Amazing Feats – Page 10 – 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.

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/.

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.

Mangaluru: Snehalaya, White Doves founders among AICU awardees

All India Catholic Union (AICU) is honoring two unique social activists, apart from an Everester, a national gold-medalist Karnataka athlete, an eminent jurist, the apex body of Catholic bishops, and two of its own past national presidents at its AGM in Old Goa on October 1.

A simple rickshaw driver who created a unique shelter home for the destitute takes pride of place in a galaxy of women and men found worthy of recognition by the 103-year-old All India Catholic Union. The AICU is in Goa for its first physical meeting after the Covid pandemic.

The awardees are Snehalaya, Shanti Dham founder Joseph Crasta; gold medalist high jumper Flavisha Velisha Monteiro and Arunachal Pradesh’s Tagit Sorang Abraham who has summited Mount Everest multiple times win special awards for their outstanding feats. Others awarded by the union are social activist Corrine Antoinette Rasquinha, and the noted jurist Justice John Michael D’Cunha.

While the Catholic Bishops Conferences of India has been cited for a special award for its stewardship of the church in India, the AICU has honoured for their lifetime services to the union and the church two of its past national presidents, Dr Maria Emelia Menezes, the eminent educationist and industrialist, and eminent writer and human rights activist.

Joseph Crasta’s is a journey rarely seen. On August 26, 2009, the birthday of St Teresa of Calcutta, Crasta, a poor rickshaw driver with a family to look after, started a shelter for the homeless under the banner of ‘Snehalaya’. In just 13 years, with his share of ancestral property and help from friends, he has seen Snehalaya now boast of separate Psycho-social Rehabilitation Centers for men and women, ‘Snehalaya Shanti Dham’, a home for the aged, and ‘Snehalaya Mannat’, which provides daily midday meals to over 700 caretakers of patients and runs a free ambulance emergency service.

AICU Community Award winner and White Doves founder Corrine Antoinette Rasquinha too has taken a leaf out of the Saint of Kolkata in caring for maggot invested sick, also rescuing since 1992. She started with her own funds, and in time had a home for disadvantaged and single parent children. Over 160 young people have benefited from her work.

For Justice John Michael D’ Çunha, many of the cases brought before him have been of high profile politicians. His honesty and integrity, especially while sitting as judge of the special court to deal with over 216 criminal cases against MPs and MLAs from Karnataka, are part of contemporary history.

Young national gold medalist high jumper Flavisha Monteiro has sports in her genes, but her career was honed under coaches Balakrishhna and Harshini Kumari. The daughter of Felix Monteiro and Flavia D’Souza, Flavisha is studying law at the SDM Law College, Mangaluru. She first participated in the National Junior Athletics Championship 2016 held at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

For Tagit Sorang Abraham, the only double mountaineer from the state of Arunachal, basic mountaineering training in 2013 from National Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports soon led to his first expedition to Mt Kungto in 2017, Mt Chiumo base exploration in 2018, Pre-Mt Everest Expedition in 2018 at a height of 6120 meters, and Mt Kang Yaste in 2019 at a height 6250 meters. He joined the First Indian Joint IMF & NIMAS Winter Bailey trial trekking expedition in 2021 and summited Everest South Expedition at a height of 8848.86 meters on May 31, 2021.

AICU’s lifetime achievement awards go to two national presidents, Dr Maria Emelia Menezes, 2000-2004, and Dr John Dayal, 2004-2008.

Dr Menezes is a prominent industrialist in Goa and is a prominent name in the India pharma sector. She is also a respected educationist and philanthropist. She broke the glass ceiling in the then 80-year-old All India Catholic Union becoming its first woman president elected in the two yearly elections in 2000 AD. She encouraged deep internal administrative reforms and fund generation in the Catholic union, making it near self sufficient in its work. Her leadership of AICU’s participation in the relief work of the Gujarat earthquake and the tsunami are specially remembered.

Dr John Dayal, who worked with Dr Menezes as her national vice president, was elected head of the AICU in 2004. A member of the National Integration Council and a well-known senior journalist of the country, Dr Dayal is equally well known for his work in human rights and civil liberties spanning five decades.

Bengaluru teen Pranav Anand becomes India’s 76th Chess Grandmaster

The 15-year-old, having already met the other requirements that are necessary for a GM title, achieved the honour late on Thursday.

Bengaluru teenager Pranav Anand became India’s 76th Grandmaster after he crossed the 2,500 Elo mark in the ongoing World Youth Chess Championship in Mamaia, Romania.

The 15-year-old, having already met the other requirements that are necessary for a GM title, achieved the honour late on Thursday.

To become a GM, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points. Anand had scored the third and final GM norm at the 55th Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland in July.

“He is passionate about chess. Extremely interested and passionate about the game. He can work for any number of hours,” Anand’s coach V Saravanan said.

