V. Mohan, chairman and chief diabetologist of Dr. Mohan’s Specialities Centre, has published 870 research papers in high-impact journals and textbooks — Photo: Bijoy Ghosh / The Hindu
The Fellowship of The World Academy of Sciences was recently conferred upon city-based diabetologist V. Mohan.
This is one of the most prestigious science awards and is conferred annually on top scientists in various disciplines, globally, according to a press release.
Dr. Mohan, chairman and chief diabetologist of Dr. Mohan’s Specialities Centre, has published 870 research papers in high-impact journals and textbooks and his work has received 23,813 citations till date.
He is one of the few practising medical doctors in the world to be conferred this prestigious fellowship, a press release said.
The award was presented to him at the 25th general meeting of The World Academy of Sciences held in Muscat on October 27.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / Chennai – November 02nd, 2014
Distinguished scientist Sivathanu Pillai, chief controller, Defence Research and Development Organisation, received the lifetime award from Rotary Club of Madras.
At a function held recently, S.N. Srikanth, president of the club, presented him with the award.
In his acceptance speech, Dr. Pillai said the indigenous missile development programme was among the great scientific accomplishments of the country.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – October 17th, 2014
Successfully tackling the currency crisis has earned Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajanthe Euromoney magazine’s Central Bank Governor of the Year Award for 2014.
“Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan’s tough monetary medicine combatted the storm ravaging the deficit-ridden economy in the recent emerging market crisis. Now, he is battling vested interests to arouse a sleepy financial system for over one billion people,” Euromoney said while announcing the award.
Rajan took charge of the country’s central bank in early September last year, just a few days after the rupee plunged to its historic low, hitting 68.83 against the dollar on August 28, 2013.
“As he confronted capital outflows, the rupee at record lows, and over-blown but palpable, fears India was marching towards an Asia-crisis style abyss, Rajan duly administered tough monetary medicine to ailing bond and currency markets,” said Euromoney.
Rajan took several steps to attract capital flows which helped the rupee strengthen. It is now trading in the narrow range of 60-62 per dollar.
“Remarkably, the internationally-renowned economist, who earned acclaim for his warnings in 2005 of an upcoming global crisis of sorts, has, for the past year, been true to his word.”
After tackling the currency crisis, Rajan’s next task was to tame inflation, which stayed close to the double-digit mark for more than three years. He resolved to bring down inflation – evident from three rate hikes between September 2013 and January 2014, accompanied with a hawkish stance that has helped CPI-based inflation register its slowest growth in September, since the series was launched in January 2012.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Finance> News / BS Reporter / Mumbai – October 16th, 2014
Could India develop a hyperplane? Yes, says India’s noted scientist Sivathanu Pillai, who is working on the hyperplane project, which will use hydrogen-based fuel and is 25 times faster than sound.
Speaking on the sidelines of being conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award by Rotary Club of Madras, Pillai said the success of hyperplane lies in mastering the scramjet technology, a type of very fast jet engine. Although the US and China have successfully developed the scramjet engine, they are yet to design materials that can withstand the heat generated by an object travelling at such high speed.
Usually in a high speed aircraft, air friction causes extreme heating of the leading edge where the temperature could be very high (Mach 5 generates 1,000 degree Celsius).
Currently, there is no technology that can withstand the heat, said Pillai, adding that the Indian Space Research Organisation, DRDO and other organisations are working to develop hyperplane.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / October 15th, 2014
Former President Abdul Kalam says that true nation building is not made by political rhetoric alone but should be backed “by the power of sacrifice, toil and virtue”. File photo: K. Ramesh Babu / The Hindu
For former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, becoming a fighter pilot was a “dearest dream” but he failed to realise it by a whisker as he bagged the ninth position when only eight slots were available in the IAF.
In his new book “My Journey: Transforming Dreams into Actions”, published by Rupa, Mr. Kalam, who specialised in aeronautical engineering from Madras Institute of Technology, says he was desperate to pursue a career in flying.
