Indu Rebecca Varghese, wife of martyred officer Major Mukund Varadharajan is in New Delhi to receive the Ashok Chakra award bestowed on her husband, on Monday.
Maj. Mukund’s father R. Varadharajan, who has accompanied his daughter-in-law to the national capital, told The Hindu that it was a proud moment for their family as many of his son’s colleagues called on them to congratulate.
Mr. Varadharajan, who spoke over phone, said: “When Maj. Ashutosh Pandey, the officer who substituted Mukund’s place in the 44th Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles (22 Rajput) narrated tales of Mukund’s bravery and subtleness in handling crisis in the battle to fight terrorism, it brought tears to my eyes,” he said.
Mukund’s four-year-old daughter Arshea is also in New Delhi for the award ceremony on Tuesday.
Tambaram resident, Mukund Varadharajan, who laid down his life fighting insurgents in Kashmir, has been posthumously awarded the nation’s highest peacetime gallantry award ‘Ashok Chakra’.
Major Mukund Varadarajan, of 44th Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles (22 Rajput) was leading an anti-terrorist search operation in Shopian in South Kashmir. He was killed in an encounter with Hizbul Mujahideen militants in April last year.
He gunned down two heavily armed terrorists before breathing his last.
Maj. Mukund’s mother, Geetha Varadharajan said: “we take this award as a reward for our son’s bravery in combating terrorism and it will give us courage to bear the loss.”
“We take this award as a reward for our son’s bravery”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by T. Madhavan / Chennai – January 26th, 2015
A toilet that can be set up in less than an hour was launched by Pune-based company, Sahyadri Industries Limited, in the city on Friday morning. The eco-friendly toilet has been created as part of the company’s contribution to the Swachh Bharat effort.
The company demonstrated setting up a toilet at Heritage Inn’s conference hall in one hour to prove their point just before the launch. A recent study done by the Ministry of Human Resource Development found that 15% of the government schools in the city lack toilets, and among those which did have toilet facilities, 57% were found to be dysfunctional.
Sahyadri Industries, a manufacturer of fibre cement corrugated and flat sheets, had been toying with the idea of designing an easy to set up pre-fabricated toilet since 2012-13. “However, the project did not take off,” admitted M Sathyanarayana, of Sahyadri Industries.
“We were inspired to restart our efforts last August when the Prime Minister announced the Swachh Bharat initiative. We then sped up the research and designing of this model,” he said. The toilets, sold as Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kits, contain parts to set up three wall panels and a door made of fly-ash and cement. The knots and bolts required to assemble the toilets are provided, so are toilet fittings from reputed companies like Johnson and Johnson. “We also give instructions on how a soaking pit has to be dug up,” said Suresh Kumar, head, sales and marketing in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. This toilet can be set up anywhere in less than an hour and can be used immediately.
These toilets which come in 4ft x 4 ft dimensions can last 15 to 20 years if maintained well, says the company. They cost anywhere between 19,000 and 30,000 each. “The cost depends on the materials and specifications requested,” said Kumar. “However, we sell it at the lower cost for government schools and other economically backward schools,” he added.
The main clientele for these toilets seem to be NGOs, who are setting up toilets wherever necessary. “We have sold 1,000 such toilets in Maharashtra and Gujarat,” said Kumar. The product was launched in Gujarat Maharashtra and Karnataka in December, and in Chennai on Thursday.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / January 24th, 2015
Head constable G. Kanagaraj, who lost his life in July last while attempting to nab an individual involved in sand smuggling, has been chosen for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Police Medal for Gallantry.
An official release said the head constable was about to apprehend Suresh in Uriyurkuppam, near Thakkolam of Vellore district, who was seeking to take away sand illegally from the Kosthalaiyar river bed. The legal heir of the deceased head constable would be given a cash prize of Rs. five lakh.
Besides, 1,500 police and other uniformed services personnel, belonging to the rank of police constable, head constables and equivalent ranks would be given the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Constabulary Medals for Pongal.
One hundred and twenty Fire and Rescue Services personnel in the ranks of Leading Fireman, Driver Mechanic, Fireman Drivers and Firemen and 60 Prison Service personnel in the rank of Grade-I Warder would be given the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Medals.
Medal allowance
The monthly medal allowance to the recipients of the medals would be Rs.200/- with effect from February 1, irrespective of their rank. The medals would be presented to the recipients at their respective district headquarters.
