Month: January 2022

** ISEC-Bengaluru glows in golden halo on completing 50 years

Governor inaugurates golden jubilee celebrations in Bengaluru; institute to organise functions throughout 2022 to mark golden jubilee.

The Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) in Bengaluru, a premier research and training institute in social sciences in India, is organising progammes throughout 2022 to mark its golden jubilee.

On January 19, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, who is the president of the ISEC society, inaugurated the celebrations in a virtual event. He appreciated the institute’s role in formulating policies in various social and economic sectors, which contributed to the upliftment of weaker sections in Karnataka. The institute played the role of a catalyst while guiding the Karnataka Government in formulating policies in agriculture, finance, rural development, administration, governance and poverty reduction.

** Noted astrophysicist Tarun Souradeep takes over as director of Raman Research Institute

Noted astrophysicist Dr. Tarun Souradeep assumed charge as director of one of the leading institutes in the country, Raman Research Institute (RRI) in Bengaluru. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the spokesperson (science) for LIGO-India and member secretary of LIGO – India Scientific Management Board. He was one of the lead proposers of the national mega-science LIGO-IndIa project in 2011.

On taking over as director of RRI, Prof. Souradeep said, “It is an honour to be at helm of RRI – an institution with a very rich heritage and unique scientific legacy. It has nurtured a healthy balance of top-end research, together with technological capability that holds great promise for future frontier endeavour at par with the best in the world.”

Prior to this, he was professor and Chair of the Physics Department at the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune. He did his Ph.D. at Pune’s Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and was a postdoctoral fellow at Kansas State University and the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics.

** Karnataka’s Kodagu district becomes only place in India to have three Lieutenant Generals serving in Army

Kodagu is a small and beautiful mountain district of Karnataka and is well known in the world for coffee and its ‘brave warriors’, men and women, serving in all services.

It was a proud moment for the people of Kodagu district when Lt Gen CP Cariappa took command of India’s elite 1 Strike Corps at Mathura on Friday. Lt Gen Cariappa became the Corp Commander and the District boasts of rare distinction of three Lieutenant Generals serving the army simultaneously.

Lt Gen PC Thimmaya and Lt Gen CB Ponnappa are the other two generals. Lt Gen Thimmaya is the Army Commander at the Army Training Command and Lt Gen Ponnappa is the Chief of Staff at the Northern Army Command.  All three officers are a product of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and joined the army at different times. Lt Gen Ponappa is the junior-most who joined the Army in June 1985.

** MBA grad now a farmer, sells organic fruits

With Sankranti round the corner, an MBA graduate, who has turned a farmer, is offering basketfuls of organic, homegrown fruits to corporate offices.

Usharani Vinay, the founder of Skyo Farms, had worked in several IT companies. During the pandemic, however, she found her love for farming. She impulsively bought a piece of land in her village, Yelagalavadi in Kunigal taluk, and started farming. “We had moved back to our village during the pandemic, when we came across a piece of land for sale. I bought it and started farming,” she told TNIE.

** Doctor by day, farmer by night: Meet the Bengaluru doc behind Chikkaballapura’s ecomuseum

If Dr Narasimhaiah Srinivasaiah is not donning his white coat, he is practising ‘tropical forestry’ at his eco-museum on the foothills of Nandi Hills .

For a doctor who is treating one of the most dreaded diseases, cancer, finding time off from work is quite challenging. However, Dr Narasimhaiah Srinivasaiah is a person who wants to be close to ‘Mother Earth’. An individual who likes to see, smell, and live amidst nature, Srinivasaiah believes this to be the cure of all ailments. When is off medical work, Srinivasaiah is a horticulturist, florist and agriculturist. Following his extensive travel around US and Europe during the early 2000s, he realised the untapped horticultural space in India. Thus gave birth to Nandi Nisarga Dhama (NaNidam), an eco-museum situated on the foothills of Nandi Hills, in Chikkaballapura. 

** Meet the 3 Shettys changing Kannada cinema

Rakshit, Raj and Rishab are championing the talent, culture and language of Dakshina Kannada, often sidelined as a film’s comic relief

In October, Kannada star Rakshit Shetty — known for backing and being a part of ‘thinking projects’ — tweeted about a film that had blown his mind and that his production house Paramvah would be collaborating with. On November 19, when Raj B Shetty’s Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana (GGVV) released, viewers could relate to that emotional announcement.

** Bopanna-Ramkumar win Adelaide doubles title

Surprise top seeds Dodig and Melo in the final

The unseeded pair of Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan beat the top seeds, Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo 7-6(6), 6-1 in the doubles final of the $521,000 ATP tennis tournament here on Sunday.

It was the first professional tournament together as a pair for Bopanna and Ramkumar, who had partnered each other in the last Davis Cup tie against Finland.

In five matches, the Indian pair dropped one set and did not drop even one service game, to collect the winner’s share of 250 ATP points and $18,700.

** Kannada writer-activist Champa passes away

A proponent of Kannada medium education, Prof. Chandrashekhar Patil, better known by his pen name Champa, was one of the rare writers who could say all his children and grandchildren studied in Kannada medium

Noted Kannada writer, activist and public intellectual Prof. Chandrashekhar Patil, 82, better known by his pen name Champa, passed away in Bengaluru on January 10. 

Known for his acerbic wit and employment of irony and his anti-establishment ‘bandaya’ stance throughout his life, Champa was an important voice in the public discourse of Karnataka for over half a century. He was the only Kannada writer to be arrested during the Emergency for his street play Jagadambeya Beedinataka, a satire on then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He was one of the founders of the Bandaya movement of Kannada literature, a strand that took a radical stance in both literary form and view of society.

Born in 1939, Champa taught English at the university, but was a passionate proponent of the Kannada cause. He was one of the key leaders of the Gokak Agitation in the early 1980s, arguing for making Kannada the mandatory first language in school education across Karnataka. He played a key role in convincing matinee idol Dr. Rajkumar to join the agitation, which gave a fillip to the movement. A proponent of Kannada medium education, he was one of the rare writers who could say all his children and grandchildren studied in Kannada medium.

** Samanvi bags The Hindu & SaReGaMa M.S. Subbulakshmi Award, 2021

Udupi student pips four finalists for Voice of the Year prize

Samanvi, a second year B. A. student from Udupi, was on Friday awarded The Hindu & SaReGaMa M.S. Subbulakshmi Award, 2021, Voice of the Year, presented by Parry’s Amrit Brown Sugar at the Grand Finale held at The Music Academy here.

“I plan to pursue music as a career,” said the youngster who has been undergoing training with Guru V. Aravinda Hebbar in Gurukulavasam and under Chitravina N. Ravikiran.

Ms. Samanvi, who has been learning and performing along with her long-time friend Archana, will get to record an album with SaReGaMa.

The award was presented by Aruna Sairam, renowned Carnatic vocalist and guru, and Navaneeth L.V., CEO, The Hindu Group.