Category Archives: Education

From kattan kaapi to Chameli Americano, Manoj Kumar’s inspirational Araku journey

Amazing Feats, Coffee News, Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature, World Opinion

Kumar worked with adivasis in Andhra’s Araku Valley for decades, grew coffee of the highest quality and took it to Paris in 2017. On March 19, Araku Coffee opened its first café in India in Bengaluru. Kumar wants to replicate the Araku model for other crops as well, he tells us how

Cafe L'Orange
Cafe L’Orange

In the late 1990s, the late Kallam Anji Reddy, founder-chairman of pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, appointed developmental economist Manoj Kumar as the head of his NGO, the Naandi Foundation. Kumar’s brief was to foster sustainable livelihoods in rural India.

One of the many projects Kumar embarked on in the early 2000s was to get adivasi farmers in Andhra Pradesh’s Araku Valley to grow specialty coffee, which, simply put, is organic and sustainably grown coffee of the highest quality. To many people, it appeared to a quixotic endeavour. Araku was not a traditional coffee-growing region. Kumar, who grew up in Kerala drinking kattan kaapi, the traditional home-brewed black coffee, had no real knowledge about coffee; and the Araku Valley had been riddled with Naxal insurgency for decades. Kumar worked with, and lived among, the tribals for over a decade and through biodynamic farming and the formation of an adivasi cooperative, one of the world’s largest fair-trade and organic certified cooperatives, he achieved the seemingly impossible.

In 2017, Kumar opened the first Araku Cafe and store in Paris and about a year later, Araku Coffee bagged top honours for the best coffee pod at the prestigious Prix Epicures OR awards in Paris. On March 19, Araku opened its first cafe in India. The 6000 sq ft, two-level flagship cafe in Indira Nagar in Bengaluru features, among others, an in-house roastery, the country’s first Specialty Coffee Association-certified Coffee Academy, a book store, and food that is sustainably procured.

In an interview to Moneycontrol, Kumar talks about the growing interest in specialty coffee in India, its transformative potential, and about replicating the Araku model in other parts of the country. Edited excerpts:

How do you see Araku’s flagship cafe take the specialty coffee story forward in India?

By and large, the production of specialty coffee in India has so far been almost nil, barring a few micro estates. We have been a notable exception. Our success has made coffee growers realise that it is possible to get much higher value and definitely profits if they can elevate their coffee to the level of a specialty coffee. I’m hoping that this desire to excel will be infectious to the community of coffee growers in India. They could learn to look at coffee as being more than just an average-to-poor-quality mass-produced commodity, which is neither financially rewarding nor sustainable. We are blessed to have the climate and topography to grow coffee. Europe and most of the coffee-drinking nations don’t grow coffee. I see our cafe in Bangalore as a place where people can interact and learn more about the power of specialty coffee. And we would want to take it beyond producers to policy makers and to everyone through a consumer movement to inculcate a certain pride in the opportunity we have to make coffee a profitable Indian-origin commodity and revive India’s agriculture to an extent. Araku is not a traditional coffee-growing region, and yet we have grown world-class coffee there. So, you can imagine the potential of places such as Chikmagalur and Coorg…

Tamagoyaki Toastie is on the menu of Araku’s café in Bengaluru.
Tamagoyaki Toastie is on the menu of Araku’s café in Bengaluru.

Have you met people from the coffee-growing community who want to get into specialty coffee?

Absolutely. When we started the Araku journey, we had only between 10 percent to 20 percent of farmers whose coffee could be rated as specialty coffee. Today, I have 80 percent of my farmers all growing specialty coffee. I have requests from many small estate and large estate owners, and even people who are into wine now want to know if we can help them with the same regenerative agricultural practices that made our coffee world-class.

Araku Coffee co-founder Manoj Kumar
Araku Coffee co-founder Manoj Kumar

You’ve been to specialty coffee hotspots across the world. How have your experiences shaped the flagship store?

