Karnataka, Records – Page 17

Mangaluru: Srinivas Institute of Technology students receive ‘Best project of the year award’

The 45th series of state-level ‘Student Project Program’ was conducted by KSCST, Bengaluru, in association with VTU, Belagavi on August 12 and 13 at VTU.

In this project exhibition, project titled ‘Energy generation using fly-wheel and magnet; was awarded the ‘Best Project Of The Year’ under the project exhibition category.

This project was carried out by the students- Chirag G Poojary, Karthik C, Sajith and Vijetha K Naik of department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, under the guidance of professor Lokesha B.

Also, the project titled ‘Robotic Arm Installed Fruit Plucking UAV based on AI’ was awarded the ‘Best Project Of The Year’ under seminar category. This project was carried out by the students- Navaneeth Soni, Naveen Kumar, Nithin Kumar and Vardhaman Ravindra Vasavade of department of Aeronautical Engineering, under the guidance of professor Srinidhi Kukkila.

Dr Karisiddappa, vice-chancellor of VTU presented the awards. There were 332 projects for the exhibition. Dr CA A Raghavendra Rao, president and Dr A Srinivas Rao, vice-president of Srinivas group of institutions have appreciated the efforts by the students and also congratulated them for winning the awards. Dr Shrinivasa Mayya D, principal and the heads of the departments have also complemented the students for their outstanding performance in the programme and receiving the awards.

Mangaluru: Konkani Natak Sabha holds 34th fancy dress competition

Konkani Natak Sabha (KNS) conducted the 34th fancy dress competition at Don Bosco Hall on August 21.

Vice president of the KNS, Liston D’Souza welcomed the participants and the audience. Adolphus Cutinha (Dolla Mangluru), a renowned dramatist and director, inaugurated the competition by lighting the lamp.

This year’s competition was an open-to-all competition. Fancy dress competition was in 4 categories – below 15 years boys and girls and above 15 years gents and ladies. As many as 19 girls and 13 boys took part in below 15 years’ category competition. Two female and 6 male competitors were in above 15 years’ category of the competition. Wilma Lobo and Jerome Moras officiated as judges.

General secretary Floyd D’Mello compered the programme. Assistant secretary Praveen Rodrigues, treasurer Gerald Concessao, and competition conveners Alwyn D’Souza and Austin D’Souza were present on the dais.

Cletus Lobo conducted the competition, Pramila Furtado and Edward Coelho assisted. Mr Floyd D’Mello proposed the vote of thanks, and Sunil Menezes and KNS manager Boniface Pinto assisted in computation of the score. Vice president Liston D’Souza announced the results.

Results:

Below 15 years
Girls Solo
First Place: Venora Levisha Lobo, Bondel
Second Place: Atarah Tia D’souza, Bajal
Third Place: Nenisha Prisha Monteiro, Bondel

Boys Solo
First Place: Ashwin Francis Baptist, Urwa
Second Place: Winston Leroy Lobo, Bondel
Third Place: Alden Pereira, Gantalkatte

Above 15 Years
Ladies Solo
Consolation Prize: Reshma Penha, Jeppu

Gents Solo
First Place: Vrethan Harold Pinto, Bajjodi
Second Place: Praksh Roshan Pereira, Gantalkatte
Third Place: Hubert D’silva, Bejai

Upcoming competitions

22nd Dance Competition will be held on August 28, 3.30 pm onwards
? 54th Elocution Competition will be held on September 4, 10 am onwards
20th Poetry Recitation Competition will be held on September 9, 2 pm onwards
2nd Voviyo Verse Competition will be held on September 11, 3.30 pm onwards
Short Play Competition will be held on September 18, 3.30 pm onwards

CPSI launched to boost mental healthcare

More investment should come into the crucial clinical psychology segment, said Capt. P Manivannan, secretary to the government, Social Welfare Department.

At the launch of the Clinical Psychology Society of India (CPSI), he said 75 per cent of employees face mental health issues because of an unstable work environment and initiatives like CPSI will help in educating professionals to provide the right care.

NIMHANS Director Dr Pratima Murty said the number of clinical psychologists at 2,900 is meagre in the country. Efforts are required to bring a drastic change in resolving mental health issues. CSPI will help in providing quality healthcare to people and training and education to medical graduates, she said.

