Monthly Archives: October 2014

Country’s First Electric Bus Launched in Bangalore

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Records, All, Science & Technology, Travel
BMTC launched an electric bus at Shantinagar Bus Station on Thursday; Right: A view of the interiors | Sudhakara Jain
BMTC launched an electric bus at Shantinagar Bus Station on Thursday; Right: A view of the interiors | Sudhakara Jain

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) introduced the country’s first electric zero-emission bus in the city on Thursday.

Although the bus has been in Bangalore for over a month now, it was officially launched by Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy after getting the required permissions from the Transport Department.

The bus will run on a trial basis for the next three months. During this time, it will operate along various routes, beginning with one from Majestic to Kadugodi that is likely to cost `80.

Plans are also afoot to run the bus along the airport routes. The charging point for the bus is at the Volvo depot at Majestic.

“We will study whether the bus is economical and if it can function efficiently in the city. When the battery is fully charged (six hours), the bus can run for about 250 km, which is ideal for BMTC. However, this needs to be tested. We also need to see how it fares on various roads in the city and which routes are best suited to operate the bus,” said BMTC managing director Anjum Parvez.

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said that though the bus is expensive, it is likely to be a good deal as a long-term investment.

“The bus costs about `2.7 crore and this is expensive. But this is one bus in the entire country. Once the demand for the bus goes up and more people express interest in purchasing it, the rates are likely to come down. Moreover, the research and development wings of various bus manufacturers are working on this and it is some only time before the initial cost of the bus is reduced,” he said.

When asked if the state government would be willing to share the cost or offer subsidies, Reddy said, “We will consider various options if the bus is found to be suitable for the city. At present, it is on a three-month trial and following this, a decision will be taken on whether or not to purchase the bus,” he said. He added that what was important was that pollution levels would be brought down by using electric buses, hybrid or CNG-operated buses. The bus, manufactured by Build Your Dreams (BYD), was brought to India by Utopia Pvt Ltd. At least 5,000 such buses are operational in countries such as the United States, Netherlands, Switzerland and some European countries.

GOING GREEN

Zero emission

No oil required

Costs Rs 2.7 crore (Volvo Rs 88 lakh)

Fare from Majestic to Kadugodi – Rs 80

Runs for 250 km with 6 hours of charging

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore / by Express News Service- Bangalore / February 28th, 2014

London: Mangalorean Keith Lobo bags English Asian Business Award

Business & Economy, Leaders, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, World Opinion

by Raj Francis Pereira – UK

London :

Keith Lobo, son of Richard and Christine Lobo of London is the first Mangalorean to win the prestigious English Asian Business Award for the year 2014. This event was compered by the Lloyds Banking Group on 29th of September 2014 at the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel in Manchester UK.

The “English Asian Business Awards” is awarded to accolade the resoluteness, strenuous effort and personal achievements of English Asian Business men and women at the forefront of their industries. Each year, the competition has become more excruciating as the event itself has grown into a highly reverenced occurrence, where the best and most effulgent are adored.

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Businesses from across the UK gathered at the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel in Manchester to celebrate success at this year’s Lloyds Banking Group English Asian Business Awards. There were 16 awards presented, a triumpher from each category. Keith Lobo was a finalist in the new business of the year category.

Over 300 attendees, including golden glove champion and actor Joe Egan, Author Fiaz Rafiq and DJ Noreen Khan, the black tie event was hosted by Miss United Kingdom Supranational, Rachelle Perez along with businessman and chef director at Mushtaq’s Restaurant, Ajmal Mushtaq.

Attending the black tie event on the night the judges decided who the victor was, they had secret shoppers and researchers scouting the business who were finalist. Within the catergory the other finalist were the following:

New Business of the Year award is for a business which has been prosperously operating for approximately 24 months and was set up despite the negativity that subsists in the current climate. The following were the nominees under the incipient business category.

