After a long hiatus, SRK is making a comeback on television!
Shah Rukh Khan will soon be seen hosting a quiz show on &TV called India Poochega: Sabse Shaana Kaun. The actor is super-excited for his stint as a host. We hear that the show is not based on academic questions and contestants from various walks of life will be pitted against each other.
At the latest taping of the show SRK invited cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey (of Kolkata Knight Riders) The cricketing sensations were called upon to play the game of Sabse Shaana Kaun and they all had a blast. SRK tweeted, “Good fun time with the boys. Played for charity on SSK. Thank you for coming.”
King Khan prepped up for the quiz show at his home Mannat and put in a lot of late nights into the rehearsals of the show. He is quite excited for the audience to watch the show and he tweeted, “Shooting sabse shaana kaun….meeting so many wonderful ppl with common issues but special grit & determination. So special to be ordinary.” The actor also shared with his fans that he is “learning life” while shooting for SSK.
source: http://www.bollywoodlife.com / BollywoodLife.com / Home> Shahrukh Khan> India Poochega / by Shristi Dixit / Monday – February 16th, 2015
As the debate over who invented the flat white rumbles on, it’s a good time to highlight that instant coffee was actually invented in Invercargill.
For over a decade a Japanese scientist was credited with the invention, but just recently it’s been revealed that Southland spice and coffee merchant David Strang was actually the first to develop a powdered form of coffee in the 1800s.
“His claim to fame is the invention of instant coffee, an invention he patented in 1890, and that’s the earliest recorded patent for instant coffee in the world,” says Tracey Wedge of Southland Museum.
But Mr Strang’s role in coffee history was basically forgotten, until memories were reignited a few years ago when the Historic Places Trust registered his son James’ house.
Since then the Southland Museum has built an exhibition around Strang memorabilia, including some very old tins of some of the first ever instant soluble powdered coffee.
“It revolutionised coffee consumption around the world. Instant coffee became a household product,” says Ms Wedge.
Mr Strang is believed to have invented the powder by blowing hot, dry air over liquid coffee until it reduced.
While he admits Mr Strang’s invention was ground-breaking, coffee connoisseur Arjun Haszard doubts it would have tasted any good.
“By using heat on that coffee you’d see a lot of flavour deterioration, a lot of over-extraction and very horrible flavours coming out,” says Mr Haszard.
But even so, Invercargill locals were surprised to hear their town had a new claim to fame.
“Wow, there you go, you learn something new every day, don’t you,” said one local.
“It’s very clever, isn’t it,” said another.
While Southlanders have produced a handful of inventions, instant coffee is the only one to have gone completely global.
3 News
source: http://www.3news.co.nz / 3 News / by Kloe Palmer, Reporter / Thursday – January 15th, 2015
12 finalists to be selected from regional competitions; National champion to represent India at WBC at Seattle in April 2015
Coffee Board of India will organise the National Barista Championship (NBC) in Bangalore on February 27. Twelve finalists selected from the preliminary rounds from regional championships will compete for NBC. For the first time, Coffee Board of India organised two regional competitions for selection of finalists for the NBC. The first preliminary round of the NBC 2015 was conducted on February 12 and 13 at Delhi Institute of Hotel Management in New Delhi for participants from North and Western India. From 20 contestants, six were shortlisted for the NBC 2015 by jury. The preliminary round for the South and Eastern region will be held on 25th and 26th in Bangalore, one day prior to the National Barista Championship. The national champion will represent India at the World Barista Championship (WBC) happening at Seattle on April 9, 2015.
Coffee Board of India has taken the onus of organizing the NBC since last year. Prior to that the annual event was organised by Speciality Coffee Association of India (SCAI). India has been sending representative to the global event since 2003. Speaking on the occasion, Dr VR Gudde Gowda, Dy Director, Coffee Board of India said that the objective of the competition was to promote coffee culture and also to identify technically skilled Baristas. The competitions are conducted as per the guidelines and rules and regulations of WBC.
