Category Archives: Business & Economy

Plans to maximise business, tourism potential of Tiruchi

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

Tiruchi Intra-City Development Endeavours inaugurated by MP

Tiruchi Intra-City Development Endeavours (TIDES), an organisation envisaged as a forum and think-tank for development of the city, has planned a meeting with heads of local businesses as an initial step towards its goals of maximising the city’s potential for investment, business and tourism.

Repository on urban development

Envisaged as a forum for members to compare notes on responsibilities and experiences in planning and development of the city, TIDES was inaugurated at a meeting presided over by P. Kumar, Member of Parliament.

The organisation which hopes to function as a repository of information on urban development is compiling various documentaries with statistics projecting business and tourism potential of the city, said A.R.Yogandran, member, executive committee, TIDES. These documentaries would be screened during the meeting.

The data would be disseminated through seminars, conferences, and publications by TIDES. The forum would also act as facilitator between organisations, institutions keen on city development.

TIDES has put forward 13 chief appeals to the Mr. Kumar at the meeting. Among the appeals presented by TIDES is the inclusion under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, that funds various urban development projects, said Kanagarajan, Secretary, TIDES. Improving recreation facilities in the city and projecting the city as a tourism destination are focus areas of the forum.

The lion’s share of representation by TIDES has been towards developing connectivity to the city.

Holding air traffic as crucial to promoting the city as tourist destination, TIDES has appealed for speeding up expansion of runway, resuming curtailed services by Air India Express, and introduction of more domestic services, particularly to Mumbai and Delhi.

Other demands include environment friendly traffic signals and proper bus terminuses at K.K.Nagar, Srirangam and Thuvakudi. Other appeals are oft-reiterated demands by various city forums, like establishment of an integrated bus stand and shifting Gandhi Market. On the educational front appeals are for making Tiruchi as centre for JEE, CAT entrance exam and counselling for Anna University, said Prem Kumar, President of TIDES.

G. Ravichandran, president, Tiruchi Travel Federation, M Ponnilango, vice president, Maluk Mohamed, principal, MAM College of Engineering and Parthasarathy, director, Baby Engineering, were present.

  • TIDES is compiling documentaries with statistics projecting business and tourism potential of city
  • Improving recreational facilities in the city, a major focus of the forum
  • _______________________________________________________________________________________
source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Staff Reporter / Tiruchi, January 17th, 2013

IIT-Madras ready for mass production of artificial blood

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Education, Records, All, Science & Technologies

Chennai:

IIT – Madras  scientists have blood on their hands — and nobody is complaining. A team of scientists from the department of engineering design has been successful in creating enough red blood cells  from stem cells to be used as  ‘artificial blood’ in people who need transfusion.

Having proved their oxygen-carrying capacity, the RBCs will now go into ‘mass production’ before starting human trials in three years, scientists said. The IIT team recently got a funding approval from the Union ministry of science and technology to produce artificial blood on an industrial scale. This blood would be tested on animals before human trials. If the trials prove successful, it will help hospitals overcome shortage of blood and save many accident victims.

“We will be able to provide any amount of safe and disease-free blood at half the cost of blood sold now,” said the study’s principal investigator, Dr Soma Guhathakurta, a visiting professor at the department of engineering design IIT-M.

In the past few months, Dr Soma and her team of researchers have made trillions of red blood cells – the carrier of hemoglobin that delivers oxygen to various body tissues and clears up carbon dioxide – on a Petri dish. They cultured adult stem cells derived from cord blood in the presence of some “easily nutritional supplements” for 17 days in the lab.

The stem cells, which are undifferentiated cells with the potential to turn into any cell, developed into red blood cells. The department of biotechnology (DBT) has recently approved a proposal from the scientists to develop a bio-reactor for large-scale production of artificial blood. The reactor will be built with support of IIT’s biotechnology department.

“We will simultaneously process papers for performing animal trials with the artificial blood. It will first be tested on anemic mice. If they are able to accept it and survive, we will take it to the next level,” he said. Scientists across the world have been working on artificial blood. While a French team has started human trials, a UK team is all set to follow suit. Dr Soma, a heart surgeon, says their research is different because unlike other cases, they have been able to exclusively produce red blood cells. So far nobody has been able to mass produce only red blood cells.

