Kodagu Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer K Lakshmi Priya has directed the concerned officials to dispose of the wet waste from Gonikoppa Gram Panchayat limits, at a landfill site in Halligattu village, under police protection.
Conducting a special meeting at Gonikoppa Gram Panchayat on Wednesday, the ZP CEO sought details on the current condition of the landfill site.
The government grants should be utilised towards the unit, which is meant for the collection of waste generated from Gonikoppa, Ponnampet and Aruvattoklu villages, she added.
As the local residents have been opposing the waste disposal unit, police protection should be taken during waste disposal at the site, said the ZP CEO.
Lakshmi Priya meanwhile told Panchayat Development Officer Chandramauli to segregate dry and wet waste.
The wet waste should be collected at the Halligattu waste disposal unit and the dry waste should be collected at the dry waste collection unit near Gonikoppa market.
Three workers should be deployed at each ward for the door to door waste collection. The attendance of workers should be recorded through the biometric system, she said.
PDO Chandramauli said that there is no provision to invite tenders for waste management under the Panchayat Raj Act. Therefore, no tenders have been invited in this regard.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DH News Service, Ponnampet / July 17th, 2019
The President of India Pranab Mukherjee has conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Manav Seva Award on Kakamada Ganga Changappa for her outstanding contribution towards child welfare. The Award was presented to her recently in Delhi.
The President confers Rajiv Gandhi Award on Kakamada Ganga Changappa
After her marriage, Ganga Changappa, who holds a Master’s degree in English, settled down in Munnar where her husband worked for Tata Tea. Looking for something worthwhile to do, she found her vocation – welfare of women and children among the Tata Tea estate workers, teaching them skills which they could turn to profit.
With the active support of Tata Tea, she became very involved in setting up a special school and rehabilitation centre in Munnar for children with disabilities – Dare School. She was its Principal for nine years and with her innovative ideas imparted specialised skills to her students in order to make them independent and earn a living.
Her dedicated work was well recognised and in 1999 she received the FICCI award.
When her husband retired as a director of Tata Tea, they settled in Kodagu. Even here, Ganga was determined to work for disabled youngsters. Tata Coffee, as part of their corporate social responsibility, set up a school on the lines of the Dare School, in Kodagu.
The school, Swastha, a special school for the differently-abled was set up in Sunticoppa in 2003. It is partly residential and offers free education. She has worked tirelessly for eleven years taking the school to great heights. Tailoring, screen printing, offset printing, book binding, paper bags and candle-making are a few of the skills being taught there.
Some of the youngsters from the school even got a chance to represent India at the international level in the Para-Olympics.
by P.T. Bopanna
source: http://www.coorgnews.in / CoorgNews.in / Home> Features> NewsMakers / by P.T. Bopanna / December 02nd, 2014
People of Kodagu can avail Manipal Arogya Card to get concession in treatment at KMC hospitals, said KMC Hospital marketing department deputy manager Rakesh.
Addressing reporters, he said that the card can be used at KMC hospitals at Dr B R Ambedkar Circle and Attavara in Mangaluru, Kasturba Hospital in Manipal, Dr T M A Pai Hospital in Udupi and Dr T M A Pai Rotary Hospital in Karkala. Manipal Hospital in Goa and Manipal College of Dental Sciences in Mangaluru are also covered under the scheme to avail treatments at concessional rates.
Cards of one year and two years duration are available. The membership fee for Manipal Arogya Card for individuals is Rs 250 for one year and Rs 400 for two years. The fee for the family card for one year is Rs 500 and for two years is Rs 700.
To get the facility, one can contact KMC hospital representatives in Madikeri. Phone: 97314 74598, 98802 62038 or 94807 88634.
KMC hospital representatives A A Pratish, Padmanabha and Ponnappa were present in the press meet.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by Adithya K A / DH News Service, Madikeri / July 10th, 2019
According to industry reports, coffee shops and cafés market in India is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 11 per cent during the period 2016-2021.
