Chennai’s three teams, including that from IIT Madras, have featured in the top 10 list of the INDIAFRICA Business Venture Competition.
“Two teams from IIT Madras and one from Loyola Institute of Business Administration have been ranked among the Top 10 from India at the 3rd INDIAFRICA Business Venture Competition,” a release said today.
The top 10 teams also include three teams from Delhi and one team each from Hyderabad, Mumbai, Vijayawada and Mumbai.
The competition is open to students and young entrepreneurs from Africa and India.
It is organised by IdeaWorks as part of the ‘INDIAFRICA: A Shared Future’ programme supported by Ministry of External Affairs.,
It offers an outreach and people to people contact programme to forge partnerships between young people of Africa and India.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National> News / by Press Trust of India / Chennai – May 19th, 2014
Tributes being paid to Dr Ida Scudder at her tomb in Vellore on Saturday | express
Vellore :
Dr Ida Scudder, founder of the Christian Medical College (CMC) here, was remembered on her 54th death anniversary on Saturday. M Gunaseakaran, head of the NGO ‘Dr Ida Anbukarangal’ paid tributes at her cemetery.
The idea of establishing the hospital was conceived in 1890 when Ida had come from the US to Vellore to help her missionary parents. She was requested by three men to help their wives who were in labour pain. Young Ida not being a doctor then, was afraid and reluctant to offer help, following which all three women died. The incident changed her views and inspired her to take up gynaecology as a profession. Ida died a spinster aged 90 in 1960.
The hospital was established in 1900 as a single-bed dispensary with the help of a grant from New York-based banker Schell. In 1903, Ida began training several compounders and six years later in 1909, she started the School of Nursing. Her most treasured dream was realised when a medical school for women was started in 1918, which trained licentiates in medicine and through her efforts it became a Medical College in 1942.
Today, the college offers 85 recognised training programmes in medicine, nursing and allied health fields. Now, the hospital is a 2,500-bed super-specialty facility attracting patients from all over.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / May 25th, 2014
The Nilgiris Collector P.Sankar giving away a prize at the 13th Rose Show in Udhagamandalam on Sunday. / Photo: D. Radhakrishnan / The Hindu
The curtain came down on the 13th Ooty Rose Show at the Government Rose Garden (GRG) here on Sunday.
Participating as the Chief Guest in the valedictory function, the Nilgiris Collector, P. Sankar, said all forms of vegetation emerging from forests had long been considered as the mother of agriculture.
The annual Summer Festival of which the Rose Show was a part was being celebrated in honour of the forests and hills.
He pointed out that the Himalayas alone boasted 30 varieties of forests.
Adverting to roses, their origin, benefits and the role they played in conveying different kinds of messages and feelings, Mr. Sankar said that they had enormous medicinal value.
The GRG has the potential to be promoted as a place for eco therapy and a research facility.
Starting with just ten varieties in 1995 it now has about 27,000 plants representing 4000 varieties.
The Joint Director of Horticulture, R. Kathiravan, welcomed the gathering.
The Deputy Director of Horticulture, N. Mani, proposed a vote of thanks.
The Rolling Cup for the Outstanding Rose Garden (above 500 bushes) went to M.A. Khan of Golkonda House, Ooty.
The Sterling Biotech Company, Sandynullah, walked away with the trophy for the best collection of roses in pots.
A special prize for the best bloom in show also went to Sterling Biotech Company. The Saint Josephs Boys Higher Secondary School, Coonoor, bagged the rolling cup for outstanding rose arrangements.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Cities> Coimbatore / by D. Radhakrishnan / Udhagamandalam – May 12th, 2014
Forest department hatchery at Besant Nagar beach that preserves turtle eggs under safe temperatures (Photo: DC)
Chennai:
In a rare and massive exercise, the Chennai wildlife team, which collected close to 10,000 Olive Ridley turtle eggs along the Marina coast, has successfully released 8,834 hatchlings in a phased manner. On the eve of World Turtle Day the foresters reviewed the hatching rate and the mortality rate of the young ones that were released into the sea between Neelangarai and Marina beach.