“Almost all earlier attempts have had at least 40% of white blood cells in the culture. Introducing such artificial blood into a patient with a weak immune system could be tricky. As a surgeon, I would prefer only red blood cells,” she said.

The IIT scientists  say they did not use any expensive enzyme or growth factors. “Despite this, the yield was a billion times high. In a typical RBC blood bag, there are about a trillion (1 followed by 12 zeros) red blood cells. On our Petri dish we had a yield of about a quadrillion (1 followed by 15 zeros) cells from the starting point of about a million stem cells,” said Venkatesh Balasubramanian, associate professor in the department of engineering design.

The World Health Organization says a country needs a minimum stock of blood equal to 1% of its population. This means India needs 12 million units of blood, but collects only nine million units annually, though demand has gone up drastically. The cost of blood has gone up in the last few years as blood has to be subjected to several tests to ensure it is disease-free, says Dr K Selvaraju, former state blood transfusion officer. This could be avoided in artificial blood.

It may take at least five years for artificial blood to be available for clinical use as large-scale trials will follow. The research hasn’t been published in peer-reviewed science journals owing to the intellectual property concerns of the scientists. The researchers have applied for an Indian patent and are considering an international patent.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> India / by Pushpa Narayan, TNN / January 12th, 2013

15 per cent growth in capacity of ports: Vasan

Business & Economy, Science & Technologies

Union Shipping Minister G. K. Vasan (centre) presents a cheque for Rs. 50 lakh to V. Shanta, Director, Cancer Institute, Adyar at a function in Chennai on Wednesday. / Photo: R. Ravindran / The Hindu

Cumulative capacity has crossed 1200 million tonnes a year

Union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan gave Rs 50 lakh financial assistance to Cancer Institute, Adyar, on behalf of three major ports in the State, which made the donation as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes.

Handing over a cheque to V. Shanta, Director, Cancer Institute, at a function here on Wednesday, Mr. Vasan said that Chennai Port Trust had handled 41.88 million tonnes of cargo till January 15, 2013, and this was expected to reach 53.50 million tonnes by the end of this financial year.

While VOC port in Tuticorin has handled 22.13 million tonnes and expected to reach 28.50 million tonnes, Ennore port handled 12.21 million tonnes and this would reach 15 million tonnes by end of this fiscal.

Stating that the capacity of Indian ports has grown by 15 per cent per year for the past two years, he said cumulative capacity of Indian ports had crossed 1200 million tonnes per annum.

Of the 42 projects planned under public-private participation (PPP) mode with an investment of Rs 14,750 crore, Mr. Vasan said tenders have already been floated for 17 with capacity of 52 million tonnes per annum at a cost of Rs 3600 crore.

Funds earmarked

In line with the Shipping Ministry’s guidelines that every port must earmark three to five per cent of the previous fiscal’s net profit for CSR activities for 2012-13 fiscal, Chennai Port Trust, Ennore Port Limited and VOC Port Trust have earmarked Rs 77 lakh, Rs 2.72 crore and Rs 3.06 crore respectively.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by Special Correspondent / Chennai, January 17th, 2013

Jaya unveils Pennycuick memorial, announces one for Karikala Chola

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Uncategorized

LOWER CAMP (THENI): Chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday inaugurated a memorial for British engineer  Col John Pennycuick , who was instrumental in building the 118-year-old Mullaperiyar dam that has remained the lifeline of five districts in southern Tamil Nadu, at the Lower Camp in Theni district.

Nestled in the foothills of lush green western ghats, the memorial announced exactly a year ago when the protest over Mullaperiyar rights was at its peak between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The inauguration of the Rs 1.25 crore memorial, coincides with the birth anniversary of Pennycuick, who is regarded as a demigod by the farmers in Theni.

Inaugurating the memorial, Jayalalithaa announced that a similar memorial would be built for Karikal Chola, one among the popular Chola kings, who built Grand Anicut (Kallanai) across river Cooleroon.

“Kallanai is much older than the Mullaperiyar dam. It was an engineering marvel built more than 2,000 years and continuing to benefit crores of people even today. It is the oldest among the dams still in use. A memorial would be built to honour and express gratitude to Karikal Chola,” Jayalalithaa said.

