New AD board driving attention: Can cause accidents

In the video is seen the New Ad Board display on the Nucleus Mall. This is visible in Dharamveer Sambhaji Chowk (Bogarves).



The contrast is very high and is very clearly visible in the day light also. A nice way to attract attention, DRIVING ATTENTION, which might cause a few minor accidents regularly. To be frank enough, I missed hitting other cars on a couple of occasions seeing at that board.

Infact a few people told me the same.
Kisika Fayda Kisi ka Nuksaan! Ye he reet hai Zindagi ke.

CPI strike Pictures

The protestors gathered at Samyukta Maharashtra Chowk Belgaum, where the protest eneded in a meeting. This picture was taken by UkMaD at 1.15pm The shops are all closed in the main market as of this protest. All should be normal by the evening.

Belgaum city map of 1894

I have just found a Belgaum city map of 1894 from the Bombay Gazetteer.

The image was in a pdf file & of low resolution and is not very clear.

Thanks, Mr.Vilas Patil has made the present version on the image much viewable a Belgaumite, now working in Pune.

Belgaum in 1894 and now has changed. I request all the readers to send in their comments as to what changes they have found in that map and the current Belgaum.
See large size image here

Nation wide Strike affects Belgaum

The nation wide strike call by the LEFT has affected Belgaum in some respects. Autos are off the road; tough a few are seen on the road. The city buses are still plying normally. The shops in the main market have pulled down their shutters and cleaning the shops.

As Banks, BSNL, Insurance employees are part of the strike all work in the offices on a stand still. A procession is planned at 11 am.

Bapu and biddu

This is a series, where Mr.Biddu converses regularly with BAPU regarding politics, just one more of those conversations.

Bapu!
Yeah Biddu,
Heard Umesh V.Katti too joined BJP?
That is true.
So, the JD(S) in Belgaum district has no MLA?
That is it after Balachandar L. Jarkiholi also quit JD (S).
Since there is no JD (S) left in the district, will it now be the turn of Congress MLAs Bapu?
I do not know Biddu. But quite possible. Siyasaat mein Kuch bhi ho sakta hai.

-Biddu.The author can be contacted at: biddu@belgaumblog.com

Aniket Halgekar has reached the 1st ever Orkut and MTV Rodies battleground

'Karnataka 2020' Vision: Belgaum may benefit

For all-round development of the State Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said the Government is preparing a vision document 'Karnataka 2020'.

A session of the State legislature would be convened in Belgaum in September-October.
The foundation stone would be laid for Suvarna Vidhana Soudha building in Belgaum and work on the Kalasa-Banduri nala scheme, a drinking water project, would be expedited.A world Kannada conference would be organized in Belgaum in November, he said.

The plans of the CM are commendable, but when will the Suvarna Soudha be built and Infact where is biggest question. The allotment made in the budget for the Vidhan Soudha is there since two state budgets. What has happened in reality ZERO?

Even say if the work on the Vidhan Soudha starts when there is a assembly session in Belgaum (and where will that be, again KLE Auditorium) for the whole building will require 3-4 years to be built so by then elections would come up and suppose there is another govt. This soudha will wait for an opening. :)

Rohan Kokane of Belgaum makes a record in skating

The seven-year-old limbo skater from Belgaum city, Rohan Kokane, has staked claim to world record by comfortably skating under a bar with a clearance height of 6.5” in backward direction and 5.7” in forward direction in an auditorium in the city on Friday.

Rohan’s coach Suryakant Hindalgekar at Belgaum Roller Skating Academy claimed that Rohan created new world records indeed. All the evidences such as videos and other data about the event recorded would be sent to the Guinness World Records, the Limca Book of Records, and the World Records Academy.

I had posted a story earlier about the said event.
And the young lad has done it and makes us proud of such young kids breaking records. Keep it up Young guns….

See original story on The Hindu here

Stars of Belgaum: Narendra Madhusudhan Murkumbi: MD Shree Renuka Sugars

Businessworld in a cover story on India's 'new billionaires' has featured Narendra Madhusudhan Murkumbi of Belgaum, MD Shree Renuka Sugars. He has been a Director of ICICI Bank Ltd since January 20, 2006.

