Training programme bidar

Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) and BIOMAP organised a training programme for farmers on Stevia in Bidar on Saturday. Ravi Deshmukh, KVK training coordinator, said the crop had a significant market. Resource persons Mallikarjun Lingadalli, Kapil Patil, R.K. Singh, Vinay Kumar and Parameshwar Chandanshiva spoke. Over 100 farmers participated.

More: www.kvkbidar.in

more:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/training-programme/article4063705.ece

Writer calls for research on Valmiki.

Writer Venkanna Donnegoudar has called for more research to be done on Valmiki.

Speaking at the Valmiki Jayanti celebrations here on Monday, Dr. Donnegoudar said scriptures mentioned three Valmikis. Writers had built on these stories and fed popular imagination. It was unfortunate that academicians had neglected this “visionary” sage and writer, he said.

Dr. Donnegoudar said Valmiki practised the principles he wrote about in the Ramayana, and tried to reform society.

Welfare schemes

Deepika Sachin Rathod, zilla panchayat president, who inaugurated the celebrations, claimed the State government and the zilla panchayat were implementing several schemes for people from Scheduled Tribes and backward classes.

Bandeppa Kashempur and Rahim Khan, MLAs, Raghunath Malkapure, MLC, Bidar City Municipal Council president Sridevi Karanji, Deputy Commissioner P.C. Jaffer, and zilla panchayat Chief Executive Officer V. Geetanjali were present.

Procession

Earlier, Minister for Infrastructure Development and district in-charge Sunil Valyapure inaugurated a procession from the Deputy Commissioner’s office to the Ranga Mandira.

More:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/writer-calls-for-research-on-valmiki/article4045934.ece

Inaugurate a 108-foot statue of Basaveshwara on the Basavakalyan–Bidar road.

The former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said in Basavakalyan on Sunday that there was no change in his decision to quit the BJP and form his own party.

He said that any efforts to hold him back would not succeed.

He was at Basavakalyan to inaugurate a 108-foot statue of Basaveshwara on the Basavakalyan–Bidar road. “There is no change in my decision to quit the BJP and form my own party. That is why I have announced that I would form my new party on December 10,” he told presspersons.

He said that he was not worried about what BJP leaders were saying about him. “I am only focussed on sitting in the Vidhana Soudha and leading the State to prosperity. All I want to do is to make it a ‘Kalyan Rajya’ (welfare State),” he said.

Asked if he would yield to conciliatory efforts by RSS leaders such as M.C. Jayadeva, he said that he had “neither met such leaders nor would he be meeting them.” He also commented about some of his followers in the Cabinet, who have hinted that they may not be joining his party. “I am not dependant on any leader. I depend on the people of this State and not its leaders,” he said.

Asked about the former Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda’s criticism of his decision to quit the BJP, Mr. Yeddyurappa said that he was not bothered about such things. “When Mr. Gowda wanted to be the chairman of the Karnataka Milk Federation, I made him Chief Minister. He has started making such statements after tasting power,” he said.

More:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/no-change-in-decision-to-quit-bjp-says-yeddyurappa/article4042384.ece

‘Huge opportunities for entrepreneurs in rural India’

Students urged to develop the skill set needed to be an entrepreneur

“The vast potential for entrepreneurship in rural India remains unexplored,” said Veerendra Patil, agri-biotechnology consultant, here on Sunday.

He was speaking after inaugurating a one-day workshop on entrepreneurship development organised by Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College. “There are huge opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs in rural India, especially in the way technology is applied in agriculture, and produce is processed and marketed. The rural agro-produce-based market is so huge that several corporate companies are coming out with plans to capture it systematically. Young people should realise this and become entrepreneurs,” he said.

‘Good at jugaad’

“Indians are very good at ‘jugaad’, or frugal innovations. This is internationally accepted. The Ahmedabad-based National Innovation Foundation maintains a register containing over 50,000 innovations by ordinary people from rural areas,” he said.

He said that 100 years ago, the British government had commissioned a study to estimate the potential for rural innovations. It produced a 180-page report listing several important, low-cost innovations in villages.

He gave examples of how some simple ideas had been turned into great businesses. Recent ones include selling branded sugarcane juice, home delivery of vegetables, giving flowerpots for hire and nurseries for fruits, flowers. In several cases, entrepreneurs had succeeded because they improved on old ideas, he said.

Reshma Kaur, vice-president of the Guru Nanak Dev Education Society, said that women were discouraged from becoming entrepreneurs in Indian society, which was still very male-dominated. Women decided over 75 per cent of the purchases at home, but they were not decision-makers in the industries that produce consumer goods, she said. She urged young women to become entrepreneurs rather than look for jobs.

