Ministry rejig: rift widens in Cong, Parameshwara sulks

DHNS

September 2, 2017

Bengaluru, Sept 2: The rift between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state Congress president G Parameshwara widened on Friday with the former expanding his council of ministers.

Parameshwara and many senior party leaders kept away from Friday’s swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan where three new ministers took oath.

Parameshwara is said to be upset with Siddaramaiah for not taking him into confidence before selecting candidates for the expansion, sources in the party said.

The sources said Parameshwara was in favour of Tiptur MLA K Shadakshari under the Lingayat quota since it would have helped him woo the Lingayat community in his constituency, Koratagere, which is adjacent to Tiptur. Parameshwara is of the opinion that though Shadakshari’s name was shortlisted, Siddaramaiah decided to induct Geetha Mahadeva Prasad (also a Lingayat) and wife of former minister the late H S Mahadeva Prasad to nurture his own political constituency, sources said.

Mahadeva Prasad was a prominent Lingayat leader in the Mysuru-Chamarajnagar belt and had close ties with the influential Suttur Math. There are a considerable number of Lingayat voters in the 15 Assembly constituencies coming under this belt including Siddaramaiah’s Varuna, which he is now grooming for his son Yathindra. Siddaramaiah himself is planning to contest from Chamundeshwari, which also comes under this belt in next year’s Assembly polls.

It was felt that Geetha’s induction into the council of ministers will help Congress electorally at a time when the BJP is trying to make inroads in the Mysuru-Chamarajnagar region. Siddaramaiah, it is said, got sufficient feelers in this regard during his two-day stay in the region earlier this week.

Besides, Parameshwara (who is a Dalit Right) had been supporting the demand for inducting a person belonging to Dalit (Right). Instead, the Chief Minister chose Dalit (Left) wing and inducted R B Timmapur, much to the chagrin of Parameshwara.

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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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