“After 25 years, more than 10,000 turtle eggs have been collected by the Chennai wildlife staff along the Marina coastline and close to 90 per cent of eggs have hatched and we are hopeful that these endangered species will visit the Chennai coast as adults,” said Velachery ranger S David Raj.
“The forest department had envisaged a special conservation programme since last year to protect the Olive Ridleys that nest in Chennai. The city is one of the largest nesting grounds for the marine turtles, after the Odisha coast, and we have also intensified programmes for fishermen, advising them to use turtle excluder nets”, said Geethanjali, wildlife warden, Chennai.
“In Chennai, to mark World Turtle Day, the city-based Sea Turtle Protection Force will release a rescued female Ridley turtle, Pallavi. The turtle had injured her left front flipper when it got entangled in a fishing net,” said marine conservationist Supraja Dhairni of the Tree Foundation.
Meanwhile, similar drives were conducted in other coastal districts, including Kanyakumari and Nagapattinam districts. “The turtle plays a key role in the marine environment and groups were formed in the coastal villages of Kanyakumari to collect eggs. The team spotted nests and about 950 eggs were collected and hatchlings released near the Rajakamangalam coastal village,” said S. S. Davidson, a naturalist and conservationist.
In Nagapittanam over 4,400 Olive Ridley turtles, have been let out into the sea over the past three months from a government run hatchery at Kodiakarai in the district, forest ranger Gopinathan said. Kodiakarai and Vedaranyam are areas that attract a large number of Ridleys each year during the December-March nesting season.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC Special Correspondent / May 23rd, 2014
Chennai boy Karthik Sriram, from Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam, stole the limelight topping the ICSE (Indian Certificate for Secondary Education) class-10 scores in Tamil Nadu in the results announced on Wednesday. He scored 98.20 per cent. “I am thrilled. I got 98 percent in Tamil, 99 in Maths, 95 in English, 96 in science and 99 in history. I have decided to take the science group”, Karthik said.
The second rank in the state has gone to T. Venkat of the Virudhunagar TSM Manickam Nadar School in Madurai with 97.80 percent aggregate. “I am preparing for getting into the IIT”, said Venkat. While boys bagged both the top ranks in the state, the girl students did slightly better overall, scoring 99.80 percent passes while the boys got 99.42 percent passes.
Academic coordinator Shobana Balaji of Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam is understandably excited, not just about Karthik’s top rank but also by the overall performances of her 51 students who took the ICSE exams this year. “Five of our children scored centum in computer science and two got centum in maths”, she told DC.
More than 2,000 students from 54 ICSE schools took the exams. ICSE chief executive secretary Gerry Aroothan said the southern region has excelled in the results and particularly, schools in Tamil Nadu did extremely well scoring 99.59 percent passes.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC / by Pramila Krishnan / May 22nd, 2014
Planes have started to roll on the country’s first runway with a bridge. Two flights — an A320 and a B737 — landed on the secondary runway at Chennai airport on Saturday, for the first time after it was extended across Adyar river at a cost of 550 crore.
The pilots had to peer out of the cockpit to control the plane’s altitude, speed and navigate because instrument landing system (ILS), which sends out signals that help a jetliner to home in on a runway, has not been installed.
An Air India Port Blair-Chennai flight was the first to land on the runway at 2.42pm and a Jet Airways flight from Goa to Chennai landed at 4.16pm. It was part of Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) efforts to commission the runway for use.
“Pilots followed visual flight rules as the runway does not have ILS. The runway was found to be fine and the landing proved that A320 and B737 can use it for landing without hassle,” said a senior AAI official.
The AAI has decided to use the second runway only when main runway is closed for maintenance. Besides the fact that it does not have ILS, there are restrictions on its usable length and available space for flight movement.
Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) cleared the runway as safe for use in March. Officials were satisfied with the third-party study conducted by Anna University after aviation experts raised concerns on safety of the runway bridge.
