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Mysuru, Apr 25: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has converted one of its buses into a clinic in Mysuru to treat COVID-19 patients.

The mobile fever clinic has a bed for the patient and a cabin for doctor.

There is also a seating facility, medicine box, washing basin, sanitizer, soap oil, a separate water facility and fans.
According to the KSRTC, the cost of this clinic construction on a bus is Rs 50,000.

Meanwhile, 15 new positive cases were reported in the state. So far, 489 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed, including 18 deaths and 153 discharges in the state.

A motley group of as many as 150 birders ‘walked the chirp’ in search of their feathered friends in and around the countryside of Manipal. The occasion was the 10th Edition of Manipal Bird Day organised by Manipal Birders Group on Sunday, February 2nd, 2020.

The day began ‘Bird Walk’ from Hotel Sheela Sagar (Opposite MIT campus) at 6:30 a.m. The birders divided themselves in smaller groups of 10-12 members and followed 13 different trails which took them through different terrains like hills, plains, paddy fields and wetlands. The idea was to sight as many birds as possible and record their presence in the region.

When the walk ended at about 10:00 a.m., the different groups have recorded a total of 125 species of birds, which was a bit lesser than the sighting of the yester years. “The 10th edition this year has seen a very good growth of interest among people. At the same time a decline has been seen in the bird species sighted compared to previous years,” said one of the organisers. Some of the rare birds sighted were Indian Pitta, Oriental Turtle Dove, Fork-Tailed Drongo Cuckoo, Orange Breasted Green Pigeon, Eurasian Marsh Harrier and Malabar Pied Hornbill.

The bird walk was followed with an interaction session at KMC Food Court and MAHE Vice Chancellor Dr. H. Vinod Bhat presided over the function. He felicitated six people who actively participated recently in a rescue mission of abandoned birds in Manipal.

A program then continued with a talk on ‘Ethical Photography’ by Dhruvam Desai, final year student of MIT, Manipal. This was followed by ‘Backyard Birding’ with Shubha Bhat from IISc Bangalore. She spoke on different ways to feed the birds with water using different materials for bird baths. “I have recorded 120 species of birds from bird baths in my garden,” she said. She encouraged the participants to have bird baths in their gardens or flats which will help quench the thirst of these little winged wonders during summer.

The participants involved themselves actively in the interaction sessions. The event was accompanied with an art exhibition titled ‘Feathered Jewels’ by Aditya Bhat. He presented around 18 paintings all from his memory of birding encounters.

Participation in Manipal Bird Day was open to all and entry was free.

MANIPAL BIRD DAY

Manipal Bird Day is an annual event dedicated to celebrating birds in Manipal. This day long event brings together a large number of birders from Manipal, Udupi, Mangalore, Mysore, Bangalore, Davangere and other places. Around 150-200 people gather and are split into different teams. They visit the assigned regions and count as many birds as possible. This non competitive event focuses on spreading awareness regarding the diverse avifauna around us. Turn out for this event has been increasing from 3 people to 200 in last 10 years. This is the 10th edition of Manipal Bird Day.

MANIPAL BIRDERS CLUB

Manipal Birders Club started as a Facebook group after the release of the first edition of “A Birders Handbook to Manipal” to share information about the latest sightings. It is now a formal group of over 500 like-minded members that meets at least once a week to go on bird walks. It is now a large birders community and a medium to organize events, bird walks and discussions about birds and sightings.

The next step would be to involve a higher number of local and young birders who will dictate the change in environment around the town in the coming years. With the co operation of Zoology and natural sciences students and other nature enthusiasts and faculty of different colleges weekly birding sessions have been conducted to involve and encourage more and more people to bird and get connected to the nature and to try to understand the changes happening around us, the media release issued by the group said.

Dr Soofi Anwar, Director Academics of University of Stirling RAK, UAE Campus, has achieved the prestigious professional recognition of Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) UK. He has achieved this milestone through the Stirling Framework for Evidencing Learning and Teaching Enhancement (SFELTE), the Continuing Professional Development Framework (CPD) for learning and teaching at University of Stirling, Scotland, UK. 

He was recognized for this achievement on recently concluded virtual Learning & Teaching Conference-2020 organized by University of Stirling Campus in UK.  He has secured his Ph.D. in Management from University of Azteca, Mexico.

Dr. Soofi Anwar has over 20 years of experience in teaching and academic leadership at higher education level and has worked in leading universities in UAE, Bahrain and India. He was conferred the prestigious Middle East Education Leadership Award, as the Best Professor in Management-2018 in recognition of his academic excellence, exemplary leadership in higher education. Prior to his current role, he has worked on leadership position in Birla Institute of Technology Offshore Campus RAK.

He has completed his MBA from Dept. of Business Administration, Mangalore University in 1999 and his B. Com degree from Canara College Mangaluru.

He has published numerous research papers in management and in the area of teaching and learning in higher education in reputed academic journals and international conferences proceedings. He is a member of editorial board of two leading management journals and engaged in reviewing faculty research publications in the area of management and marketing. 

He is a son of Haji Abdul Khadar Kodijal and Mrs. Mariyamma from Konaje, Mangaluru.