Monthly Archives: December 2017

New airport at Kannur may boost tourist arrivals to Mysuru, Kodagu

Business & Economy
A file photo of the runway at the Kannur International Airport.
A file photo of the runway at the Kannur International Airport.

Authorities invite Mysuru Travels Association for a tour of the greenfield airport

Tourism industry in Mysuru and Kodagu is hoping for a surge in tourist footfall — all thanks to Kannur International Airport, a greenfield airport in Kerala, which will be inaugurated for flight operations shortly.

Stakeholders here argue that the airport will open a new gateway for tourism development as Kodagu is closer to Kannur and eventually improve connectivity between the two States boosting tourism.

According to tour and travel operators here, some section of tourists wishing to visit Mysuru and Madikeri may opt to travel via Kannur airport instead of Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport and the itinerary will alter once the airport becomes operational. Mysuru Travels Association (MTA) has been invited by the authorities for a tour of the greenfield airport.

Confirming this to The Hindu, MTA president B.S. Prashanth said tour and travel operators from Mysuru will soon be visiting Kannur to take a look at the facilities at the airport. The airport has been developed under public-private partnership.

Transit route

“Mysuru is the transit route to Madikeri. Once the airport becomes operational, Kodagu may become the new transit zone to Mysuru if tourists prefer flying to Kannur instead of Bengaluru when they plan their vacation to the ‘Land of coffee’. Tourism is booming in Kodagu with scores of homestays and popular hill resorts to unwind,” he said.

The new airport will also open new access way to tourists planning to visit Wayanad and Ooty — the other two popular hill stations in south India. The road connectivity from Kannur is said to be good further pushing tourist arrivals to Kodagu. Kannur is around 70 km from Virajpet in Kodagu while the distance from Mysuru is around 120 km.

People flying to Kannur need not have to bother about traffic to reach their destinations – Madikeri or Mysuru – unlike from Bengaluru. Reaching the city from Kempegowda International Airport at Devanahalli near Bengaluru and thereafter to Mysuru under bumper-to-bumper traffic on the busy National Highway is a challenge for tourists, who fly into the State capital. “If you provide good and hassle-free connectivity, people will definitely patronise,” the stakeholders claim. “The traffic doubles in weekends with the travelling time stretching up to four hours between Bengaluru and Mysuru. Barring the ghat section, the drive is smooth between Mysuru and Kannur,” he said.

The spurt in homestays and luxury resorts in the ‘Land of Coffee’ – Kodagu – has made it one of the busiest hill stations in south India.

“There is a little worry as Kodagu is getting commercialised. We don’t want the place to meet the same fate as Ooty which has undergone rapid commercialisation. To some extent, Kodagu should retain its serene identity to be in the competition,” sources in tourism sector here told The Hindu.

Some unconfirmed statistics said Kodagu has over 35,000 rooms – at homestays, hotels, and resorts. The number has increased only in recent years.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Shankar Bennur / Mysuru – December 15th, 2017

Coffee boost to farming

Coffee News

Koraput (Odisha) :

The district administration has formulated a 10-year project to popularise coffee plantation in the district.

It aims to provide sustainable income to tribal farmers and make the district a coffee hub.

A farmer of Pogra village plants shade seedlings. / Telegraph picture
A farmer of Pogra village plants shade seedlings. / Telegraph picture

The project will undertake coffee plantation over 46,500 hectares of government land in next 10 years. It is being implemented from the current fiscal.

“Even though the climatic condition of Koraput is conducive for coffee plantation, it has, however, remained neglected for various reasons. Hence, an initiative has been taken to popularise coffee plantation among the tribal farmers and to make the district a hub for coffee, other spices crop and allied plantations,” said district collector Anupam Saha.

“After planting coffee seeds, the areas will be distributed among the tribal beneficiaries to be identified through gram sabhas. The plantation area to be distributed among each beneficiary will be decided later,” he said.

The administration has also formed a coffee development trust with the district collector as its head, and accordingly, the trust has decided to take up advance shade planting of silver oak trees on 1,026 hectares in 2017-18.

“Till now, we have taken up shade plantation on around 1,250 acres and more than 25 lakhs of shade plants seedlings have been raised at 15 locations of the district,” said Bhabani Shankar Kalo, deputy director of the trust stationed in Koraput.

He said that nearly after two years of shade plantations, coffee saplings would be planted as the coffee plant required filter sun rays for its growth. “From the fifth year, the beneficiaries could be able to harvest coffee. In between, they can earn by inter-cropping of spices such as black-pepper,” said Kalo. “The life span of a coffee plant is around 60 years and requires minimum maintenance.”

