writingonblog uncensored: MRTS to get a new lease of life

writingonblog uncensored: MRTS to get a new lease of life: Chennai: The Mass Rapid Transport System in Chennai, which is under-utilised, poorly designed and lacks maintenance, is expected ...

MRTS to get a new lease of life

Chennai:

The Mass Rapid Transport System in Chennai, which is under-utilised, poorly designed and lacks maintenance, is expected to get a new lease of life by Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority.

Sources say CUMTA may focus on enhancing the visibility and image of the MRTS besides enhancing the potential of the vacant built-space in rapid transit system (RTS) Stations.

Sources say plans are also on to exploit the RTS for improving the rider ship and improving the revenue streams.

Interestingly, a study, which was initiated by Goethe Instut in collaboration with Anna University as part of year of Germany celebrations, found many RTS stations lack basic infrastructure required for commuters and is underutilised.

German Prof Gunter Nest and architect Tyco Cote of Habitat  Forum Berlin had stated that inter-city railway stations in Chennai do not enjoy the status of traffic hubs or meeting points that could add to the character of urban life. At present they are mostly just huge structures.

Interestingly, sources said CUMTA is also exploring the merits of introducing common ticket available to travel both in rail and bus and most probably National Common Mobility Card which was introduced by the union government may be deployed.

Sources said plans are also on to corporatise the mass rapid transport network besides corporatization of the suburban rail network.

Plans are also on to operate bus services to match with the timings of the suburban and RTS operations, especially at major rail terminals.

Some proposals include:

-- Examining the feasibility of inter-connecting the

Chintadripet and Chepauk RTS Stations by a skywalk

---Construction of skywalk from the Marina Beach to the corresponding RTS Station

--- Making the approach road to the Thiruvallikeni RTS neat and tidy with street lighting after removing the encroachments

--- Reconstructing the foot over bridge east of the Egmore Railway Station and extending across Gandhi Irwin Road.

writingonblog uncensored: Chennai to have its own transport policy!

writingonblog uncensored: Chennai to have its own transport policy!: C Shivakumar Chennai: Chennai will soon have its own transport urban transport policy with the implementation of Chennai Unified ...

Chennai to have its own transport policy!

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Chennai will soon have its own transport urban transport policy with the implementation of Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority.

As plans are afoot to to ease congestion in the city, the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority which came into being in 2010 is chalking out a series of measures to make traveling easier.

As the city is on a transition phase with massive projects changing the skyline of the city, CUMTA, the brainchild of planners, bureaucrats and technocrats, will work on making mobility quicker and simpler.

Interestingly, the first meeting of CUMTA, which came into being in 2010, was held earlier this month and many ideas were discussed besides the composition of the authority.

Sources said the authority, which shall be a corporate body will initially consist of 21 members under the chairmanship of the Transport Minister.

The focus of CUMTA will be to frame an urban transport policy for the Chennai Metropolitan Area on the lines of National Urban Transport Policy.

The salient features of CUMTA will include monitoring the implementation of various traffic and transportation measures including promoting the cause of public mass passenger transport systems and regulating their operations besides implementation of traffic and transportation infrastructure in the Chennai Metropolitan Area, transport sources said.

Sources said the main role of CUMTA would be to take decisions on matters that would impinge on transport in the Chennai Metropolitan Area and oversee that no steps are initiated by any agencies or local bodies that detract from the overall efficiency of the Comprehensive Transportation Plan.

The other members of CUMTA include chief Secretary, vice-chairman of CMDA besides one eminent traffic and transportation expert nominated by the government.

writingonblog uncensored: Diabetic retinopathy accounts for three per cent o...

writingonblog uncensored: Diabetic retinopathy accounts for three per cent o...: Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah on Wednesday stressed the need to create awareness on diabetic retinopathy as it accounts for th...

Diabetic retinopathy accounts for three per cent of blindness in India

Chennai:

Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah on Wednesday stressed the need to create awareness on diabetic retinopathy as it accounts for three per cent of blindness in India.

Speaking after the inauguration of diabetic retinopathy screening camp at Darbar Hall in Raj Bhavan here, he said although progress from lack of symptoms to blindness due to diabetic retinopathy may take several decades, early detection and proper treatment will help reduce the cause of blindness due to diabetic retinopathy.

Expressing concern over the rise in diabetic cases in india, the governor said there are approximately 35 million people in India with diabetes, the largest in any country and it is expected to rise to 80 million by 2030.

He lauded the initiatiatives taken by Lions Club of Central Madras 324 A1 to conduct eye screening camps for cataract and diabetic retinopathy in association with SankaraNethralaya and with Diabetes Association in India Southern Chapter for creation of diabetic awareness , diabetic foot care and diabetes detection camps.

He also honoured founder and chairman of Shankar Nethralaya Dr S S Badrinath for his ervice to the people.

Rosaiah also gave away shields to organizations and members for their contribution in blood donation movement. They include A S Ganesan, vice chairman of Vinayaka group of institutions, Meenakshi College for women, St Michael’s Polytechnic College and former president of Lion’s Club C T Natesan

writingonblog uncensored: Housing finance sector urges govt to raise tax-fre...

writingonblog uncensored: Housing finance sector urges govt to raise tax-fre...: Chennai: The housing finance sector has urged the Union government to allow financial institutions (FIs) to raise funds through tax fr...

Housing finance sector urges govt to raise tax-free bonds to refinance home loans

Chennai:

The housing finance sector has urged the Union government to allow financial institutions (FIs) to raise funds through tax free bonds for refinancing home loans at a low rate of interest besides green signal for External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) for Housing Finance Companies without prior approval of RBI.

Urging finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to consider the proposals of housing finance sector in the budget, Srinivas Acharya, managing director of Sundaram BNP Paribas Home Finance also sought increase in Tax Deductibility of Home Loan Interest from the current Rs. 1.50 lakh annually to Rs 3 lakh per year.

