Monthly Archives: May 2016

‘Vietnam King’ title awarded to city’s Yoga Guru Dr. Raghavendra Pai

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
Yoga Guru Dr. Raghavendra R. Pai, Founder, Sri Vedavyasa Yoga Pratishthana, Mysuru, seen receiving the award at the 2nd Om Yoga & Wellness Hub Festival, held at Vietnam recently.
Yoga Guru Dr. Raghavendra R. Pai, Founder, Sri Vedavyasa Yoga Pratishthana, Mysuru, seen receiving the award at the 2nd Om Yoga & Wellness Hub Festival, held at Vietnam recently.

Mysuru :

In the culture barter expedition of global leaders around the world, Yoga from India has found itself a revered place across borders in an overwhelming acceptance.

Standing up for the physical, mental and spiritual balance practice, Yoga traces its origin back to the diversely fit cultural land of India.

Last year in his UN address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested to have June 21 of every year dedicated to celebrate this practice as International Yoga Day.

“Let’s pledge to make Yoga an integral part of our daily lives,” he mentioned. June 21 (Summer Solstice), is also the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere.

As the entire world gears up for the 2nd International Yoga Day celebrations in June 2016, countries across the globe are leaving no stone unturned to make it a grand success. Vietnam, much ahead in its vision to promote Yoga, had organised an event to recognise the efforts of Yoga practitioners from India, who have worked hard to promote Yoga across the world.

Vietnam’s Om Yoga & Wellness Hub, a centre for Yoga, Ayurveda and Wellness, along with Sri Vedavyasa Yoga Pratishthana, Mysuru, had jointly organised the 2nd Om Yoga & Wellness Hub Festival, in line with International Yoga Day celebrations, on May 14 and 15, 2016 at Om Yoga & Well- ness Hub by Master Santhosh Cheriyamane, Binh Duong, Vietnam.

The event created two National Records — 81 yoga students and instructors performing 1008 Suryanamaskaras and a 24-hour Yoga marathon under the guidance of Yoga Guru Dr. Raghavendra R. Pai, Founder, Sri Vedavyasa Yoga Pratishthana, Mysuru and Master Santhoshkumar Cheriyamane Anand, Founder, Om Yoga and Wellness Hub, Vietnam.

For their excellence in Yoga, Dr. Raghavendra Pai and Master Santoshkumar Cheriyamane were awarded the prestigious ‘Vietnam King’ title by the Vietnam Book of Records on May 24. The certificates were officially handed over to them by the President of ‘Vietnam Book of Records’ Dr. Nguyen Van Vien and Chief Spokesperson Le Tran Truong An.

The other recipients of these title included Konanavar Somashekhara, Hebbasuru Siddappa Shivappa, Dombara Ganesh, Keri Suresh Kallappa, Annigeri Shivakumar, Yoga instructors from Karnataka and Perumal Selvakumar and Palanisamy Premkumar from Tamil Nadu.

Santosh Kumar Cheriyamane Anand, a Yoga practitioner, originally, hailing from Kushalnagar in Kodagu and Nguyen Thi Thanh Van from Vietnam, co-founders of Om Yoga & Wellness Hub, have popularised Yoga in Vietnam and also successfully established centres across three more cities in Vietnam. At these Centres, 12 dedicated instructors from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are imparting knowledge on not just practising Yoga, but also on Ayurveda and its natural healing methods and processes to those interested in and around the region.

The efforts of these Yoga practitioners in promoting Yoga across the globe is only the beginning of a much bigger dream envisioned by Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Siddha and Homeopathy) and the UN.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / May 30th, 2016

Prajwal Poovaiah speaks of Asthitva

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg

PrajwalPoovaiahKF30may2016

There may be more than one actor of the same name in the film industry, but when you share your name with an actor of the opposite gender, you might opt for what Prajwal Poovaiah hopes to do. “I prefer to be called Prajju,” says the actress, who shares her first name with actor Prajwal Devaraj.

The countdown for the release of her next film, Asthitva , has begun and Prajju reveals yet another aspect about herself with this: “I have always been passionate about acting and wanted to be here.”

While she started taking up offers for print modelling right from the age of 14, Prajju says that facing the camera for a film was different from what she was used to as a model. “I have been a part of over 150 ads, but none of them can be compared to what it was like to act. As a model, you don’t have to mouth dialogues. I have never even performed onstage before.

