Artisans facing uncertain future due to mass production of ‘gods’

Agencies

September 9, 2018

Mysuru, Sept 9: Traditional idol makers of city are dwindling fast with rapid commercialisation of the festival and the entry of plaster of Paris (POP) and paper pulp Ganesha idols from other states.

With Ganesha Chaturthi to be celebrated on September 13 the artisans are worried as general public were losing faith and beauty of plain clay Gowri and Ganesha idols that are produced in the state in the unique Karnataka style.

There is not much time left for the extinction of both our style of idols and the artistes who have the knowledge to make them. It is imminent that the artistes turn to other professions soon, after all, the artistes too have to make a living, a senior Ganesha idol maker said here on Sunday.

“There were nearly 80 to 90 artisan families in Kumbarageri area of the city till two decades ago,” according to Revanna, an artiste specialising in clay models with more than 25 years of experience in the field. Today, one may hardly find about 10 to 15 families engaged in making Ganesh idols, he added.

Besides, the advent of POP idols which are rich in colour and light-weight, have made it difficult for the clay artisans.

“Though the government claims to have banned the POP idols and even made a show of their raids, it is only for publicity and the idols continue to be sold,” said Mr Revanna.

Kumbarageri has also seen a migration of artisan families in search of greener pastures and some of them have resettled in other parts of the city.

The Kumbarageri area itself has become highly commercialised with dense growth and does not permit the traditional way of functioning on roadsides by dumping huge quantities of clay. Hence some families have migrated to Koorgalli, Hebbal and surrounding areas where they continue to make Ganesh idols.

It takes the artisans anywhere between four to six months to prepare and make the idols. But with assembly line production of idols that flood the market, the idols that are locally made tend to be swamped out in the competition, said Mr. Revanna.

Comments

please read in your veda book..dont be foool...most hindus dont know what they religious book says simply depend on poojari...if he say to eat shit they are ready

Fool; that is from your own book.

Ok. Then start worship the artisans (LOL). ZN lover spotted

Na Tasya Pratima Asti. Dont worship creation. Worship creator.

Ganesha can be exported

Its should be tradition art of karnataka, stop mass production company intervene

Why govt cant take it as part of tourism and govt body with under govt monitoring. It's unique thing of Karnataka.

Govt should provide support to artisans. Should have tie up with Karnataka tourism. It should not be limited as seasons

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Karnataka crosses 1.5 Lakh mark in COVID-19 cases 30,000

News Network

August 6,2020

Chennai, Aug 5: Karnataka on Wednesday crossed the 1.5 lakh mark in respect of COVID-19 cases and Kerala was on the verge of 30,000 while Andhra Pradesh witnessed a five- digit daily caseload after a lull.

Tamil Nadu saw a small jump in its daily cases as compared to Tuesday while Telangana and union territory Puducherry reported their respective record single-day spikes.

The five states and the union territory reported a combined 24,415 fresh confirmed coronavirus cases and 316 fatalities on Wednesday.

A Puducherry Minister tested positive for the deadly virus while an opposition AINRC legislator who contracted the coronavirus earlier was discharged after being cured of it.

In Karnataka, the coronavirus cases stood at 1,51,449 with the addition of 5,619 fresh cases while 100 deaths were reported, pushing the total fatalities to 2,804, the health department said.

According to a health bulletin, 74,679 persons have been discharged so far, leaving 73,958 active cases. Andhra Pradesh''s COVID-19 surge continued on Wednesday too, with 10,128 cases reported afresh after easing a little in the last four days.

The overall tally rose to 1,86,461 on Wednesday. The state had last reported its five-figure daily tally on July 31 when it was 10,376.

The state also saw a record number of 77 coronavirus deaths in a day, pushing the toll to 1,681, the latest bulletin said.

In the last 24 hours, 8,729 patients had also recovered from the infection and there were 80,426 active cases.

