Records – Page 12 – Karnataka First

Kadaba: Young agriculturist invents ‘tree cycle’ to climb areca nut tree

Areca nut farmers in Dakshina Kannada district are facing labour problems in order to pluck the areca nut crop from the top of the tree.

As both works of spraying pesticide and harvesting the crop happens simultaneously, labour shortage is felt by the farmers.

Bhaskar, a young agriculturist of Charvaka in Kadaba taluk, has invented an equipment that helps him to climb the areca nut tree by himself. The equipment is very simple and can be used by men as well as women. It is handy for spraying the pesticide to the crop as well as harvesting it from the tree.

This tree cycle is made of iron rods. One can climb the tree by locking the equipment to the arecanut tree. This equipment can be used with both hands and legs.

Bhaskar gave up studies after fifth standard due to various reasons and took up agriculture. As he also owns areca nut farm, he is aware of labour shortage.

Usually the labourers prefer large scale farmers as they get more income and evade going to small farmers like Bhaskar. This results in loss of crop also for the small farmer as the pesticide is not sprayed on time.

Bhaskar began using this equipment three years ago, but did many modifications and now successfully using the same for spraying the pesticide and removing the crop from the tree.

Bhaskar has sold the equipment to many areca nut farmers at a cost of Rs 6,500 per piece. He trains the farmer at his farm itself before handing over the equipment.

Bhaskar said that the present equipment can be used to climb only areca nut and he will develop it so that it can be used for climbing coconut trees also.

Mangaluru: SDM college student Samuel Simson wins silver in South India level shooting

Samuel Simson, a first year LLB student of SDM Law College here won the silver medal in shotgun trap shooting South India Zone level held in Hyderabad and also qualified for National level upcoming event soon. He is the only first shooter from Dakshina Kannada district to have won the silver medal in the state level as well as South India level age of only 19 years.

He is the son of Royprakash Simson and Cheryl Simson, owner of Simson Gun House Bajpe.

Samuel said, “Due to term exams, without practice I could manage to participate in the competition and win the medal, All the credit should go to my father because he supported me.”.

“It is very tough in Mangaluru for the shooters because we don’t have any firing ranges in our district. Hence I requested my father to open one shooting academy in here since he is a leading gun dealer in the country,” he added.

Mangaluru: The man who prepares the hides for Dasara Tiger dancers

The Dasara celebration in Dakshina Kannada is a few days away and the tiger dance is an integral part of the festivities. Tiger dance is the culture of the coastal belt exhibited during Dasara. Compared to earlier days, the tiger dance troupes are on the rise in the district especially in Mangaluru. In Mangaluru alone, up to 100 troupes are there who perform tiger dance during Dasara celebration.

There are numerous people’s struggles behind every tiger dance troupe to be successful during theDasara celebration. Meanwhile, as a preparation for the celebrations, a tailor named Vishwanath is stitching short trousers for tiger dance troupes during Dasara. Vishwanath has been involved in this profession for 30 years and has an experience of over 35 years in the tailoring profession.

Vishwanath hails from Alape and owns Sunil Tailors at Car street near Ramakanthi theatre. Tailoring was taught to him by his master Raghavendra. After the master passed away, he took up this profession and started stitching short trousers for tiger dance troupes in Mangaluru.

Vishwanath says, “During the initial days of my profession, only two-three tiger dance troupes existed which included Kalicharan Friends and Shiva Friends. Today it has increased to about 40-50 tiger dance troupes, each with a team of 50 members.

“I start stitching short trousers 15 days prior to Dasara when every member of tiger dance troupes comes to shop and gives their measurements. The present condition is that I have sleepless nights. The cloth cutting will be done till 2 AM and I wake up at 4 AM again to get back to stitching the short trousers. I have six additional tailors in different places with whom I share the cloth cutting job and also velvet material for stitching. Generally, no one is ready to take the responsibility of cutting the cloth material as I have to do it by myself and it’s a big commitment to handover short trousers to the tiger dance troupes within the deadline during Dasara celebrations. Biruver Kudla Tiger Dance Troupe is one of the biggest troupes this year with over 100 members in it,” says Vishwanath.

