Category Archives: Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Kodava women set aside kitchenware, learn to aim and fire in Karnataka

April 28, 2020Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, Alladmin

The participants of the training programme were given certification from the police and winners in the shooting event were presented prizes.

Women take part in a gun training event in Gonikoppal. (Photo | EPS)

Madikeri :

Every morning for the past five days, a handful of women from South Kodagu had set aside their usual kitchenware in favour of licenced firearms with the aim of becoming expert shooters.

In a land where owning a gun is part of the tradition, taking a break from their daily routine to learn the use of firearms is a small price to pay. It also gives women good self-defence capabilities.

The women who underwent the training needed no coaxing. Proudly dressed in all whites and wearing sneakers, they used to rush to the Cauvery College Grounds in Gonikoppal where they learned to load guns, aim and fire at targets.

The shooting training was organised by the Gonikoppal police and over 60 residents from across South Kodagu took part in the programme. Among the trainees were eight women who have become amateur shooters after the training.

“Gun is worshipped in Kodava culture and it is a cliché to say that shooting is in the blood of Kodavas. However, the men are usually trained in this skill and it is only recently that girls are being trained in this tradition. Nevertheless, when opportunity knocks on the door, you don’t deny it,” said Bharati Bopanna, a resident of Ponnampet, who attended the training programme and won the third place in the shooting competition.

When Bharati heard that the police are training residents in shooting, she registered herself for the programme. “Women, especially married ones, are not used to much physical exercise. And the training programme stressed on physical fitness.

Apart from that, during traditional festivals, women are given loaded guns to perform ritualistic shooting. While I had tried my hands on shooting, I never really knew to load the rifle. After this training, I need not depend on anyone to load a gun.”

The participants of the training programme were given certification from the police and winners in the shooting event were presented prizes.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Services / December 30th, 2020

Mysuru-Educated Innovator Creates Respiration Rate Monitor For COVID-19 Patients

April 27, 2020Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinionadmin

(from left) Sanchi Poovaya, Ranjana Nair and Aardra Kannan Ambili)

Mysore/Mysuru:

Unique among many medical solutions offered to combat COVID-19 is the new breathing monitor for Coronavirus patients developed by a Bengaluru-based start-up RayIoT and it is a matter of pride that a Kodagu-born and Mysuru-educated innovator is behind the device.

She is Ammanichanda Sanchi Poovaya, a young but experienced engineer, innovator and entrepreneur. She co-founded healthcare start-up RayIoT Solutions Inc. and is the Chief Operating Officer of the start-up that has already made a mark in innovative healthcare products.

Her start-up creates innovative healthcare and baby-tech products using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies. Very recently, Sanchi Poovaya and her other two co-founders Aardra Kannan Ambili (Chief Technology Officer) and Ranjana Nair (Co-founder and CEO) built a remote respiration monitoring system for COVID-19 patients that allows doctors to remotely monitor less critical patients while seriously ill ones get more attention.

Connected workflow sends alerts to the doctor in case of any abnormal variations in the patient’s vitals. With the high effectiveness of using respiration rate as a predictive vital, early detection especially among at-risk caregivers is a possibility.

“It is a non-contact, Wi-Fi enabled, affordable respiration rate monitor for Coronavirus patients that can run as mini ICU units. In its current form, RayIoT will work as a mini ICU monitoring unit. The algorithms of Artificial Intelligence will allow doctors and other health professionals to track the respiration rate of multiple patients through an app from anywhere in the world,” Sanchi Poovaya said.

In a pandemic like COVID-19 where doctors are falling ill with excessive patient inflow, and the management of quarantined patients have become difficult, the device wirelessly tracks patient’s respiration rate, heart rate, blood pressure and temperature.

Since all the devices can be connected to one central database, using RayIoT, healthcare professionals can monitor more than one lakh patients at a time continuously. By just tracking respiration rate, they will be able to intelligently categorise quarantined patients into mild, severe, and critical cases, she said.

“The idea of a remote respiration monitoring system came to us when a celebrity, who was converting his 14-room sprawling bungalow into a quarantine facility, reached out to us. His problem was remote access to doctors, nurses and medical equipment to fully equip his quarantine facility.”

The team had to come up with a low-cost solution that could monitor the vitals of hundreds of patients at any given point of time and connect to doctors through video when the patients are moving into a severe or critical stage. “The solution also helped Government Task Forces who are monitoring huge swathes of population by providing them a single source of truth with our quarantine database,” Sanchi reveals.

RayIoT has been created by same team that is behind Raybaby (the world’s first non-contact sleep and breathing monitor for babies. This product has won many awards and was mentioned in CNN as one of the must have home gadgets.

Ammanichanda Sanchi Poovaya completed her schooling at Good Shepherd, Ammathi in Kodagu, and JSS Public School, Mysuru. She completed her Mechanical Engineering at the National Institute of Engineering (NIE), Mysuru and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, New York.