In addition, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Medal for excellence in technical and specialised services would be given to five personnel — two each from the Police Radio Branch and the Dog Squad and one police photographer. The officers in the rank of constable and head constable would get Rs.3,000; those in the levels of sub-inspectors and inspectors – Rs. 4,000 and deputy superintendents of police – Rs. 6,000. The medal would be presented by Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam later, the release said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – January 15th, 2015
A woman undergoing training in coconut plucking at Parangipettai in Cuddalore district.
Even though Cuddalore district abounds in coconut trees, the price of coconuts is high. The reason trotted out for such market behaviour is the lack of manpower to pluck coconuts or the high wages the workers demand.
It has created a situation in which even the ripe coconuts are left either to rot on the trees or fall. It has become consternation for the coconut growers to find the workforce on time to harvest, not to speak of the plight of the households having a few coconut trees in their garden.
To overcome the problem, the M.S. Swaminatan Research Foundation (MSSRF) has launched the “Friends of Coconut Tree” programme for farmers and the unemployed youth.
R. Elangovan, Project Officer of the MSSRF, told The Hindu that the six-day training programme organised under the aegis of the MSSRF Village Resource Centre at Parangipettai was intended to help the farmers and unemployed youth learn to climb trees to pluck the coconut.
To start with, 20 persons, including four women hailing from Killai, Nochikadu, Manikkollai and Parangipettai, joined the programme conducted recently. It was conducted in coordination with the Coconut Development Board that provided the device for climbing the trees free of cost.
In-house training
It was a sort of an in-house training as the trainees would stay at the Parangipettai centre throughout the training programme. Besides mastering the tree climbing techniques, they were also taught yoga and pranayam.
Mr Elangovan said the Coconut Development Board had made it mandatory that 30 per cent of the trainees ought to be women.
It was a surprise that four women had come forward to enroll their names in the programme.
One of the trainees, Kausalya, 24, told this correspondent that initially she had hesitation in joining the programme as she lacked courage in climbing tall trees.
But, the device provided by the centre made the job simple and easy. She gained confidence gradually.
However, the centre has prescribed a dress code for women — they should either wear salwar kameez or a pair of trousers to avoid risks.
Mr Elangovan said that after completion of the training programme, Parangipettai Town Panchayat Chairman Mohammad Yunus gave away certificates and the climbing device (free of cost) to the participants.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Tamil Nadu / by A.V. Raghunathan / Cuddalore – December 18th, 2014
C Kannan handing pens to the students in Coimbatore | EXPRESS
Coimbatore :
A science teacher has sought to reach out to his students by going back to the once popular Hero pens.
The teacher at Velliangadu government school near Karamadai chose to pay his respects to the his hero, revolutionary poet Subramania Bharathi, on his birth anniversary by gifting the fountain pens to all the 750 students from classes VI to XII.
For C Kannan, who spent `20,000 for the gifts, such acts of benevolence are not new, as he has already provided students from economically weaker sections with two sets of uniforms.
The science teacher, who has completed two years at the Velliangadu Government Higher Secondary School, says the gesture would also serve as an encouragement for the students who are in the middle of their half-yearly exams.
Speaking to Express, Kannan said, “Sincerity and dedication from teachers motivate students to perform better. Inspiring children and moulding them into responsible citizens are part of the duty of every teacher.”
R Palanisamy, headmaster of the school, said that though Kannan was appointed as a BT Assistant to handle science classes for students of classes VI to IX, out of interest, he used to take English and Mathematics classes.
Whenever teachers handling Class X were not present, he used to chip in and help the students, he added. Another interesting aspect with Kannan, as pointed out by his colleagues, was that he would make the learning process interesting for students by discussing general issues with them before getting into the text books.
According to the staffers, “Kannan also has good knowledge about computers and helps us a lot in our work. He is always optimistic and ready to help.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> TamilNadu / by Ram M Sundaram / December 16th, 2014
A.R. Rahman won the award for his fight against polio — Photo. M. Moorthy / The Hindu
Rotary International presented the polio ambassador award to music director A.R. Rahman at a meeting held in Guindy on Saturday.
Accepting the award, Mr. Rahman spoke of helping fight polio through social media.
“I used to think Facebook was a waste of time. But when it was suggested that I open a Facebook page and upload videos of my rehearsals, it helped me reach out to a huge user base of 22 million. It was through this page I began sharing awareness messages on polio,” he said.
Pianist Anil Srinivasan played some of Mr. Rahman’s hits songs from Hindi and Tamil cinema and asked him questions based on them.
Speaking about the influences behind Jai Ho, Mr. Rahman said, “I just wanted to approach the song like an anthem, uniting the musical influences of various cultures: Chinese, Japanese, Spanish. The song has all these influences.”
