Parents and guardians take part in the inaugural function of Newborn Children’s Week at the district hospital in Madikeri.
District RCH Officer Dr Nilesh said parents should take special care of their children’s health because each and every child is an asset to the country.
He was speaking at the inaugural function of Newborn Children’s Week organised by Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences at the maternity and children’s ward at the district hospital.
Healthy children are an integral part of a healthy society, said Dr Nilesh.
District surgeon Dr Jagadish said special care should be taken while feeding newborns. “It is important for the mothers to know the food requirement of children according to their age,” he advised.
District Hospital senior paediatrician Dr Krishnananda felt for a need to take necessary steps to bring down infant mortality rate.
Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences Paediatrics Department Head Dr Purushottam, Dr Shivraj and Dr Kiran were present at the function.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Districts / by Adithya KA, DH News Service, Madikeri / November 24th, 2018
Educational institutions were first started in Kodagu after the British takeover in 1834. Kodavas took to education enthusiastically.
In 1909, St Joseph’s Convent was founded by Catholic nuns in Madikeri. It was primarily for girls, but boys were allowed up to 7th standard. The school catered to both boarders and day scholars.
I recently came across a remarkable group photograph taken in 1911, of the students at the time, along with the European nuns who ran the school.This school offered quality education to the children of those locals who aspired to see their children well-prepared to take advantage of lucrative jobs and career opportunities under the colonial dispensation.
This school saw several generations of students, especially women, pursue higher education and excel in diverse professions at a time when women were not very much involved outside the traditional responsibilities of raising a family.
Poovaiah sisters, Sita, Chitra and Lata, with their guru, Jailal.
One family in this frame, frozen in time, has members who went on to become famous during 1930s and 1950s. They are the seven daughters and one son of the first lawyer from Kodagu — Codanda D Poovaiah. Six of his daughters continued their education outside Kodagu. The sisters excelled in various fields and soon came to be known as the ‘Poovaiah Sisters of Coorg’.
One of them, Rohini, was the first lady from Kodagu to get a degree. She later became the principal of Crosthwaite College, a well-known institution in Allahabad. She was familiar with the Nehru family and had a brief role in the education of a young Indira Gandhi. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 1973.
Another sister, Ashlesha, was one of the first lady doctors from Kodagu. Yet another sister, Swati, did her nursing degree and later went on a scholarship to Columbia University in 1948 for further studies. The three younger sisters — Sita, Chitra and Lata, became renowned Kathak dancers and were much sought after not only for their performances, but also to direct dances in Hindi movies. All the sisters took part in the freedom movement. Chitra and Lata defied prohibitory orders during the ‘Quit India’ movement and were arrested and jailed for two weeks.
Sita went on to earn a PhD in Arts from Bombay University and became the first Kodava lady to get a doctorate degree.
Vivid memories: A century-old group photo of students of St Joseph’s Convent in Madikeri.
Over the years, several girls who had their early education in this school went on to achieve in various fields.
Konganda Accamma who studied here in the 1920s joined Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi. She was one of the first Kodava women to earn an MBBS degree and headed Vanivilas Women and Children’s Hospital for several years. C B Muthamma, India’s first woman IFS officer.
One of the most distinguished alumna of this school is C B Muthamma, who was the first woman to qualify for the Indian Foreign Service in 1949. She also has the distinction of being the first lady ambassador from the IFS cadre. Muthamma had to face gender discrimination while in service. She fought against the government and went to the Supreme Court in 1979 for redressal. The apex court passed a judgement in her favour which paved the way for other women civil servants from being discriminated against. She also authored a book titled, Slain by the System, in 2003.
St Joseph’s is now a co-ed school and continues to provide quality education.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Spectrum / by C.P. Belliappa / November 10th, 2018
Women flood victims sell masala products under the name ‘Coorg flavours’ in Madikeri on Sunday.
“There is a need to give priority to build the lives of flood victims,” said writer Vaidehi.
She was speaking after launching various masala products under the brand name ‘Coorg Flavours’ prepared by women flood victims under a skill development project of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Project Coorg at Kalooru in Madikeri taluk on Sunday.
