The Karnataka Planters Association (KPA) on Thursday urged the Centre for an amendment in Rule 7B of Income Tax Rules.
According to KPA Chairman Baba P S Bedi, “In Rule 7B of Income Tax Rules, they consider ‘Coffee Curing’ as value-addition. If you cure coffee, you can’t drink it. However, you can drink it, only once it is roasted and powdered. How can they treat it as value-addition?”
KPA will submit a memorandum routed through The United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) to the central government to amend Rule 7B R/w Section 2 (1A) of Income Tax Act so as to give effect to the changes in the ruling to cover ‘Coffee Curing’ is within the meaning of ‘Coffee Grown’.
The Government of India is keen to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1, 2017. Bedi said, “If coffee is made taxable under GST, input tax paid by the agriculturist on inputs used or consumed by the agriculturist in growing this product should be allowed to be set off.”
Appointment of chairman
A full-term chairman of Coffee Board has not been appointed yet.
“We have requested the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to appoint a full-time chairman to the board. The former chairman Jawaid Akthar’s tenure came to an end on May 11, 2015,” a statement from KPA said.
However, Leena Nair, a 1982 batch IAS officer from Tamil Nadu cadre, was given the additional charge of Chairman, Coffee Board.
Currently, the 1997 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, M K Shanmuga Sundaram, has been accorded with the additional charge of the post of Chairman in the Coffee Board, Bengaluru, under the Department of Commerce.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Business / DHNS – Bengaluru, October 14th, 2016
Near Ponnapet in Virajpet taluk, Kodagu district, the sight that greets the visitor is one of lush paddy fields extending till the very edge of the horizon. However, a wide stretch of land leaden with construction material with a tiny makeshift office, is a blemish on Kodagu’s otherwise pristine landscape.
White boards reading Converted Site For Sale and pointing, rather ironically, towards verdant green fields is a common sight across the district. Interestingly, some of these plots cost more than a flat in the heart of Bengaluru.
Reflecting on the sharp spurt in the price of land in the district in the past decade, president of the Coorg Wildlife Society, Colonel CP Muthanna said, “Ten years ago, an acre cost Rs 7 lakh. Now, it is almost Rs 1 crore, and many layouts have cropped up in the last five years.” The many residential enclaves that have cropped up, mostly on wetlands and agricultural fields, might have resulted in the land prices shoot up, but they have had a disastrous effect on the flow of rain water into the many streams and brooks that feed the Cauvery River, which originates in the district. A school built on paddy fields near Gonikoppa in Virajpet is faced with the problem of flooding almost annually.
However, it is those who practise agriculture who have to bear the brunt of these ill-thought out development projects. Gopakumar M, who has been studying otters in the Cauvery River, said, “Paddy was the primary crop that was grown by farmers here. Now, cultivation has come down by 50%, since many have abandoned it because of labour costs, irregular rainfall pattern and lack of business.”
However, Muthanna laid the blame at the government’s feet, for its failure to encourage cultivation of indigenous varieties of paddy. “Sellers are saying that they are giving up because of high labour costs and rainfall patterns; they aren’t good enough reasons. Most sell them for the money,” he said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Bangalore / Aditi Sequeira / TNN / October 15th, 2016
In 2014, when a Coorgi village tribal gave Bheemaiah K K a rattan vine stick for his off-road activities, he contemplated starting a venture selling ‘all-purpose’ sticks. “That was in June-July, the beginning of my journey,” says the founder of Bheem Styx, now with a store on Indiranagar’s 12th Main. After three months of driving between Coorg, his hometown, and Bengaluru, where he lives, with the stick in his vehicle, he decided to act on the idea.
“I often travelled through forests and coffee estates,” says Bheemaiah — Bheem for short — from a family of coffee growers. “I realised then it didn’t make sense to ‘climb a tree to cut a branch’, and that sticks were strewn across roads and paths. You only had to see them and pick them up.” So every summer he goes hunting for sticks, fallen branches and trees, even keeps a look out for landslides along the Western Ghats. “Now that people know what I do, they alert me about fallen trees or about the civic bodies pruning trees,” he says.