Narrating the legal struggles by Tamil Nadu government in exercising its rights over Mullaperiyar dam, she said that the case was being heard in the Supreme Court. “The empowered committee constituted by the Supreme Court had submitted its report on April 2012 stating that Mullaperiyar dam was strong and safe and recommended that the water level can be raised to 142 feet as per an earlier order. The committee also categorically recommended that after the maintenance works, the level can be raised to 152 feet. I believe that the Supreme Court would award a favourable judgement for Tamil Nadu based on the report,” she said.

She also took the opportunity to hit out at the Central government and charged that it had to failed to act on a Tamil Nadu assembly resolution regarding Mullaperiyar dam. “Tamil Nadu assembly passed a resolution in December 2011 seeking deployment of the Central Reserve Police Force to protect the dam. Besides, in accordance with the Supreme Court order that enabled raising of the water level in the dam to 142 feet the resolution sought that the Kerala government should amend its Act that restricted the water level. We had also requested that the Kerala government should not hinder the long-term maintenance work in the dam. But the Centre has not taken any action based on the resolution,” she said.

Jayalalithaa also hit out at DMK  chief M Karunanidhi denying charges that the AIADMK government had failed to protect the Thiruvalluvar statue in Kanyakumari. Noting that it was during her tenure that Rs 1.28 crore was allocated for the statue, she said that every four or five years chemical coating was given to the 133-feet tall statue.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Madurai / TNN / January 16th, 2013

Coimbatore streets crowded with Pongal shoppers

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

Coimbatore :

With Pongal, the harvest festival just two days away, the commercial parts of the city are crowded with last minute shoppers, even though the prices of essentials including sugarcane, turmeric and rice continue to increase rapidly. It is not uncommon for people from neighbouring towns and villages to travel to Coimbatore to buy new clothes and accessories. Pongal bazaars are very active, especially in the vicinity of the Flower Market and Town Hall. Fresh loads of sugarcane and turmeric arrive periodically, to cater to the rising demand, ahead of Pongal.

Prices are skyrocketing this season but we have to celebrate the festival the traditional way with grandeur. The power cuts have eased a bit and we hope this will continue till the end of the festival,” said P R Pramod, a businessman from Peelamedu, who was doing his Pongal shopping near the Flower Market.

Marketing manager of a leading textile firm in Oppanakara Street said that people were coming in large numbers to do their Pongal shopping. “Business is better when compared to Diwali and Christmas last year,” he said. The textile shops have introduced new varieties and designs. “Many people from villages come to the city to buy modern clothes. This has in no way impacted the demand for traditional saris,” he added. Grocery stores have also been witnessing a sudden rush of festival revelers. People are mainly looking to buy sweets, said a shop owner.

M Jayanthi, a housewife residing at Kuniamuthur says that everyone at home wears new clothes for Pongal. Sunitha Shree R, part of the faculty at a city college  said that her family celebrate’s by cooking special dishes and holding prayers. “We generally buy rice, make special sweets and visit the temple,” she says.

The Coimbatore railway station saw crowds of people waiting to buy tickets. N Ramu and Asha Jyothi, second year M Pham students at Sri Ramakrishna College of Medicine said they were eager to go home to celebrate Pongal with their families in Vijayawada. TNSTC has started operating 400 additional buses to manage the rush mainly in the Chennai and Madurai routes. There is a huge demand for tickets to Trichy, Madurai, Thanjavur, Thirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Theni, Pudukottai and Karaikudi.

M Sekar, treasurer of Erode Kani Market Textile Traders Association said, “Sales of wholesale clothes has picked up only in the last week. People from Madurai, Nagercoil, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin buy whole sale from here. Over the last one week, we have sold handloom textile and readymade clothes worth Rs 15 crore”.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Coimbatore / by  Arun P. Mathew, TNN / January 12th, 2013

5 edition of Coimbatore Vizha from January 19

Business & Economy

The Coimbatore Chapter of Confederation of Indian Industry – ‘Young Indians’ (Yi) will host the fifth edition of ‘Coimbatore Vizha 2013’ from January 19 – 27.The Hindu will be the press partner.

Addressing press persons here on Thursday, Annush Ramasamy, Chairman of Yi, said this edition would focus on harmonising the greatness of the cultures of the immigrants who made up Coimbatore, showcasing the uniqueness of the region, and celebrating the spirit of Coimbatore.

