The students were trained as part of a Music Literacy Project and performed at the TAG Centre on Sunday. / by Special Arrangement / The Hindu
This Margazhi festival, it is not only accomplished artistes but also children from less privileged backgrounds who are taking to the stage.
Dressed in crisp pavadais and veshtis, 20 students from a Chennai Corporation school in Mylapore sang songs by V.V. Sadagopan and Bharathiyar among others at the TAG Centre on Sunday.
They were among the children who were trained as part of the Music Literacy Project at 16 Chennai Corporation schools.
Anil Srinivasan, founder of Rhapsody – music through education, a music initiative that runs the Music Literacy Project along with NGO NalandaWay Foundation said that TAG Centre extended an invitation to the students to perform.
Nalina Kumari, headmistress, Chennai High School, VP Koil Street, Mylapore, said the students were extremely excited. “It was a very good platform for them, and music helps greatly in a child’s development,” she said.
R.T. Chari, managing director, TAG Group of Companies, said he had heard the students earlier this year, and decided to invite them to perform in December as part of the South India Heritage Lecture programme.
“We are planning to give a chance to students from one Chennai Corporation school every year to perform during the music season,” he said.
“The mission is to take music to everybody and also indirectly build a rasika base,” said Sudha Raja, principal faculty, Rhapsody
Mr. Srinivasan said that around 100 students from both top schools and poor socio-economic backgrounds will be performing on December 28 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Mylapore.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai> Margazhi Melodies / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – December 25th, 2013
It will be quite surprising to know that the China Nuclear Corporation is procuring valves from a Madurai-based company and the conveyor belts used in mines across the country are manufactured here. There were many such revelations at ‘Made in Madurai’, the three-day exhibition organised by Madurai District Tiny & Small Scale Industries Association (MADITSSIA) that began on Friday. It is generally assumed that high-end manufacturing in Madurai is negligible and the city’s economy is just about religious tourism. The exhibition is an emphatic announcement that manufacturing is thriving in Madurai and many products manufactured in the city have takers around the globe.
Aruna Alloy Steels Pvt Ltd at the outskirts of the city not only supplies valves made of carbon steel to nuclear plants in China but also supplies stainless steel valves for marine application to European countries including Norway, Germany, the UK. With consistent quality, the international orders were scaling up and the firm is expanding, the company sources said.
Madurai’s journey in manufacturing started in 1889, when Harvey Mills now known as Madura Coats, was set up. In the next few years, 27 more spinning mills came up turning the city into textile hub. Over the years, other industries also came up in the city. Renowned brands like TVS Sri Chakra, Fenner India, Hi-Tech Arai, Thiagaraja Mills, and many brands in food industry like Perry’s biscuits, Sastha oil, Anjali oil, health concerns like AVN Arokya established in Madurai by 1909 and Saibol, the ointment that cures many skin diseases established in 1937, came up. Some of these have carved out a unique name for themselves. For instance, eucalyptus tree in the region is called RS Pathy tree, after the company that started manufacturing medicine from the tree oil in Madurai since 1909.
The 125 stalls in the exhibition is representative of the sectors including engineering & fabrication, press metal components, chemical and allied products, agro products, electrical & electronics, printing & packaging, motor & pumps, paper & paper allied products, auto parts & components, pharmaceuticals, food processing, siddha medicines, granite, textiles & readymade garments, rubber and allied products. “Though many of the trade and industrial ventures were unique to the city in those days, we grew over the period adapting to changing times and technology to spread across the country. Many are not aware that Madurai supplies lot many products nationwide,” V Vinoth of Janatha Syrup company, a leading sarasaparilla (nannari) syrup manufacturer in the city.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by J. Arockiaraj, TNN / December 21st, 2013
Dumping of mine spoils has always been a problem for health and environment. / Photo: Special Arrangement / The Hindu
The drive was carried out near mines in Yercaud, Salem and Coimbatore
Afforestation initiatives in mine spoils in Salem and Coimbatore districts carried out by the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB) during the period 2002-06 has been lauded by the National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board under the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in a documentary film.