So, I decided to equip myself better with an acting course in Mumbai, at filmmaker Subhash Ghai’s institute. Movie offers started pouring in right after,” she says.

Prajju adds, “I did one Tamil film and my Tulu film Oriyan Thoonda Oriyagapuji made a mark for being one of these few films that played in theatres for over 100 days,” she says.

In Asthitva, Prajju plays a confident young girl who holds friendship and love in high regard.

“Working became all the more fun because it was a young team. Our director, Nutan Umesh sir, however, is a perfectionist. I got to learn so much about dedication and commitment to the art form from him. He is also rather strict and demanding,” she says.

For a girl who loves dancing, Prajju is happy to have gotten the opportunity to show off her dance skills in this film.

“I have learnt Bharatanatyam before, but I enjoy learning and performing all forms of dance. For Asthitva, it was for a fun, peppy, party number. I hope people like it,” she says.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> Entertainment> Kannada> Movies / Kavya Christopher / TNN / May 29th, 2016

Happy Birthday Gulshan Devaiah: Six things you didn’t know about the actor

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg

Here are six things you probably didn’t know about Gulshan Devaiah.

Actor Gulshan Devaiah, known for his role in Ram-Leela, Shaitan and Hunterrr, turns 38 on May 28.
Actor Gulshan Devaiah, known for his role in Ram-Leela, Shaitan and Hunterrr, turns 38 on May 28.

Actor Gulshan Devaiah, known for his role in Ram-Leela, Shaitan and Hunterrr, turns 38 on May 28. The birthday boy is all set to appear in Pooja Bhatt’s ‘Cabaret’ opposite Richa Chadha which is to be released this June. Here are six things you probably didn’t know about the actor.

1. While Gulshan rocks the screen with his brilliant performances, he can also floor you with his culinary skills. When free, he loves to experiment with flavours and textures of food and try new combinations in the kitchen like a Non-veg upma for a change.

2. In addition to acting, Gulshan is also an artist. As a kid he was always inclined towards drawing. He came second in his state in the higher grade drawing exam conducted by the state secondary education board.

3. Gulshan is a big fan of body building contests. Every year he keenly follows some international contests from around the world like Mr Olympia and Arnold Classic.

4. Gulshan has come a long way being a performer. His first performance was at the age of 5.

5. Gulshan can get mildly agoraphobic (an anxiety disorder where the person perceives the surroundings to be dangerous, uncomfortable, or unsafe). He tries to avoid situations with large crowds or unfamiliar places because of which he is an anxious traveller.

6. Along with being an actor and an artist, this multi-talented lad is also a fashion design graduate from NIFD.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Bollywood / by Express Web Desk, New Delhi / May 28th, 2016

HKFC International: Joshna Chinappa reaches her biggest career PSA final

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports, World Opinion

Chinappa will meet the top seed Joelle King in the final on Saturday.

Joshna Chinappa (in front) in action at the HKFC International in Hong Kong on Friday (image courtesy: Hong Kong Squash Twitter)
Joshna Chinappa (in front) in action at the HKFC International in Hong Kong on Friday (image courtesy: Hong Kong Squash Twitter)

World No. 13 Joshna Chinappa, who is the last Indian standing at the $25,000 MEML HKFC International 2016, delighted Indian fans at this Hong Kong tournament by reaching her career’s biggest ever PSA final on Friday. And it did not come easy! The third seed showed a lot of resilience to carve out an 8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9 victory over the World No. 10 and defending champion Annie Au of Hong Kong.

The 29-year-old Indian national champion had defeated Au at the Asian Squash Team Championships just a few days back and the experience surely came in handy. She was narrowly edged by the second seed and home favourite in the first game of the match but came up with a big response to take the next two games narrowly.

However, the 27-year-old southpaw was not one to go down so easily. Buoyed by the crowd support, she stormed back to grab the fourth game 11-7. With the momentum on Au’s side, the pressure was then all on Joshna’s shoulders to try and stop Au from running away with the decider.

And she managed to do just that! She was close on the heels of the local player even though Au had a slim lead of 8-6 deep in the fifth game. But Joshna made one last push and with an incredible show of determination, she was able to grab the win in exactly 1 hour.

