Basic course in Automobile Technology at NIE

Education, Records, All
Students from NMMIT, Nitte, BMSE, Bengaluru and SJCE, Mysuru, who underwent training last week, are seen with Dr. T.N. Shridhar, Head - NECAT, Mohan, Asst. Manager, NECAT and others.
Students from NMMIT, Nitte, BMSE, Bengaluru and SJCE, Mysuru, who underwent training last week, are seen with Dr. T.N. Shridhar, Head – NECAT, Mohan, Asst. Manager, NECAT and others.

Mysuru :

The NIE-EICHER Centre for Automobile Technology (NECAT), the first of its kind centre in India, established in collaboration with VOLVO-EICHER Commercial Vehicles Ltd., at the National Institute of Engineering (NIE) on Manandawadi Road here, conducted training to the first batch of students from NMMIT and Nitte last week.

During this week, the Centre is conducting Basic Course in Automobile Technology (BCAT) course for 25 students per batch for six days for the students from NMMIT, Nitte, SJCE, Mysuru and BMSE, Bengaluru.

Apart from this course, NECAT conducts advance courses and modular courses apart from tailor-made courses regularly for the engineers from L&T, Meritor, Bosch among others.

The Centre provides top-notch training and education to students and faculty members of industrial and vocational training institutes, polytechnics and engineering colleges.

It also conducts training programmes for the industry and automobile dealers with extensive hands-on practical sessions in a most scientific way of repair, maintenance and overhaul of commercial vehicles.

Engineering students of various institutions across the country are undergoing training programme especially for BCAT course and the Centre has conducted BCAT course for more than 100 batches.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of  Mysore / Home> General News / Thursday – June 11th, 2015

Hubballi optometrist gets UK fellowship

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

Hubballi :

Kunal Shah , 35, a BS optometry graduate from BITS, Pilani-Sankara Nethralaya, and CEO of Hubballi-based startup Eyesavers has got a fellowship from the British Contact Lens Association (BCLA). He is the fourth India optometrist to receive the BCLA fellowship. Professor James Wolffsohn of Aston University honoured Shah in Pune recently.

Expressing joy on receiving the fete, Kunal told TOI that the adoption of technology has been instrumental in getting the fellowship.

“Our startup, floated two years ago, has been the first in India to adopt I-profiler technology by Zeiss and Visio Office Plus by Essilor from France which can calculate the position of eyes in front of the lenses at a precision of 1/10th mm at a click of a button. Now, 4-5 other optometrists have borrowed these technologies in India,” he said.

Kunal’s father Prakash Shah, who is also involved in optical business for the past five decades, said that he was worried when Kunal wanted to invest Rs 20 lakh on I-profiler and Rs 8.50 lakh on Visio Office Plus. “Now I am convinced by his innovations. Though we have Hubli Opticals since 1953, he floated separate brand at his own risk,” he said.

Kunal is offering free service using Visio Office Plus technology to avoid fitting errors. . “Usually, we don’t consider the size of nose, eyes and forehead while suggesting a frame for patients. This technology considers whether the wearer of the glass is head-mover or eye-mover while preparing the perfect frame,” he claimed.

Kunal is the only optometrist in North Karnataka to provide cosmetic eye to fill self-confidence among people who have only one eye by birth.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hubballi / by Sangamesh Menasinakai, TNN / June 10th, 2015

Young fashion designer carves niche for herself

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

Hubballi :

The demise of her grandfather last week was a big personal loss for this 23-year-old. “Though girls are supposed to get married early in the Marwadi community, my grandfather Ramvilas Mahajan, who passed away last week, used to encourage me to achieve my goal,” recalls a teary eyed Shruti Mahajan.

Shruti, who claims to be the first fashion designer-entrepreneur of Hubballi, featured in Kerala Fashion League-2015 where she met James Ferreira, one of the leading fashion designers in the country and founder of James Ferreira designer label. The event was held in Ernakulam last month.

Speaking to TOI, Shruti said that it was amazing to meet icons of Indian fashion designing industry about whom she had read in textbooks. “It was an occasion to meet designers like Aslam Khan, Sanjana. Tamil actress Kalyani was the showstopper for my designs,” she says.

Shruti completed BSc in fashion and apparels from Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology, Bengaluru, in 2014. She floated Conch Designs Studio in June 2014 and had been creating awareness on fashion design in tier-II cities like Hubballi.

“In the beginning, it was very difficult to convince people about fashion design. I patiently convinced them by saying: ‘give me any kind of girl or woman, irrespective of physical fitness, fairness and complexion, I will make her beautiful’,” she says.

