Monthly Archives: March 2013

Vellore set to get modern stainless steel bus shelters

Business & Economy

Under Vellore Corporation’s new project, the city will soon have modernised stainless steel bus shelters, to be carried-out at an estimated cost of `3.5 crore.

“This effort is part of developmental activities aimed at refurbishing the city as it has been upgraded into a Corporation in August 2008,” said Vellore Mayor P Karthiyayini.

“Modernising the bus shelters and leasing out the space for advertisement will increase the revenue of the local body,” she added. This will also address the traffic problem caused by the increasing number of hoardings at the bus shelters, she noted.

Town Planning Officer M Kannan said, “A total of 102 bus shelters, including 15 new shelters near Sarathi Maaligai commercial complex, have been identified under the project. It would be carried out under the Build-Operate-Transfer model, through which the contractors will construct the shelters according to the design specifications of the civic body, operate it for a certain period and then transfer it to the Corporation.”

The new shelter will have stainless steel roofing with steel seating arrangement, apart from facilities including digital boards to display the bus schedule. This is similar to the shelters on the Marina Beach Road in Chennai, he said.

The renovation work originally began in 2011. Since no bidder came forward to take up the tender citing high costs, stainless steel shelters were planned in around 50 important locations and main roads, each at a cost of around `5 lakh, while mild steel shelters each costing around `2 lakh were planned for the interior areas, Kannan added.

A resolution regarding the modernisation of the bus shelters has already been passed at the Traffic Committee Meeting and the work would start soon, after an approval and a designing specification for the bus shelter was received from the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration, he said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / Home> States> Tamil Nadu /  by Express News Service – Vellore / March 17th, 2013

IT employee gears up to join Army

Education, Science & Technologies

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Chennai:
After working for three ye­ars at TCS as a software engineer, Ooty’s B. Kris­h­namurthy (26) is all excited to don the olive green uniform and join the 43rd medium regiment at Ajmer as a lieutenant next month.
Ready to pass out from the Officers’ Training Acade­my (OTA) on Saturday, Krishnamurthy spoke to DC about his experiences in the OTA, the difference between IT job and serving in the armed forces, the lack of awareness about army in TN and how it feels to be the first uniformed person in his family.
“I was attracted to the armed forces right from my childhood days as the Madras Regiment was stationed at Ooty. But as like all youth, I did computer science engineering and took up a job with TCS. But during recession time, I decided to move towards my first love. I cleared Service Selection Board examination in my first attempt and joined OTA. Wearing the olive green uniform gives me tremendous happiness. I want to reach the top in my desired profession and continue serving the country even after my retirement,” said Krishnamu­rthy, who excelled in running and general academics during the 11-months course at OTA.
“When I joined the course, I struggled physically because I was not used to physical activities. My IT job was more sedentary and we used to have snacks and tea at 4 pm in our office, while at OTA I was busy playing sports. But with rigorous training I was able to compete with even the NCC cadets in a span of three months,” reminiscenced Krishna­mur­thy, who noted that discipline and comradeship comes naturally to the cadets. “I used to wake up only after 8 am during my TCS days, but now even when I am at home, I am not able to sleep after 3.30 am,” he added.
Only child of K. Bala­chandran, who retired as section officer at Hindus­tan Photo Films, and schoolteacher Kalyani, Krishnamurthy wants more youth to join armed forces from Tamil Nadu.
“When I first met a few north Indians at OTA, they explained to me everything about the course. I was not even aware of the basics. It showed how much we lacked in knowledge about the army,” he added.
For one, who had not ventured out of the state except for a lone visit to Shirdi, Krishnamurthy got a mix of entire India at OTA and has now mastered Hindi too.
source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC  / by S. Sujatha / March 16th, 2013

TN girl is GATE biotech topper

Education, Records, All
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Chennai:
A final year B.Tech student of the SASTRA University, Thanjavur, Deepa Rajagopalan, has bagged the all India first rank in biotechnology in GATE this year.
The res­ults were released Fri­day morning by  the Indian Institute of Tech­nology (IIT), Bombay, which coordinated GATE.
With a score of 80, Deepa has emerged first amongst the 16,159 candidates who appeared for GATE-2013 in the biotechnology str­eam. “Although I’ve been preparing for the past three years, I put in a lot more effort  from Dece­mber last year and my two internships at the Indian Institute of Scie­nce (IISc), Bengaluru and University of Michi­g­an, too helped me in writing GATE,” said an elated Deepa.