A cup of coffee is all it takes to get one’s day started
While the essence of coffee is lost amongst major players in the industry, a group of coffee lovers are taking their adulation for the beverage to a larger audience, nudging them to wake up and smell what real coffee is.
In this quest, they are also bringing forth the significant role India plays as a major player in the production of good coffee.
According to industry reports, coffee shops and cafés market in India is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 11 per cent during the period 2016-2021.
This high growth is primarily on account of the growing coffee culture among the young population, especially the millennials, rising disposable income among other factors.
“This coupled with the implementation of various government plans to develop smart cities, etc., is projected to drive growth in Indian market for coffee shops / cafés over next many years,” shares Aharnish Mishra, co-founder of Bizibean, which got involved in the B-to-B R&G (Roast and Ground) coffee segment from 2004. They were naturally inclined to foray into the retail segment.
“This was a natural extension to our roasting business. We thought the market is ready for a brand that epitomises gourmet coffee and offers its patron speciality coffee both in bean form as well as RTD form,” he says.
While there has been a growth in the coffee market, it is still in its infancy as compared to the global market.
“People are only just beginning to learn the basics and are willing to experiment with different coffees and brewing equipments,” says Krittivas Dalmia, Co-Founder, Kaffa Cerrado, adding, “There is a very small percentage of the market willing to experiment. So there’s a long way to go before we can become a mature coffee market.”
Desi cuppa
The Indian fresh R&G coffee market for domestic consumption is a very small one and is geographically concentrated in the southern part of the country.
Mishra believes that there is no mainstream coffee variety and due to the cost factor, cheaper Robusta blended with a little Arabicas and Chicory is the de facto coffee blend consumed at home.
“The Indian coffees that are internationally popular but find little takers in the domestic market are Monsoon Malabar AA, Mysore Nugget Extra Bold, Plantation AA and Robust Kapi Royale,” he adds.
However, according to Dalmia, there are a lot of plantations that have started selling under their own branding or as a single plantation. “These are all unique because of the different practices and procedures they follow in processing and harvesting the coffee. The beauty of the third wave is that it’s all unique,” says Dalmia.
Brewing hot in India
“Traditionally this role of educating and growing the market is taken up by the bigger players like CCD/ Starbucks in conjunction with the government bodies like Coffee Board of India,” says Mishra, adding, “Sadly, in India this hasn’t happened with the result that the smaller and newer player have to expend energy and resources to nurture the market.
“At BiziBean, we assume the role of missionaries and spread the story of the coffee bean by bean! We have taken the kiosk format route with value pricing strategy to make the experience of having or buying coffee a very pleasurable one.
“All our counter staff is well versed with the intricacies of coffee and performs the role of guides to our patrons.”
On the other hand, Dalmia works with the farmers in bringing out their story and flavour in the way they roast. “The more we’re able to educate our consumers on that, the more they’re willing to try.
So it’s a lot of work in educating the consumer by everyone in the coffee chain right from the farmer to the roaster to the barista and coffee shop,” he states.
The competition is usually in terms of cafes or instant coffee space. There isn’t much completion when we talk about home coffee, feels Ajai Thandi, Co-founder of Sleepy Owl.
“Rooted in the spirit of Make in India, their vision was to rethink the in-home coffee experience while wanting their patrons to have the best quality coffee as conveniently as possible and consume it its best; using the best quality coffee sourced directly from Indian farmers.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Lifestyle> Food / by Express News Service / July 08th, 2019
A year after Kodagu District Administration banned White Water River Rafting activity on River Cauvery in Dubare and other rivers, the activity has resumed in full swing. Yesterday, around 10 water rafts were made operational at Dubare following the lifting of the ban by Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy.
The rafting activity was officially flagged off by Somwarpet Dy.SP P.K. Muralidhar at a stretch of Cauvery water in Periyapatna. Administration sources told Star of Mysore that the ban was lifted on the instructions from Tourism Minister S.R. Mahesh, who is also the Kodagu District Minister.