Waseem Bahadur, proprietor of an event management company in Hubballi, says that Shruti has the sense of painting and craftwork which shows in her designs. “She is the lone fashion designer in Hubballi who has taken fashion designing as an entrepreneurial venture. She upholds Indian culture and tradition in clothing and also meets the requirement of young generation by designing Indo-Western and Western designs,” he adds.

Shruti has provided employment to five skilled artisans from Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad. She received the “Best Costume Award’ in a show organized by Ramesh Dembla for the promotion of “Desi Boys”. She has also exhibited her designs in events like Metro Life Fashion Show, War of Designers, corporate fashion show organized by Infosys in Mysuru.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hubballi / by Sangamesh Menasinakai, TNN / June 10th, 2015

Girl headed for World Games has her money worries eased

Sports

Hubballi :

Priyanka Kalagi, an alumnus of Karnataka University, Dharwad, has been selected for the World University Games (WUG)-2015 to be held in Gwangju, South Korea, from July 3 to 14. The 22-year-old, who is pursuing PGDCA at Alva’s College in Moodbidri, Dakshina Kannada district, is the only student from Karnataka to be part of Indian Universities Team of Athletics (men and women).

In the final trials held at Punjabi University, Patiala, on May 27 and 28, Priyanka ran 100 metres in 11.56 seconds. She won the silver medal in the 200 metres trials. Every day, she trains two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.

Hailing from Gadag, Priyanka pursued her high school and degree while living in the Sports Authority of India’s hostel in Dharwad. After doing her BA, she got a free seat at Alva’s College to pursue PGDCA.

Speaking to STOI, Priyanka wondered how she would raise the Rs 1.90 lakh needed to participate in WUG. “However, authorities at my college have promised to make arrangements,” she added.

There’s good news from another quarter too. The Alva Education Foundation has come forward to send Priyanka to South Korea.

Her coach at the college, Shantaram Rai DV, said Mangalore University has promised to bear some of the cost. “Our chairman M Mohan Alva has instructed us to take care of expenses of Priyanka. We will bear 100% cost and later get some percentage reimbursed by the university.”

Her father Shivayogi Kalagi, who is a weighing machines repairer in Gadag, said he earns about Rs 15,000 a month. “My son Pratik works in a company in Bengaluru and earns Rs 13,000 a month. We cannot expect more from him. Because of our financial constraints, Priyanka lived in the SAI hostel. She never got discouraged by our condition.”

Venkatesh Kattimani, president of the Gadag District Athletic Association, said Priyanka is a serious sportsperson. “Her dedication towards sports will design a bright career for her.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hubballi / by Sangamesh Menasinakai, TNN / June 07th, 2015

Experts Simplify Rainwater Harvesting for You

Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

Queen’s Road  :

It looks like the monsoon has set in, bringing along wet days and the opportunity to harvest rainwater.

In November 2009, the state government made rain water harvesting compulsory for all buildings that came up after that and all those on sites bigger than 2,400 sq ft. But there’s no reason to be alarmed if you haven’t installed the facility yet — you can collect rainwater or recharge groundwater without investing too much time or money.

Catch the rain

A couple of the city’s experts say that you can save a lot of water by taking a few simple steps. Put a 500 or 1,000-litre barrel under the pipe that carries your roof water, advises S Vishwanath, founder of Rainwater Harvesting Club. Or attach a wall-mounted filter to the pipe which is called a pop-up filter, and let the water flow into your sump tank or borewell.

“The filter flushes out the first three minutes of water flow so that any dried leaves or bird droppings are washed away,” says Shivakumar. “The rest of the water is filtered by a cartridge.”

However, despite the filter, it’s essential to keep your roof clean to avoid contamination. Shivakumar recommends sweeping once a week and ‘perhaps on days when it looks like it might rain.’

“In smaller houses, since the city is filled with so many, buckets or pitchers can be placed under the pipe or space left for the roof water to come down,” he adds. And whatever little water is collected can be used.

These steps, when adopted by apartment complexes, will help save money on tanker water at least on some days of the year, he adds. “But they should stick to collecting water and using it. Don’t try to recharge the groundwater as most likely, many borewells would have dried up in such areas. The water just disappears and you don’t reap the benefits.”

Social cause

However, other households can dig out a recharge well into which you can direct all the excess rainwater, water that you don’t have space to store. “You can use a pre-cast cement ring, a minimum of 3 ft in diameter. The well should be at least 10 ft deep,” says Vishwanath. “It will take you half a day and someone will do it for you for about Rs 10,000.”

A R Shivakumar
A R Shivakumar

If you’re more socially inclined, for recharging the depleting groundwater table is indeed a social cause according to Shivakumar, you could even make trenches in the stormwater drain. “In open drains, it’s easy to break one of the stone slabs at the bottom, dig up a few feet and fill it with gravel,” he says.