The Indian was understandably elated after such a big achievement.

“Every point was fought to the max, just happy to get through to my biggest ever PSA final,” said the Chennai girl.

Joshna to meet top seed in final

She will next meet the top seed Joelle King who beat the eighth seed Donna Urquhart 11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 11-6 in the other semi-final. The two last met in the second round of the Hong Kong Open in December where Chinappa went down in a gruelling five-game match.

Earlier, sixth seed Dipika Pallikal had bowed out to King in the quarter-finals.

source: http://www.sportskeeda.com / SportsKeeda.com / Home Page> Squash> HKFC International / by Sudeshna Banerjee@Sudsports / May 27th, 2016

Human Rights Commission bats for Green Patch, to save 3 tree species

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

In an unusual act, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has stepped in to save three tree species, especially in Coorg. It has asked the state government to withdraw its notification that included the three species, Hebbevu (Melia dubia), Belanji (Acrocarpous fraxnifolious) and mango, in the list of 23 trees exempted from the forest act which forbids tree felling.

The commission decided to act as the March 2015 notification was being misused to fell these trees rampantly in Coorg by the timber mafia. The commission, besides directing the authorities to check cases where the notification has been allegedly misused, sought a report by the state government. SHRC passed the order on May 21 after hearing a complaint filed by local activist K A Ravi Chengappa.

It’s an unusual action for the SHRC which deals with human rights violations, to take up the cause of maintaining green cover.

But this has been done considering it as one of key aspects supporting human existence. Chengappa is fighting an uphill battle to retain the greenery in Coorg. He has filed petitions with the High Court, Supreme Court and SHRC.

He had earlier filed complaints with the forest department and the Lokayukta too.
Chengappa said, “The order was being blatantly misused by those in illegal timber trade. Some forest officials were also handin- glove with them.” He said, “Only tree species grown by farmers in Coorg – like lemon, coffee and sapota (sapodilla) were exempted earlier (2002 and 2004). Now though including new species requires legislation, three species were included by the state government last year. Because of this exemption, Belanji which is a fine soft wood and which has grown naturally, is being felled rampantly. Wild mango, which is spread across forests and yields high value wood, is being rampantly cut and transported from forests. Even those in private lands are cut and transported. These species are spread across Coorg, Chikkamaga lur and Mangaluru which are part of Western Ghats. The government notification has proved detrimental and over 30-40 lakh trees face the threat of being cut.”

CG Hungund, SHRC member who has taken up the case, said, “The state government notification has many loopholes.

Prior to such orders, there should have been a mechanism of self-declaration by the land owners in place. This could have given figures on the number of trees. But now, there is no such thing. The trees are cut and transported haphazardly from the reserve forests. There is no proper mechanism to monitor the cutting and accountability is absent. Hence the government has been asked to withdraw the order as it may prove dangerous to state forests.”

Hungund has asked the chief secretary and principal chief conservator of forests to reconsider the notification and submit an action taken report within six weeks. Though the petitioner was successful in making government withdraw mango from notification, the other trees are being felled, SHRC brass said.

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Others / by Chetan R, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / May 28th, 2016

District hospital in Madikeri to be upgraded, says Patil

Education, Science & Technology

Medical Education Minister Dr Sharanaprakash R Patil assured of upgrading the district hospital in Madikeri by increasing the number of beds from 410 to 650.

He paid a sudden visit to the district hospital in town on Thursday. Speaking to mediapersons later, he said that the hospital lacked space for an upgrade.

“Land will be needed for construction of the new medical college, but there is a need to upgrade the hospital as well. Compared to last year’s condition, the hospital has improved a lot,” he said.

Dr Patil inspected the facilities at the dialysis, X-Ray, women’s surgery ward, emergency unit and other wards and directed the hospital staff to clear the hospital of unwanted materials.

The minister, meanwhile, visited the construction site of Kodagu Medical College and inspected the work. The building can currently accommodate the students of first year MBBS course, he said and directed the contractor to complete the necessary works such as construction of protective walls, as soon as possible.

“The quality of the construction work is good. If needed, a third party inspection will be conducted regarding the quality of work,” he stated.

“The Medical Council of India has given permission to start the classes from the current year itself,” he added.

