Amai Mahalinga Naik gets Mangaluru Press Club Annual Award
Mangaluru, Dec 16: Amai Mahalinga Naik, who converted a piece of barren land into a full-fledged farm, has been selected for Mangaluru Press Club Annual Award-2018.
The selection committee headed by Prof. Balakrishna Gatti, Dr. Vasanth Kumar Parle and Dr. Nagaveni Manchi selected the 73-year-old Mahalinga Nayak, a resident of Amai near Adyanadka in Bantwal taluk, for the award.
Award presentation on January 5
The award will be conferred on Amai Mahalinga Naik during the celebration of Press Club Day on January 5 at Urwa Church Hall, informed Ibrahim Adakshala, general secretary of Mangalore Press Club.
40 years ago, Naik used to eke out a living by plucking arecanuts, coconuts. Landlord Mahabala Bhat gifted 2 acres of barren land to him in 1978. His dream to raise an arecanut farm atop rocky hills with poor vegetation was initially mocked by all. But he decided to rely on the ancient method of water harvesting, Suranga, as there was no water source for irrigation nearby.
Naik took up the task himself as hiring workers for digging would have been highly expensive. Though he was no water diviner, he followed his gut instinct and begun digging the same year. After harvesting coconuts and arecanuts, he used to return home and resume digging during the spare time. The tunnel being narrow, he had to crawl on all fours and crouch in order to hold the metal basket between his legs for collecting excavated soil.
After digging up to a depth of 30 metre, he gave up and begun digging at another location guided by his instinct. But water still remained elusive at a depth of 35 metre in second tunnel. When he had to abandon digging third and fourth tunnel at 35 metre again, the hard work of four years seemed to have gone in vain. Villagers declared that Naik was on a fool’s errand.
But ignoring all this, he began digging the fifth suranga located at an elevated place. And finally at 50 feet, he discovered moisture on ceiling. At sixth attempt, at 315 ft long, he found water. Then Naik went on to dig the seventh suranga behind his house to provide water for drinking and domestic use. Today, not only his farm is the living proof of a man’s extraordinary optimism, but Naik is also a role model for small farmers.
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Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
