Mysuru District Athletic Association has selected Mysuru District Athletic team to represent Mysuru District in Colombo-Mysuru District Athletic Championship – 2015, organized by Colombo (Srilanka) District Athletic Association at Shivadasa Stadium, Colombo, Srilanka on Jan. 24 and 25
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / Thursday – January 22nd, 2015
Mysuru :
The Karnataka State Minorities Commission will soon set up a cell to provide legal assistance to innocent members of minority communities arrested by the Police.
Addressing press persons at the Government Guest House here yesterday, the Commission Chairperson Balkis Banu said that the cell to be headed by a retired Judge, will provide assistance by arranging for lawyers and bearing legal expenditure.
Pointing out that the Commission will ensure that no innocent person is forced to face trouble and difficulties, Balkis Banu expressed concern over increasing instances of arrest of innocent minority communities members by the Police.
The Commission is planning to hold communal harmony meets across the State, particularly in the coastal districts, to eliminate misunderstandings among different communities, she added.
Responding to a question, she said that a report has been sought on the recent arrest of three terror suspects from Bengaluru and Bhatkal.
Balkis Banu also said that she had requested the Home Department for details of the recent arrests, two of whom were arrested in Pulikeshinagar in Bengaluru and one from Bhatkal.
Expressing confidence that the Commission would soon be granted judicial powers, Banu said that Chief Minister Siddharamaiah had agreed in principle to bestow judicial powers to the Commission, that will enable it to summon officials against whom there were complaints. Judicial powers will also allow the Commission to call for official records as documentary evidence, she said adding that at present, the Commission’s summons are not binding on officials.
Continuing, she said the Commission was planning to set up a research centre in the name of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the founder of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Referring to Bidayi scheme that aimed at providing financial assistance to poor muslim women for marriage, Banu said the Commission has asked the State Government to increase the funding by an additional of Rs. 5 crore, which is now Rs. 5 crore.
Pointing out that the commission had received 543 applications under the scheme in Mysuru district, she said 189 beneficiaries have been selected, who would be provided Rs. 50,000 each.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Thursday – January 22nd, 2015
In the past two decades, Nellore has witnessed vibrant industrial growth, thanks to the establishment of several special economic zones, a deep-water port and thermal power stations in the district.
Though the city has grown by leaps and bounds, financial constraints have been a constant concern.
The municipal corporation is now a cash-strapped body and is looking for means to take up development projects.
Interestingly, the ‘smart ward’ concept has come as a boon for the corporation. Mayor Sk. Abdul Aziz has seized the opportunity by seeking support from various sections for developing the city with their active participation.
He is keen to take help from big industrialists from the city who have settled elsewhere. He has also proposed to rope them in for development of facilities through adoption of various wards.
Making a difference
“We are keen to take the support of a cross-section of society in this endeavour. NRIs and non-governmental organisations should also play an active role in this. With their help, we are sure of making a difference here,” Mr. Aziz said. During his visit to Hyderabad recently, Mr. Aziz had taken up the matter with the TDP leadership.
The possibility of taking wider support from various stake holders rather than simply relying on Janmabhoomi committees for ushering in development under the smart ward concept also came up for discussion then.
According to Mr. Aziz, Janmabhoomi committees will certainly be there, but they will be more effective if industrialists and NRIs are roped in and their active support taken for the process.
Nellore, a vibrant city located close to the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border, has come to be the fifth largest city in the State after Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur and Tirupati.
According to the 2011 Census, the population of the city was 5 lakh. With the merger of surrounding village panchayats, it crossed 6 lakh.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by G. Ravikiran / Nellore – January 26th, 2015
Brothers Mohammad Methar Hussain and Mushtaq Ahmad wanted power for irrigation and they developed a low cost windmill made out of bamboo, which is more than 10 times cheaper than the regular ones available in the market. Now, there are more than 25 such windmills running in Gujarat. Read to know more about their journey and how they did it.
