Weaving magic on stage
Talented:Children staging ‘Kogile Gana’ in Gulbarga on Monday.
GULBARGA, India: A drama staged here by schoolchildren from a remote village was yet another pointer to the fact that if children are encouraged, they can weave magic. The drama ‘Kogile Gana’ was staged at S.M. Pandit Rangamandira here on Monday evening.
The children, mostly from poor Dalit families, are students of the Deshi Kendriya Residential School run by Kalyana Karnataka Samskrutika Parishat at Navadgi (B) village in Gulbarga taluk. The drama they staged is based on the famous book The Nightingale by H. Christian Anderson.
Its import
The drama speaks of how one should respect the freedom of others and how greed will ultimately cause harm. The way in which the children sent the message across in their 50-minute show surprised many. There were no hiccups in dialogue delivery or acting.
Short notice
R.K. Hudgi, president of the Gulbarga chapter of Samudaya, a socio-cultural group, told The Hindu that the 22-member drama team from the school was trained to perform in just 20 days by director Shankarayya Ghanti. “That was enough for them to hone their skills,” he added.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/21/stories/2010042150820200.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
A silent green revolution in Doddaballapur villages
75 villages register 11 per cent agricultural growth rate — Photo: K. Gopinathan
In rapt attention:Farmers of Doddaballapur taluk attending a meeting convened by experts in agriculture.
BANGALORE, India: Seventy-five villages under five gram panchayats in Doddaballapur taluk have registered a robust agricultural growth rate of about 11 per cent. This has assumed importance as the agriculture sector in the State and the country has grown only by a little over 2 per cent in the past few years.
These villages with 8,340 families coming under Tubagere hobli have witnessed such a high growth rate after their inclusion in the Rural Bio-resource Complex pilot project of the Union Department of Biotechnology implemented through the University of Agricultural Sciences (Bangalore) for instilling confidence in farmers by helping them to increase their income levels.
Rural Bio-resource Complex Project coordinator and agriculture extension expert K. Narayana Gowda told The Hindu that these villages had been registering such a growth rate since 2006 after the project was launched in 2005.
“But for 2009, when the growth rate came down to 9 per cent owing to two prolonged dry spells, the rate has been 11 per cent in the remaining three years,” he said.
He said that his team of scientists, who are monitoring the farm activity of every household in these villages, had computed the above growth rate by taking into consideration the average income of every household from all agricultural operations. “We have even sought an independent assessment by an outside agency,” he noted.
“No suicide case involving farmers has been reported from the 75 villages after the launch of the project. Migration of farmers to cities in search of work has also reduced,” he said, and pointed out that 64.76 per cent of the families coming under the project area were small and marginal farmers and 26.68 per cent families had no land.
While individual income has increased, the average yield per hectare of land has doubled owing to timely interventions from the scientists most of whom are camping in the villages to assist farmers with technical inputs.
To begin with, the team identified crops that are not suitable for the geographical condition of this area and convinced farmers to replace them with suitable ones such as maize, baby/sweet corn, etc.
They also studied the farm practices and improvised them to increase yield. They convinced the farmers to take up crops such as rose, tissue-culture banana, etc., in addition to sweet/baby corn, and increase the area under cash crops such as mulberry.
Importance has been given to multi-cropping, integrated farming and sustainable agricultural practices not only to increase their income levels, but also to ensure that such incomes become a permanent fixture.
The scientists convinced the farmers to take up vermi-compost and many have vermi-compost units.
To promote cooperative farming, nine groups of farmers have been formed under the project to grow crops such as jackfruit, flowers and corn, and to take up organic farming, rural bio-fuel and fishery.
These groups not only get farm inputs from the market collectively but also market them together so that they will save on transportation costs.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/21/stories/2010042152840500.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Experts for making education compulsory
Workshop on Right to Education Act organised
The Act will help in eradication of poverty
KADAPA, India: Right To Education Act aimed at educating all children aged between six and 14 was a revolutionary legislation, Collector Shashi Bhushan Kumar said on Tuesday.