The bridge was built to extend the runway length to 11,500ft. In June 2013, DGCA asked the AAI to appoint an independent agency to evaluate the structural safety of the runway bridge. tnn
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / May 11th, 2014
Elango Tamilvendan, a Plus-Two student of Valluvar Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Arakkonam, has achieved something rather different. He has secured centums in four subjects — Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Computer Science. He scored 179 in Tamil and 181 in English taking his total to 1,160/1,200.
“I want to be a ‘sincere’ government servant after my studies in Electronics and Communication engineering at the Anna University,” Tamilvendan said, adding, “If I joined a multinational company with a fat salary package, I alone will be happy. But as a government employee, I can make hundreds of people happy.”
Topper Aspires CA
Maria Baptist Anitha of Auxilium Girls HSS in Vellore, who secured 200/200 in statistics with a group total of 798 and grand total of 1,181/1,200 and got State third rank in Statistics, desires to be a Chartered Accountant.
“I started working for the exam right from the beginning of the year. My parents and teachers extended full support,” said Anitha who secured 200 in Economics, 199 each in Commerce and Accountancy, 191 in Tamil and 192 in English.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / May 11th, 2014
A gathering of around 50 people were present to listen to an engaging talk aptly titled ‘A Colour of Tragedy and Opportunity’ by Mark Balmforth / by Special Arrangement / Th e Hindu
Mark Balmforth’s engaging talk on the root diggers and dyers of Jaffna time-travelled through history
Inside the towering and majestic Leela Palace hotel emerges the forgotten tale of a lost people; the ‘chay’ root diggers and dyers of Jaffna. A gathering of around 50 people were present to listen to an engaging talk aptly titled ‘A Colour of Tragedy and Opportunity’ by Mark Balmforth, a doctoral student from Columbia University. As a part of his thesis on the social changes of Tamils in Jaffna, Balmforth has embarked on a journey to unearth the ‘chay’ root or chayaver(Srilankan Tamil), and the hands that dug them. He has spent eight months in Madurai learning Tamil, and travelled to Jaffna in search of their story.
This root (Oldenlandia umbellata) still grows commonly across the coastal areas of Andhra, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, however the prime variant is found in the northern Tamil regions of Sri Lanka. The root itself is a long, wiry branch that stretches deep beneath the earth, and to procure a mere handful takes a laborious few hours. Once sun-dried, powdered, and chemically consolidated through a series of boiling, it yields a scarlet dye that can be toned to red, orange, and purple. It was once used for fabric, clothing design, baskets, and other daily products. It was also used medicinally as a haemostatic. Unlike indigo and its historical trajectory which is widely known and documented, thechayaver has been neglected to a point of oblivion.
Balmforth delves into the social history of the community who worked with this root as bonded labourers during the colonial era first during Dutch rule, and later British. They belonged to the lowest strata of the caste system and were collectively referred to as ‘Verkuthi’ — literally root diggers. However other than existing as a low-caste community, it is unclear as to what their rightful origins were as far as Balmforth has hitherto discovered. “I need to get arm-deep into evidence before I can grasp the subject fully, just like with the actual root,” he remarks.
For colonial trade and revenue purposes these people through generations were forced into the occupation but with the commencement of synthetic dye production from 1850 onwards, both the indentured labour and the art of dyeing with the chayaver came to an end. A community once depended upon to provide the colour of passion, power, and blood seems to simply vanish in terms of occupational and artistic existence. Scarce documentation available locally pertaining to their occupational history and conversion of many root diggers to Christianity makes it an arduous task to trace their genealogy.
On a trip to Jaffna, Balmforth encountered an 81-year-old siddharvaidyar whose ancestor had been a root digger, and narrates his memories and the knowledge that was orally passed down to him. He emphasises in particular that root dyeing was not simply an occupation, but craftsmanship — a forgotten one. “This man has a mental map of plants and their uses all across the Tamil landscape of Ceylon, which is a beautiful thing,” Balmforth says in awe.
The academic explains his fascination for the layers in symbolism of the red yielded by the root, connoting not only to slavery, but also the art that came from it.