It was a moment of pride for the flood victims, who have started rebuilding their lives by selling various products prepared by them.
MLA K G Bopaiah said, “The flood victims should lead a self-sufficient life. The quality of the products should be maintained.”
Project Coorg Convener Balaji Kashyap said that the women were imparted 21 days of training and have prepared 11 varieties of masala products.
Kalooru Kakera family has announced the donation of 20 cents of land to construct a building to train the women.
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Kodagu unit president K S Devaiah spoke on the occasion.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> States> Districts / by Adithya KA / DH News Service – Madikeri / November 11th, 2018
840 people who lost their homes have been identified. Kodagu during the flood (Representional Image)
Mysuru:
The Kodagu administration, which has identified land to build houses for 840 people, who lost their homes in the district’s floods and landslides in August this year, is getting ready to form layouts on it with all basic amenities including roads, electricity and water connection for their benefit.
According to Kodagu additional special deputy commissioner, M K Jagadish, a Rs 31.63 crore proposal has been sent to the state government to form the layouts with 373 sites in five places to begin with. Experts of the Geological Survey of India have already assessed the land identified.
While three private companies have come forward with model houses, the state government has not yet chosen one or the company for building them. “Chief Minister H D Kumarswamy has suggested we build two bedroom houses,” the officer added.
The state government, which has decided to give Rs 50,000 to each displaced family until the houses are built for them, has released Rs 6 crore towards this and the process of distribution was underway, the officer said.
While as many as 524 people have lost their houses in Madikeri taluk, 205 have been made homeless in Madikeri town, 88 in Somwarpet taluk, and 23 in Kushalnagar town. Of them 98 have decided to build houses on their own land. The land identified by the government has already been levelled, and 30 x 40 sites will be marked on it from November 2.
While most victims of Kodagu’s rains and floods have returned home, 683 still remain at seven relief camps in the district.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / by Shilpa P / Deccan Chronicle / November 01st, 2018
The seventh day of Dasara Yuva Sambhrama held at the Open Air Theatre in Manasagangothri here last evening saw the participating students sending out messages on Water Conservation, Save Kodagu and Swachh Bharat through their songs and dance.
While the students of Government Arts, Commerce and PG College, Hassan, gave a message on conservation of environment and water, the students of Virajpet First Grade College presented a dance drama for the song ‘Janana-Janana Yarado Papa, Marana-Marana Yarado Shaapa.’ The students later highlighted the devastation caused by floods and landslides in Kodagu and gave messages on the importance of forest conservation.
The students of Jnanadeepa First Grade College danced to the song ‘Mysuru Dasara Yeshtondu Sundara’ which received appreciation from the audience. JSS Women’s College students of Chamarajanagar, all dressed in green, walked up on the stage and highlighted the importance of conserving, protecting and planting trees besides sending out messages on conservation of forests.
Messages such as women empowerment by students of Devaraja Girls Government PU College, Indira Gandhi Government FGC, Sagar, on Kannada and Culture, Madikeri’s Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa College students on Freedom Struggle and Mangaluru’s Dr. P. Dayananda Pai-Dr. P. Satish Pai FGC students sent out a message on Swachh Bharat through their dance.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / October 07th, 2018
Jyothy Institute of Technology organised ‘Run for Coorg’, a 5K run, near its college campus at Thataguni in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Bengaluru :
Jyothy Institute of Technology organised ‘Run for Coorg’, a 5K run, near its college campus at Thataguni in Bengaluru on Saturday. More than 2,000 people, including music director Gurukiran and actor Aniruddha Jatkar, participated.
People from various parts of the state, including Mysuru, Davangere, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada, participated. They have decided to rebuild a village in Kodagu that was devastated by the recent floods. The event was flagged off by Gurukiran and Aniruddha Jatkar.
