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Jayalalithaa birthday: Cash prizes for rekhla racers
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Nayan: What the DMK cadres did the AIADMK cadres want to do better, hence they have planned to conduct a rekhla race, on March 1 and 2, and cash prizes worth over Rs 2 lakh have been announced for the winners as part of the birthday celebrations of AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa.
DMDK state youth conference in May
Nayan: Surprised by the resilience of the AIADMK in trying to win over young men and women for its new youth pasarais (brigades) under the direct guidance of party general secretary Ms Jayalalithaa, DMDK chief Vijayakanth has reportedly instructed party youth wing secretary L.K.Sudeesh to work on a state youth conference in May.
DMK led government more Hindu friendly: Minister
Nayan: Minister for Hindu religious and charitable endowments (HR&CE) K.R.Periya Karuppan maintained that the DMK-led government had been more Hindu-friendly than the previous AIADMK regime. Speaking to media on the sidelines of the consecration of the temple tower (rajagopuram) at Arulmigu Karpagambal udanurai Kapaleeshwarar temple at Mylapore here, Mr Periya Karuppan said, In less than two years, we have spent Rs.98 crores for renovation and construction activities in temples. Nearly 2,000 temples have been consecrated so far.
Railway robbers arrested
Nayan: The railway police arrested a four-member gang from Uttar Pradesh involved in robbing passengers on trains after giving them biscuits laced with sleeping drugs. The arrested were identified as Dinesh from Jansi district and Shyamlal, Sunnu and Kishan of Gonda district. The police has been investigating the case of Ganapath of Sowcarpet, who became a victim of the gang when he was travelling on the Egmore-Jhodpur Express on January 23. On that day, after gaining the confidence of the passenger, the gang offered him biscuits. Ganapath became unconscious after eating the biscuit and when he woke up he found his cash and cell phone missing, said Mr M.C. Sarangan, superintendent of police.
Elephant thrown : Old woman injured
Nayan: A 56-year-old woman was injured after she was picked up by the trunk of an elephant and thrown on the ground while she was going to a temple at Pappanaickenpalayam close to the fringes of the Coimbatore forest division. The elephant of was part of a herd of five elephants which also entered entered a sugarcane and plantains farm and injured the panic-stricken farm owner who tried to drive it away.
Karuna congratulates Lalu Prasad
Nayan: Chief minister M. Karunanidhi congratulated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav for presenting an excellent and historic railway budget. In his letter to the Prime Minister and the railway minister, Mr Karunanidhi said that for the first time both passenger fares and freight charges had been reduced across the board. At the same time, additional steps had been taken to enhance passenger facilities and security. This, in my opinion, is the first time in the history of Indian Railways that such a comprehensive package for the passengers has been offered, he said.
Good news for students
Nayan: Electricity minister Arcot N Veerasamy said there would be no power cut in the evenings till the SSLC and Plus Two examinations were completed. Talking to media, Mr Veerasamy said there was no basis for media reports that SSLC and Plus Two students preparing for the annual examinations were facing great hardship because of load shedding. There will be no load shedding in the state after 6 pm, he said.
Workshop on improving traffic flow held
Nayan: Transport secretary and chairman of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) Debendranath Sarangi said agencies like the Chennai city traffic police, city corporation, State and Central highways would be asked to allocate a separate lane for buses. Mr Sarangi was speaking at a workshop on improving traffic flow in Chennai, jointly organised by United States Educational Foundation in India, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and Indian Institute of Technology—Madras.
Jaya announces AIADMK state tour
Nayan: AIADMK general secretary Ms Jayalalithaa announced that 20 state-level party functionaries would tour the state for seven days starting from March 7 to set up ilaignar pasarai and ilampengal pasarai aimed at infusing young blood into the party. These pasarais are new wings constituted to enroll young men and women in the age group of 18 to 25 into the AIADMK which is facing challenges from actor-politicians Vijayakanth and Sarath Kumar who have drawn quite a lot of youth into their party folds.
Nobody kidnapped me: Dasari Prabhu
Nayan: Hari Hara Prabhu, son of Union minister Dassiri Narayana Rao, told media that he was not kidnapped as claimed by his wife. His wife filed a complaint with the Chitoor police (Andhra Pradesh) saying that armed men had kidnapped her husband. "Nobody kidnapped me.My wife Susheela who took me to a lodge in Chitoor and forced me to sign some blank papers after treating me with liquor," said Mr Prabhu, sitting in the office of his uncle at Saligramam. According to him, his wife is after his property.