He also said government could consider increasing the limit for financing small homes to Rs 25 lakh and the cost of house to Rs 30 lakh (Currently Rs 15lakhs/Rs 25lakhs) for being eligible for 1 per cent interest-subsidy.

writingonblog uncensored: Rise in non-communicable diseases among younger po...

writingonblog uncensored: Rise in non-communicable diseases among younger po...: Chennai: The rise in non-communicable diseases among India’s younger population will impinge the economic progress of the country and ...

Rise in non-communicable diseases among younger population will hit economic growth: expert

Chennai:

The rise in non-communicable diseases among India’s younger population will impinge the economic progress of the country and there is a need to create awareness to tackle the pandemic, according to a health expert.

Delivering the convocation address on the silver jubilee year of The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University’s 23^rd convocation here on Wednesday, chairman of Apollo Hospitals Dr Prathap C Reddy said non-communicable diseases account for two-third of deaths in India as India has the privilege of holding ‘gold medals’ in diabetes, cancer and heart.

He said heart diseases has transformed as a major killer impacting the lives of young Indians and hospitals are coming across cases where 30-40 year old are reaching hospitals with an acute heart attack.

He said India, which faces far greater risk of heart disease than other countries, does not have adequate training or infrastructure to tackle it.

“We are four times more likely to have a heart attack than our Western counterparts,” he said.

He said the nation has three challenges which include acute demand-supply gap of hospital beds, severe shortage of health human resources and the new threat of non-communicable diseases.

Urging the government to give a stimulus to health, he said the required bed-to-population ratio is established at one bed per 300 individuals or approximately 30 beds per 10,000 individuals. In order to attain the global benchmark India will require an investment of Rs 6.4 trillion.

He also stressed the need to increase health human resources by doubling doctors from 0.7 million to 1.5 million besides tripling the nurses from 0.8 million to 2.5 million and paramedics from 2.5 million to 10 million.

Earlier, speaking after Tamil Nadu governor K Rosaiah declared the convocation open, vice-chancellor of Dr MGR Medical University

Dr Mayilvahanan Natarajan said that 5215 students are conferred their degrees, of which 2,298 undergraduates and postgraduates students will be confreerd with their degree in person today. He said five candidates are also conferred with Phd and one with D.Sc research degrees.

Health minister and pro-chancellor of the university V S Vijay highlighted the many schemes of the government to help needy.

writingonblog uncensored: Development of TN ports key to overseas investment...

writingonblog uncensored: Development of TN ports key to overseas investment...: Chennai: The port sector, including the major and minor ports, in Tamil Nadu needs holistic development to boost the confidence...

Development of TN ports key to overseas investment: study

Chennai:

The port sector, including the major and minor ports, in Tamil Nadu needs holistic development to boost the confidence of the domestic industry and enhance their competitiveness and make the state a preferred investment destination for domestic and overseas investors. 

The ports may develop capacities, but the problem that has to be addressed will be in the inadequate support infrastructure like road and rail connectivity.

According to a study by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), with the support of Deloitte, “by 2020, Tamil Nadu region is envisaged to have a capacity to handle around 333 million tonnes of cargo. The likely traffic to be handled would be around 284 Million tonnes, in comparison with the 98 million tonnes handled by the three major ports, Chennai, Ennore and Tuticorin and 1.6 million tonnes by the minor ports administered by the Tamil Nadu Maritime Board in 2010-11.

Chennai and Tuticorin ports together handled two million TEUs of container traffic, which accounts for a share of around 22 per cent of the overall container traffic in India.   It is projected that the Tamil Nadu region ports, including Puducherry and Karaikal Ports, are likely to handle more than 7 million TEUs by  2020. 

As projected in the `Maritime Agenda 2020’, the corresponding capacity in the region would be more than 11 million TEUs by that time.

N K Ranganath, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu, said there were several hurdles in reaching this ambitious but possible bulk and container cargo handling traffic in the next eight years. The study highlighting the bottlenecks has made both short-term and long-term measures to break them and called for policy and budgetary interventions, active role for the private sector and manpower development, he said.

Ranganath said, according to the CII study, the major bottlenecks were --  Inadequate back-up and storage transit space provided to the two container terminals, inadequate road facilities to handle the load  equal to the port handling capacity, non-availability of sufficient entry gates and the delay in implementation of connecting roads to the port  and the by-pass road to Ennore-side’’.

The road capacity in Chennai  “can at best support a traffic of not more than 1-1.2 million TEUs a year whereas the terminal capacity is significantly higher than this volume leading to the current problem of severe congestion at the port’’, the study has pointed out.

Among the short-term recommendations are --  Increase the number of gates at the Chennai Port,  move containers to Inland Container Depots (ICDs) by train, expedite the Sriperumbudur dry port project  and speed up the  two projects of widening of the Ennore-Manali highway and the elevated road corridor from Chennai port to Maduravoyal.

As long-term measures the study has recommended-- to create more dry ports outside Chennai, similar to the one proposed in Sriperumbudur, increase the operations through ICDs by providing better rail connectivity, expedite the proposed container related developments (new terminals and infrastructure) in the region with adequate Customs support, and explore the possibility of moving export/ import containers in batches using barges from non-major ports to the two terminals at Chennai port.

The recommendations for policy and regulatory interventions at the Central level include more clarity on the proposed policy and regulatory outlook including the future of TAMP (given MPRA), flexibility of setting independent tariffs (for non-major ports) etc.

The State-level policy interventions include identifying measures to promote coastal shipping, laying down clear guidelines for converting captive port facilities into commercial ones and suitably refining the current Tamil Nadu Minor Port Policy to make it more attractive from the private sector’s perspective. It is also recommended that other industrial development policies (like the TN Industrial policy, TN SEZ policy) should be synergized and aligned with the port-sector policy.

Budgetary interventions are mainly for maintenance and  development of port infrastructure facilities and road and rail  connectivity.

The study says that private sector participation in the port sector would be critical to increase capacities in order to meet the growing traffic and has called for a framework for private sector participation in the State for port-sector needs.

For Manpower development it is suggested that the Tamil Nadu Maritime Academy should closely coordinate with the Indian Maritime University to explore synergies. Further, the scope of such institutions could also be widened to extend support to TNMB and the Port Trusts in their undertaking of key activities.

writingonblog uncensored: NGOs in TN largest beneficiary of foreign funds

writingonblog uncensored: NGOs in TN largest beneficiary of foreign funds: CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu occupies the second position in the country in terms of influx of foreign funds for non-governmental organisation (NG...