Coffee plantation had first been introduced in Koraput by erstwhile king of Jeypore in 1930. However, after abolition of feudatory estates in 1951, the state government through the soil conservation department had undertaken coffee plantation as a measure to prevent siltation in the Machkund basin of the district in 1958.

Though the coffee estates, developed by the state government, had been maintained till 1990, it was neglected subsequently confining the coffee plantation to a few private parties.

“It’s a welcome move by the administration. We see how farmers are reaping benefits from coffee plantations in the bordering Araku valley of Andhra. Hope, here also we will be benefitted,” said Hare Krushna Majhi, a tribal farmer of Pogra village under Nandapur block.

According to government survey, at least 1.45 lakh hectares under Koraput, Semiliguda, Nandapur, Pottangi, Dasmanthpur, Lamataput and Lakshmipur blocks of the district are ideal for coffee plantation. But at present, only 1,467 hectares is under coffee cultivation.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta,India / Home> Odisha / by Telegraph Correspondent / December 14th, 2017

For her, it is a battle of a different kind

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All
Ex-Sergeant Subramani assisting Kaveriamma in preparing the documents for her fight for pension
Ex-Sergeant Subramani assisting Kaveriamma in preparing the documents for her fight for pension

Kaveriamma is almost 80 and lives in Kiggal village of Kodagu district. She is the wife of an ex-serviceman who fought in World War II, the India-China war of 1962, and and the Indo-Pak war of 1965. And she is now waging her own battles, only it is for pension.

She first had to battle for nearly 12 years to get the pension denied because of a clerical error spelling her name Kaveriammal. She is now waging a second battle with the army authorities as she has received less than what was due to her.

The first round of trouble began when her late husband, Naib Subedar Ballachanda Nanjappa Aiyappa (JC-19016), mentioned his wife’s name as Rani — as he used to address her in private — instead of Kaveriamma in the family pension endorsement application submitted when he was alive.

Mandetira Subramani, retired Senior Non Commissioned Officer of the Indian Air Force and founder of the Mysuru-based Vekare Ex-Servicemen’s Trust (VKET), which is fighting Ms. Kaveriamma’s case, explained that Aiyappa had enrolled in the Indian Army (Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering or EME) on August 19, 1940, retired on February 16 1966, and was later re-employed in the Central Excise and Customs Department as a lower division clerk. He died in 2000.

And that is when Ms. Kaveriamma’s ordeal began — her name in the EME records office at Secunderabad was spelt as Kaveriammal.

“While the descriptive roll of Mr. Aiyappa mentions his wife’s name as Ms. Kaveriamma, a clerical error resulted in it being changed to Kaveriammal,” said former Sergeant Subramani, who is also an advocate who takes up cases involving ex-servicemen.

Lakhs missing

It has now transpired that Ms. Kaveriamma has received pension with effect from September 12, 2012, and not from the date of her husband’s demise, he said.“The total arrears due to her is ₹7,42,874,” he added.

The reason given by the authorities is that she failed to exercise her option for family pension within two years of her husband’s demise. “But pension cannot be time-barred and even if such a retrograde law exists, we will fight to get it squashed,” he argued.

But cases like Ms. Kaveriamma’s are just the tip of the iceberg and there are countless incidents of pension held up because of petty clerical errors, he said.

Besides, there is a lack of awareness of the latest rules governing pension schemes, Mr. Subrami said, pleading for a more humane approach by the authorities in settling the pension affairs of ex-servicemen.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by R. Krishna Kumar / Mysuru – December 14th, 2017

Sreevidya is new DC of Kodagu

Leaders

SreevidyaKF13dec2017

Kodagu :

Sreevidya P I has been appointed as the new Deputy Commissioner of Kodagu District replacing Dr Richard Vincent D’Souza.

The state government has transferred Dr D’Souza and he has been replaced by Sreevidya who had earlier served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Kodagu Zilla Panchayat.

Earlier, Sreevidya has also served as the Assistant Commissioner at Sakleshpur in Hassan district.

It is alleged that the state government has replaced Dr D’Souza in the wake of allegations against him with regard to an order passed by him in a property dispute.

The Karnataka High Court recently directed the Chief Secretary of the state to initiate department proceedings with regard to the alleged orders passed by Dr D’Souza in a property dispute. The case has been adjourned to December 14. Now the appointment of the new DC to Kodagu has raised many eye-brows in the district.

