Monthly Archives: May 2013

Bank plans to launch 80 branches

Kaveri Grameena Bank has drawn up an ambitious plan of opening 80 new branches in its area of operation to meet the obligations under financial inclusion and to expand its base.

The bank has also proposed to provide ATM facility to its customers through SBI network.

Arrangements are also afoot to provide facilities such as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) to cater to the needs of the business community, said chairman D. Somashekara Sastry.

The bank covers Mysore, Mandya, Kodagu, Hassan, Chamarajnagar, Tumkur, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore Urban, Ramanagaram and Chikmagalur districts.

“The bank has been consistently showing good performance under the SHG linkage programme and the performance of the bank has been recognised by the NABARD regional office, Bangalore, which has awarded first prize under the RRB category for highest share of SHG business to overall business among RRBs in the State for the sixth consecutive year,” he said in a release here.

Appreciated

The Sampoorna Grama Concept, where the bank covered all the inhabitants by way of providing solar energy services, insurance facilities, Kisan credit card facilities , received appreciation from all quarters, including government agencies, Mr. Sastry stated.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Staff Corrrespondent / Mysore, May 14th, 2013

Indian robusta bowls over Boston roasters

Bangalore :

Indian robusta coffees have been received well at the Specialty Coffee Association of America meet held recently at Boston, US.

“With Boston being in close proximity to major coffee roasters in the US, the event was attended by a sizeable crowd,” Jawaid Akhtar, Chairman, Coffee Board told Business Line.

“Robustas are generally known to be harsh, but when American roasters tested our coffees, they were amazed to discover the mildness and aroma of Indian coffees,” he said.

The Coffee Board had taken up space at the specialty coffee association and visitors tasted liquid coffee, instead of coffee samples from different regions.

At the event, a session on “Emerging Markets in Specialty Coffee: India” was also held to educate the US roasters. The one-hour session mainly focused on why specialty coffee needs Indian robustas. The session was attended by about 70 roasters from the North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Sunalini Menon, CEO, Coffeelab Ltd, talked about the distinct characteristics of Indian coffee and coffee growers’ representative Nishant Gurjer, Partner, Kaapi Royale Coffee, and Chairman of Karnataka Planters’ Association (KPA), spoke about the farm practices of cultivating coffee in India. The moderator of the event was Andrew Hetzel, consultant, CafeMakers.

The Indian delegation had, besides the Coffee Board Chairman and the KPA Chairman, quality control expert Sunalini Menon, M.P. Devaiah of Allana Sons, Bharat Mandanna of BBTC, Jacob Mammen of Bhadra Group, Kurien who was representing Small Coffee Growers Association, Kerala, and US coffee trader Joseph John.

For the last three to four years, the Coffee Board has been focussing on the US market. “Roasters in US are increasingly using robustas in their blends, it is here we are focusing our attention to penetrate the most important market in the world,” said Gurjer.

Creating awareness of the Indian coffee in the US has led to gaining some ground in the market. Indian coffee exports to US are currently averaging at around 6,000 tonnes and is the 14th important market. Exports have doubled in the last five years. In 2008-09 exports stood at 2,556 tonnes.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Industry> Agri-Biz / by Anil Urs anil.u@thehindu.co.in / Bangalore, May 21st, 2013

Nidhi Subbaiah, on being voted No. 6 on Bangalore Times Most Desirable list

Former Sandalwood actress Nidhi Subbaiah, who has acted in Kannada films Pancharangi and Krishnan Marriage Story among others, seemed a little flustered yesterday when she saw what she had scored on the Bangalore Times Most Desirable list. The actress, who was rated number 42 in the national list, appeared at number 6 on the regional list.

(Nidhi Subbaiah )
(Nidhi Subbaiah )

Her comment on the list on Twitter began with, “These individual city polls are funny! I believe only in the national poll.. God bless small minded people! .. Tch.” The actress, who was last seen in the Bollywood film Ajab Gazabb Love opposite Jackky Bhagnani, went on to further add, “Also, nice to read em sometimes.. Get to know a lot about myself that I didn’t know!Like who’s dating who!No time to confirm? Double tch.”