NGOs in TN largest beneficiary of foreign funds

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu occupies the second position in the country in terms of influx of foreign funds for non-governmental organisation (NGO) activity in the State, according to information received through the Right to Information Act.
NGOs working in the State have received about Rs 1,650 crore from agencies abroad in 2008-09. The State was second only to Delhi which received foreign aid to the tune of Rs 2,012 crore.

The figures for 2009-10 was under compilation.The other interesting point that emerged from the RTI queries was that the four southern states occupied the top five positions in terms of foreign funding, after Delhi.

The Union Home Ministry, in reply to an RTI query filed by activist Y Arul Doss, stated that Tamil Nadu had the maximum number of NGOs in the country.

It had 3,123 organisations while Delhi had 1,295 organisations.Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh was third on the list having about 2,250 NGOs and getting about Rs 1,244 crore as foreign aid. Karnataka and Kerala got about Rs 1,008 crore and Rs 990 crore of foreign funds respectively.

The Ministry stated that nationwide, more than 20,088 NGOs received about Rs 10,802.67 crore of foreign funds in 2008-09.As per the government records, the figure for foreign contributions to NGOs nationwide jumped from Rs 3,402 crore in 1999-2000 to Rs 10,802.67 crore in 2008-09. Even the number of NGOs rose from 13,986 to 20,088 during the corresponding period.

writingonblog uncensored: Industry seeks planned power cuts

writingonblog uncensored: Industry seeks planned power cuts: Chennai: The power cuts in Chennai on the first day had mixed responses with industry urging the government to plan the power cut...

Industry seeks planned power cuts

Chennai:

The power cuts in Chennai on the first day had mixed responses with industry urging the government to plan the power cuts so that unscheduled cuts don’t happen while residents felt power cuts should not happen during the night so that students can prepare for exams.

A 40 per cent cut in the power supply to the industrial and commercial consumers has left many industries urging the government for planned power cuts.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) while welcoming the power cuts felt that it would have a serious impact on small-scale sector.

FICCI president Rafique Ahmed said the government should ensure no unscheduled power cuts happen. “The 40 per cent cut has resulted in losing two man days and you get power for only three man days besides factories are running on power generators. This will result is rise in the production cost besides many will face losses,” Rafique said.

He said the state government should ensure that there are no unscheduled power cuts so that industries can plan on managing the workforce. However, he said the power cuts are a necessity as without it the state will face further crisis.

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India president T Chitty Babu  said that the power cuts will hamper the industry growth and the government should look at alternative arrangements.

However, many residents said it is too early to react to power cuts. A tution teacher said that if the power cuts happen during the day, it is fine but then if it happens during the night it will affect the students. “The government should ensure that power cuts in the residential areas don’t happen after 4pm so that students have ample time to prepare for exams,” said Shivani, a tution teacher who takes classes for students of class 10^th and 12^th.

Interestingly, many residents echo her thoughts but feel that the heat will be felt only when the summer peaks up. “It is too early to predict,” says a housewife.

writingonblog uncensored: 25 lakh state employees protest

writingonblog uncensored: 25 lakh state employees protest: Chennai: Banking services and other establishments were hit but schools and colleges functioned as staff from central, state and pu...

25 lakh state employees protest

Chennai:

Banking services and other establishments were hit but schools and colleges functioned as staff from central, state and public sector units along with unorganized workers went on a nationwide stir on Tuesday. 

Union sources claim more than 25 lakh employees along with unorganized workers are on a token strike in the state to protest against price rise and seeking amendment to Minimum Wages Act.

The stir has been backed in the state by office-bearers of BSNL employees union, All India Insurance Employees Federation, Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers Tamil Nadu unit, Bank Employees Federation of India, Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association and All India Defence Employees Federation.

 Interestingly, this is the 14^th such strike since the introduction of New Economic Policy (NEP) and this time even the Congress backed union Indian National Trade Union Congress is backing the protest.

 The major demand of the unions is to contain price rise besides creation of National Social Security Fund with adequate resources in line with the recommendation of he National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) and parliamentary standing committee on labour, stoppage of disinvestments in Central and state public sector units and universal social security cover for the unorganized workers without any restriction.

The unions also demand strict enforcement of all basic labour laws without any exception or exemption and stringent punitive measures for violation of labour laws.

writingonblog uncensored: PM asked to stop making allegations on Koddankulam...

writingonblog uncensored: PM asked to stop making allegations on Koddankulam...: It is not the status of PM to make accusations without substantiating it: Javadekar Chennai: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ...

PM asked to stop making allegations on Koddankulam and expose US funded NGOs

It is not the status of PM to make accusations without substantiating it: Javadekar

Chennai:

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should make public the three American funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which are fuelling the protests, and initiate action against them rather than making mere accusations, according to Bharatiya Janata Party national spokesman Prakash Javadekar.

“The prime minister is not from an opposition party to make accusations. If the allegations are real, he should make it clear which all organizations were funded,” Javadekar told reporters here on Monday.

He said the prime minister never explained how much money came. “Since the Foreign Contribution. (Regulation) Act, 1976 is issued by the Home Ministry what was the government doing,” said Javadekar.

“It is not the status of prime minister by making allegations without substantiating it,” said Javadekar.

 He also slammed the UPA government on making contradictory statements with regard to BT Brinjal. “While the prime minister says NGOs based in the United States and Scandinavian countries were creating controversies on issues like GM food, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh has rejected it stating it was due to opposition from state government. The prime minister should clarify on the safety issue of BT Brinjal,” Javadekar said, adding that the government has lost the art of statecraft.

He also said the BJP is not against the Koodankulam nuclear plant but wants the government to allay the fears of the people while highlighting at the same time that post-Fukushima has resulted in Germany giving up nuclear energy and going for renewable energy.

Javadekar also said Union government not consulting the states over National Counter-Terrorism Centre is a direct attack on federalism. He also slammed the National Commission for Higher Education draft bill saying it plans to take over control of higer education and appointment of vice-chancellors.

