The making of India

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

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In her latest book India Through People: 25 Game Changers, Devika Cariapa talks about the people who drove change
“Children are naturally interested in history,” feels writer Devika Cariapa. “Notice how carefully even the youngest of them listens to stories told by a grandmother or elder — particularly lingering on details of how they lived, what they wore, what they did at school and what they ate for lunch! It’s a natural progression then to get young readers interested in stories from history in a factual but fun way. Once they are hooked, it becomes a lifelong interest.” Devika, whose second and latest book for Tulika, India Through People: 25 Game Changers, was released last week, is also an archaeologist.

“The more I worked in archaeology, researching and visiting sites, the more I felt there were wonderful stories there that children would enjoy,” says Devika, over email. And so, when she became a full-time writer, she knew what her first book would be about — India Through Archaeology: Excavating History, is part of Tulika’s India Focus series. Devika explains that the series “will tell the story of India through the lens of different subjects”.

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In India Through People…, Devika talks about India’s recent past, that she calls “a century and a half of great, radical changes”. To do so, she has picked 25 people who “helmed that change with great courage and vision”. She explains: “These game changers, all born after 1850, dealt with the challenges of the time and in doing so, not only left an imprint on their particular fields but also forged new paths for the nation.”

Narrowing down on the 25 men and women, however, was not an easy task. “This was probably the most difficult part of doing the book!” she adds. “For every one person included, there were at least two others that we felt could have been featured instead. We chose people from a range of fields and different parts of the country and ensured that those we could not fit in due to constraints of the size of the book were referenced in the timelines attached to each chapter.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books / by Akila Kannadasan / August 20th, 2019

India’s First World Coffee Conference In Bengaluru From Sept. 7

Business & Economy, Coffee News, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg), Records, All, World Opinion

Three-day event at Bangalore Palace to be organised by London-based International Coffee Organisation

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Madikeri:

Bengaluru will host the fifth edition of the World Coffee Conference (WCC), a high-profile international event, between Sept. 7 and 9 in 2020. Earlier editions were held in the UK, Brazil, Guatemala and Ethiopia.

The three-day event that will be held at the sprawling Bangalore Palace will be put together by London-based International Coffee Organization (ICO), Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Coffee Board of India and India Coffee Trust (ICT), which is a forum for coffee growers and exporters.

The event is themed ‘Sustainability Through Consumption’ and will celebrate all things of coffee in an immersive experience with the conference addressed by international speakers, coffee exhibition, buyer-seller meets, competitions and awards, skill building workshops, amongst many others.

ICT President Anil Kumar Bhandari told reporters in Madikeri yesterday that the prestigious WCC coming to India for the first time means huge international recognition for Indian coffee. The Who’s Who from the world of coffee will be descending on Bengaluru for this event. This will give a fillip to the Indian cuppa in the global market. Over Rs. 15 crore is being spent to organise the conference, he added.

The participants will include the world’s leading coffee brands and café chains, retailers, roasters, equipment manufacturers, coffee organisations from round the globe, policy makers, industry captains, exporters, manufacturers and a whole host of players associated with the commodity.

Conference attendees

Around 3,000 international delegates from 80 countries, 2,000 Indian delegates, over 1,00,000 coffee growers and exporters, representatives of HORECA (Hotel/Restaurant/Café sector) and hundreds of coffee connoisseurs are expected. There will be more than 100 speakers, 150 exhibitors and over 300 business-to-business and business-to-consumer meeting.

Coffee being the world’s most favourite beverage with 2.5 billion cups consumed every single day is produced in about 70 countries most of them belonging to the developing countries like Africa, Latin America and Asia. India is the sixth largest producer of coffee in the world, accounting for about 5 percent of world coffee production.

Innovation to conference

At the conference, the Coffee Board of India and the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) will bring in innovation to the conference and expo by crowd-sourcing ideas from citizens. They will look at ways that will make Indian coffee a brand that is recognised worldwide and formulate ways to make India a sustainable destination for coffee.

Methods will be explored to make coffee farmers stakeholders in the value chain as this will have a positive impact on the 25 million families who depend on coffee cultivation the world over. “This is a great opportunity that India has got and the organisers will welcome to India participants from more than 80 countries for the expo and conference,” Bhandari said.

Connecting with growers

India is also emerging as the major coffee consuming country. The Government of India has also a strong focus on increasing coffee plantation and the global community also desires to connect with coffee growers in India and Asia and WCC-2020 offers an opportunity to explore India and Asia to the global coffee community.