The Director of IFGTB, N. Krishna Kumar, said that reclamation of mine spoil land, rehabilitation and restoration of de-graded areas has come in for appreciation. IFGTB carried out the drive in one hectare in areas closer to bauxite mine near Yercaud, in two hectares near magnesite mine in Salem and another two hectares near the lime stone mine in Coimbatore.
Mine spoils is a mixture of minerals, metals, rock fragments, and sub-soils that result from surface mining operations. Dumping of mine spoils had always been a problem for health and environment. To ameliorate the mine spoils, top spoil is spread over it before planting saplings, because top soil has good structure, water holding capacity and beneficial microbes which are very essential for plant growth.
Suitable tree species such as Acacia Auriculformis, Casuarina equisetfolie and Gmelina were inoculated with culture beneficial microbes such as Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Rhizobium Phospobacterium and Azospirillum and then grown in collected mine spoils as potting media.
Seedlings grown in mine spoils with these bio-fertilisers have been improved in terms of growth and biomass. Thus, quality improved seedlings with bio-fertilisers were directly transplanted at the sites.
After this, growth and survival rate are monitored on an annual basis. Seedlings inoculated with beneficial microbes had higher growth and survival rate.
Method of using beneficial microbes for afforestation in mine spoils is cost effective and environment friendly. The reclaimed and rehabilitated sites are fast restoring, increasing the bio-diversity by attracting host of insects, butterflies and birds.
Ecological engineering using soil microbes is a sure way to restore the degraded areas in which public participation is essential, Mr.Krishna Kumar added. Now, IFGTB has specialised teams in the area of mine spoil restoration.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by V. S. Palaniappan / Coimbatore – December 21st, 2013
Mahamaham, the festival celebrated once in 12 years at the temple town of Kumbakonam has been scheduled to be celebrated in the month of February 2016.
Dr N Subbaiyan, Collector, Thanjavur, said that the Chief Minister had during the recent Collectors’ conference in Chennai, instructed to conduct the festival in a befitting manner.Based on this, a review meeting was conducted on Friday.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service – Kumbakonam / December 21st, 2013
A child at the V-Excel Educational Trust during one of the sessions at the centre
For G Balaji, who originally hails from Sivaganga District, shifting to Chennai would have been the last option, if not for his child with autism. Despite having a flourishing retail and wholesale family business, the available intervention programmes in the city made the shift inevitable. He says, “We found out he had ASD when he was two-and-a-half-years old. Initially, we enrolled him at a centre in Tiruchy, but later he needed more specialised help.” Eventually, Balaji and his family moved to Chennai, after much deliberation and now his son, who is 15, is undergoing intervention programme at The Lotus Foundation in Kottivakkam.
Today, his son is well settled in the environment offered by the centre, while Balaji has set up a new business in transportation in Chennai. However, after eight years in the metro, he says he still wishes to get back to his hometown due to the difference in the lifestyle. “My whole family of siblings and other relatives are there back in Sivagangai and ours is a family business. Sometimes, I wish I could just wrap up my business here and head home. But, the fact is that Chennai has been ideal for my son,” he says.
Like Balaji, Esakkiappan a native of Udangudi near Thoothukudi, too, was left with little option to seek treatment for his elder son after the latter was diagnosed with ASD at the age of two. Moving to Tirunelveli that was closer to his hometown, he sought early intervention treatment, but with little avail. After spending almost two years in Palayamkottai, it was time for more comprehensive treatment for his child. Later a shift to Mettur in Salem, too, yielded little benefit and it was in 2009 that Esakkiappan and his family saw a ray of hope when they sought occupational therapy at Vidyasagar in Chennai.
Now, his son, who is 12, is at Sankalp, a learning centre. Shifting his entire family including his parents to Chennai, Esakkiappan says that the shift hasn’t been an easier one for his family and him.
He says, “Chennai was not the first option that we had when we were first looking for an intervention programme. But, it is only here that we have been able to find a complete set of therapies for him.” Nandini Santhanam, founder of The Lotus Foundation, says that in the last five years, she has seen several such migrations, especially by those who hail from the interior villages in the South.
“When you go to the districts the understanding of the skills is not very high though they are very close to the nature. But they feel that city holds a certain promise. I find that more of the migration happens from the interior villages than the middle towns, especially with people from the villages, where absolutely no services are available. In such people, there is a strong will to give their child a better future. They are more adventurous about moving to cities.”
