Monthly Archives: July 2013

Kalam’s dream of turning R’waram to solarcity reality in 5 yrs

Green Initiatives/ Environment, Leaders, Science & Technologies

Former President  A P J Abdul Kalam’s  dream of turning Rameswaram to a solar city would be a reality in five years, a top official of BrahMos Aerospace said here today.

“In five years, Rameswaram will be changed completely to a solar city as per the wish of Dr Kalam. Solar lighting will first be provided to fishermen, schools and hospitals and later to all houses,” BrahMos Aerospace chief A Sivathanu Pillai told reporters.

He sought the cooperation of all people to ensure its success.

He was speaking at a function where solar lamps were fixed free of cost on five mechanised boats.

Pillai said the solar lamps would attract fish, enabling fishermen to have a larger catch. It would also help them not cross the International Maritime Boundary Line, he said.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> Nationa> News / Press Trust of India / Rameswaram (TN) – July 19th, 2013

Quality grid for Coimbatore Rally

Sports

It is as close to a dream line-up as it gets as the third round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship commences here Saturday with a 32-four-wheeler grid that will start the Rally of Coimbatore.

Headlining the field are former World champion (production class) Karamjit Singh of Malaysia with compatriot Jagdev Singh in the navigator’s seat in a Volkswagen Polo representing Slideways Industries, India’s ace driver Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif) who will be seeking a hat-trick of wins this season in a modified factory-backed Mahindra XUV 500 and reigning National champion Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik) driving a Group N-spec Mitsubishi Cedia.

Also in the mix is Delhi-based Samir Thapar of JCT Rallying with Erode’s Vivek Ponnusamy, winner of 2012 FIA award for Asia Pacific two-wheel drive cup as his co-driver in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X prepared by top tuner and former National champion Narayanaswamy Leelakrishnan of Red Rooster Performance.

Further down the grid is former National champion Vikram Mathias (Chandramouli) who is making a comeback after a two-year break. It will be his second outing this season after finishing second overall in the Rally of Maharashtra, driving a Cedia. This time, Mathias will be piloting a VW Polo car for Slideways team that has fielded as many as six cars.

Asia Pacific Championship title contender Gill, along with team-mates Lohitt Urs (Bonnie Thomas) and Sunny Sidhu (PVS Murthy), will be competing in the SUV category that was introduced this season, while Karamjit is in the top-end Indian Rally Championship (IRC) class that also has Thapar, winner in the first round, and Sumit Punjabi (Chetan Shivram) in a VW Polo. Being a foreign national, Karamjit is ineligible for championship points.

Kolkata-based Ghosh, the Overall INRC winner in the previous two rounds, leads with a tally of 78 points, well clear of Arjun Rao (Satish Rajagopal) who has 40 after a near-win in the first round and third place finish in the second this season, driving a VW Polo.

Rao, however, heads the championship standings in the 1600cc class with 66 points, just six ahead of Sirish Chandran (Nikhil Pai) of team Slideways.

The Junior INRC class is likely to witness close battles up and down the grid with Bangalore’s Asad Khan (Zayne Asrar) on top with 68 points after winning the second round in Nashik and finishing second in the first outing in Chennai, driving a Maruti Esteem.

Ranged behind Khan are Anirudha Rangnekar (Nitin Jacob) in a VW Polo of team Slideways (47 points), just one point ahead of Chennai winner Suhem MK (J Jeevarathinam) who will be driving a Maruti Baleno.

With a host of other experienced drivers like Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt), Vikram Devadasen (Srikanth Gowda) and Dr Bikku Babu (George Varghese), all driving the Mistubishi Cedia, the Rally of Coimbatore, with its fast and flowing Special Stages, promises close contests in virtually every class.

The two Special Stages, Gem (12.45Kms) and Textool (24.81Kms) that would be run twice on Saturday and once on Sunday, are located near Kethanur about 40 Kms from Coimbatore. The Stage terrain is said to be “smooth gravel” with average speeds in the range of 70 to 75 kmph.

The event will conclude with a Super Special Stage (2.32Kms) at the Kari Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon. The total Rally distance is 347.6 Kms of which 114.10 Kms will be competitive (Special Stages).

source: http://www.business-standard.com /Business Standard /Home> News-IANS / Coimbatore – July 18th, 2013

Noted lyricist Vaali dies at 82

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All

Veteran Tamil film lyricist Vaali died at a private hospital here today. He was 82.

