INTERNATIONAL / NATIONAL / KARNATAKA: ENGINEERING & TRANSPORT / GLOBAL J.V. / INDUSTRY LEADER:Vikram Kirloskar – The man who brought Toyota to Karnataka

Vikram Kirloskar brought global auto giant Toyota to Karnataka in 1997, when the State wasn’t yet a big name in the global business arena.

Way back in 1997, when Karnataka wasn’t yet a big spot on the global business map, auto major Toyota set up a manufacturing facility at Bidadi, on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The man who was instrumental in bringing the Japanese automaker to Karnataka was Vikram Kirloskar who passed away on November 29.

The initial efforts towards bringing Toyota Motor Corp to India were made during the tenure of Chief Minister Veerappa Moily in the early 1990s, and were later followed up by his successor H.D. Deve Gowda. During J.H. Patel’s tenure, Toyota Kirloskar officially started its operations in Karnataka. Thereafter, the business savvy S.M Krishna and his industrious industries minister R.V. Deshpande extended support to the venture.

Although multiple Chief Ministers and their industries ministers were involved in bringing, hosting and settling Toyota at Bidadi, one key person who worked tirelessly from outside was Vikram Kirloskar, who is a mechanical engineering graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U.S.A.

Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani said, “He was a dear personal friend, an industry friend and, more importantly, a genuine human being who was always ready with a smile. With the passing of Vikram, a prominent face and a pillar of the business community of Karnataka is no more.”

The Kirloskar family hails from Haveri in the Dharwad region. They have been running various businesses, including automotive engineering, pumps, gensets, and machine tools for over 100 years. Vikram Kirloskar became the mainstay of ‘Karnataka Inc.’ with Toyota Kirloskar in 1997.

Since its inception, Toyota has invested over ₹20,000 crore in Karnataka, and Mr. Kirloskar’s personal commitment in 2010 was ₹1,500 crore.

“He has been a great help in organising Global Investors’ Meet. He and (his wife) Geetanjali came with me for a road show in the U.S. prior to GIM in 2010,” recalled Mr. Nirani.

A doyen of the automotive industry, Mr. Kirloskar was extremely supportive of young people and their business ideas.

Addressing a trade body event that had several youngsters in the audience recently, he said, “You are the future leaders. You should soon be sitting here where I am sitting.”

The fourth-generation entrepreneur of the Kirloskar family leaves behind his wife Geetanjali and daughter Manasi, who works in the company.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: ACHIEVERS: Rev Ferdinand Kittel Foundation to Award 10 Eminent People for various contributions towards Kannada & Karnataka in 2021-22

Rev Ferdinand Kittel Foundation is giving the ‘Rev Kittel Awards’ to 10 eminent people who have contributed towards Kannada and Karnataka in various fields for the year
2021-2022.

The award ceremony will be held on Saturday, November 26 at 3.30 pm, at Gandhi Bhavan, Kumara Park East, Bengaluru.

The awardees are :
Philanthropist – Dr Ronald Colaco
Social Activist – Dr CS Dwarkanath
Film – B Ramamurthy
Literature – Marie Joseph
Media/journalism – Ramakanth Tv5
Sports – Martin Das
Health worker – Dr Smitha (Victoria hospital)
Educationist- Eshwaramurthy
NGO-CUPA.
Public Service- Ashwini SI, Pullikeshinagar Station.

The award will be conferred by, His Holiness Nidumamidi Mutt Seer Sri Veerabhadra Channamalla Swamiji, B V Pinto, former judge high court of Karnataka and Bhaskar Rao IPS (Retd) former commissioner of Police, Bengaluru.

source/content: daijiworld.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Shreya Narayan, Student of Bangalore Institute of Technology Wins First Position in ‘UNESCO-India-Africa Hackathon 2022’, Greater Noida

Shreya Narayan, a student of Bangalore Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, took part in the UNESCO-India-Africa Hackathon 2022 held at Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, recently and won the first place with a cash prize of ₹3 lakh, said a release.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: HEALTH & MEDICAL SERVICES / NURSING: Dr Elsa Sanatombi Devi of MAHE conferred National Florence Nightingale Award presented by President Droupadi Murmu

Dr Elsa Sanatombi Devi, professor & QMR at Manipal College of Nursing and FAIMER faculty at MFIIPLIPE, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), was presented with the National Florence Nightingale Award 2021 by President of India Droupadi Murmu on November 7 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

The historic National Florence Nightingale Awards have been presented to outstanding nursing personnel, honouring their meritorious services. The awards, formed in 1973, are a significant recognition of individuals’ efforts in the field. Dr Elsa was the sole winner from a private organisation for 2021.