Dr Vasudha Prakash, founder-director of V-Excel Educational Trust that has three centres in the city for children with special needs, says that going by the record of children enrolled at the centre, almost 50 families from various parts of Tamil Nadu and states like Maharashtra and West Bengal have moved to Chennai, in the last decade.
“I have had parents who originally are based in places like Tirunelveli, Madurai, Salem, Tirupur and Palani, even from Solapur in Maharashtra and parts of West Bengal. They would come here for remedial and one on one and they stay back here because things are not better back there,” she says.
To meet the growing requirements in districts today V-Excel has centres in Nasik, Solapur, Erode, Tirunelveli, while another centre is coming up in Tiruchy.
There is another aspect of the migration — one parent shifting to the city, while another stays back in the place of business interest. “We have had children whose parents have chosen to live in different cities,” says Nandini.
She points to examples of single parents who opt for a divorce as they find their spouse’s attitude and approach to ASD to be a hindrance in their child’s progress.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Janani Sampath / December 21st, 2013
A small-time poultry farmer in Cuddalore district was among the first to predict that those investing in finance companies to rear emu birds would be in deep trouble. Having visited an emu farm in a village near Guntur, Andhra Pradesh way back in 1990, Cuddalore-based farmer R Kathamuthu, 45 was convinced that the there was no profit in rearing emus.
He advised several farmers not to invest in emu. A few took him seriously and did not burn their fingers, but the rest suffered huge losses. But, Kathamuthu, who hails from Old Vandipalayam, was selected for an award for the year 2013 for promoting country chicken or ‘naatu kozhi’ in local parlance.
The Chandigarh-based central poultry development organization (CPDO) gave him the national award, recognizing his contribution in the field of ‘desi’ chicken. The CPDO functions under the department of animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries, ministry of agriculture.
Joint secretary (animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries) Sanjay Bose Reddy presented the award to him in the presence of CPDO director K Ravikumar and its Chennai research centre director, P Kanagaraj, at a function on December 12 in Chandigarh. Son of an agricultural coolie S Ramalingam, Kathamuthu was into aqua culture, farming fish and crustaceans, before taking up poultry farming full time. “Aquaculture is a profitable business but very labour-intensive. It is a huge task to maintain the facility,” Kathamuthu said. An article about CPDO’s research centre in Hessaraghatta, Bangalore, in an agriculture magazine, which he came upon accidentally, changed the course of his life. He visited the centre and underwent a week-long training in poultry farming. It was the beginning of a new life for him.
He set up a country chicken farm with an investment of Rs 50,000 in his village in 2000. With tips from the research centre, he developed his farm in a phased manner. His business peaked in the last couple of years, during which he sold more than 2,500 birds every month. The demand for country chicken eggs also soared and he began to sell more than 500 eggs per day at Rs 5 per egg. His clients included hotels from Bangalore, Chennai, Madurai, Trichy and Salem, besides locals. He used to earn more than Rs 1 lakh per month when his business was at a peak.
“The broiler chicken market is volatile. The price of chicken and eggs fluctuate. But there is always great demand for country chicken and eggs,” he said. His wife, K Inbavalli, and his brother-in-law, A Ramadoss, assist him in maintaining the farm. He trains college students and encourages them to set up poultry farms.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City>Chennai> Cuddalore / by Bosco Dominique, TNN / December 17th, 2013
Bishops, priests and pastors representing different denominations from all over the country and 20 foreign countries attended the platinum jubilee conference of the International Missionary Council held at the Madras Christian College on December 13 and 14.
Bishop of Dharmapuri Rev Lawrence Pius and Dr Anand A Samuel, pro-vice-chancellor of Vellore Institute of
Technology, Chennai campus, were among the dignitaries who attended the conference.
“This conference should aim at creating sincere and serious steps for the transformation of poor and also accept the changes in the society and work accordingly,” Pius said in his speech.
The conference discussed the role of churches for the uplift of the poor and the discriminated people in the society.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai> Platinum / TNN / December 17th, 2013
