Monthly Archives: June 2012

NOCL raises $100 million from Singapore-based Trafigura

Business & Economy

Nagarjuna Oil Corporation (NOCL), a part of the Hyderabad-based Nagarjuna group, has raised about $100 million (Rs 553 crore) from Singapore-based crude oil trading major Trafigura to fund its six-million tonne oil refinery project coming up in the Petroleum Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region on the Cuddalore-Nagapattinam stretch in Tamil Nadu.

Disclosing this here on Tuesday, KS Raju, chairman of the Nagarjuna group, said that the company will be raising further funds by diluting its equity in the project. According to him, the group currently holds 40 per cent equity in the project, while it had infused about Rs 800 crore towards the equity.

In April, the Singapore company had reportedly announced plans to pick up a 24 per cent stake in the refinery project for a consideration of $130 million. The proceeds will be used to complete the construction of the project, which is expected to be ready in the later part of next year, according to Raju. The project involves a total investment of about Rs 10,000 crore.

Tata Sons and a German company are among the other equity partners in the project.

Nagarjuna is a diversified conglomerate having interests in power, infrastructure, fertilisers and other sectors. The group is currently undertaking a Rs 5,000-crore expansion of its fertiliser plant at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

Agrichem targets Rs 1,000-crore revenues 
Nagarjuna Agrichem Limited (NACL), a part of the Nagarjuna group, is targeting to achieve the Rs 1000-crore turnover mark, from Rs 600 crore last year, in the next couple of years.

The proposed revenue growth would be achieved by enhancing the exports by way of contract manufacturing as well as through expanding its domestic footprint by 20-25 per cent, said Raju after inaugurating the company’s new research and development (R&D) centre in Hyderabad. The company had invested about Rs 75 crore in the new research facility and its zero-liquid discharge manufacturing facility at Srikakulam, he said.

The company, which currently produces and markets about 45 generic crop protection products across the country, is currently in discussions with 8-10 international players to bring their proprietary products into the Indian market, according to him.

NACL managing director V Vijay Shankar said that they will be introducing two proprietary products owned by multinational companies shortly, mainly in the herbicide category.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Home> Companies & Industry / by BS Reporter / Chennai/Hyderabad / June 13th, 2012

Rahman bags honour

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

It was yet another honour for A R Rahman, when he was named the best music director for Bollywood film ‘Rockstar’, at the 13th IIFA awards in Singapore on Saturday night.

In his acceptance address, the Oscar-Grammy winner said, “I thank the crew of Rockstar, including Mohit Chauhan and Ranbir Kapoor, for their cooperation. Thanks to Javed Akhtar, we can all have our rights to our music now that the Copyright Act has been amended.”

The awards were given away at a glittering ceremony attended by the who’s who of Indian film industry, especially Bollywood. One of the highlights of the show was the stunning dance performance by Prabhu Deva.

Vidya Balan was named the best actress for her portrayal as Silk Smitha in ‘The Dirty Picture’. The actress received the trophy from Kamal Hassan and renowned Hollywood producer Barrie M Osborne.

source: http://www.indiaglitz.com / Monday, June 11th, 2012

Armaan quits Indy, set for GT series

Sports

Armaan quits Indy, set for GT series – DC

Armaan Ebrahim’s path-breaking journey in America’s famous Indy racing series has come to a premature end. The Chennai driver has decided to sever contract with his team, Fan Force United following a string of “unsatisfying results” with the low-budget team. Now, Armaan has set his sights on securing a seat in the FIA GT1 World Championship – a sportscar series that comes to New Delhi in November for its season finale.

“After the last weekend’s race on the streets of Belle Isle Park (Detroit), my dad and I sat down and reviewed the situation. We had no other option than parting ways with the team as it was not the results we were hoping for,” said Armaan.

Armaan competed in five races for the minnows and was placed 10th overall in the championship with 97 points. Out of five races, he had endured problems in three. “I had issues with the tyres in Birmingham and faced engine problems in Long Beach and Indianapolis. The Indy 500 weekend was the biggest disappointment,” explained Armaan.

The youngster has an offer from GT series and will decide about his plans for the rest of season in a week. “Right now, the sensible thing to do is going to Europe. The GT1 has a lot of potential and the fact that the series coming to Buddh International Circuit at the end of the year makes it lucrative,” he added.

