Filled up potholes now a cause of worry

Splintered Vision

Here’s a little thought experiment. Take a particle of Marathi chauvinism, say, a member of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), from the cosmopolitan masala mix formerly known as Bombay. Put it on a jet plane and accelerate it in the southward direction. Let the plane travel an hour and a half and descend in the boomtown formerly known as Bangalore. Now let the particle of Marathi chauvinism collide with an equally charged particle of Kannada chauvinism from the Kannada Rakshana Vedike (KRV).

The collision is likely to generate more heat than light. It is also likely to generate sound, as the two identify each other. The KRV man will probably see the MNS man and shout, “North Indian!” The MNS man, in utter confusion, will look around him and say, “Where?” Unfortunately for the poor fellow, little does he know that in Karnataka, he could well be mistaken for a north Indian? If he is correctly identified as a Maharashtrian, then things might get more exciting, since Karnataka and Maharashtra have a territorial dispute since 1956.

Maharashtra has been demanding that the Karnataka district of Belgaum should be given to it since the population is largely Marathi speaking. This in the past has led to a Marathi-speaking former mayor of Belgaum being beaten up by KRV men and aged tiger Bal Thackeray warning that Kannadigas in Mumbai would be forced to leave.

In a perfect world, our Kannada and Marathi chauvinists would annihilate each other, disappearing in a flash, and leaving the world a better place. That, however, somehow never happens. The local dada, like the local dog, never barks outside his street. Nor do they ever take on others their own size or kind. The Kannada chauvinist certainly is the MNS kind. The last time there were protests against ‘north Indians’, particularly from Bihar, seeking Railways jobs, was in February 2008 in Bangalore. Railway stations were vandalized, but no one was injured, so it did not make much of a splash.

This time, of course, we have all seen the coverage in the media. It is sad and worrying that two of India’s most important metropolises have loud and violent minorities who want to turn them into one-language, one-religion towns rather than world cities. These chauvinists are incapable of winning elections anywhere. However, they do manage to ruin innocent lives, and great cities. If Mumbai is for Marathis, and Bangalore for Kannadigas, and Chennai for Tamils, and so on across the country, then I guess India has no real existence outside Delhi.

Source: Hindustantimes
Disclaimer: This is being posted here only because I thought it fit with the present circumstances. Nor do I agree or disagree with the author.

A year in jail for committing no crime

This is a tale of absolute horror of spending a year in jail for a murder one did not commit. Rajiv Chaudhary from Belgaum in Karnataka was jailed for allegedly murdering his brother Sanjeev Choudhary over a property dispute. He had just been released after his brother returned home alive.

Despite the flesh and blood evidence of Rajiv's innocence, Sanjeev was not immediately released. NDTV covered the case and the media pressure seemed to have worked.

Source NDTV

Belgaum's Exact Opposite Point on Earth is in South Pacific Ocean

If you start digging, a straight tunnel from Belgaum and reach the exact opposite point on the Earth. Now how do you locate that place on the globe where that hole will open?

AntiPodr, this site takes you current street address (or city name or zip code) and points you to a location on the Earth’s surface that is exactly opposite to you.
Belgaum's Exact Opposite Point on Earth is somewhere in South Pacific Ocean.Any takers for digging the tunnel.

IT fest in Belgaum from Friday

A two-day national level IT-Fest “ITera 2k8” on the theme “Innovation beyond excellence” is all set to be held with brainstorming sessions on the fast and changing job scenario following the global recession. The fest will be held at the Dr. Jirge Memorial Auditorium at J.N. Medical College here on Friday and Saturday.
The occasion would help ensure a unique opportunity for students to interact with not only their fellows studying in similar degree courses from across the country, but also experts from academia and industry. These interactions, as well as presentation of technical papers, would go a long way in the proper identification of career prospects.
Source The Hindu

Belgaum getting unwarranted face-lift

Way to color the canvas: Stars of Belgaum: SACHIN UPADHYE

This is my first artistic post. I am here to highlight to the world the hidden talent in Belgaum to the whole world. With the same endeavor, here is one story of Mr. SACHIN UPADHYE of MONA LISA FINE ART PRODUCTS, M-17, INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, UDYAMBAG, BELGAUM-590008. INDIA

SACHIN UPADHYE did his schooling from MVMS English School mechanical engineering diploma in Maratha Mandal polytechnic-Belgaum. He does not have any formal training in fine arts.

He learnt the basics from his father, who used to paint those days. In addition, the fact that he has many artist friends motivated and helped Sachin to understand the medium better. He began painting right from his childhood. He was into drawing and watercolors, so it is difficult to say ‘when and how’. It all began as a hobby and then into fulltime business, but he remembers starting ‘oil’ painting when he was 12 yrs old, since then he was hooked on to this medium.

