c m y k c m y k

city 4Bengaluru ●● Monday ●● 14 September 2009DC

IT hub hotter than ever: Study●HEAT WAVE: ITPL, ELECTRONIC CITY HOTTEST WITH 4-DEGREE RISE IN TEMPERATURE

● Unveiling: CM B.S. Yeddyurappa tounveil paintings on wall infront of northern gate ofVidhana Soudha.September 14Time: 9.30 amVenue: North Gate, VidhanaSoudha

● Seminar: E-governance principalsecretary M.N. VidhyaShankar to inaugurateseminar on ‘data centre’.September 14Time: 9.45 amVenue: Hotel Atria, PalaceRoad

● Lecture: Lecture on coherent imag-ing by Prof. Theo Lasser,Switzerland. September 14Time: 3:30 pmVenue: Seminar hall, Dept ofelectrical engineering, IISc

● Play:Toad of Toadhall.September 14Time: 7:30 pmVenue: Active Kyra 2001,Katti-ma Centre, IndiraNagarContact: 9886200697

● Workshop: Karnataka Rural WaterSupply and Sanitation Bo-ard and Rural Develo-pment and Panchayati Rajto hold a two-day work-shop on ‘sanitation awardproject’.September 14Time: 10 amVenue: Hotel J P Celestial,near Anand Rao Circle

in the city

BIZ EDUCATION

Feathered visitors land in city Appealto shiftcamels

Artificiallimbsdonated

Colleges add CAT to their kitty

Children play with puppies at the puppy adoption camp organised by ‘Let’sLive Together’ in Malleswaram in Bengaluru on Sunday. — SHASHIDHAR B.

more than puppy love

Three moredie in state

DC CORRESPONDENT

BENGALURU

Sept. 13: Artificial limbswere donated to different-ly-abled people sufferingfrom locomotive disabili-ties at a camp organised bythe Rotary Club ofJayanagar in associationwith the Sri Mahaveer JainSahayatha Samithi and theSri Mahaveer Jain Hospitalin the city on Sunday.

The camp focussed onhelping out those living inthe often neglected areasaround Bengaluru.

The low-cost artificiallimbs, of which 201 havebeen distributed in the lasttwo years, will enable itsusers to go about their livesin a normal manner, saidthe programme coordina-tors.

“Thousands of Indianamputees who suffer fromdisabilities largely comefrom the lower incomegroups and cannot affordmethods to overcome thedisability,” said chairmanof the Artificial LimbProject, AshokMaheshwari. In future, theproject aims to reach morepeople across the state, MrMaheswari added.

DC CORRESPONDENT

BENGALURU

Sept. 13: Three more deathsdue to H1N1 influenza werereported on Sunday inKarnataka including onewoman in Bengaluru. Withthese three fatal cases, theH1N1 toll in the state has goneup to 65.

A day after a one-year-oldbaby died in Hubli after con-tracting H1N1 influenza, a 5-year-old boy also succumbed tothe global flu pandemic inGulbarga district.

The third death reported isthat of a 60-year-old man, whowas a resident of Kolar district.

Meanwhile, keeping in mindthe rising toll, the state govern-ment has launched an activesurveillance programme in allthe wards of the BruhatBengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) in a bid to curtail theH1N1 fatalities.

Reports confirming that 23persons in the state had testedpositive for H1N1 came onSunday. With these, 760 posi-tive cases of swine flu havebeen confirmed in the city.

Another 3,297 people are sus-pected to have swine flu andare awaiting the reports oftheir samples from the desig-nated testing centres.

AMIT S. UPADHYE

DC | BENGALURU

Sept. 13: Come Octoberand the city will resoundwith the chirping of wingedguests from across theglobe. Warblers and harriershave been the first to arrivein Bengaluru, indicatingthat the season of migrationhas started.

Every year, by mid-September, thousands ofbirds flock to the ‘GardenCity’ from the cold regionsof Siberia, Afghanistan,Tibet, China and other partsof Europe in search of food.Several green pockets inand around Bengaluru shel-ter the birds until May whenthey return to their nativeland.