The comments, however, has not gone down too well with fans, colleagues and friends. While one of her fans posted a snapshot of hers from the list congratulating the actress, Nidhi, reacted with a “hmmm no I don’t believe in this! False news.”

Actress Ramya, who topped the regional list, too could not help but react to Nidhi’s comments. “We may be small minded but we have a big heart. We mean good to others and of course we don’t forget our roots as much as we branch out,” Ramya tweeted.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Entertainment> Regional / by Parinatha Sampath, TNN / Monday – May 21st, 2013

Bringing the fruit of Himalayas to Ghats

‘The trick is to confuse the plant to think it is summer all along and make it bear apple through the year’
Though cheery and blithe in countenance, 74-year-old Chiranjit Parmar, a horticulture scientist from Himachal Pradesh, hopes to radically change the agricultural landscape of the region. After having observed the success of apple cultivation in Batu, Indonesia, Mr. Parmar wants to introduce the fruit, hitherto associated with cooler climes, in the tropical humidity of Karnataka.

“It is an experiment. And like all experiments, it can also fail,” he told the group of farmers who had assembled in the city on Saturday for his seminar on ‘Apple cultivation in Karnataka’.

The idea sounded incredulous to farmers who had travelled from as far away as Kodagu. Apple – whose mass cultivation is associated with regions on the foothills of the Himalayas such as Shimla and Kashmir — needs to have a chilly weather for it to bear fruit in the summer. How then was it supposed to survive in a region where temperatures rarely go below 12 degrees Celsius?

“The trick is to confuse the plant. The broad principle is that just after the sapling experiences chilling in Himachal or Kashmir, it is transported here. As there is not much of a temperature change here during winter, the plant thinks it is summer all along and bears fruit through the year,” Mr. Parmar told the befuddled farmers.

He illustrates this with a picture of cultivation in Indonesia, where, while half the apple orchard bears fruit, the other half is bare. “Crops can be regulated easily, as the leaves can be removed fully to stimulate winter. While in Himachal, we get six to seven tonnes of apple per hectare, in Indonesia, they get 65 tonnes and throughout the year,” he said.

So far, the experiment has seen small orchards set up in Tumkur, Somwarpet, Sringeri, and Uppinangadi – all through saplings sent by Mr. Parmar. In his first visit to the region, he said the results were encouraging, and in Tumkur, the plants were already bearing fruit within two years. “In Himachal, apple trees take five years to bear fruit. Here, it grows faster and incessantly into very tall trees as there is no crop fall or dormancy during winter,” he said.

Challenges

However, the tropical climate also brings with it a set of problems that is yet to be scientifically dealt with. For example, trees are susceptible to a variety of diseases and insect, while methods to reduce the tree height and grafting of trees needed to be worked out.


‘The trick is to confuse the apple tree to think it is always summer’

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Staff Correspondent / Mangalore – April 22nd, 2013

Coffee and the selfish gene

Tempting: Caffeine in nectar hooks bees.— photo: AFP
Tempting: Caffeine in nectar hooks bees.— photo: AFP

How did coffee become more popular in south India and tea in the north? History appears to give the reason. Legend has it that in the late 16{+t}{+h}century while Haji Baba Budan was returning from Haj through Yemen, he found people boiling coffee beans in water and enjoying the “decoction”. He then smuggled a handful of the (forbidden to export) beans with him and planted them on the Chikamagalur hills in Karnataka and the locals took to it with elan. Soon, coffee plantations appeared in Kodagu and the Nilgiris, and we all were hooked on to the morning coffee. Tea, on the other hand, was introduced later (early 19{+t}{+h}century) by the colonial British who copied it from the Chinese and planted it in Assam and Darjeeling. This colonial drink soon became popular among the subjects in the plains as well. Coffee and tea are thus external entrants into the Indian taste buds.

But why are we hooked on to coffee and tea? The answer comes from science, which tells us that they both contain the mood- altering and addictive drug caffeine. While this is a proximal answer, the ultimate question is why at all do these plants go to the trouble of making the molecule in the first place. After all, it takes metabolic energy to do so. The answer appears to be “to deter herbivores”, or as a defence chemical. Note that the raw bean or leaf is bitter to taste, and the animal would shy away, leaving the plant alone to grow and flourish.