“Over the years I had nurtured the hope to be able to fly to handle a machine as it rose higher and higher in the stratosphere was my dearest dream,” he writes.
Out of the two interview calls Mr. Kalam got, one was from the Indian Air Force in Dehradun and the other from the Directorate of Technical Development and Production (DTDP) at the Ministry of Defence in Delhi.
While the interview at DTDP was “easy” he recounted that for the Air Force Selection Board, he realised that along with qualifications and engineering knowledge, they were also looking for a certain kind of “smartness” in the candidate.
Mr. Kalam bagged the ninth position out of 25 candidates and was not recruited as only eight slots were available.
“I had failed to realise my dream of becoming an air force pilot,” he writes.
He says he “walked around for a while till I reached the edge of a cliff” before deciding to go to Rishikesh and “seek a new way forward.”
“It is only when we are faced with failure do we realise that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives,” says Mr. Kalam who went on to put his “heart and soul” at his job as the senior scientific assistant at DTDP.
The book is filled with stories of “innumerable challenges and learning” in his years as the scientific adviser when India conducted its second nuclear test, his retirement and dedication to teaching thereafter and his years as President.
Mr. Kalam has compiled life’s learnings, anecdotes and profiles of key moments and people who inspired him profoundly in the book, which will hits the stands on August 20.
He recounts “staring into the pit of despair” when he failed to make it as an IAF pilot and how he pulled himself up and rose to become the man who headed India’s missile programme and occupy highest office in the country.
While the 82-year-old, popularly known as the Missile Man for his contribution to the development of ballistic missile technology, had in 1999 brought out his autobiography “Wings of Fire” and followed it with “Turning Points”, a journey through challenges” in 2012 that details his political career and challenges, the latest book talks about the people who left a deep impression on him as he was growing up.
In the 147-page book, Mr. Kalam writes about his experience of watching his father build a boat, his early working life as a newspaper boy at the age of eight and even his first-hand experience of the way in their religious elders settled a religious matter in his school.
In a chapter “A brush with fire”, Mr. Kalam recounts the 1999 January 11 incident involving two aircraft which took off from Bangalore towards the Arakkonam-Chennai coastline and crashed, killing 8 men on board.
While Mr. Kalam immediately flew to Bangalore from Delhi and met the bereaved families, he says the grief of the devastated parents and the wailing of the infants remained with him even after years of the incident even after he moved from his office at South Block to Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The former President says that true nation building is not made by political rhetoric alone but should be backed “by the power of sacrifice, toil and virtue”.
“When grand plans for scientific and defence technologies are made, do the people in power think about the sacrifices the people in the laboratories and fields have to make?” he writes.
The book also contains a chapter detailing Mr. Kalam’s favourite books “which have always been close companions” who “were like friends” guiding him through life. Lilian Eishler Watson’s “Light from Many Lamps,” the “Thirukural”, Nobel Laureate Alex Carrel’s “Man the Unknown” have been listed.
Poetry says Mr. Kalam has been “one of his first loves” and poems by T.S. Elliot, Lewis Carroll and William Butler Yeats has “played out in my over and over again”.
In conclusion, Mr. Kalam writes his life can be summed up as “Love poured to the child… struggle… more struggle… bitter tears… then sweet tears… and finally a life as beautiful and fulfilling as seeing the birth of the full moon.
“I hope these stories will help all my readers understand their dreams and compel them to work on these dreams that keep them awake,” he writes.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books> Authors / PTI / New Delhi – August 18th, 2013
M.S. Subbulakshmi and her husband, T. Sadasivam (third from left), are greeted by the Duke of Edinburgh at the International Music Festival. / by Special Arrangement / The Hindu
In 1963, M.S. Subbulakshmi enthralled audiences at the International Music Festival in Edinburgh
M.S. Subbulakshmi, the ‘queen of song’ would have turned 98 on September 16. While she continues to be celebrated as a legend of Indian classical music around the globe, not many are aware that up until 1963, the Western world knew little of her or her music.
