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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41 lakh illicit liquor seized, 1.84 lakh arrested in major drive: K'taka Minister tells Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The Karnataka Excise Department has conducted a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor trade over the last two years, resulting in arrests and seizures of alcohol, Karnataka Excise Minister R B Timmapur said on Tuesday.
As many as 1,09,017 people were arrested, and seizures included 13.66 lakh litres of liquor and 27.19 lakh litres of beer, he said in a written reply to a starred question by Harihar BJP MLA B P Harish in the Karnataka Assembly.
The Minister said the enforcement drive covered the financial year 2023–24, 2024–25 up to June, and 2025–26 from July to October, targeting unauthorised liquor manufacture, storage, sale and transportation across the State.
"During this period, statewide enforcement drives resulted in a total of 1,84,570 raids against illegal liquor sales,” Timmapur said.
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He noted that 9,179 non-bailable cases and 91,968 bailable and compoundable cases under Section 15(A) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, were registered during the same period.
According to him, there have been no reports indicating that students have become addicted to alcohol due to illegal liquor sales.
The sale of alcohol to minors is strictly prohibited under the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, and the department has issued periodic instructions to initiate legal action against violators, with strict enforcement and investigation measures in place, the Minister said.
Excise officials are carrying out regular road and night patrols, collecting intelligence, monitoring habitual offenders and conducting raids to identify illicit distillation units, unauthorised liquor outlets and spurious liquor manufacturing centres, he said, adding the department is also enforcing the law to prevent the production, storage, sale and transport of spurious, non-duty-paid and unauthorised liquor.
Regular patrols are being conducted on national and state highways, with suspicious vehicles being subjected to checks.
At the district level, standing committee meetings are held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners, and joint operations are carried out with the police and forest departments to curb excise-related offences.
The department is also conducting awareness programmes through Gram Sabhas and in schools and colleges to educate the public and students about the physical, mental and social health hazards associated with alcohol addiction and substance abuse, Timmapur added.
