiff of Karkala Jain math, in 1432 AD.

The Karkala monolith of Bahubali is the third largest of the four Bahubali statues in Karnataka, the first one being the 57-foot-tall monolith at Shravanabelagola. Dharmasthala and Venur statues measure 39 feet and 35 feet, respectively.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / by Stanley Pinto, TNN /  January 21st, 2015