Former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar (third from left) is seen receiving the prize on behalf of his grandson Dhruvesh, who shared first place along with Venkatesh of Kolar (2nd from left) at the State-level Milking Contest, from Actor Darshan Thoogudeep and Animal Husbandry Minister A. Manju at J.K. Grounds in city yesterday. MLA H.P. Manjunath, Film Director Sandesh and others were present
Mysuru :
The three-day State-level milking competition, organised by Mysuru Nagara Gopalakara Sangha in association with the Department of Animal Husbandry at J.K. Grounds in the city, concluded yesterday.
The cow, owned by Dhruvesh, grandson of former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar and the cow owned by one Venkatesh of Kolar bagged the top prize, with both of them milking 40.800 kg of milk.
As both the cows shared equal honours, the owners were given Rs. 87,500 each (Rupees 1 lakh first prize and rupees seventy five thousand – second prize, divided by two). The third prize was bagged by the cow owned by Anwar Shariff, a resident of Akbar Road, Lashkar Mohalla, which milched 36.350 kg.
Anwar Shariff was given a cash prize of Rs. 50,000.
The fourth prize was bagged by the cow owned by Aishwarya, the grand daughter of former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar, which milched 35.450kg.
Aishwarya was given a cash of Rs. 25,000 as fourth prize.
Speaking after distributing the prizes, Animal Husbandry Minister A. Manju said that dairy farming can be a main source of income for farmers. Pointing out that taking dairy farming will bring happiness in the lives of farmers, he called upon the youth to engage themselves in dairy farming.
Stating that the State was one amongst the top producers of milk in the country with 66 lakh litres of milk production per day, he complimented the role of the Sangha in boosting milk production.
Actor Darshan Thoogudeep was the star attraction during the prize distribution ceremony. Thousands of people, most of them youths, gathered at the venue to have a glimpse of the actor, who has been attending the event for several years.
Minister Manju also presented a cheque of Rs. 1.5 lakh (Rs. 1 lakh donated by the Sangha and Rs.50,000 donated by actor Darshan) to Adarsh, son of the Sangha Founder late B. Paramesh on the occasion.
Former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar presided. Hunsur MLA H.P. Manjunath, KEA Chairman R. Murthy, Cine Producer Sandesh, JD(S) leader G.D. Harish Gowda, Sangha Hon. President Desigowda, President and Corporator D. Nagabhushan and others were present on the occasion.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Monday – January 25th, 2016
Our society needs to change; we are generating a society of merits. We need to understand our children in such a way that education is mixed with passion.
These lines describe Abdul Kaleem’s life in a nutshell. In 2009, Abdul was felicitated by the President of India for his innovations, when he was barely 22 years old. That same year, he was also honoured by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) for Grass Root Innovation.
Innovator and entrepreneur Abdul Kaleem
But it was never about good grades or staggering dreams; as a student, Abdul always thought a little differently, a philosophy he still lives by:
“Whenever something happens, I think about the logic behind it. I keep questioning.”
And this questioning always took the form of little innovations. In the seventh grade, he saved Rs 2 from his pocket money to buy a crystal bird, which he turned into a greeting machine. It would open out with banner saying Id Mubarak whenever someone entered his room. A theft in his neighborhood caused him to create an alert mechanism that would call the last dialled number on the owner’s phone as soon as the door was opened.
But the contrast of all this sets in when one realises that Abdul was brought up in a small village in Deoria, in Uttar Pradesh born to an Urdu tutor father and an uneducated mother, where an alert mechanism was unheard of!
His parents could never understand what their child was really up to. What they wanted for him was a basic education that would lead to a secure government job. His father was disappointed to see his son’s unconventional ways, and his neighbors constantly felt the need to remind them how he was wasting his time.
But Abdul was only interested in his innovations, electronics, machines, and not the world’s opinion of them. He was undeterred; he smiles and says:
On one hand, Abdul continued to think about wider impact and what the community really needed, while on the other, he finished his high school exams and joined a Psychology course in Deoria. Staying deeply grounded to his roots, Abdul started looking deeper at his inventions. He created a device that could gauge moisture in the soil using sensors, and water pots automatically. The device would stop watering the plants once the sensors gauged enough moisture in the soil.
