Category Archives: Education

Social entrepreneurship beckons, say experts

Business & Economy, Education, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nature

Social entrepreneurship has gained cultural acceptance as a career path, established social entrepreneurs told a gathering of students at an ‘unconvention’ organised at IIT-Madras on Saturday.

Speakers at the event organised by Villgro, a city-based rural enterprise incubation centre, noted there was a never-like-before culture of embracing entrepreneurship and a growing number of investors willing to invest in such ventures.

Villgro’s CEO and founder Paul Basil laid out a simple mantra for students to follow: “India is the world’s lab; solve it here, then globalise it.”

Social entrepreneurs at the unconvention — a networking meeting that does not rigidly follow the rules of traditional conventions —included P. Srinivasan, co-founder and chairman of Jeevan Stem Cell and Blood Bank, K. Thiruvengada Krishnan, chief consultant of cornea and refractive services, Aravind Eye Care System, and Ravi Sarogi, co-founder of Uniphore Software Systems.

Dr. Thiruvengada Krishnan, in his presentation about Aravind Eye Hospital, outlined the founder Govindapa Venkatasamy’s vision of taking affordable eye care to the masses.

He pointed out that although the hospital ran several charitable projects such as provision of free spectacles and conducting of free surgeries in rural areas, they still made considerable profits because of their non-subsidised healthcare. He added that social enterprise could adopt a hybrid model that combined ‘not-for-profit’ and ‘for-profit’ operations.

Villgro welcomes social entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas for programmes. For more details, interested persons can visit www.villgro.org

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai> Events / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – March 16th, 2014

Investiture ceremony held at Lovedale’s Lawrence School

Education
Chairman and Managing Director, Skoda Auto India, Sudhir Rao, adorning students with an epaulette at the Lawrence School in Lovedale on Saturday / The Hindu
Chairman and Managing Director, Skoda Auto India, Sudhir Rao, adorning students with an epaulette at the Lawrence School in Lovedale on Saturday / The Hindu

Way back in 1976 he stepped out of the Lawrence School at Lovedale near here with a firm foundation and a desire to carve out a name for himself on the global stage.

Thirty-eight years later when he returned on Saturday as a force to reckon with in the global auto industry Sudhir Rao, Chairman and Managing Director, Skoda Auto India, was given a red carpet welcome by his alma mater.

The occasion was the investiture ceremony of the school for 2014-15 and Mr. Rao had been invited to participate as the chief guest.

The objective was to raise a toast for a student who had made his school proud and also showcase his success to inspire the present and future generations.

Addressing the gathering on leadership and what it takes to become a leader, Mr. Rao said that if one can’t pursue a goal with passion he or she can’t make much headway. He opined that compromises are major hurdles. He recalled the role of his teachers in making him what he was now.

Headmistress Sangita Chima pointed out that when a student achieves success in life he automatically becomes someone worthy of emulation to the generations that follow.

Mr. Rao adorned the prefects who took charge with epaulettes.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / D. Radkhkrishnan / Udhagamandalam – March 24th, 2014

1964 classmates meet at OCPM School after 50 years

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

Madurai :

Keeping in touch with old classmates and friends is not a big deal in this era of social networking sites. But it is something rare when about 50 people, who studied together in class 1 at the OCPM School here in 1964, could maintain regular contacts over the past 50 years and could gather here on Sunday at their old school premises after a long while.

Madurai-based businessmen A Asokan and Ashraf Tayubare, who are behind the get-together, said, “It all started last December after one of our classmates, Aswathaman who is in Chennai, found his class I photograph. He urged us to locate our other classmates and hold a get-together.”

Today, almost all the classmates have gone ahead in their respective careers. Shobana Ramachandran, a popular industrialist and educationist in Madurai, was active in planning the event.

“Our OCPM School and Lady Doak College were on the same campus. As it was the most reputed English school then, our parents wanted us to be there. The 50 students were part of the 1964 batch of class 1. We went on to finish our class 5 studies there,” Asokan said.

Their classmate Dr Sunandha, who is now in America, helped them to find some of the girls in their class. “Even back then we were a co-educated class,” they said.

On Sunday, there was jubilation as they met. The old mates included Ganesh, Nandakumar, engineers Mukundan and Suresh, government officials Ashwathaman and Kanagaraj, Mathivanan the panchayat president of Chattrapatti, Kalaiyarasi a teacher. Jess and Bhanu came down all the way from Mumbai.

The old batch walked through the school corridors, sat in their old classroom and recalled the characters in their favourite lessons and the dramas they staged during school functions.

Then the old students felicitated five of their teachers — Mrs Lawrence, Mrs Vasntha Nallathambi, Mrs Chandra, Mrs Chellappa and Mrs Jamila — who they had located after much search.