He also makes the most of monsoon tree-felling gusts of wind in the city and elephants that uproot trees in the forests and, in all, about 400 sticks find their way into the drying room at his Coorg homestead, where they remain for a few months to a year.
“I seal the ends with wires to prevent cracking. Even so, some crack, some others are already eaten by insects or are rotten from inside,” he admits. But except for these 80 to 100, the rest, he says, turn out strong.
“They are mostly from hardwood trees whose names I know only in Kodava,” says the journalism graduate who moved to the city in 1997 for his schooling. “Some of these, my father tells me, are said to last for 80 to 100 years.” Others sticks come from boughs and branches of coffee plants or fruit trees, also grown abundantly in the Kodagu belt.
Once dried and hardened, these sticks are cleaned, sandpapered and transported to the garage store in the city, where they are painted. Bheem has dipped into his friends circle for this. “Some are artists, but most are students, entrepreneurs in their own right or art enthusiasts with day jobs,” he adds.
From deep-river-walking sticks and hook sticks, which can be used to pull down branches, and catapult sticks, whose ‘Y’ can either fling stones at fruits or work as an armrest, to home decor, fashion and city-walking sticks, there are several options on offer. Smaller bits of wood become keychains. They are priced between Rs 500 and Rs 12,000, with customised ones selling for not less than Rs 6,000.
Bheem reasons: “Collecting sticks is a sweaty, dirty job. I’ve got bitten by leeches, and once by a snake, though it wasn’t venomous. Caterpillars and thorns abound the wooded areas, so you hardly come back without a scratch or rash.”
The going is slow too, he adds. “At a time, one person can’t carry more than four to six sticks, given that often there are no walkways,” he explains. “Some are heavier than the rest, like the jungle palm felled by elephants. Carrying one five-foot-long, half-foot-wide piece of those is a difficult task.” But passion keeps him going back year after year, he muses.
India has made a pitch to host the International Coffee Organisation’s (ICO) fifth World Coffee Conference in the country’s coffee capital Bengaluru in 2020.
ICO, the main inter-governmental organisation for the coffee producing and consuming countries, is keen that India host the next conference.
A formal decision from the apex body of the coffee producing and consuming nations is likely to be expected in March 2017, said MK Shanmuga Sundaram, Chairman, Coffee Board, confirming India’s bid to host the global meet.
Every four years, ICO holds the high-level World Coffee Conference to enable discussion around critical topics for the global coffee sector. Previously the conferences have been held in England in 2001, Brazil in 2005, Guatemala in 2010 and in Ethiopia in 2016.
ICO, which is working to strengthen the global coffee sector and promote its sustainable expansion in a market-based environment, has member governments representing 98 per cent of the world coffee production and 83 per cent of world consumption.
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Economy> Agri Business / The Hindu Bureau / Bengaluru – October 14th, 2016
The aptly named Folksy Food in Madikeri proves that often canteens serve genuine local fare
Although I’ve written about Indian food for 20 years, I’ve never been on a jury to crown the best restaurant in India. Perhaps that is a good thing. For if I were to put together a top list, it’d be full of no-frills joints that other food critics would look down their noses at.
Café Military would be in my top 10 — down the road from the Bombay Stock Exchange, a place where one spots brokers hogging comfort food such as dhansak or brain at the end of a bad market day. Also Yaseen Hotel on the corner just south of the Jama Masjid in old Delhi: their sign ‘good taste, cheap and best, all Mughlai dishes are served by hygienic environment’ says all that needs to be said.
My list of 10 would include homely places that consciously promote local food such as Kewpie’s, started by a Bengali cookbook author in Kolkata, Dalema in Bhubaneswar that dishes up Odisha for you, Gateway Paradise’s Assamese thali in Guwahati, the fish biryani at old Paris Hotel in Thalassery, and the seafood thali at Anantashram in Margao which is far from the touristy beaches of Goa.