Scandinavia inspired me a lot. The quality of service there was based predominantly on knowledge. Every brewer, roaster, and barista I met had a completely different level of knowledge and that knowledge was shared with the customer. A relatable example would be going to an Apple store for the first time and discovering that every staffer has an in-depth knowledge about the products. So, one of the things I took away from there was that our team had to be knowledgeable about what they were selling, even if it meant setting up a coffee school at the cafe. Our team is not just selling a random service, they are selling coffeeology. And our prices are extremely competitive. Somebody even mentioned that a lot of the coffee we serve is, more or less, the same price as the coffee you get at Starbucks.

The Naandi Foundation has been at work replicating or adapting the Araku model in other parts of India. How has that worked out?

The Naandi Foundation is now massively expanding its agricultural footprint. We are now in a large way expanding into Wardha and the Vidarbha region, replicating the Araku model with other crops. We started off with pomegranate and that is very much on track but we are also exploring or expanding into other portfolios. Turmeric in that region is world-class, and it has a Geographical Indication tag. Then, we looked at red gram and other pulses. The idea is to have a bouquet of produce for the farmer to get it to be profitable and to identify one or two which become unique to that region. I think the winners here will be turmeric, pulses, and organic cotton. We are also looking closely at working in Meghalaya and Kerala and the Konkan belt.

You first went to the Araku Valley in 2001. Looking back, which was the turning point of your journey?

I’d think earning the trust and respect of the tribals was the turning point. I had started with just 1,000 farmers, and I would tell them that one day their land would produce a coffee that would be world-class. And they would always tell me that they wouldn’t let me down. That kind of love and trust from their end really made all the difference.

MURALI K MENON works on content strategy at HaymarketSAC.

source: http://www.moneycontrol.com / MoneyControl / Home> News> Trends> Features / by Murali K Menon / March 20th, 2021

In a first, Kodagu launches project to reduce human-elephant conflict by using honey bees

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

The project has been launched for the first time in the country on an experimental basis by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission with support from the management of Ponnampet Forestry College.

Beekeeping equipment distributed to a farmer during the event (Photo | Special arrangement)

Madikeri :

A research project to reduce human-elephant conflict with the help of honey bees was inaugurated at Ponnampet Forestry College in Kodagu on Monday. The project has been launched for the first time in the country on an experimental basis by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) with support from the college management.

RE-HAB — Reducing Elephant Human Attack by using Bees — aims at controlling wild elephant movement into villages by roping in honey bees. The success of the initiative will be monitored regularly to launch it across the country. A total of three elephant conflict places have been chosen in Kodagu district including two at Nagarahole Sanctuary and one at Thora village in Virajpet where a total of ten beehive boxes have been placed across the forest fringe. The boxes have been placed approximately at eight feet distance and tied using a fence rope. This set-up will act as an elephant conflict mitigation measure.

The project was launched by KVIC Chairman Vinay Kumar Saxena at Ponnampet Forestry College. “In 2017, the Sweet Revolution was launched in the nation to promote apiculture. Beekeeping has many benefits and a farmer can earn from the bee wax, royal jelly and bee venom apart from the honey extraction. Further, beekeeping enables cross pollination and increases the income of a farmer by 30%,” he said.

Saxena explained that states with high elephant populations are spending crores on solving the human-elephant conflict and added, “Many of the mitigation methods to control the conflict are unscientific. The research project of RE-HAB will be monitored regularly and, if successful, will be implemented across the country.”

He said that the RE-HAB project will create a sustainable employment opportunity in beekeeping while also fighting the elephant conflict ecologically. Dr Kushalappa, the dean of the Forestry College, reckoned that the project will enable integrated farming while controlling the elephant menace.