Recent findings add another dimension to the tale. It has been found the caffeine is found not only in the bean or the leaves but also in the nectar that the plant produces and packs a drop or two in its flowers. And why it would do so and what this stored caffeine does in the flower nectar has been investigated by a group of researchers from U.K. and published in the March 8, 2013 issue of Science .

They note that while plant-derived drugs like caffeine and nicotine (the drug in the tobacco plant) are lethal in high doses, they do generate pleasant effects when taken in very low doses. But then why in the floral nectar? Is it in order to “hook on” bees and other pollinating insects? To understand this, the researchers first measured the levels of caffeine in the nectar of three plants, Coffee arabica , C. liberica and C. canephora , to which bees make a bee-line for (pardon the pun), and found the amounts to be less than a thousand-fold that of the sugar present in the bean — just a teasing touch.

They hypothesised that the caffeine in the nectar could affect the learning and memory of the foraging pollinators. Could it be that they would come to these flowers, enjoy the nectar and in the process take away and dispense the pollen, thus breeding these plants in preference to those that do not store caffeine in their nectar? In order to test this, the researchers took the trouble of training individual bees to associate a floral scent with sugar reward. In one set the bees would go to the containers with sugar solution, and in another set the sugar solution spiked with a bit of caffeine. And they found that the bees would consistently return to the caffeine sugar scent even three days later. In other words, caffeine acted as a memory enhancer. The bees were hooked onto caffeine.

The researchers went further ahead and investigated the biological mechanisms behind the mode of action of the caffeine. The bee brain contains what are called projection neurons or nerve cells that have a protein surface (a receptor) that normally binds to the molecule adenosine. When these nerve cells are adenosine-bound, the behaviour of the bee is one of quiet and calm. However when caffeine is brought in, it kicks out the adenosine and attaches itself to the receptors at the end of the sensory neurons. The effect is to stimulate the neurons, increase memory, and wake up and excite the insect.

In effect then, caffeine has two roles in the plant. One is defence against the predator goats and cows, while the other is to entice the pollinating insect by drugging it and tweaking its memory so that it pollinates this plant in preference to other pants that do not pack the drug in their nectar. The researchers conclude by stating that “our experiments suggest that by affecting a pollinator’s memory, plants reap the reproductive benefits arising from enhanced pollinator fidelity”.

In plainer English, one can say that the trick the coffee plants play is another example of the ‘selfish gene’ idea, namely, use any ruse to help propagate my genes over other competitors, and do so for generations; and if it takes caffeine to entice and tweak the memory of the pollinator, so be it.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Sci-Tech & Agri / by D. Balasubramanian / April 18th, 2013

Harshika might fly to Hyderabad soon

Sandalwood actress Harshika Poonacha, who was last seen Kavita Lankesh’s Crazy Loka, featuring Ravichandran and Daisy Bopanna, seems to be flooded with offers now.

The actress, who is working on eight Kannada films this year, is also doing her debut in Kollywood with the film Anandha Thollai. Harshika, who has been in the news lately for her upcoming special number in the film Case No 18/9, is excited about her first dance number. “On my way for the dance rehearsals:)My first dance number has to be outstanding!wish me good luck tweeps, I need lot ,” tweeted the actress recently.

(Harshika Poonacha )
(Harshika Poonacha )

The Jackie heroine, in a recent voice update also says, “There’s some good news. I’m getting lots of song offers. I’ve even been offered two Telugu films. So, I might be flying to Hyderabad very soon. Your blessings should always be with me.” Though Harshika has a string of films lined this year, her first dance number sure has brought with it a lot more projects.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Entertainment> Regional> Kannada / by Parinatha Sampath, TNN / March 25th, 2013

Sandalwood runs for a cause

The 10K marathon that took place in Bangalore today saw several celebrities from the Kannada film industry participating in it. Every year we see actors from Sandalwood participating in it. But this year several actors from the industry took part.