The participating Baristas has to prepare four espressos, four cappuccinos and four signature drinks within 15 minutes to four savoury judges. The competitions are judged upon four criteria – taste evaluation, beverage presentation, barista technique and personal presentation.
source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com / Hospitality Biz India / Home> News Track / by HBI Staff, New Delhi / Monday – February 16th, 2015
The State Forest department is preparing a report on ways to mitigate the impact on the environment in Kodagu, when the 400 KV high tension power line is laid.
The report on the environment mitigation plan comprises short-term and long-term measures.
The measures are being listed keeping in mind development and protection of green cover.
It will be sent to the government by the end of this week, which will then be forwarded to the Power Grid Corporation and the Union government for funds and approval, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (wildlife) Vinay Luthra told Deccan Herald.
Some of the listed measures include organising anti-depredation camps, building better barriers, not disrupting the existing waterholes, providing natural fodder spaces for animals, not using weapons against animals and if carrying weapons, getting them registered with the Forest department to ensure that animals are not harmed, not coming in contact with animals, not indulging in afforestation activities, not camping inside forest areas, reducing loss of green cover as much as possible and in regard to work in forest areas, ensuring that all permissions have been obtained and following rules like no-stay inside the forest during night hours, not hunting, not entering restricted forest area without permission and so on.
The report plans to ensure that no human or animal casualty is reported, but in the last 30 days two people have died due to man-elephant conflict and one person sustained injuries while working near coffee estates.
The power line from Mysuru to Kozhikode will pass through Kodagu. Of the 210-km line, 50 km will pass through coffee and paddy fields in Kodagu and the rest is through pristine Western Ghats regions – touching borders of Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Dubare and Devamachi Reserve Forests.
This line is part of the central power grid project and will supply power to many southern regions, including Bengaluru.
Due to protests, this project been delayed by over five years. Lines have already been laid till Mysuru and Kerala, except some patches in Wyanad. It was to be completed in 2007, but was stalled. Work started again in November 2014.
During a meeting of agitators from Kodagu and power corporation companies last week, Energy Minister D K Shivakumar affirmed that the project would not be held back or delayed further. Shivakumar said that the project was important for Bengaluru and industries, to ensure 22-hour power supply daily, especially during summers. But agitators from Kodagu said that it was a scam. C P Muthanna, a retired colonel in the Army and president of the Coorg Wildlife Society, pointed out that there was already a 220-KV line in the region, which can be upgraded to 400 KV and used, instead of occupying fresh land and axing over 50,000 trees for the new line.
DH News Service
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State / by Bosky Khanna, Bengaluru / DHNS – February 17th, 2015
Brigadier who carved the 22-acre Cariappa park out of defence land near MG Road slams colleagues for barring entry to public The man who opened the Army’s doors to Bengalureans has slammed his colleagues for barring the city’s residents from entering the Cariappa Memorial Park in the heart of the city.
(The 22-acre park was meant…)
The 22-acre park was meant to be the Army’s gift to the city but has been closed since 1998, two years after it was inaugurated. A board next to the now-abandoned park’s gate reads: `Restricted area’. The present Army establishment in the state says the park area, categorized as A1 defence land, cannot be made available to the public under Ministry of Defense guidelines.
Brigadier (Retd) Ashok Nagpaul, who established the park on defence land to foster closer interaction between the Army and public, said the Army cannot block entry into the park. “The land not only belongs to the defence but also to the people of Bengaluru,” said the former Commanding Officer for Karnataka and Kerala.
“There was 57 acres of land lying wasted. There were illegal activities like prostitution and other things that used to happen in that area, so I decided to build a parade ground and the park,” Nagpaul, 72, said over the phone from Pune.
A top Army official said that with defence land being rampantly encroached on, the Army cannot afford to give its land for public use.”In 1994 maybe people were not conscious about utilization of defence land, but consequent to which in lots of places we started losing defence land, and … very stringent guidelines were framed that you cannot use defence land for public purposes,” the official told ET, declining to be identified.
