Heavy rains with hailstones accompanied with thunder lashed Somwarpet and surrounding places destroying pepper and coffee plants on Tuesday night.
A large hailstone weighing about 25 kg has baffled the residents of Kundalli village and the large hailstone had not melted when it was found the next day morning. The large hailstone was found near a tree by Manjula and Drutan, when they were going to the agricultural field on Wednesday morning
The hailstones have also destroyed many trees inside coffee estates and a huge tree fell across the National Highway near Honvalli village disrupting traffic. The villagers chopped down the fallen tree and made way for smooth flow of traffic.
The tiled roof of a house belonging to one Muddu at Kibetta village has been damaged and the walls have developed cracks.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / April 28th, 2022
Al Rm. Nagappan has been elected as the President of United Planters Association of Southern India (UPASI) for the year 2019-20.
A coffee planter by profession, he manages the family business of Karrie Kollie Estate at Suntikoppa in Kodagu. Nagappan was elected at the 126th Annual Conference of the Association held in Coonoor in Nilgiris district.
Nagappan has been in the coffee industry from 1982 and has rich experience in planting industry. His involvement with the planting association has been longstanding. He is an avid sportsman, with Golf being one of his passions.
Nagappan was associated with the Mercara Downs Golf Club for many years as Hon Secretary. He served in Karnataka Golf Association in various capacities and went on to become the President of the Karnataka Golf Association
Prashant Bhansali, CEO of Kairbetta Estates, a family-run tea plantation and an orthodox tea manufacturer, was elected as the Vice-President.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / September 15th, 2019
‘Kaadinolagondu Jeeva,’ a book based on first-hand experiences of the famed Forest Ranger K.M. Chinnappa (now retired) will be released in city on July 2 by Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, President and driving force behind Adamya Chethana Trust, Bengaluru, and the wife of late H.N. Ananth Kumar, Union Minister.
The event will be held at Hotel Roost on Hunsur Road at 10.30 am and it is organised by Wildlife First and Bharathi Prakashana, Mysuru. The book is written by T.S. Gopal, retired Principal of Srimangala Junior College and has been published by Poornachandra Tejaswi Prakashana in the year 2000.
When the book was published it was an instant hit and was published in three volumes. Later in 2010, Navakarnataka Publication published a comprehensive collection of all the three volumes. The 400-page book has 14 pages of colourful photos and has many stories and experiences of Chinnappa.
About K.M. Chinnappa
Born in 1941 at Kumatoor village in South Kodagu to an Armed Forces family, Kotrangada M. Chinnappa is the quintessential wildlife protector. A true son of the soil, his father was a soldier who took to farming after retirement. Chinnappa joined the Karnataka Forest Department as a Forester in 1967 and has been a frontline warrior all his life.
For much of his career he served as a Ranger in Nagarahole where he was best known for his uncompromising ways and his almost fanatical adherence to law.
When Chinnappa joined as the Ranger at Nagarahole, the region was infested with numerous criminal activities such as timber smuggling, marijuana plantation, poaching, cattle grazing, setting up of unauthorised breweries at the sanctuary although the area was set up for protecting wildlife.
However, Chinnappa pledged to bring a dramatic change in the way the forest functioned. He ensured that the number of tigers and deer, which were dangerously low, increased, all the encroachers were chased from the forest and the wild animal natural habitats were restored. When he joined Nagarahole, the forest area was only 250 sqkm and now it has expanded to 653 sqkm.
During his struggle for wildlife conservation, Chinnappa became an enemy of many people. He was always on the threshold of getting killed. In the year 1970, he barely escaped from death when a gang armed with sticks attempted to attack him during his visit to a temple.
Chinnappa was made to surrender his licensed revolver because many people who did not support him addressed him as a criminal and threat. Chinnappa was falsely accused of a murder which forced him to spend 12 days in a prison before he was found guilt-free.
In 1992, an angry mob burned his newly constructed home few days after the work was completed in Kumatoor. He fought the long battle and faced many difficulties and unexpectedly resigned from his post in 1993. He won the CM’s Gold Medal in 1985. Now, Chinnappa is the President of Wildlife First, continuing his crusade against timber mafia and green destructors. He is also into agriculture, his passion.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore /Home> News / June 20th, 2019
Coorg Public School & Pre-University College has secured 100% results in the II PU Board Examination the results of which were announced recently.