It was only with the International Music Festival held in Edinburgh in September that year that things changed. The West finally discovered Carnatic music as it were, and the voice that rendered it best.
The Carnatic musician and her husband, T. Sadasivam, received Lord Harewood, the president of the festival, at their home in Madras. / by Special Arrangement / The Hindu
Lord Harewood, the president of the festival and a cousin of Queen Elizabeth, however, had the good fortune of hearing M.S. five years prior to his fellow countrymen. It was in October 1958, in Delhi, that Lord Harewood and his Countess found themselves enthralled by one of M.S.’ many national broadcasts.
T. Sadasivam, the icon’s husband, writes in M.S: The Queen of Song (1987): “Evidently they were taken up by her music and later gave us the pleasure of receiving them in our home in Madras. They invited us to Edinburgh in order that Subbulakshmi could participate in the International Music Festival.”
The show, conceived as an opportunity to initiate Western audiences to the riches of India’s performing arts, also featured sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, violinist Yehudi Menuhin and dancer Balasaraswati, among others.
For M.S., this was a first on many accounts. Not only was it her first overseas performance, but also her very first trip abroad.
On August 21, she left Madras by train to Bombay, from where she flew to London four days later. During her two-hour-long recitals on August 30 and September 2, she was accompanied by R.S. Gopalakrishnan on the violin, T.K. Murthy on the mridangam, and Alangudi Ramachandran on the ghatam.
Narayana Menon, secretary of the Sangeet Natak Academy, also educated the unfamiliar audience in the history, dynamics and nuances of the Carnatic music system, with special reference to the songs being performed.
M.S.’ concerts ran to packed houses in the Freemason Hall. A jubilant headline on the front page of The Hindu on September 4 read ‘M.S In Top Form at Edinburgh’.
The artist exhilarated crowds with her performance of compositions by Thyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Swathi Thirunal, Papanasam Sivan, Panchanadeeswarar Aiyar and Tagore. It was Hari tuma haro, a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi, with which she chose to conclude.
Soon after, M.S. was invited to Europe and then America to perform.
This was the landmark which enabled Carnatic music to be unveiled to the West and find a truly international audience. For that, and much more, we have M.S. Subbulakshmi to thank.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Nitya Menon / Chennai – September 18th, 2014
Academics and jurists are waiting with bated breath, even as Madras high court is busy finalizing the list of trustees to run the 140 year old P T Lee Chengalvaraya Naicker Trust, which has institutions and properties valued at more than Rs 1,000 crore in Chennai and Kancheepuram districts. To this day, the HSBC Bank is sending dividend amount ranging from Rs 51 lakh to Rs 1.1 crore to the trust every year. Such was the vision of the man.
At the time of his death, philanthropist Chengalvaraya Naicker was barely 45 years old. But he had bequeathed all his wealth with an intention to establish educational institutions and orphanages. As on date, the trust runs at least a dozen institutions and has properties on Anna Salai, Vepery, Royapettah, Choolai and Kancheepuram district.
A division bench of Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice K Ravichandrabaabu is slated to pass orders in the matter in a day or two.
Though more than five teams of trustees have had their full tenures in the past, the quality and volume of activities at the trust-run institutions have been steadily declining, say academics. “This year only a handful of students have joined our engineering college near Kancheepuram though we do not collect any capitation and we have good facilities,” he said, blaming the trustees’ misplaced priorities for the poor condition of the institutions. A former chairman suggested that the trust donate Rs 51 lakh to a city temple, while another wanted to sell a trust property at Mint street for a throwaway price, he rued. Another chairman appropriated all powers of all trustees, resulting in an internal revolt, while a chairman diverted all fixed deposit funds of the trust to a bank and branch of his personal choice.
