Nagappa -Spectrum Ar
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2 DECCAN HERALD Tuesday, November 16, 2010 Spectrum statescan A GOLD MINE The late 19th century and early 20th century saw KGF mines flourishing under John Taylor & Sons Company. REMEMBERING A POET Muddana’s Muddana memorial hall at Nandalike in Karkala taluk. Right: The tree under which he regaled his audience. memorial in Below: A painting of the poet. poor shape SOCIETY A memorial built in commemoration of noted poet Muddana at Nandalike in Karkala taluk is in a state of neglect. Cracks have appeared on the walls of the auditorium that is adjacent to his house, writes Hameed Padubidri andalike in Karkala taluk is the honour of the poet came from people of hometown of well-known poet Nandalike in 1956. A local philanthropist Muddana, whose real name Seethamma Heggadathi donated a place THE FOUNDA- |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| of land remaining. The Muddana Smaraka Nwas Lakshminaranappa. Mud- for the auditorium. A well-equipped audi- Muddana’s works Mitra Mandali has sought that a sports dana was his pen name. A me- torium was set up with the help of the Kan- TION STONE TO training centre and a playground be made morial built in honour of this great poet is nada and Culture department, the tourism ■ Ratnavathi Kalyana, Srirama on this land in memory of the poet, who was in a state of neglect 23 years after it was department, the district administration THE POET’S Pattabhishekha, Adbhuta Ramayana and also a physical training teacher. built. and Veerendra Heggade. There is also a li- Sriramashwamedha are his important There is a statue of Muddana in Manga- The foundation stone to the poet’s me- brary in the auditorium. MEMORIAL WAS LAID works. lore. The MGM College in Udupi gives morial was laid on January 24, 1958, to But the problem today is that cracks are away the Muddana Poetry Prize every year. mark Muddana’s birth anniversary, by the appearing on the auditorium’s walls, be- ON JANUARY 24, ■ The poet died at a young age after At Nandalike, the poet’s birth anniversary then Union minister T A Pai. And then, a cause of poor maintenance. Adjacent to suffering from an illness. is celebrated by the Mitra Mandali there good 29 years after the foundation stone the auditorium is the house where the poet 1958 TO MARK HIS with the help of the local school authorities. was laid, the memorial was inaugurated. It lived. The name plate which said it was the ■ Muddana was a great lover of the The Kannada Sangha in Moodabidare’s was on May 16, 1987 that Veerendra Heg- ‘Kavi Mane’or the poet’s home has now dis- BIRTH ANNIVERSARY Yakshagana. He has composed Kantavara also gives away the Muddana gade (of Dharmasthala fame) inaugurated appeared. Muddana’s kin live in the house. Yakshagana episodes such as Sahitya Prashasthi every year. the memorial at a programme presided The tree under which Muddana sat and BY THE THEN UNION Kumara Vijaya. Muddana is said to have served in some over by none other than poet and thinker narrated many stories to his audience can |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| schools in Udupi district. There is an audi- Shivaram Karanth. barely be recognised today. MINISTER T A PAI. torium built in his memory in Udupi’s Now 23 years later, the memorial is in Former Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh Christian High School. And yet, in spite of poor shape. Not that there is any dearth of High Court N D Krishna Rao’s children all this, the district administration seems to respect for the poet among people. Nanda- have donated six acres of land at Nandalike have neglected the memorial built for the like’s only claim to fame has been that it is in memory of the Justice to the govern- great man in his hometown. The poet’s ad- the birthplace of the poet. ment. A primary health centre has been mirers are hoping that some positive action The proposal to build an auditorium in built on two acres. There are still four acres is taken in this connection. MISCELLANY Every drop counts AGRICULTURE Excess water from tanks in KR Nagar taluk is being channelised into farmers’ fields, thereby saving nearly 70 to 100 cusecs of water. An example of optimal use of resources, reports Saligrama Yashwanth n excellent water utilisation ex- du, Kenchanahalli, Maluganahalli, periment is in progress in vil- Sheegavalu, Kurubahalli, Karpu- A lages in and around Saligrama in ravalli, Sankanahalli, Narachana- MAGIC GRAINS A bunch of many millet varieties. Below: Farmer Nagappa. PHOTOS BY KR Nagar taluk. Excess water from halli, Hosa Agrahara, Batigana- THE AUTHOR tanks that runs away is now being halli, Hanumanahalli and channelised into farmers’fields by way Beechanahalli Koppal all depend Power of millets of canals. on the Harangi