Chandigarh Gerrari Offroaders qualify for RFC Global Series

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Records, All, Sports
Gurmeet Virdi (left) with his co-driver Kirpal in Goa. Tribune Photo
Gurmeet Virdi (left) with his co-driver Kirpal in Goa. Tribune Photo

Chandigarh :

Chandigarh’s Gurmeet Virdi and co-driver Kirpal Singh Tung won the Force Gurkha RFC India, which concluded today at Dona Paula (Goa). With this win team Chandigarh Gerrari Offroaders get an automatic entry to RFC Global Series finale, to be held in Malaysia later this year.

The team also won $8,000 prize money. After a week-long nail-biting competition, Virdi and Tung claimed the trophy with a total score of 2019 points out of 2600. Virdi defended his title and is the only Indian driver to have won the country’s toughest off-road motorsport competition since its launch in 2014.

The overall second position went to Jagat Nanjappa and co-driver Chetan Changappa of Team V5 Offroaders from Coorg with 1906 points. In an interesting turn of events, Gerrari Offroaders’ Sanbir Singh Dhaliwal and co-driver Gurpartap Singh overtook Siddartha Santosh in the final moments to clinch the final spot on the podium with 1685 points.

Virdi was elated on winning the country’s most coveted off-road motorsport trophy for the second time in a row. “I am overjoyed that we’ve successfully managed to defend our title. It was a pretty tough competition, the positions kept on changing, but we are happy that we came out victorious,” said Virdi.

As the top Indian driver of the competition, he will get monetary benefits of up to $8,000, along with a paid-for entry in the RFC Grand Final in Malaysia and the travel expenses. Moreover, Cougar Motorsport will contribute up to $3,000 towards the cost of arranging the vehicle to participate in the event in Malaysia. “There was no pressure throughout the event but the last stage of the competition gave me some serious chills as the competition was really close. It’s the first time that our club Gerrari Offroaders has clinched two positions on the podium in RFC India. Overall, I couldn’t have been happier,” added Virdi.

This is the second consecutive year when veteran Indian rallyist Jagat Nanjappa competed in RFC India. He is satisfied about the fact that he has risen up from last year’s eighth position to the second position this year. “This year it turned out to be a brilliant competition amongst the top three throughout the event. Virdi has defended his title with full force and I congratulate him on his superb performance,” said Nanjappa.

Nanjappa took the first position in his category (1611-3010cc diesel). From being eliminated in the first special stage of RFC India last year to making it on the podium this year, it has been a fairytale journey for Sanbir Singh Dhaliwal. “It was really close till the last moment. The first few days I was concentrating on preserving my vehicle. I was observing how the course behaved. Things started to improve with each passing day. In the last 10 stages, I became more aggressive and the event finally concluded exactly the way I wanted it to,” said Dhaliwal.

The Team Spirit Award was given to R Sumanth Shenoy from Chikmaglur, while the Jungleman Award went to Dr. Chaitanya Challa of Hyderabad Jeepers Adventure Association. The Most Unique 4X4 Award went to the Hornet driven by Yamunanagar-based Sushant Saini.

The Environment Award went to William Dwaine Jungen from Arizona (USA), while the Best Service Team Award went to Gerrari Offroaders.

The Team Award went to BODA. The Rookie of the Event was awarded to Goan driver Dattaraj Raut Dessai and his co-driver Pratik Prabhu Dessai for their exemplary performance.

source: http://www.tribuneindia.com / The Tribune / Home> Chandigarh / Tribune News Service / July 31st, 2017

Reformed beat system will help maintain peace in society, says Kodagu SP

Business & Economy

The reformed police beat system will strengthen policing and will help in improving relationship with the public, said Superintendent of police P Rajendra Prasad.

He was speaking at a meeting of reformed beat members organised by the district police, town and rural police station in Madikeri on Sunday.

The Police department had a beat system in the past. If the police and public work in coordination, then untoward incidents in the society can be prevented, he said. The reformed beat system will help in maintaining peace in the society, he felt.

“About 40 to 45 persons from a village will be part of the beat system. The department will issue a identity cards to them. The members in the beat can inform the police about the untoward incidents being reported in the village.”

Sub-division DySP K S Sundar Raj said, “Police and people-friendly system will help bringing in reforms in the society. There are a few allegations against the police system. The police have a responsibility discharge their duties in a responsible manner.”