Until 1994, the park area was part of a larger parcel of land between Cubbon Road and MG Road.
source:http://www.articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / Home> Collection> MG Road / by ET Bureau / February 17th, 2015
IIHR is targeting 35,000 hectares of paddy land mostly left fallow for 6 months to grow vegetables
If things go according to plan, Kodagu, the land of coffee and pepper, may turn into one of the major destinations for high-value vegetable cultivation a few years from now.
A survey conducted by the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) showed that paddy was being cultivated on about 35,000 hectares of plain land in the hilly district of Kodagu. Most of this is being left fallow for six months from October to March after the monsoon. Vegetable experts in the IIHR want to make best use of the land during the “off- season” by motivating people to take up vegetable cultivation.
“It is possible to cultivate vegetables during the off-season as their water requirement is not as huge as paddy,” says A.T. Sadashiva, Principal Scientist in the IIHR’s vegetable Crops’ Division. Also, the weather in Kodagu is similar to that of Ooty, where vegetables are in high demand, he said. Above all, vegetable farming fetches at least one-and-a-half times more returns than paddy, he says.
Preliminary work towards promotion of vegetable cultivation has already begun. The IIHR has developed model farms on about 50 hectares in different areas of Kodagu where high-value hybrid varieties developed by it are being cultivated. “We have also held four field days since 2012 in different areas such as Suntikoppa, where cultivation of different vegetables at the model farms has been showcased. Observing the overwhelming response to such events, we plan to have two more such field days shortly,” he says, while expressing confidence that it may be possible to encourage farmers to take up vegetable cultivation on a minimum of 100 hectares this year.
At present, vegetables like okra, tomato, beans, yard-long beans and chillies are being promoted, while other vegetables such as carrot will be introduced in the next phase, he says. Onion cultivation has also been introduced on an experimental basis.
The marketing network for the vegetables in Kodagu is not advanced. The IIHR is in talks with the State Horticulture Department, which has promised to provide facilities for sale of vegetables in different parts of the district, Mr. Sadashiva says, adding that plans are also afoot to sell the vegetables to other districts and States as and when the production increases.
It is possible to cultivate vegetables during the off-season as their water requirement is not as huge as paddy
A.T. Sadashiva Principal Scientist, IIHR
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by B.S. Satish Kumar / Bengaluru – February 22nd, 2015
Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace Museum is hosting a new exhibition, featuring the 500-year history of Turkish coffee. Organized in collaboration with the Turkish Coffee Culture and Research Association, the exhibition, titled “A Drop of Pleasure: 500 years of Turkish Coffee” opened on Feb. 17 at the museum’s Has Ahırlar section with the attendance of Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik.
Speaking at the ceremony, Çelik said Turkish coffee was an inevitable part of social life, not only of eating and drinking culture.
He said Turkish coffee culture dated back to the 16th century, and it had particular importance in the Ottoman Empire, both in the palace and daily life, as socio-cultural event.
“Beyond being a drink, coffee exists in the center of a big cultural structure. It also has a very important place in daily life. It used to be prepared and drank in coffee houses and movable coffee cookers. The coffee houses, where coffee culture had been surviving for hundreds of centuries, also hosted traditional Turkish arts such as shadow play, eulogy shows and theater-in-the-round,” the minister said, adding that coffee was born in Yemen and expanded west thanks to the Ottomans.
He said the Ottoman Empire, which was dominant on the trade routes between the east and west, spread coffee and helped it be loved by Europeans during diplomatic relations.
“For example, during his ambassadorship in Paris, humorist Süleyman Agha promoted coffee to French culture. When he was returning to the empire, his Armenian-origin assistant stayed in Paris and opened a coffee house. Another striking example is that after the Siege of Vienna in 1683, the first coffee houses were opened in Vienna with 500 sacks of coffee left by the Ottoman Empire. From then on, Europeans met real coffee culture,” Çelik said.