As for best veg, any khanavali in Dharwad would qualify for its robust and hearty jolada roti with delicious badanekaayi yennegai — eggplant curry. The top list cannot ignore drinking dens like the surprisingly unknown Mangalorean bar Royal Garden on the Outer Ring Road in Bengaluru (near Hebbal Flyover), which never fails to amaze with its spicy fresh crabs and creative snacks like tandoori mushrooms stuffed with Amul cheese.
But at the top of my list, I’d put the aptly named Folksy Food in Kodagu, because having visited time and again for my regular fix of Kodava cooking, I’ve never once felt disappointed at the end of a meal.
It’s a tiny place in a nondescript shopping complex in Madikeri town — and with four tables it serves at the most 16 people at a time, typically office-goers in need of affordable lunches. Unlike restaurants patronised by tourists that showcase ‘foods of Coorg’ where chilli and oil are ladled on to satisfy undiscerning palates, here the fare feels 100 per cent wholesome and satisfyingly ‘tasty’.
Also, the menu isn’t pretentious or long-winded — in fact there is no printed menu at all. Apart from the basic veg meal, there are just four non-veg items subject to availability: mutton, chicken, fish and, of course, pork (the Kodava national dish).
Meaty role: Pork curry at Folksy Food comes in a peppery semi-gravy, with the local black vinegar kachampuli giving it a distinctive tang. Photo: Zac O’Yeah
Yesterday, I shared a meal with my wife and we polished off two bowls of rice; a house speciality called koot curry which is a local dish similar to sambar, but milder and loaded with succulent veggies of the season such as Mangalore cucumber; the loveliest of rasams with the right amount of jaggery in it to offset the pungency; a dry dish of curried bhindi; fried fish; pork (half plate); and chicken (half plate), which altogether totalled ₹300.
The rice at Folksy Food is always light and fragrant, freshly steamed, and the veggies are delicately prepared — nothing like the greasy mushes and dry rice that are all too frequently passed off as vegetarian cookery in budget restaurants — while the tender pork morsels, with a few chunks of the fatty stuff mixed in, are fried in a peppery semi-gravy, the local black vinegar kachampuli giving it a distinctive tang. The chicken is another speciality; richly coated in a pungent masala, the meat simply falls off the bone. The plump mackerel, the most favoured fish locally, has a crispy outside with a hint of coconut oil, and each bite melts in the mouth. Any day at lunchtime (closed on Sundays and public holidays) there are a large number of eager eaters, so it isn’t much of a place to linger on at. Also, there are no desserts, coffee or brandy that might make you want to loiter after you’ve licked off the last specks of gravy from your plate. But the family who owns it are chatty and cheerful folks, so it isn’t one of those brusque eat-and-go affairs either. More likely it is the envious face of some guest-in-waiting — hoping to score a table — that eventually makes you stop licking plates.
It must be added for the protocol that I’ve nothing against five-stars and never say no to a lavish repast (especially if somebody else is footing the bill). But thanks to my peripatetic lifestyle, I’ve found that the best canteens showcase genuine local cuisine, as close to home-cooking as it gets — and the simpler the eatery, the more dependable the eating experience, and vice versa.
So if Folksy Food was in, say, France and did exactly the same thing and as consistently as it does but in French, it would be written about in guidebooks and perhaps have a Michelin star. But despite being located in a popular tourist area, Folksy has stayed off the foodie radar.
It is perhaps for the better as such a tiny eatery couldn’t handle an onslaught of gourmets flying in from across the globe. Maybe I am making a mistake by writing about it, but I trust you to keep the secret. Further, if you know of a fantastic but largely unknown canteen devoted to homely food anywhere in India, please share all details with me.
Zac O’Yeah is a part-time travel writer and part-time detective novelist; zacnet@email.com
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> BLINK> Tummy Travels / by Zac O’Yeah / October 07th, 2016
International Coffee Day was celebrated in Kodagu by giving piping hot coffee to tourists at Dubare elephant camp.
Representatives of 77 nations are members of the International Coffee Association and the Coffee Day is celebrated worldwide to promote coffee sales on par with prouction.
Woman folk took the lead in coffee awareness programme. Kodagu deputy commissioner R V D’souza inaugurated the coffee show. He said Kodagu produces the best quality coffee while stressing the need for better marketing.