Those who helped in solving the crime reported at Makkandoor was felicitated on the occasion.

Circle inspector I P Medappa, K Nidugani gram panchayat member Udiyanda Rita were present.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DH News Service, Madikeri / July 30th, 2017

Two books to be launched tomorrow

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg
Author Lakshmi Palecanda with her two new books in Mysuru.
Author Lakshmi Palecanda with her two new books in Mysuru.

The city will witness the launch of two works by scientist-turned-author Lakshmi Palecanda on Sunday – one of which is a romantic novel titled The Fifth Wedding.

The other work ‘Indian American – Then Indian Again’ is a collection of her writings over the years in an Indian-American magazine India Currents.

Lakshmi Palecanda, who is a molecular biologist and has worked in the U.S. for many years, returned to India and has settled in Mysuru since 2009. She writes both romantic fiction and creative non-fiction. The Fifth Wedding is a romance based in South India and any south-Indian reading it will recognise the characters, places and scenes used, said the author.

The book Indian-American…Then Indian Again is laced with humour and encapsulates laugher, tears, loneliness and feelings of accomplishment that come with moving to a new country and then returning to find that “home” has changed , Ms. Palecanda explains. “I was smitten by the written word and decided to turn into a full-fledged writer a few years ago while taking a small class,” she said.

The launch is by Book Clubs 2015 at Hotel Roopa Elite (above Saravana Bhavan) behind Vontikoppal Post Office, 6th Main, Vontikoppal, at 5 p.m.

The books will be released by Javeed Nayeem and Lalitha Rao. Ms. Palecanda will be in conversation with Sujatha Rajpal, another author from Mysuru, sharing her experience about the books.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mysuru – July 29th, 2017

Big win for Railways, ONGC

Sports
Commanding show: Ranjan Aiyappa scored a brace in Railways’ demolition of Bengaluru Hockey Association. | Photo Credit: V. Ganesan
Commanding show: Ranjan Aiyappa scored a brace in Railways’ demolition of Bengaluru Hockey Association. | Photo Credit: V. Ganesan

Santa Singh scores Punjab & Sind Bank’s winner

Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) warmed up for the title defence with an authoritative 6-2 win over Bengaluru HA in a Pool A match of the 91st MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup all-India hockey tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Friday.

Former champion ONGC trounced Hockey Odisha 7-1 in a Pool B contest, augmented by a hat-trick by former International Diwakar Ram.

In the last match of the day Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB) edged out BPCL in an evenly contested Pool A tie, through a solitary goal by Santa Singh.

There was fluidity and cohesion in most of Railways’ moves. Ajmer Singh opened the account for Railways with a stirring run from the left. With the defender giving up the chase thinking the ball was out, Ajmer made the most of it with a neat push. Drag flick specialist V.R. Raghunath equalised with a perfect penalty corner that struck the top of the roof. From there on, it was Railways’ show.

Comprising mostly of youngsters with veterans Vikram Kanth, V.S. Vinaya and Raghunath for company, Bengaluru HA forwards appeared clueless in the striking circle.

If the half-time score (2-1 in favour of Railways) was an indication of a close contest, it was way off the mark. Railways toyed with Bengaluru defence, with Ranjan Aiyappa scoring a brace. The area of concern for Railways coach C.R. Kumar, will be the number of penalty corners, seven, that it conceded.

Hockey Odisha went down without a fight to ONGC conceding seven goals.

The results: Pool A: RSPB 6 (Ajmer Singh 4, Raju Paul 32, Ranjan Aiyappa 49, 62, Manpreet Singh Chahal 56, Kunjan Topno 59) bt Bengaluru HA 2 (V.R. Raghunath 18, K.A. Nilesh 68); PSB 1 (Santa Singh 65) bt BPCL 0.

Pool B: ONGC 7 (Diwakar Ram 7, 9, 60, Machaiah 38, Nilam Xess 56 & 70+, Jagwant Singh 69) bt Hockey Odisha 1 (Cyril Lugun 4).

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Hockey / by K . Keerthivasan / Chennai – July 28th, 2017

Two Cong CMC members join JD(S)

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Leaders

Two Congress councillors defected into Janata Dal (Secular) on Thursday here.

