Resource person Mamatha is seen addressing the trainees.
Mysuru :
A training programme on kitchen and terrace gardening, organised jointly by the Horticulture Department and District Horticulture Association for beneficiaries who had applied earlier, was held at Kukkarahalli Horticulture Centre here this morning.
About 200 people who underwent the training were provided with gardening kits containing seeds, organic manure, pots and small tools.
Inaugurating the programme, ZP President Dr. Pushpa Amarnath said that kitchen and terrace gardening had become very popular in cities owing to constrained space and added that the Horticulture Department has come out with a novel training programme in that context.
A demonstration on kitchen and terrace gardening was presented during the training.
District Horticulture Association Vice-President Dr. Prabhamandal, Treasurer Vijaya Kumari, Environmentalist and Social Activist Vasanthkumar Mysoremath, Horticulture Department Deputy Director H.M. Nagaraj, Senior Assistant Director C.R. Krishna Kumar and others were present.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Thursday – March 12th, 2015
Former journalist and enthusiast of rare plants Vasudev V Shenoy, 76, died at KLE Hospital here on Monday. He was suffering from multiple health complications.
The funeral will be held at Sadashiv Nagar graveyard at 10 am on Tuesday. He is survived by his wife Aruna and children Chetan, Anu and Rashmi.
He was popular for the ‘Panchavati Garden’ that he developed in the 750sqft area on the terrace of his house at Basav Colony. He had planted over 300 rare plants there. The garden was visited by several eminent personalities like Shivaram Karant, U R Ananthmurthy and former Union minister Balram Jakhar.
Hailing from Karkala in Udupi district, Shenoy settled in Belagavi.
He held many posts, including vice-president of Goa Konkani Parishad and member of Konkani Textbook Committee, founder-director of Chandaragi Sports School, director of Belagavi District Horticulture Association, secretary to Belagavi Press Club and secretary to Belagavi District Kannada Sahitya Parishad. He ran a Student Information Employment Bureau at Shanivar Khoot and worked as a journalist with several Kannada dailies.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hubballi / TNN / March 10th, 2015
Shaila Prabhu (53), a software programmer turned social activist, is a known name in the bylanes of Vidyaranyapura. From battling threats to knocking on the court’s door, she’s done whatever it takes to reclaim pedestrian space in the area. Thanks to the crusader, the north Bengaluru locality today is home to wider footpaths, free of encroachments and hawkers.
About a year ago, pavements along Vidyaranyapura main road and others in the vicinity had no room for walkers. Commercial establishments, backed by the builder lobby, had encroached upon them. Children and senior citizens had no option but to walk amid speeding vehicles, putting their lives at grave risk. The number of accidents had also shot up.
It was then that a group of proactive citizens decided to take matters in its own hands, recalled Shaila. “In February 2014, we did an independent study to analyze the status of footpaths and other pedestrian infrastructure in the area. In some places, ramps and steps from buildings extended till the edge of the road, leaving no space for walkers,” she added.
Shaila and others then approached BBMP officials. “Some of them came forward to clear the mess but backed out soon. Some were hand in glove with groups having vested interests. It got so ugly that I I began to get threat calls asking to me to withdraw,” she added. That’s when residents chose to take the legal route.
Nirmala K, a resident of Vidyaranyapura, said she began to see a turnaround when the high court started issuing orders to BBMP to act on public complaints. “Officials have also become fearless now. They quote court orders whenever someone tries to put pressure on them. Encroachments are being cleared for sometime now. Several buildings are ensuring they redesign their structures, and walkers have more space to move around,” she added.
Legal route, social tools
We began to file affidavits furnished with details on encroachments, road by road. I was shocked to see that BBMP was providing wrong information to the court on footpath status. We took photographs of pavements and attached them to the affidavits. We kept the momentum going by conducting awareness drives and activities like cleaning and painting footpaths. We even made use of social media — the Facebook page of Vidyaranyapura residents and WhatsApp forums — to spread the message.
Shaila Prabhu, social activist
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / by Rohith B R, TNN / March 06th, 2015
A Wildlife Photography Exhibition was conducted by City’s Freelance Photographer Praphul at SBRR Mahajana First Grade College, Jayalakshmipuram in city on Feb.24.
The exhibition was inaugurated by City’s Photo Journalist Nagesh Panathale.
The exhibition showcased pictures of animals and birds including Jackal, Crocodile, Tiger, Sambar deer, Bar-headed Goose, Indian eagle-owl, Vernal hanging parrot, Stork-billed kingfisher, Peregrine falcon, Spotted owlet, Orange minivet, Indian roller (State bird of Karnataka), Malabar hornbill, Indian bush lark, Spotted deer, Elephant, Macaque, Langoor and snake.