Dr Elsa said of her win, “I am beyond honoured; it is a moment of deep personal satisfaction and professional pride to be acknowledged among the other outstanding winners of this prominent award. I am indebted to several people, not least my students, who have continuously inspired compassion and warmth. I am immensely grateful for the recognition and am already looking ahead to more exciting chapters as an educator and learner. I am grateful to MAHE for providing all the support & right environment to excel in my profession”

Dr Elsa boasts of several academic and societal contributions, including those towards COVID-19 counselling under StepOne and ICMR projects for the government of India. Dr Elsa is the first nurse to receive the FAIMER fellowship at the International FAIMER Institute in Philadelphia, USA, is a renowned trainer, and has initiated the first “Manipal Coloplast HEAL Academy”—an industry collaboration to develop and train MBBS and nursing graduate wound managers. She is currently invested in her dream project of training dementia caregivers in Udupi.

Dr H S Ballal, pro-chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, said, “Dr Elsa’s accomplishments are a credit to her professionalism, exemplary skills, desire to learn, and selfless attitude. It’s been incredible watching her rapid growth over the past two decades, and we’re all very proud of what she’s done and the impact she’s achieved. Her recent win is well deserved, and MAHE remains committed to supporting Dr Elsa in bringing positive change to healthcare.”

Lt gen (Dr) M D Venkatesh, vice chancellor, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, praised Dr Elsa, saying, “Dr Elsa’s academic acumen and skills in research and leadership have opened opportunities for students and university affiliates to explore practical training and closely understand the nursing industry. Her efforts within and outside MAHE command deep admiration, and this award cements her legacy as one of the finest educators the country has to offer.”

source/content: daijiworld.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: BUSINESS & ECONOMY: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY / EXCELLENCE: Infosys, Intel Win ‘Karnataka IT Rathna Awards’ & Host of others Won the ‘IT Pride of Karnataka Awards’ at Bengaluru Tech Summit-2022

Infosys and Intel bagged the Karnataka IT Rathna awards at the 25th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS) 2022 held in Bengaluru, informed a press release.

The awards which were given away at the meet have been instituted by the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and are given to companies that have clocked more than ₹10,000 crore in exports.

Minister for IT-BT, Science & Technology Dr C N Aswath Narayan also honoured companies such as TCS, Bosch, Mindtree, and 21 others with the award ‘IT Pride of Karnataka’ for clocking ₹2,000 crore to ₹10,000 crore in exports.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said “Karnataka is clocking exports worth ₹1 lakh crore annually and expressed hope that it would rise to ₹1.5 lakh crore in the next three years and also achieve $1 trillion in the digital economy space.”

However, the Minister expressed anxiousness over the 40% shortage of finances in the current account despite a high turnover in exports from the state. He urged the IT captains to raise exports and reduce imports to maintain a good balance of trade. He also assured the industry that the government will continue to extend its support.

Aravind Kumar and Shailendra Tyagi of STPI, IT Vision group chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan, Additional chief secretary of IT-BT department E V Ramana Reddy, and director Meena Nagaraj were also present at the vent.

Winners of the ‘IT Pride of Karnataka Awards’:

– Accenture, Amazon Development Centre, Dell, EIT Services, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, IBM, JP Morgan, Juniper Networks, Mercedes Benz, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung, SAP Labs, Standard Chartered, VMware and Wipro won the IT Pride of Karnataka awards.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline and sub-head edited)

INTERNATIONAL: MEDICAL TEAM AT QATAR: Pratibha N Darkasu selected as a Member of the Medical Team for the ‘FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022’

A woman, native of the taluk is selected to serve in the medical team of FIFA World Cup that is going on at Qatar.

Pratibha N Darkasu, wife of Naveen Poojary, a resident of Darkasu in Kudambettu village is the woman who is selected for this coveted job. She has become the only woman from Karnataka to serve in the medical team of World Cup.

Pratibha is the daughter of Narayana Poojary and Srimathi couple, residents of Siddakatte Soorande in Bantwal. She lives with her husband Naveen in Doha Qatar since many years.

Pratibha works in Hamad Medical Corporation government hospital.

Her special service was recognized during coronavirus pandemic also for which she was honoured.

Now she is selected as the nursing in-charge for the World Cup considering her outstanding service in the health sector of Qatar.

source/content: daijiworld.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: ARTS & CRAFTS / FILM PRODUCTION: Karthik Vijayan Awarded ‘Gulf Achievers Award 2022’ for his Short Films

City’s Karthik Vijayamani speaks about his victory at the Gulf Achievers Award 2022 for his short films, making songs for the IPL and the nature of Dubai’s content creation industry.

