Udupi: The Poornaprajna Amateur Astronomers’ Club (PAAC) had made arrangements for students and general public to watch the solar eclipse at the Poornaprajna College here on Monday.

A pin-hole camera was used to demonstrate the eclipse to students. Convener of the club A.P. Bhat told presspersons that the club was working to create awareness about astronomy among students.

It had organised a workshop on pin-hole camera on January 4, he added.

The pin-hole camera used for viewing the solar eclipse on Monday was developed by Venkataramana Upadhya, an amateur astronomer from Saligrama. “The club intends to

distribute 100 pin-hole cameras to schools so that students could view the eclipse and sun-spots,” Dr. Bhat said.

The club organised a chart competition on solar eclipse for students on the occasion. Principal of the college Rajmohan was present.

Udupi: Home Minister V.S. Acharya said on Monday that all efforts would be made to promote tourism in Udupi district.

He was delivering the Republic Day message after unfurling the National Flag at the District Stadium here.

Dr. Acharya said that development projects were being undertaken at various tourist spots in the district. In order to give a push to heli-tourism, two helipads were being developed in the district. Construction of one helipad had been completed and another was being built at a cost of Rs. 20 lakh.

The Koti-Chennayya Theme Park was being developed at Karkala in Udupi district. A stadium to promote the popular rural sport of “Kambala” (buffalo race) had been built at a cost of Rs. 84 lakh at Miyar village near Karkala, he said.

The Government was committed to giving a fillip to industrial sector in the district to generate employment. Manufacturing units, service units, food processing units, ready-made garments units, and village and cottage industries would be promoted in the district.

A task force had been set up to identify land for an airport to be established at Udupi, Dr. Acharya said.

The construction of the district offices complex had been taken up at Manipal. It was estimated to cost Rs. 23.9 crore. The Deputy Commissioner’s office and other government offices in Udupi would be shifted to the complex by year-end, Dr. Acharya said.

The widening of the stretches between Udupi and Manipal and Ambagilu and Manipal was under way, the Minister said.

It had been proposed to take up 948 drinking water supply schemes in the rural areas of the district at a cost of Rs. 11.13 crore. Another proposal to develop drinking water projects at Nitte, Hebri, Kallianpur, Brahmavar, Barkur, Mandarti, Saibrakatte, and Katapady villages at a cost of Rs. 45 crore had been submitted to the Government.

An action plan to develop 25 mini-watershed development projects under the Western Ghat Development Scheme had been drawn up. The Government had sanctioned Rs. 1.8 crore for the construction of 12 auxiliary nursing and midwifery sub-centre buildings in the district under the National Rural Health Mission, Dr. Acharya said.

MLA Raghupati Bhat, president of Udupi Zilla Panchayat Raju Poojary, Deputy Commissioner P. Hemalatha, and Superintendent of Police Pravin Pawar were present.

ARTISTIC: The sand sculpture created on Sunday by a team of artists from Manipal on Kaup beach of Udupi district.

Udupi: Members of the Manipal Sand Heart Team created a sand sculpture on Kaup beach in Udupi district on Sunday focusing on peace and unity in the country, on the eve of the Republic Day on Monday.

Srinath Manipal, Venki Palemar and Ravi Hirebettu, members of the team, began creating the sand sculpture at the beach at 8 a.m. and completed it by 4 p.m.

According to the team leader Srinath Manipal, the three faces in the sculpture represented three religions. The symbols of the three religions were also created in the sculpture. “It is to show that people of all religions should live in harmony,” he said.

The country could progress only if there was peace and unity among the people. “Peace and unity form the strength of the nation. This is our message for the Republic Day,” Mr. Manipal said.

The sculpture has a globe with a pigeon on it.

“This is intended to spread the message of peace throughout the world. It denotes global peace,” Mr. Manipal said.

Udupi, January 24: The 31st annual “Vadiraja Kanakadasa Music Festival” was inaugurated at the MGM College here on Friday.

Administrative Officer of the Academy of General Education H Shantharam said that “Dasa sahitya” had created social consciousness among even the illiterate people. “Dasa sahitya” should be included in the curriculum so that students became aware of the rich culture of the country, he said.

Principal of the college Jayaprakash Mavinakuli welcomed the gathering.

Scholar A V Navada and Vishwa Hindu Parishath leader M B Puranik were present.

