Beena Shetty takes charge as the new President of Winners Club Toastmasters
Mangaluru: The new team of Office Bearers of Winners Club Toastmasters for the year 2019-2020 led by President Beena Shetty took charge at a glittering ceremony on Sunday 07 July 2019 at The Gateway Hotel, Mangaluru.
“Communication needs to be nuanced so as to foster human relations between people to establish a productive and peaceful society,” Dr. GG Laxman Prabhu, Professor and HOD, Urology, KMC Mangaluru who was the chief guest of the event emphasized, while providing instances from his experiences as a surgeon.
In his address to the gathering, the chief guest stressed on the need to be accepting of different ways of communication. “We are quick to take offence these days, whereas the need is to see how we can get along with people.” he pointed out. Quoting the Upanishads he reminded the listeners how our scriptures tutored us to convey even bad news with consideration to the listener.
Toastmasters Area 2 Director Dr. Oliver D’Souza administered the oath of office to the new team of office bearers for 2019-2020, led by the President Beena Shetty. The team includes Geeta Pereira (Vice-President – Education), Sony Rodrigues (Vice-President – Membership), Bharathi Shevgoor (Vice President – Public Relations), Sweetha Shetty (Secretary), Joan Mascrenhas (Treasurer) and Matharani Mathias (Sergeant-at-Arms)
Phyllis Maria D’costa, Lyra Pinto and Florida Almeida rendered the invocation. Matharani Mathias welcomed the gathering and Geeta Pereira and Sony Rodrigues presented the annual report through a Power Point presentation highlighting the achievements done by the club during the past year. Bharathi Shevgoor introduced the chief guest. Flexon Fernandes presented an innovative concept of passing on the baton from the old team to the new, keeping in mind the theme of indigenous languages, on which the programme was based. Malini Hebbar introduced Beena Shetty to the audience.
Outgoing President Manisha Daithota thanked her team and club members for their cooperation during her tenure. In her acceptance speech Beena Shetty expressed her vision and goals to be achieved by the club during her term. Since indigenous languages was the theme of the installation ceremony, the office bearers and some of the presenters had dressed up in costumes of the states which speak different indigenous languages.
District Administration Manager Savitha Salian, Division F Director Shivani Baliga, Area F4 Director Vidya Shenoy, Kavitha Kamath (Mangalore Toastmasters), Rajat R (Infosys Toastmasters Mangalore SEZ), Dr. Reshma Karkera (Inspiron Toastmasters) and Dr. Ashrita Shetty (ProAct Toastmasters) and M. N. Pai felicitated the new officer bearers.
Sweetha Shetty proposed the vote of thanks. Roshan Madtha, Reena Monteiro, Praveen Pinto and Deborah Lobo were the Masters of Ceremonies.
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Karnataka village switches off TVs, mobiles for two hours daily to help students study
Belagavi: Every evening at 7 pm, a siren rings out in Halaga, a village near Belagavi, signalling residents to switch off all screens including televisions, mobile phones, laptops and tablets for the next two hours.
The community has voluntarily adopted this “digital-free time” to help students focus on studies and to encourage families to spend more time talking to each other. The 'digital detox' initiative, 'No TV, no mobile, just study and conversation', is said to be the first such to be adopted by a Karnataka village, Deccan Herald reported on Monday.
According to the report, Halaga, which has a population of about 12,000 and is located close to the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, launched the initiative on December 17. A siren installed at the gram panchayat office marks the start of the no-screen period at 7 pm, and another siren at 9 pm signals its end.
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Gram panchayat authorities are reaching out to those residents who are yet to comply and are urging them to stay away from screen during the two hours.
Authorities are also visiting households that have not fully adopted the practice and are encouraging parents to follow the routine strictly. Teachers and panchayat members plan to continue meeting families to ensure more participation.
The Halaga village exercise is said to be inspired by a similar experiment in Agran Dhulgaon near Sangli in Maharashtra which had a positive response on students' learning habits.
