A group of engineering students at SRM University in Chennai—one of the country’s top engineering schools—have invented a set of high-tech electrified underwear to prevent rape.
In the wake of India’s “rape epidemic ” which has rocked the country and sent tourism plummeting by as much as 25 percent (35 percent among women), the students decided to take matters into their own hands with a set of underwear that can electrocute attackers while protecting the wearer.
As a progressive American guy, it’s tempting to dismiss the anti-rape undies as misguided and inadvertently reinforcing the “rape culture” that tacitly places responsibility on women and their clothes in addressing violence. It’s tempting to suggest they just go have a SlutWalk and tell men it’s their responsibility not to be rapists, end of story.
But I’m not an Indian woman living in the middle of a rape epidemic, so I have no idea what I’m talking about.
Two of the women in the student group who invented the electric underwear are women who think that the danger calls for a more immediate defense than protest and slow cultural change. The group said :
After stepping into the real, cruel world we realised that our smile could not last for long as the threat to our purity and integrity always lingered on. Lawmakers take ages to come up with just laws and even after that, women are unsafe. Hence, we have initiated the idea of self-defence which protects the women from domestic, social and workplace harassment.
The underwear, called Society Harnessing Equipment (SHE), deploys a 3,800kV charge to anyone touching the outside of the underwear while protecting the wearer with a polymer lining. It’s also equipped with GPS and can notify cops in real-time in the event of an attack, supplying them with the victim’s location through the GPS.
“The shocks can be emitted up to 82 times,” the group says. “This could give women freedom from situations faced in public places.”
source: http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com / Home> News / by Alex Moore / April 2013
using the panels will be ready on April 8. / by Special Arrangement / The Hindu
Panels made of glass fibre reinforced gypsum can replace brick walls and RCC slabs, and are resistant to quakes.
Can panels made of gypsum reinforced with glass fibre be used as load-bearing walls replacing brick in a multi-storied building? Can they also be used as floor/roof in place of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) slab? The simple answer is, yes.
A few years ago, Rapidwall Building Systems, Australia, developed a technology to make gypsum strong and water-resistant enough to be used as load-bearing walls. This is by calcining process where glass fibre is combined with gypsum plaster to produce glass fibre reinforced gypsum (GFRG) panels. Now, researchers at IIT Madras have gone a step further.
They have developed a technology to make GFRG panels to be also used as floor/roof, thus eliminating the use of RCC slabs. An eight-storied building, for instance, can be built using the panels as load-bearing walls, floors/roofs and staircases.
They also collaborated in the indigenous development of an excellent water-proofing material. Water-proofing is essential for prolonged durability of the GFRG panels, especially in the case of roofs and toilets.
A demonstration building — ground plus first floor — is being built inside the IIT-M campus. The building, with electrical and sanitary fittings, will be ready on April 8 — just 29 days of construction after the foundation was completed. “It will be ready for occupation when it is completed,” said Prof. Devdas Menon, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras.
The building will have four units — two with a carpet area of 269 sq.ft are for the economically weaker section, and another two, with a carpet area of 497 sq.ft, are for the low-income group (LIG).
A few years ago, a couple of buildings were constructed at the GFRG panel manufacturing plants at RCF in Mumbai and FACT Cochin, and one at Visakhapatnam using the IIT technology. “Those were pilot projects,” said Prof. Menon. “This is a demonstration that the material can be used for cost-effective, mass-scale and quickly buildable housing, with improved water-proofing.”
What makes the rapid construction possible is that the panels are prefabricated and cut to desired sizes based on room sizes with openings for doors and windows.
A panel has two skins of 15 mm thickness that are interconnected at regular intervals (25 cm). The cavities formed by these interconnections are used for several purposes — filling with concrete, and laying electrical conduits and plumbing pipes.
In Australia, the Rapidwall technology has been used for constructing several 2-3 storied buildings. Since the walls act as load-bearing structures, every cavity in the panel is filled with concrete. They use conventional RCC solid slabs for the roof/floor.
“We recommend the use of two steel bars instead of one and filling all cavities with concrete in the lower floors in the case of a high-rise building,” said Prof. A. Meher Prasad of Civil Engineering Department, IIT, Madras. The number of concrete-filled cavities and steel bars keeps reducing from the ground to the topmost floor. The topmost floor will need very few concrete-filled cavities.