Vaali was undergoing treatment at a private hospital for respiratory problems for a month and was on ventilator support.

Born as T S Rangarajan in the temple town of Srirangam, Vaali penned lyrics for stars across generations, from the veteran M G  Ramachandra  (MGR), Kamal Haasan to present day heroes like Dhanush. He worked with star composers of Tamil cinema like M S Viswanthan and AR Rahman.

Having started in the mid-60s, Vaali went on to pen nearly 10,000 songs in his five-decade-long career.

Vaali also acted in a few movies including veteran K Balachander-directed ‘Poikal Kuthirai’ and Kamal Haasan’s ‘Hey Ram’.

He wrote two songs in Bharat  Bala directed film ‘Mariyan’, starring Dhanush, which is scheduled for release tomorrow.

source: http://www.business-standard.com  / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National> News / Chennai – July 18th, 2013

NIT centre to take technology to villages

Science & Technologies

Trichy :

For the first time in south India, a centre of the Rural Technology Action Group (RuTag), an initiative of IIT-Delhi to help rural development, will be launched at National Institute of Technology-Trichy by the Prime Minister’s principal scientific advisor RChidambaram on August 3.

The RuTag centre will coordinate with NIT faculty and students to provide solutions to various problems faced by the villagers. A similar centre will be opened in NIT, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh shortly. “We had a meeting with Chidambaram recently in New Delhi and he wanted us to open a RuTag centre in NIT-Trichy. We met the stakeholders and Trichy collector Jayashree Muralidharan on Thursday to get an idea of the demands of the villagers,” S Sundarrajan, director NIT-Trichy told TOI.

“The meeting with villagers and government officials in the collectorate was an eye-opener for us. We came to know of the exact needs of the villagers and now we will put forward the problems to our faculty and also students seeking solutions. It is a win-win situation for the villagers as well as for us,” said Sundarrajan.

The NIT-Trichy director said though the institute has the knowledge base and experts to address problems that the rural populace face, the faculty and students are unaware of the problems. “The RuTag centre will bring our people face-to-face with the rural realities and that will help provide villagers solutions,” Sundarrajan said.

Quoting an incident of how students are ignorant about the villages, Sundarrajan said, “Recently a group of Trichy NIT students, ignorant of villages, called up an alumnus, who is now an IAS officer in Allahabad, and asked him to explain a village. The officer immediately asked the group to come over to Allahabad and sent them in a jeep to a few villages. The group, on their return, submitted a report to us about the problems villagers face. We had a hearty laugh as the group had gone all the way to Allahabad to see a village when we have so many in our backyard.” RuTag initiative is aimed at alleviating such anomalies, he said.

In a meeting with the collector, the villagers sought solutions to prevent snake bite during plucking of jasmine early in the morning. “Many complained of snake bite as they pluck the flowers between 3am and 4.30am as only then will they be able to send the consignment to various places by 5am. During this hour, they encounter snakes sitting on the jasmine plants,” said Sundarrajan. Other issues include hygienic abattoirs, easy and cost-effective implements in agriculture and for MNERGS work, cold storage for vegetables and sanitation facilities.

While some villagers sought a mask and a gloves while working in construction sites as the dust from cement and bricks affect their breathing, sugarcane cutters sought a body cover as they get cut marks while working in sugarcane fields, said A Basheer, revenue divisional officer, Trichy.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by B. Sivakumar, TNN / July 20th, 2013

Founder’s day at Ethiraj college

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

The Ethiraj College for Women celebrated its Founder’s Day on the birth anniversary of V L Ethiraj.

This was the 65th anniversary of the college. Justice Hariparanthaman of the Madras High Court was the chief guest.

Speaking at the event, the judge said that he had initially been reluctant to take part in the celebrations as he wanted to steer clear of partaking in an event which could prospectively involve litigants whose cases he might one day be called upon to judge. He, however, added that after reading the biography of V L Ethiraj and after understanding the ethos of the college, he could not desist from attending the event. Hariparanthaman spoke of the need for the continued education of women in order to usher in a more egalitarian society. He also spoke highly of the founder of the college, and shared several anecdotes involving V L Ethiraj that he had read and heard about, demonstrating Ethiraj’s integrity, honesty as well as his legal and moral acumen.