Addressing a workshop on the Act at Collectorate, the Collector called upon public representatives, officials, teachers’ organisations, NGOs and school managements to air their views on the Act to ensure its effective implementation. Andhra Pradesh lagged behind other States in literacy and the Act would help in eradication of poverty, Telugu Desam Party MLC M. Venkatasiva Reddy said. He wanted children up to six years of age and those between 14 and 18 age group brought under the purview of the Act. He wanted compulsory education imparted as a movement.
Rajiv Vidya Mission Project Officer Srinivasa Rao gave a power-point presentation on the Act and its goals. State Teachers Union president B. Subba Reddy wanted awareness spread in villages on the need for education and wanted drop-outs identified with the help of various organisations and employees.
Pushpagiri School correspondent M. Vivekananda Reddy also wanted the 0 to 18 year age group covered by the Act. The Government schools might face closure if private schools earmarked 25 per cent of seats to downtrodden and poor students as envisaged in the Act, he said.
Santhiniketan School correspondent S. Elias Reddy wanted village to district-level committees constituted to oversee implementation of Act. A headmaster Reddappa Reddy said the Act did not specify the mode of education to be imparted. Street children and physically challenged should be educated to prevent rise in corruption in private schools owing to commercialisation.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/21/stories/2010042156760200.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Policies to promote innovation in agri biotech sought
HYDERABAD, India: The Association of Biotech Led Enterprises-Special Interest Group on Agriculture Biotechnology (ABLE-SIGAB) wants policies to promote innovation in agri biotech and an enabling environment for commercialisation of products.
At a press conference here on Tuesday, ABLE-SIGAB’s executive council members, K. V. Subbarao and P. S. Dravid expressed concern over the instability in regulatory environment. Stating that biotechnology was playing a crucial role in agriculture sector in terms of improving productivity, they said it could address the challenges posed by rising prices, climate change and help in achieving food security, particularly in the Indian context since it was being predicted that there would be a shortage of 14 million tonnes of food grains by 2017. They sought policies that foster growth of the industry, help increase crop yields, improve farmers’ incomes and livelihoods.
They said ABLE-SIGAB was concerned about the current Bt. Cotton seed price control and indirect technology fee control by State governments despite India being world’s most competitive market for cotton biotechnologies and seeds. Since 2006, State governments have been constantly controlling and reducing MRP of seeds with Bt cotton technologies.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/21/stories/2010042161741200.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Despite water crisis, paddy yield crosses 30 to 35 bags per acre
The demand-supply theory seemingly failed to work in the marketing of paddy
FCI fails to lift stocks from the farmers
ELURU, India: The acute water crisis in the Godavari delta seemingly failed to eclipse the rabi prospects this time. The paddy growers with a great deal of grit and determination weathered the problem to reap a bumper crop. In most parts of the delta, the paddy yield crossed the average figure of 30-35 bags per acre.
To quote M.V. Suryanarayana Raju of the Andhra Pradesh Rytu Karyacharana Samithi, 35-40 bags of productivity was recorded in the delta, saving the fields affected by salinity and those deprived of sufficient water. “There are some areas where the yield has touched even 45 bags”, he adds. The output has drastically fallen in the Kolleru belt areas because of soil fatigue caused by salinity due to incursion of sea water.
The West Godavari district administration has stabilised an extent of 1.79 lakh acres out of the total paddy area of 5.3 lakh in the western delta in the current rabi in the light of dwindling water levels in the Godavari. The farmers raised paddy in an extent of 70,000 acres in addition to the stabilised ayacut.
Yet, weathering the market vagaries and problem farm hands appear to be not as easy as handling the water problem for the gullible farmers. Kommana Ratnakara Rao, former sarpanch of Vatluru gram panchayat, said the farmers in his area were heavily depending on harvesters due to the lack of farm workers for harvesting. He blamed it on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The scheme was under implementation when the agricultural operations were at their peak. Obviously, nobody would prefer to work in the farm fields, he regretted. The farmers are engaging harvesters for harvesting and threshing the crop and winnowing the grains by paying Rs 1,800-2,300 per acre per hour.