A reduction in amount of concrete used in turn reduces the total weight of the building. The ripple effect is the reduction in the foundation cost. The demonstration building at IIT Madras is about 25 per cent cheaper than conventional ones. “There will be greater savings when used for mass-construction,” Prof. Menon stressed. Aside from the savings and speed of construction, the buildings are subjected to lesser earthquake forces. This is because of their lighter weight.
For the floor/roof, the panels are placed over the vertical wall panels and the top skin of every third cavity is cut open. Steel reinforcement is placed in these cut cavities before being filled with concrete. The concrete-filled cavities tend to behave as hidden beams. The panel is then covered with a 5-cm thick concrete topping.
Since the panels have a smooth finish, the need to plaster them (as in the case of brick walls) does not arise. The total weight of the building (dead weight) is reduced substantially
According to the IIT researchers, tests conducted have shown that GFRG panels reinforced with concrete are also capable of resisting lateral loads caused by earthquakes. During an earthquake or strong wind, buildings tend to sway and the walls are subjected to enormous loads exerted laterally.
The Building Material & Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) has approved GFRG for construction in India.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> S & T > Technology / by R Prasad / April 03rd, 2013
The Madras Medical College got an x-ray machine in 1900, five years after it was invented. Twenty years later, the Bernard Institute of Radiology at MMC got a separate building. Today it offers at least 1,000 images on MRIs, CTS and digital x-rays, hospital dean Dr V Kanakasabai said.
The hospital subsidizes the cost of imaging so that CT scans cost 350-500, while MRI scans cost 2,500. “Some of these images cost at least 15,000 in private hospitals. Here they are offered free for mentally ill and unconscious accident victims,” Kanakasabai said on Monday during the 79th Institute Day celebrations.
The institute was named after Captain Bernard, who got 8 lakh sanctioned for a separate building for the department in 1928. Eight years later, the institute was equipped to offer diploma courses for doctors and paramedics in radiology. Even today, a postgraduate degree (MD) in radiology at MMC is one of the most sought after. “It’s one of the most popular courses. We offer four postgraduate seats. Every year, we see a tough fight among students for this course. Students pay nearly 2.5 crore to do this course in private colleges and universities,” he said. In 2012, it started post-graduate diploma courses radio diagnosis and another in radiotherapy. This year, BSc Radio Diagnosis and BSc Radiotherapy have been introduced.
The interventional radiology wing, an arm of the department, does vascular grafting and coil embolism for poor under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme. The department also offers up to 170 radiotherapy procedures everyday to cancer patients. “Six lakh patients a year are treated at the department,” said director Vanitha.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / April 03rd, 2013
Moving away from black, brown, tan and burgundy leathers, here is a line-up of leather products with floral and tribal art-work that will be on display at Hotel B R Mathsya, T Nagar. Designed and created by Nandini Sharma, this expo will display products like handbags, clutch purses, travel pouches, decorative boxes, executive folders, mobile pouches and photo frames.
Nandini has used a variety of materials such as leather, felt, tissue, hand-woven fabrics, decorative motifs, beads, stones and hand-painted leather appliqués, and combined them with a creative twist to make useful products for homes and offices.
The products will be on display on April 5 and 6 (Friday and Saturday) from 3 pm to 8 pm at the hotel’s conference hall and part of the proceeds will be donated for a noble cause towards the development of under-privileged women and children.
For further information, call 98410 58101.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Services – Chennai / April 04th, 2013
Teachers and students of Fatima College watching a documentary ‘Back to Tradition’ in Madurai on Tuesday. / Photo: G. Moorthy / The Hindu
The Chinese discovered a 4,000-year-old bowl of well preserved noodles made from foxtail millet and broomcorn millet at the Lajia archaeological site in 2002. Though such a discovery is yet to be made in India, it is no doubt true that the nutritious millet was once upon a time a staple diet of Indians too, says a group of students from Fatima College here.
A documentary film produced by first year postgraduate students of the English Department claims that millet lost their prime position in Indian kitchens due to excessive importance given to rice and wheat during the Green Revolution in 1960s.
The film, titled ‘Back to tradition — reviving legacy of small millet,’ was released by principal Rev. Sr. A. Jospin Nirmala Mary here on Tuesday.
Produced in association with the Centre for Development Communication of the DHAN Foundation, a non-governmental organisation here, the 12-minute documentary film highlighted how millet was superior to rice in terms of its nutritive values. Almost all millet varieties had much higher content of protein, magnesium and calcium than rice, it averred.
