Tamilnadu News Archive: September 2005

Telemedicine unit inaugurated in Vellore

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 | AY
The Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Vellore Range, Christopher Nelson inaugurated the telemedicine unit of the Trauma Care and Road Safety (T-CARS) Trust at the T-CARS Trauma Clinic in Thiruvalam. Franco Benedict, general secretary, T-CARS said that treatment of trauma cases including telemedicine consultation would be provided free of cost at the clinic, while general cases such as cough, cold and fever would be treated at subsidised cost. There are four nurses at the clinic who would contact him over the phone and show him the injuries through the web camera. Based on his advice, the nurses would either carry out first aid to the patients or refer them to the nearest hospital. Dr.Benedict said that while the T-CARS Clinic would be converted into a 24-hour clinic soon.

Chennai - Bangkok flights revised

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 | AY
Indian Airlines today said its flights to Bangkok from Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore will operate to revised timings from October 3. Chennai-Bangkok-Chennai sector flights would leave here at 10.10 a.m. on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays and reach Bangkok at 2.40 p.m. (local time). In the return direction, the flight would leave Bangkok at 6.15 a.m. (local time) and arrive here at 7.55 a.m.

Nayan in Telugu

Tuesday, September 27, 2005 | AY
Nayantara reached the pinnacle of her fame by her performance in Chandramukhi. The biggest credit was that she paired opposite to Rajini in this film. She has worked in Telugu films also, including Lakshmi with Venkatesh. After Chandramukhi she is back to Telugu again. This time, she is to pair up with Nagarjuna. This movie is to be released by the end of this year. Work for this movie will commence once Nagarjuna gets done with 'Sri Ramadasu'.

Road improvement works on NH approved

Tuesday, September 27, 2005 | AY
The Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Thiru T. R. Baalu has approved road improvement works on National Highway sections in the State of Tamil Nadu at a total cost of Rs. 380.77 lakh. Approval has been granted for improvement of Stretches of NH-49 (Madurai – Ramanathapuram Road) from Kms 100/0 to 113/6 at a total cost of Rs. 351.51 lakh under the Improvement of Riding Quality Programme (IRQP). An amount of Rs. 29.26 Lakh has also been approved for the reconstruction of Retaining Walls. The Retaining Walls in these Sections have got badly damaged due to incessant rains and increase in traffic. To ensure safe movement of traffic, the repairs of these walls have been approved.

Fenner India plans new strategies

Monday, September 26, 2005 | AY
The Chennai-based industrial and automotive V-belts, oilseals and power transmission accessories manufacturer Fenner India Ltd is planning acquisitions to achieve its target of Rs 500 crore turnover by 2008-09. Three overseas companies and a couple of domestic companies are under consideration. The board is also considering the option of a greenfield project. The company is eyeing 20 per cent growth in its gross profit from last year’s figure of Rs 20 crore. Fenner India made a capital investment of Rs 30 crore during the last two years. By 2007-08, the company is targeting a Rs 50 crore turnover from power transmission accessories that currently registers Rs 20 crore. The company is also planning to foray into the automotive accessories market. Fenner India will also increase its exports significantly within the next few years. The company would spend around Rs 6 crore for products and brands promotion activities.

Foreigners admires the health facilities here

Monday, September 26, 2005 | AY
A leading heart centre in Chennai has offered its medical service to four children from Guyana who are suffering from congenital cardiac disorder. The children accompanied by Varshnie Jagdeo, the first lady of Guyana, arrived at the International Centre for Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Disease on Saturday. Jagdeo said that Guyana lacked such medical facilities and the poor children found it very expensive to go to nearby countries for the treatment. India, scored over the others as it could provide the best possible treatment at affordable fees. The centre is promoted by frontier lifeline headed by renowned cardothoracic surgeon K. M. Cherian, who has preformed number of complicated heart surgeries in the past. The hospital, in the past, has provided free heart treatment for poor children who have come from foreign countries where either this kind of medical facilities are not available or are too expensive.