Fan Force United team spokesperson said the decision to part ways was mutual. “We are sorry that this partnership has not worked out as we had hoped. Armaan has worked incredibly hard for the team, as has everyone involved, but for whatever reason, things did not click and we did not get the results that were required. We do want to make sure that everybody knows that Armaan lived up to all of his obligations to the team, and that this decision was taken after thorough consideration from both sides and this is related strictly to our on-track goals for the year,” said co-owner Chris Williams.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Channels> Sports> Motor Racing / DC, Chennai / June 07th, 2012

Tamil Nadu to get 76 new hotels

Business & Economy

State tourism minister Gokula Indira inaugurates centre for tourism and hotel management in Madurai Kamaraj University on Wednesday. — DC

The hotel industry in Tamil Nadu is in for a boom with likelihood of 76 new hotels to be established in the state in a couple of years, said state tourism minister S. Gokula Indira.

Inaugurating the centre for tourism and hotel management at Madurai Kamaraj University on Wednesday, she said there was also a possibility of 4 and 5 star hotels with 3,500 rooms coming up across the state.

She was hopeful that the 5-year integrated post graduate programme on tourism and hotel management, to be offered by the university from this academic year, would help students get employment in star hotels and draw salaries at par with IIT students.

Having realised the importance of tourism and scope for growth, the varsity proposed the programme and admit about 120 students, she said, appreciating effort of vice chancellor Kalyani Mathivanan.

While 77 colleges in southern districts are affiliated to MKU, three more would be added, as CM Jayalalithaa has ordered to start colleges in Tirumangalam, Vedasanthur and Aruppukottai from this academic year, she said, pointing out that AIADMK government has allotted Rs 15,000 crore for education.

VC Kalyani Mathivanan said the varsity has planted seeds for two ambitious projects — tourism and hotel management programme and opening a multi-speciality health centre for those living on campus and in its vicinity.

She said tourism and hotel management have become areas of prime concern with increasing tourists and expanding global markets. It is one of the largest service industries, providing 8.78 per cent employment in India.

The centre would focus on cardiology, gynaecology, diabetes, dentistry and ophthalmology, she said.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Channels> Cities> Regions> Madurai / DC, June 07th, 2012

IIT Madras to tie up with Automation Industry Association to enhance research projects

Education, Science & Technologies

Chennai:

The Indian Institute of Technology – Madras has planned to tie up with the Automation Industry Association to set up a centre of excellence in the field in Chennai. The collaboration will enable the institute to get industry inputs in developing curriculum, and come up with industry-relevant and need-based research projects.

A memorandum of understanding will be signed between IIT-M and the association on June 7 in this regard. Each participating company will bring a ‘mentor’ and a subject matter or domain expert. There will be joint development of curriculum, research projects, individual technology demonstrations, and training workshops under the MOU. The idea is to infuse contemporary technology and content into the educational system.

Industrial automation is the use of control systems such as computers to control industrial machinery and processes, replacing human operators. In the scope of industrialization, it is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provides human operators with machinery to assist them with the physical requirements of work, automation greatly reduces the need for human sensory and mental requirements as well.

Leading players in the field of automation, such as B&R Automation, Larsen & Toubro Control and Automation, Invensys Process Management and Siemens Limited, have announced immediate participation in the project with their state-of-the-art technologies. PV Sivaram, MD, B&R Industrial Automation and an alumnus of IITM, said, “The challenge here is to share and excite a global industrial vision amongst the new breed of B.Tech and M.Tech graduates.”

K Nandakumar, vice-president of the association, AIA, said the tie-up is an opportunity to showcase success ideas and to interact with emerging technical talent and users.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Education / by M Ramya / June 06th, 2012

Trichy tailors against distribution of school uniform orders

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Education, Uncategorized

Trichy:

Women belonging to the Cauvery Women Tailors’ Cooperative Association, Trichy on Monday submitted a petition to district collector Jayashree Muralidharan seeking her intervention to not divert orders for stitching school uniforms to unregistered tailors citing time constraints.

In their petition, the women coming under categories like below poverty line, widows, destitutes and differently-abled persons were given orders from the district social welfare office to stitch school uniforms for government and aided schools in Trichy district. The association has been in existence for the past 29 years and was providing employment to the poor women to run their families.

Earlier, the officials gave enough time for delivering the stitched uniforms. However, last year after the then state government’s decision to provide two sets of school uniforms to the students, the special officer Veeramani sought the tailors to finish the task within a day, failing which he diverted the orders to unregistered tailors in Sivaganga district. Due to this, the tailors had faced a loss of income last year. Unfortunately, the uniforms could not be used as they were declared unfit. This year, the state government has ordered to provide four sets of uniforms to the students. The tailors claimed that the special officer is again trying to give the orders to outsiders.