“He is especially good in calculation and end games; they are his two biggest strengths right now,” Saravanan said about his ward’s ninth-round win in the under-16 section of the World Youth Chess Championship 2022.

“Also, the most important reason for Pranav’s achievement is the dedication of his family; his mother, and father. They have spent so much time on and supported him. If the pandemic was not there, Pranav could have become a GM at least a year ago. He is one of the most talented kids I have ever come across,” the International Master added.

Anand had secured his third and final GM norm in Biel by drawing his game against Spain’s number five GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (2619) in the penultimate round.

He had also beaten GM Maxime Lagarde of France (2631), GM Sethuraman S P(2623), drawn with GM Aryan Chopra (2610) and GM Shant Sargsyan of Armenia (2661) in the event.

His first two GM norms came in the Sitges Open (in January 2022) and Vezerkepso GM Round Robin (March 2022) tournaments.

nie

Mysuru zoo rated second best in CZA evaluation

The century-old Mysuru zoo has been rated ‘very good’ by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), which conducted the Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Zoos in India 2022. The country’s medium and large zoos were comprehensively evaluated during the first-ever exercise by the CZA.

Though Mysuru zoo has been adjudged ‘very good’ among large zoos during the assessment by the experts, it, however, stands second as Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Chennai has secured a score of 83 marks and was graded ‘very good’ by the CZA. The Mysuru zoo has got 80 marks but yet graded ‘very good’ in the evaluation considering its best management practices and standards.

Expressing happiness over the rating, Executive Director Ajit Kulkarni said the evaluation was done for the first time by the CZA and an expert team had visited the zoo to appraise the zoo and its practices. “Whatever suggestions have been made for the zoo’s improvement will be implemented. The action to be taken, as endorsed by the CZA, will be looked into,” he said.

Among the medium zoos, the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, Darjeeling, is rated the best, according to the evaluation report.

The CZA, in its report, said the mission, vision, objectives and strategies mostly identified at the Mysuru zoo but need to be systematically formulated and documented as per the National Zoo Policy. The zoo has been told to make efforts to pair all single animals.

Also, the conservation breeding programMEs for Gaur, Nilgiri Langur, Lion-tailed Macaque, Dhole, Indian Grey Wolf etc., can be managed with improved scientific rigour and with the development of detailed plans for conservation breeding including genetic profiling, individual marking of names for identification, community engagement plan, plan for soft release, and survey of release sites, the CZA said, in its evaluation of the Mysuru zoo.

The Mysuru zoo management must pursue the development of an interpretation centre, according to the report.

Citing about the best practices at the Mysuru zoo in its evaluation, the CZA said the zoo is one of the self-sustainable zoos. In the past two decades, the zoo administration has introduced many interventions, innovations and programs — from waste management policy, to a flexible animal adoption programme. After segregation of the waste, the biodegradable waste is used for making biogas, vermicompost, and manure in the campus itself. Biogas is used in zoo kitchens. The zoo has tie-ups with various NGOs for the recycling of plastic waste. The zoo harvests 79 crore litres of rainwater through directed infrastructure changes. The surrounding areas of the zoo and the farmers have also been benefited by the system as no borewells go out of water during summer. The zoo also provides RO drinking water for free to the visitors. Seventy percent of water that gets wasted from the RO units are reused On the zoo premises.

The CZA said the MEE assessment is an inclusive exercise – the assessment is based on information and documentation produced by the zoo and the detailed site visit.

The actionable points derived from the assessment, along with pillars of change indicated in the vision plan for Indian zoos (2021-2031), can become the catalyst for the transformation, build innovation and leadership and help zoos deliver experiences that inspire visitors to take conservation action and affirm deeper community connect, the CZA concluded in its assessment, a report of which has been sourced by The Hindu.

IIM Bangalore’s one-year EPGP in management ranks first in India, according to Bloomberg survey

In the APAC region, IIMB is preceded only by NUS Singapore

The one-year full-time Executive Post Graduate Programme (EPGP) at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), which is offered to experienced professionals, has bagged the top rank in India and fifth rank in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region in the Bloomberg Best Business Schools Survey 2022.

The programme scored well on all the parameters, including Learning (88.6), Networking (83.5) and Entrepreneurship (82). The overall score went up from 13.5 in 2021 to 66.4 this year. Compensation too saw a significant increase (34.2) this year over last year (10.1).

Professor Rishikesha T. Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore, said, “IIMB works hard at educating leaders who will think broadly of their role in society and foster inclusive innovation and growth. It is a good feeling when rankings, global and national, reflect our efforts.”

In the APAC region, IIMB is preceded only by NUS Singapore.

According to the IIMB, Bloomberg surveyed 117 MBA programmes around the world. The rankings were generated using data from 18,504 students, alumni, and recruiter surveys, as well as income and employment data from each school and its alumni. The best B-schools results for 2022 are divided into four regions: Europe, Asia-Pacific, Canada, and the United States.