UNESCO added Turkish coffee and its tradition to its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013. In this way, Çelik said for the first time the culture and tradition of a drink was added to that list.
Most comprehensive show on coffee
The exhibition “A Drop of Pleasure: 500 years of Turkish Coffee” consists of pieces from the Topkapı Palace Museum collections as well as the collections of many private museums and libraries. The show reveals the unique ceremony that Turkish coffee created in the Ottoman culture.
Curated by Ersu Pekin, the exhibition is the most comprehensive one related to coffee in Turkey and will be open through June 15.
Most of the pieces in the exhibition are being displayed for the first time. It brings together historical, cultural and social elements of coffee, its botanic features and cooking methods in the world between the 16th and 20th centuries.
source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com / Hurriyet Daily News / Home Page> Arts – Culture/Artss / Istanbul – Anadolu Agency / February 18th, 2015
Homebound Migrant workers return to their sheds after the day’s work at a coffee estate near Madikeri, Coorg. – GRN SOMASHEKAR
Though migration of labour from the east has helped revive the plantations in southern India, questions remain on the long-term implications, Vishwanath Kulkarni reports
As the harvest season starts in Coorg, Karnataka, coffee planter MC Kariappa has a lot of issues to contend with — productivity, weather and, the biggest worry of all in recent times, paucity of labourers. So when a dozen labourers from Assam landed at the gates of his coffee plantation at Madapur in January, at the start of the harvest season, Kariappa heaved a sigh of relief.
Though not adept at, or trained to work in coffee plantations, these migrant labourers -– both men and women — proved useful for Kariappa in harvesting Arabicas, the mild and premium variety of coffee. “Some of them are as good as the local workers, picking up to 100kg of ripened coffee a day,” says Kariappa, relieved that the harvest this year went off smoothly.
Migrant workers are now a common sight in Coorg’s coffee plantations, especially during the harvest season, as the country’s key coffee-growing region has been facing an acute shortage of labour over the past few years. Traditionally, plantations in Coorg and Chikmagalur attracted migrant workers from the drought-prone regions of North Karnataka and the plains of neighbouring Mysuru. This pool of labour now increasingly prefers urban centres such as Bengaluru, as jobs in malls, petrol bunks and garment sector are better paying. There is less toil too, compared to work in the plantations.
“Most of the worker quarters in my plantations were vacant until these people [migrant workers] landed here,” says Kariappa. Adds N Bose Mandanna, former vice-president of the Coffee Board and a planter in Suntikoppa: “Without improved labour availability, we would have been in a soup.” There are no official figures, but the number of workers from Assam and other eastern parts of the country migrating to Karnataka’s plantations are commonly believed to run into ‘thousands.’
The movement of labour is not towards Karnataka alone. Plantations across South India, including those in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, now depend on the labourer from eastern or north-eastern India.
A ‘healthy’ phenomenon
The daily wagers at Coorg’s coffee plantations largely come from Assam, while tea gardens in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris, and the Kerala estates growing coffee, spices, coconut and rubber get their workforce from Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.
In the other two southern states — Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — the migration is confined to urban areas.
This was the case elsewhere in the south too, with migration initially confined to urban job sectors such as construction, security services and jewellery-making. The plantations have recently emerged as a favourite destination for the migrant unskilled labourer and the trend is seen to be gaining momentum now. It helped that connectivity between the two corners of the country improved with the addition of train connections.
“Growth in the South is creating employment opportunities. And migration is a healthy sign for the economy,” says Gopinath Parakuni, founder and General Secretary of CiviDep India, a non-governmental organisation working among labourers in the plantation, construction and garment sectors.
It helps that mechanisation has not caught up with plantations, as it has elsewhere in the agriculture sector for tasks such as land preparation, sowing and harvesting. In Punjab and Haryana, where farms were once a favourite destination for labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, mechanisation has taken over, leading to falling numbers of migrant farm workers.