On working with Mani Ratnam, he said he was given the space to experiment beyond what the script required. “There have been occasions when I have tried something out for myself, even if it seemed outside the scope of the film in the beginning. Sometimes, Mani included them in his film. Deivam thanda poove was one such song,” he said.
Having just landed in Chennai from Berlin, Mr. Rahman was in no mood to sing. But the audience was in no mood to let him go without a song. The maestro left with a promise to sing the next time.
Singer Naresh Iyer entertained the audience afterwards.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – December 14th, 2014
Children need to be allowed to play on the beach—barefoot,” says 61-year-old K Shanmugam, founder of Eldam’s Orthotic Centre. “A majority of children these days have flat foot, and there are multiple reasons— hereditary, incorrect footwear and much more. But we need to detect it early and correct it; otherwise it will pave the way for secondary ailments when they grow up.” Shanmugam who opened Chennai’s second orthotic clinic for civilians explains that children in rural areas are less affected by flatfoot, because they walk barefoot on different surfaces and hence their feet get exercised.
Seated in his small shed-workshop-consultation room just off Eldams Road, Shanmugam explains that when he started this unit in 1985, he was the second person in the city offering orthotic care for civilians. “There was only one centre in Pune that offered artificial limbs to those whose hands and legs were affected during service. My professor M Natarajan decided that civilians also required this service and created a course to train students,” he says. Shanmugam explains that initially artificial limbs were created by carpenters, blacksmiths and tailors; however his professor believed that to understand the dynamics of the human body, you need to be certified and trained. So, Shanmugam signed up for the course in 1975, which had only six students.
Post graduation, he took voluntary retirement from Stanley Government Hospital and with the assistance of his wife Geetha Rani, started this small unit. “Initially I would create artificial limbs and aesthetic hands by myself. Soon I hired physically challenged people in my workshop to create these products,” he explains. There were two reasons why he hired physically challenged people to do the job—it empowered them and they understood clearly the requirements and factors that needed to be addressed when creating limbs. “I train these people in my workshop for a year and help them find opportunities elsewhere. Since my wife and I do this as a service, our income generation is limited. So, after training we send these people to bigger enterprises where they can earn sufficient income,” he says. This year, Shanmugham has two deaf and mute men working in his workshop and assisting him create mechanical hands.
“Over the last few years, I have seen a lot of children and diabetic patients coming in. The feet are the most neglected part of the human body. Since childhood, children need to be taught to care for their feet. It goes beyond wearing slippers; they need to wash it twice everyday, apply an oil or lotion to control dry skin, massage the feet, clean the web-spaces and trim the nails—it is a routine that needs to be followed,” he emphasises. “Ask your children to wash their feet and make an impression just like how you do it on Gokulashtami. Check if there is an arch, and if you don’t see one, visit your doctor and get corrective footwear. Ignoring it will lead to secondary issues like swollen ankles, bunions, bone issues etc,” he warns.
Shanmugham adds that modifications in the footwear can be done—from creating a new footwear to adding insoles, everything can be done to curb the problem. Besides this, Shanmugam and team are constantly designing new tools and apparatus for patients with unique requirements. “A five-year-old girl fell and fractured her jaw line. Everything healed, however the child was not able to open her mouth and was on liquid diet. After discussion with her doctor, we created a mouth exercise tool putting together steel rods and springs. After the first session she was able to open her mouth wide enough to allow two fingers. Everything in this workshop is customised,” he says.
At the moment, Shanmugham has roughly 100 people who come in every month with feet and hand issues. “We have been focussing on creating mechanical hands of late. Earlier there were aesthetic hands that were famous. These look like real hands, yet have no other use. With mechanical hands, the user can actually write and do normal things like all of us,” he elaborates. Recently a person he had created and fitted a mechanical hand has found himself a job as a writer. “He writes and documents things for his company,” Shanmugham says, adding that these differences he makes to peoples’ lives is what motivates him to go on.
He has not been inspired to shift location, nor create a glossy office like his counterparts. “I got several offers to go abroad and work. My uncle came and asked me whether there were no physically challenged people in India who needed help. I thought over it and decided to stay her and help those who need prosthetics and orthotics care,” he smiles. He adds that there are so many vacancies in this field, yet very few takers.
“Usually during a medical check at school, the vision, heart and hearing is checked, but never the feet. I insist that feet should also be checked thoroughly,” he says and adds earlier when they said get yourself checked head to toe, they meant it literally.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Lifestyle> Health / by Jayanthi Somasundaram / December 06th, 2014
Finding the exact day of any given date in 110 years is not an easy task for most people, but N Priyanka, a 14-year-old girl affected with cerebral palsy, can accomplish that within a five seconds. This extraordinary talent has brought national recognition to the Trichy girl, who has just got back from meeting the Indian President.