The college authorities said the hard work and perseverance of the students coupled with expertise of the teachers who were relentless in ensuring support round-the-clock helped the students to notch up impressive scores and 19 students secured centum in various subjects.
Out of 61 students, 43 have achieved distinction, 17 students secured first class and 1 student secured a second class, the release added.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mysuru – June 22nd, 2022
In an attempt to popularise, protect and preserve the language, as well as to obtain ISO language code, the Karnataka Arebhashe Samskruthi and Sahitya Academy has completed the digitisation of 84 books.
Academy member Bharathesha Alasandemajalu said that books that were published from 1968 to the recent ones, including two PhD theses, have been digitised. The PhD thesis on Arebhashe in English by Prof Kodi Kushalappa Gowda, published in 1970 at the Annamalai University, has been digitised. Earlier, the language was known as Gowda Kannada. The other works include the digitisation of a souvenir that highlights the culture of the Gowda community, he said.
In total, digitisation of the 38 books published by the academy, ‘Hingara’ -the tri-monthly magazine of the academy, and 21 books published by different authors have been digitised, and available on arebashe.sanchaya.net.
The team has digitised 142 editions of ‘Kodava Sangathi’, a fortnightly, whose editor was Pattada Prabhakar, and an important book on the Amara Sullia uprising of 1837, by Deviprasad Sampaje.
The books are available under three categories, books published by the academy, Arebhashe Sahithya and editions of Kodagu Sangathi, and Hingara Bharathesha said.
The digitisation works will be inaugurated on June 25 in Madikeri, in the presence of chief minister’s advisor for e- governance Beluru Sudarshan and Kodagu Kannada Sahitya Academy president M P Keshav Kamath. Academy president Lakshminarayan Kajegadde will preside over the event.
“In case the language has to obtain international recognition, then an ISO language code is important. Digitisation is a step towards obtaining the code. It will also give the public easy access to the existing Arebhashe literature,” he said.
Vishwanath Badikana, assistant professor, Kannada, Aloysius College, and member of the academy, said that books that have been digitised are not available in the market. The works on Arebhashe dictionary, a blend of Lexicon and Kittel dictionary, encyclopedia and Arebhashe glossary-documenting Arebhashe culture, through the items used by people who speak this language, is near completion.
“This is probably first-of-its-kind work undertaken for a sub-dialect, through an academy that has a small base. According to an estimate, about 10 lakh people speak the language,” he said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Mangaluru News / by Deepthi Sanjiv / June 22nd, 2022
Women coffee entrepreneurs are roasting an aroma of change in a predominantly tea-drinking nation. Taking forth the impulse of India’s cafe revolution, women leading the front of the ‘bean business’ in the country are treading exciting roads in exploration of just how much plurality homegrown coffee has to offer.
“The full spectrum of the tones and flavours that a human palate could possibly perceive and identify in the world of coffee is infinite,” Sadhavi Ashwani, who co-founded store and cafe Baba’s Beans with friend Mrinal Sharma, tells SheThePeople in an interview.
“Coffee is a complex and intriguing biological being… With coffee you hit the motherland of flavours; a whole world of culinary flavours can be discovered in the tones of different roasts and regions. So a trained palate can understand, indulge and enjoy what the crop has to offer.”
Ashwani and Sharma are friends from college who, after meandering through different trades, landed on coffee – a common passion shared over multiple cups that forged a relationship, as they often do. A trip to Coorg in 2013 transformed their vision of coffee and pulled them deeper into research and contact with plantation workers. Out of that bean, their venture was born that year.
Coffee is like music, Ashwani says, with the dopamine-seeking drinker finding themself attuned to the familiar notes of the drink with every cup. Data shows that more and more of the youth consumer market are familiarising themselves with the drink.