Dr Patil also inspected various sections such as dissection hall, security section, cold storage, anatomy museum and auditorium. He said that the hostels should be ready for accommodation before the admission of students. MLC Sunil Subramani, DC Meer Anees Ahmmed and district Surgeon Muttappa were present.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DHNS – Madikeri , May 27th, 20`16

Kannada Film Actor Harshika Poonacha In New York

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg
Harshika Poonacha in conversation with The Indian Panorama editor Prof. Indrajit S Saluja at Bobby Kumar's Senior Care Center in Hicksville, May 23
Harshika Poonacha in conversation with The Indian Panorama editor Prof. Indrajit S Saluja at Bobby Kumar’s Senior Care Center in Hicksville, May 23

The young and beautiful Harshika Poonacha was in New York and her host Bharat Goradia chose to organize for the leading lady of many popular Kannada films a press conference on May 23 at Senior Care Center of Bobby Kumar in Hicksville.

In her exclusive conversation with The Indian Panorama editor Prof. Indrajit S Saluja she expressed her admiration for America and Americans. She said it was her second visit to America and she had visited quite a few locations. She said given an option she would like to stay and work in the US.

Ms Poonacha recalled that she was 15 and studying for her High Schoolin Bengaluruand was with her friends at a coffee shop when a gentleman (she learnt later he was Ramesh, a film maker) approached her with an offer to give her a lead role in a Kannada film he was planning. She thought it was just a ploy of the man to entice her. He said he wanted to make a film on changes young school children undergo.However, soon she learnt that the man was genuine and that his offer was a professional one. That was the beginning of her film career. The incident took place in 2008. And the film -PUC- was released in 2010.

Harshika is flanked by her host Bharat Goradia (left) and Bobby Kumar (right)
Harshika is flanked by her host Bharat Goradia (left) and Bobby Kumar (right)

For her performance in the movie Tamastu, based on the subject of terrorism, Harshika received the Karnataka State Films Award. Her next big film which has not yet been titled is directed by the famous director Sunit Kumar Desai and is to be released in the next few months.

source: http://www.theindianpanorama.news / The Indian Panorama / Home> Entertainment> Bollywood> Indian Diaspora / The Indian Panorama, May 27th, 2016

Scientist brews a green idea to give coffee growers their due

Agriculture, Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg), Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature, World Opinion
Arshiya Bose, founder, Black Baza Coffee
Arshiya Bose, founder, Black Baza Coffee

Bengaluru:

Verdant forests, picturesque mountains, lush coffee plantations — for many, Coorg is the perfect place to unwind. However, it was a different quest which took Arshiya Bose to the coffee land. A PhD holder in geography and environmental science from the University of Cambridge, she visited Coorg as part of a research project. Her mission — to make coffee production environment-friendly.

Realizing not all is well with the current production process — use of pesticides, exploitation of farmers, growth of coffee in the sun instead of shade — Arshiya, 32, started looking for ways to make it sustainable. She wanted to address these problems by adopting a holistic approach that ensures the well-being of both the environment and the coffee producers. The result — Black Baza Coffee, an entrepreneurial idea currently being incubated at the NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), IIM Bangalore. The centre mentors innovators and supports their ventures.

During her research, Ashriya got the opportunity to work with forest dwellers and tribal communities in the Western Ghats, which helped her get closer to her goal. “I studied the social and environmental impacts of coffee production and found there were a number of problems no one was doing anything about. Traditionally, coffee in India has been grown under the shade of trees. But now, it is grown directly under the sun’s harsh rays, which adversely impacts biodiversity. Also, the trade market is extremely unfair to the producers, with the exploitation levels being very high. To fix the loopholes in the social and environmental ecosystem, I started Black Baza Coffee,” said Arshiya, who has tied up with many producers.

So far, the Kolkata resident has got 35 coffee producers on board, of whom 31 are marginal farmers from Biligiriranga Hills in Chamarajnagar. All of them are small growers —they own farms spanning less than 25 acres. “Under our partnership, we promise to buy coffee from farmers, support them through agronomic training and quality improvement and build safeguards for unforeseen price crashes. Many small growers are exploited and we hope to be the most fair buyer of their product ensuring they get their due,” said the young entrepreneur.

