Category Archives: Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

One-rupee idly to hit Chennai in Corporation’s canteen scheme

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

Chennai:

 Setting in motion to provide the popular South Indian dish, idly, and other items at affordable rates, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today launched a series of budget canteens in the city.

This was in line with an announcement made recently to benefit daily wage labourers and others earning substantially low wages.

Jayalalithaa launched the initiative of Chennai Corporation by lighting a lamp at a function here, simultaneously inaugurating 15 such facilities.

The Corporation had proposed opening 200 such canteens that will function from 7am to 10pm where the prices of food such as idly and various cooked rice items have been fixed between one rupee and Rs 5.

The scheme will be implemented through local women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs), a government release said.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> News> Current Affairs / by PTI / February 19th, 2013

First aid techniques

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

Over 100 final year students of MIET Polytechnic College participated in the day-long first aid training programme organised by the St. John Ambulance First Aid Training Centre at the college premises recently.

D. Ravindra Ganesan, secretary of St. John Ambulance, Tiruchi Centre, spoke on the importance of imparting first aid training to students. R. Subramanian imparted training on various first aid techniques.

M. Rajagopalan, principal, urged participants to create awareness of importance of first aid among rural masses. P. Dinesh Kumar, lecturer, ECE department and D. Mohamed Raffic, lecturer in English, spoke .

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> National> TamilNadu / by Special Correspondent / Tiruchi, February 12th, 2013

Seminar recalls S Ramanujan

Business & Economy, Education, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technologies

On Monday the Society for Promotion of Science & Technology in India organized a seminar on India’s Contribution to Mathematics and Legacy of Srinivasa Ramanujan at DAV College in Chandigarh’s Sector 10.

Professor M. S. Sriram of the University of Madras and Professor A. K. Agarwal of Panjab University spoke. Explaining the significance of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan who died in 1920 at the age of 32, they said that during his lifetime, he was as a creative genius who generated a plethora of formulae. His discoveries appeared simple and yet there was more to them than initially met the eye and because of these theorems, new directions of research were opened up, Over the past 60 years, as nearly all of Ramanujan’s theorems have been proven right and appreciation of his work and brilliance have grown.

His work now pervades many areas of modern mathematics and physics. As a tribute to Ramanujan, the Government of India declared December 22 – Ramanujan’s birthday to be ‘National Mathematics Day and  2012 has been designed National Mathematical Year.

Speakers expressed their concern that Indian is not producing enough mathematicians. They said there is a general perception in our society that the pursuit of mathematics does not lead to attractive career possibilities.

source: http://www.DayandNightNews.com  Home> The Capitol / Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

Drip irrigation helps Dindigul farmer reap bumper harvest

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technologies

Madurai:

A farmer in Dindigul says he has achieved a bumper harvest by reaping an additional tonne of maize per acre, by adopting the drip irrigation system.

Chinnasamy, of Semmadaipatti in Reddiyarchathiram is a happy man as he has made a profit even after investing a lesser amount. Chinnasamy’s farm lies in a dry and drought-prone region and he feels that drip irrigation is the answer to their problems. “Most of us here have been using drip irrigation for various horticultural crops, like gooseberry and pomegranate, but I was the first to try it on corn in Reddiyarchathiram union,” he says.

Usually, drip irrigation is successful in crops where the plants are spaced apart at a distance of five to 10 feet. In the case of maize, the plants are seen close to one another and Chinnasamy had approached the department of agriculture, seeking subsidy for setting up a drip irrigation system in his farm. His success in reaping a good harvest this year has set an example for others in the region.

Chinnasamy says that he was able to use the water meant for irrigation in one acre in an additional one and a half acres using the drip irrigation system. According to agriculture officials, Chinnasamy has been able to reap four tonnes of maize this year against three tonnes last year. Joint director for agriculture, Dindigul N T Sampathkumar and other officers visited the farm on Friday and inspected it. Farmers in the area were also advised to add specific nutrients as some plants showed signs of needing additional iron supplements.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / by Padmini Sivarajah, TNN / October 21st, 2012

Rochelle Maria Rao spreads smiles !