Bengaluru is the coffee capital of India and produces nearly 70 percent of India’s coffee that is produced in Kodagu, Malnad, Hassan and Chikkamagalur. As the theme of WCC-2020 is sustainably through consumption because the world coffee production is increasing and having a negative impact on coffee prices, this can be offset by increasing consumption, therefore consumption is the key to sustainability. The focus will be on economic, agriculture, commercial, environmental, social and cultural impact.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / December 31st, 2019

Addanda C. Cariappa Takes Charge As Rangayana Director

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

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Mysuru:

Senior theatre personality Addanda C. Cariappa took charge as the 18th Director of Rangayana, Mysuru, after offering floral tributes to the portrait of theatre repertory’s Founder-Director B.V. Karanth in the Director’s Office at Rangayana here this morning.

Speaking to presspersons, Cariappa said that it was the blessings of his parents and his over 30 years of dedicated service to the theatre that had brought him to the post. Noting that he was delighted to become the Director, he said he would give his best to take the theatre repertory to much greater heights.

Maintaining that he had only aspired for the post, but had not expected it, he said that he was satisfied with his work of promoting theatre in Kodagu, which was not an easy task.

Admitting that the National Theatre Festival Bahuroopi is a challenge, Cariappa said that Bahuroopi should have been organised during Sankranti, but this year it has been deferred due to the delay in the appointment of the Director. Although the festival may be delayed, it will be ensured that the event will be organised as a prime theatre festival of the country, he remarked and added that he will be holding a meeting with senior Rangayana artistes later this afternoon to discuss the ways to take Bahuroopi to every nook and corner of the country.

Replying to a question on the removal of Rangayana Directors even before completion of their term, he said that the heads of all cultural Institutions like Rangayana should be allowed to complete their terms, as they will have chalked out programmes for 3 years. The removal of heads of cultural Institutions with change in Government will hurt the plans envisaged by them, he said while asserting that the Directors of any Cultural Authority, including Rangayana should not be disturbed till the completion of their term. Even Baragur Ramachandrappa Committee too had recommended the same to the Government, he said .

Replying to another question on whether his political affiliations with the BJP had helped him in occupying the top post, Cariappa said that as an individual he has been in politics, engaging himself in social work. “I have contributed a lot for promoting theatre in Kodagu along with my wife Anitha, also a theatre artiste and the Government recognising my work for theatre has appointed me to the post out of trust,” he said.

Replying to another question on whether there will be more Kodava plays in Rangayana, he said that ‘Rangabhoomi’ is in itself a language and as such there is no particular language for theatre. Asserting that many Kodava plays have been staged at Rangayana in the past, he stressed that languages such as Kodava, Tulu and Konkani are brotherly languages of Kannada and as such any harm to these languages will certainly hurt Kannada.

Rangayana Joint Director V.N. Mallikarjunswamy, Kannada and Culture Assistant Director H. Channappa and others were present on the occasion.

Thereafter, Cariappa addressed Kodava Samaja members and Rangayana artistes at Bhoomigeetha, where a one-minute silence was observed as a mark of tribute to the departed Pejawar Mutt Seer.

Recalling the history of Rangayana since its inception in 1989, he said in a lighter vein how he married Anitha, who was a Rangayana artiste then.

Pointing out that Kodagu’s most acclaimed poet Appacha Kavi was inspired by Mohammad Peer, a professional theatre artiste from Mysuru in those times, Cariappa recounted his association with the theatre for over three decades.

Declaring that he will not be carried away by the top post, he assured that he would work honestly for bringing more name and fame for the city’s theatre repertory. Likening the work in Rangayana as that of a farmer, he said that a perfect co-ordination between all those involved was needed for bringing out the best of Rangayana.

Mysuru Kodava Samaja President K.K. Belliappa, Secretary M.M. Ponnappa, former Presidents Dr. A.A. Kuttappa and K.A. Cariappa, Corporator M.U. Subbaiah, actor Jadhav, noted theatre personality Nanda Halemane, senior Rangayana artiste Hulugappa Kattimani and others were present on the occasion.

Former Rangayana Directors

B.V. Karanth (1989), Y.K. Muddukrishna (1995-Incharge), C. Basavalingaiah (1996), Prasanna (2001), K.T. Chikkanna (2003-Incharge), Chidambara Rao Jambe (2004), K.T. Chikkanna (2008-Incharge), Dr. B. Jayashree (2009), K.T. Chikkanna (2009-Incharge), Lingadevaru Halemane (2010), B.T. Munirajaiah (2011-Incharge), Dr. B.V. Rajaram (2011), K.R. Ramakrishna (2013-Incharge), H. Janardhan (2013), K.A. Dayanand (2016-Incharge), M.S. Archana (2017-Incharge), Bhagirathi Bai Kadam (2017).