Tales of war: Family members share stories of Mysore Lancers from Battle of Haifa

The Mysore Lancers, which were a personal force of the then Maharaja of Mysuru, Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, played a key role in the liberation of Haifa

Every year, on September 23, Haifa Day is commemorated by the Indian Army to remember the two Indian cavalry brigades who fought under British General Edmund Allenby to liberate the Israeli city Haifa from the Turkish–German forces in 1918, during World War I.

The Mysore Lancers, which were a personal force of the then Maharaja of Mysore, Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, and headed by his brother-in-law Colonel Desraj Urs, also played a key role in rescuing Abdul Baha, the spiritual leader of the Bahai community.

In this spirit, The Mysore Lancers’ Heritage Foundation has organised a two-day celebration of the 104th Haifa Day in the city on Friday.

Ahead of these celebrations, The Hindu spoke to the descendants of those who fought in the Haifa battle. From a newly married soldier’s wish to come back to his young wife, to the struggle for food and water in the desert, some interesting stories were uncovered in the conversations.

Parashuram Singh was a sepoy in the Mysore Lancers and was deployed to the Haifa War just three months after his wedding. When he was injured, he was mistaken to be dead and was pushed into a pile of dead bodies, said Anupama Singh, his brother’s daughter-in-law.

Continuing the story, she said: “He had a picture of goddess Chamundeshwari in his pocket. As he was scared, he took it in his hand and prayed to her to send him back home safely as his wife was waiting for him. Soon after, someone noticed that his hands were moving and pulled him aside and got him medical help. He safely came back home after that.”

Ms. Singh also said that the battalion had the ritual of visiting Gundu Muneshwara temple in R.T. Nagar before marching off to war.

In Pandu Ranga Rao’s family, four people were in the Mysore Lancers. His grandfather Chander Rao Sindhe (Jamedar), his two younger brothers Krishan Rao Sindhe and Govind Rao Sindhe and his son-in-law Mahadev Rao Bhonsle (Dafedar) left home in 1914 for World War I and came back only in 1919–20.

“In 1917, Govind Rao got injured and a few bullets went into his legs and chest. He had to come back from there. Apart from this, I have also heard a few other stories from my grandmother. While traveling during the war, their ships used to get attacked by whales. To divert these whales, they used to keep stock of fodder bags in the ships. I have also heard that it was very tough to fight in the desert. Sometimes, as there was no water available, the warriors urinated in bottles and drunk it,” Mr. Rao narrated.

Pampa Urs, a fourth-generation descendant, has also heard several stories about her maternal ancestors taking part in the war. “My mother’s grandfather Colonel Chame Urs was leading a group in the war. His son-in-law Captain Lingaraj Urs died in the same war. After receiving all this information from my mother, due to my personal interests, I am further exploring evidence from that age and getting confirmations of these tales”.

While a wreath-laying ceremony will take place on Friday morning at the Mysore Lancers’ Memorial in J.C. Nagar, in the evening, a memorial lecture, and an exhibition of rare paintings and exploits of the Lancers will be organised at BMSCE auditorium in Basavangudi.

“The Baha’i community salutes the Indian Cavalry, who had fought valiantly to save Abdul Baha and the city of Haifa from the Ottoman empire,” said Dinesh Rao, secretary, State Baha’i Council of Karnataka.

Chalshiksha, India’s first education film festival, in Bengaluru this weekend

The festival will see independent filmmakers telling stories of innovative education practices as well as educators using cinema as a medium to teach

Come weekend, Bengaluru will witness Chalshiksha, a first-of-its-kind three-day residential film festival that will celebrate education in all its forms through the medium of films.

More than 35 independent films and documentaries will be screened at the festival organised by SchoolScape Centre for Educators and Project Nomad in association with Abheek Lifeversity. It will be held from September 23 to 25.

With the Union government’s new education policy soon to be implemented, teacher-educators believe it is time for education to be reviewed. Chalshiksha is attempting to do that through films, as the visual medium offers a fresh avenue for a relook at education and schooling.