Praphul said that he started clicking wildlife photographs when he was studying in high school at Atomic Energy Central School, Mysuru and has so far clicked over 25,000 Wildlife photographs at various places across the country.
In the year 2010, Praphul participated in ‘Your Shot,’ a National-level Wildife Photography Competition conducted by National Geographic Channel. He even participated in ‘Nature & Lounge,’ a National-level Wildlife Photography competition on the theme ‘Animal Behaviour’ and won the first place.
Praphul is pursuing BA in Criminology & Forensic Science at SBRR Mahajana First Grade College. He owns a studio called ‘Chayachitra Studio’ at Kuvempunagar in city. He is the son of Gopal, an employee in the RMP factory and Nalina, a Homemaker, residents of RMP Colony, Kuvempunagar, Mysuru.
M.R. Indrani, English Faculty, SBRR Mahajana First Grade College and Convenor of Praphul’s Wildlife Photography Exhibition, speaking to Star of Mysore said, ” I am always ready to support the students who want to showcase their talent. Praphul approached me with his wildlife photographs and asked if he could display a few photos in the College library for a few hours. Learning about his talent, I asked him to conduct a grand Wildlife Photography exhibition in our College so that his talent can be showcased.”
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / February 26th, 2015
Suttur seer Shivaratri Deshikendra Swami inaugurating the Raitha Mitra FarmersProducer Company Ltd. in Mysuru on Monday.— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM
Farmers in the State have turned entrepreneurial.
They have launched a start-up company to market their produce and provide agricultural inputs, including seeds and fertilizer, at less than market price. The Raitha Mitra Farmers Producer Company Ltd. took 8 months in the making and has 1,000 members from across the State.
Inspired by a similar endeavour of turmeric producers in Erode in Tamil Nadu and coconut cultivators in Kerala, the company was inaugurated by Suttur seer Shivaratri Deshikendra Swami on Tuesday.
The membership is open only to genuine land-holding farmers. Membership is restricted to one representative from each farmer family.
Besides proving agricultural implements at lower price, the company intends extend to loan at nominal interest, create warehouse facilities so that farmers can hold on to their produce instead of engaging in distress sale when the market slumps, said Kurubur Shanthakumar, chairman of the company.
Described as the first-of-its-kind initiative in the State, there are members from Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Karwar, Dharwad, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Haveri to name a few, he said.
“Each member farmer has to buy 50 company shares at the rate of Rs. 100 each and the capital will be used in part for financing some of its activities and profits shared in accordance with the share held by the members,” he added.
One of the main objectives is to help reduce cultivation cost by procuring agricultural inputs at cost price and selling it to the members at less than market price, which will add to the company’s profit while resulting in helping farmers save.
“The scourge of middlemen in agriculture will be eliminated to a large extent and the sale of spurious seeds and fertilizers will be scorched,” Mr. Shanthakumar said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by R. Krishna Kumar / Musuru – March 03rd, 2015
After a long career rat race that took him across the country and the globe, life has come full circle for Chandrakantha Rao, 53, of Inna Village near Padubidri, about 50km from here.
After being the director & president, Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises of Aditya Birla Group and managing operations in nine countries, he retired when he turned 50 and settled down at his Praakruti Fruit Farm – a modern model farm with a 1,250 sqft wood house.
He and his wife, Supriya, moved 14 times all over India in the first 24 years of his career and even all over the world in the last five years. And all the while, one question remained on top of his mind: Where to?
Rao said: “What you see around the fruit farm today is a result of my search for that question. It is a model farm getting developed just to show case possibilities in the fertile land of the coast. It started with a dream of putting our quiet village Inna on the map and to create a world class farm to show case possibilities.”
Rao, who completed his graduation from NIT-K with distinction in 1983, wanted to hang his boots when he turned 50. And he worked towards this end. “That was the plan. As soon as I felt independent I decided it to call a day. Once you decide, then you will work towards reasonable financial independence. I was quite clear that I wanted to retire at 50,” he said and added, “The company thinks I’m on sabbatical.”
He quit in 2012 and returned to his village where did his school.
The farm house – built of Green Teak and designed by his Thai friend Nattapoom Raksakul — was completed in 2011. The house is named “Su Kantha I” – derived from Su-priya and Chandra-Kantha) and `I’ from Inna.
