Category: India, Records

** Early-yielding jackfruit variety ready for release

Called Mangala Early, it is said to be a farmers variety

Saplings of an early-yielding jackfruit variety from whose trees fruits can be harvested from late November is all set to be released in the city in June.

A joint private initiative of B. Sarvesha Rao, a nursery owner, Gururaja Balthillaya, a well-known grafter of the coastal belt, and Gabriel Stany Veigas, a retired District Forest Officer (DFO), who is a pioneer in raising a jackfruit orchard spread over 10 acres in the coastal belt, the variety has been named Mangala Early. It is a farmers variety.

The plantation of Mr. Veigas at Neerakere in Tenka Mijar village near Moodbidri has about 900 trees/plants of different jackfruit varieties with many of them bearing fruit now. It is probably the largest jackfruit orchard in the coastal belt now. He began planting them in 2013-14.

** MoU inked with British Council to impart global skills to youth in Karnataka

he Government of Karnataka and the British Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Friday to renew their partnership in the areas of education, English, and arts aimed at creating global opportunities for the youth of Karnataka, stated a press release. 

It also paves the way to develop sustainable partnerships in research and innovation between centers of excellence (CoE) in the UK and Karnataka across areas of artificial intelligence, machine learning, ed-tech, biosciences, and cybersecurity, said Minister of Higher Education Ashwath Narayan. The MoU, which is for the duration of three years, was signed at Vikasa Soudha.

** 27 films win awards at BIFFes

The awards were presented for films released in 2020 and 2021

The 13th edition of the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BiFFes) drew to a close on Thursday with 27 films winning awards in three categories – Asian, Kannada and Indian. The awards were presented for films released for two years, 2020 and 2021, as the festival was not held last year due to the pandemic. Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot presided over the event and presented the awards. 

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** How the Sindhi community made Bengaluru their home post-Partition

A documentary by Tejshvi Jain looks into the presence of the Sindhi community in Bengaluru

Partition in 1947 created minorities in India and Pakistan. As Amitav Ghosh says in The Shadow Lines, the international border that separates two countries are merely shadow lines that don’t exist in reality; it is natural for everybody who belonged to pre-independent India to feel this way.

Taking this as the focus for her documentary, Tejshvi Jain, a museum professional and an educator has made a documentary, Connected Histories: Sindhi Colony and the Partition of India, to explore the lesser-told stories of Partition. The documentary revolves around the Sindhi community that migrated to Bengaluru during the Partition.

** Customs, DRI officers get President award

Five officers of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC), Bengaluru, including Additional Director General, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Amitesh Bahadur Singh and Additional Director, DRI, Bipin Kumar Upadhyay were conferred with the President’s award for Specially Distinguished Record of Service for 2021 and 2022 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday. This is the first time the investiture ceremony was held in Bengaluru. 

The other three officers from CBIC, Bengaluru, who were given the specially distinguished service award include Superintendent, Central Goods & Services Tax (GST), Mahesh Kumar, Senior Technical Assistant (Telecom) Customs, Prasanna VS Jois and retired Senior Investigation Officer, DRI, Krishnaveni. 

** Seven women loco pilots honoured by Government Railway Police

The Government Railway Police (GRP) on International Women’s Day honoured seven women serving as loco pilots and assistant loco pilots in trains operated by the South Western Railway. In recognition of their exemplary services to the Railways, S B Gayatri Krishna, V S Abhirami, C Minu Mubaraka, Nimi Chand, Rangoli Patel, Nimisha Kumari and P Noorul Meharna were honoured.

Additional Director General of Police, Railways, Bhaskar Rao and Superintendent, GRP, DR Siri Gowri were present at the event held at KSR Railway station. M P Omkareshwari, Road Transport Joint Commissioner (Bengaluru Rural), Psychologist Soujayna Vashista, and Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF, Debashmita Chattopadhyay Banerjee, were also present on the occasion.

** IISc-Bangalore develops paper sensor to detect hydrogen peroxide

 Researchers from the Department of Organic Chemistry at the IISc have developed a paper-based sensor for detecting tiny volumes of hydrogen peroxide, a chemical used widely in household and healthcare products like hand sanitiser as a disinfectant, in rocket fuel as a propellant, in biological cells, and also as a starting material in peroxide-based explosives. 

** Mangaluru: ‘Saviour of dogs’ Rajani Shetty felicitated in Delhi

Rajani Damodar Shetty from the city who has been bringing dogs found to have been orphaned by the roadsides home and providing them food and health care, was felicitated on Tuesday March 8 on the International Women’s Day by the Delhi Commission for Women.

The organizers presented memento and Rs 50,000 in cash to Rajani. Responding to the felicitation, Rajani thanked the organizers for identifying her silent work and honouring her.

** Bengaluru entrepreneur to float $1bn venture fund

Our plan is to launch at least five additional venture funds focused on diverse domains to support the growth of the female economy in multiple geographies’

Bengaluru-based venture capitalist, Ankita Vashishta, will launch a $1 billion venture capital fund to assist 1,000 women-led or women-focused start-ups in India and overseas in the next five years.

To start with, her venture firm, StrongHer Ventures, floated a $100 million venture fund to fund women start-ups in fintech, future of work, healthcare, consumer, and Web 3.0 that comprises crypto (NXT), metaverse, blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc.

** Winners Of National-Level Throwball Championship

The boys throwball team of Sapient College of Commerce and Management, Mysuru — B. Yashas Darla (Captain) A. Akshay (Vice-Captain), S. Sanjay, M.J. Harsha, Tanuj M. Shetty, Darshan M. Gowda, Daivik, M.G. Vineeth Babu and R. Varun — under the guidance of Physical Education Director H.S. Prashanth, has bagged first place in the National Championship organised by the Youth and Sports Promotion Association (YSPA) in Goa.