He has paintings in collection, which he has been doing since the age of 16 yrs.

Just the fact that I need to express, I do it through this medium. ……. It is the process of emotionally discharging yourself.

He loves applying oil colors on canvas, without being conscious of its result or its salability. His paintings are all instinctive, spontaneous and imaginative. However, nature and things around have their own effects…

His father started this business of manufacturing painting canvas. Since they both shared the same hobby, it was natural for Sachin to join in.
His paintings have been exhibited on many occasions, here are few: PARTICIPATED IN ART SOCIETY OF INDIA – MUMBAI
EXHIBITED IN 1995 & 1996 – PAINTINGS SELECTED & DISPLAYEDPARTICIPATED IN PAINTING WORKSHOPS AT BELGAUM ORGANISED BY -
KANNADA SAHITYA & CULTURAL SOCIETY - 1996 & 1997
BEYNON SMITH SCHOOL OF ART – BGM - 1995
SAPTRANGA ART SOCIETY – 1994 & 1995
ONE MAN SHOW IN 2003 IN MILENNIUM GARDENS – BELGAUM
ONE MAN SHOW IN JUNE 2008 IN ART2DAY GALLERY- PUNE.

All his sell paintings on the site http://www.monalisaarts.com/

The other side of CARD acceptance by merchants

The credit /debit card usage for shopping in the past couple of years has increased tremendously, the main factor being ease and safety. No more carrying those huge amounts of cash in your pocket or purse, just one card can do it.

With the coming of organized retail in India, this trend of card purchases has seen a triple digit growth.

Nevertheless, there is another side to this so looking easy and safe mode of payment, the retailer's side.

A retailer or merchant establishment provides a facility for credit/debit card payments; he does it with a point of sale (POS) terminal. Also known as the swipe machines, these devices are installed and maintained by banks and they charge some fees from the merchants for providing this infrastructure. The merchant has to pay certain fees to the bank.

The usage trend of card purchases has now shifted even to smaller towns with almost all banks under core banking. Still you find that some merchants accept cards and few others do not. The main reason being the charge the banks charge for this service. Normally a Commission on the transacted amount is collected by the bank, which ranges from 1% to 2% depending upon the turnover. If your turnover is less you, pay more commission and some times a rental for that swiping machine of Rs.500 per month.

In a city like Belgaum, where still the usage of cards is very less compared to metros, some of these banks set a turnover target of Rs.2 lakh per month otherwise you pay a rental of Rs.500 per month. How could small merchants do a turnover of 2 lakhs only on card purchases.

The best thing many or all do not know is this. The retailer gets no benefit by keeping this machine with him. Look at this, you come and buy goods worth Rs.500 and you give your card for payment. The retailer takes your card and swipes the card gives you a charge slip, you sign it payment done. You are happy shopping but the retailer is not. Why? He just paid a commission of 2% on Rs.500 sale and he will also pay for the local call that the machine made to gather the card info and he will also pay for one more call to settle the transaction, after which the amount would be credited to the merchants account the next day. So on a sale of Rs.500 he looses, Rs.13.20 (11.20 Commission+2 for two local calls) and the money will be credited the next day into his account.

A few merchants when they cant afford to loose this money in this competitive world they started to charge this charge to the costumer; many of you might have paid like this.

The Credit Card Holder's association of India denounces this practice and makes it clear that the merchant is not authorized to do this. "In the US, there is a law that the type of payment should not have any impact on the price...
Unfortunately, in India, merchant establishments fall outside the purview of banking regulations," a senior banker voiced his concern.

Typically, there is a fee a merchant agrees to pay for a terminal. If a merchant tries to recover it from customers, they must walk out." So, if all this is illegal, what is the way out? A senior banker advises the customer who are asked to shell out this amount, to report such cases to the issuing bank. The bank can then blacklist the concerned outlet and can remove their terminals. Such cases should be reported to a consumer forum, since it is illegal to charge over the MRP for items.

Nevertheless, these banks charge you a rental of Rs.500/month and how is that merchants in non-metros would be able top cope up with this is needed to be seen. In the end, you could also see merchants denying accepting cards for payment. A merchant told this blog that, " We don’t benefit at all, and now that all banks have their ATMs buyers can withdraw cash an pay us. He also added that these banks charge heftily and by no means, this is a win-win situation for us. Banks need to look at the level of affairs on a local city scale and then device commission structures. Big merchants like malls have a national tie up with banks wherein they get less commission which sole merchants don’t, he added."

I would request all to comment your experiences in this regard.

Belgaum Foundry industry in bad shape

Global meltdown or inflation, the result on the world has been staggering. The Aviation industry is in crisis and so is the Foundry industry in Belgaum.