According to official sources, as many as 1.50 lakh students in the district benefited every year. In the wake of the government order, the number of school uniform sets would go up this year. So, the officials shared the orders to tailors in Sivaganga district to complete it on time. Previously, the tailors were given five months time to complete the orders. But this year, the time is very limited. So this year also, the government gave very limited time to complete the order before June 10.

When contacted K Yasodhai, district social welfare officer, Trichy said that since the petition was submitted to the district collector, she cannot comment on the issue.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Madurai> Collections / TNN / May 29th, 2012

Comics depict Thanjavur history

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

For fans of the classic Amar Chitra Katha, there’s a Tamil Nadu twist.  The ACK Media is launching their new Amar Chitra Katha titled Thanjavur, City of Brihadeeswara.

The new title narrates the story of Thanjavur, home to the 1,000-year-old Brihadeeswara Temple, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

The comic book highlights the history and the large number of myths and local legends associated with it. These stories, put together, make an interesting read for both children and adults. The comic will also create interest in tourists who wish to know more about the town and its unique identity.

Shutdown a damp squib in state

In the state, the shutdown organised by the opposition parties against the petrol price hike was pretty much a damp squib. Most people did not even realise that there was a shutdown. While the cadre of the political parties managed to disrupt traffic for a while in several parts of the city, life went on as usual. Around 650 people were arrested by the police on Thursday.

Race for ‘Kahaani’ intensifies

Everyone is talking about the remake of Kahaani in Tamil and Telugu, especially because tongues are wagging on who is going to reprise Vidya Balan’s role. The two actresses in the race are Nayanthara and Anushka Shetty.  While Anushka’s name has been on for a while, Nayan is the new entrant.

source: http://www.omantribune.com / Saturday, June 02nd, 2012

A stimulating treatment for ailments

Science & Technologies

Coimbatore:

The ancient practice of treating patients for various ailments by activating the vital points in the body called Varmam Kalai is gaining ground in the state. This time around it is not only Siddha practitioners who seem keen on learning the therapy, but allopathic doctors too are open to practicing it along with their standard treatment procedures.

In the recently concluded first international conference on medical varmalogy organised by Arts Research Institute (ARI) in Coimbatore, more than 200 medical practitioners, most of them allopathy doctors, participated in it. “Doctors have not suddenly developed interest in Varmam Kalai. It has taken several years of research to make them believe that varmalogy can successfully coexist with allopathic treatment,” said Suresh Manoharan, secretary, ARI.

The word ‘varmam’ denotes energy flow in the body, also known as life energy. The points where this energy resides in the body are identified as varmam points. The basic objective of the varmam system of medicine is to stimulate these points using palms, fingers, etc., to cure diseases, he explained.

He said doctors who researched and practiced the art were able to successfully treat 27 diseases including arthritis, chronic renal failure, bleeding disorders, facial palsy, diabetes and asthma. Where allopathy treatment has failed, like in the treatment of autism, varmalogy theraphy has helped, he added.

Siddha practitioners have also shown keen interest as medical varmalogy is included in their scope of study. So far, 2000 of them have learned the art. Meanwhile, 250 ayurveda doctors have been trained in the art. Suresh said that nearly 3000 patients receive varmam treatment each month at the institute.

He said the power of varmalogy is such that a single varmam point can be utilized to treat as many as 42 diseases. Explaining how varmalogy works he said the disease or the problem occurs when an organ or a point loses its energy or has excess. By stimulating these energies those areas or organs can again be activated or revitalized.

The advantage of varmam kalai is it works well in conjunction with other systems of medicine, like allopathy, homeopathy, siddha and ayurveda and is a holistic system for disease prevention. Besides it promotes effective life-style management, he said.

Shiny Richard, a resident of Nilgiris, whose 15-year-old child Sneha Merlin was suffering from thyroid and autoimmune disorder, has seen a remarkable change in the past one year after she underwent Varmalogy therapy. “Initially, my daughter had fever and it failed to subside despite several doses of medication. The overdose of medicines and steroids made her very uncomfortable. However, once she started varma therapy she does not require any medication and her dosage of steroids too has been reduced,” Shiny said.

“They have been stimulating points on my neck, thyroid gland, knee, ribcage, head, elbows and foot. I am feeling much better now,” said Sneha.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / by C P Sajit / June 02nd, 2012