Alongside launching the project, a total of 50 beneficiaries were given bee colonies and beekeeping equipment by KVIC to promote apiculture in the district. Dr Sudarshan of KVIC said, “We are finding a physical solution to an ecological problem. Nature must work with nature and the RE-HAB will work at a low cost.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Prajna GR / Express News Service / March 15th, 2021

Braveheart boy from Kodagu posthumously honoured for saving lives of schoolmates

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

During a picnic, some students who went for a swim in the Cauvery were pulled by the water currents. Lenin Bopanna managed to save the lives of four students but drowned in the process.

Lenin Bopanna

Madikeri :

A student who drowned saving the lives of his schoolmates was posthumously honoured with the Hoysala Shaurya Award by the Women and Child Welfare department. The award was received by the boy’s parents at a ceremony hosted in Bengaluru.

Lenin Bopanna was a student of Lion’s School in Kalathmadu village near Gonikoppal. In March last year, 39 students of the school from the Scouts and Guides team had visited the popular tourist destination of Dubare Camp for a picnic.

However, a tragic event unfurled as some students who went for a swim in the Cauvery river were pulled by the water currents. Lenin Bopanna managed to save the lives of four students during the incident but drowned in the process.

The son of Madeera Harish and Kavitha of Hysodluru village, Lenin was nominated for the award with the help of state Scouts and Guides Commissioner PGR Sindhya. Lenin’s father Harish said that his son received the award for his bravery following the efforts of Sindhya and the principal of Lion’s School.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Service / March 10th, 2021

Federation Of Kodava Samajas Bats For Sports Varsity In Kodagu

Education, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Leaders, Records, All, Sports

Madikeri: 

Kodagu does not have appropriate or adequate sports infrastructure though the tiny district has produced innumerable sporting icons over the years. Hence, the Union Government must establish a Sports University in Kodagu to give a platform for thousands of emerging sportspersons from Kodagu and also to encourage sportsmen from other districts of Karnataka. 

This demand emerged at a meeting of Federation of Kodava Samajas at Balugodu Samaja premises near Virajpet recently. Explaining the need for a Sports University in Kodagu, the participants of the meeting said that Kodagu district had contributed thousands of sportspersons to the State and to the Nation.

Every village in Kodagu has sports talents in abundance but the budding sportspersons lack encouragement, state-of-the-art facilities and professional training. This way, several sports talents are being ignored, speakers at the meeting said. 

Over 50 players from Kodagu have represented Indian hockey team till date. Not only hockey, the district has produced brilliant sportspersons in other disciplines like athletics, tennis and badminton too. Hockey is encouraged in Kodagu with many tournaments including Kodava Hockey Festival taking place around the year. But  other sports lack facilities and encouragement. 

Kodagu has sports hostels but the facilities available are not adequate. There is a potential for swimming, squash, kabaddi, badminton champions to emerge from the district if proper training and facilities are given, the speakers said. 

If at all the Sports University is established in Kodagu, there will be many state-of-the-art stadiums, and training camps can be conducted by Karnataka State Olympics Association.

“The   Central Government is enthusiastic about starting a Sports University in Mizoram. As Kodagu has given innumerable sports achievers to the nation, we must ask for a Sports University to our district,” they said. 

Establishment of such a University will enable youngsters and emerging sports champions from Kodagu to experience high level competition where national players and international legends and coaches will come to Kodagu and interact with young talents here. 

The meeting resolved to urge the Union Government to establish a Sports University in Kodagu. Former Minister Meriyanda C. Nanaiah, Federation President Kallichanda Vishnu Cariappa, Joint Secretary Mederira Naveen, former President Mallengada Dada Belliappa and others were present.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / March 13th, 2021

Obituary – Kechamada T. Subbamma

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Records, All

Litterateur Kechamada Subbamma Thimmaiah (Pullangada), wife of late Kechamada Thimmaiah, a senior Kodava litterateur and a recipient of ‘Chutuku Ratna’ State Award, passed away yesterday. She was 91.

A native of Kanur village and a retired teacher, she was the Chairperson of the 12th District Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held at Ponnampet.