Kota: Megha J. Shetty, eighth standard student of Viveka English Medium School at Kota in Udupi district, has been selected for the “Bal Shree” award of the National Bal Bhavan, New Delhi, for 2008, according to a press release issued here on Friday.

Ms. Shetty has got the award for her excellence in creative arts. She is the recipient of the State-level “Kalashree” award.

Udupi: The 31st annual “Vadiraja Kanakadasa Music Festival” was inaugurated at the MGM College here on Friday.

Administrative Officer of the Academy of General Education H. Shantharam said that “Dasa sahitya” had created social consciousness among even the illiterate people. “Dasa sahitya” should be included in the curriculum so that students became aware of the rich culture of the country, he said.

Principal of the college Jayaprakash Mavinakuli welcomed the gathering.

Scholar A.V. Navada and Vishwa Hindu Parishath leader M.B. Puranik were present.

Udupi: The Udupi district Congress Seva Dal will be observing the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on January 30 in a special manner by displaying a 2.5-km-long banner.

Addressing presspersons here on Friday, its president Ashok Kumar Kodavoor said the terrorist activities were on the rise in the country. It was essential that people came together to fight terrorism in the country. “The aim of creating a 2.5-km-long banner is to foster unity among people. We want to focus on unity and integrity of the country,” he said.

People could write messages, poems, slogans, and draw sketches on the banner, all focusing on unity, between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. on January 30, he said.

The banner would be spread from Gandhi Circle near service bus-stand in Udupi and extend till the Kinnimulki Swagata Gopura. A human chain would be formed at 10.10 a.m. The programme would end with tributes paid to Mahatma Gandhi.

The messages of unity written by the people would be submitted to the President and the Prime Minister through Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes, he said.

Udupi: Former Udupi MP and Congress leader Manorama Madhwaraj has said that henceforth the battle against the 1,015 MW coal-based thermal power plant at Yellur in Udupi district would be fought in the courts.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Ms. Madhwaraj said, “The matter is in the courts. We will fight it out in there. People are afraid of protesting against the plant openly because they are scared the State Government will slap cases against them. If they are jailed, their families will be affected,” she said.

Ms. Madhwaraj said that the main reason for her leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and abstaining from the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha last year was because she was opposed to the power plant at Yellur. “A coal-based power plant will cause environmental pollution. It will affect the livelihood of fishermen and farmers. Even experts had cautioned against a coal-based plant. There would be lesser pollution from nuclear energy-based plant,” she said.

Asked if she had sought any position in the Congress, Ms. Madhwaraj said that she had joined the party without any conditions. She would not be fighting any elections. She said she had not sought any position for her son and Congress leader Pramod Madhwaraj either. “He is a capable person. He can chart out his own political destiny,” she said.

Asked how she felt after rejoining the Congress party, Ms. Madhwaraj said that she had left the party because she was disappointed with some local Congress leaders. “Five years ago, it was a sad parting of ways. Now I feel like I have returned to home,” she said.

Asked about the prospects of the Congress given that it lost all the seats in the recent byelections, she said, “All Congress leaders should sit together and think about reviving the party.”

Udupi: Writer S.R. Vijayshankar has said that getting information is not knowledge, but a small step towards acquiring knowledge. He was speaking at the Muddana Sahitya Utsava organised by Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College (MGM), here on Wednesday.

The V.M. Inamdar Vimarsha Prashasti instituted by the Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Samshodhana Kendra, Academy of General Education and MGM College, was presented to Mr. Vijayshankar for his book “Odanata” on the occasion. The award has been given annually since 1987.

Mr. Vijayshankar said that people in the information technology sector believed that information was knowledge. But this was far from the truth. Machines such as computers were managed by people.

People communicated with one another through the means of language. It was here that literature played a vital role as it helped people understand human emotions and relationships. It made the people sensitive about the environment around them. To understand literature, a proper grasp of language was necessary, he said.

Mr. Vijayshankar said that one could get a proper perspective of life through the means of good literature. Only reading newspapers was not enough and people, especially students, should read good books. Students generally wanted a career in the IT sector as they thought there was nothing better than it. But this was a wrong notion. Students pursuing careers in languages too had a bright future, Mr. Vijayshankar said.

Presiding over the function, principal of MGM College Jayaprakash Mavinakuli said students should retain a child-like curiosity throughout their lives. Head of the Department of Kannada at the college H.S. Shivaswamy welcomed the gathering. Principal of MGM Pre-University College Anasooya Karkera was present.