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Krishi Mela in Dharwad from Saturday

University of Agricultural Sciences will host the four-day event

University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) Dharwad will host a four-day Krishi Mela to showcase various developments in the farm sector and farm technologies in Dharwad from Saturday.

Acting Vice-Chancellor of UAS Dharwad R. Basavarajappa told presspersons in Dharwad on Wednesday that the Krishi Mela being organised with the theme, Agriculture Technologies for Doubling Farmers Income, will be formally inaugurated by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday, at 11.30 a.m.

The Krishi Mela is being held after a gap of two years because of COVID-19 and related restrictions. Exhibition of agricultural inputs, farm machinery, organic farming, hi-tech horticulture, integrated farming system, Home Science, cottage industries, bakery products, medicinal and aromatic plants and animal husbandry will be organised, apart from consultation to farmers by farm scientists.

Prof. Basavarajappa said that to educate farmers on value-addition to crops for better returns, the university has invited resource persons from across the country. This apart, food processing units too have been invited to participate in the farm fair and the effort is to create a link between them and farmers, he said.

The Krishi Mela attracts lakhs of people from across North Karnataka and neighbouring States. This time, it will have 184 hi-tech stalls, 364 general stalls, 21 machinery stalls, 27 food stalls, 54 livestock display stalls and nine field stalls.

The Krishi Mela will have sessions and stalls on nutri cereals – production, value addition and marketing, bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides, integrated crop, nutrient, pest and disease management, rabi crop technologies, rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge, hi-tech horticulture, fruits and flowers show, nutri-garden, terrace garden and vertical garden, improved water management practice for higher yield and water conservation, conservation of resources through integrated watershed development, soil fertility and conservation of soil health, use of improved farm equipment and drone in agriculture, farmers innovations, dialogue with progressive farmers and farm women, farm advisory services by experts, animal husbandry, exhibition of breeds and fodder crops technologies, community science technologies for empowerment of women.

Prof. Basavarajappa said that seven progressive farmers and farm women each chosen from seven districts under the jurisdiction of UAS Dharwad will be honoured with the Shreshta Krishika and the Shreshta Krishika Mahile awards during the event.

This apart, the university has instituted an award in the name of poet Channaveera Kanavi and it will be conferred on those who have penned poems on farming, he said.

Director of Extension P.S. Hugar, Director of Research P.L. Patil and others were present.

Lalbagh’s Christmas tree planted by Elizabeth II in the spotlight

The tree has now grown beyond 70 feet and will soon carry her name

The Lalbagh Botanical Garden is home to thousands of trees and plants and many have, hidden in their foliage, nuggets of history. One such has suddenly found itself in the spotlight following the death of Elizabeth II, the United Kingdom’s longest-ruling monarch.

The Christmas tree planted by her during her visit to Bengaluru in February 1961 has now grown beyond 70 feet, according to Horticulture Department officials.

The tree is located behind the Bandstand, near the Glass House. “In Lalbagh, we have over 75 trees which were planted by VVIPs. One of them was by Elizabeth II. Just 20 feet away from the tree planted by her is another Christmas tree planted by Abdul Ghaffar Khan (well-known as Frontier Gandhi). Almost 50 feet away from those trees is an Ashoka (Saraca asoca) tree planted by the former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi,” explained M. Jagadeesh, Joint Director (Parks), Horticulture Department.

Video surfaces

A video dating back to the queen’s visit to the city in 1961 has surfaced on the internet after her demise. In the video, it can be seen that as soon as she landed in Bengaluru with her husband, Prince Philip, she was welcomed by the then Governor of the State and the erstwhile ruler of the Mysuru, Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar. It also shows huge crowds which had gathered on the streets to greet and catch a glimpse of the royal couple and the queen planting a sapling at Lalbagh.

Thanks to this video, for the last two days, department officials have received many enquiries regarding this hitherto little-known tree.

“There is a lot of curiosity among people about the tree. They are calling and asking us where the tree is located and its identification. So far, we have not put up any sign or information board, but in a few days, we will put up an information board and a picture of the queen near the tree,” Mr. Jagadeesh said

Three Bengaluru startups win BITS Pilani event

Green Tiger Mobility, the cleantech firm, and Daffodil Health, a healthcare startup, won in the Pan India Track, where participants were invited from across the country.

Of the 15 startups, shortlisted from over 1,500 applications, four have been selected to receive an equity-less grant of Rs 30 lakh each. Of these, three are from Bengaluru. Winners were chosen based on three categories or tracks — Pan India, BITSian and Web3.0.

