The king of fruit the Mango is here in town from Ratnagiri and Konkan areas. The Alphonso (Hapus) is now being sold at Rs. 400 to 700 for a 2 dozen box.
 
A week ago when the first lot was received the prices were about Rs.1000 to 1200 for a 2 dozen box. The prices will come down again once as more and more stocks start coming in.
The fruit market is adrift with other fruits as well like grapes, watermelons, sweet lime, oranges.

Calling it a “simple error” the university officials say MBA degrees were issued to students who had failed was due to a software problem.
15 students were issued MBA degrees on the VTU convocation held in January 2010 who had actually failed and all this has come out after an RTI application by U Gautham.
VTU authorities describe the gaffe as “not a serious matter” but a “simple error”.
Blaming it all on the software the VTU has asked all the 15 students in question to return the degrees, but the RTI applicant has filed an case in the police.
VTU officials say that, software failed to show “failed” status.
A letter was sent by the Registrar (Evaluation) S.A. Kori on February 8, after a gap of one month after the degrees were awarded, stated: “You are hereby informed to surrender the degree certificate to the office undersigned immediately, which was sent to you through speed post.” The letters do not mention why the candidate should surrender the certificate.

This “simple error” now raises questions in the mind of the students that if this is the state of affairs of a technological university of the state, what about other colleges and universities.
Source: The Hindu

The auto Expo organised by Lions club of Belgaum Tilakwadi and Yash communication was inaugurated by Mr.Sanjay Ghodavat at 5.30pm at the Sardars Ground.





The auto expo will be open for public from 10 am to 9pm from 5 march to 9 march.
The Auto Expo is the first annual Automobile Expo being held in north Karnataka in association with Lions Club of Belgaum - Tilakwadi and Yash Communication (A Event Management Company). The Auto Expo will run from 5 to 9 March 2010. The event has been supported by Govt.of India's MSME Dept., Govt. of Karnataka's District Industries Center DIC & Govt. of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
Here is the first and fastest look for all you. All photos UkMaD.

After the hike and no relief from the union budget the state budget will take away more than that will remain with you.
1% Hike in VAT from the next Financial year
Life time tax for cars and bikes to go up
13% Tax on vehicles priced above 5 Lakhs
15% Tax on Tobacco products.
Luxury tax increased
VAT rate 4% increased to 5% on all goods except declared goods.
VAT rate of 12.5% increased to 13.5%
VAT rate of 12.5% on tobacco products increased
to 15%.
Levy of VAT on tobacco products on MRP basis.
some exceptions

Tax on Masala Powder Mixtures, Macaroni, Sports Trophies, Shields and Medals, all kinds of scrap,
Electric generators of less than 15 KVA, railway concrete sleepers, school bags costing up to Rs
200, reduced from 12.5 % to 5 %.
The minimum annual turnover limit for registration increased from Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 5 lakhs.
The maximum annual turnover limit for opting for Composition Tax Payment Scheme increased from Rs.15 lakhs to Rs.25 lakhs.
Annual turnover limit for compulsory audit of accounts of dealers increased from Rs.40 lakhs to
Rs.60 lakhs.
Optional scheme for dealers in medicines to pay tax based on the MRP even on sale of other goods.

What Belgaum gets:

An amount of Rs.10 crore will be provided for establishing new chilling plants in Gulbarga and Belgaum divisions.
An amount of Rs.5 crore will be provided for establishing a veterinary college in the name of Shri Bhaurao Deshpande at Athani in Belgaum district.
Infrastructure facilities of the Karnataka Sugar Institute at Belgaum will be improved. This institute will be named after the late Sri S. Nijalingappa.
Necessary action has been initiated for developing airports with private participation in tier-two cities of the State, like Belgaum, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Bellary and Shimoga.
The World Kannada Conference scheduled to be held during the last year was postponed due to various Budget 2010 – 11. It is proposed to hold the same on a grand scale in Belgaum during 2010-11. An amount of Rs.10 crore will be provided for this purpose.
Rs.2 crore will be provided for construction of Kannada Samskruthi Bhavana at Belgaum.
To complete the Suvarna Soudha construction work in Belgaum, which is progressing fast, Rs.150 crore is being provided during 2010-11.

After the hike in Diesel prices in the union budget the NWKRTC has hiked bus fares for both city buses and long distance routes.
City bus fares were hiked in January 2010 and in 2 months there is another hike of Rs.1 per stage.
Yesterday fares have been hiked by Re.1 for every stage and on long distance route it varies from Rs.3 to Rs.30.

City bus fares:
Previous New price
From CBT to Tilakwadi 7 8
From CBT to Vadagaon 7 8
From CBT to Guruprasad Colony 8 9
From CBT to Bogarves 5 6

Inter city bus fares:
Belgaum – Kolhapur – previous 69 now 72
Belgaum – Dharwad – Previous 49 now 52
Belgaum – hubli – Prenious 63 now 69

Girish Anil Bembalgi (22) a BBA student of Jain College Belgaum was killed in an accident and his friend injured when a goods truck hit their pulsar vehicle. The injured has been identified as Mayank Shrivastav also a student of the same college.
The accident occurred on Tuesday mid night on the Belgaum – Khanapur road near Khadarwadi cross. The driver of the truck has fled and the police is in search of him.

It is said that Girish did not get medical help immediately and he had to wait for 45 minutes to get help. His friends called for the 108 ambulance but it never turned up. When his friends contacted the Udyambag police station, they got a reply saying when the ambulance comes take the injured to the hospital. At last one Scorpio was stopped by them and both were taken to hospital, but Girish had died on the spot.

Work at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha site at Halga-Bastwad came to a halt as farmers protested and did not allow workers to work, they were protesting for compensation they have yet to receive for their land already acquired.

Around 40 farmers reached the site where the Soudha is being built and threatened the workers to stop the construction work. Belgaum tahsildar Bhima Nayak went to the spot and persuaded the farmers by assuring compensation "shortly".

Many farmers are yet to get the compensation for their land atRs 14.5 lakh per acre.

Belgaumite Niranjan Sant recently won a special mention award for his photo Chameleon walk from the RBS-Santuary Asia magazine Sanctuary-RBS wildlife awards 2009. 





Niranjan Sant is a great nature lover and one of India's most admired wildlife photographers. He makes time from his busy work schedule to visit all corners of India to photograph birds and nature - but his first love would appear to be Belgaum in coastal Karnataka where he spends most of his time. Niranjan has co-authored books and articles on our birds.

award winning photo

You can see his photos here.