Syntel's second campus in TN

Sunday, September 25, 2005 | AY
Syntel Inc, a global information technology services firm, is building its next campus in Chennai, where registration of 27.52 acres of land for the Chennai campus has been completed. Bharat Desai, chairman, CEO and founder of Syntel, has been named 'Entrepreneur of the Year' by the Stephen M Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Desai founded Syntel in 1980 in Troy, Michigan, with a $ 2,000 investment. Today, Syntel is publicly-traded on Nasdaq, employs more than 5,000 people in centres around the world and has a market capitalisation in excess of $ 750 million.

Research centre for stem cell in the state

Sunday, September 25, 2005 | AY
The Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM) a unit of Nichi-In Bio Sciences (P) Ltd, an organisation for research, training and clinical application - protocol development in cell therapeutics with emphasis on stem cells, was inaugurated in chennai, by the consul general of Japan at Chennai, Yoshiaki Kodaki. The inaugural will be followed by a scientific session in which scientists and physicians will present their research work/clinical outcome and future potential of stem cells-based therapy in corneal disorders, liver failure treatment, blood cancer treatment and other applications. Stem cell-based therapy research started in 1998 in Japan, which, upon having resulted in many positive developments, joint research with Indian institutes and hospitals started in 2001.

Mercury Pookkal

Saturday, September 24, 2005 | AY
The current work of Srikanth, 'Pambarakannalae' is almost done, and is ready for release. Srikanth has gone for another project be directed by S.S. Stanley, who worked in 'Pudukottayilirundhu Saravanan'. The film was supposed to bear the name 'Nesippaya' but has been changed to "Mercury Pookkal". Meera Jasmine is to pair up with Srikanth in this film. After Joot the pair is coming up again. The shooting for this film is likely to commence in the first week of October in Madurai.

Anti-HIV vaccine within 3 years: Kalam

Saturday, September 24, 2005 | AY
President A P J Abdul Kalam has promised that, anti-HIV vaccine will be available in the country within three years and its clinical trial is on. ''Hopefully by three years, it will be available in the market,'' he told a conclave on 'HIV/AIDS a uniformed Intervention' adding he had a talk with the union health minister in this regard. "As human beings, we may get into the problems. But we should not get defeated by the problem," he said reciting two Tamil couplets to stress on a vision of the future and to master the situation. He dwelt at length how Asha Ramaiya, a HIV patient since 1995, whom he met at Bangalore in August, was overcoming all odds in her life with her indomitable spirit to fight the disease and the stigma attached to it, he said.

Aacharya

Saturday, September 24, 2005 | AY
Bala’s associate director Ravi is coming up with a new film called 'Aacharya'. Ravi had booked Vignesh, telling him the movie would take one year to complete, and Vignesh had gladly agreed. He was ready to do anything to earn a position in the cine world. Recently, shooting took place in Dharmapuri. Vignesh has a nude scene in which he has performed extremely well, the director was really happy and proud of him.

Plus -2 marks for professional course entry

Saturday, September 24, 2005 | AY
The Supreme Court today ruled that if not enough candidates qualify through the CETs, private engineering colleges can fill the vacancies by admitting students on the basis of their plus-two marksheets. This opens the door even for students who haven’t appeared for the entrance test. The Supreme Court today ruled that if not enough candidates qualify through the CETs, private engineering colleges can fill the vacancies by admitting students on the basis of their plus-two marksheets. This opens the door even for students who haven’t appeared for the entrance test. The court ruling applies “for this year alone”. One reason why engineering colleges struggle to fill seats is that many candidates, after clearing their state’s CET, opt out if they do not get the college or subject of their choice. Another main reason that so many seats go vacant is the sprouting of substandard private engineering colleges.