The event had turned bigger with 85 organisations taking part in the events, said Mithun Ramdas, Chair of Coimbatore Vizha 2013.

“From 20 events in the first edition, the Vizha has grown to 105 events in the fifth edition. The events will be held under five verticals, namely, culture and heritage, health, education and knowledge, environment, and sports. Though the venue partners are the Brookefields Mall and Fun Republic Mall, the events will be held in 85 locations to involve people from all walks of life,” Mr. Ramdas said.

The highlight of the Vizha is expected to be the grand inauguration to be hosted by Keralites living in Coimbatore. This was in continuation of the focus on harmonising the various cultures in Coimbatore.

A procession showcasing the art and cultural forms of Kerala would begin from Park Gate at 3 p.m. on January 19 and reach VOC Park grounds by 5 p.m. The inaugural event to be held there would showcase more dance and art forms and performances by television artistes. Film artistes from Malayalam film industry are expected to be present during the inauguration. Nearly 20,000 Keralites living in Coimbatore would participate in the event.

For details, visit www.coimbatorevizha.com.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Staff Reporter / January 11th, 2013

Book fair brings royalty issue to the fore

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

As the 36 Book Fair got under way in Chennai on Friday, a debate on royalty for writers has come to the fore, even as publishers are complaining about the government’s failure to purchase books for public libraries since 2009.

The book fair has been witnessing a steady increase in the number of participants — from 687 last year to 747 this year — and around 10 lakh titles are out on sale. This growth, however, has not benefitted writers, says critics.

“While writers are not aware of their rights, there is a lack of commitment on the part of publishers both in terms of moral and legal. Around 75 per cent of the publishers do not pay royalty to the writers and many pay grudgingly,” alleged A.R. Venkatachalapathy, Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies.

But he hoped the industry would move to that stage next, as writers who have established a name for themselves are getting proper payment.

“A decade ago it was impossible get a book published unless the author was well-known to the readers. But the trend has changed and it has become easy for anyone to get a publisher,” he explained.

Even writer S. Ramakrishnan, one of the most sought-after authors in Tamil and who had no issues with his publishers, said his case could be an exception and that a majority of writers could not get royalty properly from their publishers.

“In Tamil Nadu, you cannot lead a life depending on your writings for livelihood. Even those who buy the book from publishers and sell it get a discount of 30 to 35 per cent. But writers’ royalty continues to remain at 10 per cent and in some cases it has moved up to 12 per cent. Publishing still remains a cottage industry and many treat it as a profession without any capital investment,” he said.

Mr. Ramakrishnan, during a visit to the US, was asked whether he was a multi-millionaire as he had written around 50 books.

“That is the kind of assumption related to writers elsewhere. One of my short stories was published by Penguin and I am getting royalty for it every three months,” he said, adding that many publishers did not make any promotional efforts to sell books.

Even though writer Rajendrachozhan agreed royalty was an issue, he made a case for analysing the issue taking into consideration so many factors plaguing the publishing industry.

“Book writing and publishing is no longer considered an intellectual pursuit. Publishing books is seen as a commercial venture and serious literary efforts would not be encouraged by all publishers. Moreover, there is no transparency in the ways followed by the Library Authorities in selecting books for purchase, and failure on the part of the government to purchase books also affected the industry severely,” he said.

PUBLISHERS’ ARGUMENT

“No publisher denies royalty to a book that sells. But how can a publisher pay for the books printed and remain unsold? A. Madhavan is a brilliant writer in Tamil. But in the last ten years I am not able to sell his books I first printed,” said Vasantakumar of Tamizhini publications.

He said that publishing industry could not be viewed in isolation when popular and mass media promotes inferior quality.

His views were echoed by Manushyaputhiran of Uyirmai Pathipagam.

“We pay royalty promptly to writers. But at the same time I volunteered to publish the books of young writers to encourage them. There is one book. I published 450 copies and I am yet to sell 350,” he said.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Chennai> Arts / by B. Kolappan / January 12th, 2013

Big FM announces Big Tamil Entertainment Awards 2013

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Records, All

Chennai:

92.7 BIG FM’s biggest attraction in the south is back again this year with The BIG Tamil Entertainment Awards.

The annual entertainment awards show catering to various fields such as Tamil Cinema, Music, Dance, Theatre, Television and Sports was conducted in 2011 and 2012 and was a phenomenal success, witnessing an array of celebrities across multiple fields of entertainment. This people’s award has in the past received an overwhelming response and is driven through on air and on-ground activations by the radio network. Taking the initiative a notch higher, this year, the Awards’ have south superstar Dhanush as its face!