CPSI president Dr Jamuna Rajeshwaran said the organisation will establish evidence-based care for psychological disorders. CPSI was formed as a regulating and monitoring body was lacking, she added.

nie

Pink Samosa to help women entrepreneurs launched

Pink Samosa, an initiative to help women entrepreneurs with finance and mentoring, was launched in Belagavi on Saturday. The first meeting pledged ₹50 lakh for entrepreneurs.

The meeting focused on providing technical, financial, legal and marketing support to women working from home. As many as 150 women participated in the meeting and 15 of them pitched their ideas. They were assured of ₹50 lakh funding.

Leela Kamath and Shraddha Khatwate chaired the sessions.

Mani Pavitra spoke to the attendees. Lakshmi Khilari promised to continue the support for budding entrepreneurs. Divya Mehta and Tejal Khoda, organisers, said that it will be a regular event. They said that a common online platform will be built for the participants. NGOs such as Education India are supporting the initiative.

Bommai condoles the death Gandhian Meerabhai Koppikar

Leading Gandhian Meerabhai Koppikar, a close follower and associate of Bhoodan movement leader Vinoba Bhave has expired at her home in Mudhol of Bagalkot district.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has expressed his deep sense of grief and extended condolences on the death of a leading freedom fighter, who had followed Gandhian ideals and philosophy.

The Chief Minister, has in a condolence message, said Meerabhai aged 97 years had practiced simple living, shramdan, dairying and organic farming. When she was conferred the Rajyothsava award, the Gandhian lady had utilized the amount of the award for the welfare of the poor.

Karnataka has lost a veteran freedom fighter and Gandhian, the chief minister said.

Freedom fighters gallery launched in Bidar

Bidar-based Shaheen Group of Institutions has launched a multi-media programme to spread awareness among the general public about freedom fighters and their contribution to India’s Independence movement.

A school and colleges run by the group have shared database of the lives of 100 freedom fighters that includes photos, videos, audios and documents. The sharing has been done online using social media and websites and offline by attaching Quick Response codes (QR codes) to images of freedom fighters that are pasted in prominent places across the State.

They were showcased in an offline exhibition on the college campus in Bidar between August 8 and August 10. It is on continuous online display on the Shaheen College website, https://shaheengroup.org/.

“We hope to reach at least one crore people with this project,’’ Abdul Quadeer, school society chairman, said at the inauguration. “Our freedom fighters are already well known. We hope that the exhibition and the online data base will kindle the spirit of the Independence movement among the youth and students,’’ Dr. Quadeer said. This programme is part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav event.

Each one of the 100 photographs has a QR code at the bottom. Scanning it will lead to the database of text, audio and video clips in Kannada, English and Urdu.

The exhibition has images of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdeo, Chandrashekar Azad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Nana Saheb, Lala Lajpatrai, Rani Lakshmibai, Tipu Sultan, Hyder Ali, Mirza Khasim Ali Khan, Siraj-ud- Daula, Haji Shariatullah, Begum Hazrat Mahal and others.

After the exhibition, the images will be kept in public places around the State.

Shaheen Group is also promoting flag hoisting as part of the Har Ghar Tiranga programme. At least 1,000 students have hoisted the tricolour in their homes. “We have distributed to the public, 50,000 pocket sized flags and 10,000 hand-held flags,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Govind Reddy and Superintendent of Police Dekka Kishor Babu inaugurated the exhibition.

ATREE celebrates its silver jubilee this year

The two-day event is open to the public that will include discussion on state of conservation science, sustainable development debates and other activities

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) is celebrating its silver jubilee on August 18 and 19 at the JN Tata Auditorium in IISc campus with several panel discussions, guest talks, film screenings and other events taking place.

Started in January 1996 as a research organisation to address environmental challenges of biodiversity loss and conservation for sustainable livelihoods, ATREE has worked in the areas of conservation of biological diversity and sustainable development, improvisation of institutional and policy framework for conservation of biodiversity and has helped several government and Non Government Organisations to make best use of the scientific knowledge to solve the problems of conservation.

After its initial days, a PhD in Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies programme was started in 2008 and in 2009, another interdisciplinary research institution, CISED was also established by ATREE with donor support. Further, the Centre for Environment and Development, the Centre for Biodiversity Conservation and 20 research faculty members including environmentalists, geographers, sociologists and hydrologists also emerged. In 2019, ATREE launched two new centres, the Centre for Social and Environmental Innovation (CSEI) and the Centre for Policy design (CPD) for scaling up its environmental knowledge to the society and for engaging more with the government towards effective policy design and implementation.

