Mangaluru Dasara celebrations from Sep 26, 10 lakh people expected to attend
Mangaluru, Sep 19: The Mangaluru Dasara festival will be celebrated at the Kudroli Gokarnanatha temple from September 26 to October 6, former Union Minister B Janaradhan Poojary, patron of the temple, has said.
This year's celebrations will be unique as the festival could not be held during the previous two years on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, he told reporters here on Sunday.
More than 10 lakh people from various districts of the state are expected to arrive in the city for the celebrations and preparations are on to hold the festival on a grand scale, he said.
Religious rituals will be held every day and food will be served to devotees. It is proposed to hold 'Chandika Yaga' in the glass house for the convenience of devotees, Poojary said.
Poojary said he will personally invite Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to inaugurate the festivities. The timing will be confirmed depending on the availability of the chief minister, he added.
Temple treasurer R Padmaraj said a silver pedestal weighing 12 kg for Goddess Sharada, being made at a cost of Rs 12 lakh, will be offered on September 24. A family of devotees will be offering a silver veena to the temple.
Certain changes have been made in the holding of the Dasara procession as per the convenience of devotees, he said.
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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.