We had actors like Pooja Gandhi, Sharmiela Mandre, Aindrita Ray, Vinayak Joshi, dancer Madhuri Upadhya and model Shubra Aiyappa, among others participating in it. Actor Puneeth Rajkumar flagged the event.

(Vinayak Joshi )
(Vinayak Joshi )

The popular RJ-turned-actor Vinayak Joshi, who once weighed as much as 121 kgs lost about 42 kgs once he took up to running. And with the actor out of Bigg Boss home, Vinayak began his new diet by giving up salt and sugar. With the TCS 10 k marathon scheduled for today morning, the actor energetically signed for the marathon today and participated in it. He tweeted, “It was an awesome run. #tcs10k was a good come back run for the running season waiting in the second half of the year. Thank u all.”

Dancer Madhuri also tweeted saying, “Ran #TCS10K ,very surreal experience!!! Thanks to @rjvinayakjoshi for introducing me to the world of running.”

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Entertainment> Regional / by Sharanya CR, TNN / May 19th, 2013

Athletics: Hat-trick for Poovamma

M.R. Poovamma came up with a rare hat-trick of titles in the women’s 400 metres as India won 12 medals, including five gold, in the third and final leg of the rain-marred Asian Grand Prix athletics series in Colombo on Sunday.

India wound up with 13 gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze medals from the series.

Though the chase for the World Championship qualification proved elusive, Poovamma clocked 53.30 seconds in taking her third gold. She had run a personal best of 52.75 in the Federation Cup recently, when she missed the qualification by four hundredth of a second. She had clocked 52.97 in winning the first leg in Bangkok.

Arokia Rajiv came up with his second gold with a time of 46.63s in the men’s 400 metres, after the silver in the first leg. Jitin Thomas failed in his attempt to get his third gold despite scaling 2.21 metres in high jump. He was beaten by Manjula Pushpakumara of Sri Lanka by three centimetres. Nikhil Chittarasu also jumped 2.21m for the bronze.

Siddhant Thingalaya clocked 13.81s in winning the men’s 110m hurdles. In a photo finish, the JSW Foundation supported Thingalaya, who trains in Australia, pipped Rittidet Jamras of Thailand by one hundredth of a second. Thingalaya had hurt his hamstring in clocking a national record 13.65 seconds in Brussels in June last year while chasing the Olympic qualification standard of 13.60. Interestingly, the ‘B’ standard has been set at 13.50 seconds for the World Championship.

Arpinder Singh captured the gold in men’s triple jump with a leap of 16.70m. He had missed the qualification mark of 16.85m for the World Championship by one centimetre in the Federation Cup.