Keeping in mind the technical aspects of entertainment and all the work that takes place behind the scenes, the awards property has crafted a holistic approach to itself, not only recognizing the stars but also honouring the people who help promote entertainment. With an aim to promote technology and innovation, the property for the very first time has also included categories such as Best Promoted Movie, Best Entertaining YouTube Video (Regional) and the Best Entertaining Movie Trailer among other categories.

Commenting on the occasion Ashwin Padmanabhan, Business Head, North and South, 92.7 BIG FM said “The talent prevalent in the Southern Entertainment Industry is enormous. We wanted to seize this opportunity to establish a platform for talent across various fields to be promoted and honoured. The Southern entertainment industry has grown into a global phenomenon and we want to promote and leverage its power through the BIG TAMIL Entertainment Awards.

The show will be promoted through an integrated and high-decibel marketing plan ranging from on-ground, television, and radio, digital enabling marketers to increase and maximize their brand visibility and target wider audiences for their products providing a long term presence in the market.

source: http://www.medianewsline.com / Home> Media Buzz and Happennings / January 07th, 2013

SSA’s e-governance pilot project launched in Coimbatore

Business & Economy, Science & Technologies

To overcome the issue of dealing with a lot of paper work, Coimbatore based ByVal Technologies had developed an online application for Block Resource Teacher Educators (BRTEs), Cluster Resource Teacher Educators (CRTEs) and senior officials of the SSA

Coimbatore , INDIA:

Those days are gone when Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in Coimbatore used to get data from its field officers through papers.

Now, the e-governance pilot trials of SSA have been launched by Collector M. Karunagaran.

The decision to introduce pilot trials was taken to cut down on the time consuming process, errors that come with duplication of work, increased time to retrieve data through registers and block files.

“This project completely does away with the need for paper work in monitoring the implementation of various SSA projects,” a Hindu report quoted Coimbatore Additional Chief Education Officer (SSA) R. Thiruvalarselvi as saying.

To overcome the issue of dealing with a lot of paper work, Coimbatore based ByVal Technologies had developed an online application for Block Resource Teacher Educators (BRTEs), Cluster Resource Teacher Educators (CRTEs) and senior officials of the SSA.

The application automatically consolidates the data entered by all field level personnel in the website from their respective blocks. The data entered cannot be edited by any other person and it can be viewed by select officials only.

source:  http://www.ciol.com / Home> E-Governance> News / by  CIOL Bureau / Monday, January 07th, 2013

With tea council in place, trade hopes for higher shipments

Business & Economy

Coonoor , JAN. 7:

Exporters of quality teas from South India are expecting higher shipment in the next two years as the newly-formed Tea Council of South India (TCSI) will rid the trade of sub-standard teas.

Tea Board Chairman, who is also the Licensing Authority, has constituted the TCSI with Board’s Executive Director at Coonoor as the Chairman and N. Dharmaraj, U. Saraf, D. Hegde and Mathew C. George as members. Its tenure is two years.

GAMUT OF SERVICES

The TCSI has jurisdiction over tea meant for export through the ports of Kochi, Tuticorin, ICD Coimbatore, Mumbai and Goa besides airports in the South from where tea is exported.

It also has jurisdiction on tea warehouses located in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, AP, Goa and Maharashtra.

The TCSI will monitor tea exported from South, tea and tea waste imported and then exported and the storage facilities for export teas.

It may cause random inspections. It may also rate exporters and export houses.

It is required to submit to the Tea Board Chairman its report every month.

TRADE WELCOMES

“This is a welcome initiative because recently, there had been instances of lowering the image of South India’s tea quality when some exporters shipped complied with the request of some importers for shipping low-quality teas at cheap prices. To assure the exporters of the fact that India’s teas are second to none, the TCSI is required because it will introduce institutionalised mandatory checking of quality of teas prior to shipment. The council will immensely help to boost exports of South Indian quality teas,”, TCSI member Hegde told Business Line.

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home> Industry> Agri-Biz / by P. S. Sundar / Coonoor, January 07th, 2013