He said that BJP will be holding a party meeting on March 10 to decide on its strategy in the parliament.

writingonblog uncensored: NAPCC to have ninth component on clean and green t...

writingonblog uncensored: NAPCC to have ninth component on clean and green t...: Chennai: The National Action Plan on Climate Change to reduce green house gases will have an additional component that will focus on cl...

NAPCC to have ninth component on clean and green technologies

Chennai:

The National Action Plan on Climate Change to reduce green house gases will have an additional component that will focus on cleaner and greener technologies, which includes advanced ultra super critical thermal plant.

Dr R Chidambaram, principal scientific adviser to Union government told reporters here on Monday on the sidelines of Confederation of Indian Industry  Conference on ‘Automotive R&D Trends 2015’ that the ninth mission of NAPCC will also include Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) and capturing and storing of carbon-dioxide.

 

The eight missions under NAPCC include National Solar Mission, National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency, National Mission on Sustainable Habitat, National Water Mission, National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, National Mission for a Green India, National Mission fro Sustainable Agriculture and National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change.

The ninth mission will also include Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) and capturing and storing of carbondioxide.

He said that in Advanced Ultra Super Critical (USC) thermal plant, power generation efficiency could be improved by increasing the steam temperature to 700.

Since, the heat-resistant steel that is used as the material for the steam turbine and boiler cannot withstand 700 or higher steam heat, memorandum of understanding is on with Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, which has expertise in materials research, Bharat Heavy Eletctricals Limited and National Thermal Power Corporation to develop the boiler.

“First we will do the research and development and test it out in a loop and after the research and deveplopment is over, we are looking for 800 MW plant which will be built by National Thermal Power corporation,” said Chidambaram.

writingonblog uncensored: Effective recycling of autos can generate two mill...

writingonblog uncensored: Effective recycling of autos can generate two mill...: Chennai: Effective recycling of automobiles can generate two million tonnes of steel, 150,000 tonnes of aluminum and 75,000 tonnes o...

Effective recycling of autos can generate two million tonnes of steel by 2020: Chidambaram

 

Chennai:

Effective recycling of automobiles can generate two million tonnes of steel, 150,000 tonnes of aluminum and 75,000 tonnes of rubber and plastics by 2020, according to Dr R Chidambaram, principal Scientific Adviser to Government of India.

Delivering the inaugural address at the Confederation of Indian Industry conference on “Automotive R&D Trends 2015”, here on Monday, he urged the automobile industry to show the same drive towards the disposal chain as it has done towards the supply chain, the events which happen after a car or motor cycle reaches end of useful life.

He said producing recycled aluminium requires only 7 per cent of the electrical energy required to produce aluminium from the ore.

He also said the Ministry of Heavy Industry and the automobile industry have set up a demonstration centre for automobile recycling at Oragadum in Chennai and Industry has donated large numbers of cars and two wheelers to kick start the center.

Stating that Chennai has the right environment to become a hub for automotive research and development activity, he said plans are on to set up Combustion Research Institute in Indian Institute Technology Madras. This joint initiative by IIT Madras and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, will  be backed by department of science and technology.

He also said that the Collaborative Automotive Research and Development (CAR) and Faunhofer Group of Germany is working on a pilot project on “Joining and Compatibility of Aluminium, Steel and  Plastics (Multijoin).

He said the intelligent automobile systems in India are possible only if the Indian automotive sector optimally utilizes the research and development capabilities of the academic institutions and national laboratories

writingonblog uncensored: TN salt production dips as saltpans slowly vanish ...

writingonblog uncensored: TN salt production dips as saltpans slowly vanish ...: C Shivakumar/ ENS Chennai: Salt production in the state has nose-dived due to acquisition of salt lands for industrial purposes, a...

TN salt production dips as saltpans slowly vanish from coastline

C Shivakumar/ ENS

Chennai:

Salt production in the state has nose-dived due to acquisition of salt lands for industrial purposes, according to a study ‘Working and Living Conditions of Salt Pan Workers in Tamil Nadu’.

Saltpans are slowly vanishing from the coastline and are replaced by power plants, special economic zones, harbours and various other industries. “The acquisition of saltpans for development projects should be stopped or else it will affect the salt production besides the basic existence of an estimated 50,000 workers across the state,” says R Geetha, the co-ordinator of National Campaign for Unorganised Workers.

Interestingly, both government and private lands are used in salt production. There are no clear records of salt production lands in Tamil Nadu and it is estimated that about 60,000 acres are under production. Out of which more than 19,000 acres are Central Government owned, making Tamil Nadu as one of the biggest government owned land under salt production.

But then the state, which ranked second for salt production in the country, is slowly losing its stranglehold as salt production has dipped from 604 lakh tonnes in 2006 to 508 lakh tonnes till 2009. Interestingly, even the common salt production fell as there was only 16.52 lakh tonnes production in 2008-2009 as against the 20.50 lakh tonnes production in 2006-2007, according to the study quoting government data.

When Express contacted Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation officials, they did not respond.

The acquisition of saltpans for development projects has not only affected the production but also the workers. In Tuticorin, more than 20 development projects, including three power plants, are being lined up near the coastal areas and this will hit about 10,000 workers, says Krishnamurthy, the district secretary of Tamil Nadu Manual Workers Union.

“In Ennore, over 3,000 acres of salt lands have been handed to the state government for thermal power station and special economic zones resulting in loss of livelihoods of salt workers,” the study added.

Even the saltpan workers are denied basic amenities and the welfare schemes hardly reach them. The number of beneficiaries under state’s various welfare schemes is inadequate. “Under the Namak Mazdoor Awaas Yojana, about 5,000 workers throughout India are being included and under the Child Reward Scheme, only 100 workers throughout India (including 20 in Tamil Nadu) are included,” the study added.

writingonblog uncensored: Monorail station delays Velachery satellite bus te...

writingonblog uncensored: Monorail station delays Velachery satellite bus te...: C Shivakumar Chennai: The plan to develop a satellite intercity bus terminal in Velachery is delayed due to proposed monorail stat...