Amukta Mahapatra, Director of SchoolScape, was part of an innovative programme some years ago called “Neel Bagh”, run by educationist David Horsburgh. “When Neel Bagh completed 50 years, Sourav Dutta, who runs Project Nomad, documented it but failed to find good avenues to showcase his work. When he approached me, I suggested that we screen it as part of this film festival,” she says. Dutta’s film David and his Neel Bagh will be screened on the first day of the festival.

Coming together of films and education

Chalshiksha will see independent filmmakers telling stories of innovative education practices as well as educators using cinema as a medium to document the field. The line-up includes both fiction and documentary films, on topics such as child labour, autism and educational initiatives.

While films on education are not given due importance in India, Mahapatra says given the didactic nature of many films, educators are also unsure how to use them effectively.

According to organisers, the event will seek to explore how filmmaking and education can go hand in hand and encourage filmmakers to make films around education, especially in India.

Mahapatra says they have been overwhelmed by the number of films received for the very first edition. “There are enough films being made on this field and we have more than what we can screen for this edition. So, we are making a repository that will be made available to the public soon.”

Open to public

To make the event truly democratic and inter-generational, the organisers have thrown it open to the public. Children, parents, teachers, school heads, filmmakers as well as educationists are expected to come together, blurring the lines of hierarchy.

The event will be attended by well-known names from the worlds of education and filmmaking, including Arvind Gupta, Deepa Dhanraj and Vijay Padaki.

Apart from film screenings, Chalshiksha will also feature plays, talks and open discussions. To make it an interactive experience for young ones, activities like yoga, bird watching, storytelling workshops, theatre games have been organised.

The residential event is being held at the Ecumenical Christian Centre in Whitefield and will have facilities to host participants who wish to stay onsite for the festival. Spot registrations are available too.

For more details about the event and to register, visit http://chalshiksha.schoolscape.org.

NLSIU medal winners secure jobs at London law firms

Medal winners share their experiences at the institution, challenges and impact of COVID-19 on their college life

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) awarded gold medals to 48 graduates during the convocation across different programmes. Amongst them, three students from BA LLB (Honours) programme — Saurabh Gupta, Vrishank Singhania and Pallavi Khatri — received eight, seven and six gold medals respectively, the highest this year. Speaking to The Hindu after receiving their medals, the trio said that they were all going to London to work in law firms soon. They also shared their experiences at NLSIU, the challenges and the impact of COVID-19 on their college life.

Mr. Saurabh won the most number of medals, including the Basant Kumar Birla Medal for the II Rank Student. Hailing from Chandigarh, he described his experience at the top law school as “life changing”. “The journey has been full of ups and downs. It helped me grow as a person and helped me explore what I wanted to do in the future,” he said. After a Masters programme in University of Oxford and a two-year job at a law firm in London, he plans to practise law at the High Court in Chandigarh.

Good support system

The medal winners said that as much as the experience at NLSIU was enjoyable and highly academically beneficial, they underwent a lot of stress. “As we are a small, competitive college, it is quite stressful and is a high-pressure environment. It is a constant challenge as there are a lot of expectations, not just academically, but to perform in other areas as well. However, you learn to cope with it overtime and it gets better with a good support system”, said Mr. Vrishank from Hyderabad who was awarded the Indira Khaitan Medal for University First Rank and Sarala Birla Medal for the overall topper along with the Best Outgoing student medal.

He added that while he missed social interactions during the pandemic, academically, the virtual classes worked out well. “As there are a lot of activities like moot courts, debates and committees involved in law school, the COVID-19 period gave me the time to slow down and introspect and focus.,” he said. He is currently working with a Supreme Court Lawyer in Delhi and will work in London for two years after that. Upon his return to the country, he plans to have a career combination of litigation and academia in his future.

Ms. Pallavi from Chandigarh won the Kumari Devi Menon Memorial Medal for All-round Best Graduating Girl Student and Ms. Anuradha N. Memorial Medal for Best Outgoing Female Student along with four others. When asked about the challenges she faced as a woman in the University, she said “It was pretty similar to what women in face in the other areas of life. While NLSIU is a really open, progressive, liberal community, there are a few bad apples everywhere. From one or two people, you face a little bit of sexism and instances of unsavoury comments. But otherwise, professors and everyone else are very supportive. There are also many collectives in the university which work towards reducing prejudices in the college.”