Safe to drink

Contrary to popular belief, rainwater collected from your rooftop — when its kept clean — is even safe for drinking, both experts say. In fact, it is in Shivakumar’s eco-friendly house, whose family of four has sustained only on rainwater for 20 years now.

“We don’t have a BWSSB connection,” he says. Even the water from the washing machine — essentially soap water — is reused for toilet flushing and the kitchen sink water for the garden.

Actually, if you put in place the barrel, the filter and the recharge well, you’ve done 90 per cent of what you can about rainwater harvesting, Vishwanath says. “The challenge is to overcome the starting trouble.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / June 11th, 2015

Bengaluru to become hockey hub

Sports

HockeyBF12jun2015

After a prolonged delay, the Sports Authority of India, South Centre, here will finally get two hockey pitches play-ready by September end with plans of converting the facility into a major training centre for the men’s team.

A green pitch, costing Rs 5.71 crore, will be ready by the end of this month, while a blue pitch — same as the one that will be used at the Rio Olympics next year — will be completed by the end of September.

Apart from laying of the state-of-the-art blue pitch, SAI will also construct change rooms, install 600 lux floodlights and provide space for two video towers. This project is estimated to cost Rs 8.6 crore.

“This is the beginning,” said Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal after laying the foundation stone for the project on Thursday. “We have many schemes to be implemented. This blue turf will be the same turf that will be used at the Rio Olympics. This has been done to make our players feel comfortable and familiar with the surface.
“Once this has been done, our intention is to keep the players here so that they can prepare well. Bengaluru is a good place to train all year round, thanks to the weather. I’ve heard the players like it here as well.”

It may be recalled that one of the major demands of former coach Michael Nobbs and current High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans was to make Bengaluru as a permanent training centre. While they trained largely here from mid-2010 despite the pitch being below par, they moved to facilities across the country around two years ago after plenty of players suffered injuries during training.

With both the pitches set to be ready by September end, this should come as good news for the hockey players and staff. Meanwhile, plenty of elite Karnataka athletes — past and present — and administrators attended the afternoon function. Badminton legend Prakash Padukone, former National badminton coach Vimal Kumar, long-jumper Anju Bobby George, former hockey player Ashish Ballal, paralympian HN Girisha, current high jump national record holder Sahana Kumari, heptathlete Pramila Aiyappa and India hockey defender VR Raghunath were some of the few in attendance.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Sports / Bengaluru , DHNS / June 12th, 2015

Damini dazzles as BAC dominate

Records, All, Sports

Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre swimmers set the pool ablaze, creating five new meet records on the third and penultimate day of the State Junior and Sub-junior Swimming Championship here on Wednesday.

Damini K Gowda clinched the Group I, 50M butterfly gold in a record time of 29.89. The BAC swimmer erased the previous meet record set by Arhatha Magavi (30.17), four years ago. Damini added one more gold to her tally by winning the 200M backstroke (2:30.67) and in the process surpassing Nisha Millet’s State record of 2:32.49, set in 1999.

Dolphin Aquatics’ Sanjay CJ put up an impressive show and powered to gold in the boys’ Group II, 100M freestyle. Sanjay clocked 55.22 seconds for a new record. Sanjay bettered Aniketh D’Souza’s (JSC) timing of 58.20.

Malavika V also kept her fine form going, bagging her third yellow metal of the meet. The 17-year old from BAC won the Group I 100M freestyle (1:00.22) and went past Nisha Millet’s meet record of 1:00.37 set in 1999.

Results: Group I: Boys: 400M freestyle: Avinash M (BAC) 4:14.75, 1; Mohammed Yaqoob Saleem (DA) 4:16.90, 2; Rahul M (BAC) 4:23.24, 3. 100M freestyle: Mohammed Yaqoob Saleem (DA) 56.34, 1; Vishwesh C Dudham (BAC) 56.82, 2; Rahul M (BAC) 57.13, 3. 200M backstroke: Joseph Padavath (BAC) 2:23.30, 1; Hemanth Jenukal V B (GSC) 2:23.70, 2; Nishanth Kumar (GSC) 2:28.25, 3. 50M breaststroke: Vaishnav Hegde (DA) 30.70 (NMR; OMR: Likith SP 31.22 (BAC) 2013), 1; Pruthvik D S (BAC) 33.00, 2; Rakshith R (GSC) 34.57, 3.50M butterfly: Avinash M (BAC) 26.82 (NMR; OMR: Rahul Batra 26.94 BAC, 2001), 1; Vishwesh C Dudham (BAC) 27.26, 2; Suhas P M (Aims) 29.06, 3.4x200M freestyle: BAC ‘A’ (BAC) 8:44.87, 1; BAC ‘B’ (BAC) 8:53.79, 2; GSC 1 (GSC) 9:14.79, 3.