LOBO Meat & Poultry (London)

Timber Door Merchants (Keighley)

Tipu Sultan (Birmingham)

GMR (Birmingham)

Usortd.com (London)

Scarlet Bindi (London)

Gift Wellness.co.uk (Derby)

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Keith Lobo of Lobo Meat & Poultry was announced the winner for new business of the year 2014 in the evening. A very jubilant Keith Lobo accepted the award. In his brief speech he expressed his thanks to his parents for their fortification and being such a great inspiration. He also thanked his wife Sushma Lobo for being a woman behind his success.

source: http://www.daijiworld.com / DaijiWorld.com / Home> Top Stories / by Raj Francis Pereira – UK , London October 02nd 2014 / DaijiWorld.com – Thursday, October 02nd, 2014

A red letter day

Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Bengaluru :

Looking overjoyed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was clapping persistently till he moved to make the announcement, was effusive in his praise of ISRO scientists for making India the “first” country to succeed in its maiden attempt to reach the Red Planet. Addressing scientists and engineers of ISRO at its Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) facility here said the organization has achieved the “near impossible,” and prevailed though the “odds were stacked against us.” “Of the 51 missions attempted across the world so far, a mere 21 have succeeded. But we have prevailed.” Indian scientists, through their hard work and dedication, had stretched the boundaries of human enterprise and imagination. He described the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) as an indigenous pan-Indian effort, stretching from Bengaluru to Bhubaneswar, and Faridabad to Rajkot.

Mr. Modi said the efforts of India’s space scientists are deepening governance, strengthening the economy and improving lives. “ We have dared to reach out into the unknown. And have achieved the near impossible. Travelling a mind-boggling distance of more than 650 million, or 65 crore kilometres, we have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and imagination. We have, accurately navigated our spacecraft, through a route known to very few,” he added.

Recalling former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee’s vision twice during his speech, Mr. Modi said it was his vision which led to the launch of Chandrayaan-I and which in turn led to the mission to Mars.

“Through your achievements, you have honoured our fore-fathers and inspired our future generations,” he told the space scientists.

MOM Team Proud, Satisfied
This was not the sole achievement of the day, for the colour camera onboard Mangalyaan took five pictures of Mars, which would be received at Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) facility near Bengaluru later today. “It is as good as being told that I am the father of a child. These pictures will convince tax payers that the expenditure on Mangalyaan is acceptable,” Dr. Ashutosh Shyamsingh Arya, principal investigator for the colour camera and a scientist at Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, told Deccan Chronicle. Besides beaming pictures of Martian soil and movement of sand dunes on the planet back to ISRO, the colour camera would be used to send out pictures of comet Siding Spring during its fly-by in October 2014.

For Mrs. Neelavathi, head of the team from ISRO’s Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bengaluru, which assembled transmitters for Mangalyaan, it was total satisfaction as systems designed by them worked flawlessly. “We are happy that the systems functioned as predicted and that the spacecraft has reached the right orbit,” she said.

As for the question about how Mangalyaan would help scientists, Prof. Jitendra Nath Goswami, Director, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad said the instruments onboard could answer questions on evolution of Mars and the universe, and the million-dollar-question of life on that planet. “The results will certain be the icing on the cake of this great achievement,” he told Deccan Chronicle.

The Orbiter, says Dr. S. K. Shivakumar, Director, ISAC, is in “extremely good health” after entering its orbit. “We saw good synchronization of all systems and therefore we are very happy with the performance of Mangalyaan,” he said.

 

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source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Technology> Science and Trends / DC / by B. R. Srikanth / September 25th, 2014

Colourful start to Dasara Games 2014: Sporting Achievers felicitated

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Sports
Mountaineer Arunima Sinha was feliciated by State Government during the inauguration of Dasara Sports 2014 at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium yesteday. Seen in the picture are (from left) DYES Director H.S. Venkatesh, Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar, ZP President Dr. B. Pushpa Amarnath, Youth Empowerment and Sports Minister Abhaychandra Jain, DYES Asst. Director Suresh and others.
Mountaineer Arunima Sinha was feliciated by State Government during the inauguration of Dasara Sports 2014 at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium yesteday. Seen in the picture are (from left) DYES Director H.S. Venkatesh, Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar, ZP President Dr. B. Pushpa Amarnath, Youth Empowerment and Sports Minister Abhaychandra Jain, DYES Asst. Director Suresh and others.

