Ahead of ‘Mangaluru Chalo’ Yuva Morcha to hold GP level protests across DK

coastaldigest.com news network

September 2, 2017

Mangaluru, Sept 2: As a precursor to the Karnataka BJP Yuva Morcha’s much-hyped 'Mangaluru chalo' protest rally, the Dakshina Kannada unit of the Morcha will hold protest meetings in all gram panchayats in the district on September 4.

Harish Poonja, president of district unit of the morcha said preparations are afoot to ensure success of the September 7 protest meeting at Nehru Maidan. The state has seen spate of killings of leaders and cadre from the BJP as well as Hindu chauvinistic organisations under the present Congress dispensation in Karnataka, Harish said. Protest will seek to highlight failure of state government to crack down on these political murders across the state in last two years.

The gram panchayat level protests meets will seek to build tempo to the bike rally that the state unit of the morcha has organized from five parts of the state, all of which is scheduled to converge in this coastal city a day ahead of the protest rally. The yuva morcha post gram panchayat level meeting will submit a memorandum to the Governor Vajubhai Vala through the local authorities seeking ban on 'communal organization' such as the PFI and the KFD.

On the 'Sadbhavana Rally' that district minister B Ramanath Rai has planned to counter the BJPs protest rally in the district on September 12 with an open invitation to all except the BJP as well PFI for they are 'communal', Harish said, "Ramanath Rai is the Nazi ideological face of Dakshina Kannada district. He is directly responsible for deaths of Hindu workers in the district and could face the courts if a case if made out against him when BJP returns to power."

The Mangaluru Chalo is scheduled in this coastal city on September 7, wherein state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa, national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao, and Yuva Morcha state chief Pratap Simha and others will address.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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