Belagavi Tech Meet showcases home-grown innovations, KabadiMan stands out
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Belagavi : The fourth edition of the Belagavi Tech Meet was organised on August 30. The meet showcased the growing role of tier-2 cities in shaping India’s innovation landscape. Themed ‘Tech for Human Impact’, the event brought together entrepreneurs, corporate leaders and innovators. The Hindu reported that the aim of this meet was to discuss how locally developed technologies are driving meaningful change with global relevance.
Several home-grown products were launched during the event, including KabadiMan, a door-to-door trash recycling service that rewards customers while promoting sustainability, Hoopoe Electric, an urban electric bike designed and built entirely in Belagavi, Zen AI, an AI-powered platform simplifying online advertising and marketing and BeTCA Assist, a flagship AI initiative by the Belagavi Technology Companies Association (BeTCA) to provide tailored digital assistance for local enterprises.
According to The Hindu's report, the evening began with a welcome address by host Amit Soundalgekar, followed by a presentation on BeTCA’s journey and impact by Gajendra S. Tripathi. He underlined BeTCA’s role as a Section 8 non-profit collective of IT and ITeS firms, championing policy advocacy, ecosystem growth, talent development, and infrastructure needs. Mr. Tripathi cited BeTCA’s interactions with Department of Science and Technology (DST) Secretary Abhay Karandikar, who praised Belagavi’s innovation potential. He also noted KEONICS chairman Sharath Kumar Bache Gowda’s positive response to proposals for an IT park and plug-and-play facilities.
In a session on ‘Inventing the Future: How Founders Are Building Life-Changing DeepTech Products’, Kawal Arora, co-founder of DesiLLM, recounted his experience at Tesla and his return to India to build India-focused large language models (LLMs). He said the effort aims to reduce biases and make LLMs more suited to Indian users.
Akash Kulgod, founder of Dognosis and a UC Berkeley Cognitive Science graduate, shared his work on training dogs to detect diseases. He said his venture began during the Covid-19 pandemic after learning that dogs could detect the coronavirus. According to him, Beagles are especially effective for such work due to their temperament and independence.
A second panel discussion, ‘From Tier-2 to Global: Shared Learnings of Corporate Leaders and Entrepreneurs’, featured several success stories. Leena Padihari, founder of Alfanzyme Life Science, described her journey from a small loan-funded venture to a company now nearing ₹50 crore in revenue, with over 200 sugar factories as clients and plans for international expansion. Shekhar Gaonkar, founder of PetCart, explained how observing pet care trends helped him carve out a niche in the growing industry. Allah Baksh of Infosys Hubballi stressed persistence as the key to long-term growth. The sessions were moderated by Aadil Bandukwala of HackerRank.
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Couple, son 'hacked' to death over witchcraft suspicion in Jharkhand's Palamu
Medininagar (PTI): A couple and their 18-year-old son were allegedly hacked to death over suspicion of practising witchcraft in Jharkhand's Palamu, police said on Sunday.
Their minor daughter was also injured in the attack late on Saturday, a police officer said.
The bodies were recovered from their house on Sunday in Panki police station area, he said.
“Initial investigation suggests that the case is related to witchcraft suspicion,” Manoj Kumar Jha, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Lesliganj told PTI.
A manhunt is on to nab the culprits, Jha said.
The girl suffered severe injuries and has been admitted to a government hospital, he said.
The deceased have been identified as Vijay Bhuiyan (45), his wife Kalia Devi (40), and their son Chotu Bhuiyan.
The bodies have been sent to Medinirai Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) for post-mortem examination.