Rural migration mirrors a larger trend in the country, with about two million migrating annually from rural to urban areas and vice versa, says Ram B Bhagat, Professor and Head, Department of Migration and Urban Studies, International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai. In other words, about two per cent of India’s 1.21 billion population migrates every year. Half of the population is under the age of 25 and migration helps them secure jobs and livelihoods.
Inflection point
In all the southern States, the arrival of migrant workers was preceded by the movement of the local workforce to urban job markets.
In the Nilgiris, the tea sector had for decades depended on farm hands from the southern districts of Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram and Salem. In 1999, the labour unrest in two estates set off several changes.
Workers moved to the plains and the knitwear cluster of Tirupur began to emerge as a hot destination for jobseekers back then. “This was followed by the boom in the IT services sector, which created allied jobs. The workers realised that plantation wages could not match the package offered in the urban markets. The rest is history,” says an executive from the plantations industry, who declined to be named.
Though officials from the local tea industry were unable to provide any figure, it is estimated that over 50,000 migrant workers currently work in the Nilgiris.
Tea plantations in Kerala traditionally employed labourers from Tamil Nadu, but are increasingly replacing them with migrants from the eastern and north-eastern parts of the country.
Every day, trains bring over 1,000 migrant workers, mostly unskilled casual labourers, who arrive with the help of friends, relatives or labourer-turned-labour contractors. They are immediately absorbed into the urban job markets in the far corners of Kerala, which is today home to nearly 25 lakh migrant workers — the largest pool in the southern region.
A third of the migrants joins the construction sector, while not that many find work in agriculture.
In the past five years, though, a sizeable number of them have found work in the plantation sector, including rubber estates. After the recent fall in rubber prices forced farmers to leave trees untapped, the migrant workers had to look elsewhere for work.
Moreover, “individual, homestead farmers prefer local workers,” points out Jose Sebastian of the Thiruvananthapuram-based Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation. “Migrant workers are not much preferred on the rubber plantations,” adds Ajith BK, secretary of the Association of Planters Kerala. “Rubber-tapping demands specific skills and requires staying close to the plantation, reporting to work before daybreak and a long-term commitment, as it is not a seasonal harvest,” says Ajith. But in other plantations, the dependence on migrant labour has increased.
For a better life
Noor Mohammad has come to Coorg for the second time this year, seeking work in the plantations. This time, the 25-year-old has brought along his wife and younger brother. “It is good working here in these estates,” says Mohammad, who hails from Darrang in Assam.
He was initially brought to the plantation by a labour contractor or raj mestri. Similarly Asadullah, another worker in his mid-50s, has brought along his family from Guwahati. Back home, the likes of Mohammad and Asadullah own small plots, cultivating rice and vegetables. It is a hand-to-mouth existence, worsened by the violent unrest caused by the Bodo movement.
Life is better in Coorg. The migrants are paid on a par with their local peers, based on the quantity of coffee beans picked daily. This is different from the wages specified under the Plantation Labour Act, which is in effect during the rest of the year. The more the labourers pick, the more they earn — a major incentive. Estate owners pay ₹3.50 to ₹5 for one kg of coffee beans picked. The rates are higher when labour is scarce and time is running short for the harvest.
Many workers tend to remit their earnings back home on a weekly basis. Noor Mohammad and his family plan to save about ₹50,000 during the current season. While many return home at the end of the two-three-month harvest period, others stay back for work such as weeding and trimming.
They get accommodation on the estates and wages are paid according to the Plantation Act, which includes benefits such as provident fund, insurance and gratuity. A male labourer is paid ₹270 a day, and the female counterpart gets ₹230. “Back home, it is difficult for women to go out for work, even in their own rice or vegetable fields,” says Mohammad.
The wage structure is similar in the Nilgiris. “I was earning a daily wage of ₹95-100 back home, but am now getting more than ₹250 a day,” says Rabi, an Assamese working in a tea estate. Industry associations say there is no discrimination in the package or amenities offered to migrant workers. “They are provided accommodation, crèche and all other benefits on a par with the locals,” said the industry executive.