It is alleged that Dr D’Souza had issued two different orders in a property dispute matter involving conflicting parties on the same day and a case was filed against him in the High Court. -(KK, NGB)

source: http://www.citytoday.news / City Today / Home> Mysore / December 13th, 2017

Women’s college set to get a own building in Madikeri

Education
Government first grade college for women in Madikeri has been functioning from Yuva Bhavana of District Youth Federation for the past four years.
Government first grade college for women in Madikeri has been functioning from Yuva Bhavana of District Youth Federation for the past four years.

The government first grade college for women is all set to get a new building of its own at last. Two acres of land has been identified for the purpose near Karnangeri in the taluk.

The state government gave approval for the establishment of the college during 2014-15. At that time, the institution had no building of its own and hence has been functioning from “Yuva Bhavana” of the District Youth Federation.

The government had released Rs 2 crore for the purpose of constructing a building for the college. Initially, it was rumoured that the women’s college would come up near the pre-university college in the town. But, there were no such plans. On the other hand, the Youth Federation had sought the college to vacate the building. It had even approached the deputy commissioner in this regard. In the absence of any other alternative building, the college authorities too were in a fix. Deputy Commissioner Richard Vincent D’Souza had directed the officials to identify a suitable location for constructing a building for the state-run institution.

D J Javarappa, Head of the Commerce Department at the college, said that the college had been functioning from Yuva Bhavan for the past four years. He hoped that the new building would be ready in around two years. “At present, we have 41 students in arts stream and 95 in commerce. With the college getting its own building, the admission too will go up,” he said.

However, the Youth Federation is peeved at the “delay” in handing over Yuva Bhavan back to it. President of the federation, B Joyappa, said that several activities of the federation had been affected due to non-availability of a suitable accommodation. “We have requested the college authorities several times for vacating the building and there is no positive response till now. We will stage a dharna in front of the deputy commissioner’s office if the building is not handed over to us by December 6,” he said.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DH News Service / Madikeri – December 04th, 2017

Growers hope MIP on pepper will block dumping of Vietnam variety

Business & Economy, Pepper, World Opinion

PepperKF11dec2017
Mangaluru :

Karnataka, one of two major black pepper producers in the country, has wholeheartedly welcomed the Union Commerce Ministry’s decision to fix Minimum Import Price of `500 per kg on pepper on CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) basis.

India produces about 65,000 tonnes of pepper of which state’s contribution is about 30,000 tonnes. Kodagu, Chikkakamagaluru and Hassan districts are the major pepper growing areas in the state apart from the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.

Konkodi Padmanabha, convenor, Consortium of Pepper Growers Association, told reporters here on Thursday that the decision will automatically block the import of poor quality pepper especially from Vietnam and as a result the demand for Indian pepper will increase. At present, farmers are getting a minimum of `380 per kg and experts believe that the prices may jump by `50-60 per kg in a fortnight and growers may get at least `700 a kg for the next season’s pepper.

CAMPCO MD Suresh Bhandary M said it may take another 2-3 months for the new prices to stabilise after the old stock is cleared.“The MIP will not be applicable for the licences already issued for import for Vietnam pepper. It will apply only for fresh licences.” Further, he said the fixing of uniform MIP for all grades of pepper and even crushed and ground pepper will avoid chances of adulteration.

Organisation’s co-ordinator K K Vishwanath urged the Centre to ban the import of black pepper into the country, impose dumping duty on imported pepper, hike the import duty from present 64 percent to 108 percent, allow the import of pepper only through any two ports for better monitoring, take strict measures to certify the quality of imported pepper and bring in laws to issue ‘Fake country of origin’ for imported pepper. He said they want ban in pepper import as traders may now use the Nepal route.

“Since there is no port in Nepal, foreign countries import to Nepal through ports in Kolkatta. Then it become easy for them to push it inside India as there is free trade agreement between the two countries.” Padmanabha thanked commerce minister Suresh Prabhu for his positive response to their petition in just 13 days and union minister Ananth Kumar Hegde and MPs Nalin Kumar Kateel, Prathap Simha and the state government for taking up their cause.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Services / December 08th, 2017

Coffee exports rise 8% in January-November

Business & Economy, Coffee News, World Opinion

Coffee exports from India, Asia’s third-largest producer and exporter, rose by 8.08 per cent to 3.61 lakh tonnes in January-November 2017 compared to 3.34 lakh tonnes in the same period of last year, according to the Coffee Board.

Italy, Germany and Russia were the major export destinations for Indian coffee during the period. India ships both robusta and Arabica varieties, besides instant coffee.