Priyanka, daughter of N Kannan and B Banu, won the ‘national award for the empowerment of persons with disabilities’ last week, presented by President Pranab Mukherjee at New Delhi. She met the collector and received accolades from the district administration and a cross-section of people on Monday.
She showed off some of her talent at the grievance day hall here in the presence of district collector Jayashree Muralidharan, instantly calculating the day for the dates mentioned between 1941 and 2050. Her questioners needed to check the calendars to ascertain the answer, but Priyanka never required any outside help
Though she is affected with cerebral palsy and mental retardation, this Class 8 student of Ramakrishna middle school in Puthur has an extraordinary memory power. The discovery of her talent was purely accidental. Her mother, K Banu, tells the story, which took place sometime in June this year.
“I was trying to figure out the day of August 17, 2014 to apply for a leave to attend a function. To my surprise, my daughter said that it was Sunday within a few seconds. When I cross checked with the calendar, her answer was perfectly correct,” she said, who is a caretaker in a private school in the city.
Unlike some normal people who have such talent, but who may have to depend on some formula to find out the day, Priyanka relies solely on her memory power.
When her teacher asked her how she could find out the answer within a fraction of second, she simply said with a smile, “I don’t know, madam.”
She is also capable of listing out the dates of a day in all weeks in a month. For instance, if we want to know the dates of ‘Wednesday’ in a month, she will list out the dates within few seconds.
Her father Kannan, who is an auto rickshaw driver, proudly says that this is only the first step for his daughter, ahead of a brilliant future.
“It takes only two to three seconds for my daughter to find out the days. I feel her talent can help children like her. My aim is to make her a doctor to serve the poor people,” said Kannan.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Trichy / TNN / December 09th, 2014
State Minister for Cooperation K Raju receiving the award from President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi on Wednesday | express
Chennai :
Tamil Nadu Cooperative Minister K Raju on Wednesday received the National Award for the best State Channelising Agency on behalf of Tamil Nadu State Cooperative Bank for providing loans to the differently-abled. The Minister received the award at a grand function held at New Delhi.
The TNSC Bank is one of the channelising agencies of the National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation. Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has chosen the TNSC Bank for this award.
Former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa introduced the scheme to provide interest-free loans to the differently-abled. As per the scheme, the government will bear the interest on the loans if they repay the loans in time. During the past three and half years, Rs.71 crore has been given as loans to the differently-abled.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / December 04th, 2014
S Abhirami along with her newborn baby girl | express
Chennai :
After suffering 15 prior miscarriages, a 40-year-old mother delivered a healthy female baby at a private hospital in the city recently.
S Abhirami (40) and G Sridhar (44), hailing from Neyveli, were married in 1995. Abhirami became pregnant that very year. However, a miscarriage occurred when she met with an accident. The couple did not realize, at the time, that the accident was not the cause of the miscarriage but what doctors would call “cervical incompetence.”
During the years 1996, 1997 and 99 Abhirami conceived, with all pregnancies miscarrying. Abhirami approached a private hospital in Cuddalore to help her deliver a healthy baby. The Cuddalore doctors put a surgical suture at the mouth of the uterus in an attempt to avoid a miscarriage and make the uterus capable of holding the baby. Several attempts to deliver of a healthy child with the surgical suture failed and the mother lost four more foetuses to miscarriage.
“Then she approached a private hospital in Coimbatore, who followed the same procedure for four more pregnancies unsuccessfully. Without losing hope and with determination, Abhirami approached the Aakash Fertility centre for help in 2011.”
After a few more miscarriages while being treated by the Aakash Fertility clinic (now adding up to 15) Dr K S Jeyarani, director of Aakash Fertility Centre, said on Saturday, “16th time I did not want to make any mistakes and we wanted to save the baby of the mother. After much diagnostic assessment, I sutured just above the mouth of the uterus using laparoscopy procedures, during the pre-conception period. After Abhirami conceived on February 2014, she was kept under observation, delivering a healthy, girl child, by caesarean section, weighing 2.5 kg, on November 27. It all happened because of the sheer determination and the confidence of Abhirami.”
Abhirami, visibly elated with her baby in her arms said that she did not want to use the services of a surrogate mother or even adopt a baby as she had no problem conceiving naturally. “All my babies, I conceived naturally, and again I was worried about the words of the society. People talk about a woman negatively and do not treat them nicely, if a woman cannot deliver of a baby. I had to face all these throughout my ordeal of delivering a term baby. I took up the challenge and succeeded in it,” added the mother.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / November 30th, 2014