Biodiesel from Jatropha in Chennai

Saturday, September 24, 2005 | AY
The UK-Based D1 Oils Plc would commission its first refinery for producing biodiesel from Jatropha in Chennai early next year. D1 Oils, which has formed a joint venture with Mohan Breweries and distilleries, would produce 8,000 tonnes of oil in the initial year. the company proposed to cultivate jatropha in five million hectare of land and produce 2.7 tonnes oil per hectare by five years. Considered to be the fuel of future, this biofuel has tremendous potential across the World, particularly in developng countries like India. The 3-day conference, attended by more than 25 renowned experts from South East Asia, Africa, the US and Europe, besides academic staff from leading Indian institutions, discussed a five-year programme of supporting and developing the Jatropha crop to supply for the manufacture of bio-diesel.

AI flight lands under full "emergency conditions"

Saturday, September 24, 2005 | AY
An Air India (AI) Airbus flight landed under "full emergency conditions" at Chennai airport here today following a fire alarm which ultimately turned out to be false. The A-310 flight on the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur-Chennai sector was carrying 65 passengers and eight crew members. Airports Authority of India Airport Director H S Bains told that a few kilometres from the airport here, the pilot was alerted by a fire alarm in one of the plane's engines and immediately alerted Chennai airport authorities. The AAI took all emergency measures to ensure that the plane landed safely, he said adding the pilot adopted the "mandatory procedures" in such cases and made a safe landing with just one engine at about 1300 hrs.

Devayani receives best actress award

Wednesday, September 21, 2005 | AY
Devayani has done a marvelous job in many films. Of late, she earned more fame by her tremendous performance in the Kolangal TV series. Pace Charitable Trust is an organisation that honours people for their splendid performance in art and culture, for their professionalism shown in education by giving awards every year. This year the artists of Kolangal television serial received many awards. Devayani was given the best actress award.

Tortoises seized at the airport

Wednesday, September 21, 2005 | AY
About 350 endangered star tortoises worth about Rs 3.5 lakh were seized from a Malaysian national at Chennai airport's Anna International Terminal. Sridaran Sogkalingam had completed check-in and immigration formalities and was passing through the customs channel to board a Thai International Airways flight to Kuala Lumpur. The passenger was questioned by a group of officers of Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs led by superintendent M Srinivasa Reddy. The seized tortoises have been handed over to the Tamil Nadu Forest Department officials, he said, adding each star tortoise ranged between Rs 80 and Rs 100, while it was Rs 1,000 in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

A.R Rahman ruling the chart

Tuesday, September 20, 2005 | AY
A.R. Rahman's new album "Ah..Aah" for S.J. Suryah continues to rule the charts even though the film is not a big hit. The top five Tamil music albums are: "Ah..Aah" (A.R. Rahman), "Ghajini" (Harris Jayaraj), "Kanda Naal Mudhal" (Yuvan Shankar Raja), "Thottijaya" (Harris Jayaraj), "Oru Naal Oru Kanavu" (Ilayaraja). The song sung by Rahman himself, "Anbe Aaruyire", in "Ah..Aah" has been topping the charts for the last several weeks.

Fire in All India Library

Tuesday, September 20, 2005 | AY
The tape and records library of All India Radio in Chennai, was damaged in a fire, suspected to have been caused by electrical short-circuit. Five fire tenders and about 50 fire service personnel fought the flames for nearly two hours and extinguished the fire. Two firemen sustained minor injuries in the operations and they were discharged after treatment. AIR station director Srinivasa Raghavan told reporters that the damage caused to tapes and records was being estimated.

Politicians in TN have a tool- Environment

Monday, September 19, 2005 | AY
Environment protection is a tool in the hands of the politician and the Tamil Nadu government. If the powers want a project to come up, environmental norms are given short shrift. If the higher authority does not like a project or its key proponents, the environment issue is invoked and the project is opposed. A case in point is the Rs 2,427 crore Sethusamudram project, being implemented by the Union government. Chief minister J Jayalalithaa is still not convinced of its environmental viability and wants it to be shelved. However, Union shipping and road transport minister TR Baalu is determined to complete the project on schedule, stating that, there would be no environmental impact from the project. At present, there aren’t too many environmental issues in the forefront in TN, as most investments are in the relatively clean automotive and IT sectors. In the mid-1990s, willing to go an extra mile to win investors, the state had even welcomed industrial projects denied entry elsewhere on grounds of pollution. But they had to face citizens’ wrath. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are an active force here.