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / December 31st, 2019

IBM brings weather forecasting model for governments, industries, farmers

Agriculture, Science & Technology, World Opinion

IBM has launched a global high-resolution atmospheric forecasting system, IBM GRAF, saying more accurate weather forecasting can help governments and companies greatly improve their operations. IBM said GRAF can help bridge the gap between Indian …

New Delhi :

As many as 94% of top Indian business leaders believe climate change and adverse weather conditions have had a negative impact on business operations while around 72% believe they disrupt local economy, a study by IBM and The Weather Company shows.

The report released on Thursday also said a significant number of Indian citizens said they were not confident about the local weather forecasts.

IBM has launched a global high-resolution atmospheric forecasting system, IBM GRAF, saying more accurate weather forecasting can help governments and companies greatly improve their operations.

“We work with 168 different governments today around the world, and we are in touch with Indian government as well,” said Cameron Clayton, general manager at IBM Watson Media and Weather. “We want to work on providing accurate forecasts as it has a massive impact on the GDP.”

IBM said GRAF can help bridge the gap between Indian forecasting system and global models.

The 15-day weather forecasts released in India start from 80% accuracy and by the end of the 13th day the accuracy percentage falls to 50%, Cameron said. IBM GRAF claims to keep the accuracy levels consistent throughout the 15-day.

“In the tests we ran, our model is around 30% more accurate (than Indian system) and we have so far designed to issue 12 million pieces of forecast information through IBM GRAF, which will improve the forecast quality massively in India,” Cameron said. “While we have collaborated with various governments across the country, we believe that the only way to get there is through public-private partnership.”

IBM is keen to present its forecasting models to India through a publicprivate partnership agreement.

IBM said its weather forecasting models have helped farmers in Kenya receive crop insurance in less than three days.

The company has received some interests from private insurers in India, too.

“Insurance companies are slowly consuming our data, mostly historic and advisory, to make better decisions,” said Himanshu Goyal, India sales and alliances lead at IBM. Two insurance companies in the country are using its models, he said without naming them.

Several businesses in sectors ranging from aviation to agriculture, have welcomed IBM GRAF.

Tata Coffee is leveraging IBM weather prediction products to receive accurate forecasts, soil moisture and soil temperature information for better results.

“In the aviation industry, our models have helped bring down turbulence by 50%, and the same capability is being brought to India,” Cameron said.

source: http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Econonmic Times / Home> Business News> News> Economic News> Agriculture / by Bhavya Dilipkumar, ET Bureau / December 13th, 2019

Decathlon Champion, Sports Achiever: Dr. C.M. Muthaiah No More

Amazing Feats, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

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One of India’s leading Sports Administrators, five-time National Decathlon Champion, senior sports achiever in National and International arena and the first person in Kodava community to secure a Doctoral degree in Sports, Dr. C.M. Muthaiah passed away in Bengaluru on Dec. 5. He was 87.

Dr. Codanda Madappa Muthaiah was born in Madikeri on April 30, 1932 and had secured gold medal (first rank) in M.Sc. Biomechanics from Germany. Despite his education in Science, he had deep interest in sports and Muthaiah was involved in Decathlon, Long Jump and High Jump and had achieved National and International-level recognitions.

From 1956 till 1960, Dr. Muthaiah had won National-level and Asian-level championships. He had won the National Championship crown five times and recognising his achievements, he was bestowed the title “Golden Shoe” in 1977. One of his biggest regret was his narrowly missing the Decathlon Medal in the Tokyo Asian Games in 1958. Dr. Muthaiah was instrumental in bringing the Sports Authority of India, South Centre, to Bengaluru.

After dedicating his youth to the cause of sports, Codanda Muthaiah served the field as a Coach and Sports Officer. He went on to become a Senior First Grade Coach at Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports commonly known as National Institute of Sports (NIS), the Sports Training Centre at Patiala in 1962. He later served as the chief of NIS, an Academic Wing of Sports Authority of India and Asia’s largest Sports Institute in Patiala, Punjab.

Dr. Muthaiah had also served as the Director General of the Sports Department of the Union Government and in 1982, he was conferred the ‘Asiad Vishist Jyothi’ for his contribution to Asian Games and Rajyotsava Award in 2013.

He was appointed as the Technical Advisor when the Asian Games was organised in New Delhi in 1982 and had served as Technical Director to various other National and International Games.