She has written many books in Kannada and Kodava languages. She leaves behind two sons and a host of relatives and friends.

Last rites were performed at Kanur village yesterday, according to sources.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Obiturary / February 14th, 2021

Minister seeks ₹5 cr. for Sainik School

Education, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Leaders
Minister for Cooperation S.T. Somashekar, Minister for Urban Development B.A. Basavaraj, and Appachu Ranjan, MLA, during their visit to the Sainik School in Kushalnagar on Tuesday.   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

It was flooded after heavy discharge from Harangi dam in 2018

A sum of ₹5 crore has been sought for the development of Sainik School at Kushalnagar that faced flooding during heavy discharge from Harangi Dam in 2018, the year when Kodagu witnessed its worst floods and landslides.

Minister for Cooperation S.T. Somashekar and Minister for Urban Development B.A. Basavaraj, along with Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan, on Tuesday visited the Sainik School. The school authorities told the Ministers about the problems the school faced during Kushalnagar floods.

Principal Kannan explained to Mr. Somashekar the damage caused from the floods in 2018 and sought support for the school’s development.

Mr. Somashekar immediately telephoned Additional Chief Secretary of Irrigation Rakesh Singh, and explained to him the issue.

Mr. Somashekar sought ₹5 crore for taking up development works by the school. “The ACS has responded positively to the appeal,” according to the Minister.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mysuru – February 16th, 2021

Kodagu Medical College Gets Permission To Start B.Sc Nursing Course

Education, Records, All

Madikeri:

Years after it was formed, the Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences at Madikeri, the District Headquarters, has been granted permission by the Government for introducing B.Sc Nursing Course. The course was a long-standing demand from the people of Kodagu, which did not have any medical institute until 2014, when the Medical College  was announced.

Following the sanction for starting the much in demand B.Sc (Nursing), the Medical College has begun preparations for admitting  100 students in the current academic year. As all the 100 seats are under Government quota, the students have to get admission through counselling from Karnataka Examinations Authority.

The  construction of the building for Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences began in 2014 and was completed in 2016. At  present, there are 750 students in the College studying for MBBS course and the District Hospital, which has been attached to the Medical College, has been recently upgraded. 

Medical College Dean Dr. Cariappa said that with the Government granting permission for B.Sc Nursing, the classes will begin from this year itself. Pointing out that there are 100 seats for B.Sc Nursing, he said that this is a four-and-half-year course. The College has recruited teaching and non-teaching faculties and classes are expected to commence soon, he added.

Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan said that the Government was appealed last year to start Nursing Course in the Medical College. The Government has now granted permission and the course will commence this year itself. However, a meeting of Medical College authorities and Health Department officials will be held shortly to decide on the place where classes will be held, he added.

Virajpet MLA and former Assembly Speaker K.G. Bopaiah said that the Health Minister was appealed to start B.Sc Nursing when he last visited Kodagu. This apart, the Chief Minister too was appealed to start the course.

Now, responding to our appeal, the Government has granted permission for Nursing course and classes are expected to commence soon, he pointed out.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / February 22nd, 2021

Need to teach moral education among children stressed

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg
Adichunchanagiri Mutt pontiff Dr Nirmalanandanatha Swami speaks during Guruvandana programme in Bhagamandala

Adichunchanagiri Mutt pontiff Dr Nirmalanandanatha Swami said that the Mutt will contribute towards building the future of the children in Kodagu.

He was speaking during the Guruvandana programme organised by Sri Cauvery PU College in Bhagamandala.

The pontiff said, “Students from foreign countries used to come to Nalanda and Takshashila in India, for education.”

India has produced the greatest scientists, mathematicians and philosophers, he said and also added that Adichunchanagiri Mutt is imparting education to thousands of students.

Virajpet MLA K G Bopaiah said that there is a need to build an educated society in the real sense.