She will soon be joining a magic circle firm in London where she will work as a commercial lawyer in the corporate department. She wants to have a business of her own in the future and is looking to build a safety net and get some exposure before that.

Legal aid trust

Ashwini O., who graduated from the LLM programme, secured the M/s. Sitaram Jindal Foundation Gold Medal for the Best Outgoing LL.M. Student hailing from marginalised background. In 2013, she graduated from the same law school in LLB and worked in the corporate sector thereafter.

A little while after that, she realised that her true interest lay in litigation and started her career in the field with Ravivarma Kumar, former Advocate General of the State. She practiced before the High Court of Karnataka. “I really enjoyed picking up causes, filing PILs and litigating. Then I felt the need to get back to academics and came back here”, she said.

Ms. Ashwini also runs her own legal aid trust — Dhwani Legal Trust where child rights and women’s rights are the main focus of work. “We work with domestic violence victims and also create legal awareness which providing legal aid.”

Open access digital repository of academic resources unveiled by Azim Premji University

It is the first-of-its-kind digital repository of academic resources translated from English to Indian languages

‘Anuvada Sampada,’ touted as a first-of-its-kind open access digital repository of academic resources translated from English to Indian languages, was unveiled by Azim Premji University here on Tuesday.

Aimed at making these resources freely and widely available to students, teachers, teacher educators, etc., across the country, the repository has close to 2,000 academic resources and growing and is currently available in Hindi and Kannada.

The translations repository was launched by the Vice Chancellor of Azim Premji University, Indu Prasad and seeks to address the paucity of high-quality academic resources in Indian languages at the graduate and post-graduate level. The initiative, said a release, will enable students, academics, and practitioners to mine, use and reuse academic resources in sciences, social sciences, humanities, and languages. The repository is also expected to help promote original writing, reading, deliberation and discourse in Hindi and Kannada.

“Non-availability of academic resources in Indian languages is a major constraint in expanding access to education and ensuring inclusion. We believe this initiative will help students engage more deeply with concepts and ideas currently available only in English, encourage nuanced debates, and develop perspectives in diverse contexts,” said Hriday Kant Dewan, who leads the initiative at Azim Premji University.

The repository includes select academic resources for postgraduate programmes in education and development, and undergraduate programmes in arts, sciences, and diploma courses. Besides these, there are select articles from journals, extracts or complete chapters from books, podcasts, short films, brief lectures, and panel discussions related to higher education.

Articles focused on various aspects of school education from different publications of Azim Premji University like Learning Curve, At Right Angles, I wonder.., and Pathshala, apart from books and research studies published by Azim Premji Foundation, form part of the collection, added the release.

The University is also in the process of seeking copyright permissions from various publishers to expand the number of open access academic readings on the site.

Anuvada Sampada is available at: https://anuvadasampada.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/.

Motherhood Hospitals acquires Bengaluru-based Femiint Hospital

Since 2016, Motherhood Hospitals had invested ₹200 crore in consolidating its presence in Bengaluru, and was planning to make an additional investment of ₹50 crore

Asia Healthcare Holdings (AHH), which owns Motherhood Hospitals, a chain of hospitals dedicated to women and children, acquired Bengaluru-based Femiint Hospitals on September 21.

Femiint Hospital, located in Whitefield, provides women and childcare services ranging from out-patient care in gynaecology, pediatrics & IVF pediatric care to comprehensive in-patient care in obstetrics, birthing, gynaecology surgery, fertility & IVF care, besides pediatric surgery.

Since 2016, Motherhood Hospitals had invested ₹200 crore in consolidating its presence in Bengaluru, and was planning to make an additional investment of ₹50 crore.

With this acquisition, Motherhood Hospitals would have a network of seven hospitals and two out-patient facilities in Bengaluru. The company has set up a chain of 18 hospitals across 8 cities in India, post the AHH investment in 2016. It also has a network of 200 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) beds.