As many as 1,04,354 patients have been cured and discharged so far. Kerala was on the verge of 30,000 cases, as its tally stood at 29,145 with the addition of 1,195 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.

The toll from the virus so far climbed to 94 with seven more deaths. Thiruvananthapuram continued to top the districts in infections with 274 cases on Wednesday, of whom 248 had been infected through contact.

Malappuram (167), Kasaragod (128), Ernakulam (120) and Alappuzha (108) reported over 100 cases. As many as 112 patients died of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, the highest reported in a single day so far, taking the toll to 4,461 on Wednesday while 5,175 more people tested positive, propelling the case count to 2.73 lakh.

Recoveries outnumbered fresh cases with 6,031 people getting discharged from various hospitals, taking the total cured to 2,14,815 as the active cases dropped to 54,184, a government bulletin said.

In Telangana, 2,012 new cases emerged while 13 related fatalities were reported, taking the total infection tally in the state to 70,958. Out of the new cases, 532 were from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), followed by Medchal-Malkajgiri 198 and Rangareddy 188, a state government bulletin said on Wednesday, providing data as of 8 PM on August 4.

The total number of people who recovered from the infectious disease touched 50,814, while 19,568 were under treatment.

The COVID-19 fatality rate in the state was 0.81 per cent, while it was 2.10 per cent at the national level, it said. The recovery rate was 71.6 per cent in the state, while it was 66.31 per cent in the country, it added.

Puducherry clocked its worst single-day spike of 286 infections, recording seven deaths, even as the overall tally of cases went up to 4,432.

The deaths during the 24 hours in the Union Territory took the toll to 65 so far since the outbreak of the virus, Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao told a virtual press conference.

His cabinet colleague M Kandasamy and his son reported positive for the virus and were admitted to JIPMER.

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2 doctors, 4 staff of Udupi district hospital test positive for covid-19

coastaldigest.com news network

July 15,2020

Udupi, Jul 15: Two doctors and four staff members of the Udupi District Hospital have been tested positive for coronavirus.

While one doctor is undergoing treatment at the designated covid hospital, the other one, who is said to be asymptomatic, is being treated at his residence.

After four staff members of the hospital tested covid positive, the throat swabs of their contacts including other staff of the hospital and family members were also sent for testing.

Meanwhile, a person who was undergoing treatment in the district hospital for some other ailment also tested covid positive triggering panic among other non-covid patients.

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Flight chartered by ‘Expertise’ repatriates stranded Saudi Kannadigas to Mangaluru along with employees

coastaldigest.com news network

June 11,2020

Mangaluru, June 11: The Saudi Arabia based Expertise Contracting Company, which is repatriating its employees to India and other countries, today allocated around 90 seats of one of its chartered flights to Kannadigas stranded in Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf Air flight took off with around 175 passengers on board from Dammam International Airport around noon local time. It is expected to land at Mangaluru International Airport at around 7 p.m. Indian time.

In fact the company had chartered the flights only to repatriate its employees. However, due to the lack of special flights under Vande Bharati Mission, the company decided to help the other stranded Kannadigas in Saudi Arabia, who had approached Saudi Kannadigas Humanity Forum for help.

A company official said that around 2,000 employees from various countries in the Indian subcontinent are being repatriated, of which 1,665 are Indians. Already hundreds of them have reached India, and hundreds are still waiting for repatriation.

“We are grateful to Expertise for allowing to travel in the flight which the company had chartered to repatriate its own employees,” said one of the passengers before boarding the flight at the airport.

Director of Expertise, KS Shaikh said the 20-year-old Expertise group, one of the largest conglomerates in the GCC operating in petrochemical and heavy equipment sectors, has more than 10,000 employees and their family members in the Gulf, mainly in Jubail, one of the largest industrial cities.

Of these, the company has chosen over 2,000 employees for the covid-related repatriations considering various emergencies. He said 12 chartered flights have been engaged to carry out the repatriation exercise to the Indian subcontinent.