Karuna poem targets Dayanidhi
Nayan: Chief minister M. Karunanidhi hit out at the Maran brothers accusing them, albeit indirectly, of trying to destabilise his DMK party and warning that there were countless cadres determined to defeat such designs. There are people eagerly working to destroy the main root of the well-entrenched Dravidian tree, but these enemies will surely flee as there are countless DMK soldiers to crush them, said the DMK stalwart in an emotional poem he has penned amid rumours that the former Union minister Dayanidhi Maran was getting friendly with some rival political leaders, something that Mr Maran has stoutly denied.
13 murders: 22 days
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Nayan: Chennaiites have witnessed 13 murders in the last 22 days. However, the city police has been successful in solving all these murders almost immediately. Amaithi Poonga, translating as garden of peace, has been the favourite political phrase of successive governments to describe the law and order in Tamil Nadu, but of late, the people of Chennai have been waking up to scary headlines almost every day reporting clashes, murders and extortion in the metropolis and its suburbs.
811 tanks are unused: A.Mohanakrishnan
Nayan: Mr A. Mohanakrishnan, chairman, Cauvery Technical Cell and advisor to the state government on water resource said that the cell had recommended to the government that the Kattalai bed regulator in the Cauvery near Mayanur in Karur district be converted into a barrage to stock one tmc ft of water during floods. Mr Mohanakrishnan said whenever there is excess water in the Mettur dam, (which happens at least a couple of times every year during the South West monsoon), it drains into the Bay of Bengal. This floodwater could be diverted to the downstream rivers. There are about 811 tanks, which are lying unused along these rivers. They could be filled up, he said.
Sekhar Kammula plans Happy Days 2 ?
Thursday, February 21, 2008
PV: Nagarjuna has now announced a film with Sivaprasad Reddy as producer to be directed by Srinu Vaitla. Venkatesh is doing 'Chintakayala Ravi' and Mahesh Babu has almost finalized plans for his next film with another director. This leaves Shekar Kammula with no project in hand with big stars. Some reports suggest that he will now make a sequel to Happy Days'. So get set for 'Happy Days – 2'.
Matriculation schools opting CBSE affiliation
Nayan: Concerned over the State government's move for a uniform syllabus, dozens of matriculation schools in the state are now opting for affiliation with the CBSE board. The schools fear that once a uniform syllabus (samacheer kalvi) is implemented, their schools would be forced to close as the same syllabus would be offered by other state board schools, depriving them of exclusivity and providing a better standard of education which parents might have opted for. They feel the CBSE system of education will give them more flexibility in terms of choice of subjects and textbooks.
Japanese and Canadians helping hand for TN
Nayan: They came here barehanded with nothing but love and affection for the poorest of the poor sections and went on to conquer the hearts of Tamil people. Thirty Japanese students and 20 Canadian professionals sweated hard for 12 long days lending a helping hand to a network of non-government organisations in constructing houses free of cost for Tamil dalits in the Union territory of Puducherry and Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu.
Guns stolen case: Narco analysis team in city
Monday, February 18, 2008
Nayan: Eight cops, who were allegedly sleeping in the Athiyaman Kottai police station in Dharmapuri district when six guns were stolen from there, arrived in the city for the polygraph and narco analysis tests. The eight policemen are scheduled to undergo the lie detection tests at a facility of the CB-CID and narco analysis test at the Institute of Mental Health, Kilpauk. The CB-CID headquarters here is the only place in the state where lie detection tests can be conducted.
Exnora roadshow in Nungambakkam on non-biodegradable waste
Nayan: Mayor M. Subramanian, corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni, and volunteers of Exnora International took out a rally in Nungambakkam seeking pubic support in segregating biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. The volunteers distributed pamphlets to the residents warning of action against those indiscriminately dumping garbage. The rally passed through about six km covering four divisions of the Nungambakkam zone. Corporation school students led the rally holding banners and distributed pamphlets containing an appeal to keep the city clean and save the ozone layer. Mr Subramanian told reporters that the corporation, in coordination with NGOs, would conduct more such awareness campaigns. It would take steps to ensure that the public is informed about the segregation of waste, he said.