K M Ganesh and Leela Sheshamma, members of Madikeri City Municipal Council (CMC) joined the regional party at a convention organised in the city. They were followed by several other leaders from both the Congress and the BJP parties.

Former Mysuru-Kodagu MP A H Vishwanath, who recently joined JD(S) after severing ties with Congress, said the state is in need of the government dedicated for the cause of Kannadigas. There is no need for a dispensation holding its reins in Delhi, he added.

Substantiating his demand for supporting a regional party, Vishwanath said, “JD(S) state unit president H D Kumaraswamy should be given a full term as chief minister, as the people have witnessed the rule of both the BJP and the Congress governments respectively.” If one has to find solutions to demands over land, water, language and also agrarian issues, JD(S) should be brought to power, he said.

“Politics is not stagnant water, where a person looking for new possibilities always looks for a change. It was the only reason I chose to tread a new path after severing ties with Congress party with which I was associated for 40 years. We were the victims of Delhi tyranny, where it was even difficult to run the show let alone taking any decisions. Adding to this, the behaviour of state-level leaders was also not acceptable.”

Without taking the name of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Vishwanath said, “A person whom I brought into the fold (of Congress party) has been creating havoc in administration, compelling to change course towards Kumara (Kumaraswamy).”

Speaking about the contribution of the regional parties in the country, he said it is also essential to support JD (S) in the state. The land is replete with natural resources like sand and iron ore that has been changing hands beyound boundary of the state, he added.

When the threat to natural resources reached its peak during the rule of BJP government between 2008 and 2013, the then opposition leader Siddaramaiah took out a Padayatra from Bengaluru to Ballari demanding people’s support to form a government to ensure corruption-free government. However, though now in power, the chief minister has reneged on his promise and is neck deep in corruption, Vishwanath charged.

Venting his ire against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vishwanath said that the prime minister has not taken any measures to bring back black money stashed abroad and deposit it in the bank accounts of poor. Due to confusing economic policy, four lakh people have lost jobs in metropolitan cities, he claimed.

He said Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) is headed by a corrupt, yet another example of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah failing to keep his promise of corruption-free governance. Vishwanath announced that he will tour Bagalkot, Chitradurga, Vijayapura and Davangere to create awareness among the people about Congress misrule in the state.

MLA G T Devegowda from Mysuru said the government is out to break Lingayat community in the name of separate religion. It was unexpected from Siddaramaiah, he said.

Former minister B A Jeevijaya lauded Vishwanath as a model politician who still believes in principles. He was in the company of D Devaraj Urs, a prominent chief minister ever seen in the state.

Many other leaders from Maragodu, Shirangala, Kadagadalu, Chettalli, Suntikoppa, Besur, Janardhanahalli and Kodlipet joined JD(S) along with the councillors.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / by DH News Service, Madikeri / July 28th, 2017

Arebhashe academy honour for 6 veterans

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

Six achievers have been selected for honorary awards of Karnataka Arebhashe Samskruthi and Sahitya Academy.

A Kepu Ajila from Sullia in Dakshina Kannada (Arebhase Janapada Matthu Samskruthi), Pattada Prabhakar from Avandur in Madikeri (literature and art), Ammajeera Ponnappa from Bengaluru (music) have won the award for the year 2016.

Dr Purushotham Bilimale from Panja in Sullia (research), Kullachana Kariappa from Kumbaladalu village in Madikeri taluk (literature), M G Kaveramma from Sullia (Arebashe literature) have bagged the award for the year 2017, academy president Kolyada Girish said at a press conference.

Function in August
The awards will be presented at a programme to be held in August and the awards comprises a purse of Rs 50,000 in cash, Girish informed.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / by DH News Service, Madikeri / July 28th, 2017

Implementation of Satwa scheme in Kodagu district mooted

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy
Women and Child Development Committee chairman N A Haris speaks at a meeting in Madikeri on Thursday. DH photo
Women and Child Development Committee chairman N A Haris speaks at a meeting in Madikeri on Thursday. DH photo

The Satwa scheme, implemented in Chamarajanagar district to eradicate malnutrition, should be implemented in Kodagu district as well, said Women and Child Development Committee chairman N A Haris.

He was speaking at a review meeting to discuss progress of welfare programmes taken up under Women and Child Development Department in the city on Thursday.