Speaking to The Hindu on the occassion, Kamal Bawa — Founder, President & Chair, ATREE, said, “Our country has rich biodiversity and when we established ATREE, there was no institute that was looking at biodiversity in a holistic manner, that is all life in our forests, wetlands, rivers, oceans. Furthermore, we all know that biodiversity is declining all over the world and India was no exception, but this decline had ecological, social, political and economic dimensions. Thus, an institution was needed that had an interdisciplinary approach to conserving biodiversity and thus ATREE was born. ATREE is one of the few institutions that deals with the three major environmental challenges of declining biodiversity, water, and mitigation of climate change.”

The two-day event which is open to the public, will have discussion on state of conservation science and sustainable development, debates, book launches, film screenings and traditional performances.

Karnataka student’s Braille printer wins best social impact idea at startup fest

A portable and inexpensive Braille printer, an invention by a Karnataka student, won the Best Social Impact Business Idea at the SmartIDEAthon 2022, a nationwide pitch fest organised by Startup India in collaboration with several universities.

Prithvi Systems and Innovations founder and chief invertor Kaviraj Prithvi’s team was one of the 1,200 shortlisted for the fest and has been working towards inventing assistive technolog

The Tactall, a mouse-sized portable printer, allows for easy printing in Braille and is relatively inexpensive, according to Kaviraj.

“Braille printers print in standard dimensions and they are often very large, expensive and standalone, averaging to about $2000 to $3000. We wanted to make it more accessible for people to print in Braille, especially as this was a common problem which I found out when I had visited a school for the blind,” Kaviraj told TNIE. While the printer is in its prototype stage, Kaviraj, who is also pursuing engineering physics at II T Guwahati, and his team of 15 members, are also working towards inventing other types of assistive tech.

“All of our inventions have assistive angle to them. When I was younger, I wanted to start a startup and I felt that everything that I invented should have a social angle and must help people,” he said.

Apart from the printer, Kaviraj is also working towards building a non-invasive way to monitor blood pressure, as well as a patented rotor control system and a suspension system for bumps. “The suspension system is being designed specifically for wheelchairs and other support vehicles, but it can also be used generally. The rotor system is specifically for helicopters, to allow for easier rescue operations and to lessen turbulence while transporting patients,” he said.

nie

Mysuru man imparts theatre skills to tribal kids, pushes them to join mainstream

Theatre has evolved over time, perfecting the way it reflects the stories of society. It is a foremost artistic indulgence known to humankind since civilisation. In India, theatre is as vibrant as the country itself, and acts as a window to the ethos and culture of the land.

Taking a step further and bringing a synthesis between people, a 30-year-old man from Mysuru is introducing urban theatre to tribal haadis or hamlets, and inculcating the art form among the children there.

Vikas Chandra founded the theatre group, ‘Rangayaana’, in 2014 with the sole aim of imparting acting and theatre skills among tribal and rural folk. It was a chance awakening in Chandra, who as a highschooler, watched the shooting of a sequence of a Kannada film legend Vishnuvardhan-starrer, Vishnu Sene, near his house.

Fascinated, Chandra inquired with one of the junior artistes about getting a break in cinema. He was advised that by joining theatre training school ‘Kalamandira’, he stood a chance at the movies.

nie

HAL opens office in Kuala Lumpur to explore business operations in Southeast Asia

HAL’s new office in Kuala Lumpur would take up the market promotion of the company’s range of products and services not only in Malaysia but also all of Southeast Asia

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will set up an office in Kuala Lumpur to tap business opportunities in Malaysia and the entire Southeast Asian region, the PSU said in a statement on Thursday.

The new office is expected to help the public sector firm to explore business around Fighter Lead-in Trainer (FLIT) LCA and other requirements of Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) like Su-30 MKM and Hawk upgrades, as per HAL.

“It will reinforce the commitment of India in supporting the Malaysian Defence Forces and industry for sustainable aerospace and defence landscape in Malaysia,’‘ said a company communique.

According to HAL, the company had submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), Malaysia in October 2021 for the supply of 18 FLIT LCAs against a global tender issued by RMAF.

The final winner of the tender is expected to be declared soon by Malaysian authorities and LCA Tejas stands a fair chance of selection in the bid as it meets all the parameters sought by RMAF, as per the release.