While lifting the ban, the DC has put stringent terms and conditions, including strict permissions for the activity. Organisers must ensure safety of tourists during the activity and Departments including Forest and Tourism have been asked to take necessary measures for re-starting river rafting. Rafting charges will not exceed Rs.600 per group, and a total of 48 rafts will be allowed in Dubare area, the DC said in her order.
Each owner has been asked to get a No Objection Certificate (NoC) from a local Panchayat, Fire and Emergency Services Department, Public Works, Ports and Inland Water Transport Department, certificate for raft instructor and also mandatory registration in the Labour Department.
According to the current guidelines, water rafting must start only at one point in Dubare (earlier rafting was being held at multiple points). Only five people have been permitted to operate rafts and each of them can own only two boats. Officials from the Kodagu District Administration will be monitoring the water rafting activities.
Before the ban, water rafting was an all-year programme in Kodagu.
Last July, the then Kodagu Deputy Commissioner P.I. Sreevidya had banned river rafting activity and white water rafting across the district for one month and subsequently extended the rafting ban.
In her order, the DC had stated that there were many adventure organisations and home stays running river rafting activities without permission.
The DC had issued the orders in the wake of several complaints from the tourists and villagers that adventure activity organisers have no expertise in river rafting and some of them are organising such events just to make money. Mandatory safety measures are not being followed by the organisers and lives are at stake, the tourists had complained.
Last February, a tourist from Hyderabad had got into an argument with an organiser of river rafting in Dubare and was killed in the ensuing altercation. It had come to the notice of the District Administration that many organisers of the adventure sport submitted fake documents to the DC and there was a no match between the permission letters and the submitted letter.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / July 08th, 2019
Dr. C.V. Sneha took charge as the Additional DC of Kodagu District yesterday.
She was the Chief Administrative Officer at the Directorate of Medical Education, Additional Commissioner (Administration) in Excise Department, Deputy Secretary at Mandya Zilla Panchayat, Land Acquisition Officer in Tumakuru District and Assistant Commissioner in Ramanagaram district.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> In Briefs / July 07th, 2019
Shilpa Nanjappa, an acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer from Kodagu, has also been awarded the prestigious Fellowship by the Indian Government’s Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) for 2019-2021 for being an outstanding artiste.
Speaking to Star of Mysore, an elated Shilpa said that the two-year Fellowship meant a lot for her and she has chosen to do extensive research on ‘Adaptation of Kodava compositions (existing and new) into the classical music format and Bharatanatyam’.
“In simple words, my topic means popularising Kodava language through classical music format and Bharatanatyam. There are many compositions in Kodava language in both prose and poetry formats written by Dr. I.M. Muthanna, Haradasa Appacha Kavi, Nadikerianda Chinnappa, Boverianda Nanjamma and Chinnappa and other writers. Also, there are many poetic compositions in spoken Kodava language and Kodava songs. My aim is to popularise such compositions by extensive research and documentation,” Shilpa says. “My topic aims to popularise Kodava language by propelling it to people who don’t normally hear it and also to create a renewed enthusiasm among the current generation to speak Kodava Thakk (Kodava language). I am happy to do a Fellowship in this unexplored area of work and I want to do full justice to my homeland and its culture,” she explains.
The documentation of the Fellowship project will be a valuable resource for anyone who does future research on Kodava language and will interest those who want to learn the language and explore its origin and development.
“I have been brought up with great regard and respect for Kodava language and culture which has inspired and motivated me to serve Kodagu and its people. This Fellowship is a timely encouragement to carry on the work that I was already doing for Kodava language,” Shilpa adds.
Daughter of Allaranda Kamy and Uthappa, she is married to Mukkatira Pavan Nanjappa and lives in Madikeri with her family including a five-year-old daughter and a year-old son. Her guru is late Padmini Ramachandran.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / July 06th, 2019
Matt Chitharanjan, co-founder, Blue Tokai, talks about the artisanal coffee wave, the importance of package design, and ordering Americanos on food delivery apps
Blue Tokai has now grown from a single roastery-cafe and e-commerce venture in 2016 to 21 cafes in Delhi and the National Capital Region, Jaipur, Mumbai and Bengaluru
_____________________________
It was in January 2016 that I first visited Blue Tokai, tucked away in the by-lanes of Said-ul-Ajaib in south Delhi. For a coffee junkie like me, it was an exciting prospect to visit a new roastery—the first in Delhi at the time—that focused on single-estate beans from India. It was after several wrong turns that I found Blue Tokai, located a stone throw’s from car workshops and cramped houses.