Monorail station delays Velachery satellite bus terminal

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

The plan to develop a satellite intercity bus terminal in Velachery is delayed due to proposed monorail station in the area and a decision is likely to be taken after April this year once the government decides on the land requirement for the station.

Sources told Express that with the proposal of a monorail station at the location, satellite bus terminal is likely to be delayed and decision could be arrived only after April.

The government had already accorded sanction to Velachery satellite bus terminal to ease the traffic congestion in Koyambedu. The project, which was to be taken up by Chennai Metropolitan Development authority, was likely to come up at the site near the MRTS station measuring about 12 acres.

The blow to the proposal came when monorail station was proposed at the site. During a recent meeting, the transport department has urged CMDA to ensure land requirements for the project before starting the feasibility study for the satellite bus terminal.

As a result CMDA has put on hold the commissioning of feasibility study for satellite inter city bus terminal after ascertaining the availability of the requirements of the mono rail station proposed at the location.

Sources said the first phase of monorail system is likely to have a network of four elevated corridors, of which Velachery would be connected to Vandalur via Tambaram East.

Meanwhile, the proposal to build world class Madhavaram inter state bus terminal is gathering speed with CMDA set to invite tenders for appointing consultants for preparation of feasibility report and detailed project report.

The proposal for Velachery satellite bus terminal and Madhavaram inter state bus terminal were announced during the budget session of the Tamil Nadu government.

writingonblog uncensored: CII welcomes measures by TN to improve power situa...

writingonblog uncensored: CII welcomes measures by TN to improve power situa...: Chennai: Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has welcomed the restriction and control measures taken by the Tamil Nadu Government t...

CII welcomes measures by TN to improve power situation

Chennai:

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has welcomed the restriction and control measures taken by the Tamil Nadu Government to improve the power situation in the State.

The state government’s decision of 40 per cent power cut to all industrial and commercial consumers, two hour load shedding for Chennai City and suburban, four hour load shedding for other rural and urban areas, evening peak hour restriction to commercial consumers and power holiday to all industries will avoid unscheduled power cuts and help Industry plan in a better way, a CII release said.

CII is said that the decision will lead to fair and equitable distribution of power and result in alleviating the current pressure on Industries and common citizen of Tamil Nadu while industries can continue their business though there will be power cut.

CII also assured Industry support to the government on this decision and extended its full cooperation to make it a complete success. CII also requested Industry to adhere to the power holidays to ensure successful implementation.

writingonblog uncensored: TN targets nine cities under RAY to be made slum-f...

writingonblog uncensored: TN targets nine cities under RAY to be made slum-f...: C Shivakumar Chennai: In a bid to make the state slum free, Tamil Nadu government has selected nine urban agglomerations under Rajiv...

TN targets nine cities under RAY to be made slum-free

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

In a bid to make the state slum free, Tamil Nadu government has selected nine urban agglomerations under Rajiv Awas Yojana for preparation of slum free city plans, according to sources.

 Sources told Express that the likely nine cities are Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Erode, Tiruppur, Trichy, Tirunelveli, Salem and Vellore. Sources said RAY may be extended to all the 25 urban agglomerations with more than 100,000 population based on 2011 census and to all urban areas subsequently.

 According to state government estimates about 13.96 lakh families (59 lakh persons) are living in the urban slums in Tamil Nadu. Similarly, a report of Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation estimates the slum population in Tamil Nadu at 86.44 lakh in 2011.  

Rajiv Awas Yojana, which was formulated by Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, envisages that each state should prepare a State Slum-free Plan of Action (POA) which includes preparation of legislation for assignment of property rights to slumdwellers, upgradation of existing slums and action to prevent new slums.

 The preparation of slum-free city Plan will broadly involve slum redevelopment or rehabilitation plans based on survey of all slums – notified and non-notified, mapping of slums using the state-of-art technology, integration of geo-spatial and socio-economic data and identification of development model proposed for each slum, according to Rajiv Awas Yojana Guidelines for Slum-free City Planning.

Sources said focus would be accorded to rehabilitation of slums in objectionable areas in Chennai and top 10 Urban Agglomerations initially, followed by slum rehabilitation in other cities.  

Interestingly, Civil society has welcomed Rajiv Awas Yojana and said it will bridge the gap in housing. Vanessa of Citizen Rights Forum said that housing process under RAY should ensure inclusiveness of the cities besides taking into fact adequate community consultations are conducted and urban land is mapped.

Some of the key RAY guidelines on slum-free state plan:

--- Preparation of state-wide legislation for assignment of property rights to slum households

--- Legislative changes for commitment to reservation of 10-15 per cent of land in every new public or private housing projects

--- Earmarking of  25% of municipal budget for the urban poor

--- Amendment to enactments governing town planning, urban development and municipalities to enable revision of population density norms, land use for accommodation of in situ regularization to incentivise private sector participation

-- map all the slums, notified as well as non-notified, and all unauthorised colonies and regularised unauthorised

colonies unserved by municipal services.

Source: Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation

writingonblog uncensored: 'Jan Lokpal not the alternative to fight corruptio...

writingonblog uncensored: 'Jan Lokpal not the alternative to fight corruptio...: Chennai: Any struggle against corruption will not succeed as long as people remain ignorant, illiterate, starving and unemployed and...

'Jan Lokpal not the alternative to fight corruption'

Chennai:

Any struggle against corruption will not succeed as long as people remain ignorant, illiterate, starving and unemployed and the Jan Lokpal of Anna Hazare has failed to look into these issues, according to H Suresh, former judge of Mumbai high Court.

Speaking during the Consultation on “Do We Need a Lokpal or Strengthen Existing Anti – Corruption, Accountability and Grievance Redress Mechanisms and Laws’ here, Suresh said the country has numerous provisions and institutions to tackle poverty but yet with all these, corruption has not abated, instead it has assumed gigantic proportions like the now pending 2G License cases.

“What we require is not a new institution like the Lokpal. What we have to do is strengthen the existing agencies and institutions. We cannot hope to create a super body on the assumption that all the existing institutions have failed, irretrievably, while there still exist avenues to make them strong and meaningful. No struggle against corruption will succeed as long as people remain ignorant, illiterate, starving and unemployed,” the former high court judge said.