While estimating Narendra's net worth to be 17 billion rupees (Rs 1698 crores). The mother and son duo of Vidya and Narendra Murkumbi have built their billions together with 9,900 cane farmers, who are also shareholders in Shree Renuka Sugars, with registered office at Havelock Road, Camp Belgaum. This is a rags-to-riches story with a twist. Narendra Murkumbi became a billionaire all right. However, he also created wealth for thousands of cane farmers.

Vidya (mother) and Narendra Murkumbi, first-time entrepreneurs, experimented with an asset-light, capital-light business model. They chose to buy old units rather than set up new ones. They chose to lease out factories rather than invest in new facilities. Result: with little capital, Shree Renuka Sugars has become India's eighth largest sugar company. More importantly, it earns a 46 per cent return on capital employed, the highest in the industry and almost double the industry average of 20-25 per cent. Narendra also spotted a global opportunity when Europe stopped exporting refined sugar and is setting up India's largest sugar refinery in Haldia.

Shindogi, in the Belgaum district of Karnataka, is like any other Indian village. Most of the inhabitants are farmers. Here they grow sugarcane and their incomes rise and fall with crop prices. It is the last place one would expect people to track stock prices. However, they do. They keep a close watch on the fortunes of Shree Renuka Sugars (SRS). After all, 9,900 farmers in the region own the stock and their combined shareholding is worth around Rs 350 crores.
Take Raiappa Mallappa Kalti. In 2000, he used to ride a bicycle, grow maize on his 40 acres, and make about Rs 1 lakh a year, which barely covered his farm and family expenses. After the SRS plant came up, he switched to sugarcane. He sells his crop to SRS and paid within 15 days. Says Kalti: "I drive a Tata Indica now, have increased my holdings to 100 acres, and make Rs 20 lakh-30 lakh an acre."
Narendra was born in Belgaum. His father, Madhusudhan was a distributor for Tata Tea and Tata Chemicals. With him, Mr.Narendra travelled a lot. He saw the tea gardens of Assam and the wheat fields of Punjab. In 1994, when he graduated from IIM, Ahmedabad, he wanted to start his own agri-business. He dabbled in bio-pesticides, but soon his interest shifted to sugar.

Mr. Narendra M. Murkumbi, has done his graduation in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Gogte Institute of Technology, Belgaum.He completed Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) with specialization in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 1994.
Having lived in Belgaum for most of his life, (now he stays in Mumbai) Murkumbi was familiar with the business. He did not have the Rs 100 crores needed to set up a mill. At that time, the Andhra Pradesh (AP) government was selling a sugar unit for Rs 55 crores. He wanted to buy it and bring it to Belgaum, which grew lots of high-yield cane. But he did not have the cash to do even that.
There was oversupply of sugarcane in the district. Farmers were traveling 60-70 km to sell their produce in Raibag. There were payment delays and defaults. By setting up a plant in Belgaum, SRS would step up cane off take and make prompt payments. In return, each farmer would have to buy at least 500 SRS shares at Rs 10 each. Not everyone was convinced. Most invested only after they saw the mill coming up. In the end, 9,900 farmers bought the story and the stock — the latter, in many cases, with borrowed money. That was SRS' defining moment.
Since then, Murkumbi has turned the company into a fully integrated sugar maker with power generation and refining capacities. It has also become a major merchant exporter of sugar and is setting up a 2,000 tonnes per day sugar refinery in Haldia — the largest in India — primarily for exports.
He has also been a member of Government of India's committee for promotion of sugar exports. SRS has set up a subsidiary company, Shree Renuka Energy Ltd for further investments in the power generation business.
The company has strong expertise and track record in implementing power cogeneration plants in sugar mills and plans to tap additional potential. Shree Renuka Sugars, together with its subsidiaries, manufactur es sugar, ethanol, and bio-fertilizers.

Another Star of Belgaum making us Proud.