This event was hosted at the Leela Galleria in association with Apparao Galleries.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Events / by Radhika Dontala / Chennai – May 11th, 2014
The pioneer of the 24-hour medical clinic in Malaysia, Dr K.M. Reddy, has died at the age of 88.
Dr Reddy, who set up 25 clinics nationwide more than 50 years ago, died in London on April 19.
Dr Romel D’Silva, who ran one of his clinics and worked with him for about 40 years, described him as “a man for all seasons, who would help people regardless of their background”.
“The clinics were his innovation, his brainchild. There were none in Malaysia at the time and so he contributed a lot in this regard,” he said.
Dr Reddy was the eldest son of a landowning family in Madras, India. After graduating from Madras Medical College, he travelled to Malaysia in 1952 to further his career in medicine, dedicating his first 10 years to government service.
He started his career at the Penang General Hospital, which was then considered the medical headquarters of Malaysia.
“He started out as a general practitioner at the Penang General Hospital looking after the TB clinic there, and later a leprosy clinic in Pulau Jerejak,” Dr D’Silva said.
“In 1957, he went on to become director and head of the Sungai Buloh leprosy settlement, the second largest leprosy settlement in the world.”
There, Dr Reddy was dedicated to eliminating public prejudice against leprosy and assisting patients in their return to society.
“He was the first to start discharging leprosy patients. However, the government at the time thought it unsafe, even though by then they were not infectious or posed any threat to society,” Dr D’Silva said.
He left in 1965 to open his own private practice in Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, which he ran daily until 9pm.
“His practice soon got a lot busier and it was then he thought it best that he run it for 24 hours,” Dr D’Silva said.
The clinic was equipped with advanced facilities and was staffed by four doctors.
“The original clinic was the biggest and busiest. After a while, he encouraged the doctors there to set up more branches elsewhere,” he said.
“The first branch was in Jalan Othman, Petaling Jaya, and the second in Setapak. By the time I first met him, he had set up 21 more clinics.”
Dr Reddy was a founding member of the Malaysian Medical Association. His pioneering work was at the forefront of rehabilitation projects, which the World Health Organisation and International Leprosy Association helped to develop further.
He was known to treat those in greatest need without charge. Such was his generosity that when in Bagan Datoh, Perak, he was known to receive gifts of coconuts in lieu of payment.
He moved to England in the 1970s where his five children and six grandchildren were educated and settled. Among his four daughters and a son, two of them — one daughter and the son — also became doctors.
Dr Reddy’s eldest daughter Jothi, who is a lawyer, said her father’s natural kindness and generosity carried over among his own children.
“He would often offer free services to those who couldn’t afford them,” she said.
“He was also a mentor to many and helped guide and inspire others to achieve their very best.”
Image: Fathima Shabana with her mother Bahira Begum Photographs: Sreeram Selvaraj
Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
Meet Fathima Shabana who’s cleared her JEE (Main) and wants to study computer science from an IIT.
It has been a week since the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) results were released, and yet, the smile on 17-year-old Fathima Shabana’s face has still not diminished. After all, she has been working hard for the last four years; and she has just cleared the JEE (Main). This means that she has already made the grade to go to an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) or National Institute of Technology (NIT) or state engineering institutions that will offer seats on the basis of JEE (Main) merit list like the Anna University in Tamil Nadu.
If she manages to make it through to the JEE (Advanced) examination on the May 25, she might well make it into an IIT!
Fathima’s is no mean achievement, especially when you look at her background. Her father, Shahul Hameed, dropped out after Class VIII and her mother didn’t continue past primary school.
Ever since he made his way to Chennai from Siruthondanalloor village in Thoothukudi district in search of a job almost two decades ago, Shahul Hameed has been washing dishes and serving food at a pushcart eatery.
His day starts very early in the morning, before the city wakes up, and ends only by 10 at night. For all of this, he takes home Rs 300 a day.
