Category: Nature / Environment

** Railway to heaven

Picture-perfect Karwar Railway Station has wowed visitors and netizens alike, has turned into a must-visit spot on many bucket lists.

Karwar :

In June 2018, Roshan Kanade, a student of Government Arts and Science College, Karwar, and his friend Shivraj Borkar visited the railway station to click a few pictures, and posted them on the internet for a lark. Soon, the pictures became a big hit on social media. Today, Karwar Railway Station, on the Konkan Railway line, is one of the most photographed spots in Uttara Kannada.

** 13th-century inscription stone lies neglected on Doddanekundi roadside

While the government is actively working on establishing new museums and restoring heritage sites under Mission 2022, a 13th century stone, with inscriptions on both sides, lies ignored in Doddanekundi. Locals and heritage enthusiasts have been striving for the last eight years to protect the stone, but nothing has happened so far. Agitated over the neglect, they have taken to social media to voice their wrath.

“Belonging to the Hoysala dynasty, the stone has the name Neerakundi inscripted on it, the original name of Doddanekundi. This clearly shows that the area existed even then. The details of the same can also be found in Epigraphia Carnatica, Bengaluru volume,” said Swaminathan Natarajan, archaeology and heritage enthusiast and resident of the area

** Bengaluru girl invents portable battery that resembles power bank, wins accolade from Oxford University

This B’ luru girl has received the Vice-Chancellor’s Social Impact Award at the University of Oxford, for inventing a solar chargeable lithium ion portable battery useful for pushcart vendors.

Bengaluru-girl Prerna Wadikar recently won the Vice Chancellor’s Social Impact Award at the University of Oxford, UK. She received the award for inventing a device that resembles a power bank, which is a lithium ion portable battery.

** Building green bridges

An artist from Karkala is promoting sustainable living, and reviving the culture of areca tree trunk bridges in villages. His philosophy being ‘Keep it natural’.

UDUPI:

The grey gash of a concrete bridge strikes a discordant note in the earthy shades of a rustic setting — a sign of development which stands out like a sore thumb. It’s not meant to be there, says Purushotham Adve, who spent his childhood in Karkala taluk, by streams and rivers running through the Western Ghats. There were no squat ugly bridges in his childhood memories, only natural crossovers built by experienced villagers — often areca tree trunks slung together to form a bridge.

** UAS-B Alumni to impart digital training to urban dwellers

Urban dwellers will get an opportunity to connect with the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bengaluru as the UAS-B Alumni Association is organising short-term digital training and specialised talks on a wide range of subjects for people from urban and peri-urban areas.

The Alumni Association, which comprises experts from agriculture and allied sectors, will offer digital training in 22 subjects ranging from balanced nutrition for healthy living to wine-making and from management of indoor plants to Bonsai.

The wide range of subjects for training include importance of medicinal plants, importance of fruits and vegetables in human diet, home made bakery products, maintenance of landscape garden, mushroom cultivation, kitchen garden, bee keeping, gulkan-making and management of pets. Preservation of fruits and vegetables, rat and household pest management, caring of coconut trees in home garden, millets and their uses for a healthy life are also among the subjects.

According to Association President Dr. K. Narayana Gowda, any person can register himself for this course, which is being offered free of cost. The participants will get a certificate from the Association.

They have to register through a Google form (https://forms.gle/cXtQH825ZN11hC1X6) and indicate their subject of preference. The Association will inform them about the training schedule and their meeting ID, he said.

Course directors Dr. P.K. Basavaraj (9449152884) and Dr. Saralakumari (9611567094) can be contacted for clarifications.

Dr. Gowda told The Hindu that the Association had decided to particularly focus on urban dwellers as the university had always been reaching out to farmers through its frontal organisations like Krishi Vigyan Kendras and extensive network of specialists. “But for an occasional workshop or talk on urban gardening, we have not shared our expertise with urban dwellers. However, a large number of urban dwellers too are interested in some of our research subjects. Hence we decided to reach out to them,” he says, while pointing out that specialists in different fields would handle the courses.

In the second phase of the digital training, the Association is thinking of utilising the services of final year students from related subjects in the UAS-B or its graduates to physically reach out to participants in terms of supplying seeds or any other material required.

“For example, if somebody wants to grow mushrooms, we are thinking of getting our students and graduates to supply them at the prescribed or a nominal rate so that urban dwellers can actually benefit from our technologies,” he said.

Interestingly, 58% of persons, who have registered for the courses, have opted for importance of medicinal plants followed by kitchen gardening (52.3%), indoor plants’ maintenance and balanced nutrition for healthy life (both 50.7%). Twenty per cent have opted for management of pets.

** Feeding poultry with insects, this project solves garbage, agrarian crises

Narendra Pasuparthy, founder and CEO of Nandus Foods, said time is ripe to tackle the twin issues of the animal feed industry that eats into the agricultural sector and the urban food waste affecting cities like Bengaluru. His search for a solution resulted in the start-up Insectifii with Mitali Poovayya, a neurobiology researcher from Amsterdam University. The start-up converts food waste into high-grade protein for poultry using the Black Soldier Fly (BSF).

** Mangaluru: ‘Patrode’ earns place in Ayush list of traditional, beneficial dishes

‘Patrode’, a popular dish of coastal Karnataka and Malnad region that is made from Colocasia (taro) leaves, has been recognized by the union Ayush ministry as a traditional food under Ayush system of medicines.

The ministry has prepared a booklet in which names of 26 food items have been listed. Patrode has occupied a place of pride in this list.

This booklet is also available in the website of the department now. Along with each of the items listed, photos, recipe, and health benefits have been listed.