Social dynamics
In Kerala, migrant workers earn as much as ₹700 a day, but their living conditions are not as good as the local labourers. Although squalid, the lodging is often offered for free or at low rates, so the labourers accept them unquestioningly. Factors such as low literacy and unfamiliarity with the local language act as a barrier to integrate with the local community.
In Coorg, locals say they work in harmony with the migrant workforce. “They work on their own and we are on our own,” says Sundri, a local who has been working in coffee plantations for several years.
But experts warn that rising migration can lead to socio-economic issues. In Kerala, which ironically is a major source of manpower for West Asian countries, the locals are increasingly voicing concerns about the alleged rise in law-and-order troubles due to the migrant population. Incidents such as the one in early February where three workers from West Bengal were arrested for allegedly killing a hotel employee in Kozhikode are fuelling such fears. This has prompted the Kerala police to create a database of migrant workers, including their photographs and fingerprints.
In Karnataka, the recent arrest of a terror suspect hailing from Assam has triggered concerns. Plantation associations have advised members to insist on documents such as identity cards from the labourers as a precautionary measure. In the Nilgiris too, the situation is similar.
“It is difficult to do a background check of these people. We do not know if there is infiltration, but there is all-round concern about engaging them. We can’t shoo them away either. Estate managements maintain a register, but it is still not organised,” a planter said on conditions of anonymity.
Though the arrivals of migrants have increased the workforce, the long-term implication on the social fabric remains to be seen, Mandanna adds. This would depend on on how long they would stay back and whether they pick up the local language and integrate well with the local population.
With inputs from LN Revathy, KPM Basheer and KV Kurmanath
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Features / by Vishwanath Kulkarni / February 16th, 2015
Maruthi Nilaya, a modest dwelling in Bagalugunte, an area adjoining bustling Yeshwantpur, was just another house until Monday afternoon. The family of KC Cariappa, living in a first-floor house, was the typical financially struggling but happy foursome. But on Tuesday, there were curious glances and knowing smiles as people flocked to their home.
The search for Cariappa’s house didn’t take long as a child perched on a compound asked, “Cariappa mane huduktaa iddeera?” (Are you looking for Cariappa’s house?). Before waiting for a reply, he pointed towards the house. The skinny kid — like the other residents of the street and the country now — knew who Konganda Charamanna Cariappa is.
Life has taken a dramatic turn for the spinner, who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for a jaw-dropping Rs 2.4 crore — 24 times his base price. The family can’t believe it. After a tiring overnight bus journey from Shivamogga, where he played a league match, Cariappa sat down to watch the IPL auctions with his family.
When KKR first put the paddle up, he admitted, he clapped for himself. Every member of the close-knit family had tears of joy.
Prathima, Cariappa’s mother and a housewife, summed up the scene: “The auction apart, just to hear his name being called out was enough to make me cry. When the bidding was over, it felt unreal that he had commanded a price like that. It still feels like a dream, one which we hope will never end.”
In less than three minutes, the youngster, named after Field Marshal General K M Cariappa, went from a budding cricketer to a crorepati.
“We stay in a rented house for which we pay Rs 5,000 a month. We have lived here for 12 years and haven’t had enough resources to repair it. I first want to buy a house for my family. I want to give the rest of the money to my parents,” the 20-year-old told TOI.
Will he gift himself a mean machine? “No. I am not interested in bikes and cars. I spent all my time working towards my dream of making it big as a cricketer, so I had no time to dream about fancy vehicles. For me, it is just a mode of commuting. Until a year ago, when I bought a gearless two-wheeler, I travelled by bus,” said Cariappa, who has been mentored by former Ranji player Sudhindra Shinde.
Coming from a youngster who has just won a ticket to the glitzy world of IPL, the statement may seem shocking; but given his hard life, he knows the value of every penny earned. For Rs 10 per day is the pocket money he and his older brother, Nanaiah, receive.