Madikeri DFO Edukondalu opined that such awareness campaigns will help increase coffee consumption.
Senior scientist from Appangala Research Station Dr. Ankegowda said coffee is a healthy drink and many researches have proved it.
Convener of the women team of coffee awareness campaign Chitra Subbaiah announced that more and more awareness campaigns will be conducted in coming days. She appealed to the tourism department to provide Kodagu coffee to tourists who visit the district.
Several coffee products were exhibited during the coffee festival. In Madikeri also several organizations served coffee to tourists at Raja Seat.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Mysore / TNN / October 03rd, 2016
Coffee Board of India will mark ‘International Coffee Day’ on October 1 by organising CAFFEST in partnership with coffee growers, industry stakeholders and consumers.
The International Coffee Organisation (ICO) declared October 1 as ‘International Coffee Day’ in 2015. “This year we will be celebrating the second International Coffee Day at the Coffee Board headquarters in Bengaluru,” said the Coffee Board’s Finance Director.
The day presenets an opportunity to promote and celebrate coffee as a beverage, with events organised across the world.
As part of CAFFEST, the Coffee Board is planning to provide a platform to showcase the best Indian coffees wherein young coffee entrepreneurs and Self Help Groups (SHGs) will showcase their products. A brewing demonstration will also be organised for the benefit of the pubic to educate them on the positive aspects of coffee drinking.
On the occasion, a street play and a skit on the theme coffee will be enacted by the well-known TV/stage artist from Prathibha Art Foundation, Bengaluru, in two sessions – at 11 am and 4 pm. A poster designing competition on the theme of coffee will also be organised.
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Economy> Agri Business / by Anil Urs / Bengaluru – September 28th, 2016
Bengaluru-based firm plans to take its product from online to roastery-cum-cafés
Flying Squirrel core team: (clockwise from top right) Sreeram G, Tej Thammaiah, Laeeq Ali, Ravi D’Abreo and Ashish D’Abreo
Mumbai :
Artisan roasted gourmet coffee might not grab you attention. But when it is named Flying Squirrel it does stir up some interest, especially when one shares a cup with Ashish D’Abreo, hardcore filter coffee drinker and founder of Flying Squirrel, who is more than happy to spill the beans on the growing coffee market.
A Creative Director with Origami, an advertising firm in Bengaluru, for 15 years, Ashish noticed how the coffee being served to the clients in the firm repeatedly came in for high accolades. Personally, Ashish dreamt of having different variants of filter coffee every day of the week. He decided to team up with his college friend Tej Thammaiah.
“Tej is a third-generation coffee farmer and owns a coffee estate (Nellikad Estate) at Pollibetta in Coorg; so a no-brainer. Since college days, we used to have his coffee in our house every morning. Some three years ago, we thought: ‘Why not bring this coffee in the open, why not have a lot more people experience the joy of a personalised and creatively cultivated brand of coffee,” says D’Abreo.
And so started the research and development process on Tej’s coffee estate, “to develop the beans and experiment with the growing and the drying processes, so as to arrive at certain points we were proud of,” says D’Abreo. The two-year-long R&D process netted six different variants of coffee, but “there was no one in the mail-order coffee business at that time to take this ahead.”
Working with an advertising firm helped, given its expertise in branding, design, digital marketing and advertising. Three other partners in the advertising firm, “who saw value in the idea” pitched in.
Since one of the most frequent visitors on the coffee estate was the Malabar flying squirrel, the team decided naming the company Flying Squirrel.
“Our coffee was launched two-and-a-half years ago. We partnered with logisitics company GoJavas, (which shut operations last week), at the outset, due to which we managed deliveries across India from day one 1,” reminisces D’Abreo.
He went on to add that initially, roasting of the coffee beans would be done only once a week. “We now do it thrice a week, given the jump in orders. Depending on customer orders, we collate and roast the beans either in medium roast, dark roast, or fine grind. Each pack is customised.”