Group II: 400M freestyle: Sanjay C J (DA) 4:27.21, 1; P Kushal (DA) 4:40.23, 2; Mihir Ahuja (DA) 4:51.80, 3. 100M freestyle: Sanjay C J (DA) 55.22 (Aniketh D’ Souza 58.20 JSC 2002), 1; Siddharth Rai (BAC) 1:01.61, 2; Vinod R (BAC) 1:03.70, 3. 200M backstroke: N Sri Hari (GSC) 2:20.62 (NMR; OMR: S Siva 2:21.15 (BAC) 2014), 1; Bhavesh R (DA) 2:36.93, 2; Mihir Ahuja (DA) 2:43.18, 3.50M breaststroke: Manohar M Prabhu (MAC) 33.61, 1; P Kushal (DA) 35.45, 2; Naveen Kumar T (BAC) 36.22, 3. 50M butterfly: Vaishnav V Rao (BAC) 30.69, 1; Anirudh J (BAC) 30.77, 2; Uday M L (PETAC) 31.44, 3. Group III: 50M freestyle:Prasidha Krishna P A (GSC) 28.57, 1; S Hiten Mittal (BAC) 29.05, 2; Abhay Kumar (SL) 29.16, 3. 100M backstroke: Shivansh Singh (BAC) 1:14.07, 1; R Vaibhav Shet (GSC) 1:17.66, 2; Deep Gilda (PMSC) 1:18.37, 3. 50M butterfly: Prasidha Krishna P A (GSC) 29.40, 1; S Hiten Mittal (BAC) 30.07, 2; Raj Vinayak Relakar (PMSC) 30.57, 3.

Group IV: 50M breaststroke: Shoan Ganguly (DA) 42.14, 1; Utkarsh S Patil (PMSC) 42.90, 2; R Akshaya Shet (GSC) 43.17, 3.

Girls: Group I: 100M freestyle: Malavika V (BAC) 1:00.22 (NMR; OMR: Nisha Millet 1:00.37, BAC, 1999), 1; Damini K Gowda (BAC) 1:00.90, 2; Deeksha Ramesh (GSC) 1:04.23, 3. 400M freestyle: Malavika V (BAC) 4:34.23, 1; Nikitha SV (BAC) 4:51.02, 2; Rhia Singh (BAC) 4:52.04, 3. 50M breaststroke: Charu Hamsini (BAC) 35.70 (NMR; OMR: Divya Guruswamy 36.45 GSC, 2011), 1; Riddhi S Bohra (PMSC) 37.02, 2; Deeksha Ramesh (GSC) 37.65, 3. 200M backstroke:Damini K Gowda (BAC) 2:30.67 (NMR; OMR: Nisha Millet, 2:32.49 BAC, 1999), 1; K Harishree J Rai (GSC) 2:36.71, 2; Jhanati Rajesh (BAC) 2:41.05, 3. 4x200M freestyle relay: BAC A (9:37.04), 1; BAC B (9:37.59), 2; GSC 1 (10:54.41), 3. 50M butterfly: Damini K Gowda (BAC) 29.89 (Arhatha Magavi 30.17. DOL, 2011), 1; Charu Hamsini DA (BAC) 31.38, 2; Chandana (VSC) 31.70, 3.

Group II: 100M freestyle: Harshitha (BAC) 1:05.87, 1; Saloni Dalal (PMSC) 1:08.55, 2; Harshitha Jayaram (GSC) 1:08.74, 3. 400M freestyle: Nandini SS (BAC) 4:57.65, 1; Harshitha J (BAC) 5:04.64, 2; Abhigna Anand (BAC) 5:10.68, 3.200M backstroke: Vibha Aparna Bhovnsle (BAC) 2:46.40, 1; Sushma S Bharadwaj (ASC) 2:53.30, 2; Hita Juneja (BAC) 2:58.43, 3 50M breaststroke:Saloni Dalal (PMSC) 37.13 (NMR; OMR: Charu Hamsini DA 37.51, BAC 2011), 1; Harshitha Jayaram (GSC) 37.71, 2; Pratiksha Patel (DA) 40.53, 3. 50M butterfly:Mayuri Lingaraj (BAC) 31.67, 1; Thanuja S (BAC) 31.69, 2; Sunaina Manjunath (BAC) 32.40, 3.