The religious institutions should provide moral education to the children. The people should support the institutions like Mutts in this endeavour, he said.

Cauvery Vidya Sangha president Hosur Satish Kumar Joyappa presided over the programme.

Pattedars of the Chidukaru and Hosagadde families who donated land to the institution were honoured on the occasion.

Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthala Mutt, Hassan seer Shambhunatha Swami, Arameri Kalancheri Mutt seer Shantamallikarjuna Swami, ZP members Chandralaka, Kavitha Prabhakar and others were present.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Bengaluru / by DHNS, Napoklu / February 10th, 2021

General’s‌ ‌Museum,‌ ‌Medical‌ ‌College, Heritage‌ ‌Centre

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technology

Last Sunday, 31st January 2021, I went to Madikeri on a bore-breaking trip with my wife and two friends. It was a two-and-a-half-hour journey by car via Kushalnagar. The road being good travelling was comfortable.

Kushalnagar is the Gateway to Kodagu, with River Cauvery flowing quietly as a boundary between Mysuru and Kodagu districts. The two districts were connected with a bridge. It was a surprise for me to find the town growing enormously. It has become a huge tourist hub. There is Harangi Dam and a Garden a few kilometres away and in the city outskirts you have the famous and very popular Nisargadhama  — riverside forest safari and boating with huge shopping arcades spread over a very large area on Madikeri road. 

Another tourist attraction is the Buddhist Golden Temple on the other side of the river at Bylakuppe, a Tibetan Colony. There is a Sainik School, Engineering College and many more. It is going to be a boom city of Kodagu beforelong.

We reached Madikeri rather late at 3.30 pm keeping our schedule to just three places — Gen. K.S. Thimayya Museum, Medical College and Kodava Heritage Centre. Our President Ram Nath Kovind would inaugurate the Museum tomorrow (6.2.2021) and it was as it should be. Our President, under the Constitution, is the Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces.

Our first visit was to the Gen. Thimayya Museum and those in charge of arranging the artefacts, photographs, videos, audios etc., have indeed taken much time, trouble and care. Special compliments and commendation should go for this great effort to Air Marshal Kodandera C. Nanda Cariappa (retd.), Maj. Biddanda A. Nanda Nanjappa (retd.) and Col. (retd.) Kandrathanda C. Subbaiah. All residents of Kodagu.

As we were sauntering around the place, with a few Army personnel and local labourers working to get the Museum ready to receive the President, there came the most talkative man I have ever met in my life, Maj. Nanda Nanjappa. Indeed a live-wire man bursting at the seams with a zeal and enthusiasm for the work on his hand — getting the Museum ready in all aspects for the big day. I listened to him about how the Museum happened and the herculean efforts he and his friends-in-arms have made to get the place ready for the VVIP arrival. 

I am familiar with this house called “Sunnyside” where Gen. K.S. Thimayya’s mother lived. She was a very famous lady known for her riches and celebrity status. The house is on the main road, as you enter Mercara from Mysuru, on a slope. I remember, as a student in Madikeri in the 1950s, going for evening walk with fellow students and friends on this road and occasionally talk about the lady of the house with awe. There was a fountain visible from the gate with an angel perched on top. The house being at the bottom of the slope was not visible to the road.

According to my information this house was sold by Gen. Thimayya’s wife to the Government of Karnataka in the year 1972 and the RTO Office took over this house, with about 2.5 acres of land, for its use. Wonder it took over 50 years to reclaim the house for the Museum under the Kannada and Culture Department of the State Government. Thanks to the efforts of Field Marshal Cariappa – General Thimayya Forum comprising about 22 members to get the State Government to vacate the RTO and set up this Museum. However, the theme, concept and the vision of the Museum came mainly from two Army and one Air Force Veterans who are also members of the Forum — Air Marshal K.C. Nanda Cariappa, Col. K.C. Subbaiah and Maj.  B.A. Nanjappa — that I mentioned earlier. A good job well done. Sure, the Supreme Commander of Indian Armed Forces, Ram Nath Kovind, will have many good words to say about the Museum and give a big Shabash for the Forum.