Shelf life
The company does not have any huge machinery. “We roast the coffee 15 minutes before sealing each pack,” says D’Abreo, who believes in the dictum that exclusivity of freshly ground coffee goes to waste when coffee products are stored in shelves for an extended period of time.
“Not many people know, but coffee is a perishable product. Filter coffee, especially, should be consumed within a month of roasting. There is no harsh taste, no aroma, no flavour left afterwards, and the notes have all but vanished. We set out to solve this problem. We have hardly any retail shelf life.”
Flying Squirrel is currently available online. Its “exclusive personalised roasting” ensures a better coffee experience for avid filter coffee drinkers, affirms D’Abreo, who quit his post at Origami three months ago, to devote himself full-time to the coffee business.
The next chapter is to get into the cafe business. “We would like to bring this experience to a coffee drinker at the ground level, apart from online sales. So we decided to start a roastery, do the roasting in-house and run a roastery-cum-café.”
The first of such cafés has opened shop at Koramangala in Bengaluru. The plan is to have multiple such cafés in Bengaluru and Goa. Most of the coffee beans are sourced from Thammaiah’s estate.
It was the weekend many were awaiting for. Several popular tourist destinations in Karnataka had started putting up ‘houseful’ boards weeks before the long weekend that culminates on Independence Day. Travel agents and tour operators say though an Independence Day holiday is typically a busy time for them, this year has seen a marked interest among visitors.
Those looking for a quick getaway are taking advantage of the freedom from work beginning with a holiday for the Varamahalakshmi festival on Friday, followed by the weekend and Independence Day on Monday. Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru and Hampi are said to be the preferred destinations. Sanjar Imam, president of Karnataka Tourism Forum, said accommodation was sold out by the beginning of July. “Otherwise, we do see bookings even in August. Some people are driving out to places as far as Goa, which is 10 hours by road from Bengaluru,” he added.
Navin Poonacha from the Coorg Homestay Association said people were coming from Bengaluru, Mysuru and Chennai, though Kodagu district was seeing ‘heavy traffic’ from Kerala as well.
With brand new options for accommodation coming up in Hampi and Sakleshpur, traffic to these two places is picking up, travel agents say.
Some regular travellers are setting out on longer expeditions than they usually do. One of them is Mustaq Ahmed, who will be biking to Kodaikanal with three friends instead of the shorter rides to places like Kolar.
Kerala losing out?
Restriction on liquor coupled with a hike in entry taxes for commercial vehicles from Karnataka are said to be causing a ‘negative trend’ in travel to Kerala. M. Ravi of Arjun Tours and Travels Private Ltd. spoke of a 10 to 15 per cent drop in bookings of commercial vehicles to Kerala in the context of a long weekend.
Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Charulatha Somal on Friday directed officers to expedite works under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), housing and Swachh Bharat mission.
Presiding over the progress review meet held at the zilla panchayat office here, she said that construction of 487 individual toilets in Kodagu district should be completed by the end of August.
This includes 225 toilets in Chennaiahana Kote, Maldare, Nalkeri, Nittur and Siddapura of Virajpet taluk and 262 toilets in Alur Siddapur, Bessur, Byadagotta, Dundalli, Ganaguru, Gudde Hosur, Hebbale, Kodlipet, Nanjarayapattana and Nelya Hudikeri of Somwarpet taluk. Job cards had been issued to 65,052 families in the district under the job guarnatee scheme.
The CEO said that as many as 1,546 projects had been under the NREGA, and asked the officials to make use of NREGA scheme to take up housing works. She said that construction of cattle and sheep sheds, agriculture ponds, digging of open wells, road and drain works could also be taken under NREGA. “Saplings should be planted in all gram panchayats depending on the space available. Technical expertise of horticulture officers should be made use of to grow horticultural crops,” she added.
Zilla Panchayat Deputy Secretary Vishwanath Poojary, Planning Director Siddalinga Murthy, Executive Officers Phadnekar (Virajpet Taluk Panchayat, Jeevan Kumar (Madikeri) and Suneel Kumar (Somwarpet), consultant to Swachh Bharat Mission Pemmaiah and other officers attended the meeting.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DHNS – Madikeri, July 24th, 2016
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