Sanchi Poovaya is the daughter of Ammanichanda Sunil Poovaya (ex-Merchant Navy) and Shiela Poovaya (Pattada, Betoli). They live in Hosur, Bengaluru.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Covid News / April 26th, 2020

Phone-in programmes by Kodagu district administration

April 26, 2020Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, Alladmin

In order to solve people’s problems in an effective way, the district administration will conduct live phone-in programmes between April 24 and May 11 from 3 pm to 4 pm, stated a press release.

The people may call DC’s office control number 1077 and convey there issue on the specified topics.

The topic for the phone-in programme is as follows:

April 24 – Health and Family Welfare, April 27 – Food and Civil Supplies, April 29 – Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, May 2 – Agriculture and Horticulture, May 4 – Urban Local Bodies, May 6 – Specially-abled and senior citizens and Women and Child Welfare, May 8 – Social welfare and ITDP and May 11 – Forest department.

Officials from the respective departments will respond to the issues.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DHNS, Madikeri / April 27th, 2020

Doctor of Kodagu origin feted in USA

April 25, 2020Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nri's / Pio's, World Opinionadmin

Dr Keekanamada Preethi at her house with husband Subramani. DH Photo

The citizens of USA have offered a hearty felicitation to Dr Keekanamada Preethi, a Kannadiga doctor of Kodagu origin, who is treating Covid-19 patients, as a gesture of thanksgiving for her dedicated service.

Recently, Dr Uma Madhusudan, a native of Mysuru who is also serving in the US, was felicitated grandly by the American citizens. Incidentally, Dr Preethi lives in the same residential layout where Dr Uma resides in South Windsor, Connecticut. Dr Preethi lives with her husband Keekanamada Subramani.

Dr Preethi graduated in medicine from M S Ramaiah College in Bengaluru and migrated to the US in 1999. She is currently working at St Francis Hospital in South Windsor. As a heartfelt gesture, the patients who have recovered from the deadly disease, police and fire and emergency service personnel recognised the service of Dr Preethi by announcing her contributions on publicity vehicles.

Dr Preethi, replying to this unique felicitation, said that she accepts the honour with all humility. The video clip of Dr Preethi’s felicitation is being widely circulated on social media.

Dr Preethi is the daughter of Mundanda Rajappa, a native of Nelaji village. Rajappa was the first player to represent Kodagu district in the state Ranaji cricket team. He is currently based in Bangaluru. He said he is proud of her daughter’s work.

Her spouse Subramani hails from Birunani village of Kodagu.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Top Karnataka Stories / DHNS, Madikeri / April 24th, 2020

Women are leading the fight

April 22, 2020About Kodagu / Coorg, Business & Economy, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, Alladmin

Three top women officers are leading from the front the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in Kodagu.

Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy, Superintendent of Police Suman D. Pennekar and Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer K. Lakshmi Priya, who were in the vanguard when Kodagu was devastated by floods and landslides last year, are once again in the frontline of the campaign titled #KodaguFightsCorona.

In fact, Ms. Pennekar was serving the district when Kodagu witnessed unprecedented floods and landslides in 2018. Srividya P.I. was the Deputy Commissioner of Kodagu during the 2018 floods.

The top officers worked as a team and used to visit the affected areas together to realise the situation and provide relief accordingly.

In the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, the district administration, the district police and the zilla panchayat are again in “battle mode”.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mysuru – April 09th, 2020

Kodagu’s efforts to combat COVID-19 come in for praise

April 22, 2020Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, Alladmin

Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy and SP Suman D. Pennekar at a containment area in Kodagu for checking the spread of COVID-19. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Kodagu had reported its first and only case on March 19 and thereafter zero cases till date; Union Health Ministry quotes containment efforts

Kodagu’s efforts to contain the spread of novel Coronavirus have been admired nationally since it is one among two districts in the entire country where no new COVID-19 case had surfaced for 28 continuous days even as cases had been soaring in other States, including in many parts of Karnataka as well.

The first case in Kodagu was reported on March 19 and there had been zero cases subsequently. Besides Kodagu, Mahe in Puducherry had also reported nil cases since over four weeks.

Joint Secretary (Health) Luv Agarwal, while citing Kodagu’s COVID-19 combat efforts during his media briefing, lauded the containment efforts and felt that such results can also be expected in other districts if such efforts were replicated.

The Centre’s appreciation has boosted the morale of Kodagu district administration, which, under the direction of Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy, got into a “battle mode” almost a month before the first case was reported and when the virus was causing havoc in neighbouring China and spreading fast in Europe.

How did the district administration fight COVID-19?

The biggest challenge before it was the surveillance on the border with Kerala, which had a spike in cases, particularly from Kasaragod and Kannur areas. The health authorities started screening the people entering Kodagu from Kerala and later sealed some key border check-posts after the cases soared in the neighbouring State.

Sources in the Health Department told The Hindu that awareness programmes on COVID-19 that took off in February and surveillance on the borders helped the administration to confidently combat the disease.