Lakshadeepa thiruvizha celebrated
Monday, February 11, 2008
Nayan: Thousands of villagers celebrated the Lakshadeepa thiruvizha by lighting around one lakh lamps in the sacred grove in Senthiraikillai near Chida-mbaram. Villagers celebrated the festival by making venpongal and offering mavu vilakku to the forest gods. And unlike other forests there's not a bit of plastic or rubbish to be spotted here despite the huge crowd here. This festival is celebrated every year on the last Friday of the Thai month. About 240 litres of oil - nallennai, punam, vizhakennai and karpuram (to keep the rats away) is bought to light the lamps from the village community fund.
DMK plans sports and games mela
Nayan: To attract young blood to the party, the DMK is planning to conduct a month-long sports and games mela in south Chennai. The events would be from March 1, coinciding with the birthday of local administration minister M.K. Stalin. According to DMK south Chennai district secretary Mr J. Anbhazagan, four major tournaments (cricket, kabaddi, volleyball and football) would be held exclusively for youngsters residing in south Chennai.
51st All India Police duty meet: Southern Railway gearing up
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Nayan: Laasi and Tippu, the canines trained by the Railway police force, are gearing up for the 51st All India Police duty meet to be held in Mumbai in first week of March. The two have been selected by a panel to represent the Southern Railways at the national level event to be held for security agencies. The dog squad of the railways is pinning hopes on Laasi, the Labrador, that bagged the silver for sniffing explosives at the police duty meet held in Chennai. Lassi came second after outsmarting 130 dogs that represented various state police and the railways.
Togh time for Chennai BSNL users
PV: Subscribers of BSNL-Chennai Telephones mobile service had a tough time as the network was disrupted for the second consecutive day on Friday. Numerous customers complained that they had been having a problem since Thursday. When I tried calling my colleague who has a CellOne connection, all that I could get on my screen was 'error in connection' or no answe'. I even tried contacting the BSNLs customer care number, but I got the same response, Mr Karthi, a resident of Egmore said.
TN representing the reading skills
Friday, February 8, 2008
Nayan: Though Tamil Nadu is doing well in enrollment and attendance in schools, the figures representing the reading skills of children in the state is below the national average. While 65 per cent of children in class 5 cannot read Tamil, more than 55 percent children in class 4 cannot subtract, according to a study. The Annual Status of Education Report conducted by Chennai-based Kalvi Alliance in association with New Delhi-based Pratham National Resource Centre, has revealed that the reading level of children from class 1 to 8 in the government schools in rural pockets of Tamil Nadu is lower than the national average. Similarly, the Tamil Nadu students' performance in mathematics is worse than the national average, the study says.
JBIC to assist Chennai Metro Rail Project
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Nayan: The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has promised financial and technical assistance to the tune of Rs 9,700 crore for the Metro Rail project for Chennai, according to an official release on Wednesday. The JBIC senior executive director, Tetsuo Shioguchi, gave the assurance to the local administration minister, M.K.Stalin, who called on him on his visit to Tokyo and explained the salient features of the project to him.
Protest: Tamil New Year on February 21
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Nayan: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad will stage demonstrations across the state on February 21 against the government's decision to declare January 14 as the Tamil New Year day instead of April 14. A resolution to this effect was adopted at the state working committee of the VHP held over the weekend in Madurai. The decision to shift the Tamil New Year day from the first of the Tamil month of Chitrai to Thai was condemned at the meeting and a resolution requesting the government to withdraw the order was passed.
CPM opposses petrol hike
Nayan: The CPI(M) has told the UPA government that the move to hike petroleum prices was unacceptable. CPI(M) polit bureau member Sitaram Yechury told media at the Chennai airport that the they had wanted the Union government to rationalise the tax structure instead of resorting to an across the board price hike. The first thing the government should do is rationalise the tax structure. The increase in the price of oil in the international market, has increased the tax revenue of the government. This is because of ad valorem tax being exercised. So the profits made by the finance ministry should be returned to the oil companies instead of burdening the people with a price hike, said Mr Yechury, who is also an economist.
Aeronautics Society of India annual meeting held
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Nayan: The country is in need of 6,000 pilots and 18,000 air traffic controllers over the next 10 years, according to aeronautic professionals assembled here for the annual general meeting of the Aeronautics Society of India. We need thousands of cabin crew, aircraft maintenance engineers and ground handling staff to service this sector. But the country does not have institutes certified by the director general of civil aviation and other international bodies to train this workforce, said Dr C.G. Krishnadas Nair, president, Society of Indian Aerospace Technologies and Industries. Dr Nair, the former chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, said there were no institutions in the country, which trained air traffic controllers.
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