Next in line was a flood informer system, with a scale fitted at different areas of the river, including the centre and the bed of the river. The minute the water rose to the third level, the sirens would alert villagers to look for higher ground.
Finally, it was a visit by his Psychology professor that put him in the spotlight. He convinced Dr Nagiz Banu to visit his home and the small laboratory where he carried out his experiments. Dr Banu was reluctant, but when she entered the room, she was in for a surprise. Seeing the scale at which Abdul had mastered his experiments, she asked him to send his innovations to NIF. He did and, on 21 November 2009, Abdul was awarded for his grassroots innovations by President Pratibha Patil; what followed was a slew of other recognitions by the state.
We ask Abdul why he pursued Psychology and not Engineering, where his passion truly lay. He replies
“If you see, technology is created by perceiving Psychology, similarly as Psychology perceives the invented technology. So every subject has a correlation, it depends on how you use it.”
When we ask him what we feel is missing in innovations today, he says it is a lack of understanding of Psychology to create technology for the masses, while understanding their needs.
Abdul’s interaction and felicitation from the various Presidents of India
From innovations to business
However, Abdul says that while he may be a good inventor or engineer, he is not a good businessman. He has never understood business numbers.
Abdul constantly innovating, with his GPRS sensor
In 2011, Abdul embarked on the Jagriti Yatrawith around 350 strangers, a journey which completely transformed his outlook on where he aspired to use his potential to startup. Immediately after the Yatra, Abdul started working on a low-cost solar table lamp, another basic innovation catering to the masses.
This business idea required an initial capital of at least Rs 5 lakh. Unable to procure the funds, he shelved the idea and pursued other innovations.
Through reference of a customer Siddharth Jettar, in 2014 Abdul was introduced to G.K. Sinha, who was in awe over how solutions to complex issues came so easily to this young man. Abdul had created a universal light controlling remote for Siddharth’s house. G.K. Sinha was an angel investor, having the experience of guiding multiple startups.
He helped Abdul with starting his venture Eco tronica Pvt. Ltd.
Sinha also introduced him to Gautam Kumar, a graduate from Harvard University. Gautam felt the same potential in Abdul’s innovation and worked with him to refine his soil moisture-sensor-driven innovation and mobile weather prediction station to a requirement at Centers for International Projects Trust (CIPT), which is affiliated with the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
The low-cost weather station of sorts, powered by solar power, works on cloud computing and the installation of sensors on rooftops of buildings. The industrial setup costs as little as Rs 15,000, while the user-friendly and domestic models cost up to Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000, respectively. Jharkhand’s Birsa Agricultural University has planned to set up this technology in the state’s Angara block. This will directly impact 700 farmers of the area.
Today, Abdul is also working on solar powered lighting with dual LED lights, which he claims should work for 24 hours with just five minutes of solar charge. He says he still doesn’t understand the revenues or sales figures because he thinks he is an innovator at heart and will remain one.
Abdul says the biggest challenge in having a manufacturing startup is getting the right vendor, who gives the right product at the lowest cost.
But there is an important lesson for all entrepreneurs when Abdul speaks. Even as Indian entrepreneurs flock to create the next Uber and Amazon, he makes us question what truly comprises innovation for the masses. He makes us question whether business models and revenues are the only success metric for a startup.
For many Indian entrepreneurs taking their product to Silicon Valley – an enduring symbol of innovation – is the highest form of success. But what about innovations for the masses? Is our entrepreneurial ecosystem based on the same system of meritocracy followed in the US?
Innovators like Abdul even make us question our prevailing education system. He rightly says we need to harbor our own culture of innovation. Our challenges are different, and the only way out is to innovate through passion and dedication to solve a problem, rather than look at is as a business.
source: http://www.yourstory.com / YourStory.com / Home> Success Stories / by Tarush Bhalla / January 20th, 2016
Screenshot of the ‘Dial Kashmir’ app. The application has witnessed an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 with a thousand plus downloads on Google Play.
Srinagar, KASHMIR :
23-year-old girl becomes first Kashmiri to develop Android application ‘Dial Kashmir’ with over 500 contacts of government and private departments — a one stop source for ‘essential information’.
“I don’t want to be a second someone, I want to be the first me,” this is how a 23-year-old ambitious computer engineer, who has become the first Kashmiri to develop an Android application, describes herself on her Facebook page.
The Android application named ‘Dial Kashmir’ contains over 500 contacts of government and private departments — a one stop source for ‘essential information’.