Mysore :

The annual State Level Dasara Games 2014 got off to a colourful start at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium, here yesterday.

Around 2,300 sports persons from five divisions-Mysore, Bangalore City, Bangalore Rural, Belgaum and Gulbarga took part in the inaugural ceremony.

CM Siddaramaiah, who was supposed to inaugurate the games was held up at the Dasara Wrestling event which began at the at the D.Devaraj Urs Multipurpose

Wrestling Stadim. Instead, Energy Minister D.K.Shivakumar inaugurated the Dasara Games 2014 by releasing the balloons and pigeons. He also inaugurated the newly laid synthetic athletic track at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium, Wrestling Arena and Sports Hostel complex.

Youth Empowerment and Sports (DYES) Minister Abhay Chandar Jain, DYES Director H.S. Venkatesh, Dasara Sports Sub-Committee President L. Manjunath, ZP President Dr. B. Pushpa Amarnath and other officials were present.

Speaking on the occassion, Sports Minister, Abhay Chandar Jain said that Karnataka State will get another 10 synthetic tracks in different centres in the days to come. He also informed that the long pending enhancement of the wages of the SAK coaches would be implemented shortly after getting the nod from State Government.

Speaking on the occasion, Arunima Sinha, first amputee from India to climb Mount Everest, advised the sports persons and youths to work hard towards their set goal to achieve success.

P.N. Prakash, the ace shooter, who returned from Incheon Asian Games 2014 with a bronze medal in the 10m Air Pistol Team event, thanked the State Government for recognising him and honouring him for his achievement.

Earlier, the adventure and water sports events were inaugurated at the Varuna Lake by DYES Minister Abhaychandra Jain and Arunima Sinha.

Games Torch: The relay of games torch, which began Chamundi Hill in the morning, was lit by National Junior Tennis Champion C. Vasisht, India Youth Volleyball player Nalina, Athlete Reena George, Basketball player Supriya, Hockey player Rashmi and Volleyball player Ranjitha.

The oath on behalf of the participating athletes was taken by K.C. Shruthi, National Level Athlete from Bangalore City. The main events will begin at the Chamundi Vihar Spots Complex from today and the games will conclude on Sept.28. The athletics event will be held at the newly laid synthetic track at the Chamundi Vihar stadium.

The Dasara Cycling event for men (100km) and women (50km) began at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium at 7 am today morning. The top ten finishers both in the men’s and women’s section will get cash prizes and cyclists from all over the state are taking part in the event.

The Dasara Sports Sub-Committee felicitated Dronacharaya award winners G. Manoharan (Boxing), N. Lingappa (Athletics), Para Swimmer N. Niranjan, ace shooter P.N. Prakash (who won the bronze medal in the Incheon Asian Games 2014) and Arunima Sinha (the first Indian amputee to climb Mount Everest) were honoured with cash awards of Rs.25,000 each.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / Friday  , September 26th,  2014

Connoisseurs of Art Come to Kalamandira

Uncategorized
'Life and Death' art work created by the students of city's Ravi Verma School of Art.
‘Life and Death’ art work created by the students of city’s Ravi Verma School of Art.

by S.N. Venkatnag Sobers

Mysore is known for its rich culture and heritage. Since decades, Mysoreans have been patronising arts of different kinds. Be it dramatics, painting, craft, music or any other fine art form, people continue to support and celebrate the artists’ creativity.

This year, Dasara Sub-Committee has given an opportunity for budding artists and professionals to display their art work at the art exhibition organised by Dasara Fine Arts and Handicrafts Sub-Committee at Kalamandira premises on Hunsur Road.