Group III: 50M freestyle: Smruthi Mahalingam (BAC) 30.44, 1; Khushi Dinesh (BAC) 30.58, 2; Riddhi Juyal (PMSC) 31.00, 3. 100M backstroke: Suvana C Baskar (DA) 1:14.82, 1; Kshithija K (BAC) 1:18.82, 2; Vaishnavi P (BAC) 1:20.22, 3.

50M butterfly: Smruthi Mahalingam (BAC) 32.92, 1; Poojitha G Murthy (BAC) 33.11, 2; Suvana C Baskar (DA) 33.59, 3.

Group IV: 50M breaststroke: A Jedidah (DA) 44.34, 1; Latiesha Mandanna (Young Challengers) 46.11, 2; Keerthi B (PMSC) 46.64, 3.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Sports / DHNS – Bengaluru , June 11th, 2015

SIT students develop app that helps farmers plant diseases

Education, Nature, Science & Technology

Mangaluru :

Final year students of computer science and engineering of Srinivas Institute of Technology (SIT), Valachil – Shraddha, Krishnanad Bhat, Sowmya, Prajnashree, Supritha M – have developed an android based project “Agricultural Plant Disease Detection” under the guidance of Nagaraja Hebbar N. This project won first place in intra-collegiate competition conducted by the institute for its students, Shrinivasa Mayya D, principal, SIT said.

This project is useful to recognize the diseases that plants are affected using the image of the leaf. The major beneficiaries of the project are farmers for they will also get the medication details for the corresponding disease through this application. In the present day, agricultural plants are affected by different types of disease. This application helps farmer in obtaining details pertaining to disease afflicting their crop and the remedial steps they can take to mitigate it.

This application basically identifies diseases based on damage patterns observed in leaves of agricultural plants. The application also indicates prescribed medication according to the disease condition with which the plants are affected. This project will help farmers for taking quick decisions related to the yields. If proper medication is applied in the initial stage, farmers can protect their yields against further damage, Shrinivasa Mayya noted.

The application is blended with existing technology which will serve the farmers. A Raghavendra Rao, president of A Shama Rao Foundation and A Srinivasa Rao, vice-president congratulated and appreciated the efforts of the students’ in developing the app and also the faculty for guiding the students in the right direction with their academic endeavours. Srinivas Rao said education will be complete only when it translates in to some tangible benefit for end users.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / by Jaideep Shenoy, TNN / June 08th, 2015

‘Fabricator’ on world tour after losing a leg

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Travel

Allahabad :

BV Narayana was in his early twenties when he lost a leg after being hit by a group of motorcyclists. After three decades, he decided to tour across the globe to make people aware of traffic norms so that they could be saved from the pain that he had to undergo.

A sports and adventure enthusiast, Narayan had earlier gone around the world, covering 59 countries on bicycle in 1979 when he was 19 years old. Narayana started his journey from his birthplace Bangalore on February 5. He passed through the city on way to Delhi on Monday for onward journey that covers around 90,000 kms. He has designed a vehicle in which his bags, medical kits and other items have been kept.

He said, “I want to sensitise people about physically and mentally disabled persons and above all, I want to ensure that people especially children learn traffic rules and strictly abide by them.”

Narayana, who is employed as a marketing executive at a transport company, opts to call himself a ‘Fabricator’. He designs special vehicles for physically disabled by modifying the ordinary vehicles.

Narayana has put a banner on his bike in which he has make an appeal to parents not to give vehicles to minors, use helmet while driving two-wheelers and not to talk on cell phones while driving. He has also make an appeal to get the blood group of bridegroom checked before marriage.

“Scientists says that same blood group of bride and groom may results in deformity of future generation so I have displayed this prominently,” he said. He intends to tour 25 countries across in West Asia, Africa and Europe. “After receiving visa from Delhi, I would to Mumbai from where I have planned to catch the flight to UAE,” Narayana said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Vinod Khanal, TNN / June 02nd, 2015

City teen selected for international chemistry Olympiad

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

Bengaluru :

Ameet Deshpande, a 17-year-old student from AECS Maruti Public School, has been selected for the International Chemistry Olympiad (ICO) to be held in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Of the 30 students who participated from India, four students were selected for the International Olympiad and Ameet is one of them. Ameet has also enrolled at FIITJEE Bangalore.

Ameet is also an avid footballer. The Olympiad consists of two sessions that run for five hours each and the winner will be decided by a scientific jury set up by the host nation.

“I enjoy chemistry because it is one of the most practical subjects, but I am undecided whether I will pursue it as a career. I am very happy and thankful to all my teachers who helped me to achieve this goal,” said Ameet.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / TNN / June 07th, 2015