Green Tiger Mobility, the cleantech firm, and Daffodil Health, a healthcare startup, won in the Pan India Track, where participants were invited from across the country. Green Tiger is working on developing a hybrid vehicle, while Daffodil Health is a behavioural healthcare platform aimed at children.

The latter aims at giving parent-mediated therapy to children with behavioural and developmental disorders like autism, ADHD, dyslexia and others. Conquest, run by around 30 engineering students from BITS Pilani’s Centre of Entrepreneurial Leadership, is the first and largest student-run startup accelerator, hosting programmes every year to help startups get funding and mentors.

The Demo Day for the 18th edition of the accelerator programme was held in Bengaluru on Sunday, with 15 startups shortlisted to pitch their ideas to a panel of investors, industry leaders and others. Another Bengaluru-based company StreamMoney won in the Web3.0 Track, where the focus is on startups developing or utilising technology related to Web3.0. StreamMoney focuses on the ability to transfer conditional ownership of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The startup is working towards making a utility protocol, allowing NFT owners to rent out or allow ticketing or subscriptions of their NFTs. This allows owners to add in a utility contract with their NFTs that allows access to their tokens for a limited period of time.

Green Tiger Mobility, the cleantech firm, and Daffodil Health, a healthcare startup, won in the Pan India Track, where participants were invited from across the country.

A clean technology firm, focusing on building hybrid cars that allow you to switch between electric and internal combustion engines at the switch of a button, was one of the three Bengaluru startups that won big at BITS Pilani’s Conquest.

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Udupi: Exemplary – Woman manning SLRM unit at Barkur Hanehalli

An SLRM (Solid and Liquid Resource Management) unit is maintained here in a unique way in Barkur Hanehalli gram panchayat, which has got Gandhi Gram award thrice.

There are 850 houses, 172 commercial establishments, one university college, one PU college, three primary schools and five Anganwadis under this gram panchayat. The total population of the village is 4,206.

After Veena, who married Vindo Kothari, resident of this village, assumed the charge of SLRM unit, awareness about environment and cleanliness was increased among the villagers.

Veena, mother of two children, did not even know how to ride a bicycle. She got vehicle driving training sponsored by Udupi zilla panchayat on the recommendation of gram panchayat.

Now Veena drives the waste collection vehicle herself and collects garbage from every household. She also segregates the garbage along with two helpers. The money which they get from this is their income.

The zilla panchayat here has provided vehicles as well as a pad burning machine. This has turned into a model village because of the efforts of Veena.

ATREE celebrates its silver jubilee this year

The two-day event is open to the public that will include discussion on state of conservation science, sustainable development debates and other activities

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) is celebrating its silver jubilee on August 18 and 19 at the JN Tata Auditorium in IISc campus with several panel discussions, guest talks, film screenings and other events taking place.

Started in January 1996 as a research organisation to address environmental challenges of biodiversity loss and conservation for sustainable livelihoods, ATREE has worked in the areas of conservation of biological diversity and sustainable development, improvisation of institutional and policy framework for conservation of biodiversity and has helped several government and Non Government Organisations to make best use of the scientific knowledge to solve the problems of conservation.

After its initial days, a PhD in Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies programme was started in 2008 and in 2009, another interdisciplinary research institution, CISED was also established by ATREE with donor support. Further, the Centre for Environment and Development, the Centre for Biodiversity Conservation and 20 research faculty members including environmentalists, geographers, sociologists and hydrologists also emerged. In 2019, ATREE launched two new centres, the Centre for Social and Environmental Innovation (CSEI) and the Centre for Policy design (CPD) for scaling up its environmental knowledge to the society and for engaging more with the government towards effective policy design and implementation.

Speaking to The Hindu on the occassion, Kamal Bawa — Founder, President & Chair, ATREE, said, “Our country has rich biodiversity and when we established ATREE, there was no institute that was looking at biodiversity in a holistic manner, that is all life in our forests, wetlands, rivers, oceans. Furthermore, we all know that biodiversity is declining all over the world and India was no exception, but this decline had ecological, social, political and economic dimensions. Thus, an institution was needed that had an interdisciplinary approach to conserving biodiversity and thus ATREE was born. ATREE is one of the few institutions that deals with the three major environmental challenges of declining biodiversity, water, and mitigation of climate change.”

The two-day event which is open to the public, will have discussion on state of conservation science and sustainable development, debates, book launches, film screenings and traditional performances.

Karnataka Farmer Grows 700 Different Types of Exotic Fruits in His Farm

Anil Balanja, a farmer in Karnataka, has been growing exotic fruits from 40 different nations on his land for the past 20 years.