______
“The Indian coffee consumer no longer views coffee as a black bitter drink which effectively wakes you up in the morning”: Ashwani, Baba’s Beans
______
YouGov numbers from 2019 showed a vivid distinction in attitudes towards coffee in India between two generations. Where 67 percent of Gen X respondents agreed that India was a tea-drinking nation, among Gen Z only 49 percent did. The belief that the coffee culture was gaining on tea traditions was recorded at 33 percent in the Gen Z category, the highest among all respondent sets.
Cha drinkers, don’t feel down. In an empowering display of appreciation for co-existence, a preference for both beverages was a popular choice across age groups.
Third Roast’s Poornima Katyal traces this changing culture through the recent era of coffee’s surging fame in India. “The first-generation drinkers in North India started with instant coffee, while in the South, where coffee was grown, filter coffee was popular. With the second generation, cafes like Cafe Coffee Day came in. These were more than the coffee but about the culture of meeting friends, hanging out, going for dates – a melting pot of young people,” she tells SheThePeople in an interview.
“The third-generation coffee population has started producing high-quality beans in their own cafes. Thanks to the internet, people are also experimenting with brewing coffee at home.”
Women Coffee Entrepreneurs Are Blending Cultures In Cups. Come, Sip? Coffeehouses have historically always held status as the ultimate locus where food and social cultures blend. As per Britannica, the first coffeehouse dates back to 16th century Constantinople (now Istanbul). Thrumming with the energy of revolution and intellect, cafes became spaces of important thought exchange over the years. Since Wi-Fi has replaced books, cafes today are crowded with laptop-wielding youth hard at work or fashionable display.
Consumer knowledge around coffee here is now greater, helped by internationally known Indian stores like Blue Tokai and Araku Coffee putting artisanal cuppas on the table. But does the larger chunk of the coffee-drinking population understand or have interest in that kind of investment towards specialty coffee?
Mordor Intelligence estimates that India’s ‘Ready-to-Drink Coffee Market’ (which includes ready products from Amul, Nestle and Starbucks) is set to grow at a CAGR of 3.3 percent between 2020 and 2025; the high demand is fuelled by busy, on-the-go lives of consumers needing quick fixes of caffeine.
“There are a wide variety of consumers who want instant products – something that is convenient,” Katyal says. “Not everyone will buy beans and a grinder to brew fresh coffee at home. At the same time, there are businesses moving towards a discerning coffee drinking culture that allows people to experiment with their brews. But the two will always co-exist.”
“Metros have more access to cafes and brands. Though tier 2 and 3 cities don’t have that access, there is a consumer base there. Brands are delivering cold brew sachets, micro cans or coffee beans through orders placed online,” Katyal adds. Her own venture in 2018 was founded upon small bottle-sized batches of cold brew she was experimenting with at home, sent out to friends who were hooked to her creations.
“We started as just a cold brew company but moved on to making a wider product portfolio that included pantry items that go with coffee – granola, fudge, plant-based milk,” she says. There’s also an exciting ‘shmeese’ (plant-based cheese) offering on the tray.
Baba’s Beans, on the other hand, is still a pure coffee setup that is forever experimenting with flavours and aromas on their Lab Menu at the bar. Their focus is on “bringing the Indian coffee farmer closer to the domestic consumer.”
Since incepting their business in 2013, Ashwani and Sharma have worked closely with plantation farmers they source their coffee from – in Coorg, Chikmagalur, Araku Valley and Tripura. Their business starts at the very grassroots, honouring its earliest origins in the “soul of the soil.” The company name stands as an ode to Baba Budan, a 16th-century Sufi saint credited with introducing the first beans of coffee to India.
________
“The internet has made coffee more accessible than ever before”: Katyal, Third Roast
_______
Batting for the best, however, is not so easy at present, these coffee entrepreneurs say. Organic, for instance, is a lifestyle shift many industries are witnessing. And for good. That change in the coffee industry is coming at a price not comprehensively accounted for, Sharma says.
“While organic growing practices are less expensive than conventional practices, the premium charged for organic produce is often not enough to sustain the lower yield and the longer cultivation time in order to be able to sustain the livelihood of the farmer.”