Vaishali Nitturkar, founder of Gyan Tree, a Hyderabad-based consultancy, urged students to develop the skill set needed to be an entrepreneur. “Employers expect fresh recruits to have such qualities. You can’t get a job if you don’t have the skill set of an entrepreneur,” she said.

‘No dearth of funds’

Hemanth Nitturkar, entrepreneurship consultant, spoke about successful entrepreneurs like Bindeshwar Pathak, G. Venkatswamy and Yogesh Pande. He said that they had succeeded in turning a problem into an opportunity. There was no dearth of funding for entrepreneurs in present-day India, as there were several venture capitalists and investors looking for the right ideas. Even government institutions and public undertakings like the Central Food Technological Research Institute, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, and the Union Science and Technology Department had schemes to support entrepreneurs.

The workshop was jointly organised by the college’s Entrepreneurship Development Cell, Gyan Tree and the Rotary Club of Bidar. Those present included EDC coordinator Rajshekar Gaitonde, Sunil Prabha and Manohar Dikshit.

More:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/huge-opportunities-for-entrepreneurs-in-rural-india/article4021062.ece

Bidar to get 750-bed teaching hospital.

The State Cabinet’s decision to build a 750-bed teaching hospital for the Bidar Institute of Medical Sciences (BRIMs) fulfils a long-pending demand. This will ensure that the people of the district get access to quality healthcare and need not travel to Hyderabad or Solapur for tertiary care.

Bidar was not on the list of districts in which the State government had decided to open five new government medical colleges in 2005. Continued agitation by citizens’ groups, such as the Government Medical College Horata Samiti, forced the government to concede the demand.

The initial plans of the government had funds earmarked for the college building, but not for the teaching hospital. Students were tagged to the district government hospital. The construction of a new hospital was delayed so much so that the first batch of MBBS students passed out of the college without having ever worked in an exclusive teaching hospital. Another important proposal that was cleared was the construction of four bridges on the Manjra to enable easy movement between Bidar, Aurad, Basavakalyan and Bhalki taluks. “This was among our longest-pending demands. We welcome the Cabinet’s decision,” Ishwar Khandre, Bhalki MLA, said. He, however, demanded that the government start work on the bridges soon.

Another proposal, to develop ring roads around Bidar at a cost of Rs. 9 crore, was also approved. A team led by officials such as the district in-charge Secretary E.V. Ramana Reddy and Deputy Commissioner P.C. Jaffer had taken up the matter with the Ministers concerned and senior officials, sources said.

More:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/bidar-to-get-750bed-teaching-hospital/article4015351.ece

Officials told to speed up works under MNREGA.

Deputy Chief Minister K.S. Eshwarappa has expressed concern over the slow pace of works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in Bidar district.

At a review meeting here on Tuesday, Mr. Eshwarappa said the works had started only in 97 of the 175 gram panchayats in the district. Bidar seems to lag behind in all departments, he said. He asked the officials to start works and ensure payment of salaries to workers within two weeks.

Mr. Eshwarappa said the government would approve a proposal for supplying drinking water from the Gandori Nala to 18 villages under the Kohinoor Zilla Panchayat.

Mr. Eshwarappa instructed the Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (Gescom) officials to supply power to borewells without seeking deposits.

He congratulated Deputy Commissioner P.C. Jaffer and his staff for reducing the pendency of applications under the Sakala scheme to 1 per cent. It was 27 per cent earlier.

The pendency of applications in nemmadi kendras had also reduced to 15,000 from 30,000, he said.

He said the government would start nemmadi kendras in all hoblis from November 1.

Camps

Mr. Jaffer said camps for enrolling people with disabilities under the monthly pension scheme would be conducted after the Dasara holidays.

More:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/officials-told-to-speed-up-works-under-mnrega/article4004259.ece

Annual grant to Bal Bhavan committee raised to Rs. 5 crore

The State government has increased the annual grants to the Bal Bhavan committee to Rs. 5 crore from Rs. 10 lakh last year, committee president Sulochana Bhat said here on Saturday.

“We are organising co-curricular activities and art competitions for children across the year. We have just completed a set of song, dance and drama competitions. We will organise a State-level painting competition in November and send the winners to a national-level competition,” she said. Students from the Hyderabad Karnataka region will be trained in the folk arts of south Karnataka at a camp in Madikeri next month, she added.

She said that the district administration had utilised two-and-a-half acres of land belonging to the Bal Bhavan to construct the swimming pool in Bidar.

“That is why we have instructed officials in charge of the pool to train our students for free,” the committee president said.

More:http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/annual-grant-to-bal-bhavan-committee-raised-to-rs-5-crore/article3994841.ece