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders

PFMI International 2012 Rochelle Maria Rao visited an NGO to talk about the evils of child labour

Beauty queen titles and social work go hand in hand, and PFMI International 2012 Rochelle Maria Rao is one of those who takes her societal commitments very seriously. As the goodwill ambassador of Smile Foundation’s vow against child labour, Rao visited one of the NGO’s project centres in Mumbai recently. There, she met the teachers and social workers and spoke to them about why no child should be left out of school.

To welcome her, children from the centre performed a special dance and she joined them in the performance. Later, she said, “I am motivated by their dedication towards empowering children with the help of education. The work they do to bring hope and happiness in the lives of these underprivileged children is commendable. This has inspired me immensely to do good work and spread more smiles.”

Commenting on the association, Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder and Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation, said, “Rochelle Rao is a worthy winner of this title and we are extremely glad that she is supporting one of our core areas — of sending every child to school.”

source: http://www.feminamissindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Miss India> News / TNN, September 29th, 2012

Board queen keen to conquer the world

Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Sports

M. Mahalakshmi.

It is an unlikely setting in which to find a chess champion. An asbestos-sheeted single-room house in a slum at Erukkancheri with the family struggling to make ends meet.

However, the tough conditions have made M. Mahalakshmi, who is the world under-12 girls’ chess bronze medallist, more determined to win the forthcoming world under-14 girls’ chess championship.

“I want to become the world champion. It is my goal in life. My immediate goal is to win gold at the world youth championship that begins in Solvenia on November 7,” the teenage girl from Chennai told Deccan Chronicle.

The Class 9 student of Velammal Matriculation School has so far won two bronze medals (under-8 and under-12) at world level tournaments.

At the Asian level, she has bagged gold in the under-10 category in 2008, silver in the under-14 meet in 2010 and a bronze in the same under-14 event in 2011.

The fourth daughter of an electrician, Mahalakshmi picked up chess from her third sister M. Jagadambal.

Put under the tutelage of prominent coach M.J. Ismail, she quickly rose to prominence at the national level when she bagged the under-7 title in 2005.

However, her family troubles have ensured that she has to fight greater odds to keep ruling the chess board. Mahalakshmi now trains under R.B. Ramesh and misses out on the individual attention.

“Earlier we used to arrange for individual training for her. At that time, I was running a PVC pipe company and was living in a decent flat.

Now we are struggling to make ends meet and so have stopped professional coaching for her,” said her dejected father P. Mukunthakumar, adding that she missed participating in a open tournament at Orissa recently because of lack of funds.

The little champ is, however, not worried about coaching or losing valuable tournament practice. “I train for at least eight hours a day at home.

My school is very considerate and sponsors me when I travel abroad,” said Mahalakshmi. To motivate this young chess champion call 98400-33294.

source:  http:/www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Channels> Cities> Chennai / by S. Sujatha / DC, Chennai / September 17th, 2012

50 more milch cows given away in Trichy

Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nature, Science & Technologies

Trichy:

The joint director of animal husbandry department in Trichy, E Chinnadurai, distributed 50 more free milch cows in Thiruvasi village in Lalgudi division to the beneficiaries. For the first time, all the beneficiaries and their companions stayed in the villages on the border of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for three days to purchase the right cow. Chinnadurai later claimed that the process had now become foolproof. It was the intermediary officials roped in to help in the purchase of the cattle from the neighbouring states who exploited the norms of the scheme to pocket huge commissions. Chinnadurai had instructed the purchasing team to stay at the villages until the right cow was purchased.

Chinnadurai said that the purchasing team recorded three days of milk yield before the beneficiaries themselves decided to buy them. With the 50 cows distributed in the first week of September, the total number of free cows distributed has gone up to 250, just 100 short of the target of 350 for the current fiscal. Last year, 450 cows were distributed to beneficiaries in nine villages at a cost of Rs 1.55 crore. Similarly, 4,089 goats were distributed to beneficiaries spread over 55 villages in Trichy district at a cost of Rs 5.19 crore. During this fiscal, 4,988 beneficiaries have been distributed goats spread over 81 villages – most of them falling under Srirangam constituency – at a cost of Rs 6.35 crore.