AP students ace tech aptitude test

Hyderabad: Students from Andhra Pradesh have outdone their peers in other states in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE-2013) results announced on Friday.

AP had the most number of students declared qualified at 22,746. The second place went to Uttar Pradesh (22,400), followed by Mahar-ashtra (9,951), Bihar (9,820) and Kerala (8,992).

Pune student Rohit Ronge, who took the exam from Hyderabad, secured All-India First Rank in Instrumentation Engineering.

AP student Chakradhar Reddy secured sixth rank in the Electrical Engine-ering while Parth Lathigara, also from AP, secured 10th rank in the Electro-nics and Communication Engineering stream.

Out of the 9,84,855 candidates who took the exam 1,36,699 have qualified which is 13.88 per cent.

Among the candidates who qualified, 72,125 belong to General category, 41,237 to OBC-NC, 18,936 to SC, and 4,401 to ST category. There were 1,136 physically challenged candidates who qualified in various categories.

The online exam for 2,02,223 candidates, in 15 papers, was conducted in 572 centres spread over 123 cities across the country, on January 20. The offline exam for 9,98,505 candidates in the remaining six papers was conducted in 992 centres in 183 cities and towns on February 10.

“Aspirants in Civil Engineering increased substantially this year to 67,472 from 36,000-odd last year,” said Aditya Reddy of GATE Forum, a popular coaching institute.
source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com /  Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / by N. Arun Kumar / March 16th, 2013

Poompuhar to get fishing harbour

Business & Economy

In an attempt to promote deep-sea fishing in the State, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday granted administrative sanction for setting up a fishing harbour at Poompuhar in Nagapattinam district at a cost of `78.50 crore.

An official release said that the government under Jayalalithaa had been initiating a number of measures to improve fisheries in the State. This included orders for instituting a fisheries university near Nagapattinam. The CM had already ordered the setting up of 11 fish breeding farms with modern facilities across the State at a total cost of `37 crore. Orders have also been given to create fish landing facilities at a cost of `63 crore.

Further, the CM had also ordered creation of fish processing parks in 13 fishing towns in the State. In this regard, a model, processing parks in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam would be established at a cost of `14 crore and `23 crore respectively. In accordance with these measures, the Chief Minister has now accorded administrative sanction to construct a fishing harbour in Poompuhar at `78.50 crore. As an initial sum `6.67 crore has been released.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service – Chennai / March 14th, 2013

Rochelle, Karishma to co-host ‘Extraaa Innings’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

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     Rochelle, Karishma for Extraaa Innings

Mumbai:

Models Rochelle Maria Rao and Karishma Kotak will co-host the new season of “Extraaa Innings”, the cricket-based TV show on the sidelines of Indian Premier League (IPL) matches. Rochelle and Karishma will join Samir Kochhar and Gaurav Kapoor, the permanent hosts of “Extraaa Innings”.

Talking about the project, Rochelle, the winner of Femina Miss India International 2012 crown, said she is looking forward to being part of something that has been her dream. “I have been a big fan of IPL since its inceptions. I remember my friends and I used to save money and buy tickets just to stay in the stadium and watch the IPL live. Being a part of IPL has been my dream and it seems all my dreams are coming true this year,” she said in a statement.

Karishma, last seen as one of the contestant in “Bigg Boss 6” house, is “thrilled” to be part of the show. “Cricket is very close to every Indian’s heart, so is IPL. While hosting the auctions, I realized how exciting IPL is going to be. I got the feel of the thrill. Watching IPL has always been exciting and now I’m looking forward to anchor ‘Extraaa Innings’. I am definitely excited to travel all over the country, hosting the IPL and watching the matches live,” she said.

(Agencies)

source: http://www.post.jagran.com / Home> Lifestyle News / Mumbai, March 05th, 2013

Collection of books published by Vamsi Pathippagam released

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

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Film director Bala (centre) releases the book Nammoduthan Pesugirargal | N Vajiravelu

Five books penned by different authors  and published by the Tiruvannamalai-based Vamsi Pathippagam were released here on Saturday.

Four books in Tamil – Sumithra penned by Kalpatta Narayanan, 6174 by K Sudhakar, Thamirabharaniyil Kollappadaathavargal written by Mari Selvaraj, and Nammoduthan Pesugirargal by artists Srinivasan and Balasubramanian and one book in English titled Nothing But Water penned by S Ramakrishnan were released.