When Bengaluru’s Karthik Vijayamani went to Dubai in 2014 for a job in the science and technology industry, little did he know that films were his calling. But after producing multiple short film projects in the past eight years, Vijayamani has recently been recognised for his contribution after he won the Gulf Achievers Award 2022 as the best short film content creator in Dubai. He was recognised for his projects Dad Says, Dance Battle 2022 and Chords of Love.

Now, after amassing recognition in the UAE, Vijayamani feels things worked out for him after his company, Avighna Productions, redefined the concept of an advertisement. “Our production house has  made multiple ads. While working on those projects, we thought of taking a different approach. We took more of a narrative route in a short-film format. We felt it would help us relay a message to the audience better,” says Vijayamani about their work that also incorporated a few Bollywood celebrities to help the project reach a wider audience. These short-films were released in Dubai and Sharjah.

Outside of making short films, Vijayamani’s production house has also created fan anthems for the Indian Premiere League (IPL) teams Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore & Mumbai Indians. Of these three, the CSK one titled ‘#CSKReturns Anthem’ especially made the rounds during IPL 2019 and has over 3.6 million views on YouTube.

“Making music for the IPL is challenging because of the intense competition. There are thousands of people who make IPL songs. The game is not just about making the song but how we choose to market. A bad marketing strategy can ruin a good song’s success. In our case, we created a film that said that whoever in the audience will dance to the first few beats of the song and put it up on social media, we will give them a gold coin if they gain a huge number of views. That strategy worked out for us,” he shares.

Vijayamani feels the content creation industry in the UAE is different compared to India. “The biggest challenge is that the people of Dubai are not easily approachable. I first had to familiarise myself with all the top Sheikhs in Dubai and maintain a healthy relationship with them.

Once I started to gain their confidence, things started to get easier. In 2018, they gave me one opportunity to make a song about people of determination, which is the official term for specially-abled citizens in Dubai. We made an album with people of determination that year. The success of that project opened many doors for me,” he concludes.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL: FIFA WORLD CUP QATAR 2022 / ARTS & CULTURE: Rochelle D’Sa’s ‘Hey Yo’ Video Song for FIFA World Cup Released on November 11th

The FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar has begun from November 20.

A team from Mangaluru has composed ‘Hey Yo’ video song for FIFA World Cup 2022 which was released on November 11.

The song ‘Hey Yo’ is composed, written and sung by Rochelle D’Sa, music programmed by Dolwin Kolalagiri, and backing vocals by Joel Rebello, Dolwin Kolalagiri and Rochelle D’Sa.

The mixing and mastered by Srinivas at Daijiworld Audio Visual Studio. The camera, editing and DI by Relwin Melrin (horizon studio).

The song is dedicated to all the football fans around the world.

source/content: daijiworld.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: ENGINEERING / SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY /DEFENCE / AVIATION: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) Delivers 16th Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH Mk-III Maritime Specific) to Indian Coast Guard

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has handed over the last of the 16 Advanced Light Helicopters (MK-III, Maritime role) to the Indian Coast Guard at a programme here on Tuesday.

The chopper was handed over to DG, Coast Guard, V.S. Pathania, in the presence of senior officials from the Indian Coast Guard and HAL.

“We are proud to be associated with HAL and happy to issue a Letter of Intent (LoI) for nine more helicopters. Despite Covid-19, HAL delivered all the helicopters at the shortest time with seamless production activities and this allows us to strengthen India’s maritime security,” Pathania said.

The DG had signed a contract with HAL for the supply of 16 ALH Mk-III in March 2017.

C.B. Ananthakrishnan, CMD, HAL, said a unique feature of the contract has been the performance based logistics (PBL) – the one stop solution for maintenance of these helicopters by HAL.

“This will serve as a benchmark for all our future contracts and boost our resolve to work with private partners to speed up the work in the interest of all our customers and strengthen Make-in-India activities in the defence eco-system,” he said.

S. Anbuvelan, CEO (Helicopter Complex), HAL, pointed out the major challenges in execution of the contract that included integration of new systems sourced from foreign OEMs, conducting flight trials for certifications and overcoming disruptions in the supply chain due to lockdowns.

ALH Mk-III is indigenously designed, developed and produced by HAL. The company has so far produced more than 330 ALHs, a versatile helicopter which has logged more than 3.74 lakh flying hours.

source/content: daijiworld.com (headline edited)