“We are delighted on seeing those wooden benches. They are still intact. We sat on them and recalled our days in class, while the ‘girls’ sat chatting just like in the olden days,” said Asokan. Though most of them were grandparents, they addressed each other as ‘girls’ and ‘boys’.

With old memories welling up, Asokan and Ashraf said it is not difficult to keep in touch for half a century. “Fifty years back we were taught that nothing is impossible and the sky is the limit. We have achieved the ‘impossible’ by contacting our classmates,” they concurred.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by Padmini Sivarajah, TNN / March 17th, 2014

Nature enthusiasts trek to Kutladampatti waterfalls

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature

A.V. Vaigai Ratna, a Class VI student of TVS Matriculation Higher Secondary School here, chose a different way to spend her Sunday.

Instead of just playing with her friends as she usually does every week, Ratna chose to participate in the 22nd Tree Walk, organised by Madurai Green, an environmental organisation, and Dhan Foundation, to Kutladampatti waterfalls near Vadipatti.

As she heard D. Stephen, Assistant Professor of Botany, The American College, speak about more than 40 species of trees, Ratna returned home determined to safeguard trees in and around her home. “Whatever Mr.Stephen said about trees, especially cluster fig and jamun trees, was very interesting. I also liked the trek up to the waterfalls,” she said.

More than 50 nature enthusiasts, including 10 children, took part in the trekking. Mr.Stephen identified usilai, neem, kal aal, itchi, cluster fig, Indian elm, neikottan, ponga, jamun and kattu elimchai trees among others and explained their significance and benefits.

“Punga trees are ecologically prominent as they support insects. There is a symbiotic association between the tree and the insects,” he pointed out. “The cluster fig trees provide food for monkeys and birds. They support the wildlife,” he added.

R. Alagumani, an advocate of the Madras High Court bench here, said, “It was astonishing to hear that certain trees support at least 40 species of birds and animals. There is only a little forest cover in Madurai and it needs to be conserved properly.”

“Getting to know the medicinal values of different trees was great. The walk made us understand that each tree has great value and is useful. I will pass on whatever (details) I heard here to others,” said Mercy Daniel Rajasekaran, who took part in the walk for the first time.

Ranjitham, Principal of St. Teresa Teacher’s Training Institute, is a regular at the walks organised by Madurai Green as she thinks it helps her remain physically fit. “I have taken part in 20 tree walks. I get to know about the medicinal value and other values of the trees,” she said.

N. Chidambaram, founder of Madurai Green, M.P. Vasimalai, Executive Director of Dhan Foundation, and R. Duraipandi, Forest Range Officer, Sholavandan, were also present.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by M. Vandhana / Madurai – March 17th, 2014

Arunai Engg college achievement awards

Education

Arunai Engineering College, Tiruvannamalai, celebrated Achievers Day 2014 on March 15 by presenting several prominent personalities lifetime achievement awards.

Justice A. Kulasekaran, Chairman, Railway Rates Tribunal of India, was the chief guest and distributed the awards.

The awards were presented to Neville AG Solomon, pediatric cardiac surgeon, Apollo Children’s Hospital, Chennai; Mukund Padmanabhan, Editor, Business Line; V Seshagiri Rao, Associate Director, ISRO, Sriharikota; M Arumugam, first Director of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi; S Sivakumar, Head, Design, Royal Enfield, Chennai; and B Sankar Mahadevan, Founder Trustee, Udhuvum Ullangal, Chennai.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> News> National / by The Hindu Bureau / Chennai – March 17th, 2014

IG inspects RPF training centre

Education, Uncategorized
The RPF Zonal Training Centre in Tiruchi is all set to train 400 constable recruits. / File Photo: M. Moorthy / The Hindu
The RPF Zonal Training Centre in Tiruchi is all set to train 400 constable recruits. / File Photo: M. Moorthy / The Hindu

Ahead of the impending training programme for constable recruits of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) at the RPF Zonal Training Centre here, the IG-cum-Chief Security Commissioner, RPF, Southern Railway, V.K.Dhaka, inspected the sprawling centre on Sunday. Mr.Dhaka held a discussion with senior RPF officers and enquired on the requirements for the proper conduct of the programme .

The Tiruchi centre is the lone training establishment of the force in Southern Railway zone, encompassing Chennai, Tiruchi, Madurai, Salem, Palakkad, and Thiruvananthapuram railway divisions, imparting theoretical and practical training for the newly appointed constable recruits.

The centre also organises refresher courses for RPF personnel at periodic intervals. Mr.Dhaka went around the centre inspecting the barracks where the trainees would be accommodated during the course of their seven month training .