The urban chaos dissipated the minute I entered the roastery-café, where I was greeted by the whirring of grinders and the warm enveloping aroma of coffee. The co-founder, Matt Chitharanjan, 37, could be seen working with a team of roasters, controlling the temperature and humidity to extract the best flavour possible from the coffee bean. It was a process called profile roasting, something Blue Tokai was the first to offer in the Capital.
It has been three years since that first visit and much has changed. Artisanal coffee has become a part of hipster culture, and many more coffee entrepreneurs have joined Blue Tokai in offering Indian consumers A-grade beans straight from plantations located in Chikmagalur, Kodaikanal, Coorg, even Nagaland. The average millennial is now aware of the complex notes and flavour profiles underlying coffee—incidentally, while wine has 200-400 notes, coffee has 1,200—and even has a favourite estate from which his or her beans are sourced.
As I head to Blue Tokai again, these changes are even more palpable. For one, it is no longer the sole occupant of the lane in Said-ul-Ajaib. Now called Champa Gali, the little alley is teeming with eateries such as Jugmug Thela and Studio Thali, dedicated to the quaint and the artisanal. Meanwhile, Blue Tokai has grown from a single roastery-café and e-commerce venture in 2016 to 21 cafés in Delhi and the National Capital Region, Jaipur, Mumbai and Bengaluru, with plans to open more in the next four months in the these three metro cities. Chitharanjan and I settle down at a table overlooking the roastery with a couple of Americanos—mine being from Karnataka’s Attikan Estate, a medium dark brew with notes of dark chocolate, figs and roasted almonds—and look back at how the company and the coffee culture in India have grown in tandem.
The roots of Blue Tokai lie in Chitharanjan’s personal quest for good coffee. “I grew up in the US, and my father is from Chennai. While growing up, my parents would drink a lot of filter coffee,” he says. When he moved to San Francisco after completing his master’s degree in economics from the University of British Columbia, the third wave of coffee (the speciality coffee movement) was sweeping across the US. “Blue Bottle Coffee had opened a café close to my apartment and a lot of local roasteries were nearby. I got exposed to better-sourced and better-roasted beans,” says Chitharanjan, who started roasting beans as a hobby. Some years later, his work as an economist brought him to Chennai, and it was while working at the Institute for Financial Management and Research that he met his wife, Namrata Asthana.
In 2012, the couple was hoping to start an entrepreneurial venture and coffee was a common point of interest. “We moved to Delhi and it was very difficult to find good coffee here. There were either Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) outlets or very expensive imported coffee. So, Namrata said why not try doing coffee on our own,” says Chitharanjan. The couple reached out to growers who were producing high-quality beans and tried to convince them to sell a part of the produce to them. In early 2016, Blue Tokai received seed funding from Snow Leopard Ventures and Bold Ventures. “We have also raised subsequent rounds of funds after the initial seed funding,” he says.
Slowly and steadily, they started getting green coffee beans from single estates in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, which would then be profile-roasted fresh on order, ground to a perfect grain according to the customer’s requirement, and shipped within 24 hours.
According to Chitharanjan, coffee should be consumed within three-four weeks of being roasted. One of the reasons that the brew served in coffee chains or bought off the shelves sometimes tastes stale is because it takes a long time for the coffee to make its way through the supply chain, thereby leading to a breakdown in flavour compounds. Which is why now even restaurants and hotels such as the Roseate House in Delhi and the Oberoi Patisserie in Gurugram order roasted beans directly from Blue Tokai and serve them fresh to diners.