The Institute along with Rotaract organised the event with an aim to reconstruct Kodagu and rehabilitate the affected people. They have planned to reconstruct a village in Kodagu and help people who lost their houses and other properties, said Rajesh K of the Institute.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Service / October 08th, 2018
Deputy Chief Minister Dr. G. Parameshwara, who unveiled the statue of Field Marshal K.M.Cariappa at Miller’s Road Junction near Kodava Samaja in Vasanthnagar, Bengaluru, this morning, is seen with Bengaluru Mayor Sampath Raj, Samaja President Ravi Uthappa, Advocate M.T. Nanaiah, former Karnataka Media Academy Chairman M.A. Ponnappa and others.
It may be recalled, a life-size bronze statue of Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa, the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, was unveiled at the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai during June 2018 by his son, retired Air Marshal K. C. Cariappa.
Also, Chief of the Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat had unveiled the bronze statues of Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa and General K.S. Thimayya at Cauvery College in Gonikoppal, Kodagu district, in November 2017.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Gallery> Photo News / September 26th, 2018
With donors from across the state contributing to CM’s Relief Fund, exclusively released to Kodagu district, over Rs 62 crore has been collected as on September 20.
Madikeri :
Following the natural disaster in Kodagu district, the numerous families that had lost houses and other properties were handed over Rs 3,800 – Rs 1,800 for clothing and Rs 2,000 for utensils and other household goods (per family)- under SDRF/NDRF guidelines.
Since the damage has been severe and the process of permanent rehabilitation will take some more time, the district administration including Deputy Commissioner Sreevidya P I and Kodagu District Minister Sa Ra Mahesh had proposed a request to the State government to increase the amount from meagre Rs 3,800/- per family to Rs 50,000, in a letter dated 28 August.
While the State and National Disaster Fund guidelines do not allow any changes to be made to the gratuitous funds, the state revenue department had stepped into people’s aid and had forwarded the proposal of releasing Rs 50,000/- each for the distressed families from the Karnataka Chief Minister Relief Fund-Natural Calamity 2018. The proposal, which was forwarded to CM H D Kumaraswamy was later forwarded to the Cabinet Committee for approval, which has now been sanctioned.
With donors from across the state contributing to CM’s Relief Fund, exclusively released to Kodagu district, over Rs 62 crore has been collected as on September 20. As many as 1,156 families have been directly affected by natural disaster and 186 houses have been damaged completely, 530 houses have been damaged severely and 404 houses have undergone partial damage.
While Rs 320 crore has been allotted to Karnataka under SDRF, an additional state fund of Rs 400 crore is provided to the state.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Service / September 22nd, 2018
Taking note of the geographical factors typical of hilly Kodagu also known for its origin of the river Cauvery, Sreevidya began vacating people the next day from danger-prone areas.
When the whole of Kerala reeled under floods last month amid rain-triggered landslides along its eastern mountains, just east of upstate Malabar, Kodagu too was hit by the calamity. Yet, if the people of southern Karnataka’s scenic district largely escaped the effects of the monsoon fury, a share of the credit goes to a Malayali bureaucrat’s prompt administrative initiatives.
A native of Kollam district in Kerala, P I Sreevidya was only eight months old with her capacity as the deputy commissioner of Kodagu when her office got information last month that the district along the Western Ghats was set to receive “very heavy and unusual rains.” Far from laughing off the alert received on August 12 through various agencies, the 2009-batch IAS officer swung into action.
Taking note of the geographical factors typical of hilly Kodagu also known for its origin of the river Cauvery, Sreevidya began vacating people the next day from danger-prone areas. Relief camps came up within hours.
As it rained cats and dogs on August 15 and 16, Kodagu lost 2,500 houses while crops perished in acres of farmlands. Roads developed cracks, some simply vanished.
Sreevidya, who had earlier served as Kodagu zilla panchayat chief executive officer for six months from mid-November 2013, opened a control room this time by her office, coordinating rescue and relief operations. She ensured that the district got aid from all the three arms of the service, besides the IAF’s special Garud commando service and the state police, fire force as well as the National Disaster Response Force under the Centre.