He was accompanied by the RPF Tiruchi Divisional Security Commissioner K.Senthil holding additional charge as principal of the training centre and senior officers. The training centre was the venue for the physical efficiency and physical measurement tests conducted recently for over 10,000 candidates as part of recruitment of constables for the RPF and Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF).

Shortlisted candidates would take a vica-voce test prior to their selection. Around 18,000 candidates would be recruited across the country for the post of constable in the RPF and the RPSF. The Tiruchi centre would train 400 recruits under the programme expected to commence in August.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by Staff Reporter / Tiruchi – March 17th, 2014

Air Marshal Kanakaraj presented NIT-T award

Education, Leaders, Science & Technologies
Air Marshal P. Kanakaraj, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Maintenance Command, Indian Air Force, receiving the distinguished alumnus award from S. Sundarrajan, Director, National Institute of Technology-Tiruchi, in Tiruchi on Tuesday. / Photo: M. Moorthy / The Hindu
Air Marshal P. Kanakaraj, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Maintenance Command, Indian Air Force, receiving the distinguished alumnus award from S. Sundarrajan, Director, National Institute of Technology-Tiruchi, in Tiruchi on Tuesday. / Photo: M. Moorthy / The Hindu

Air Marshal P. Kanakaraj, commanding-in-chief, maintenance command, Indian Air Force, was conferred the distinguished alumnus award for “excellence in public administration” at the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi (NIT-T), here on Tuesday.

The marshal had passed out as a mechanical engineering student from REC (Regional Engineering College) (NIT was then known as REC) in 1977, went on to pursue post graduation in IIT Madras, and then joined the Indian Air Force.

A video tribute to him was played, following which S. Sundarrajan, director; NITT, conferred the award on Air Marshal Kanakaraj.

Replying to the felicitation, the Air Marshal recalled his days at the college and remembered the professors who helped him and observed how the locality and the college had changed over the years. He said he was more proud to be an alumnus rather than to receive the distinguished alumnus award.

Air Marshal Kanakaraj donated a MiG 23 aircraft to NIT-T and said that the aircraft must serve as a symbol to remind the students that professors work endlessly for their benefit. “The aircraft is an air warrior of the skies and is symbolic of your professors’ dedication. It serves to remind you that engineering is something you have to imbibe in your life; you have to be professionals,” he said.

A golden jubilee student plaza, titled MiGold Plaza, is soon to be developed in the area around the aircraft, placed near the department of architecture, NIT-T. The Air Marshal unveiled the foundation stone for the plaza in the presence of Mr. Sundarrajan and college faculty.

Interacting with students and answering questions posed by them, the marshal shared his experience of the Kargil war and the strategies that provide advantage at the time of war and spoke about indigenization of material required for air force machines. He doled out career guidance and expressed his views on the V.P. Singh allegations. He said that the postal ballots helped armed forces personnel cast votes, thanks to the Election Commission.

“Accidents in the Indian Army and Air Force are inevitable but good training and maintenance practices will ensure that they are reduced to a bare minimum,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by Staff Reporter / Tiruchi – March 19th, 2014

Budding entrepreneurs take the stage at IIT-M

Business & Economy, Education, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Science & Technologies
IIT-M students who designed the Amrutdhara water project. (Right) Glow-in-the-dark notebooks by Pizzamutiny
IIT-M students who designed the Amrutdhara water project. (Right) Glow-in-the-dark notebooks by Pizzamutiny

From T-shirts and paper cups to unmanned aerial vehicles, the students of IIT-Madras seem to have left no stone unturned in their attempt to don the entrepreneurial cap.  Some of the projects were put up by the students at the recently concluded Entrepreneurship Week held at the institution.

One of the most ambitious of projects was the Amrutdhara project, taken by an IIT-M student along with two other business partners. The mandate of the venture is simple: Do away with plastic bottles.

“Every year, millions of tonnes of plastic waste get accumulated due to the use of plastic bottles. Many of these plastic water bottles do not provide quality drinking water too. Reports show that many of them are of the same quality as tap water. Despite this, people are forced to buy it,” said Sandeep.

It is to put an end to this that the three-member team came up with the Amrutdhara project. Under the venture, a water filtration outlet is provided at public places where people can buy water at a cost of `3-`5 per litre. But unlike the plastic bottles, the water is provided in glasses that are washed and dried on site.

“The set up will also sell refillable bottles and provide real time analysis of the quality. If the water quality goes down a particular level, the machine will automatically shut down,” says Sandeep.

The economics of the project lies in the fact that even with the most state-of-the-art treatment system with reverse osmosis and membranes, the cost of treatment of water to package is estimated at 25 p per litre. The project, which won the runners-up title at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements’ (IIHS) National Students Challenge is now in the final stages of talks with the Puducherry government.