Mohammad Methar Hussain and his brother Mushtaq Ahmad from Darrang district in Assam grew paddy in the winter season (also known as bodo paddy). Irrigation involved a lot of manual effort and using diesel sets for pumping water was a huge drain on the resources. To tackle this issue, Mehtra thought that if they could run a large wheel on wind power, and connect the wheel to the hand pump, that would serve their purpose quite efficiently.
So, both of them started working on making a windmill unit from locally sourced materials such as bamboo wood, strips of old tyres, pieces of iron, etc. With the help of a carpenter, the first prototype was ready in four days. Since the supporting framework was composed of bamboo, the final product costed Rs. 4500, vis-a-vis the commercially available wind mills which cost over Rs. 60,000.
Innovation Diffusion : Assam —> Gujarat
India is the third largest salt producing country in the world with an average annual production of about 157 lakh tonnes. The Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) supplies 21% of the total salt production of India.
Salt workers, known as Agarias, are some of the poorest people in the state. Agarias mostly used counterpoise, a method that requires two people, one for lowering the counterpoise and other for straining the water. Some of them started using diesel pumps, but the exorbitant machine and fuel costs made a huge dent in their already diminishing returns from salt farming.
With the mission to improve lives of salt farmers, Gujarat Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network – West (GIAN W) along with National Innovation Foundation (NIF-India) took the lead in diffusing the innovation in salt farming areas.
Based on the feedback received from salt farmers, GIAN W improved the design and developed a multi-dimensional model which was installed at LRK in 2008. Understanding the diverse needs of farmers to increase the efficiency of windmills, GIAN W joined hands with Alstom foundation for design modification and improvement.
As of 2012, 25 of these windmills have been installed in Kathivadar and Kadiali villages in Amreli district.
Benefits of the Windmill Pump
Thanks to the windmill pump, now salt farmers don’t have to slog for hours with the water pump. The windmill pump saves about Rs.50,000 worth of diesel in six months. It has decreased salt farmers’ reliance on manual labour resulting in savings of about Rs. 28,000 per season per person. Farmers can now easily recover their investments within the harvesting season.
The innovation would also result in the reduction of five tonnes of carbon emissions for every 100 tonnes of salt produced. As per NIF, on an average, every windmill-powered hand pump should generate five Carbon Emission Reductions (CERs) certificates worth Rs.3750.
Every rupee saved and milligram of carbon emission reduced is a glaring testimony of how rural innovations impact the community, society and the world at large.
In the next phase, GIAN W plans to erect more windmills in other parts of Gujarat. The salt farmers of Gujarat are indebted to Mehtar and Mustaq for making their lives more efficient and their occupation, profitable.
For any enquiries related to the machine, please get in touch with NIF-India at bd@nifindia.org.
source: http://www.thebetterindia.com / The Better India / Home> Innovation> Gujarat / by Rahul Anand / July 24th, 2014
The Samskritolsavam and the Arabic Sahityolsavam, being organised as part of the 55th State School Arts Festival in Kozhikode, will also consist of seminars and other events.
The Samskritolsavam is mainly held at the S.K. Pottekkat Hall in Puthiyara while a few competitions are being held at a classroom of the Model Higher Secondary School at Mananchira too.
A seminar will be held as part of the fete at Town Hall (renamed as Vidyavachaspathi V. Panoli Nagar) on January 19.
Education Minister P.K. Abdu Rabb will inaugurate it at 9.30 a.m. and Mayor A.K. Premajam will preside.
Procession
Director of Public Instruction K. Gopalakrishna Bhat will deliver the introductory address on the occasion. Vineetha Prabhakaran, daughter of V. Panoli, will be the torch-bearer in the procession that begins from the latter’s house at Thiruthiyad at 7.30 a.m.
It will be flagged off by former Vice Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit J. Prasad.
M.K. Raghavan, MP, will release a souvenir of the Samskritolsavam while Vice Chancellor of the Sanskrit university M.C. Dileep Kumar will be the chief guest. MLA A. Pradeepkumar will honour writer and Aksharaslokam exponent P. Chandrasekharan; the former Principal of Ayurveda College, Kottakkal, A.P. Haridasan; and the former Head of the Department of Sanskrit, University of Calicut, C. Rajendran on the occasion.