Another reason for containing the spread of the contagion was the quick tracing of primary and secondary contacts of the first positive case (Kondangeri village) and the lockdown in 3-km radius of village to which the patient belonged to and its buffer area.

“None of the residents were allowed to step out of their village. All essentials were supplied to them by the district administration. After the two-week quarantine, they were under observation for any symptoms. Such containment efforts with round-the-clock monitoring with police patrol helped us to a large extent,” says Kodagu District Health Officer K. Mohan.

Also, the administration’s launch of e-commerce portal under #KodaguFightsCorona for delivering essential goods to the people’s doorsteps (to stop them from moving around) and the strict enforcement of the lockdown while easing the curbs three days a week for procuring essential supplies, and surveillance of fever cases on the district borders are the other efforts which could have worked in Kodagu’s favour.

The efforts of the district police, led by Superintendent of Police Suman D. Pennekar, in reaching out the ration and other essentials to the poor and migrant workers also helped to keep them indoors.

Also, 15 attendees of Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin were identified and all of them were placed in hospital quarantine. They are now in 15-day home quarantine.

Around 400 medical teams are on the look-out for fever cases with door-to-door surveillance and reporting the suspected cases to the isolation ward.

With cases soaring in Mysuru, the administration, as a preventive measure, has decided to screen those transporting vegetables, fruits and other essentials in trucks from Mysuru to Kodagu from Monday.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Shankar Bennur / Mysuru – April 20th, 2020

Ration Articles Distributed To Mahouts At Dubare Elephant Camp

April 20, 2020Agriculture, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, Alladmin

Kushalnagar:

The Forest Department distributed ration to over 60 Mahouts and Kavadis of Dubare Elephant camp near here on Saturday.

Speaking after distributing ration, Madikeri Sub-Division Conservator of Forests (CF)Prabhakar said that the families of Mahouts and Kavadis who live in tribal hamlets were facing a lot of difficulties due to the lockdown.

The Department, taking note of their plight, decided to distribute ration and essential items kits to them. Asking the Mahouts, Kavadis and their family members to stay at home in order to maintain their health in the wake of COVID-19, he highlighted the need for everyone to maintain social distance in order to be safe.

Somwarpet ACF Nehru, Virajpet ACF Dayanand, Kushalnagar RFO Ananyakumar, Dubare Sub-Division Forest Officer Ranjan and others were present.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / April 12th, 2020

Telemedicine fever clinic launched in Kodagu

April 15, 2020Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technologyadmin

The district administration has launched an online telemedicine fever clinic, for consultation with doctors.

The website is www.kodaguedoc.letstart.in

A control room has also been set up with a doctor and the number is 9480610807.

People having fever and other symptoms of Covid-19 can log into the website and register. Later, with the help of the registration ID number, the person should call the control room number.

The doctor in the control room will obtain the registration ID and will prescribe the medicine through the website.

The person should later log into the website again and download the prescription and consult the doctor online.

The website will be operational soon, Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy said.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Karnataka Districts / by DHNS / April 15th, 2020

Judge inspects facilities in hospital

April 13, 2020Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technologyadmin

District and Sessions Judge V V Mallapura and Legal Services Authority Member Secretary Noorunnisa visited district hospital in Madikeri.

District and Sessions Judge V V Mallapura and Legal Services Authority Member Secretary Noorunnisa visited the district hospital and Ashwini Hospital in Madikeri and inspected the facilities at the hospitals.

The judge collected details about the measures taken to check the spread of Covid-19 from doctors, paramedical staff and nurses.

Following the directions of the High Court, the judge also gathered information on stock of medicines, masks, hand gloves, sanitisers and ventilators at the hospitals.

Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences Dean Dr Cariappa and others were present.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DHNS, Madikeri / April 11th, 2020

Koodige dairy supplies milk to 3,000 families free of cost

April 10, 2020Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, Alladmin

Koodige dairy near Kushalnagar. DH Photo

Koodige milk dairy in Somwarpet taluk, which is a branch of Hassan Milk Producers Union Ltd, has been supplying milk to 3,000 families in the district free of cost.

Financially deprived people who are affected by the lockdown will benefit from the scheme.

Koodige dairy has been supplying 860 litres of milk to Madikeri, 656 litres to Virajpet, 685 litres to Kushalnagar and 715 litres to Somwarpet.

The free supply of milk started from April 4 and will continue till the end of the lockdown, said Koodige dairy marketing officer Mallesh.

Currently, free milk is supplied to destitutes, migrating labourers and construction workers. Health inspectors, civic workers and volunteers from the Red Cross have been supplying milk to the houses, under the supervision of taluk level officers, he said.

MLA Appachu Ranjan, while distributing free milk to people in Kushalnagar on Wednesday, said that the district is now free of Covid-19 as the person infected by the disease has been cured.

However, it is mandatory for everyone to follow the rules of lockdown, he added.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DHNS, Kushalnagar / April 09th, 2020

Kodagu First

a Celebration. Positive News, Facts & Achievements about Kodagu, Coorgs and the People of Kodagu – here at Home and Overseas