Joining her in the efforts were zilla panchayat CEO Prashanth Kumar Mishra, police chief Suman D Pennekar, MLAs Appachu Ranjan (Madikeri) and K G Bopaiah (Virajpet) along with other people’s representatives and social workers. The office of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy would enquire about the developments on an hourly basis. There were opportune interventions from state chief secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar.
“All these ensured that we could minimise the loss to property and the impact on public life,” says Sreevidya, who belongs to Chakkuvarakkal near Kottarakara and had secured 14th rank in her civil service exams. “I couldn’t even call home those two days.”
The bureaucrat’s four-year-old son Madhav, sensing the gravity of the situation, threw no tantrums and stayed quietly with his grandparents in the camp house.
As for Sreevidya’s husband, he is also a top officer. T Narayanan, who is Pathanamthitta district police chief, was that time busy in a similar rescue operation in his area. There, in south-central Kerala, the Pamba had swollen dangerously, invading places along both its banks, much to the trauma of their residents. “Believe me, I didn’t know his place was that badly affected. Neither did he know anything about the Kodagu floods,” says Sreevidya. “We were both cut off that time.”
Today, Kodagu people are all praise for their deputy commissioner. Social media posts, especially on Facebook, speak of Sreevidya’s administrative efforts that assuaged their misery.
source: http://www.english.manoramaonline.com / Home> Women / by Malayalam Manorama Correspondent / September 17th, 2018
Raj Bhagat Palanichamy of WRI India is preparing open source free online tools and maps to deal with floods.
As Bengaluru and Chennai stare into a future which is likely to be dotted with more floods, Raj Bhagat Palanichamy is busy working on a defence strategy. He is preparing an online tool and maps for Chennai and Bengaluru. Raj works as a GIS and remote sensing analyst with WRI Ross Cities program at WRI (World Resources Institute) India. A not-for-profit global research organisation, WRI works on ideas to create sustainable cities.
During the recent floods, he had released maps of Kodagu and Kerala that aimed at helping authorities and people involved in rescue work by sharing information. On whether his maps could achieve their objective, the young researcher says, “I got an SOS call from the disaster management wing of the Revenue Department of Karnataka, one morning asking for these maps. I shared with them an interactive website which gave them access to these maps. I think drone surveys were commissioned in Kodagu after consulting our maps. With Kerala, there was no direct channel of communication between us and its government. Also, the authorities in Kerala were right in the thick of action so we couldn’t really interact. The idea was to tell the governments that there are ways to seek information. Social media was interested. My tweets had 40,000 impressions.”
With high possibilities of flooding occurring in Bengaluru and Chennai in the coming months, Raj is now working on maps for both the cities and plans to release it five days before the meteorological department predict heavy downpours. Raj reveals that one can extract more accurate data closer to the date. An hour of observation is needed to generate maps. “Our mandate was never to deal with a crisis on a short-term basis. The 2015 Chennai floods made us realise that there is a need to have a structure for a short-term solution to save lives. We are now working on an open source online tool that will predict the areas to be most affected and also monitor those areas. The online tool will be ready sometime in 2019 as it is stuck right now due to paucity of funds but the maps will be there soon, though.”
Raj feels the conversations should be on handling the climate change. “Like how to diversify our cities so they don’t get overburdened. While the government looks at flooding with an engineering perspective — building and clearing canals, the main thing is rainwater harvesting. We could use parks to hold rainfall and avoid constructions on flood plains.”
He says the flood tool can send out a warning. The findings can be integrated into the planning to identify critical areas and avoid construction there. The tool will help in identifying critical buildings such as hospitals and schools to come up with a proper defence mechanism against floods.
Raj feels too much dependence on dams is not recommended. “Traditional ways of water conservation and improvement of water efficiency and productivity need to be the focus. The government shouldn’t focus on mega projects.” He also feels that the gap between analytics and planning should be bridged. “There are 100 of research projects about the flooding in Mahanadi river but these have not been integrated into planning because researchers probably don’t know how to reach out and publicise their work. The Amaravati floods very often not just because of the infrastructure but also due to lack of planning.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society / by Shailaja Tripathi / September 18th, 2018
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