“Malgovernance, rampant corruption and favouritism, besides discrimination of non-Vanniar staff members and employees at the trust and the trust-run institutions are causes of concern,” a jurist associated with the trust proceedings for a long time told The Times of India. Though the decree nowhere states that the retired HC judge who would head the team of trustees should be only from Vanniar community, for the past few terms only such candidates are being considered, resulting in the contraction of choices, he said.
Precious pieces of land such as the one in Royapettah are under illegal encroachment, and the trustees have not taken steps to get back Rs 2 crore from Pachaiyappa’s trust, a lawyer said, adding that the engineering college is deliberately being pushed into oblivion.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by A. Subramani, TNN / September 18th, 2014
In the nation-wide hustle and bustle over the prime minister’s birthday celebrations were drowned the subdued tributes paid to Tamil Nadu’s political icon on Wednesday, marking his 135th birth anniversary. Though Narendra Modi shares his birthday with that of Periyar E V Ramasamy, who died in 1973, the two leaders are from different historic eras and of diverse political thoughts. But like Modi, Ramasamy, too, was either hated or adored. Though the portrait of the man in flowing white beard is still a fixture in every regional party’s marquee in the state, the modern generation remembers Periyar only as a pioneering champion of OBC rights, an ardent atheist and a Brahmin baiter — all of which he indeed was.
But beyond his shrill political slogans, he propagated progressive ideas that were ahead of his times. If he fought for OBC reservation, which has become a reality in India now, he also advocated 50 per cent reservation of jobs in offices for women in the 1930s. He suggested that as a means to prevent couple from longing for a son and in that pretext not going in for birth control even after having two daughters. But his advocacy of birth control, way back in 1930, was not to address the national problem of population explosion but to enable women make a free and independent choice on having a child or not.
He advised couples not to have children in the first five years of marriage. He saw marriage as an institution that enslaved women and wanted its abolition but was not averse to a man and a woman falling in love and sharing a life. If modern day feminists find the depiction of women in media as unacceptable, Periyar attacked Tamil literature for describing women’s physical features and not their intellectual abilities way back in 1946. Perhaps it was only appropriate that the title ‘Periyar’ was conferred on him by a congregation of women.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Editorials / by The New Indian Express / September 18th, 2014
Veteran Dravidian leader and former Chief Minister C N Annadurai was remembered in the state on the occasion of his 106th birth anniversary.
DMK President M Karunanidhi, accompanied by senior leaders including M K Stalin, paid floral tributes to the portrait of Annadurai, fondly addressed as Anna by his followers.
AIADMK leaders also paid tributes to the leader under party’s Presidium Chairman E Madhusudhanan.
MDMK leader Vaiko and DMDK founder Vijayakanth also paid floral tributes to Annadurai. In Delhi, Principal Resident Commissioner of Tamil Nadu House, Jasbir Singh Bajaj, garlanded a statue of Anna.
Annadurai, founder of DMK, ushered in the first non-Congress government in Tamil Nadu. His party had unseated the Congress government in 1967 and he became the Chief Minister.
A veteran Dravidian leader, he is respected across party lines.
source: http://www.outlookindia.com / Outlook / Home> News> Chennai / September 15th, 2014
The 143rd birth anniversary of freedom fighter V O Chidambaram Pillai, popularly known as VOC, was observed here on Friday.
Leaders of political parties and organizations garlanded VOC’s statue at Simmakkal. Those who garlanded the statue include Tamil Nadu co-operative minister and the AIADMK’s Madurai district secretary K Sellur Raju, Madurai South MLA R Annadurai (CPM), Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president B S Gnanadesikan, DMK leader Jayaraman and representatives of VOC Peravai and Hindu Ilaignar Peravai.
Hindu Ilaignar Peravai activists raised slogans asking people to support indigenous products and avoid foreign goods.
VOC was born in Tuticorin district on September 5, 1872. A disciple of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, he launched the first indigenous Indian shipping service between Tuticorin and Colombo. He died on November 18, 1936.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / byL. Srinivasan, TNN / September 05th, 2014