Robusta coffee exports rose by 10.80 per cent to 2,11,442 tonnes in January-November 2017 from 1,90,828 tonnes in the year-ago, the board dats showed.

Export of Arabica coffee however declined by 10.81 per cent to 44,084 tonnes from 49,431 tonnes in the said period.

The outbound shipment of instant coffee increased sharply by 86 per cent to 47,734 tonnes in January-November this year from 22,966 tonnes in the same period last year, the data showed.

Of the total exports, India exported 73,705 tonnes to Italy, 38,671 tonnes to Germany and 26,319 tonnes to Russia during the period under review.

Some of the major exporting companies include CCL Products IndiaBSE 0.94 %, Tata CoffeeBSE -0.92 %, Olam Agro and Coffee Day Global Ltd.

Some of the major exporting companies include CCL Products IndiaBSE 0.94 %, Tata CoffeeBSE -0.92 %, Olam Agro and Coffee Day Global Ltd.

source: http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / ET Home> News> Economy> Foreign Trade / PTI / December 04th, 2017

Asia’s first woman coffee taster was nearly ‘brewed’ out

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Coffee News, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, World Opinion

SunaliniKF10dec2017
Bengaluru :

Asia’s first lady of coffee Sunalini Menon says she never planned on being a coffee-taster. She says that she decided on a course in Dietetics or a Phd. in Foods, when she chanced upon an advertisement calling for Assistant Cup tasters at the Coffee Board of India. “I had tried tea tasting as a child at an uncle’s tea estate in Munnar and the ad brought back happy memories of sipping, slurping, spitting and looking wise. I applied for the post and was called for the interview.”

She had to compete with eight men with more experience and qualifications, and that was her first job interview. Sunalini came first in the written and oral tests.

Sunalini, Asia’s first woman coffee taster, says, that the internal panel of examiners were not too keen to appoint her because she was young, had no knowledge about coffee and was a woman who could get married and give up the assignment. “But the then chairman of the Coffee Board was insistent that gender should not come in the way of a job and that as I had topped the interview, that I should rightfully be given the assignment.” Sunalini then joined the Coffee Board of India in 1972.

It wasn’t easy working at the Coffee Board of India, she says. She was the only woman at the officer’s cadre level in the Board then. “The staff working under me refused to accept my instructions or the schedule I had set for work, they were not used to taking instructions from a woman,” she says. “Fortunately, I had a chief who took me under his wing and advised me to first learn the subject and give them time to accept me. His parting words were ‘Tread slowly, but firmly’.”

The in-house training she was given was intense. Every day, she would taste washed arabicas, unwashed arabicas, washed robustas and unwashed robustas, to understand the various nuances in a cup.
Also, a founder trustee of the Women’s Coffee Alliance – India Chapter, Sunalini was present at the Coffee Santhe held recently at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat. She says, “This is our annual fund raiser to help empower women coffee-plantation workers and their girl children.”

Coffee tasting is both a science and an art

While carrying out coffee tasting, there is a protocol that one needs to follow. The attributes that are evaluated in the cup are fragrance, which is the smell of the coffee powder in the dry state, and aroma, which is the smell in the wet state, when water is added to the powder. During the aroma evaluation, the crust (floating particles on the surface of liquor or the brew prepared for tasting and all the aromatic volatiles) is broken. With“Breaking of Crust”, fragrance, aroma and the other attributes are evaluated for flavour, aftertaste, acidity, mouthfeel, uniformity, balance, cleanliness, sweetness and, finally, the overall rating of the cup.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Akhila Damodaran / Express News Service / December 08th, 2017

On the happiness lane

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Uncategorized
Harshika Poonacha
Harshika Poonacha

Actor Harshika Poonacha began her career at the age of 15 in the Kannada film industry. She has acted in all the Southern language industries. Harshika is remembered for her memorable performances ‘Jackie’ with Puneeth Rajkumar, ‘Thamassu’ with Shivarajkumar and Yash, ‘Advaitha’ with Ajai Rao and ‘Crazyloka’ with V Ravichandran in Kannada. She has also worked on a few projects in Telugu and Tamil languages. She won the State Award for ‘Best Actress’ for ‘Thamassu’. She has also made an appearance in ‘Big Boss’ with actor Sudeep and ‘Super Minute’ with actor Ganesh. Harshika will soon be seen playing interesting roles in ‘Chitte’ in Kannada and ‘Charminar’ in Malayalam.