Explaining the potential of the idea, professor Suresh Bhagavatula, chairperson, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Development, NSRCEL, IIMB said, “Coffee is among the top five most popular legally traded products in the world, including oil. It is a $90 billion industry and supports about 75 million people. While India is among the top 10 coffee-producing nations, it accounts for about 3.5% of the world exports. Unlike the rest of the world where sustainability and fair trade are becoming important for consumers, it is yet to catch on in India”.

“Black Baza Coffee would like to market the produce from farmers who practice sustainable methods for production. Consumption of coffee in India has started to increase, which will make it more feasible for ventures such as BBC to be established and serve the local markets as well,” Suresh added.

MUTUAL BENEFIT

We make conversational agreements with farmers and enter into a mutual understanding with them to grow coffee under certain kinds of trees, restrict the use of pesticides and protect their water resources. In return, Black Baza Coffee guarantees to buy coffee from these farmers at a higher premium

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Bangalore / Shilpa Baburaj, TNN / May 25th, 2016

Pepper production at Somwarpet may fall by 25 percent, experts estimate

Agriculture, Business & Economy

Somwarpet :

Though the pepper growing area has been increasing in the district, the production is badly hit by drought this year. Experts estimate the yield could come down 20-25 per cent in the current season.

Pepper cultivation has become popular as prices increased more than three-fold in four years – from Rs 200 a kg to the current Rs 700. According to the Horticulture Department, pepper is grown on 10,857 hectares in the district, and approximately 5,000 tonnes of yield is expected.

District horticulture assistant director Pramod told Express on Tuesday that pepper production will be lower by at least 20-25 percent this year owing to drought. Normally the district receives the first rainfall of the year during February-March, but this year 70 per cent of the district failed to get rainfall even in April.

Pepper vines perish

In the parched areas of the district like Yedavare, Yedavanadu, Banavara, Kodlipet, Siddapura, Balele and Tithimathi, young pepper vines have wilted and died.

In many estates affluent growers were able to save the vines as well as their other crops using sprinklers. N K Palangappa, a small pepper grower in Gonikoppa, told Express that he lost nearly 50 per cent of his crop this year as he has no irrigation facilities. He said he was earning more income from pepper than from coffee, but this year it will not be be possible.

Karnataka is the largest pepper producer in India by overtaking Kerala two years ago.

Karnataka accounted for 33,000 tonnes of pepper last year, Kerala 28,000 tonnes and Tamil Nadu 9,000 tonnes. The total pepper production in India was 70,000 tonnes last year.

Spices Board marketing director S Kannan said the production of pepper in India is estimated at 53,000 tonnes this year. He said nearly 20-25 percent of the pepper crop has been lost in Karnataka and more than 30 per cent in Kerala.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Coovercolly Indresh / Express News Service / May 25th, 2016

‘Environment-friendly industries to get help’

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment

Minister questions absence of Spices Board in Kodagu

Assistance will be given for the setting up of environment-friendly industries in Kodagu district, said Satish Jarkiholi, Minister for Small Scale Industries.

Speaking at a review meeting here on Tuesday, the minister assured that financial assistance will be given for the setting up of small scale industries.

“There is an ample of opportunities for the setting up of food cluster, apiculture, fruit processing and juice units in the district. Land can be purchased at the market rate for the government projects,” he added.

The minister said that special emphasis will be given for the change in khata at industrial area in Kushalnagar. The MoU signed during the investors’ meet in the district will be implemented, he added.

“Black pepper is cultivated on a large scale in the district. The district should have had a Spices Board. Why has it not been set up so far?” he asked.

Deputy Commissioner Meer Anees Ahmmed said that 50-acre land has been identified in the district and all efforts are being made to set up a unit of the Spices Board.

Ketolira Fancy Ganapathy appealed to the minister to provide financial assistance for the setting up of food cluster, apiculture, piggery and fruit processing units in the district.

Textile park
B N Prakash, District Commerce and Industries Association president, said that there is a need to set up an environment-friendly textile park in the district. A tiles factory at Madikebeedu has been closed down. There is a need to revive the tiles industry and promote pottery in the district.

The minister, who spoke to mediapersons later, said that government facilities have failed to reach all sections of the society. “Hence, there is a need to publish the report of the socio-economic survey conducted by the government last year,” he insisted.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / Madikeri – DHNS, May 25th, 2016