A M Swaminathan, the chairman of the board of trustees, Ethiraj College for Women, praised the chief guest for his representation of the poor and the working class when he was a practising lawyer.

The chairman also said that the day was celebrated to ‘plug the gaps in the historical record’. The history of the college titled ‘Soaring High at Sixty Five’ and a booklet on the life of V L Ethiraj were released at the function.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / July 20th, 2013

V.V. Mineral acquires integrated sugar mill complex

Business & Economy

Chennai :

V.V. Mineral, a mineral exporter, has acquired Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Sugars, an integrated sugar mill complex for an undisclosed sum.

The operating sugar mill commissioned in 2010 in Perambalur, Tamil Nadu, was set up with an investment of over Rs 350 crore with a capacity to crush 3,500 tonnes sugarcane daily, a 23-MW cogeneration unit and plans for a 60-kilolitre a day distillery.

Senior executives in the previous management and the new team, who did not want to be quoted, confirmed the deal was finalised early this month.

Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan group operates a chain of educational institutions including schools, arts and science colleges, engineering, medical, nursing and polytechnics.

V.V. Mineral, based in South Tamil Nadu, is among the world’s largest exporters of Garnet and Ilmenite.

A senior executive said the new management plans to concentrate on sugarcane development to strengthen raw material security.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Companies / by R. Balaji / Chennai – July 16th, 2013

Solar energy park to be ready in three months in Paramakudi

Green Initiatives/ Environment, Science & Technologies

Chennai :

Solar Energy Park in Paramakudi taluk of Ramanathapuram district will be ready in three months that would facilitate the power generation of 100 MW to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Ltd (Tangedco) in April 2014.

C.Narasimhan, Chairman, Raasi Green Earth Energy Private Ltd (RGEE) said at a press conference here on Tuesday that the company is establishing the energy park in joint venture with Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation. The “Bhoomi Puja” would be held on July 21 at Kavanur. The company will be acquiring 600 acres of land for the project before the end of this month and had already acquired 200 acres till now.

The park with ‘semi plug and play facilities’ will be ready in the next three months. After that, it would be ready for the companies to set up solar power units. The company has contracted with Larsen and Tubro for an Engineering Procurement Contract for executing the project.

C.Narasimhan said, “More than 37 companies evinced interest in setting up their units in the proposed park and seven companies, including two Germany-based companies,that would soon be signing commercial agreements with RGEE.”

Earlier in December 2012, the AIADMK government has announced that it would take steps through TIDCO in setting up of the solar energy plant in Paramakudi taluk of Ramanathapuram district. The expected cost of the project is Rs. 920 crore that would create 2,000 direct and indirect jobs.

According to sources, the other solar energy park will be established in districts like Tiruvannamalai, Ariyalur, Pudukottai, Dharmapuri, Tiruchi and Perambalur.

source: http://www.truthdive.com / TruthDive.com / Home> News / by Saravanan Jawahar / July 18th, 2013

Youngest woman loco pilot in Madurai division

Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All

Madurai :

A 26-year-old girl has stormed yet another male bastion and has landed the job of a loco pilot in Madurai division of Southern Railway.

Though Madurai railway division already has a woman loco pilot, B A Deepthi, who recently joined as assistant loco pilot, is the youngest. Besides, she is the only woman to pilot trains now as the other loco pilots are assigned to control room.

Deepthi, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, joined duty on July 4 after undergoing a two-month training at Golden Rock, Trichy, and completing another 20 days of road learning exercise in Madurai division. Currently, she navigates passenger trains in the division.

“A job in railways was my passion from childhood, but I can’t say that I was very inclined towards piloting locomotives,” she said. After acquiring a diploma in electronics engineering, she applied for a job in the railways and cleared the examination.

Employees of the Southern Railway were surprised at a young woman coming to the job. Many passengers, who spot Deepthi, initially were also surprised. However, they all congratulate her. On Friday, she co-piloted Madurai – Dindigul passenger train, which arrived at the Madurai junction by 9.10am. When she arrived at Madurai junction, a group of women passengers praised her saying that she has become a role model for women.