He also served as the Secretary General of Asian Track and Field Research Centre. After retirement, he was residing at Jayamahal Extension in Bengaluru. He is survived by wife Parvathi and a daughter.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports / December 13th, 2019

Talk On “The Life And Times Of M.N. Srinivas” Tomorrow

Uncategorized

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Mysuru:

Mysuru Book Clubs – 2015 has organised a talk on “The Life and Times of M. N. Srinivas” by David Gellner, Professor of Social Anthropology at University of Oxford, tomorrow (Dec. 17) at 5.30 pm at Roopa Elite, No. D-29, 6th Main Road, V.V. Mohalla.

Profile: Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas (M.N. Srinivas), a Social Anthropologist, was well-known for his body of work on caste systems and caste as a social institution. His connection with South India is seen in the extensive fieldwork he did in Coorg (Kodagu) and his study of the different castes in that hilly district.

A product of the University of Bombay and University of Oxford, he is the author of Social Change in Modern India and Caste in Modern India. He received the prestigious Padma Bhushan award in 1977.

Prof. David Gellner specialises in the study of religion, politics, ethnicity, caste and social change in Nepal and North India. Earlier, as Lecturer in Anthropology of South Asia in the University of Oxford, he walked in the footsteps of M.N. Srinivas, who was in that position in 1947.

For details contact Mob: 96062 87711 or 78997 57259.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / December 16th, 2019

Play, learn, grow in this Bengaluru sports school

Education, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Sports

City-based The Sports School aims to enable young players to achieve their dreams without compromising on academics

(From left) Anup Sridhar, Robin Uthappa, Rohan Bopanna. (Photo | EPS, Meghana Sastry)
(From left) Anup Sridhar, Robin Uthappa, Rohan Bopanna. (Photo | EPS, Meghana Sastry)

Bengaluru :

Mother of Class 8 student, Arshiya T, was always worried about how to send her child to tournaments and cope with academics at the same time. “My daughter is passionate about badminton. But how will she cover the chapters that she misses out on during the tournament?” said Arshiya.

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The Sports School at Vaderahalli on Kanakapura Road tries to mitigate this point of parents, who are worried about the academic performance of their kids. The school’s tailor-made teaching method allows students to pursue their sporting dream without compromising academics.

Set up in partnership with Jain Group of Institutions, the main highlight of the school is involvement of sports celebrities such as tennis player Rohan Bopanna, cricketer Robin Uthappa and shuttler Anup Sridhar on the advisory board. “Coaching is something that I’m fully passionate about. Today, I got the opportunity to advise The Sports School to run their cricket coaching, set up a curriculum, collaborate with many national and international clubs and associations to conduct tournaments often and make sure that each student is given complete attention to nurture their skills,” said Uthappa.

According to Sridhar, setting up of these kind of schools can empower other sports, other than just cricket. “The school allows children to get proper training from a young age that will ensure more potential. They can explore suitable careers that can go along with your sports interests with a backup of academic qualification. If we get such qualified professionals, it can boost any sport,” he said.

All these established players unanimously agreed that this is something essential for the development of the athletes.

“Managing studies during your competitions as well as during the preparations is a big challenge. I personally have faced this. Fifteen years ago, parents used to be very strict about children following studies and giving up any other interest for the sake of it. But now, parents are okay if children compromise on their studies. They want them to play more and be popular. Both situations are not correct. When I was introduced to the concept of this school, I took it up immediately. This is something I dreamed of doing myself at some point of my life,” Uthappa added.

Bopanna, who runs his own tennis academy, said, “I never had a facility like this. It’s good to provide an athlete the right direction to become a world-class player. They need education to lead their life and career. That drew my attention towards this initiative.”

He also added that the school takes care of the overall development of the player.

“Nutrition, physical fitness and stress management – everything has been taken care of, just like how a professional player is exposed to.”

Speaking about the development of students in rural areas and the concept of inclusion, Jaggi Nadig, chief marketing officer, The Sports School, said, “Training of specially-abled children and government school students is under discussion.

There is a lot of economics behind it. We are trying to get CSR sponsors to initiate that. Right now, we are focusing on reaching out to as many children as possible.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sports> Others / by Lesly Joseph, Express News Service / Decembr 23rd, 2019

Uthappa excited about Royals move

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports
Robin Uthappa. | Photo Credit: G_P_Sampath Kumar
Robin Uthappa. | Photo Credit: G_P_Sampath Kumar

Robin Uthappa, picked up by Rajasthan Royals for ₹3 crore in the IPL Auction, says he is excited at reuniting with Steve Smith. The Aussie and Uthappa have been together at Pune Supergiants.