Apollo Hospitals to offer e-medicine

Monday, September 19, 2005 | AY
The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises (ADAE) group company, under its e-medicine initiatives, is joining hands with the Chennai-based heart and lung care major to facilitate online diagnosis and treatment of heart diseases and cancer. Internet and telecom major ADAE will encourage patients to visit its WebWorlds, a chain of retail outlets, and receive “remote consultation” from doctors sitting at Apollo Hospitals in Chennai and other group health facilities. The medical history of the patient would be mailed to the doctor, enabling him to do his homework before the online consultation process begins.

World's first 9-ink photo printer

Sunday, September 18, 2005 | AY
Hewlett-Packard (HP) has launched the world's first nine-ink photo printer, the Photosmart 8758, for the professional segment. Traditionally, photo printers have only eight inks, but the PS 8758 has an extra colour - blue - which ensures that photographs are richer and more vivid, making this printer the best possible option for commercial photographers. The new nine-ink photo printer is a new invention from the HP stable, which will take photo printing to the next level. Announcing a new package of photo printing solutions to suit everyone, ranging from the home consumer to the professional photographer, HP also launched the HP Photosmart 7838 at the entry-level and HP Photosmart 8038 at the mid-end.

Vandana Murali in final

Sunday, September 18, 2005 | AY
Tamil Nadu star Vandana Murali scalped top seed Sandri Gangothri 6-3, 6-1 to set up a title clash with her statemate Poojashree Venkatesh in the girls final of the PNB-TTT ITF Junior tennis Championship. In the match between Vandana and Gangothri, the former started the match with a break and then led 4-1 before she was broken back in the 6th game. However, Vandana was in her best form to clinch the set with two more breaks (7th and 9th games), though Gangothri had an 8th game break. In the second set, Gangothri started making all sorts of mistakes. Vandana broke Gangothri in the 4th and 6th games for the set and the match.

Talaimagan

Saturday, September 17, 2005 | AY
Sarat Kumar is reaching a major milestone in his film career on September 15 as his 100th film is being launched in Chennai. 'Talaimagan', as the film is titled, will be produced by Radaan Media Works (I) Ltd, virtually his home production as it is run by actress wife, Radhika. The film will have Nayantara has the heroine, besides Prakashraj and Vadivelu as the star cast. R D Balaji will direct the film, which has Cheran providing the screenplay, Kaveri Vendhan the story and dialogue, while lyrics are by Vaalee and Vairamuthu. J Paul provides the music. It's been a long journey for Sarat Kumar, who began his film career as a producer. Sarat Kumar has backed several projects of his wife Radhika, making guest appearances in the films produced by her like in the recent release 'Jithan. He has had a fairly successful career as a politician too, having contested and won in the Lok Sabha elections as a DMK candidate.

Talaimagan

Naveena Thiruvilayaadal

Saturday, September 17, 2005 | AY
Dhanush has been pretty busy of late. He is eagerly awaiting the release of 'Adhu Oru Kanakkalam'. Next in his eagerly awaited list is 'Pudupettai'. Meanwhile, Dhanush is also booked for another film. Boopathy Pandian who directed Dhanush in 'Devadaiyai Kandein' has launched another film" Naveena Thiruvilayaadal". Dhanush is to take up the role of the hero. Mazhai Shreya is to pair up with him in this film. This is the first time they are pairing up.

Ezhuthiyathaaradi

Saturday, September 17, 2005 | AY
S.S.S. Good Luck films are launching "Ezhuthiyathaaradi". Ramana is the hero in this film. Mansi from Mumbai and Suvari are pairing up as heroines in this film. Along with them, Kovai Sarala, Veerasaami, Ponnambalam, Savithri, Akila and many others are working for this film. Sriman Khan is the music director. The shooting is to take place in spots like Munnar, Thalaikonam, Cochin, Pollachi and in and around Chennai.