Ever since he was told of his daughter’s phenomenal achievement, he has been a happy and proud man. “My daughter has made me very proud. She was always an extremely hard working child, and I always knew that she would pass all of her exams with flying colours. I could not afford to send her to a private school. So, I sent her and my son to a corporation school so that we didn’t have to pay for their fees and textbooks.”
“It has always been her dream to be an engineer. But I earn only Rs 300 a day; I do not have the wherewithal to send her to an engineering college. I grow distressed just thinking of shattering my daughter’s dreams. But I am sure some good soul will come forward to help her pursue her dreams,” he says, while making dosas for a customer.
Image: Fathima Shabana’s father Shahul Hameed sells dosas and earns Rs 300 a day. Photographs: Sreeram Selvaraj
Her equally proud mother, Bahira Begum, said, “Neither me nor my husband could study much. But we made sure that our children studied, and studied well at that. We thought we should give them an education even if we had to borrow money to do so. We first sent Fathima to a private school, but we soon found that we could not afford to educate our children in a private school. We had to then move both of them to a corporation school. But in spite of that, not once did I have to tell Fathima to sit down and study. She was always happier among her books than she was playing with other girls of her age. She would sit at home and write something all the time.
In fact, I would tell her to take a break and go out and play. But she never would.”
Bahira remembers that her daughter never asked her for a new dress, or expressed her desire to go watch a movie. “She was not interested in anything but her studies. Even if we called her to go out, she would not come. Even as a small child, she was obsessed with her education and always wanted to come first in class.”
“God has been kind to me. It was because of God’s gift that I was able to focus on my education. I love Mathematics and can solve mathematical problems for hours together without feeling bored,” Fathima said.
When she was in Class IX, a private IIT-JEE coaching institute came to her school to select good students and offer them free coaching. She was among the nine students selected after a screening test.
When she told her mother that she wanted to attend JEE coaching classes, she told her that they could not afford to send her to a tuition class. But her school head master was insistent.
“He came home and convinced us that Fathima would never get such an opportunity in her life, and that we should not deny it to her. We had to agree to send her to coaching classes.”
As the institute was far away from her home, it was past 9 in the evening by the time she got back home. “So, I would study until midnight and get up by 6 in the morning to do all the home work.”
So focussed was she on her studies that from first standard onwards, she was either first or second in school.
After scoring 83 per cent in her Class X Board exams, she went back to the same school and continued her preparation for the JEE. “I was happy after I finished the JEE (Main) exam. I knew I did well, especially my Mathematics paper. Yes, I was expecting a good result, but when I finally saw online that I had cleared the Main exam, I couldn’t believe it. I called my father and conveyed the good news to him. He was overjoyed, as was my mother.”
Image: Fathima Shabana with her mother Bahira Begum and brother Arshad Saliq Photographs: Sreeram Selvaraj
Bahira also was confident of her daughter getting in. “I know nothing about colleges. I only knew that she would get admission in to a very good college somewhere in India because of how hard she worked. However, in our community, we do not send our girls to far-off places. So, I hope she gets admitted to an engineering college in Chennai.”
Whenever Fathima expressed her desire to become an engineer, her mother would tell her not to dream so high because of the financial constraints they faced in the family.
Now that she is going to write the JEE (Advanced) exam on May 25, her dream is to get selected to study Computer Science at an IIT. “I love computer science. I do not have a computer at home, but we have one in our school that we get to operate. I enjoy working on the computer.”
Fathima’s brother, Arshad Saliq, who studies in Class IX, has someone to look up to now. “I also top my class, but now, I want to emulate my sister. I want to study in an IIT.”
Fathima’s dream is “to get a good job so that my father will not have to struggle as hard to make ends meet.”
The family strongly believes that it was all because of the blessings of God that Fathima could achieve something that her parents could never even dream of.
“When we thank God, we also pray that He would show us a way to give Fathima what she wants. When we let her study, not even in our wildest dreams did we think that she would make both of us, practically illiterate as we are, so proud,” said Bahira on a parting note.
source: http://www.rediff.com / rediff.com / Home> Get Ahead / May 14th, 2014