Vishal Bali, Executive Chairman, Asia Healthcare Holdings (AHH), said, “We have built the largest women’s health network in South Asia. We believe there is an opportunity to consolidate this space, and offer exceptional clinical services to Women, newborns and Children.”

IISc researchers fabricate pressure sensors that use paper as the medium

Paper-based electronic devices are gaining greater attention owing to their natural biodegradability, excellent flexibility, porous fibrous structure, light weight, and low cost

Several industrial, automotive, and healthcare applications rely on accurate and precise measurement of pressure. Flexible and wearable pressure sensors are typically fabricated using petroleum-based polymers, but the solid waste generated from using such non-biodegradable plastics is harmful for the environment. To avoid this issue, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) have now fabricated pressure sensors that use paper as the medium.

According to an IISc. release, a pressure sensor detects physical pressure and converts it into an electrical signal that is displayed in the form of a number indicative of its magnitude.

Nowadays, paper-based electronic devices are gaining greater attention owing to their natural biodegradability, excellent flexibility, porous fibrous structure, light weight, and low cost. However, paper-based sensors developed so far have certain disadvantages.

The team of Navakanta Bhat, professor at the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) and corresponding author of the paper published in the ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, has proposed a design for the paper sensor that, by virtue of its structure and multilayering, achieves high sensitivity and can detect a broad range of pressures (0-120 kPa) with a response time of 1 millisecond.

The sensor is made of plain and corrugated cellulose papers coated with tin-monosulfide (SnS) stacked alternatively to form a multi-layered architecture. SnS is a semiconductor that conducts electricity under specific conditions.

“Paper in itself is an insulator. The major challenge was choosing an appropriate 3D device structure and material to give conductive properties to paper,” says Neha Sakhuja, a former PhD student at CeNSE and the first author of the paper.

When pressure is applied on the sensor’s surface, the air gaps between the paper layers decrease, increasing the contact area between these layers. Higher contact area leads to better electrical conductivity. On releasing the pressure, the air gaps increase again, thus decreasing the electrical conduction. This modulation of the electrical conductivity drives the sensing mechanism of the paper sensor, explained the release. “Our key contribution is the simplicity of the device. It is like creating paper origami,” said Prof. Bhat.

“The sensor shows promise in being developed into a flexible and wearable electronic device, especially in the healthcare sector. For example, the research team mounted it onto a human cheek to investigate the motion involved in chewing, strapped it to an arm to monitor muscle contraction, and around fingers to track their tapping. The team even designed a numeric, foldable keypad constructed using the in-house paper-based pressure sensor to demonstrate the device’s usability,” added the release.

Puttur: Periyadka youth is editor of Guajarati film ‘Chhello Show’, India’s official Oscar entry

Guajarati film ‘Chhello Show’ is nominated officially as Indian film for this year’s Oscar awards. It is proud moment for Dakshina Kannada as the editor of the movie is Pavan Bhat, a resident of Periyadka near Uppinangady in the taluk.

Pavan Bhat, who is an engineer, is the son of Gopalkrishna Bhat and Saroja Bhat couple. He is settled in Bengaluru and is in high demand for movies as an editor.

Pavan got educated in Bengaluru and Kolkata. When he was doing PUC itself, he was very much interested in the field of cinema. As he opted for computer science in engineering, editing a movie was easier for Pavan. He also did two years of higher education in editing in Mumbai.

Pavan is the only Kannadiga to have worked in the movie Chhello Show. He said that he never thought of getting entry into the Oscars, but feel proud that the movie is the official entry to Oscar awards from India.

Pavan Bhat has worked as full scale editor for four movies. In total he has worked in more than 20 movies. Bhasmasur was his first movie. It has bagged awards in Indian and overseas. He is interested to work in Kannada movies. Already talks are on with regard to one Kannada movie as per the information shared by Pavan.

Chhello Show movie is about a nine-year-old boy who gets fascinated by Cinema. The movie was premiered in June 2021 in the Tribeca film festival. The movie bagged several awards including Golden Spike award in the Spain film festival. It will be released throughout the world on October 14 with the English title ‘Last Film Show.’ The movie features Bhavin Rabri, Bhavesh Srimali, Richa Meena and others.