Among the books released, Sumithra is the Tamil debut of Kalpatta Narayanan. Originally written in Malayalam as Ithra Mathram, the book was well-received in Kerala in both literature and film dormats. It has been now translated into Tamil by renowned translator K V Shailaja. It was released by film director Balu Mahendra and received by journalist Vijaya Shankar.

The book Nothing But Water is a collection of children’s folklore compiled and written by well-known writer S Ramakrishna. It was originally written in Tamil and has been translated into English by Chaitanya.

The book 6174 is a debut science fiction novel of K Sudhakar and Thamirabharaniyil Kollappadaathavargal is a debut short story collection of Mari Selvaraj, an assistant film director. These books were released by writer Era Murugan and documentary film maker R R Srinivasan respectively and those were received by activist A Muthukrishnan and documentary film maker Revathi.

The book Nammoduthan Pesugirargal is a compilation of discussions that happened between two artists – Srinivasan and Balasubramanian. It was released by film director Bala and received by educationist S K P Karuna.

Releasing the books, director Balu Mahendra said, “If a film director does not have  the knowledge or is in touch with literature, he will not be able to make films.”

Writers Prapanchan, Aadhavan Theetchanya, journalist Kadarkarai were also spoke in the occasion.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / March 12th, 2013

A tale of grit and hardwork

About Chennai(Madras) / TamilNadu, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All

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The history of Parsis in Chennai dates back to 1795 | N Vajiravelu

Though they have always been a small number, from the time the first group of Parsis came to the city from Coorg in 1795, the community has had a major role in shaping the history of the city from the time it was known as Madras.

As per records shared by Zarin Mistry in her series for Madras Musings, Heerjibhai Maneckji Kharas was accompanied by five other Parsis and two priests. It is likely that their decision to settle in Madras was not pre-planned but taken after arrival. They bought a plot in Royapuram, opposite the Catholic Church.’

It was in 1876 that they formed a Parsi Panchayat that comprised 11 members. Donning an important role, in 1893, Cawasji Panday was the first Parsi to be appointed Sheriff of Madras.

But, it was in the turn of the 20th century that turned out to be a glorious period in the history of the community in the city. Becoming prosperous dealers in motor cars and cycles, perfumes and dyes, the Parsis of Madras had a predominant role to play in various fields of occupation and services here, apart from being managers of banks and shops. Some established soda water and ice factories.

In 1906, when the young son of  philanthropist Phiroj M Clubwala died, the shattered family built the Fire Temple in his memory. This Fire Temple in Royapuram known as the Jal Phiroj Clubwala Dar E Meher was consecrated in August 1910. In 2010, the community celebrated the 100th year of the Temple amid pomp and splendour.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Janani Sampath  / ENS – Chennai / March 11th, 2013

Living my dream

Education

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Karthikeyan Subbarayan’s tryst with Germany’s scientific community began at IPK-Gatersleben.

Life’s opportunities as well as my own curiosity led me to Germany as a post-doctoral scientist. After schooling from a municipal elementary school and Anderson Higher Secondary School, Kanchipuram, I did my undergraduation and postgraduation at Madras Christian College (MCC) and VELS University, Chennai, respectively. During my initial college days, I was a member of the Scrub society of the MCC and was involved in the institution’s conservation activities to preserve the 365-acre campus. Later, it drove me to apply biotechnological strategies to conserve medicinal plants during my master and doctoral studies in VELS University.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), India, sanctioned a travel grant to present my doctoral work in a conference at Gent University, Belgium, which provided an opportunity to expose myself to the European scientific environment. Later, I was selected from among the 194 worldwide applicants for the Leibniz-DAAD postdoctoral fellowships. This paved the way to IPK-Gatersleben, Germany. The Genebank at IPK represents one of the largest cryo-collections in the world. Here, my goal is to reveal the undisclosed stress factors in order to improve cryopreservation methodologies.

Deutschland

My experience in Germany has been invaluable. Germans are friendly by nature. In addition to my research activities I learned German and this enabled me to understand the German culture. Above all, the exposure helped me to understand myself. Living away from the comfort zone of home and homeland, made me confident, dynamic and flexible. This is exactly what today’s employers are looking for.

Every place in Germany is picturesque. The place where I lived Gatersleben is a village, and it is here that the international research institute and a world-class industry are located. It is temperate throughout with warm summers and cold winters — prolonged periods of frost or snow are common.

