Alva's Virasat from Dec 24 to 27; SPB, Manu Parekh to be honoured

[email protected] (CD Network)
December 21, 2015

Mangaluru: Dec 21: The four-day Alva’s Virasat 2015, a festival of music and dance, will begin at Vivekananda Nagara in Puthige, Moodbidri, from December 24.

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Briefing media persons here on Monday, Alva’s Education Foundation Chairman Dr Mohan Alva said eminent playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam has been chosen for the Alva’s Virasat Award 2015. The award will be conferred on him on the first day of the Virasat. The Virasat award carries a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a citation.

Balasubrahmanyam, who entered playback singing with ‘Shree Shree Maryadaaramanna’ Telugu film, has so far sung over 35,000 songs in 15 languages in the last 40 years.

The Virasat will be inaugurated by Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade at 5.30 pm in the presence of Nitte University Chancellor N Vinay Hegde, Minister K Abhayachandra Jain and others on December 24.

Eminent artist Manu Parekh will be felicitated with the Alva's Varna Virasat award at the concluding ceremony of the Virasat on December 27.

Parekh is a multi-talented artist. He was design advisor for Handicraft and Handloom Export Corporation.

He has held solo exhibition of his paintings at Washington, New York, London, Ialy and Denmark. The Alva's Varna Virasat award will carry a cash prize of Rs 25,000 and a citation.

For the art connoisseurs, the inaugural session will be followed by ‘Naadasurabhi’ - a special fusion of four violins that Mysore Nagaraj, Mysore Manjunath, Vidwans Ganesh and Kumaresh Chennai will play. Ramdas Palsule, Arun Kumar and Shivashankar Swamy will accompany them on tabla, special percussions and mridanga respectively.

S P Balasubrahmanyam and troupe will enthral the audience at 9 pm. The second day of Alva’s Virasat will see ‘Raagarangoli’ with Kadri Gopalnath on saxophone, Thanjavoor Govindarajan on thavil, Vikku Vinayakram on ghata, Vijay Ghate on tabla, Praveen Godkhindi on flute, Selva Ganesh on Khanjira and V Umesh on keyboard. Ustad Munawar Masoom and team from Mumbai will enthral the art lovers with qawwali and Sufi songs at 9 pm.

On December 26, percussion artist Shivamani will lead ‘Naadasangama’, a confluence which will have Harmeet Manseta on keyboard and U Rajesh on mandolin. Students of Alva's educational institutions will present a variety of dances.

On December 27—leading playback singers Vijay Prakash, Karthik and Mahalakshmi Iyer will render songs in ‘Sangeetha Vaibhava.’ This will be followed by a variety dances by Alva’s students.

Varna Virasat, a national-level painting camp, featuring 15 tribal artists has already been inaugurated at the Vidyagiri Nudisiri auditorium in Moodbidri.

About 20 contemporary artists will join them in the camp that will go on till December 27.

The tribal artists will bring out ‘Warli,’ ‘Gondu,’ ‘Bhil,’ ‘Pithora,’ ‘Madhubani,’ ‘Meenakari’ and ‘Kalamkari’ art pieces at the venue. In fact, the Alva’s institution has a collection of more than 4,000 paintings and art works created by painters and tribal artists at Varna Virasat since its inception.

Free bus arrangement has been made for art connoisseurs to reach the campus before and after the event from Moodbidri. The bus arrangement has been made from Nishmitha Towers to the venue of the event at 5 pm. The venue of Virasat also has a spacious vehicle parking lot.

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News Network
December 16,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 16: The Mangaluru City police have significantly escalated their campaign against drug trafficking, arresting 25 individuals and booking 12 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act between November 30 and December 13. The crackdown resulted in the seizure of a substantial quantity of illicit substances, including 685.6 grams of MDMA and 1.5 kg of ganja.

The success of this recent drive has been significantly boosted by the city’s innovative, QR code-based anonymous reporting system.

"The anonymous reporting system has received an encouraging response. Several recent arrests were made based on inputs received through this system, helping police tighten the noose around drug peddlers," said the City Police Commissioner.

The latest arrests contribute to a robust year-to-date record, underscoring the police's relentless commitment to combating the drug menace.

Up to December 14 this year, the police have registered a total of 107 cases of drug peddling, leading to the arrest of 219 peddlers. Furthermore, they have booked 562 cases of drug consumption, resulting in the arrest of 671 individuals.

The scale of the seizure for the year reflects the magnitude of the problem being tackled: police have seized 320.6 kg of ganja worth ₹88.7 lakh and 1.4 kg of MDMA valued at ₹1.2 crore. Other significant seizures include hydro-weed ganja worth ₹94.7 lakh and cocaine worth ₹1.9 lakh, among others.

The Commissioner emphasized a policy of rigorous enforcement: "We ensure that peddlers are caught red-handed so that they cannot later dispute the case or claim innocence."

To counter the rising trend of substance abuse among youth, the Mangaluru City police have rolled out uniform guidelines for random drug testing across educational institutions.

As part of the drive, tests were conducted in approximately 100 institutions, screening an estimated 5,500 to 6,000 students in the first phase. 20 students tested positive for drug consumption during the initial screening.

Students who tested positive have been provided counselling and are scheduled for re-testing in the second quarter. The testing will also be expanded to students not covered in the first phase. In a move to ensure strict implementation, police personnel were deployed in mufti in some institutions. Reiterating a zero-tolerance stance, the Commissioner confirmed that random testing will continue, and colleges have also been instructed to conduct drug tests at the time of admission to deter substance abuse from an early stage.

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News Network
December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A 34-year-old fruit and vegetable trader in Mangaluru has reportedly lost ₹33.1 lakh after falling victim to an online investment scam run through a fake mobile app.

Police said the scam began in September, when the victim received a link on Facebook. Clicking it connected him to a WhatsApp number, where an unidentified person introduced a high-return investment scheme and instructed him to download an app.

To build trust, the fraudster asked him to invest ₹30,000 on September 24. The trader soon received ₹34,000 as “profit,” convincing him the scheme was genuine. Over the next two months, he transferred money in multiple instalments via Google Pay and IMPS to different scanner codes and bank accounts shared by the scammers. Between September 24 and December 3, he ended up sending a total of ₹33.1 lakh.

When he later requested a refund of his investment and promised returns, the scammers demanded additional payments, claiming he needed to pay a “service tax” first. Even after he paid a small amount, no money was returned, and the scammers continued pressuring him for more.

A case has been registered at the CEN Crime Police Station.

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News Network
December 7,2025

SHRIMP.jpg

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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