“It was all we can afford, and our children know that. Cariappa would leave home at 4.30, change two buses and walk from Shivajinagar to reach Chinnaswamy Stadium by 6am. But he never complained. Both our children know hard pressed we are for money,” Pratima confided.
Four years ago, when Cariappa made it clear cricket was his true passion, his father, a Charmanna, a supervisor at Kodava Samaja, could not afford the Rs 6,500 that was required to enroll him in a coaching camp and buy a cricket kit. But the doting father from Virajpet dug into his meagre savings and borrowed from friends to ensure his son had the basics.
“When he first said he didn’t want to study, I was very worried because I know the importance of education. People around me asked me to discourage him and said talent alone would not get him anywhere. We needed political influence and money to see him go the distance. I didn’t have either. But he was adamant, and said the pads were his books, the bat his pen, and he would script his life’s path with a ball in hand,” Charmanna said.
Elaborating on his son’s struggle, the man who earns a little over Rs 20,000 a month said: “I often give Cariappa Rs 100 for fuel. After filling petrol, he has little money left. Although I rarely show emotions at home, I sit at work and worry if my son has eaten or how he will manage if his vehicle breaks down. My face brightened after the auction.”
Cariappa, for his part, has realigned his priorities. While his pre-Monday ambition was to play for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy, he now wants to play for Team India.
For a youngster who has dared to dream, it surely is no lofty ambition.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru> Namma Metro / TNN / February 18th, 2015
At the monthly meeting held on Thursday, Virajpet Town Panchayat unanimously passed the resolution to impose ban on plastic including 40 micron plastic, in the town panchayat limits from April 1.
Town Panchayat President said although ban on plastic is in force in TP limits, 40 micron plastic is still being used. When raids were conducted on those who were trying to sell banned plastic, some Town Panchayat members tried to create pressure.
Hence, it would be better to lift the ban. This remark lead to elaborate discussions and finally the meet decided to pass the resolution to impose ban on all types of plastic from
April 1.
Border survey
TP President told Urban Development Authority Engineer that, the resurvey towards marking of town border is being conducted as flaws have been spotted in the survey work conducted in 2008 and that the resurvey is 80 percent complete.
The engineer asked the President to submit the final report on the survey work as soon as possible since a high level meeting of the urban development authority is scheduled to be held in Bangalore on February 28.
Member D P Rajesh Padmanabh alleged that the license fee of the shops of people belonging to Savitha Samaja, Madiwala and other classes. He meanwhile urged to decrease the license fee. He further urged to increase the cable license fee as a single person in operating the cable network in the entire town.
Member Rachan Medappa said that the hotels in the town are not maintaining cleanliness and hygiene. The officials should consider the matter seriously as the tourists from other places visit the town and avail hotel service in a large number.
It was decided in the meeting to rent the JCT machine purchased by the Town PAnchayat, to the needy public. Also, it was decided to officially inaugurate the private bus stand, after the completion of the development works.
The meeting resolved to cancel the no objection certificate of the wine shop at Gonikoppa road as the shop owner is availing the facilities from Virajpet Town Panchayat and paying the taxes to Bittangala Panchayat.
Though most of the offices in the government buildings in the Town Panchayat limits, have been using the basic facilities such as water and others, they have kept crore of rupees of tax pending.
If the taxes are not recovered, the maintenance of the Panchayat would be difficult, the members said. The President directed the Executive officer to serve notices to such offices.
The President meanwhile said that the licenses of some shops have not been renewed as the shop owners are paying the taxes. Hence, she told the Panchayat staff to go to the offices, collect the tax directly, before renewing the licenses.
Discussions were also carried out on providing of water facility and construction of street lights and drains.
Virajpet Town Panchayat Vice President Chandrashekhar, Development works standing committee President T J Shankar, Chief Officer M G Ramesh, Engineer Hemkumar and others were present.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DHNS – Virajpet, February 20th, 2015
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