At the IPK, the scientific library and documentation include classic library services and special care databases such as continuous updating and maintenance of the publications, presentations and posters of the scientists. At IPK there are 16 Indian PhD scholars and scientists. We presented Indian values at the ‘The open day festival’ organised every year by IPK which provides a platform to communicate with the Germans. My weekends are usually spent at Gatersleben-Indoor stadium. Sometime I visit Leipzig’s traditional restaurants and pubs. At Leipzig, my favourite is chocolate. It is one of the most popular flavours in the world, and in Germany there is no exception. Chocolate is so loved in Germany that it is engrained into the culture.

Inspiration

The DAAD (The German Academic Exchange Service) offered scholarships and I got the chance to participate in DAAD scholarship-holders meet ’12 in Gottingen, a home of 44 Nobel Prize Winners. This event inspired me to present my paper at the historical Linnean Society, London, in October 2012.

The writer is a post doctoral fellow at In Vitro Storage and Cryopreservation, Group//Genebank Department, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Germany.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> / Features> Education Plus> Colleges  / GOAL POST /  by Dr. Karthikeyan Subbarayan / March 11th, 2013

Pay tyagi pension to wife, says court

Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

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Chennai:

Castigating the Union government for not giving due respect to freedom fighters, the Madras high court came to the rescue of a wife of a freedom fighter and quashed a 1980 Central order, refusing freedom fighter pension, and directed it to pay pension from the date of his application (1980) and family pension to the wife  from the date of his death.

Justice D. Haripa­ranth­aman allowed the petition filed by Ms Palammal, the wife whose husband N. Palaiyan was a freedom fighter.

Palaiyan joined the Indian National Army (INA), led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and fought for freedom. He received freedom fighter pension from the state from 1967. In 1980, he applied to the Union government for pension under the Swat­hantratha Sainik Samman INA pension, along with two co-prisoners’ certificates. The Centre sought some clarifications and he replied. However, his claim was rejected on October 10, 1980 stating that there was some contradiction in his reply. After his death in 1993, and several representations to the Union government for pension, his wife filed the present petition.

Stating that he was quashing the 1980 order, the judge observed there was no contradiction. He said it is not known on what basis the Union government has stated that the British government did not imprison civilian members of INA. If that yardstick is adopted, neither Bose nor Captain Lakshmi would be entitled to pension under the Central scheme as they did not desert the British army. “Therefore, the reason given by the Union government is really a humiliation and not giving due respect to the freedom fighters.”

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> News> Current Affairs  / DC / by J. Stalin / March 10th, 2013

‘Be not job seekers, but job creators’

Business & Economy, Education, Leaders, Records, All

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Rajakumari Jeevagan, Founder and Managing Partner, Wings and Waalai Group of Hotels, Madurai, addressing students as part of Business Line Club lecture at St Mary’s College, Tuticorin. / The Hindu Business Line

Madurai , MARCH 8:

“Be not job seekers, become job creators’’ said Rajakumari Jeevagan, Founder and Managing Partner, Wings and Waalai Group of Hotels and Chairperson of “WE (Women Entrepreneurs)’’ forum of Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Madurai.

She was delivering a lecture on ‘Women Empowerment and Entrepreneurship’ under the Business Line Club of the Department of Commerce, St. Mary’s College, Tuticorin, recently.

The event was sponsored by Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, Tuticorin.

She said India is changing from a traditional society where the duties of women, especially at home as dependents, were stressed more. Today, women are equal partners in the process of growth and development and a significant productive force in the economy. A good number of them have risen to occupy high and commanding posts in public life. But this is not enough. The contribution will become more fulfilling only when they emerge as job creators, and not remain mere job seekers.

Opportunities abound around in their immediate environment. Only they need to be identified and grabbed. The Government aims to empower women and help develop their skill-levels. There are various programmes under implementation and institutions support such programmes, she said.

Citing her own experience, she spoke of the transformation from a humble housewife to an entrepreneur. She observed that one can become an entrepreneur either independently or as a team. Hard work and self-belief, coupled with uninterrupted focus are vital. A larger perspective and a sense of business climate are also necessary. Constant up-gradation of knowledge and a flair for technology adoption will also help women entrepreneurs. Under Indian conditions, circumstances such as family support and background do matter, but not for those who are determined, she said.

The capability for multi-tasking and a search for new things and value addition should be a constant endeavour. She urged the students to penetrate themarket, discover something new and start a business, a product through brand-building.

Earlier, R.Thangapandian, Regional Manager, TMB, explained the schemes of the bank, especially for promotion of education and entrepreneurship. Dr J. Ellora, Head of the Department, was present.

(With inputs from Paul Joseph)

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home> News> Education / by The Hindu Correspondent / Maduran, March 08th, 2013