The students had visited rural pockets like Sengapadai, close to Thirumangalam near here, and interacted with the locals who cultivated and consumed millet as a preferred diet. They had documented rural women ruing about their urban counterparts relying excessively on electrical mixer grinders because they lacked the stamina to work on manual pounders.
“Women these days are weak because their diet does not contain nutritious millet preparations like Kammangkoozh and Kelviragu kanji,” says Ravimani, a farmer woman of Sengapadai.
Similar opinions were expressed by other villagers who cited consumption of millet to be the reason for rural people to possess the energy required for physical labour.
The students ended the documentary with a stress on the need to give back the prime place that millets once enjoyed in Indian kitchens. They also recalled with gratitude the support they received from M. Rosary Royar, Head of the Research Department of English; P. Krishnamurthi, team leader of CDC, DHAN Foundation and filmmaker T. Veerabathiran in producing the film.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Cities> Madurai / by Mohamed Imranullah S. / April 17th, 2013
US-based NRIs form majority that obtain birth/death certificates from Corporation.
Non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the United States are the most prolific when it comes to obtaining certificates for births/deaths recorded in Chennai.
As many as 41,300 birth certificates have been downloaded in the US, from the Chennai Corporation’s website, since September 2008.
The Corporation simplified the process of issuing birth and death certificates in 2008 by enabling downloading of the documents free of cost from any corner of the world. The number of death certificates downloaded in the US is 8,350 during the same period.
The number of NRIs availing the service has been increasing every year, an official said. Singapore has downloaded the most number of birth (14,000) and death (2,190) certificates among Asian countries.
The European country with the most downloads is the United Kingdom. As many as 6,820 NRIs in the UK have downloaded Chennai Corporation’s birth certificates and 1,130 have downloaded death certificates. Among the Gulf countries, a large number of persons from the United Arab Emirates have downloaded birth (353) and death (52) certificates.
Births and deaths have been registered, and certificates issued, in all zonal offices by birth and death registrars since January 1991. Computerised birth and death certificates too are issued in the zonal offices.
Those born in the city between 1879 and 1990, however, can get these documents issued only at Ripon Buildings. More than 1.1 lakh births and about 39,000 deaths are registered in the Chennai Corporation every year.
The civic body issues a copy of the birth or death certificate free of cost if the event is registered within 21 days of its occurrence. A late fee is collected from those who fail to register before 21 days.
Beyond 30 days, the order of the Corporation commissioner is required, in addition to the late fee, for registration of birth. If it is delayed beyond a year, the birth is registered based on orders from a judicial or metropolitan magistrate alone.
In such cases, applicants have to spend more than Rs. 2,000 for a certificate because of the legal processes involved.
Efforts are underway to improve recording of births and deaths by creating awareness on timely registration among residents.
Birth and death certificates can be obtained from http://www.chennaicorporation. gov.in/online-civic-services/ birthanddeath.htm.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Aloysius Xavier Lopez / April 14th, 2013
Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan have the highest growth potential for the automobile industry for adding new and first time customers, an Assocham study said Wednesday.
According to the study, titled “Automobile Industry in India: Saturated and Potential States”, both Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan have registered a high growth in employment generation, per capita income and monthly per capita consumption expenditure share in durable goods and are ahead of the national growth in the three key indicators.
“Tamil Nadu’s gross domestic product (GDP) and motor vehicles registration growth are also more than the national level growth,” said D.S. Rawat, national secretary general of industry panel Assocham (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) while releasing the findings of the study.
Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat have been identified as possible opportunity states as they have performed better than national average and also have a high share of untapped growth, according to a release here.
Lack of infrastructure, geographical challenges and population density were certain constraints faced by automotive companies to expand their presence in rural markets, the study said.
source: http://www.twocircles.net / Two Circles / Home> India News / April 03rd, 2013
An agri-business centre in Madurai. / Photo: R. Ashok / The Hindu
Graduates moving away from secure government jobs
V. Rajesh Kannan, now 39, was at a crossroads when he completed his bachelor’s degree in agriculture in 1994. Today, he is a successful agripreneur and a net-worth individual with a growing business.
His is among the success stories of agriculture graduates who break out of the pattern of looking for the security of a government job and, instead, dare to venture into agribusiness that includes sale of seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, cattle feed, bio and organic inputs, among other things.