I do not want to be presumptuous but I guess there is a need for a small library with books on Gen. K.S. Thimayya and other top brass in the Army, which is also a reading room for reference-seekers and book-worms.

Our next visit was to the Medical College, about five kilometres from downtown or 11 kilometres via Abbey Falls. It is located atop a hill in a village known as Karnageri. A number of high-rise buildings, washed in light pink, are visible from a distance as we manoeuvred the never-ending, serpentine, well-laid out concrete road. The construction of the road itself must have cost a fortune. A clear case of penny wise, pound foolish.

Access to city for students and staff must be a very time-consuming and tiring exercise. Specially during monsoon. In Kodagu, specially Madikeri, climate is of two kinds — monsoon and winter veiled in mist. Summer is, no doubt, severe but short.

I left the place wondering if the Government officials or the politicians could not find another place, plain land in Virajpet, Gonikoppal or Kushalnagar considering the importance of the logistics and environment for locating such an important institution. Let it be.

My next visit was to my mad obsession, the Kodava Heritage Centre at Vidyanagar in Madikeri. About this Centre I have written enough and more and our reporters of Star of   Mysore and Mysooru Mithra too have published many pictorial reports. All in vain.

The idea of a Kodava Heritage Centre may be well-meaning and also much-needed for a Vanishing Tribe, Kodavas. But, the way it was held to ransom in the past 15 years is tragic and an insult to “Kodavame”. As I saw it, I do not think it will be completed at all and seems to be in danger of being abandoned as unviable. Is it jinxed? If it is so, so be it. What cannot be cured must be endured till the end comes. There is no medicine for fate !

That way the fruition of Gen. Thimayya Museum is a miracle. Unless such miracles happen, this Heritage Centre will not come to fruition.

Pictorial journey of Madikeri By K.B. Ganapathy

A photo of Gen. K.S. Thimayya
Sunnyside: Gen. K.S. Thimayya Museum building with a portico.
The RTO had ruined the building without maintenance and it was restored. The picture shows the cast-iron ornate dwarf pillars on an open veranda which were fully buried in a protective wall by the RTO. Only when the wall was demolished, these pillars emerged.
Gen. K.S. Thimayya with the VIPs — Jawaharlal Nehru and V.K. Krishna Menon.
A cement sculpture in the open yard of the Museum.
… and the well as old as the building.
Medical College at Karnageri village in Madikeri.
A view of Kodava Heritage Centre in Vidyanagar, Madikeri, from the main road.

e-mail: voice@starofmysore.com

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Abracadabra> Columns / by K.B. Ganapathy / February 05th, 2021

Two Cadets From Coorg Battalion For Republic Day Parade In Delhi

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

Madikeri:

Two cadets from 19 KAR NCC Battalion (Coorg Battalion) in Kodagu of Karnataka-Goa Directorate have been selected for the Annual Republic Day (R-Day) Parade in New Delhi on Jan. 26. They will perform in the NCC contingent that will march through the Rajpath greeting dignitaries including President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Cadet M.S. Indrajith, a second BBA student of Field Marshal K.M Cariappa College in Madikeri, will take part in Prime Minister’s Rally. He is the son of M.G. Subramani  and Sujatha. 

Cadet C.T. Yashasvi, also from Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa College, is a second BSc student. Daughter of Manu Thammiaha and Samitha, she will take part in the All India Rajpath Rally. 

College Principal Dr. C. Jagat Thimmaiah, congratulating the cadets for representing the College in National-level, said every year at least one cadet from the College takes part in the Republic Day Parade. 

The cadets have been selected and trained by Commanding Officer Col. Chethan Deman and NCC Officer Maj. Raghav of Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa College, according to a press release.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / January 25th, 2021