If bottled water is a menace, so are plastic cups. Mechanical engineering students of the IIT have come up with a project that would not only make selling paper cups profitable for the seller but also for the buyer!

“The idea is simple. Each paper cup will be printed with an advertisement. It will also have certain mobile numbers allotted by the advertiser. When the buyer sends a text to that number, he can avail discounts or other offers. So what we have is a win-win situation. Since we get to make profit through the advertisement, we sell the cups at half the price of normal cups to canteens or other sellers while for the buyers of the cup, it could mean getting discounts and offers,” says Nikhlesh, the second-year student who is part of the Admen company that took up the project.

The project has already fetched a turnover of `75,000 in 15 days, after being implemented 10 city colleges and an IT park.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Amritha KR – Chennai / March 20th, 2014

Eight Corporate All-Male Basketball Teams Support this All-Women’s College

Education, Sports
WCC students from the Young Indians Club who organised ‘Game Changers’ recently | D SAMPATH KUMAR
WCC students from the Young Indians Club who organised ‘Game Changers’ recently | D SAMPATH KUMAR

A group of girls, in black tee-shirts and shoes, sat under the refuge of a shamiana at the Corporation Ground in Nungambakkam, watching men battling it out in the basketball court, soaking up the blistering Sunday morning sun. Eight all-male teams from various IT companies were part of the tournament ‘Game Changers’, an annual fundraiser event conducted by the Young Indians (Yi) Club of the Women’s Christian College (WCC).

Sarika Bapuji, student coordinator for the Young Indians student net, WCC, also the coordinator of the event, says that they chose to include only the all-male teams due to lack of women teams in the IT companies. “It isn’t really hard to find male basketball players. So many of them play. But I don’t think there are that many female basketball teams in IT companies. It wouldn’t have been possible to get enough female participation. That’s why we haven’t opened the tournament for the females yet,” she explains.

However, she quickly adds, “But we are a women’s college, and we definitely hope to include women teams in future. We will have to start our work a lot more earlier though.”

Each team is charged a registration fee of `5,000. The funds from the tournament are used for providing scholarships to the underprivileged students of WCC, belonging to the day batch. Last year, with the participation of six teams from five IT  companies, the club raised enough to provide scholarships for 34 students. This year, with an addition of two more teams, it plans to extend its help to a few more.

“Though the college supports many students, we hope to help those who fall under general quota and do not have any financial aid,” says Sarika.

The idea of Game Changers came up a year ago when Sarika thought about mixing her passion for sports and social work. Having heard much about the involvement of IT companies in various CSR activities, she decided to approach them along, with her Yi team. “The other reason why we chose IT companies is that they have a pool of young crowd and most of them have cricket, volleyball and basketball teams,” she says.

But out of the three games, basketball was the best option as it had a definite time span unlike cricket, says Uma, who is a sportsperson herself.

If getting participants was a challenge last year, this year, it was getting sponsorships. “Ten people brought out the event in just 20 days. And since our college cultural festival just got over, getting sponsorship was a major task. When it came to participants, it wasn’t that tough as last year, when players were hesitant to register without knowing enough about the tournament. There was no brand name to it then. Despite that they supported us,” says Sarika.

While CTS emerged winners, bagging a cash prize of `10,000 this season, Amazon and Wipro followed close behind as first and second runner ups.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Naveena Vijayan – Chennai / March 19th, 2014

Cvrde Conducts One-Day Workshop on Women Innovators

Education, Science & Technologies

As part of its International Women’s Day celebrations, the Combat Vehicles Research & Development Establishment (CVRDE), conducted a one-day workshop  on the theme Women Innovators in Growth of Science —WINGS ’14.

Dr V Shanta, chairperson, Cancer Institute, delivering the keynote address, said that women should aspire to be leaders and inspire the current generation that nothing is impossible for them to achieve.

Dr Avinash Chander, secretary, Department of Defence, DRDO, in his speech said that the role of women is changing from that of a home-maker to that of a nation builder and that science is one field that  helps impart  gender equality.

He also acknowledged the efforts of senior women scientists in defence missile and guidance programmes.

Following the inaugural session, there was a technical talk on safety management and a panel discussion on integration of women in decision-making.

The conference was attended by several women scientists among others in the DRDO.

Also, a panel discussion on how to harness the talent of women scientists and maintain gender balance in decision making, was conducted.

Besides, an infotainment session and a cycle rally highlighting the significance of CRVDE with live demonstrations of its various products, was conducted.

As a closing highlight of the day, cultural programmes by Kalakshetra were organised.

The workshop aimed  at bringing together powerful women leaders in science, technology and management, dedicated in their respective spheres.

The event format featured technical and powerful presentations intended to inspire profound discussions, enabling participants to transform ideas into creative solutions.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / March 12th, 2014