Appiko movement

A while ago I had written about how the ‘Chipko’ movement started in India was adopted in Japan to save the last vestiges of nature in cities. (http://eksparsh.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/chipko-movement-in-japan/)
 ’Appiko movement’ (‘Appiko’  in Kannada means ‘to hug’) was started by the youth of  Salkani village in Sirsi district to protect trees.  Today this movement is spread across south [...]

Reaching out to the grassroots

Chorodi Gram Panchayat, Vaddayarakoppa, sets an example to the rest of the state when it comes to self-help groups, explains Father Staney of the Shimoga Multipurpose Social Service Society (SMSSS). The Society was started ten years ago, has been co-ordinating with such SHGs. More women from the region than ever before are marching towards literacy, [...]

Loan scheme for people with HIV yielding results

The new scheme launched by the Bellary District Aids Prevention Society (BDAPS), in association with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), to help HIV-affected people and their families, has started yielding results.Dakshayini and her husband have been living with HIV for the past eight years, and have been under Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART). She is a [...]

Karnataka mulls to privatise rural roads

Karnataka government is mulling privatising rural roads taking a leaf out of the Gujarat model. Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Shobha Karandlaje said a detailed project report would be prepared shortly. Thereafter, a meeting of bankers would be convened followed by one of companies and investors keen on getting involved in the project. Total [...]

High School Students’ Project Jatropha Benefiting Environment, Reducing Poverty in Rural India

Two high school students of The College Preparatory School, Adarsha Shivakumar (age 15) and Apoorva Rangan (age 14), have successfully finished the first phase of Project Jatropha, an inspirational mission aiming to simultaneously save the environment and boost the rural Indian economy. Adarsha Shivakumar launched the grassroots initiative last year, as a high school freshman, [...]

Holes in green cover

Even as the world thinks of ways to combat climate change Karnataka is slowly giving away a major chunk of its forests to encroachers. Recent data provided by the Ministry of Environment and Forests says that around 17 lakh hectares of forest land in India has been encroached upon, out of which around 1,08,405 hectares is [...]

1,680 single teacher schools in Karnataka

Out of 40,000 government primary schools in Karnataka, 1,680 government primary schools continue to have a single teacher and less than 10 students and 485 of them having less than five students. Speaking at a meeting organized at the State Secretariat on Friday, the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri said 485 primary [...]

State allows Kannada-medium schools to teach in English

The dust around the language battle in Karnataka’s private schools seems to have settled. Pushed against the wall, facing the threat of a contempt of court notices from schools, the state government has finally given its assent to at least 1,000 schools in the state to convert from the Kannada medium to English. The Karnataka state [...]

Comat Tech to provide jobs to 15,000 rural people

Comat Technologies announced that it has signed an MoU with the Karnataka government to provide jobs to 15,000 rural youth over the next 12 months.  Comat is a profitable social enterprise that delivers essential information and transformational services to citizens in rural India. Read more at http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200812232080.htm

More docs to get training in AIDS

Karnataka is so highly prone to AIDS that the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) now thinks a one-year post-graduate fellowship programme on HIV/AIDS is desperately needed. The course is for doctors in both private and government hospitals.  The programme, approved by the university syndicate and acadenic council, will most likely begin next year. The [...]