ABVP opposes admission fee hike for medical, engineering, dental courses

April 10, 2012

Mangalore, April 10: The activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on Tuesday staged a protest here against the Karnataka Government for increasing the fee structure for engineering, medical and dental courses.

The protesters, who were demanding the immediate withdrawal of hike in admission fee for the professional courses, formed a human chain at KPT Circle in the city, which led to traffic disruption in for few minutes.

The activists said that the continuous increment in fee of professional courses shows that the Government is against the poor students. “In the current academic year, Karnataka has proposed a 10 per cent increase in the admission fee of profession courses. If the government failed to withdraw this proposal we will intensify our protest throughout the State”, they said.

The agitators accused the State Government of buckling under pressure from private managements.

“In 1994, 85 per cent of seats in medical course were with the Government. But now, government quota seats in private medical colleges have come down to 42 per cent. Likewise government quota seats in engineering and dental courses have been decreased from 85 per cent to 45 per cent and 35 percent respectively”, the protesters complained.

If Karnataka continues to surrender government quota seats in engineering, medical and dental courses to private managements, the students from financially poor back ground cannot even imagine of becoming a doctor, engineer or a dentist, said Chinmay Rai, City Secretary, ABVP, Mangalore Unit.

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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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