The exhibition, which was inaugurated yesterday, has already become a hit among Mysoreans and tourists. Being the centre of cultural activities, Kalamandira has been attracting a lot of visitors who have been mesmerised with the display art works. This apart, for the first time visitors to the art expo have been given a chance to the express their view through art on the 500 ft canvas which is placed outside Kalamandira building. People of all ages were seen stroking the brush on the giant canvas to express their views.

“This year the art exhibition has been of a different kind and has been organised on a larger scale. With the involvement of general public we are trying to promote the creative work of artists who have come out with some of the best art works,” said Dasara Fine Arts and Handicrafts Sub-Committee President Badal Nanjundaswamy.

Jumboo Savari: Just as one climb’s the steps of Kalamandira, he/she will get to see a unique art work created by Badal Nanjundaswamy titled ‘Jumboo Savari’, an applied art in which three cars have been placed on top of each other. There is also an art work titled ‘Life and Death’ created by students of Ravi Verma School of Art. Speaking to SOM, Arun, lecturer, Ravi Verma School of Art, said that the art work ‘Life and Death’ depicted the life which is colourful and full of activity and the other part is the life after death where the activity stops.

The art expo at Suchitra Art Gallery in Kalamandira has variety of works ranging from sculptures, hand embroidery, painting, wood inlay, photographs and others which are treat to watch. It will be open to public from 10 am to 9 pm till Oct.4.

This is for the first time that Dasara Sub-Committee has invited all the art schools in Mysore to be a part of the art expo. Speaking to Star of Mysore, V.A. Deshpande, Dean, CAVA, said that the idea of involving art schools was initiated by the Sub-Committee to provide an opportunity for students to display their art works.

“This will also provide an opportunity for the people to know about the works being done by the art school and their level of excellence. Both art and craft are two faces of the same coin. This is the reason that the Sub-Committee has involved handicrafts in the exhibition,” said Deshpande.

Students from CAVA, Ravi Verma School of Arts, Sri Kalanikethana School of Art and Vyjayanthi School of Art, all from city, are participating in this year’s Dasara art expo. With students being given a platform to display their art work, it is sure to attract more enthusiasts towards fine arts and craft.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / Friday  , September 26th,  2014

CFTRI Open Day begins

Education, Science & Technology

Public, including students throng the venue

CFTRIbf02oct2014

Mysore :

The two-day Open Day at the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in city began morning with a large number of the public, including students of various schools and colleges of the city thronging the venue.

The students who visited the venue, got a first-hand information about the various innovations at the Institute.

The Open Day is being held as part of the Foundation Day of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which was inaugurated by Suttur Seer Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji.

As part of the Foundation Day, CFTRI is keeping its doors open for the public by holding “Open Days” today and tomorrow.

Public including students from various schools and colleges in city thronged the venue to have a glimpse of the Research and Technology Development being undertaken in the areas of Food Science & Technology and Food Processing at the institute.

Special displays showing the research and development work done at CFTRI as well as some machineries developed by the Institute were demonstrated to the students.

Among the machineries which were demonstrated to the public are Dosa and Chapathi making machine, Pani Poori sheeting and cutting machine, spouted bed roaster, popcorn making machine, glass blowing and Lemon Cutting machines.

Departments of Fermentation Technology and Bioengineering, Protein Chemistry and Technology, Plant Cell Biotechnology, Food Microbiology and others had displayed their products and held demonstrations to students make them understand easily.

CFTRI is open for the public on the Open Day from 11.30 am to 4 pm today and will be open for all from 9.30 am to 4 pm tomorrow.

Prof. Ram Rajasekharan, Director, CSIR-CFTRI, Mysore, who presided over the function said that the CSIR is the largest research and development organisation and the CFTRI, which is under its umbrella, is rendering yeomen service to the nation by establishing robust basic research in Food Technology, developing advanced food processing systems and designing innovations of utility to the masses.

