Business & Economy – Page 37

** MIA commissions state-of-the-art security operation control centre

Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) commissioned a state-of-the-art security operation control centre (SOCC) of the aviation security group (ASG), CISF.

** Lokayukta website launched

The new website of Karnataka Lokayukta was launched on Thursday.

According to an official release, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, who inaugurated the website at the Lokayukta headquarters in the city, said the Lokayukta website has been upgraded to provide transparency in the functioning of the organisation and provide timely information to complainants, defendants, and the public.

** Bengaluru firm Strides Pharma Science to launch oral drug to fight Covid

In a statement, Strides said it will “immediately launch” its generic Molnupiravir, indicated for high-risk adult patients with Covid under the brand Stripiravir.

Bengaluru pharma company Strides Pharma Science Limited said that it has received Emergency Use Authorisation from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to launch Molnupiravir, an oral medication for Covid-19 in India.

In a statement, Strides said it will “immediately launch” its generic Molnupiravir, indicated for high-risk adult patients with Covid under the brand Stripiravir. The company is commercialising the product with a group-integrated supply chain for active pharmaceutical ingredients and solid oral dosage from its large-scale WHO pre-qualified manufacturing capacities, the company stated.

** New Karnataka govt portal to rate citizens’ eligibility for welfare schemes

Karnataka offers about 250 welfare schemes but most of them still follow the manual process.

The platform, Suvidha, functions directly under Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who is pushing the welfare plank in the election year, and is part of several e-governance initiatives being rolled out by the government.

“Suvidha is different from the Seva Sindhu, which is meant for services such as certificates or documents. Suvidha is for welfare schemes that involve a direct benefit,” he explained.

** Capturing the journey from Bangalore to Bengaluru

A desk calendar brings with it the charm of its own in this digital age. In city-based illustrator Shriya Murthy’s calendar, she brings alive landmarks and events intrinsic to Bengaluru. Whether it’s Plaza Theatre or the Kadlekai Parishe, there’s a whiff of nostalgia that the calendar brings with it.

For each month, Murthy has picked an iconic space. For example, she recreated the scene of a traffic jam near the KR Puram Bridge, where a person on a bus is speaking on the phone, telling the other person that he is “reaching in 5 minutes”. “It’s a common line in Bengaluru even though that five minutes is actually never five,” says Murthy, adding, “The city is known for the Kadlekai Parishe which is intrinsic to the city.”

** Canada: Maxim D’Mello, Vijay Dante elected to lead MAC in its 20th year

Maxim D’Mello, one of the highly acclaimed Mangalurean leaders in Canada and outside India, has been unanimously elected as the president of ‘The Mangalorean Association of Canada’ (MAC) for the fourth term during its Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) held on November 21 at Petrescue Hall, Carmen Corbasson Community Centre, Mississauga, Canada.

He was actively involved with Kuwait Canara Welfare Association (KCWA) since its inception and served as a President before immigrating to Canada in 2002. From then on, he is part of the Mangalorean Association of Canada and serves the community. In 2006 he got elected as its president for the first time.

In addition MAC is fortunate to get yet another dynamic leader Everest Vijay Dante popularly known as Vijay Dante to its fold as the vice-president. Vijay, a philanthropist is a well-focussed, dedicated and a family-oriented business professional. He is the proud son of the late ‘Sridanti’ (Francis Dante from Udupi, Karnataka, India), a renowned writer, poet and a religious leader who is also one of the founders of Catholic Sabha, Mangaluru.

He is owner of ‘Udupi Madras Café’ (UMC) one of the prestigious business houses in Toronto. The UMC has won the prestigious ‘2021 Mississauga News Readers’ Choice Award’ for the successive 2nd time in a row. Serving the international community in Mississauga, Canada for 15 years.

** Bengaluru firm Strides Pharma Science to launch oral drug to fight Covid

In a statement, Strides said it will “immediately launch” its generic Molnupiravir, indicated for high-risk adult patients with Covid under the brand Stripiravir.

** Chikkaballapura hospital provides free treatment to 55 kids with heart defects

A total of 55 children with congenital heart defects have been treated at the Sri Sathya Sai Sarla Memorial hospital in Chikkaballapura district, free of cost.

The 150-bed multidisciplinary hospital, along with Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Centres for Child Heart Cares operated on 23 children in November and 32 in December.

** Spreading innovation

Joseph Lobo, a 44-yr-old farmer, is popularising the hydroponic method of cultivation and is growing the famous Shankarapura jasmine.

They say a farmer is a magician who makes his living from the mud. But that is not true in the case of Joseph Lobo, a 44-year-old farmer from the coastal district of Udupi.Lobo hails from Shankarapura, a tiny nondescript village sandwiched between the mighty Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. Shankarapura is called the jasmine capital of the Karnataka coastline and is famous for its Shankarapura mallige (mallige in Kannada means jasmine flowers). And like the majority of the residents of the village, Lobo too cultivates Shankarapura mallige. A passionate farmer, Lobo has been growing the Shankarapura mallige — which was accorded GI tag in 2008 — for the last 15 years.

But what sets him apart from the rest of the growers is that he has attempted to grow his prized possession without soil! Yes, you read it right. Lobo became the first grower in the region to adopt the novel hydroponic method of cultivation, which in layman’s language is soil-less cultivation.Lobo says he was inspired after attending a workshop at University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, and started experimenting on the new method of cultivation. Lobo has 32 jasmine plants already, including the three grown using the hydroponic technique.

** Karnataka ranks sixth in Good Governance Index

On the other hand, Karnataka has a higher disposal rate of consumer court cases, while nine other states have shown decline.

Karnataka has been placed sixth in the composite ranking among ‘Group A’ states with incremental progress in Commerce and Industry in the Good Governance Index 2021. Union Home Minister Amit Shah released the index, prepared by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) on ‘Good Governance Day’ in New Delhi on Saturday.