With inputs from Businessworld, www.iimaalumni.org, Shree Renuka Sugars RHP with SEBI, Shree Renuka Sugars website, Forbes.com,Dubai Sugar Conclave,

False ceiling Kumar Gandharva Ranga Mandir collapsed

The false ceiling of the Kumar Gandharva Ranga Mandir in the city collapsed on Friday. However, nobody was inside the auditorium when the incident occurred about 9 a.m. after flag hoisting by employees of the Department of Kannada and Culture, which functions from the same building.
The metallic ceiling collapsed from a height of about 40 ft. The auditorium can accommodate 585 people. The department was supposed to organise cultural programmes by school and college students as part of the Independence Day celebrations at the auditorium in the evening.
Deputy Commissioner G. Ravishankar said that an inspection would be held to ascertain the reasons for the incident.
Deputy Director of Kannada and Culture Nirmala Mathapathi said that the committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner had taken up renovation work on the mandir following announcement by the then Government to hold the World Kannada Meet in the city. The ceiling work was given to Nirmiti Kendra by the committee headed by the then Deputy Commissioner Shalini Rajneesh.
She said the work on the ceiling was completed in December 2006. The Public Works Department had certified that the work on ceiling was as per specifications. She said that she had submitted a report to the Deputy Commissioner in this regard.
Source The Hindu

Khadim’s Footwear store on Kirloskar Road, Belgaum

Stamp paper fraud mastermind is highest taxpayer

ABDUL KARIM Telgi reportedly paid Rs 6.5 crores in income tax this year.
Telgi, the prime accused in the Rs 3,000 crore fake stamp paper scam, paid more income tax this year than business magnates like Reliance Industries chairman and India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, Wipro chairman Azim Premji and Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy.

Telgi paid Rs 6.5 crores in income tax this year, according to reports in Economic Times and Mid-Day, far more than what the bosses of Infosys or Wipro did.

The income tax department has seized all of Telgi’s property, as he still owes Rs 224 crore in taxes. Telgi’s wife is living with their relatives as she is unwell and does not have money to buy medicines.
So, who is India’s highest taxpayer? It is none other than Abdul Karim ‘Lala’ Telgi.

See Original story on EconomicTimes here

Gujarat police to grill SIMI man in Belgaum

A team of the Gujarat police has reached Belgaum in Karnataka and will interrogate Tanvir Mulla, another SIMI activist who was arrested recently.
Based on the inputs provided by the Intelligence Bureau, the investigating agencies believe that both Mulla and Mansuri shared close ties and had even discussed the serial blasts.

Mulla is crucial to the investigation, as they believe that the duo had knowledge of the blasts.
Mansuri is alleged to have held several meetings at Gujarat and Rajasthan in which the focus was to indoctrinate youth into the banned outfit. He is also said to have kept in touch with Tanvir Mulla in Belgaum and the suspicion that the two could have jointly planned the blasts in their respective states
See original story on rediff.com here

Gujarat police to grill SIMI man in Belgaum

A team of the Gujarat police has reached Belgaum in Karnataka and will interrogate Tanvir Mulla, another SIMI activist who was arrested recently.

Based on the inputs provided by the Intelligence Bureau, the investigating agencies believe that both Mulla and Mansuri shared close ties and had even discussed the serial blasts.
Mulla is crucial to the investigation, as they believe that the duo had knowledge of the blasts.
Mansuri is alleged to have held several meetings at Gujarat and Rajasthan in which the focus was to indoctrinate youth into the banned outfit. He is also said to have kept in touch with Tanvir Mulla in Belgaum and the suspicion that the two could have jointly planned the blasts in their respective states
See original story on rediff.com here

HIV on the rise in Belgaum

The report prepared by the district health department shows that a large number of persons have tested positive for HIV in the district and the prevalence rate was on the rise in an alarming manner. The number of people who have tested positive since January 2002 until July 2008 is 13,548. Of this, 10,601 tested positive from 2002 to 2007. During this year until the end of July, 2,947 persons have tested positive to the dreaded disease.

There is a phenomenal increase in the number of people afflicted by HIV/AIDS since 2002 when only 75 persons were tested positive among the 593 counselled and 477 taking up the tests. In 2003, 4,011 persons were counselled, of whom 2,946 were tested and 644 were found positive. Similarly in 2004, 13,609 were counselled, 12,030 underwent the test of which 1,105 were found positive. The figure shot up further in 2005 when 20,862 persons were counseled, 18,156 were tested and 1,728 were found positive.

In 2006, 29,112 persons were counselled and 23,377 were tested of which 2,059 were found positive. In 2007, the figures inflated as 40,105 persons were counseled, 35,353 were tested and 3,990 were found positive.

See original story on The Hindu here