Left Bank Canal. Tanks such as Hunasekatte and Only a few hundred farmers have BOON FOR FARMERS Extra water from Hunasekatte and Gendekere near Saligrama He has grown 31 varieties of millets; that Gendekere in villages like Doddakop- access to water for irrigation, how- is being channelised into the fields. too on only two acres of land! All the crops palu and Mundur near Saligrama are ever. The tail-end farmers of the are in the harvesting stage. Farmers full during the rainy season. The water catchment area have not been able of land. The expenditure on the canal has in place at other tanks in the K R Nagar re- around this village have visited the field of that overflows from the tanks runs into to raise any crops in spite of the amounted to Rs 70 lakh. gion, could help irrigate vast areas of land. Nagappa Nimbegondi and appreciated nearly 70 to 100 cusecs. presence of the canal. As much as 350 metres of deepcut con- Irrigation department officials point his venture. This excess water eventually joins There were promises from legis- struction work has been taken up in the out that if the Hunasekatte and Gen- Five years ago, Nagappa, farmer of the Chamaraja Left Bank Canal of lator S R Mahesh that the problem building of the canal. dekere tanks are de-silted and the en- Makari village, Haveri district, depended Saligrama. would be solved. This has ensured that excess rain water croachments of the tank area are avoided, only on commercial crops. He used chem- Thousands of farmers in the bor- Accordingly, a head regulator flows into the canal. Hundreds of acres more water can be stored and made use of ical fertilisers and pesticides a lot in his der areas of K R Nagar constituency in- has been installed near the bunds of have been irrigated thanks to this simple by farmers. In spite of so much water field. He grew BT cotton also. But, after cluding Bettahalli, Mundur, Dodda Gendekere and Hunasekatte tanks project, explains Harangi division’s Assis- channelised into farmers’ fields, there is the harvest, he realised he could not make Koppalu, Devitandhre, Melur, Senabi- in Doddakoppal village near tant Executive Engineer Ningashetty. still water flowing to the Harangi Left much profits. Fed up with this situation, nakuppe, Tandrekoppal, Katnal, Mundur. Also, a one- and-a-half kilo- Farmers in the region are, needless to say, Bank. The farmers in the region have Nagappa decided to search for alternative Kodiyal, Kallimuddanahalli, Yelemud- metre canal has been built to allow thrilled by this development. proved that if there is a will, there is indeed crops. But now, it is difficult to spot a millet crop. danahalli, Bachahalli, Moodala Bee- water to irrigate nearly 7,000 acres They believe that a similar system, if put a way. And a canal. Meanwhile Ishwarappa Banakar, a After hearing about Nagappa, I went to farmer of Hireyadachi village of his field and found rare millets crops,”a Hirekerur taluk, established a millet seed farmer from Koppal said. bank in his house. This inspired Nagappa Millets now demand a good price in the to switch over to traditional farming. He market. But middlemen seem to be mak- participated in the field visit day organised ing more profits than farmers. Sahaja at Ishwarappa’s field and was impressed Samrudha has therefore started a new by varieties of finger millets. venture by providing direct market facility As the incense slowly burns... Without wasting much time, Nagappa to farmers and linking farmers and food scoured for seeds and Sahaja Samrudha, processing units. “Thanks to this vital link, the organic farmers’ association, provided farmers will get a good price for their pro- garbatthi, the thin, small incense stick tribal families venture into the forest early war and Chikmagalur, they reside in the some varieties of millet seeds. He sowed duce. There are no middlemen involved in with its all-pervading fragrance holds in the morning and cut the required quan- sheds provided by the contractors the en- 31 varieties of millets which are all now in this process,”explains G Krishnaprasad, A a special place in our daily lives. It is tity of bamboo spelt out by contractors. tire year and visit their hometowns once or the harvesting stage. Recently a festival director of the organisation. indeed difficult to imagine its absence! The They bring the cut bamboo to their sheds twice during festivals. Rest of the time they was organised in Nagappa’s field and hun- In Haveri district, many farmers are incense sticks have a demand equal to that provided by the contractors and spend the work under licensed contractors, cutting dreds of farmers took part in this unique volunteering to grow millets and they of flowers, to say the least. entire day slicing the poles into strips of req- bamboo stem and slicing it into thin strips.