For awareness: District and Sessions Judge K.N. Phaneendra inaugurating the National Legal Aid Week in Udupi on Sunday.

Udupi: District and Sessions Judge K.N. Phaneendra has said that alternative dispute redressal methods such as lok adalats, conciliation and arbitration have helped solve a large number of cases in Udupi district.

He was speaking after inaugurating the National Legal Aid Week on the occasion of National Legal Literacy Day, here on Sunday.

The function was organised by the Udupi District Legal Services Authority, the Udupi District Bar Association, Udupi Consumers’ Forum and the Nagarika Chintana Okoota here.

Mr. Phaneendra said the District Legal Services Authority provided legal aid to weaker sections of society who would otherwise not have the means to get justice. “The District Legal Services Authority is open to everybody. People are free to give their suggestions for the effective functioning of the Authority”, he said.

Mr. Phaneendra said it was necessary to create legal awareness among the people so that they learnt about the rights enjoyed by themselves. The lok adalats in Udupi district had helped solve as many as 662 cases in 2007-08.

As many as 28 cases were solved through the pre-litigation mode.

Besides lok adalats, the District Legal Services Authority also held sensitisation programmes for judicial officers, legal aid counsels, and students of law.

The Authority was holding legal literacy campaigns in various places including jails, observation homes, colleges, hospitals, labour colonies, tourist spots, remand homes, and villages, he said.

Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division) Yogish N. Karigudri welcomed the gathering. President of the Udupi Bar Association Mattar Ratnakar Hegde presided over the inaugural function.

Principal Civil Judge (Senior Division) A.M. Ramachandraiah, Judge of the Fast Track Court B. Shivalinge Gowda, Professor at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, V. Nagaraj, and member of the Karnataka State Bar Council Narayan Poojary were present.

Udupi, Nov 8: SMS PU College Brahmavar students Snehith Pereira and Prashant Pai have emerged state champions in the Rural Information Technology Quiz organized at Bangalore by the state department of   information technology and bio-technology in association with Tata Consultancy Services, on Friday November 7.

Harihar MKET PU College came second while Vidyabharati High School Talikote became the second runners-up.

The event, held as part of the on going IT.Biz 2008, was held for the ninth consecutive year for the students studying between  eighth to 12th standards, at the Palace Grounds Bangalore. It was conducted in four phases.  In the finals, known as the 'last bytes' round, the teams had to crack answers based on clues.

Kundapur, Nov 8: The residents of Kodi village are a relieved lot now after finding that their efforts and prayers have begun to yield fruits. Their long-pending demand for a proper road upto to Vinayaka Talkies that connects the national highway, is about to be realized.

The proposal for constructing the concreted Kodi-Vinayaka road connecting the village to the national highway, had been hanging fire for about a decade. Promises on the eve of every election made by the political parties were soon forgotten by them. The voters of the village were left in the lurch.

No government of the day took action. Elections came but promises did not stop. The leader of the Kodi Citizens Committee Archibald Quadros spent money from his pocket to meet political bigwigs at Delhi but to no avail. Several residents of the locality voluntarily broke down their compound and house walls, with the hope that it might help widen the narrow road, which is in total disrepair. Some of the land owners ungrudgingly parted with portions of their lands for road construction. At last, wisdom dawned on them and they realized that unless the villagers stood united for a public cause, not even gods would listen to their prayers.

With the release of Rs 2.30 crore grant for a concreted Kodi-Vinayaka road under the Prime Minister's Gramee Sadak Yojana by the central government, the citizens of Kodi village have heaved a sigh of relief. All these years, bureaucrats and politicians had shown callous indifference to the plight of these villagers. No body worth his salt except the then MLC Winifred Fernandes had come forward to help the helpless Kodi people at that time. 'Better late than never,' their beaming faces now declare.

MANGALORE: Students of Little Rock Indian High School, Brahmavar, Udupi district, won the Mangalore regional round of The Hindu Young World quiz competition, 2008, held at Town Hall here on Tuesday.

Another team of students from the same school bagged the second prize. The third prize went to MRPL High School, Mangalore.

The team represented by Shreya V.K. from the ninth standard, and Dhritish Karanth, of the eighth standard, from Little Rock Indian High School, walked away with the first prize while the team of Millo Kadu and Karthikeya, both ninth standard students of the same school, stood second. The MRPL High School team was represented by N. Subhash and Prince Shukla, both ninth standard students.

The team which won the first prize will represent Mangalore zone at the All-India Young World finals to be held at Visakhapatnam on November 13, 2008.

In all, 191 teams comprising students from sixth standard to ninth standard from different schools took part in the preliminary round of the competition. Of them, six teams qualified for the finals of the regional round. The other three teams were from Canara High School Main, Mangalore, St. Mary’s English School, Udupi, and St. Ann’s High School, Mangalore.

Responding to their victory, Ms. Shreya said: “I feel happy.” She was part of a team of Little Rock Indian High School which bagged the sixth place in the finals of the Mangalore regional round of The Hindu Young World quiz competition in 2007. “I am lucky,” said Mr. Karanth.

Ananthakrishna, chairman and chief executive officer of Karnataka Bank, gave away prizes to the winners.

Speaking on the occasion, he called upon the students to be good citizens. “You have a bright future,” he said.

Teams of students from Kasaragod and Kannur in Kerala also participated in the competition.

The title sponsor of the competition was extramarks.com. Associate sponsors were Vizag Steels, Pepsico Cheetos, Kissan Amaze Brainfood and DC Mango. The national sponsors are Ranga Rao and Sons, Cycle Brand Agarbathis, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Reynolds, Lotte, Penguin Books, Firefox Bikes, State Bank of Travancore and Dabur – Real Fruit. The regional sponsors were St. Joseph’s Engineering College, New Mangalore Port Trust, Mangalore SEZ Limited, Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Union Limited, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Lunar Bags and GRS Fantasy Park.

The event was managed by Quizwalahs. In addition to the first three prizes, many other prizes were given away to participants at the competition.

Kolalgiri, Nov 2: All Souls day was obsereved at secret heart church kolalgir on nov2.  parish prieist Rev. Fr.Jerom Montero, Blessed the Cemetry of church with holy water & prayrer. Pariosh Preist celebrated the Mass with Parishiorer & Prayed for all the departed souls of the Parish.

Also prizes are been disributed to nathasha and reshma who got prizes in elocation organized by church catholic sabha.

During the occassion ICYM Kolalgiri arranged Blessings on vehicles of Parishioners. Fr.Jerom Monthero blessed the vehicles of all the Parishoners.