Rao visited several progressive farms in Kochi, Karkala, Naravi, Hiriyadka, Belthangady, Puttur and Kundapur and designed the farm with the help of Amit Soans of West Coast Nursery at Uchila. His farm has an acre each for cultivation of mango, chikoo, rambutan, guava, mangosteen and coconut.
He said that an excellent farm cannot be complete without a farm house. A small team from Thailand (Kanchanpuri) guided a local team of 12 carpenters to complete this project in less than three months.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / by Stanley Pinto, TNN / March 02nd, 2015
Castlerock railway station located amid dense forest of Western Ghats and just 15kms away from famous Doodhsagar waterfalls has become the darling of movie makers since the actor Shah Rukh Khan starrer bollywood blockbuster Chennai Express and Kannada movie ‘Maina’ released an year ago.
Scenes of the historical railway station and surrounding attractive sites in both movies have made this area popular and caused for increase in the number of travellers, especially adventure lovers. Castlerock is a hamlet with just around 2,000 population located in North-Kannada district. It’s located just 75 kms away from Belagavi and within 2kms from Goa border.
Before independence, this rail line was the link between British held India and Portuguese held Goa. Said to be that, British government had laid railway tracks up to Londa in Karnataka border. However, on the request of Portuguese, the meter gauge link was extended up to Vasco-da-Gama in Goa around at the ending years of 19th Century. This link was using for transportation of goods.
There was a check-post at the Castlerock railway station where one couldn’t cross the border without passport. Said to be that, restriction of passport had relaxed for some years in between but it was again imposed with the Goa Liberation Movement intensified. Despite Castlerock railway station was under British ruled area, it built and managed by the Portuguese government. The roofing of the station has turbulence structure. Roofing structures of Kulem, Sanverdum, Madgaon, Vasco-da-Gama and Mormugao railway stations in Goa are also same which built by the Portuguese. This meter gauge was developed into broad gauge in 1990s.
There are over 800-railway employees serve at Castlerock railway station in different departments like- operating, engineering, signal, inspecting of works (IOW) and electrical. This station is meant for transportation of goods. Manganese and iron ore from Hospeth is transported to Mormugao port. At present around 40 goods trains pass through this station while hardly two or three passenger trains. The number of goods trains have been reduced after imposing ban on lifting iron ore in Ballary district. Speaking to the TOI, station superintendent D Revanasiddappa said there is demand for more passenger trains especially during rainy season, when travelers make rush to see Doodhsagar waterfalls.
In this small hamlet, there is a railway institute, railway English medium convent school, railway health unit etc., for railway employees. According to senior railway manager R K Sinha, rainy season is continued for five months- May to September in this area. These days are very boring, as children can’t play out of home besides fungus captures buildings and even cloths due to constant moisture. Leeches are the big problem during raining which the load shedding is common, he said.
Apart from Doodhsagar waterfalls, there are also popular waterfalls in Kuveshi and Aveda, just 6-7kms distance from Castlerock. Train passes through Desur, Khanapur, Gunji, Londa and Tinaye Ghat railway stations to reach Belagavi to Castlerock.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / by Ravindra Uppar, TNN / February 25th, 2015
Call it green revolution or a new building technique—Chidananda Rai of Puttur shows how to build a dream house which is cooler and at 40 per cent the cost of construction. He has introduced a brick that is not burnt or mined from the laterite plates of the coastal areas. In fact, the brick is produced from your neighbourhood mud. He calls it the mud brick.
Perching on a hillock in Bolwar on the outskirts of Puttur town, Rai’s brick plant has machinery that no conventional brick producer has.
There is no furnace or a big pile of firewood, but just a mechanical sieve, and a pounder which compresses the loose soil into a hard brick.
But will it take the pressure of weight as well as brave the rain and shine?
When asked, Rai explained: “Mud has an extraordinary quality when it is compressed with moisture. This is a simple technique: freshly dug mud is sieved and mixed with a compound of 10 per cent of cement and two chemical additives, directed into a mould and compressed under a 30 tonne pressure. And we have a brick that is as solid as a laterite stone and perhaps stronger than the burnt brick. The bricks will have to be cured under moist conditions for three days and they are ready for taking the load.”
This product can be termed a green housing technique unlike the conventional ones.
In the case of burnt brick, the makers use tonnes of firewood which denude forests and the burning of wood creates environmental pollution. The laterite stones that are generally used in construction in the coastal region are mined from the laterite blocks which leave large voids in the ground. Moreover, laterite stocks don’t last forever, Rai said.