The numbers of migratorybirds in the city have dwin-dled in the last few yearsdue to disturbance in habitatand disappearance of lakesbut many still fly undeterredto the city during the season.“There are two types ofmigration — local and dis-tant. While birds such asstorks and pelicans migrateto the wetlands ofBengaluru from other partsof India, some birds migrateto Bengaluru from far-offplaces. Unlike resident birdsand other local migrants, thebirds that come from othercountries do not breedhere,” explains bird expertHarish R. Bhat. Whilemigratory land birds includ-ing sand pipers, warblers,harriers, wagtails seek thecity’s forest pockets, several

water birds migrate to thewetlands in and around thecity. Water bodies includingMadiwala Lake, MadhuraiKere in Hesarghatta,Hebbal, TG Halli dam,Puttenhalli Lake and JakkurTank attract water birdswhich continue to thrive inthe region till the beginningof summer. Unfortunately,80 per cent of waders thatonce visited the paddy fieldsaround the wetlands havedisappeared in the last 15years. “Several lakes havelost their biological charac-teristics and drastic habitatdestruction has affected birdmigration,” says ornitholo-gist Dr S. Subramanya.“Waders generally depend

on shallow waters. But dueto the disposal of sewagewater, the lakes are nolonger feasible options. Itwill be hard put to find amigratory bird at theNagawara Lake which usedto record over 15,000 waterbirds in the last decade dueto the introduction of mech-anised boating,” he added.

DC CORRESPONDENT

BENGALURU

Sept. 13: Members ofAkhila Karnataka PraniDaya Sangha haveappealed to the police andanimal husbandry depart-ment to shift camels fromthe state to the states thatthey belong to, following arecent High Court order.

On September 3 this year,chief judicial magistrateMustafa Hussain S.A. andjustice V.G. Sabahit of theKarnataka High Court hadordered the transfer of 39camels. The members arenow demanding an earlytransfer of the animals totheir respective states.

“We are asking the gov-ernment to take steps toshift these animals alongwith providing them fullmedical care. We are alsoseeking the help of the rail-ways for the transfer ofthese animals. The inves-tigative officers must takephotographs of the camelsso that they do not end upin slaughter houses,” said amember of the Sangha. Themembers have appealed tothe public to tip them off ifthey spot camels being tor-tured. The Sangha can becontacted on 25919960.

MADHUMITHA B.

DC | BENGALURU

Sept. 13: The demand for acareer in business adminis-tration has only surged inthe past one year, the eco-nomic downturn notwith-standing. Keeping in mindthe increasing number ofapplicants to top-ranking B-schools in the country, 51new institutes have joinedthe bandwagon of the IndianInstitutes of Management(IIMs) and decided to usethe Common AdmissionTest (CAT) scores for eval-uation purposes, revealedexperts. Fortunately, 15 ofthese new entrants are basedin Karnataka.

However, the rush forseats has also created a needfor standardising theprocess of admission to col-leges that offer the Mastersin Business Administration(MBA) course. Institutes donot wish to falter when it

comes to choosing studentsof impeccable quality toenter its threshold.

B-schools, which previ-ously used other tests andinternal assessments foradmission, have chosen toopt for CAT as it evaluatesstudents on various essentialparameters.

“The skills that are beingassessed through CAT sure-ly determine a level of qual-

ity among applicants. Manyof these institutes werealready using CAT as onefactor of the assessment butwill now look primarily atCAT scores before admit-ting the applicant,” said R.Shivakumar, director, acad-emics, Career Launcher.

The general consensusamong institutes is thatadopting CAT will enablethem to net in more stu-

dents, especially since threelakh students are expectedto attempt the test this year,Mr Shivakumar added.

Experts also state that theaddition of institutes in thelist of those using the CATscore as an evaluator couldmake the test more popularin the country.

“A lot of B-schools whowere not accepting CATscores earlier felt that theymissed out on good studentsin the past few years. It hasbecome essential for themto have access to this talentpool this year,” said an

MBA expert. But some believe that the

association of more B-schools with the test is pure-ly a marketing gimmick.

“It is the most commonand well-acknowledged testand adds credibility to anyinstitute. Many studentswho take the CAT do notget into the IIMs and thisreality opens up avenues forthe new institutes to garnerstudents,” said Ajay Aroraof entrance coaching insti-tute Triumphant Institute ofManagement Education(TIME).

B-schools, whichpreviously usedother tests andinternal assess-ments for admission, havechosen to opt forCAT as it evaluatesstudents on vari-ous essential para-meters.

THERE WILL be 51 new institutes opting for CAT this year, tak-ing the total number of such institutes to 151 across the country.In Karnataka, 15 new B-schools will be part of the test, which isexpected to raise the benchmark of quality required for admis-sion. Experts feel that with the new computer-based test, CATmight become a globally recognised test in the coming years,opening doors to international students as well.