TVS planning to launch 180 cc bike

Saturday, September 17, 2005 | AY
Two-wheeler major TVS Motor Company is planning to introduce a 150 cc variant and a new 180 cc category bike early next year. Three new generation two-wheelers — Victor Edge, StaR City and Scooty Pep plus are being launched in Chennai. With the launch of these new variants the company expects to increase its sales by 25 percent in the current year. The company is planning to sell 50,000 Star and 30,000 Victor bikes every month during this year. Targeting urban users, the newly launched Victor Edge is powered with a 125 cc engine and a slew of additional features. Pegged as the new ‘Traffic Cutter, the new variant of Victor will give customers the comforts of the executive segment motorcycle at an economy price. The bike is priced at Rs 40,990.

Ibrahim Ravoother back into action

Saturday, September 17, 2005 | AY
Ibrahim Ravoother was a famous producer who produced many films like Pulan Visaranai, Captain Prabhakaran,Senthoorapoovae and others. He has produced several films with Vijayakanth starring in it. It was a long time since he produced any film. Now he is back into the industry again. He is to produce two films. R.K. Selvamani is the director in one film and the director of the other film is not yet decided.

World bank loan for TN project

Saturday, September 17, 2005 | AY
World Bank will provide a loan of 300 million dollars for executing the Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project (TNUDF) aimed at improving urban infrastructure services in the state. The total cost of the project is estimated at 434 million dollars with World Bank financing of 300 million dollars. The balance would be financed by the Government of Tamil Nadu (84 million), participating urban local bodies (10 million) and co-financing to be raised by Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund (40 million). The project would help improve infrastructure services in the state by strengthening the managerial, financial and technical capabilities of local bodies; mobilising funds and for urban infrastructure investment by TNUDF and providing incentives for investments in low-income neighbourhoods.

Thirupathi

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 | AY
AVM’s next project is 'Thirupathi' with Ajith in the lead. Nayantara was supposed to pair up with him, but the producer and the hero were not too keen to have Nayan. Later, she also refused the role due to clashing dates in her schedule. Still later, she altered her schedules and agreed to pair up with Ajith. But her demand was an amount of 40 lakhs which the producer refused bluntly. Thus it is decided that Sada is to pair up with Ajith in 'Thirupathi'. This is the first time Ajith and Sada are pairing up.

CPI favours coalition govt. in Tamil Nadu

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 | AY
The Communist Party of India(CPI), a key ally of the DMK led Democratic Progressive Alliance(DPA) in Tamil Nadu today said it was in favour of a coalition government in the state. CPI Tamil Nadu unit secretary T Pandian said that the concept of coalition government has been very successful at the Centre. And as times are changing, there is nothing wrong in having it in the state also. He expressed dissatisfaction over the Tamil Nadu government granting permission to the multi-national firm coca cola to tap the water resources of Tamiraparani river for trading through SIPCOT. He urged the centre to intervene immediately and ban any foreign company from tapping Indian water for trade. Moreover, it will affect the people of Kovilpatti, Sattur and Virudhunagar, as a drinking water project plan was being implemented there. Mr Pandian said to draw the attention of the Centre and state governments over this issue, CPI will observe a fast on October 2.

Kanda Naal Mudal

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 | AY
Priya, Mani Ratnam’s assistant is the director of the film "Kanda Naal Mudal". The film is produced by Prakash Raj for Duet Movies. The dubbing, mixing and effects are happening in full swing. Prasanna and Laila play the lead in this film, which has music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. There is talk abuzz that director Priya has done a great job.