The Sanskrit seminar will be on the topic ‘Adhunikakaale Samskritanatakani Aswanadam Cha.’ M.K. Suresh Babu and C.K. Jayanthi from the Koyilandy and Tirur centres of the Sanskrit university will be the presenter and moderator respectively.
The Arabic Sahityolsavam will be held at the C.H. Hall on Red Cross Road while a few competitions will be organised at a classroom of the Model Higher Secondary School, Mananchira.
The Arabic seminar will be held at C.H. Hall at 10.30 a.m. Minister for Social Justice and Panchayats M.K. Muneer will inaugurate the programme. The seminar will be on the topic ‘Arabic and Information Technology.’ Deputy Mayor P.T. Abdul Latheef will preside over the programme.
Education Minister P.K. Abdu Rabb will honour the Arabic scholars at 12 noon while Mr. Bhat will preside.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Staff Reporter / Kozhikode – January 15th, 2015
by TCN News
New Delhi:
The ‘Urdu Wikipedia India’ user community organised an ‘Urdu Wiki’ meet up at Thiruvananthapuram in association with the Wikipedia India Chapter and the Centre for Internet Society Access to Knowledge (CIS A2K), Bangalore, also working for the Wikipedia movement in India.
The ‘Urdu Wikipedia India’ is part of the Wikipedia movement in India and working for the Indic language Urdu. Wikipedia is the world’s largest crowd-sourced online free encyclopedia spreading the free knowledge to the society.
“The objectives of this meet up was to share views and preferences on the most effective ways to pursue our shared vision of creating and sharing free knowledge in India and in the Indian languages, particularly in Urdu Wikipedia in the state of Kerala; and to attempt to prepare a road map for a future where the Wikipedia resources are better utilized, its volunteers are better served and progress on its mission is more steadily attained,” Habeebur Rahman Bijli, coordinator, Urdu Study Centre of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL, government of India) said in a release here.
The Urdu Wiki meet up, held at the initiative of Dr Ataulla Khan Cenjary, HoD, was organized under the auspices of Bijli, who is also the chairman of South Indian Muslim Educational and Charitable Trust.
As part of the tour to Kerala on free software movement in India, Nisar Ahmed Syed, academician social scientist and Wikipedian from Pune, introduced Urdu Wikipedia to Urdu speaking people of Kerala.
Bijli presided over the programme. The Wikipedia Urdu users from Kerala have planned to volunteer for the Wikipedia movement in India. Dr Cenjary, in his introductory speech, emphasized on the importance of language and life skills.
Nisar Ahmed introduced Wikipedia movement in India and importance of free knowledge sharing. He explained about the Urdu Wikipedia, its history and platform. He then conducted a demonstrative workshop to explain the methods of editing in Urdu Wikipedia. He further emphasized the importance of importing Indian culture, languages and heritage to the future generations.
Janardhanan Nair (former Foreign Languages translator at ISRO, Trivandrum), Appukuttan Nair, (retired principal, Trivandrum), Prof Mubarak, University of Kerala, Trivandrum, Parveer Grewal, Wikipedian, Patiala Punjab were among those who participated, the release said.
Many members joined the Urdu Wikipedia India user group, and ‘Urdu Wikipedia Ambassadors’ were selected to bring Urdu Wikipedia to the Urdu speaking areas. The meet up resolved to “Bring Urdu Wikipedia from budding stage to a blooming stage.”
source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Indian Muslim / by TCN News / December 30th, 2014
The year-long golden jubilee of the Muslim Educational Society (MES) will end with a four-day valedictory summit featuring public meets, academic discussions, seminars, and cultural events starting from January 22 in Kozhikode. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, the State office-bearers of the society said a wide spectrum of leaders, including Ministers, educationalists, and cultural icons, would attend the event. The main venue of the event would be adjacent to the upcoming headquarters of the MES at Govindapuram on Mini-Bypass Road. The summit would begin with a women’s conference at 10 a.m. on January 22. State Women’s Commission chairperson Rosakutty, Muslim Personal Law Board member Uzma Naheeda, social activists Flavia Agnes, Medha Patkar, and Teesta Setalwad would speak.