“Through Satwa scheme, 500 children suffering from malnutrition in Chamarajanagar district have been already brought to mainstream. Children suffering from malnutrition in Kodagu district should also be brought to the mainstream. The officials should show special concern towards such kids,” he said.

He said officials should ensure that pregnant and puerperal women get nutritious food.

Haris expressed displeasure over failure to utilise Rs 21 lakh released by the government to provide financial assistance to pregnant and puerperal women under Scheduled Tribe Special Component Plan. He observed that the number of Stree Shakti groups in the district is less and said there is a need to increase the number of groups to get the facilities from the government.

Haris directed the CDPOs and the department’s deputy directors to visit anganwadi centres and inspect the quality of food being supplied.

MLC Veena Acchaiah said that Women and Child Development Department, Education and Labour Department officials should work in coordination to bring school dropouts back to the portal of the school.

Women and Child Development Committee member Sudhakar Lal said that anganwadi centres should be opened at Basavanahalli and Byadagotta where Diddalli tribals have been rehabilitated.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DH News Service, Madikeri / July 21st, 2017

Go gaga over crabs, bamboo shoots

Agriculture, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Nature
Crabs being sold near Madikeri KSRTC bus stand and Bamboo shoots laid out for sale. DH Photos
Crabs being sold near Madikeri KSRTC bus stand and Bamboo shoots laid out for sale. DH Photos

It’s that time of the year when the sale of crabs and bamboo shoots in Madikeri goes up. Monsoon is indeed an ideal time to indulge in crabs as they are considered good for generating heat in the body which helps in braving the chill in the air.

To keep oneself warm, people in Kodagu adjust their food habits during monsoon. Likewise, the roadsides in the town are lined up with crabs and bamboo shoots.

Earlier, crabs were available in plenty at paddy fields and water bodies but in spite of an increase in demand, crab sellers have been on the decline. A deficit in rainfall has affected the availability of crabs.

“Demand for crabs increases in the month of Aashada. Since paddy fields have declined in the district and many have been converted into homestays, I collect crabs from Harangi reservoir, Periyapatna, HD Kote and Beemanahalli and bring it to Madikeri for sale. The price of a kg of crab is Rs 200 while a bundle of crab (12 crabs in a bundle) costs Rs 250. A pack of bamboo shoots is sold for Rs 50,” H L Kumar, a seller from Indira Nagara told DH.

Venu said that, “Earlier, crabs were available in the shandy market but with chemical fertilisers and insecticides being sprayed in paddy fields, the number of crabs have declined,” he said. Venu signs off by stating that crabs are delicious to savour as crab fry instead of curry.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DH News Service, Madikeri / July 22nd, 2017

JD (Secular) convention in Madikeri on July 27

Business & Economy, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Leaders

Janata Dal (Secular) will organise a convention at Kaveri Kalakshetra in Madikeri on July 27.

Briefing media persons here on Saturday, JD(S) district in-charge Vijay said that former MP A H Vishwanath, MLA G T Devegowda, former MLA Shivakumar and former minister Jeevijaya will take part in the convention.

K M Ganesh, who has tendered resignation to Congress, will join the JD(S) on the occasion. Along with him, around 30 leaders are likely to join the JD(S), he added.

The party’s candidates will win forthcoming Legislative Assembly election in Madikeri and Virajpet constituencies, he said.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DH News Service, Madikeri / July 22nd, 2017

Harshika Poonacha can’t wait for Chitte’s release

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg
Still from the film
Still from the film

Harshika Poonacha has completed the talkie portions of Chitte, and the actress says she is excited with the way the film has taken shape.

Sharing a few pictures from the film with City Express, she tell us, “I’m only left with two more songs. From whatever few scenes of mine I have watched on screen board during spot editing, I can say that every scene is beautiful. I can’t wait to share my excitement with the audiences when it releases,” she says.

The film, directed by ML Prakash, is a thriller, and explores the life of a newly married couple. She is paired opposite Yashas in the film. Chitte is special because it’s all about me,” says Harshika.

Meanwhile, the actress will be off to UK soon, where she will be shooting songs for her first Tamil film. “I’m just waiting for my passport to get my UK visa stamped,” says the actress, adding, “I want to complete these two projects before I sign my next.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Kannada / by Express News Service / July 24th, 2017