The results Indians unless specified): Men: 100m: 1. Al Harthi Barakat (Oma) 10.45; 2. Guo Fan (Chn) 10.45; 3. Yi Wei Chen (Tpe) 10.59. 400m: 1. Arokia Rajiv 46.63; 2. Seneviratne Kasun (Sri) 46.84; 3. Kalinga Kumara (Sri) 47.31. 5,000m: 1. Nitendra Singh 14:41.26; 2. Kheta Ram 14:41.91; 3. D.L. Samarajeewa (Sri) 14:43.15. 110m hurdles: 1. Siddhant Thingalaya 13.81; 2. Rittidet Jamras (Tha) 13.82; 3. Wan Sofian Rayzam Shah (Mas) 13.96. High jump: 1. Manjula Pushpakumara (Sri) 2.24; 2. Jitin Thomas 2.21; 3. Nikhil Chittarasu 2.21. Triple jump: 1. Arpinder Singh 16.70; 2. Roman Valiyev (Kaz) 16.42; 3. Renjith Maheswary 16.41. Shot put: 1. Wang Li Ke (Chn) 19.20; 2. Guo Yan Xiang (Chn) 19.03; 3. Grigoriy Kamulya (Uzb) 18.87; 4. Om Prakash Singh 18.20. Javelin: 1. Huang Shih Feng (Tpe) 75.85; 2. Sachith Maduranga (Sri) 73.99; 3. Jiang Xing Yu (Chn) 73.43; 7. Davinder Singh 69.33. 4x100m relay: 1. China 39.63; 2. Chinese Taipei 39.89; 3. Hong Kong 39.91; 5. India 40.14. Women: 100m: 1. Zyabikina Viktoria (Kaz) 11.69; 2. Khubbieva Guzel (Uzb) 11.70; 3. Klomdee Neeranuch (Tha) 11.90. 400m: 1. M.R. Poovamma 53.30; 2. Rakhmanova (Kaz) 53.85; 3. Anu Mariam Jose 54.63. 800m: 1. W.K.L.A. Nimali (Sri) 2:05.90; 2. Do Thi thao (Vie) 2:06.38; 3. Liliya Bazyaruk (Kaz) 2:06.68. 100m hurdles: 1. Anastasiya Soprunova (Kaz) 13.61; 2. Erawati Dedeh (Ina) 13.62; 3. Natalia Ivoniskaya (Kaz) 13.64. High jump: 1. Nadiya Dusanova (Uzb) 1.93; 2. Wang Yang (Chn) 1.89; 3. Sahana Kumari 1.79. Long jump: 1. Darya Rezmehnenko (Uzb) 6.34; 2. Yuliya Tarasova (Uzb) 6.20; 3. Katherine Kay Santos (Phi) 6.04. Javelin: 1. Lakmali B.L. Nadeeka (Sri) 58.41; 2. Chang Chunfeng (Chn) 54.05; 3. Lekamge Dilhani (Sri) 53.67; 6. Mukesh Kumari 48.34. Discus: 1. Liang Yan (Chn) 57.67; 2. Jiang Fengjing (Chn) 57.59; 3. Krishna Poonia 55.41. 4x100m relay: 1. Thailand 45.33; 2. China 45.41; 3. Sri Lanka 46.21.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sports> Other Sports / New Delhi – May 13th, 2013

Anjaparavanda family wins Madanda cup Kodava hockey fest

MadandaCupKF19may2013
Virajpet (Kodagu),(KBM&KMC) :

In the 17th edition of the Kodava Hockey Festival hosted by the Madanda family at the Kodava Sports and Cultural Grounds at Balugodu, Anjaparavanda team lifted the winner’s trophy in the final match played yesterday.

The Anjaparavanda team defeated Palanganda team — who were hat-trick winners of the trophy by 2-0 goals.

Anjaparavanda, which ruled the game from the beginning, succeeded in defeating the strong opponent Palanganda team, which drastically failed to convert six penalty corner options into goals.

The Hockey Festival ended on a colourful note with the valedictory programme marked by a music recital, followed by a body-builders’ show and Kolaat by Kodava artistes. Founder of the Kodava families Hockey Festival Pandanda Kuttani Kuttappa inaugurated the final match by hitting a silver ball with silver hockey stick. Virajpet MLA K.G. Bopaiah, MLC M.C. Nanaiah and other dignitaries viewed the final match in which 225 teams participated. Next year the festival will be hosted by Thathanda family.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / May 13th, 2013

Komal in ‘Pyaar GE Agbutaithe’

The top most popular song of last year Pyaar Ge Agbuttaithe….Namdhuke Jaan ge Hogbuttaithe….is widely heard and this particular song is also one of the significant factors for Pawan Wadeyar ‘Govindayanamaha’ getting good collections in the theatres for producer KA Suresh.

The song beginning words ‘Pyaar Ge Agbuttaithe’ is the title for popular comedy hero Komal Kumar next film that commenced song recording on Friday morning at Rajesh Ramanath ‘Sthyaayi Studio’.

Komal Kumar
Komal Kumar

Tamil film director Kavin Bala makes debut in Kannada with story, screenplay and direction. Dharma Teja is music composer, Bala Barani is cameraman for this Rakshit Films. Shoba Prakash is the producer of this film that will be shot in Bangalore, Mysore, Madikeri, Sakleshpur, Udupi and others locations. Suresh Urs is editing this film.

The selection of heroine and supporting cast is in progress.

source: http://www.indiaglitz.com / India Glitz / Home / Saturday – May 04th, 2013