Though organic is a good path to walk in view of eco-friendliness against climate change, “the current capacities, challenges and potential for this shift” has to be understood in the context of Indian coffee farmers with limited land holdings. “With climate change, the pandemic and the coffee price crisis in the world the pressure on the Indian coffee farmer has been intense,” Sharma says. Financially and infrastructurally equipping the average plantation worker is a requisite.
The movement has to be community-centred if the coffee industry is to grow, and grow with command, in India. The interests of all who trace love back to the bean – right from the farmer tending to the saplings in their plantation to the cafe drinker basking in the glory of that first whiff of fresh coffee.
Does that really come as a surprise though? Coffee has, after all, always been for the people.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin handing over a cheque for ₹75 lakh to squash player Joshna Chinnappa in Chennai on Thursday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday handed over a cheque of ₹75 lakh to squash player Joshna Chinnappa, who won a gold medal in world doubles championships in Glasgow recently.
Minister for Sports Development Siva V. Meyyanathan and senior officials were present.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Tamil Nadu / by JDennis Solomon Jesudasan 10525 / Chennai – April 29th, 2022
Expecting monsoon on June 1, farmers chopped off branches of shade trees exposing tender berries to summer-like sunlight
An ‘unfortunately’ incorrect weather forecast by India Meteorological Department (IMD) has put coffee farmers in Karnataka in jeopardy.
On the basis of the Met department’s prediction of an early monsoon, coffee growers in Karnataka prepared for rains on June 1. However, the coffee estates in Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan districts are yet to see any sign of rain as on June 17.
Expecting monsoon in the first week of June 1, towards the end of May, most coffee farmers carried out shade regulation through chopping the branches of secondary shade trees on their plantations to ensure maximum sunlight on the plants during the monsoon. In the absence of rain, coffee plants are being exposed to excessive heat and summer-like sunlight.
Shade lopping (called dadap lopping, with dadaps being fast growing trees of the genus Erythrina) is undertaken just before or at the onset of monsoon as retaining thick shade during monsoon could lead to disruption of free flow of oxygen in the orchard, which may lead to berry dropping, wet foot condition and rotting of stalk.
Mandanna of Subramhanya Estate at Suntikoppa in Kodagu district says, “The entire coffee belt was set for the monsoon on June 1. But unfortunately, Met department’s weather prediction has gone haywire. A delayed monsoon has brought additional concerns to the coffee-growing community.”
According to him, coffee plantations should have ideally received 5 to 6 inches of rain in June, but, as of now, they have not received any rain so far.
“More than half of June has passed and monsoon is yet to set in. Rains are very critical for the development of berries, and also to keep white stem borer away from coffee plants,” said Mr. Mandanna, who is a member of the Coffee Board.
Shirish Vijayendra, a planter from Mudigere and former chairman of Karnataka Planters’ Association, said, “A delayed monsoon would adversely affect the coffee crop this year. Not only coffee, it has also impacted pepper flowering and corn formation, and also paddy cultivation in most parts of Karnataka. Most days are very sunny, as if we are still in summer. It is not a good sign for most crops, including coffee.”
Anil Kumar Bhandari, President of India Coffee Trust (ICT) and a large planter from Suntikoppa, said, “The delayed monsoon has added to our problems. If the rains are going to be further delayed by another 4 to 6 days, there will be a significant impact on production due to poor crop formation.’’
Coffee growers say they purchased manure in bulk to fertilise and nourish their plantations, but the task can be carried out only if the soil has enough moisture to dissolve and absorb the fertiliser.
“We are yet to apply fertilisers in our plantations, owing to the lack of moisture on the ground,” lamented Sindhu Jagdish, a small farmer from Ponnampet in Kodagu district.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Mini Tejaswi / Bengaluru – June 17th, 2022
Senior advocate of Kodagu, Maletira Dhyan Chinnappa, has been appointed as the Additional Advocate General of Dharwad Bench of the High Court.
Dhyan Chinnappa obtained his Law degree in National Law College, Bengaluru, and attained post-graduation from London in 2002. He has served in various courts in the country.
He is the son of M P Chinnappa and Kaveri Chinnappa.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DHNS, Madikeri / October 30th, 2019
WELCOME. If you like what you see "SUBSCRIBE via EMAIL" to receive FREE regular UPDATES.
Read More »