The need of the hour is to empower the toiling people with the right to housing education and health care. If people are ill-educated, ill-informed and are physically, mentally ill-equipped, which Lokpal will ensure and secure them these rights, he questioned.

Suresh said the Lokpal conceived by the UPA Government or the Jan Lokpal as canvassed by the Anna Hazare team, provides no answer to any of these questions.

Nikhil Dey, Co-Convenor, National Campaign for People’s  Right to Information and founder member, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) said the structure and procedure of the Jan Lokpal Bill will create a very powerful police and head towards becoming a police State. “Even if we assume all of it works to perfection, what it will essentially do is triple our police stations from 13,500 to 40,000,” he said.

Dey stressed the need to rationalise existing infrastructure and manpower into one single platform or window. “This will be free of any department; it will just take a citizen’s application or complaint, register it, and give dated receipt, then track the movement of the complaint. Any citizen can then track the fate of their grievance over the phone or online through this office,” he said.

“One massive lesson the Lokpal has missed, which the RTI taught us, is you don’t need to create a new bureaucracy. Just use the existing structure and put an oversight mechanism over it,” said Dey.

writingonblog uncensored: Madras varsity to have five new departments next y...

writingonblog uncensored: Madras varsity to have five new departments next y...: Chennai: In a bid to offer job-oriented courses to students, Madras University will add another five new departments by the next acade...

Madras varsity to have five new departments next year

Chennai:

In a bid to offer job-oriented courses to students, Madras University will add another five new departments by the next academic year, according to Madras University vice-chancellor G Thiruvasagam.

Speaking to reporters after the inauguration of permanent photographic exhibition on University of Madras at the Senate Hall here on Thursday, Thiruvasagam said departments of Social Work, Women Studies, Bioinformatics, Network System and Information Technology and Material Science will be added in the next academic year.

He said with the addition of the new departments, the university would now have 75 departments. The courses offered by these departments are job-oriented courses, said Thiruvasagam.

He also said the faculties for the department will be filled by March end. “We will be filling 150 teaching posts, including those of the newly added departments, by March end,” he added.

Meanwhile, the website of the department of Academic Staff College will be uploaded in the next days. “The website will have details of the departments besides the photos of faculties and their qualifications.

Earlier, education secretary T S Sridhar opened the Permanent photographic exhibition on University of Madras and its contribution to education. Later speaking to reporters Thiruvasagam said the university has appointed a 12-member committee to maintain the Senate House and will be earmarking a maintenance fund to maintain the heritage building.

Now the building won’t be used for exams, functions or cinema shooting and will be utilized as permanent exhibit of photographs, said Thiruvasagam, adding that currently Senate House has 320 photo exhibits.

He said university’s archaeology department would maintain the hall, which will remain open from 10 to 5pm for the public to view the expo.

writingonblog uncensored: Chennai on a transition phase to emerge as attract...

writingonblog uncensored: Chennai on a transition phase to emerge as attract...: Chennai: Chennai is in a transition phase and the city corporation is undertaking several development works to ease congestion an...

Chennai on a transition phase to emerge as attractive destination for business

Chennai:

Chennai is in a transition phase and the city corporation is undertaking several development works to ease congestion and make Chennai livable and  an attractive destination to do business, according to Chennai Mayor Saidai Duraiswamy and corporation commissioner P W C Davidar.

Addressing a session on ‘Sustainable Infrastructure Development for Chennai City’ organized by Confederation of Indian Industry here on Wednesday, Duraiswamy and Davidar assured the business community that the government is working to ease the traffic congestion and reduce the transit time to travel across Chennai.

Duraiswamy said a study is being conducted on restoring Cooum and other water bodies of Chennai and sought the help of businessmen in public private partnership in restoring them. “This will benefit both --the businessmen as well as the state,” he added.

Vowing to ease the congestion, the mayor said he held several round of talks with Metro Rail authorities to speed up the project. He also said there are also plans to collect the waste from compactors only during the night time so that traffic congestion could be eased.

Davidar said there are plans to increase the floor space index, build cycle tracks, have bus rapid transit system and roads that can last more. He also said the corporation has floated the tenders for bus shelters and toilets in those shelters.

He also urged the businessmen to help provide the corporation with thin plastic, which can be used to build the roads, and also high volume shredders.

Davidar said plans are also on to have potentially vibrant community spaces under the flyovers.

writingonblog uncensored: HumThum in Limca Book of Records

writingonblog uncensored: HumThum in Limca Book of Records: Chennai: Chennai-based Education support services company EdServ’s HumThum application has entered into the Limca Book of Records f...

HumThum in Limca Book of Records

Chennai:
Chennai-based Education support services company EdServ’s HumThum application has entered into the Limca Book of Records for launching 24000 pin code area wise websites in one go.

Developed in-house at EdServ, HumThum apps provides educational support services that includes doubt clearing, tutor search and assessments, career Services and local area based services across these 24000 pin codes.

A unique mobile based Knowledge applications that can be accessed anywhere anytime from the mobile smart phone, HumThum had over 15 lakh users accessing its mobile applications.

S Giridharan, chairman and CEO, EdServ said, “HumThum applications achievement in gaining national recognition in the first year of the launch as India’s largest pin code wise network for knowledge sharing and e-commerce is an important milestone for the company and will help the company in its national expansion.”

HumThum is also a platform for sharing news and undertaking eCommerce activities that includes selling and shopping online and serves as a discussion forum on various topics.

EdServ’s educational content and tuition services are available across all Samsung, Blackberry and Nokia smart phones. HumThum application has a PDF converter, a ‘Talking Dictionary’ and also helps users to design, host and update their own personal or business website from the mobile phone.

writingonblog uncensored: National skill development corporation green signa...

writingonblog uncensored: National skill development corporation green signa...: Chennai: The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has approved funding worth Rs 1,150 crore for 42 proposals for setting ...