Plastics posing threat to spotted deer

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 | AY
As many as 1,500 spotted deer here are facing danger from plastics. Guindy is the only park in the world to be situated in the middle of a metropolis. It has a population of 2,500-odd deer and black bucks in an area free of garbage dumps and plastics. The wildlife authorities have made repeated appeals to stop garbage dumping. Unless garbage is free of plastic and stopped from being dumped on the roadside, spotted deer outside the Guindy reserve area would continue to be under threat. M.B. Nirmal, founder of Exnora, an NGO specialising in solid waste management says: "We have had good response on garbage separation everywhere in Tamil Nadu except Chennai."

Peravai

Monday, September 12, 2005 | AY
Navya entered Tamil film industry with 'Azhagiya Theeye'. She recently paired up with Thangar Bachan for his film 'Chidambarathil Oru Appasamy'. She is now booked to do another Tamil film titled 'Peravai'. Ramana will pair up with her in this film. The cast includes Prakash Raj, Vijaya Kumar, Banu Priya, Mansur Ali Khan, Riyaz Khan and Madan Bob among many others. V.S.Bhaya is the music director of this film and lyrics are written by Pa.Vijay. B.M. Film Gardens is producing this film.

Karthikeyan finishes 11th

Monday, September 12, 2005 | AY
Jordan drivers stole the show, thanks to some brilliant race strategy and sensible driving by Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. Monteiro benefited from a car that was quicker than his teammate’s but the 28-year old Indian made up for the difference in speed with some daredevil racing. Monteiro benefited from a car that was quicker than his teammate’s but the 28-year old Indian made up for the difference in speed with some daredevil racing. But the Chennai lad showed great control as he refused to take the foot off the accelerator and still emerged ahead of Villeneuve. This equalled Karthikeyan’s best finish in a race featuring a full field. He also finished 11th at the Malaysian Grand Prix. At the controversial US Grand Prix, the Indian came fourth in a truncated field of six drivers, after the rest pulled out because of tyre problems.

State political parties getting ready for election

Sunday, September 11, 2005 | AY
Election fever has gripped political parties in Tamil Nadu, which is scheduled to go to assembly polls in May next year. The parties, mainly ruling AIADMK and opposition DMK, have started their election work in right earnest with top leaders interacting with party cadres and setting up booth committees. While AIADMK has divided the state into zones, entrusting the poll management to its election wing secretary and state PWD Minister O Pannerselvam and its presidium chairman and Finance Minister C Ponnaiyan, DMK has asked its district secretaries to fan out to villages and enthuse party cadres. AIADMK leaders have instructed partymen to stress on developmental work undertaken by the Jayalalithaa government in the state whereas DMK has asked its workers to highlight the non-performance of the AIADMK government as main poll plank. However, both parties are keeping their fingers crossed as popular Tamil film actor Vijay Kant is making his entry into politics in the assembly polls.

Pyramid-Saimira Group in a Rs 100 Million-Digital cinema deal

Sunday, September 11, 2005 | AY
Chennai-based Pyramid-Saimira Group has signed Rs 100 million deal with Kalasa Entertainment Media Private Limited (KEMPL) to install 70 theaters with digital cinema equipment. The installation will be made between September 2005 and July 2006. The deal follows Pyramid-Saimira's earlier announcement of taking on lease 1000 theaters for digitalisation. The company plans to finish the assignment in three years and primary deadline is to digitalise 150 theaters by September 2006. In April 2005, the company had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Taiwan-based Delta Electronics for design, development and sourcing of about 15,000 digital projectors at a cost of about Rs 1.5 billion.

Chennai unveils ITeS policy

Saturday, September 10, 2005 | AY
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday unveiled the state’s Information Technology-enabled Services (ITeS) Policy 2005 which seeks to cut red tape and make students employable by the industry. She said that the government had recently sent a delegation to Taiwan to tap the interest the hardware industry there has in setting up operations in India. The software exports from Tamil Nadu have grown by 244 per cent in the last four years. It stood at Rs 10,703 crore in 2004-5, as compared to Rs 3,115 crore in 2000-01. The growth in exports of ITeS industry on a stand-alone basis was faster. From Rs 260 crore in 2000-01, it went up to Rs 1,636 crore in 2004-05. Jayalalithaa said a new software company sets up shop every three days in the state. The number of software units in Tamil Nadu had grown to 1,266 in 2004-05. About 5.2 million square feet of space for the IT industry is under construction. There are more than 40 IT parks that are coming up in the public and private sector.