A cultural festival of students from MES institutions across the State would also be part of the event on the first day. A national seminar on ‘cultural nationalism’ to be inaugurated by senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh would be held later in the day. Another seminar on the third day would be inaugurated by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / Staff Reporter / Kozhikode – January 15th, 2015
Agra:
A museum dedicated to the Mughal era will come up in the vicinity of the Taj Mahal at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore, and the construction work is likely to begin next year.
The proposed museum will be built near Shilpagram parking on the East Gate side of the monument. The land currently belongs to the state electricity department.
According to information, the project’s funding will be partly taken from the corpus granted by the World Bank under the pro-poor tourism development program. The program is aimed at improving infrastructure for tourists in order to generate revenue and employment in the state. The World Bank (WB) has reportedly loaned out Rs 1,800 crore to the country for the development of the Agra-Braj corridor. Rs 10 crore, amount needed for the building of the museum, will be taken from that amount.
Director general (DG) tourism Amrit Abhijat said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) would most likely be signed by the WB, the Central government and the UP government by September 2015. Construction work will start within a year after that. The state cabinet has reportedly given its approval fro the project in principle.
“The museum will have Mughal-era artefacts, armours, textiles and arms on display. The WB wants it to be developed on the lines of international museums. A detail project report (DPR) is under process,” Abhijat said, adding that foreign expertise will be sought to develop the museum.
The DG informed that besides the museum, there is also a plan to create an art gallery to promote trademark products of the city. Stone works, carpets and sweets, especially petha, will be on display at the gallery. There will also be a section from where tourists can buy finished products.
The centre will be built on the lines of Swiss museums, wherein they showcase the intricacies of cheese manufacturing. Similarly, tourists visiting the centre can learn about how carpets have been woven since the time of the Mughals. Petha production will be explained too.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Agra / by Aditya Dev, TNN / January 13th, 2015
After 30 years of service as a noon-meal worker at the Government Higher Secondary School at Peringolam in Kozhikode, Iyyamkunnath Devi called it a day a few months ago.
Being a daily-wage worker at the mercy of the school management, she couldn’t have expected any retirement benefits from the government as she leaves. Calmly, the elderly widow, in her late 60s, went home to spend rest of her life with her only son’s widow and children.
Ms. Devi’s empty-handed retreat from the school at the end of a prolonged spell of service, however, had left a lingering soreness with her co-workers, teachers and the students, whom she had been feeding all these years. Led by a teacher-in-charge of the noon meal committee P. Bavakutty, they sat one day to discuss the possibility of offering “some help” to Ms. Devi, whom they fondly called Deviyedathi .
Under the initiative of the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) they decided to collect an amount to be given to the retiring member. Teachers, students, and the public, all responded overwhelmingly to the call. A sum of Rs.1, 25,000 was raised at the end, with which a pension scheme was opened forDeviyedathi. “We had never imagined that people would respond in such an overwhelming manner to this,” said Mr. Bavakutty.
From the amount, Rs.1 lakh was deposited in a pension scheme in her name with the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) while the rest, (Rs.25,000) was given to her as a gratuity during a public function organised at the school recently. “A pension scheme for a daily-wage worker under the initiative of a school PTA would probably be the first of its kind anywhere in the State,” said Sasidharan Pullangotte, the PTA president.
“We believe that the Rs.750, though small, that would reach her as pension every month, would at least make a small difference to Deviyedathi’s life,” said the PTA president.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Jabir Mushthari / Kozhikode – January 13th, 2015
Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali has urged Muslims to put a stop to the custom of taking dowry, going against the Quran and Hadith (sayings of the Holy Prophet).
Speaking at the Seerath-un-Nabi (life and teachings of the Holy Prophet) celebration, organised by Fathima Basheer Matriculation Higher Secondary School for Girls under the aegis of the Southern India Educational Trust recently, he urged the Ulema (Islamic scholars) to condemn the practice.
“It is a shameful act and is ruining the lives and finances of many families and girls,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai > Society / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – January 09th, 2015