Was it difficult initially to convince farmers to part with their A-grade beans to an Indian coffee startup? “It was. They felt it was a waste of their time, as until then no one in India had been willing to pay a premium for high-quality beans. When we approached them, there was reluctance and also a sense of wariness about who we were and what we were doing,” says Chitharanjan.
The couple was upfront with plantation owners about the fact that the packages would feature the name of the estate the coffee was sourced from. This was crucial both to maintain transparency and educate the consumer. “Each estate has its own terroir, which impacts the flavour profile. And that needed to get highlighted,” he says. For instance, the organic coffee from M S Estate in Chikmagalur. which is grown at an altitude of 1,100-1,400m, is wash-processed and has notes of berries, molasses and milk chocolate. The Bibi Plantation AAA coffee from Coorg, on the other hand, is grown at a lower altitude, and has warm notes of toffee, almond and caramel. “It was a risk for the plantations too. If we did a bad job, they would get a bad name. Luckily, they took a chance on us,” he says.
Once Blue Tokai started selling artisanal coffee online, it began to get word-of-mouth publicity. “One of the good things about coffee is that it is very community driven. People who like coffee are very vocal about their favourite brands and they tell everyone about it. We were lucky in the beginning as there was this unmet demand for what we were offering. So, appreciation for Blue Tokai grew organically,” says Chitharanjan.
Initially, he participated in farmers’ markets and embassy events. It was a time when e-commerce ventures were taking off and people were slowly getting used to finding coffee online, but “the online market wasn’t very crowded at that time”, he says.
One of the striking things about Blue Tokai coffee is not just the quality of the roast but also the packaging, with artwork by folk and tribal artists such as Sukhandi Vyam at the back, and information about the estate, type of processing and date of roast in the front.
“That was all Namrata. I was worried about the price and wanted to do basic simple packaging. But she has a background in design and communications, and it was she who came up with the logo and the idea to customize the pack with the name of the consumer and to put artwork as well. All this connects with our ethos of sustainability, transparency and education,” says Chitharanjan.
In fact, consumer education is always on top of Chitharanjan’s list. There are classes every month at Said-ul-Ajaib and the café in Mumbai for customers on how to make coffee on machines, and even manual brewing sessions for those interested. There are sessions on roasting and cupping. Last year, he roped in two experts from Australia to put together a barista and roaster training school in Said-ul-Ajaib and Mumbai. “We train baristas at other restaurants that stock Blue Tokai as well so that they are able to tell our story better,” he says. Of late, he has been noticing demand for artisanal coffee from smaller cities and towns such as Thane and Jodhpur. “People are opening up cafés in some of the tier 2 cities. They have been exposed to good-quality coffee through some channel and are interested in bringing it back to wherever they live,” says Chitharanjan.
At a time when the gourmet coffee market is growing, with names such as The Flying Squirrel, Koinonia, Black Baza, Halli Berri and Third Wave innovating with high-quality Indian beans, what is it that differentiates Blue Tokai from the rest? “I think we are all complementing each other in this ecosystem. Everyone is catering to their own customer base and helping the market grow in its own unique way. All our coffees are different, sourced from different estates. Even when we source from the same estate, the way we roast the coffee is different from others,” says Chitharanjan.
At the end, the customer is the winner, with a variety of styles and options at his disposal. “We want to be known as the coffee company and not as a café company. Even though we have 20-plus cafés at the moment, we don’t want to be the next CCD or Starbucks,” he says. The idea is for the coffee to be accessible and for the Blue Tokai cafés to act as customer engagement points, with a team of baristas guiding them.
“Putting together a coffee culture is important to us. Some entrepreneurs feel their coffee should taste good simply because they have bought a machine worth lakhs and good-quality beans. Anyone can press buttons on a machine, but an untrained person can easily ruin your coffee,” Chitharanjan says.
For most of us, coffee is a way to de-stress. But I wonder if this holds true for Chitharanjan, who is surrounded by the whiffs and smell of coffee all day. “I still have four-five cups a day. But for me, the best way to de-stress is spending time with family in the evening,” he says.