“I have clearly told them that they should keep their hands off the cow that does not yield at least a total of 10 litres of milk a day (five litres each in the morning and evening),” Chinnadura told TOI. Since a number of cows died from the lot of earlier distribution, Chinnadurai has ordered a team of officials including an assistant director of cattle breeding and fodder development, an assistant director from the animal diseases intelligence unit and a clinician to visit at least two villages where the free milch cows and goats were distributed and file an inspection report.

The stringent measures were necessary because in Srirangam, five of the 150 cows purchased from Andhra Pradesh had died in the first week of January, he said.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home>  City> Madurai> Villages / TNN, September 07th, 2012

I am…

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

‘I’ve been making appalams since 1988. It began when my husband had an accident and I had to earn money. I raised Rs. 500 and started off the business.’

In the living-room of Latha K.’s West Mambalam flat, appalams and elai-vadams are clearly the VIPs. Hundreds dry under the fan on a black plastic sheet while hundreds sit in tall stacks waiting to be packed. Latha kneads the dough, pinching it off into small balls. “I learnt to make them long ago, in my village Padur, near Ulundurpet. I was a little girl and whenever there was a wedding in the village, all the women would turn up. They would sit around the mitham and make 2,000-3,000 appalams.” The urad dal was hand-ground, the girls pinched the dough off into balls, while the older women expertly rolled them out into round appalams. “It was hard work but there was food, laughter and gossip,” remembers Latha.

As she speaks, Latha swiftly flattens several dough balls and starts rolling. “When I started, 4 out of 10 people bought my appalams. Now all 10 buy. Who has the time to make them at home anymore?” Of course, home-made appalams are far superior to shop-bought ones. People even carry them abroad for friends and family, or when they relocate.

Latha got her recipe from her mother. Urad dal flour mixed with salt, asafoetida, jeera (for digestion), mustard water (‘so that it expands when fried’) and appalam karam (‘to make it crisp; it’s a substitute for the perandai water we used in the village’). After rolling, appalams need just one day to dry. Grinders do make the work easier , but it’s still a fairly labour-intensive task and calls for a certain knack. “Rolling pins embarrass even experienced people; no matter what you do, the appalams end up square,” says Lata.

In 1988, Latha sold 100 pieces for Rs. 60. Today, she gets Rs. 220. Her doubleappalams are very popular, as are the plain ones with ajwain. “Business has been good,” says Latha, “I now have helpers who I train personally.” And she smiles, as she rolls out another paper-thin piece.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> Life & Style> Metroplus / by Aparna Karthikeyan / July 29th, 2012

Tuticorin engineer weaves silk from banana plants

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technologies

Madurai:

Soon, one may be able to wear their favourite silk saris, dhoties and shirts that are spun not of a silkworm thread, but from the banana plant, which can be easily separated using the banana yarn separator.

Invented by a Tuticorin-based mechanical engineer, K Murugan, the banana yarn separator machine was granted the patent in July 2012 after a six-year long wait. According to him, the large quantity of banana fibres that went waste in his hometown of Tuticorin prompted him to try to find a solution to use this product. The machine took shape after failing 40 times and in 2006, it bagged the LRamp award of excellence given by the IIT-Madras.

“The banana plant is one where almost every part has a use. The fibres from the plant are used to tie garlands and string flowers, the leaves are used for eating, the fruits and flowers are consumed and even the inner most part of the stem is edible and has rich medicinal properties. But, I have seen the plants being cut after the fruit is harvested and allowed to rot. This disturbed me, because it was not the best way to dispose it,” he said.

He said the stem of the banana plant has 15 layers, with the outermost used for tying garlands. According to him, the other 14 layers can be used for silk production. The fibre equals the silkworm silk, in lustre and tension strength.

Dr Dev Pura, head, department of textile technology, IIT-Delhi and others who inspected his product certified it as an excellent invention and commended him for his efforts during their recent visit to Tuticorin. Once he gets the go ahead from the department of biotechnology, New Delhi, Murugan says he can start his production.

His machine can process 60 lakh banana plants per year and he says that two saris can be spun using the banana silk fibres from a single tree. It would be very eco-friendly and is adaptable to natural dyes.

The Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology has certified his silk as one of good quality with a tenacity of 37 gm/text.

The new technology is one way of making good use of the banana plants grown in over 12,000 hectares in Tuticorin district, which is the largest banana cultivating district in India. It would also bring good returns to farmers. Murugan has made shawls, including one that was presented to former chief minister M Karunanidhi, a few years ago and a shirt.

This would be a material that would even get the nod of animal activists like PETA, because unlike the other silk, this does not involve the killing of a life for the silk extraction, he adds.

source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Madurai / by Padmini Sivarajah, TNN / July 28th, 2012

London-bound Indian walkers’ trip on ‘shoe-string’ of apathy

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Sports

Bangalore:

Olympic-bound race walkers Basant Bahadur Rana and Irfan KT, both sepoys in the Indian Army earning just Rs 15,000 a month, have been forced to spend from their pockets for past several months to buy special walking shoes. Both are sole bread winners of fairly large families and have spent thousands each on their shoes in the past year, which they can ill-afford.

The government has spent crores on the training of sportspersons for the London Games, but these two talented athletes have got no help on this front either from the federation ( AFI),  Sports Authority of India or the sports ministry.

Rana, who is with 3/8 Gorkha Rifles, must have spent at least Rs 40,000 on shoes in the past 18 months. With each pair costing upwards of Rs 6,000, he has grinned and borne the burden. He joined the army to escape poverty in his home country Nepal, where his father is a farmer.

“I am the sole bread-winner for a family of seven. We are not educated and there is hardly anything to gain out of farming. Depending on the season, we have to do hard labour to make ends meet,” says Rana, who earns around Rs 15,000 as havildar.

“I haven’t been of much help to my family as all my money is spent on the kit and shoes,” the first Indian to make Olympics grade in 50km Race Walk said.

For Madras Regimental Centre sepoy Irfan, who too hails from a poor background, it has been the same story for months. Mounting expenses had the Mallapuram (Kerala) lad worried for a while as he geared up for the quadrennial event with his mind forever on his family of seven which his father, a daily wage earner, struggled to support.

Again, Irfan’s salary of Rs 15,000 was hardly enough to cover every expense the family faced. It’s only now that he has found a benefactor in Malayalam superstar Mohanlal.

Both walkers point out that they require no other equipment but good shoes to come up with a good performance.

“I cover around 1,100km every month,” says Rana, as he shows two of his worn-out shoes. “I need at least 6-7 pairs of shoes a year. The kit that we receive from the government contains running shoes, which is of no use to us. There have been instances at the national camp when I had to put off buying new shoes by a few weeks. I make do with these worn-out shoes then.”

Rana, who paid $140 for a pair of shoes in Russia during the World Race Walking Cup, said the amount is yet to be reimbursed. “Two days back, Irfan found the shoes he wanted in Bangalore. He paid around Rs 6,000 for them. He too is hoping to get the money back.”

The two virtually circumambulated the earth ever since they began training for London 2012 before making the grade. Rana touched 4:02.13 in 50km, well within the ‘B’ mark of 4:09.00 while in 20km, Irfan clocked 1:22.09 as against the ‘A’ mark of 1:22.30 at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Saransk, Russia in May.

The two athletes, who are certainties for the Olympics along with the other two 20km walkers Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder Singh, had moved from Patiala to Bangalore in April after Athletics Federation of India decided to have both the walking camps, one under Russian Alexander Artsybashev and the other under SAI coach Ramakrishnan Gandhi, at the South Centre.

SAI to reimburse walkers’ expenses

Sports Authority of India regional director SS Roy was sympathetic to the walkers’ appeal, saying he would reimburse the amount immediately.

“These two walkers were in Patiala till April. I am not sure what happened there. But now that they have shifted base to Bangalore, we will take care of them,” Roy told TOI.

Apparently, the south centre has reimbursed the claims of the other walkers training under Ramakrishnan Gandhi – Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder Singh – and Roy said he saw no reason why the others walkers had to be denied. “They have been here for a few weeks but haven’t brought this to my notice. Let them produce the bills and we will do the needful,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / TOI Home> Olympics 2012 / by V. Narayan Swamy, TNN / July 03rd, 2012