Belgaum is recognized to be a reliable source of high precision, high volume and
economical castings. A significant percentage (almost 20%) of the foundry units at Belgaum has ISO 9000 certification and export casting.
The foundry industry at Belgaum caters to a wide variety of end-use applications Automotive/oil engines Pumps/valves Tractors/agricultural implements Food processing industry. The foundry industry at Belgaum came up primarily to cater to the needs of the automobile industry at Pune.

The Belgaum foundry industry is the first in Karnataka and the third largest in Asia. The production has decreased by 30% in last month. 8000 tonnes production has now come down to 6000 tonnes.

There are about 135 foundries in the industrial belt. More than 9000 workers work in them. The foundry industry has been seeing a tough time; the raw material prices have gone up by a whopping 200%. The demand has slowed down due to the meltdown, inflation has hit them hard, and now the industrialists say they at least need more than a year to come back on track.

To top the pie of hardships for these industrialists, now HESCOM is undertaking power cuts, which is causing much more production loss and cost escalation.

To the 9000+ workers, an additional 4000+ are involved in this industry in form of transporters, porters etc. All are feared what will happen to them if the same situation continues.
In the recent month, the prices of raw materials have seen a downtrend globally, which is one ray of light in this darkness. Globally metal and Commodity driven stocks are taking a beating, it is the case with them in India also.

Source: Esakal.com , Indianfoundry.com

Help build “Brand Belgaum”

Belgaum is going to have a task force for beautification and cleanliness, I would appeal you all to put in your valuable comments information or even pictures which would help the government bodies to look up on and do the needful, this task force should be people driven, should be propagated to collages youth forums. I request all Belgaumites from respective areas need to put in their comments, picture and valuable thoughts to enhance the effectiveness of the task force, the future movement should be based on Peoples agendas.

I have few comments to share and apply

All the boards should be in Kannada, Marathi and English, because Belgaum is a cosmopolitan city, I appeal KRV activist to respect value for living and respect for Human beings and Belgaumites, Respect for your fellow neighbors no matter Who they are Kannada Marathi Urdu or any other language.

The fort at Belgaum entrance is at Mess create a small city private terminal for Buses and with proper infrastructure like landscape garden and also the small dwellers hawkers can have galas with much better waste disposal facility, who are now encroaching the road side areas at Bus stand.

The Belgaum bus stand needs to be revived. Move the divisional workshop (Main depot no 1) to outskirts and expand the bus station with more platforms. Connect a foot over bridge with city bus station.

BUDA should take control of uneven growth of New Gandhi nagar towards Railway track. In addition, make a proper plan for sanitation and water, draining. BUDA and the city corporation should look at maintaining the play gardens and parks much more nicely may be with the help of a public private partnership.

Float a green earth policy, plant at least one tree a month in your locality, have public youth forums in doing so. For this involvement of school children and making them understand from a tender age can have good impact on them and also as a society as a whole.

Move the vegetable wholesale market near fort and one behind Sankam residencey to APMC, with proper infrastructure or to the Proposed Food and Agriculture Park at Belgaum.

The Vaccine Depot is being created into natures paradise add up recreation facilities for children like toy train and boating, bird watching. Hope this happens in reality and not only on paper.

We have good number of MLA’s and MP’s but Belgaum Gokak road, which starts from Mahantesh Nagr is in total mess the Belgaum task force should see to make four lane city access road till Ramteerth or Ashte.

The Belgaum cantonment board should widen the roads with divider in-between, Sanchayani circles to Station cross. Also should be come part of this task force. The worst roads this time are in parts governed by the Cantonment like Congress road and interior roads of camp are all in very bad shape, something needs to be done very urgently there.

There is much more, active people have knowledge and info pertaining to their respective areas and also nitty gritties of their localities so do come forward share and we would take them to government bodies, I 100% aliases with my blog buddy UkMaD and his blog Belgaumblog.com for his “Brand Belgaum” concept and I hope it would start from here.

If all this happens in time, then “Brand Belgaum” would be successful. Put your hands together, Come out and say “ I am a Belgaumite” and I am for “Brand Belgaum”.
Source: My Blog Buddy: Mr.Satish Kumar, Dubai Belgaumnri Some points have been added by UkMaD also.

Ministers come; Go and all assurances also

Poor response evoked in the meeting called in by the Belgaum City Corporation (BCC) on Wednesday to facilitate the public to interact with Minister for Urban Development S. Suresh Kumar and air their grievances on various civic issues.
Belgaum District Contractors’ Association submitted a memorandum to the Minister highlighting the pathetic state of affairs in the corporation. He said that various illegal structures had come up in the city and cited examples in New Gandhi Nagar and Hindalga localities. All such illegal constructions had caused huge loss of revenue to the BCC.