Having said that, his palate has changed over the years. He used to drink instant coffee while growing up, but after being exposed to the third wave of coffee, he moved to lighter roasted ones. “I used to make pour-overs at home all the time. But I have become so lazy now that I order Americanos from Zomato all the time. It is interesting to see delivery aggregators change my own consumption behaviour,” says Chitharanjan, who is now working on packaging techniques to help coffee transport better.
***
Notes that you enjoy in a cup of coffee
I enjoy fruity and floral notes in a coffee, as well as depth of flavour. You end up finding new notes as the coffee cools down.
How do you unwind?
By spending time with my family and exploring new destinations. One country on my bucket list is Japan.
Your favourite book
‘The Asian Saga’, a series of six books by James Clavell, which traces the lives of Europeans living in Asia.
Your favourite café
Father Carpenter in Berlin has great coffee, good food, and, most importantly, knowledgeable staff, which has none of the pretensions that you encounter in speciailty cafés.
source: http://www.livemint.com / Live Mint / Home> Explore / by Avantika Bhuyan / July 04th, 2019
A day after a Bandipur ranger was attacked by a tiger, wildlife experts have asked foresters working in tiger reserves and national parks to exercise caution.
Hubballi :
A day after a Bandipur ranger was attacked by a tiger, wildlife experts have asked foresters working in tiger reserves and national parks to exercise caution. They suggest that field-level officers develop the instinct to sense danger when in the wild, so that animal-human conflicts can be checked.
Four cases of animals attacking forest officials have been reported from various reserves of Karnataka in the last one year, and two people have died in different incidents. While IFS officer Manikantan heading Nagarhole Tiger Reserve was trampled to death by an elephant, a temporary forest watcher from Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary met with the same fate.
After a tiger attacked Range Forest Officer Raghavendra in Bandipur, experts are asking why the officer ventured into the tiger area, that too unarmed. “The officer should have been aware of surprises the wild can throw up. Before being deputed at Bandipur, Raghavendra had worked in BRT Tiger Reserve. It was wrong of him to venture out to check the presence of a tiger without precautions. Field officers must be made aware of negative aspects of forest protection and use this knowledge to avoid dangerous situations,” a wildlife expert told TNIE.
K M Chinnappa, a senior wildlife conservationist, revealed that from his observation, most wild attacks occur when animals are chased. “The unfortunate death of a forester near river Cauvery happened when a team was driving away elephants. When foresters are transferred to different forests, they must be trained to cope with the different conditions they are likely to encounter, for some could be very dangerous,” he said.
“We have been asking the government to appoint local guards, who would know the terrain and dangers involved,” he added.
A retired forester admitted that there is no specific training given to field officers to deal with surprise wild attacks. “Sloth bears and elephants (tuskers) are most unpredictable in the wild. It is important that a forest team is made aware of possible dangers to expect, and be in a position to take precautionary measures,” he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Amit S. Upadhaye / Express News Service / July 03rd, 2019
Soldier H N Mahesh, who had been injured during an anti-terrorist operation in Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir, has returned to his native place in Ponnampet for rest.
H N Mahesh was accompanied by his colleague Pravin. After completing his vacation, Mahesh had reported for duty in the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir on May 15. On May 29, he was severely wounded during an operation against terrorists who were hiding in a hospital in Shopian.
A bullet fired by terrorists hit Mahesh on the right side of his jaw and passed through his nose bridge. He was treated at the Army Hospital in Chandigarh.
After coming out of a three-day long coma, he was operated upon by the surgeons and it took nearly 50 stitches to close the wounds. Acting on the advice of the senior officials in the Indian Army, Mahesh was sent on holiday to his native place.
Mahesh said that he did not come to know about the bullet shot immediately. Several minutes later, he developed a problem with vision and he experienced palpitations in the heart. When he touched his face, he realised that he was shot. With the help of his colleagues, he rushed towards the ambulance which was at a distance of 200 metres from the site of encounter.
Mahesh’s stay in the army is likely to be extended to eight more years and he hopes to work in bomb disposal squad after his recovery.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DH News Service / July 02nd, 2019
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