National skill development corporation green signal to set up 42 vocational training organisation worth Rs 1,150 crore

Chennai:
The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has approved funding worth Rs 1,150 crore for 42 proposals for setting up of vocational training organisations and 10 sector skill councils (SSCs), according to a top official of NSDC.

Addressing the `5th Global Summit on Skill Development 2012’, Building sustainability and scalability through international partnerships’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, Dilip Chenoy, chief executive officer and managing director of NSDC said in addition to the 10 SSCs already approved, NSDC has approved the setting up such councils for rubber and leather industries.

He also said there was plan for setting up of SSCs for industries like textile, foundry, food processing, electronics hardware, telecom, construction and real estate, plumbing, agriculture, handicrafts, and educational skills.

Dr Franziska Schwarz, Director-International Relations, Swiss Federal Office for Professional Education and Training highlighted how the dual track education system of Switzerland with Vocational Education and Training (VET) has worked very well as it has been sustained by the co-operation of industrial associations, government and educational institutions.

She said the labour market-oriented, dual track and highly permeable education system of Switzerland helped the country to have the lowest youth employment rate of 7.2 per cent. 

S Mahalingam, chairman, CII Council on Skill Development and chief financial officer and executive director, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said, that to engage the large number of workforce to capitalize on the demographic dividend, there should be long-term sustainable skill delivery programmes. He said the gap between the demand for skilled labour and the available supply has been large and rising furthe

writingonblog uncensored: Insufficient infrastructure hindering India-US bil...

writingonblog uncensored: Insufficient infrastructure hindering India-US bil...: Chennai: Insufficient infrastructure along Indian coastline has been a hindrance in exploiting the potential of bilateral trade in me...

Insufficient infrastructure hindering India-US bilateral trade: US under-secretary

Chennai:

Insufficient infrastructure along Indian coastline has been a hindrance in exploiting the potential of bilateral trade in merchandises goods between India and United States, according to US under-secretary Francisco Sanchez.

Delivering the keynote address during a forum on ‘Indo-US partnership in port and maritime sector’ organized by The Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Tuesday, he said, “In 2011 bilateral trade in merchandise goods between India and the United States was nearly $58 billion dollars, up from roughly $49 billion in 2010. This increase is good but there is potential to do so much more and one of the obstacles is the insufficient infrastructure along the coastline.”

“Indian ports have experienced growing traffic in recent years. But while activity has increased capacity has not. This results in congestion at ports and lost opportunities,” he said.

Highlighting that coastal shipping accounts for roughly 40 per cent of trade volumes in the US, China and Europe, he said in India it represents only 7 per cent of total domestic cargo transport network and there is need for huge investment in the sector.

Eyeing to have a share in the $66 billion funds earmarked for port infrastructure and $27 billion in shipping sector by India, he said the 12-member trade delegation are specialized port-related equipment suppliers and service providers and help in building port infrastructure.

Union Minister for Shipping G K Vasan said lot of projects like building berts and terminals have been taken up to reduce congestion in ports and the government has identified public private partnerships in attracting investments.

He also invited US investors to participate in port development plans besides possibility of India and US working together to counter the menace of piracy.

writingonblog uncensored: Rs 16,000 crore projects to develop ports in pipel...

writingonblog uncensored: Rs 16,000 crore projects to develop ports in pipel...: Chennai: Shipping Minister G K Vasan said his ministry has planned 22 projects worth Rs 16,000 crore this year to boost the port secto...

Rs 16,000 crore projects to develop ports in pipeline: Vasan

Chennai: Shipping Minister G K Vasan said his ministry has planned 22 projects worth Rs 16,000 crore this year to boost the port sector.

Speaking to reporters after a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) event, he said by March about five to six projects will be rolled out besides a project worth Rs 6,700 crore for Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai has already been started.

Meanwhile, Chennai Port Trust is planning a strategy to tide over Rs 226 crore loss following Madras High Court clamp on dirty cargo, which includes coal and iron ore. Vasan said a committee headed by Captain Mohan has submitted its report detailing the new areas for the Chennai Port to focus after the port lost over 18 million tonnes of cargo worth Rs 226 crore.

“Now we are looking at alternate ways to compensate the loss which includes focusing on clean cargo like edible oils, fertilizer, cruise shipping, food, wood and others, said Atulya Mishra, chairman of the port who was also present on the occasion.

Mishra said the port is also looking at out-of-the-box ideas like car parks on public private partnership model owing to the increased availability of the space.

Vasan also said his ministry will soon bring in a new land policy (leasing and other usage of land) for ports, which has gone to the Inter-Ministerial consultations. He also said his government will soon bring a new coastal shipping policy.

On the road connectivity to Ennore port, he said that last month Roadways Minister C P Joshi held discussions with representatives from Chennai Port Trust, National Highways Authority of India and Tamil Nadu government and hopefully it will be ready by June next year

writingonblog uncensored: Indian waters not infested with pirates: Vasan say...

writingonblog uncensored: Indian waters not infested with pirates: Vasan say...: Chennai: Indian waters is not infested with pirates and it is an unpardonable crime to shoot innocent fishermen thinking they are...

Indian waters not infested with pirates: Vasan says rejecting Italian theory

Chennai:
Indian waters is not infested with pirates and it is an unpardonable crime to shoot innocent fishermen thinking they are pirates, Union Minister for Shipping G K Vasan said.

Vasan’s comment stating that India’s coast is free of pirates comes after Italy said that the two fishermen ----- Ajesh Binki and Jalastein -- were allegedly shot dead by Italian marines of Italian tanker ‘Enrica Lexie’ suspecting them to be pirates about 14 nautical miles off Kollam coast near Kerala on February 15.

Talking to reporters during a Confederation of Indian Industry function here on Monday, Vasan said, “Our
waterfront is not infested by pirates. It is an unpardonable crime to shoot innocent fishermen thinking they are pirates. There is no second opinion on whether to punish them for the act.”

The killing of Indian fishermen has resulted in a diplomatic row with Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi warning of “considerable differences” with India after the crew was taken into custody by Kerala police.

He said the incident is condemnable and Kerala
police are looking into it as a suspicious incident.


On whether the marines would be tried under Indian law, Vasan said punishment should be given to the guilty as India has lost two precious lives of fishermen that can’t be pardoned and cannot be taken for granted.