The demand-supply theory seemingly failed to work in the marketing of paddy in the wake of dithering by the Food Corporation of India to lift the stocks from the farmers on the plea of having no space in its godowns and offering a price not more than the minimum support price (MSP). The general corollary that the produce fetches more price for its producer and is in great demand if it reaches the market in poor.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/21/stories/2010042153190600.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Admission to children's home
COIMBATORE, India: Mahatma Gandhi Ashram, which runs a destitute children’s home, has invited applications for taking in children aged between four and 12.
A release says children without parents, children with a parent, who is unable to work, children with parents but living in extreme poverty or suffering from crippling disease, children with parents or a parent with disability, wards of bonded labourers, children of convicted prisoners and child labourers are eligible to be members of the home, which is near Pollachi.
Gender, caste, religion are not a bar for admission, the release says and adds that education, food and shelter will be provided free of cost.
Details of the eligible child are to be written on a white sheet and sent to the Managing Trustee, Mahatma Gandhi Ashramam, Anaimalai 642 104.
Information can also be given over phone at 04253-282072.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/21/stories/2010042160450300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
In principle nod for energy saving concept
CHENNAI, India: The State government on Tuesday approved, in principle, the concept of energy savings through energy servicing companies (ESCOs) in urban local bodies.
Kumbakonam and Sivakasi municipalities will be covered on a trial basis, according to a senior official in the Municipal Administration Directorate. Totally, 29 municipalities will be taken up in three instalments.
The project envisages energy savings through improved performance of electrical equipment. For instance, the local bodies maintain street lights. A conservative estimate reveals that the power bills cost them Rs.30 lakh-Rs. 40 lakh annually.
A preliminary energy audit study, covering 45 municipalities, indicated that there was a possibility of 30 per cent energy savings.
Only 29 municipalities have now been chosen because the maintenance of street lights has been privatised in the remaining municipalities such as Tambaram, Alandur and Pallavaram.
The municipalities selected do not have to incur expenditure to implement the project. The identified ESCOs will study the profile of their energy consumption and replace existing street lights with energy-efficient ones. Better degree of automation will also be achieved while switching on or off the lights. The value of energy thus saved will be shared between the companies and the municipalities, depending upon the terms of reference, the official explains.
Among the advantages of the project that the local bodies may accrue are the reduction in their expenditure, additional revenue through carbon trading and re-deployment.
In August last, a workshop with elected representatives of the identified urban local bodies was held to disseminate the concept.
The representatives wanted the government to issue an order, giving its approval to the concept in principle.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/21/stories/2010042161320700.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Music school to get building
FACILITY: Collector M. Vijayakumar handing over the order to R. Gunasekaran, Regional Assistant Director of Art and Culture, Tiruchi.
PERAMBALUR, India: The Government Music School here that has been functioning from a rented building ever since it was set up in 1998 will soon a get a new building of its own in the heart of the town soon, thanks to the initiative of Collector M. Vijayakumar.
The Collector has earmarked 50 cents of land worth Rs. 27.5 lakh behind the new bus stand for the construction of a building that will the Government Music School and the Jawahar Bal Bhavan which imparts training to the youngsters in the age group of 5 – 15 yearsin music, dance, martial arts, etc.
The Collector handed over the order to R. Gunasekaran, Regional Assistant Director, Department of Art and Culture, Tiruchi.
With this, four districts in the Central region – Tiruchi, Pudukottai, Karur and Perambalur – have got government land for the construction of buildings for housing the music schools.
“The Department will soon prepare a proposal for the construction of the building and submit it to the government for its favourable consideration”, said Mr. Gunasekaran.
Referring to the construction of buildings for the other government music schools in the region, Mr. Gunasekaran said that the Tiruchi district administration had allotted land on Melur road in the temple town of Srirangam.
The Department will construct a cultural complex at this site, which will house the music school, Jawahar Bal Bhavan along with the State Art and Culture Department’s regional office. The government has already sanctioned Rs. 96 lakh for executing the project and the construction work will commence soon.
In Karur town, 50 cents of land was allotted for the music school and the department had already submitted proposal for allotment of funds.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/21/stories/2010042156430100.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
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