Anil Balanja, a native of Karnataka, grew up seeing his father grow several jackfruit and mango varieties. He always knew he wanted to be a farmer, and at the age of 19, he began by sowing areca, coconut, and rubber.

The youngster made the decision to emulate his father five years ago. On his farm, he grew a variety of exotic fruits that are uncommonly grown in the nation. This includes foods like avocados, Malaysian santol, Indonesian kepel, and many others.

Currently, Anil’s farm in the Dakshina-Kannada district is flourishing with over 700 exotic fruit types gathered from 40 different nations. Each fruit’s seeds are obtained from nurseries and his international pals.

Additionally, he maintains a thorough record of every fruit, including its scientific name, therapeutic properties, ideal growing temperature, and kind of soil. To continue growing the fruits he collected, he now owns and operates his own nursery.

krishijagran.com

Ranganathittu bird sanctuary is Karnataka’s first Ramsar site

Ranganathittu sanctuary also finds a place in the Important Bird Areas (IBA) list of 42 sites in Karnataka that are identified by the Bombay Natural History Society.

After a wait of over ten years, Karnataka got its first Ramsar site on Wednesday.

The ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) declared Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary in Mandya as a Ramsar site. With this, the forest department, local administration and tourism department will not just be able to ensure better conservation but also scale up its eco-tourism potential to international standards. Located in the mid-stream of the Cauvery river, Ranganathittu is an integral part of the wetland system and spreads across 517.70 hectares.

It also finds a place in the Important Bird Areas (IBA) list of 42 sites in Karnataka that are identified by the Bombay Natural History Society. Ranganthittu houses 188 species of plants, 225 species of birds, 69 species of fish, 13 species of frogs, 98 species of medicinal plants and 30 species of butterflies.

It is an important breeding site for around 20 species of water birds, 17 of which breed on trees growing on islands on the spot. It houses healthy populations of mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris), smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) and the endangered hump-backed mahseer fish (Tor remadevii).

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Students from Karnataka on mission to create green sanitary pads

Once considered a taboo topic to discuss in public, the way Indians now think about menstruation has seen a paradigm shift in recent years. The National Family Health Survey reveals that close to 50 per cent of women in the 15-24 age group still use cloth for menstrual protection. It is a health risk if an uncleaned cloth is reused as it could lead to several infections.

But there is a group of warriors fighting this menace. There is a quiet revolution going on among biotechnology students of BIET, Davanagere, who are producing sanitary napkins using areca husks.

Dr NS Manjunath, head of biotechnology department and a graduate in MSc inmicrobiology from Kalaburagi University, is the man behind this innovation. He has been taking up research in this field which has prompted his students to take up the challenge of producing napkins and diapers from biodegradable raw material.

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Karnataka’s first wild orchidarium to come up at Kali Tiger Reserve

In an effort to conserve the wild orchid varieties of Karnataka, the forest department is all set to establish an orchidarium in Kali Tiger Reserve (KTR) of Uttara Kannada district.

In an effort to conserve the wild orchid varieties of Karnataka, the forest department is all set to establish an orchidarium in Kali Tiger Reserve (KTR) of Uttara Kannada district. The orchidarium is being constructed at Nujji vilage of Joida (Supa) taluk of the district and soon, it will be open for nature enthusiasts and visitors.

The building work has been completed and about 40 varieties of wild orchids that are found in KTR are being grown in the orchidarium. In the coming days, most of the orchid varieties found in the Western Ghats will be added, said Sachin Anil Punekar, Conservation Biologist and Founder of Biospheres-Ecosphere who has been helping the KRT set up the orchidarium project. The Western Ghats is home for a rich orchid population and a majority of them are found in the Kali Tiger Reserve, especially in the Anshi region of Uttara Kannada district. “Out of 170 orchid species that are found in Karnataka, 80 species are from the Anashi region alone. Nearly 20 wild orchids are endemic to this region only. The orchidarium will act as a rescue and rehab site for wild orchids,” Punekar said.

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Karnataka crushes record 622 lakh tonnes of sugarcane

Sugar factories in Karnataka have crushed a record 622.26 lakh tonnes of sugarcane in the year 2021-22, 181.14 lakh tonnes more than last year.

Sugar factories in Karnataka have crushed a record 622.26 lakh tonnes of sugarcane in the year 2021-22, 181.14 lakh tonnes more than last year. Speaking to the media after chairing a meeting with members of the Sugarcane Control Board, Sugar Minister Shankar Patil Munenakoppa said sugar factories in Karnataka have produced 59.78 lakh tonnes of sugar during the same period.

According to the minister there are 89 registered sugar factories in Karnataka of which 72 are operating. In Karnataka, 32 sugar factories are producing Ethanol, he said.

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