“CSIR aims to provide industrial competitiveness, social welfare, strong base for strategic sectors and advancement of fundamental knowledge, besides focussing on the development of technologies beneficial to farmers, growers and to the society,” he said and added that the Indian Food Processing Sector was the fastest growing sector in the country with registered food processing units contributing 12.3% of the nation’s employment.

Rajasekharan said that the country was still fighting the challenges of malnutrition and impaired food security among others.

He said that CSIR-CFTRI had developed over the years in technologies and innovations to be of support to the food processing industry and added that the technologies of CFTRI had answered the problems of fruit and vegetable losses. He said that the teams at CFTRI were ready with end to end processing solutions, right from the planting stage.

Rajasekharan said that though the teams had diversified strengths, their mission is to create all the necessary technologies and innovations for food secure and nutrition secure nation.

A memorandum of Understanding was also signed between CSIR-CFTRI and Palakkad Coconut Producer Company Limited, Kerala.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Friday  , September 26th,  2014

Down the memory lane : R. K. Narayan and weighty school bag

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

2006 Bill in Rajya Sabha still pending or shelved?

VijayBF01oct2014

by K. Vijaya Kumar, Former Jt. Director of Information & Publicity

The school bag debate has come to a forefront due to Mysore’s NGO ‘Pratham’ and A.J. Stationery of Ashvini Ranjan taking up a study covering about 3,000 students which has revealed that weight of their school bags varies from 8 kg to 4.5 kg. Hence, it is reported, that child right activists want to move High Court to bring a law to reduce the weight (10% of the total weight of the student). But, before this they met recently Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar in Mysore who has assured them that a Pilot study/scheme will be undertaken in CM’s Varuna Assembly Constituency and State Government will take appropriate action in this regard and to wait for the outcome.

RKN and School Bag

This takes my memory back when our R.K. Narayan (RKN), the famous writer, was nominated to Rajya Sabha in 1986, nearly 30 years ago, who in his debut (and ONLY) speech raising weighty school bag issue made a fervent plea for reducing the inevitable “daily burden” of children. He observed their school bags weighing over five kg made many children “hang their arms forward like Chimpanzees and like a pack-mule.” He even went to the extent of pleading “abolition of school bag” as a National Policy by an ordinance if necessary.

When I met RKN once in Mysore after this Session, he told me that he will be happy to see the day when children walking straight without burden on their back and be satisfied for being in Rajya Sabha.

“Wisdom to be the end of learning”

Expressing his distress over the Education System that did not leave the children “any room to play or dream,” (The same he had expressed in his very early book Swami and Friends) his was a passionate criticism of the system wherein weighty school bags bends children back rather than exciting their creative minds of imagination. His longer vision on Education was “Wisdom to be the end of learning.”

Learning without burden

This only issue raised by RKN during his six years tenure in Rajya Sabha (1986-1992) led to a National Debate leading newspapers of the country highlighting his plea in the RS. Public opinion and parents’ awareness resulted in the formation of a Committee by the Central Govt. headed by a known Educationalist Prof. Yashpal, to recommend changes in the School Education System. The report of the Committee ‘Learning without Burden’ stated that young children should not be compelled to carry heavy bags to schools.

It is unfortunate that a Bill known as Children School Bags (Limitation on Weight) Bill 2006, introduced in Rajya Sabha was later shelved. If RKN were to be alive (he died in May 2001) he would have really felt sad to know the fate of this Bill.

Thanks to Pratham and A.J. Stationery

The recent study undertaken by Pratham and A.J. Stationery of Mysore not only has brought the issue to forefront again but also gives some solace to the soul of RKN. It is heartening to note that People’s Legal Forum has taken up this cause with experts favouring a legislation on the lines of the Bill in Rajya Sabha. Former VC of Kuvempu University Prof. P. Venkataramaiah is also associated in this endeavour. Viren Ranjan (son of Ashvini Ranjan) of A.J. Stationery who was part of the study has pointed out that Pratham Mysore had Indianised the ‘Loose Leaf Concept’ practiced world wide. Under this concept, students only need to take loose sheets to school and bring it home and file them.