The former India batsmen said he was also looking forward to sharing the dugout with Kerala teammate Sanju Samson.

“I wasn’t aware of what was happening at the auction as I was batting. I was told about this after the match and I am excited at playing for Rajasthan Royals, especially with Steve Smith.

“I had played with him before and I am looking forward to sharing the dugout with Sanju. I played six seasons for Kolkata. It has been an exciting journey for me. The people in Kolkata loved me and I am thankful to them,” he said.

Uthappa said Rajasthan Royals was a good team with world class players.

“I know quite a lot of players personally, so it won’t be a problem for me to play for a new team. I am keen to play alongside Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sports> Cricket / by M.R. Praveen Chandran / Thiruvananthapuram – December 19th, 2019

Mini-Airport At Kushalnagar

Business & Economy, Education

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– Bidding open under UDAN 4.0 by Civil Aviation Ministry

– Airport first proposed by Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan

Kushalnagar:

In a significant development, Kushalnagar in Kodagu has been selected among the four airports in Karnataka for which bids have been announced under the fourth round of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) or the Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik (UDAN) 4.0 recently. The other three airports are Ballari, Karwar and Kolar. It will be a mini airport in Kushalnagar.

The four airports are under the unserved airport category. Unserved airport means any airport at which there have been no scheduled commercial flights during the last two flight schedules published by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on its website.

The Airports Authority India is the implementing agency of the Regional Connectivity Scheme and it has invited the bids. Bids have been called to operate 20-seater planes (category 1) of the RCS.

For a 20-seater aircraft to land and take off, a one-kilometre runway is needed and the land in Kushalnagar has this facility.

Boost to tourism

If the mini airport in Kushalnagar becomes a reality, it will boost extended tourism from Mysuru to Kodagu. At present, flyers from Kushalnagar either come to Mysuru or Bengaluru to take flights to different destinations.

Flyers to Gulf countries either travel to Kannur or Mangaluru from Kushalnagar by road. A flight from Kushalnagar connecting Mysuru, Kannur, Bengaluru and Mangaluru will boost air travel in the region.

Appachu Ranjan’s proposal

An airport to Kodagu was first proposed by Madikeri MLA M.P. Appachu Ranjan when he was the Minister for Youth Services and Sports in 2012.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Appachu Ranjan said that he was happy that Kushalnagar Airport has been selected under RCS (UDAN) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government.

The land for the airport had been identified near Byadagutta, Madapura and Koodige and of this, land behind the Kodagu Sainik School at Koodige was finally selected. “There is 45 to 50 acre land owned by the Agricultural Department at Doddathoor Village till the border of Basavanathoor village that has been mentioned in the surveys conducted by the Public Works Department. In June this year, a team of officials from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had visited the site and had accepted the land proposal. If more land is required, it can be acquired,” he said.

Aviation Training Academy

The MLA said that along with the airport, an Aviation Training Academy will come up next to Kushalnagar Mini-Airport and this Academy will train flight aspirants from Kodagu, Mysuru and surrounding regions. “I am following up the establishment of the Airport and the Academy,” he added.

300-acre Government land

Nagendra Prasad, President of Kodagu District Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants Association told SOM that when P.I. Sreevidya was the Kodagu Deputy Commissioner, a 300-acre Government land was identified near Aanekaadu on the National Highway 275 for the Airport. This land falls behind the 6-acre KSRTC Depot at Basavanahalli. The land had come up for discussion before the present DC Annies Kankani Joy too four months back.

“This proposal was, however, dropped due to opposition from environmental groups. Now that the AAI has approved the land behind the Koodige Sainik School, we can hope for a small airport in the near future. As per the RCS, an operator has to fly three flights per week. Even if it is a 20-seater aircraft, flight services from Kushalnagar will be a big boost for Kodagu tourism,” Nagendra Prasad added.

Water-logging problem

The Airport is in the backdrop of Doddathoor, Chikkathoor and Koodige hill ranges (though there is no official name for the hill ranges) and there are over 50 families residing in the vicinity. If the Airport has to come up, the families have to be evacuated and relocated.

The only hitch here is that the land behind Koodige Sainik School was submerged last year when more than one lakh cusecs of Cauvery water was released from Harangi reservoir. Villagers said that at present, the Agricultural Department grows paddy in this land and the location is near Harangi Dam. If Kushalnagar Airport has to become a reality, then the Government must take steps to prevent water-logging, say villagers.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / December 19th, 2019