“Success did not come overnight. I first worked as an executive in a private company for 10 years, rose to the level of manager, learnt the nuances of agribusiness and then started my own venture. There is a lot of scope in this field but not many dare to enter it,” he says.
Mr. Kannan was part of the second batch of trainees who underwent a two-month training programme in 2004 on ‘Establishment of Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centres’ (ACABC) conducted by Voluntary Association for People Service (VAPS) here, a training institute approved by the Union Ministry of Agriculture.
The programme is being implemented jointly by the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Hyderabad and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). VAPS, one of the 55 training institutes across the country, has trained over 1,600 students since 2002.
P. Subramanian, a former professor at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and now a technical consultant for VAPS training centre, points out that the Centre had revised the ACABC scheme in 2010. As per the revised scheme, each successful trainee is eligible for a bank loan of Rs. 20 lakh for establishing agri clinics and business centres.“If five of them join together for a group project, they can get Rs.1 crore. The Centre provides a subsidy of 44 per cent of the project cost to women and those belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and 36 per cent for others. Banks do not charge interest for the subsidy portion,” he adds.
There is no age bar for enrolling in the training programme. Utilising the opportunity, P. Sankar, a 59-year-old retired staff of Agricultural College and Research Institute here, joined the training programme recently. “I decided to undergo the training because during my career span I saw how reluctant farmers were to try out new ideas. They hesitate to take risks. I want to be a role model to them. I am going to venture into agribusiness by utilising the eight acres I own near T. Kallupatti,” he says with confidence.
Cattle farm
S. Ramakrishnan, a veterinarian who retired from government service, is among those who want to take to farming as a profession post-retirement. He proposes to set up a cattle farm at Palamedu along with an agri-farm, adjacent to it, to raise fodder. “Fodder constitutes 60 per cent of cost in maintaining a cattle farm. Once we learn to control the cost of fodder, we can make big profits in this field. Being a veterinarian is an advantage for me. Others must maintain a liaison with a local veterinarian,” he suggests.
Not only the seniors, but also youngsters like 22-year-old P. Kothainayagi of Thiruvannamalai are showing interest in becoming agripreneurs. She travelled to Madurai and signed up for the training. “I completed my bachelor’s degree in horticulture in 2011. Ever since, I have been helping my father, an agriculturist, and also other farmers in my village by providing tips on increasing their produce. Now, I plan to establish an agri-clinic as well as an agri-business centre in my hometown,” she says.
L. Ashokan (38) who completed his bachelor’s degree in rural development science and then a master’s degree in social work from Loyola College, Chennai, has an innovative idea. He wants to create bio compost using coir dust. “The idea is novel but I don’t know whether banks would support it,” he doubts.
P.R. Vijayakumar, Deputy Regional Manager, Central Bank of India, says that banks are ready to extend loans for raising crops, irrigation, animal husbandry, harvesting, agricultural processing, storage of agri-produce, buying farm implements and tractors and even for purchasing shares of sugar mills. “There is no limit for the loan amount. Everything depends on the project cost and the security would be the project itself but for certain instances when collateral would be required. Young agricultural graduates and even those who are in the profession must utilise the opportunity,” he urges.
Stressing the importance of repaying bank loans promptly, he adds that an agripreneur cannot fail to make profits if he or she gave importance to involvement, innovation, planning, and disaster management. “Agripreneurs must anticipate disasters and be ready with measures to tackle them as they happen,” he advises.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by Mohamed Imranullah S. / Madurai, April 02nd, 2013
As the Indian pump industry pins its hopes on a revival of industrial demand and the onset of the South-West monsoon in June to perk up demand from the farm sector, Coimbatore-based Deccan Pumps is preparing to launch a new brand of pumps ‘EKKI’ (which in Tamil means ‘to ascend’) that targets both the agricultural and urban markets.
The company, among the top pump manufacturers in Coimbatore city that accounts for a near 40 per cent market share of the organised pump market in the country, is also looking at opportunities to partner with European pump manufacturers to serve markets in India and abroad.
In an interaction with Business Line, P. Arumugam, Chairman, DPPL, and Kanishka Arumugam, Product Manager, EKKI, a new division of DPPL, said the development of the borehole submersible ‘EKKI+’ was driven by the demand for energy efficient pumps with lower lifecycle costs.