The Belgaum Bar Association demanded to construct a subway connecting the old Court Complex and the new Court Complex (which is on the other side of the road) and provide a bore well and toilet facility in the court complex.
The Minister proposed to set up a task force to take care of development requirements of Belgaum city. The task force, likely to be constituted next month, would have members from all sections of society, including voluntary organizations, he said.
He said that the Government had decided to develop the Vaccine Institute premises, spread over 150 acres, into a garden of medicinal plants with walk ways and other facilities for making it into a good park.
We as citizens believe, all that the minister has said or promised is taken up with due diligence; as we all know Ministers come; Go and all assurances also go along with them.

The city saw some clean up job as the minister was visiting the city. The road dividers were being painted until late nights when the BCC should have taken care of filling the potholes on the roads. Instead of painting the dividers, if the potholes were filled up, at least some good wishes might have gone to the BCC.
Source The Hindu

BUDA website launched

Belgaum, as a hub for setting up a supply chain for the Aerospace industry: QuEST Global

QuEST Global, a leading provider of outsourced engineering services and manufacturing, announced today that it has received the Government of India notification for its SEZ (Special Economic Zone) in Belgaum, Karnataka. QuEST Global has also received approval for the units that are coming up in phase 1 of the SEZ. QuEST Global’s SEZ will be a sector specific precision engineering SEZ, covering over 300 acres of land in the initial phase. This notification allows QuEST Global to lease out the land and also provide build-to-suit requirements in the SEZ to other prospects who would like to set up their business units in QuEST Global’s precision engineering SEZ. The SEZ will provide world class infrastructure in the industrial estate, concentrating mainly on aerospace and automotive related industries. Phase 1 of the SEZ will be operational by December 2008, and Phase 2 is expected to be operational by June 2009.QuEST Global SEZ has already signed up with 3 clients, namely QuEST Global Engineering, QuEST Global Manufacturing and Aerospace Processing India (API), a joint venture between QuEST and Magellan Aerospace for establishing special aerospace processing capabilities in India. At the SEZ in Belgaum, API’s facility of 17,500 sq. ft. will support activities such as chromic acid anodizing line, titanium etching, shot peen, paint and primer booth, MPI and FPI in the initial phase. QuEST Global Manufacturing will expand its existing precision machining operations that are currently set up in Bangalore and QuEST Global Engineering will set up an engineering services facility, to provide low cost engineering services. By starting operations in Belgaum, which is a Tier 3 town in India, QuEST Global Engineering is pioneering the way to ensure low cost delivery of engineering in the future also. QuEST Global has obtained specific unit approvals for all the 3 units along with a sanction for the industrial layout. “Belgaum, as a hub for setting up a supply chain for the Aerospace industry, is the perfect destination as it is ideally located in the industrial heartland of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa, thereby providing access to a large number of manufacturing and machining talent. It is also excellently located in terms of logistics, being just off the Golden Quadrilateral NH4 highway (Bangalore-Pune-Mumbai highway), with proximity to 3 sea ports (Goa, Karwar and Mumbai) and 3 airports (Belgaum, Hubli and Kolhapur). In addition, the presence of a number of educational institutes in the region will ensure a good supply of engineers at all levels. Along with engineering services and manufacturing, QuEST now has a precision engineering SEZ, of which are very few in the country. This move demonstrates QuEST Global’s thought leadership, which sets it apart from its competitors.” said Aravind Melligeri, Chairman & Co-founder, QuEST.
The Quest Chairman has said it very correctly and we as Belgaum should now come and make our strategic location the main aspect of our Brand Belgaum. All know about the strategic location Belgaum is in and even then, there has been no industrial development.

We need to get industrialists to come to Belgaum wherein they could save costs and I wish the local MPs and the MLAs take a active part in this and invite industrialists to Belgaum.
Source: businesswireindia

Two little girls dead in road accident

Two girls were killed on the spot when a jeep ran over them on National Highway - 4A near Peeranawadi village on Sunday morning.

The dead have been identified as Deepa Basawaraj Doddamani (10) and Nazia Mohammed Ali Badegar (12), both residents of Peeranwadi.
The accident occurred at about 9 a.m. and the jeep was going to Belgaum from Khanapur. The driver abandoned the vehicle and fled from the scene.
The villagers rushed them to the hospitals where the doctors declared that the girls were brought dead. Enraged public pelted stones and set the jeep on fire when they saw the driver and two others fleeing. The police calmed down the mob and registered a case.

Source: Deccan Herald
The Hindu

Nucleus Ad Board: is On again

The Ad board on the Nucleus Mall is On since today evening and is now displaying newer ads.

The said Ad board was asked to be closed after some complaints were received by the district administration.