“I usually never get a weekend all to myself but whenever I do, I make the best of it. My tight work schedule makes it impossible for me to indulge in things that I enjoy doing, so weekends give me a chance to take a break from the routine and spend time with my family and friends. I make sure that I don’t rush through the weekend and take time to enjoy whatever I am doing.

I am a huge movie buff. There have been weekends when I have watched at least four movies in a day. I have learnt a lot about acting and the art of making films just by watching movies. There are a few actors whose style and work is worth emulating. I admire Urmila Matondkar for her ‘oomph factor’ and I have even made videos of her songs. I also enjoy watching the movies of Madhuri Dixit Nene and Kareena Kapoor Khan.

Weekends are the time I slip into a lazy mode. Some of my Saturdays start with an early morning run and a round of swimming at a club. This sets the tone for an eventful weekend.

I try to pack in a lot of variety into my weekends. I enjoy doing up the interiors of my home and adding colour to every corner. I shop for home decor and sometimes change the cover of the couch and the wall paint as well. I do this to overcome the monotony of being in familiar surroundings.

I love automobiles. I picked up a passion for bikes and cars from my father. I still cherish the days when I was taken on short rides by my father and I would be so eager to hold the handle of the bike and steer it. My father too wouldn’t hesitate to let me hold it. I now own a bike and I ride it occasionally.

Cooking is another favourite pastime during the weekend. I don’t mean to praise myself but I am a good cook and an experimental one at that. I make ‘Mutton biryani’ and ‘Ghee rice’ with ‘Chicken curry’, mutton and liver preparations in Coorgi style. In the sweets category, I make ‘Mysore Pak’, ‘Holige’, ‘Kaju Barfi’ and ‘Gulab jamuns’. I don’t believe in going by the recipe book but do my own research for some interesting recipes. My mother and aunt have helped me develop an interest in cooking.

I am not a party person and have a handful of close friends. I hang out a lot with Reshma Kunhi. She’s my best friend and I enjoy spending time with her. My friends and I usually go out for movies and wrap up our outings with a dinner. And if we are in a mood for some desserts, then we head straight to J W Marriott. They have the finest of midnight desserts.

I try to make time for all the things that I love doing on weekends because it makes me feel happy and stay positive.”

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Metrolife / by Nina C. George / DH News Service / December 07th, 2017

City Corporation honorary lifetime award for Kadri Gopalnath

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Records, All, Sports
Mayor Kavita Sanil addressing a press conference at the Mangaluru City Corporation on Tuesday.
Mayor Kavita Sanil addressing a press conference at the Mangaluru City Corporation on Tuesday.

Three more chosen in Yakshagana, Education, Sports categories

A committee of the Mangaluru City Corporation has chosen well-known saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath for the corporation’s first Ullal Srinivas Mallya Memorial Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award carries a purse of ₹ 1 lakh, a memento and a citation. The award will be presented during the Mangaluru City Corporation Day at the Town Hall here on December 8.

In addition, the committee has chosen three persons for the Ullal Srinivas Mallya Memorial Award for Yakshagana, Education and Sports.

They are Agari Raghurama Bhagavatha (Yakshagana); K.A. Rohini (Education) and M.R. Poovamma (Sports). Each one of them would be given away a purse of ₹ 50,000, a memento and a citation.

Announcing the awards here on Tuesday, Mayor Kavita Sanil said that the corporation has instituted the awards for the first time to recognise the contribution of those who have brought laurels to Mangaluru.

The selection committee comprised B.A. Vivek Rai, former Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University and also Karnataka State Open University; B.A. Abdul Rahman, former Vice-Chancellor, Kannur and Calicut universities, K.N. Tingalaya, former Chairman of Syndicate Bank, Rita Noronha, a social worker, and Manohar Prasad, a journalist. The Mayor is the ex-officio chairperson of the committee.

She said that the corporation would conduct a drawing competition for primary and high school students within the jurisdiction of the corporation in the forenoon on December 8. The topics would be Mangaluru International Airport; New Mangaluru Port; National Institute of Technology, Surathkal; National Highway 66 and Mangaluru-Hassan railway line.

The topics have been selected on the basis of contribution of late Mallya for their development. The venue would be the mini Town Hall. There will be three awards each in primary and high school categories. Students will have to register their names either by sending a message on WhatsApp to 9964160249 or 9113995063 before December 6.

She said that the programmes of the City Corporation Day would be conducted from 2.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. The awards would be presented at 6.30 p.m. There would be cultural programmes before and after the award presentation. D. Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala, would present the awards.

The Mayor would present a karate demonstration after the award presentation.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by Special Correspondent / Mangaluru – December 06th, 2017