The new borehole range comes in varying diameters ranging from 4 inches to 8 inches and are up to 10 per cent more efficient than the earlier generation of boreholes, making them ‘the best in class’ from 0.5 HP up to 90HP. They expect the ‘EKKI+’ borehole submersibles to contribute to about half the sales of the EKKI brand. The existing ‘Deccan’ brand open-well submersibles, mini submersibles, jet pumps and centrifugal monoblocs would also be sold under the ‘EKKI’ brand name.
The EKKI range of products would be produced at a greenfield facility set up with a capacity to manufacture 6,000-7,000 units a month. While the first phase of the plant was ready, the second phase would be completed in two months.
Kanishka Arumugam said while MNC pump manufacturers dominated the industrial segment, the Coimbatore pump industry has carved a niche in the agriculture, residential and commercial segments. But the industrial segment was alluring because of the scope for value addition.
Deccan was focused on the farm segment at present, though the industrial segment was also on its radar. He felt there were still some pockets in the country where the company’s products had not reached and he would like to tap these markets even while trying to ramp up capacity.
He said some of the leading European pump makers wanted Deccan to supply products under their brand names. For instance, while buying submersible motor parts from India and China, they would produce their own pumps at their own facilities, making Deccan an OEM supplier to them, under their brand name. As the company does not have sufficient capacity to meet domestic demand, it has not embraced the opportunity. But once capacity addition was in place, Deccan was open to the idea of looking at such opportunities in countries where its own brand did not have a market.
He said a few other foreign companies that wanted to enter the Indian market have evinced an interest to forge joint ventures with Deccan. The advantage was that these companies had niche technologies whereas Deccan has manufacturing strengths. He said EKKI would consider ‘growth through joint synergies’ with some of the European family-owned groups. This would also catapult the company from ‘being follower to leader’ by leveraging its R&D and design capabilities.
Arumugam said besides Coimbatore, Ahmedabad was also a major production hub for the pump industry, though Rajkot also had many players. The Central and State Governments have been lending a supporting role, particularly in the manufacture of energy-efficient pumps. But the sluggish business environment has impacted the supply chain and captive foundries have also been slow in meeting their supply commitments.
Asked about the impact of the ongoing drought in many markets, including Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, he said generally drought drives up the demand for borehole pumps from the farm sector. In Tamil Nadu the ‘sales are actually OK due to drought’ as farmers dig new wells in search of water. But the drought in Maharashtra, an important market for the Deccan brand, has affected sales. But he expected the demand to pick up once the monsoon sets in and distributors there have already begun stocking, expecting a demand revival. He said compared to last year, the overall demand was high for Deccan as farmers have plumped for ‘high performance energy-efficient branded pumps’.
On future growth plans, Arumugam said DPPL completed the spin-off from Deccan Industries on March 31, 2013. This would enable DPPL to focus on becoming the largest producer of vertical open-well submersibles and mini submersibles. He planned to set up a group logistics centre and an additional greenfield facility in the city in the coming fiscal, apart from the three plants it has now.
source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home / by R. Yegya Narayanan / April 01st, 2013
Apollo Hospitals is taking over the defunct facility of Lifeline Multi-Speciality Hospital in Perungudi, Chennai on a long-term facility lease.
Lifeline Multi-speciality Hospital, Perungudi, a 180-bed tertiary care hospital headed by Dr J. S. Rajkumar, shut down operations over a month ago. According to sources, this facility was making losses. (Lifeline also runs a smaller facility in Kilpauk, Chennai.)
The lease is for 29 years, extendable by another 29 years, said a source close to the deal. Apollo will refurbish this facility and operate it under its brand name. It will bring in its own equipment and staff, said the source.
The new facility will specialise in cardiology, neurology, orthopaedic, critical and trauma care and is expected to start operations in three to four months.
This hospital is expected to strengthen the Apollo group’s presence in South Chennai. Apollo is already setting up a comprehensive cancer care hospital in this region (on Old Mahabalipuram Road) which is expected to start operations by 2015. An Apollo’s women and child care centre is also coming up on the road.
South Chennai, home to several IT companies including Cognizant and Infosys, and residential complexes, is fast developing into a major hub of activity. Hyderabad-based Global Hospitals (formerly Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Sankara Hospital) runs a 250-bed multi-speciality hospital at Shozhinganallur.
source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home> Companies / The Hindu Bureau / Chennai, April 01st, 2013