Loco pilot K Vinod Kumar who piloted the Madurai – Dindigul passenger said Deepthi has already shown signs of excellence in the job. “The job needs high amount of concentration and a great sense of responsibility as hundreds of passengers travel, trusting us. Deepthi seems to have understood the job’s elements and is doing well,” he said.

As an assistant loco pilot, Deepthi is assigned the tasks of monitoring signals and communicating with the loco pilot of the train, keeping a watch on essential gauges of the locomotive, and assisting the loco pilot in operating the train. “I am enjoying my work and it is quite interesting,” Deepthi said. “I think there are some more women loco pilots in the division but they are doing office works. I enjoy piloting the locomotives at present and am learning the skills eagerly,” she added.

source: http://www.m.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India, Mobile / Home / by J. Arockiaraj / July 14th, 2013

Medical admissions: 519 first generation learners

Education
10,269 applicants for medical seats are first generation learners | EPS
10,269 applicants for medical seats are first generation learners | EPS

Forget success stories of first generation learners in the top 10 rank lists. At this year’s first round of MBBS counselling, a whopping 519 students who got admitted to government medical colleges are the first in their families to aspire towards a graduate degree. In fact, the number of medical aspirants who hailed from homes where no one had been to high school or college was a staggering 10,629 of the 28,785 applications received. It is inspiring to see that many of them came alone, as their parents are employed as daily wagers in their respective towns, and collected their admit cards at the Kilpauk Medical College, during the MBBS counselling held recently.

A very small proportion of these 519 students hail from the city, with the majority of them hailing from smaller districts like Erode, Salem, Tuticorin and the educationally-reputed Namakkal. “Most often we have found that first generation graduates who manage a high cut off and manage to get MBBS admission are from very small villages or very poor backgrounds. Even economically downtrodden students in the cities – Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai – usually have at least one parent who has finished high school or some sort of degree,” said a member of the Medical Education Selection Committee.

This includes students like Keerthana, the daughter of a lorry terminal worker in Namakkal who had an enviable cut-off of 199.75 and managed to get admitted to Madras Medical College on the very first day. She had said after the counselling that her strength and determination to become a doctor came from the fact that people like her father had no hope of ever getting quality healthcare unless he waited for hours on end in a public hospital. Incidentally, her school has come forward to foot her educational expenses as far as college is concerned.

One advantage for first generation learners is that the tuition fees of Rs 4,000 out of the Rs 12,750 they have to pay every year, will be returned to them by the government.

While this applies only for those admitted to state-run hospitals, those getting admitted to self-financed medical colleges also have a great advantage to help them study – with official fee structures ranging from Rs 2.3- Rs 2.5 lakh a year, the government will bear half the amount and first generation learners need to pay only half their fees.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / July 01st, 2013

Coimbatore Medical College Hospital launches new set-up to curb stealing of babies

Science & Technologies

Coimbatore :

In a novel move to curb stealing of newborn babies, the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on Tuesday launched a mechanism to splash the names of baby’s mother, father and time of birth of the baby on a moving screen. The hospital has also made arrangements to show the handing over of the newborn to the relatives in a television kept near the moving screen outside the labour ward.

K Veeramuthu, a 27-year-old employee of a private company in Ondipudur, was happy to ‘see’ the message in the screen mentioning that his wife Sumathi had given birth to a baby boy on Monday morning at 9.05am. “When I saw the message with the names of me and my wife splashed on the moving screen, I was happy,” he said.

The screen was operated on a trial basis for the last few days and came into full effect on Tuesday.

“With this, we hope incidents of child thefts can be eliminated,” said Dr Isaac Christian Moses, the deputy medical superintendent of CMCH.

Besides this mechanism, CCTVs are also in place in the hospital to track the movement of visitors and patients.

This is expected to act as an additional mechanism to prevent child thefts and detect any suspicious activities. However, the television at present is not working.

Officials said that this will start transmitting images in the coming days of the handing over of the newborn baby. Dr M Swathinthradevi, a senior doctor at the maternity ward, said patients responded positively to the development. “Patients are happy with the new device which helps them get information at the earliest,” she said.

“This set-up will help to avoid confusion over the condition of the mother and baby. It will also stop relatives from pestering nurses and other staff about the condition of the mother and baby,” Veeramuthu says.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / June 27th, 2013