Rai displayed a strength report issued by the National Institute of Technology Karnataka.
He said the certificate has mentioned that the mud brick had 16.8 psi (pressure point) load-bearing capacity which was as good as the laterite stones. People who have used mud bricks have told me that their houses were relatively cooler inside. The bricks have ridges that alleviate the need for using cement between the blocks.
They are placed on each other with the help of the ridges and to make them more stable a thin coat of cement grout is used.
Since there is no need of plastering it, the wall is ready for painting which saves nothing less than 40 per cent of the cost of construction. There is no need for sand too, he added.
He has found a market in Kodagu district where mud bricks are being used for constructing homestays and other buildings. This is because a load of sand costs nothing less than `25,000 against `7,000 per load in the coastal areas and in Mysuru, he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by M Raghuram / February 17th, 2015
The stall of organic agriculture tablets developed for the crops as a tonic by the Bengaluru based High Tech Agri Services is something innovative concept that pulling the farmers at the ‘Agrovision South’, South India’s largest agriculture and industry summit in Belagavi.
“Generally we use tablets on the doctors’ prescription when we fell sick or feel unhealthy. The same is the concept behind organic tablets,” said Nagaraj Hegde, founder of the High Tech Agri Services, speaking to the TOI.
Agriculture tablet is the formulation of growth tonic and booster, which helps plants to become more healthier and to get higher yield. These tablets can be applied directly in soil, through drip irrigation or even by foliar spray by diluting the tablet in water.
According to Hegde, organic tablets are very advantageous to plants to fight against biotic and abiotic stress. It increases the assimilation of nutrients and boost up growth besides build immunity against diseases. More advantages of tablets are these are safe to handle and no hassle of measurement.
Hegde told that company sells these tablets at various countries including Dubai, Thailand, Chilli, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia apart from India. Company also has products for the plants for disease management, insect management, soil conditioning and nutrition management.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / TNN / February 21st, 2015
An NGO is striving to bring millets, once a staple in these parts, back into our daily diet.
Sahaja Organics, run by Sahaja Samrudha Organic Producer, an NGO based in VV Puram, has been organising millet melas across Karnataka.
“If we just tell people about the importance of the cereal, nobody is going to eat it. So, we had a competition where 25 women participated and made 70 to 80 dishes of millets,” Anita Reddy, trustee of Sahaja Samrudha, told City Express.
With more fibre, millets are healthier than oats, says an NGO
One of the highlights was bajra roti with navane (fox tail millet) chutney powder. “It has an exquisite taste,” she said.
Millets can be consumed for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and are one of the oldest foods known to humans, she explained.
“Vedic scriptures like Sathapatha Brahmana have ample references to millets.” she said. “And several varieties are found on Harappan and Mohenjodaro archeological sites.”
Millet Mela in JP Nagar, which concluded on Sunday, introduced brown top millet, which can easily be grown anywhere
The Millet Mela that concluded in JP Nagar on Sunday introduced brown top millet, which Anita explained can be grown anywhere with little care.
“Brown top millet has 17.5 per cent fibre, whereas oats has just 11 per cent. We promote oats so much, but never promote millets. Melas are thus helping us to create awareness,” she explained.
Sahaja Samrudha was founded in 2010 with the objective of improving the livelihood of farmers through the marketing of organic produce to urban consumers.
“Our NGO works towards conservation of traditional pulses, millets and cereals. We are working with some groups in southern India,” she said.
The NGO hopes the cereals will become a part of everyday meals. “Unless it is viable, farmers will not cultivate the cereals. Marketing is one aspect of our conservation work,” she said.
She said the promotion of oats, which is not produced in our country, was common. “Why should we eat a foreign product, when we have our traditional millets in our own backyard?” she said.
The price of millet ranges from Rs 70 to Rs 80 a kilo. “The processing is expensive, and that explains the price. The farmers of north Karnataka and Tumakuru produce these millets. We get our produce processed in Tamil Nadu. The logistics is working out expensive,” Anita said.
Karnataka doesn’t have a good processing unit to clean and remove the husk. Millets sold by Sahaja Samrudha are not polished.
Apart from millets, Sahaja Samrudha is the only company that sells red rice wholesale in Karnataka.
“We have dark, red rice, which is not available in the normal market. Our other exclusive product is corn, which comes in varieties of black and red,” she said.
Sahaja Samrudha, #19, Sajjan Rao Road, VV Puram. For details, call 2661 2315, email sahajaindia@gmail.com or
log on to sahajasamrudha.org
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by A Sharadhaa / February 24th, 2015