Assuring that steps would be taken to prevent recurrence of such attacks, he said that Mercantile Marine Department under the Shipping Ministry, along with defence, law and external affairs ministries are investigating the issue and the guilty will be punished.

writingonblog uncensored: US slams India’s domestic content policy on solar ...

writingonblog uncensored: US slams India’s domestic content policy on solar ...: Chennai: United States Under Secretary Francisco Sanchez on Monday expressed concern over the solar import restrictions by India and s...

US slams India’s domestic content policy on solar projects

Chennai:

United States Under Secretary Francisco Sanchez on Monday expressed concern over the solar import restrictions by India and said any restriction that will have the effect on limiting the best technology to India is of concern to America.

Reacting to a query on government policy wherein 30 per cent domestic content is mandatory for the solar thermal power projects in the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, he said, “We are believers in an open economy and any restrictions that have the effect on limiting the best technology from coming into your country is of concern to us. We believe that's not the best way to foster a local industry.”

Speaking to reporters after Indo-American Chamber of Commerce Luncheon meeting here, Sanchez was also critical of congestion in Chennai port and said there is a need to upgrade port facilities.

Interestingly, Sanchez is leading a 12-member business delegation from leading shipping and logistics industry and is targeting Chennai for investments. “I will also be meeting the local authorities in ports and maritime sectors,” he said.

Urging India to improve business climate, he said the country is ranked 132 in World Bank report on business environment and it is in India’s interest to improve its business climate so it can attract more foreign direct investment.

Sanchez who will also be touring to Mumbai and Ahmedabad said that US Secretary of Commerce John Bryson will be leading a trade delegation to India next month to boost trade ties with India.

He said US currently has a trade deficit with India but two-way trade has been steadily increasing.

Sanchez said there would be 65 cities in India

by 2030 and there is immense opportunities for his country's firms delivering products and

services to meet requirements like power

generation and waste-water treatment

writingonblog uncensored: Gender bias still prevalent in ‘top’ schools in fi...

writingonblog uncensored: Gender bias still prevalent in ‘top’ schools in fi...: Chennai: Gender bias is still prevalent among students in top schools across five metros and the students’ performance in math, scienc...

Gender bias still prevalent in ‘top’ schools in five metros: Study

Chennai:

Gender bias is still prevalent among students in top schools across five metros and the students’ performance in math, science and social studies is way below par with the international average, according to a national study.

Releasing the findings of the Quality Education Study, done by Wipro and Educational Initiatives in 89 schools in five metros, including 21 in Chennai, vice-president of Large Scale Assessments Educational Initiatives Vyjayanthi Sankar said here on Saturday that students in ‘top’ schools of India performed lower than the average on questions used from studies such as ‘Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in Reading Literacy Study at Class IV level.

She said there was improvement in Class VIII level but then it was more related to answering procedural questions that do not involve deeper understanding or application of concepts.

“The study found out that students in ‘top’ schools are not learning with understanding and harbour a number of misconceptions that do not get corrected as students move up to higher classes,” said Vyjayanthi.

“Rote learning is often deceptive and passes off as apparent learning but does not let students develop the higher order thinking skills such as critical thinking, creativity and application,” she said.

The year-long study which involved 23,000 students, 790 teachers, 54 principals, also found that there is deep rooted bias against the girl child even in students from families which probably belong to the educated and higher socio-economic strata of the society.

Interestingly, the study also brought to light that boys perform better than girls in math and science at class VIII level.

The findings also reveal that schools from Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) performed among the top two and the difference with other boards were statistically significant.

The study recommended large-scale campaign among schools on notions of quality, wide ranging debate on alternative models that question widely held beliefs on learning environments and emphasizes learning in co-scholastic areas, periodic benchmarking of all aspects of educational quality besides providing effective teacher support.

writingonblog uncensored: Tribute to differently abled

writingonblog uncensored: Tribute to differently abled: Chennai: Her frail hands moved, her mouth was wide as she twitched and mumbled but her eyes had the spark as she was escorted in a w...

Tribute to differently abled

Chennai:

Her frail hands moved, her mouth was wide as she twitched and mumbled but her eyes had the spark as she was escorted in a wheelchair to the podium to win an award in recognition of defying conventional social and emotional dreams to realize her dreams.

Chennai girl Bhavana could neither walk nor talk after she was diagnosed with athetoid cerebral palsy when she was born but it was the spark in her eyes that expressed her willingness to break the emotional barriers to attain her dreams.

Using a unique eye-pointing chart to communicate to the audience after receiving the award from Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik, she said, “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it. You can become it.”

And Bhavana is not the lone one to win the award, which is given to achievers with disability, Azeem Bolar from Karnataka and Riitesh Sinha from Karnal in Haryana won the Ability Masters Award while Mohammad Iqbal from Leh ladakh was felicitated with Ability Eminence Award at a glittering ceremony.

 Each had a tale and their battle to realize their dreams. For Bolar, it was twice the amount of strength to reach where he is today. Already battling with deteriorating vision as a result of juvenile arthritis, Azeem has to change his career from a successful hotelier to a counselor when a stroke rendered him completely blind and paralysed the left side of body. Undeterred Azeem fought every battle with remarkably optimistic attitude teaching himself how to walk, talk and write all again. And now he is the most sought after counselor in a software firm in Bangalore.

Similarly, Riitesh born with cerebral palsy was refused admission in most schools of his town but now he the one who has shaped many careers in the field of computer science.

But the night belonged to Mohammad Iqbal, who has been working relentlessly to ensure economic and social empowerment of persons with disabilities in Leh Ladakh through his organization People’s Action for Inclusion and Rights (PAGIR). After winning the Ability Eminence Award, Iqbal urged the minister to help build roads specially for the disabled.

The awards were also mixed with scintillating dance performance from Articulate India troupe, who are blind and Srilanka’s contemporary dance company Natanda, which comprises of young hearing impaired people. Actress Revathi, Jayshree Raveendran, founder and honorary executive director of Ability Foundation, CavinKare managing director C K Ranganathan were also present on the occasion.