‘Dial Kashmir’ contains important contacts of different departments, officials and public utilities and would be of immense help to the locals and tourists alike, says Mehvish Mushtaq, who holds a Bachelors (B.E.) in Computer Science.
“I felt a need to develop such an application because unlike outside where there are many apps and websites which contain such information, Kashmir had none. ‘Dial Kashmir’ would provide information easily to the people here. There are many users of Android platform based mobile phones here,” Ms. Mehvish, a resident of uptown Barzulla in Srinagar, told PTI.
Ms. Mehvish claims that the application has witnessed an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 with a thousand plus downloads on Google Play.
Ms. Mehvish did an online course on Android application designing in January and put together her skills and desire to develop a “helpful Kashmir centric application” and with an “actually, I can” attitude — as her display picture on Facebook suggests — developed ‘Dial Kashmir’. “I did this online course at the end of which I had to develop something, as part of the project. It took me about 2 weeks to develop this application,” she said.
‘Dial Kashmir’ provides users detailed information like addresses, phone numbers and email ids of various essential services and other departments in Kashmir. It is a one stop source for information on healthcare, education, transport, police and so many others and one does not need to surf through internet pages, official websites and directories,” she said.
A music lover and an ardent Atif Aslam fan, Ms. Mehvish says technology fascinates her and her love for “any-thing-tech” was the sole inspiration behind her “dream of developing something which would help the people of my native place”.
Ms. Mehvish, who did her B.E from SSM College of Engineering and Technology in Pattan area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, says girls in Kashmir are “second to none” and “can achieve anything“.
“We just have to keep a dream alive and start working towards realising it. We are second to none and once we set on something, we can achieve it,” she said.
The response to the application, she says, has been “encouraging”.
“Heartening to see a Kashmiri girl develop an android app when everyone claims to be a geek in Kashmir. Good work although app is simple. Keep it up,” one Android user, Rais Bhat, who downloaded the app from Google Play, wrote as feedback.
Another user, Wani Kamraan, wrote, “SPEECHLESS..! Well the application should be improved but this work of you should be appreciated by me, by your own people…So 4 stars for your outstanding work and extra one for being citizen as well as sister of me from my Kashmir… Thank You!“.
Ms. Mehvish says she is now working on making the application “much better” and trying to add “as more details and information as possible”.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Technology> Gadgets / PTI / Srinagar – April 16th, 2013
The toppers of this year’s class XII examination have attributed their success to hard work and support from parents and teachers. They also shared their desire to continue the winning streak in their professional lives.
Bushra Amin has secured first position in Science stream with 489 marks (97.8 percent). A resident of Khanaqah Bagh Pampore, she wants to be an ideal daughter and honest professional.
“This is a small success in life. I want to shine in every sphere of life-social as well as professional. My first priority would be to see my parents happy,” Bushra told Rising Kashmir.
A student of Muslim Educational Institute Pampore, Bushra said she relied more on self study rather than coaching classes, and credited her teachers for the success.
“Coaching classes only helped me to complete certain portions of my curriculum but real supporters were my school teachers as they would treat me with affection like their own sibling,” she said.
COMMERCE TOPPER
Tehneez Bashir of Green Valley Educational Institute, Illahi Bagh has topped the Commerce stream. She dreams to become honest and successful business woman.
“I am yet to decide whether to go for academic or professional course. However, I have a dream to become a successful businesswoman and to break all taboos and stereotypes,” she said.
Tehneez lost her father when she was in class 3. She said her father was always encouraging. “My elder sister who shouldered many responsibilities after my father’s death is my inspiration as she has shown me how to overcome tough times,” she told Rising Kashmir over phone.
ARTS TOPPER
Aiman Jan Habib, who topped Arts stream with 486 marks (97.2%), credited the teachers of her school, Jamiat ul Banaat for her success.
“Though I never compromised on hard work but the consistent support of teachers in the school has proved fruitful,” she said.
Resident of Tral in south Kashmir, Aiman said her parents supported her in the decision of not opting for private tuitions. “I want to become an administrator as I always dreamt of it,” she said.
source: http://www.risingkashmir.in / Rising Kashmir / Home / by Manzoor-ul-Hassan (muhassan@risingkashmir.com / Srinagar – January 21st, 2015