What a great relief, if introduced, will it be to students and their mothers particularly who carry bags of their children (in the Apartments) till the Bus point ! Myself a daily witness to this plight.

[SOM had published an editorial titled ‘Burden off the back’ in its issue on Sept. 11, 2014]

e-mail: kumarkv59@gmail.com

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / Thursday  , September 25th,  2014

NIE goes on Air

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

NIEBF01oct2014

Mysore :

One of city’s premier engineering college, National Institute of Engineering (NIE) has got yet another feather in its cap with the launch of an online campus radio. The radio, which is the brainchild of nine students, has been launched to socialize and entertain the NIE family.

The team consists of H.K. Anirudh, Karthik S. Rao, N. Pradeep, P.D. Divakar, B.L. Abhishek, M.S. Anusha, Anushree Anil, N.K. Amrutha and H.S. Anusha.

Speaking to SOM, the NIE team shared about the birth of NIE AIR thus: “During various events which took place in the college we faced communication problems. We had to spend too much on calls and SMS to intimate students about meetings and discussions. The message did not reach the masses; hence it was unfair for those who were interested. We also lacked proper communication between seniors and juniors.”

“We are glad that many of our students are being placed in good companies with good packages but unfortunately their experiences and achievements are not being shared with others. The information about internship opportunities, scholarships, sports and placements was not being conveyed properly. Considering all these problems we, the team of 9 came up with this solution,” they added.

“On a boring day when we were hanging out at the coffee shop we felt that we needed a change of some kind from this regular schedule. That was when we came up with a small idea of setting up a ham station in our campus, which then morphed into a live audio streaming internet radio. Now, with this new concept we realised we could provide a solution to some of the problems that our students faced.”

NIE-AIR is a campus community radio which entertains its listeners by the constant streaming of songs and providing them information regarding various events, the cultural fests, internships, placements and also the various activities and news about Mysore, maintaining the balance between the knowledge and Entertainment.

NIE-AIR runs from 8 am to 8 pm everyday keeping its listeners constantly updated by switching between knowledge based announcements and entertainment at regular intervals.

The day begins with a small playlist of pleasant songs. It is then followed by few of the important announcements during breaks. The list of songs once again continues to stream after these announcements providing the entertainment to students.

The major plus point in implementing this method of radio is they are not required to have any kind of licencing from the broadband or any of the different modulation stations. They make use of the website www.nieair.in that they created solely for this purpose and stream the songs and announcements live from a single source of point to which the people can tune in to avail the various facilities provided by it.

The students have expressed their gratitude to NIE which extends a helping hand in their ventures and guides them to become successful entrepreneurs. They hope that this community radio will continue to remain a success in future also.

Visit www.nieair.in for online campus radio

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News  / Thursday , September 25th,  2014

Stamp to be released for 110th anniversary of Hudson Memorial Church

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence

A stamp will be released on Sunday to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Hudson Memorial Church, a Kannada Protestant Christian Church and a major landmark in the city. M.S. Ramanujan, Chief Post Master General, Karnataka Circle, will release the stamp.

Speaking to presspersons on Friday about the event, S. William Jones, Presbyter in-charge, Hudson Memorial Church, said the programme will commence with a special worship service, followed by a procession by the Church congregation members along with schoolbands, from Hudson Memorial Church to Hudson Community Centre on Mission Road. On the occasion, a website www.hudsonmemorialchurch.com will also be launched.

The Church will hold various competitions including a painting exhibition, choreography, Ikebana competitions for women on Saturday. Scholarships and awards to meritorious students would be given, Mr Jones said.

source:// www.thehindu.com  / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bangalore / by C. K. Suryanarayana / Bangalore – September 26th, 2014