51 more institutes opt for CAT scores

Bar-headed geese Tibet and China

Sand Piper Europe

Pin-tailed duck Northern Europe

Shoveller Northern Europe

Marsh harrier Western Europe

White wagtail Western Siberia

Yellow wagtail Northeast Siberia

Rosy starling Afghanistan

Booted warbler Eurasia

Blyth’s reed-warbler Eurasia

Harriers Europe

Peregrine falcon North America

Migratory Bird Place of origin

DC CORRESPONDENT

BENGALURU

Sept. 13: The heat is on inthe city’s IT corridors. Arecent study on ‘LandSurface Temperature withLand Cover Dynamics:Multi-Resolution, Spatio-Temporal Data Analysis ofGreater Bangalore’ hasrevealed that the glassbuildings which house ITcompanies in ITPL andElectronic City have madethem the hottest places inBengaluru with a 4-degreeincrease in temperature.

According to the studyundertaken by the Energyand Wetland ResearchGroup headed by Prof. T.V.Ramachandra, the tempera-ture in Bengaluru has goneup by 2 degrees in the last10 years, and by 4 degreesin areas that are nowtermed as ‘heat islands’.

“The study was aimed atanalysing the role ofincreased urbanisation. Theanalysis showed that therehas been a 466 per centincrease in the built-up areafrom 1973 to 2007 as is evi-dent from the temporalanalysis leading to a sharpdecline of 61 per cent areaof water bodies. Land usechanges were more promi-nent in the city during the

last two decades due to therapid urbanisation,” Prof.Ramachandra said.

“This, accompanied withan urban sprawl, the boomin the IT and BT sectorsand the consequent migra-tion of people from differ-ent regions added to thechanges in land use,” Prof.Ramachandra explained.

The study on temperaturerise and heat islands wastaken up in Whitefield andElectronic City due to thepresence of a large numberof glass structures in theseareas.

“The buildings havingglass walls which are notsuitable for a tropical coun-try like India. TheseEuropean-style structures

are designed to captureheat. But the same struc-tures if built here heat upthe neighbourhood andforce the building residentsto go for air-conditioning,”Prof. Ramachandra added.

The researchers are nowpressing for a compulsory30 per cent landscaping atevery corridor so that theheat levels are broughtdown.

“Land surface tempera-tures were comparativelylower in areas with parks,healthy vegetation andlakes that aid in reducingthe heat in these areas. Thelandscaping must be donein such a way that largetrees are planted instead ofjust laying a lawn,” he said.

MANY CITIES in devel-oping countries are nowundergoing rapid urban-isation evident from theincrease in urban popu-lation from 13 per cent(220 million) in 1900 to29 per cent (732 million)in 1950, going on to 49

per cent (3.2 billion) in2005. Experts say that itis projected to rise to 60per cent (4.9 billion) by2030.

Researchers emphasisea need to chalk out afuture plan of action forthe city. They fear that if

the city’s vegetationcover is not protected,more numbers of heat-islands will come up inBengaluru.

Since vegetation andwater bodies act as heatsinks in urban areas,they must be preserved.

provide protection,say bird lovers

IT IS not just habitatdestruction that isaffecting migratorybirds in Bengaluru.Every year, a numberof migratory ducks arepoached for meat.While land birdsincluding birds of preymanage to escape,ducks and other waterbirds are always hunteddown. “Since the wet-lands are not providedwith any security, hunt-ing goes unchecked.Regular patrolling mustbe carried out aroundlakes during the migra-tory season,” said a reg-ular birder.

city

briefs

Greater Bengaluru land cover statisticsYear Built up Vegetation Water bodies

1973 5,448 46,639 2,3241992 18,650 31,579 1,790

1999 23,532 31,421 1,574

2000 24,163 31,272 1,5422002 26,992 28,959 1,2182006 29,535 19,696 1,0732007 30,876 17,298 1,005

City growth on fast track

A Montagu’s Harrier (above) which has flown to the outskirts of Bengaluru fromSiberia. — K. VINAYA painted stork (below) lands on a tree-top in a lake catchment area on the out-skirts of Bengaluru. — DC

area in hectares

— MCT

Buildings with glass walls are not feasible for India’s tropical climate.

S W I N EF L UU P D A T E

Suspectedcases

760

3,297

Air passengersscreened in

the state

3,67,153

Total confirmed

Confirmed to bepositive on

September 13,Sunday

23

swine flu