New US Counsel General for Chennai

Saturday, September 10, 2005 | AY
Mr David T Hopper has assumed charge as the new US Counsel General for South India. Mr Hopper succeeded Dr Richard D Haynes, who has been transferred to the Philippines. Mr Hopper was earlier Principal Officer of the US Consulate General in Melbourne. He assumed charge on August 26, 2005. He had also served at the US Consulate General in Mumbai. Educated at Georgetown University and Creighton University School of Law, Mr Hopper speaks German, Polish, Swedish and Chinese.

Ash may be acting opposite Rajini

Friday, September 9, 2005 | AY
Ash’s debut in Tamil film industry was in in Mani Ratnam’s Iruvar. She followed up with many films like Kandu Kondaen Kandu Kondaen and Jeans. Her appearance in Tamil is not frequent as she is pretty busy with Bollywood and international films. Meanwhile, efforts are in progress to talk with Ash to play the role opposite to Rajini in 'Sivaji'. Shankar is on the move!!

Ah…Aah - clear for release

Friday, September 9, 2005 | AY
It was feared that Ah…Aah would not be granted a censor certificate and would be stopped from being released. But as of now, the coast is clear for this film and it is to be released on 9th of this month. Director S.J. Suryah is happy that he can give a breath of relief from the fear. Yet another film that is to be released on the same day is Simbu’s Thotti Jay.

Possible pipeline route between Chennai-Bangalore

Friday, September 9, 2005 | AY
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has started examining the best possible route to lay a pipeline between Chennai and Bangalore to transport petroleum products. The planned pipeline would require an investment of Rs 290 crore and span about 290 kilometres. Bangalore is already being served by a pipeline that brings in petroleum products from Mangalore. The pipeline coming from Chennai would be used to evacuate Chennai Petroleum’s output for the Bangalore and surrounding markets. The key benefit from using pipelines to transport petroleum products is that it reduces transport cost to about one-tenth of the amount spent when using road transport. In mid-August, IOC commissioned a 526 kilometre pipeline from Chennai to Madurai via Trichy. At present, the pipeline moves 220 metric tonne of petroleum products every hour.

GRT launches hospitality academy in chennai

Friday, September 9, 2005 | AY
Foreseeing the need across the world for well-qualified culinary professionals in the hospitality industry and travel sector. The GRT Hospitality Academy will offer a six months certificate course in Hospitality Operations. The pedagogy includes theory and on the job training modules to hone the skills of the students. The methodology adopted will focus on making students feel confident enough to handle responsibilities in their respective areas of expertise. The course is open for candidates with a minimum qualification of tenth standard and above 18 years of age. The fee is Rs 4000 for a six-month course. The Chennai based GRT group has a strong holding in the hospitality industry with GRT Grand, Radisson GRT Hotel and Temple Bay GRT Resorts in Chennai.

Teleconference facility through EDUSAT in TN

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 | AY
Teleconference facility through EDUSAT will be provided at the District Institute of Educational Training at Oddanchatram , Tamil Nadu before month-end. Similar facility will also be provided in all 16 Basic Resource Centres (BRC) functioning under Sarva Sikshya Abyan Scheme in Dinidgul district in a phased manner. Taking part in an interaction session between resource persons in Anna University and school teachers and BRC coordinators through EDUSAT held at P.S.N.A. College of Engineering and Technology, Chief Educational Officer
said that resource persons through teleconference had guided teachers on how to undertake action research to find out various problems of students and teachers and between schools and the society. Such facility would also help students get better education through e-learning. Provisions were made through landline and mobile phones to enable teachers in Dindigul to interact with resources persons in Chennai. About 40 teachers and coordinators took part.

Anup Jalota sings in Chennai

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 | AY
The Rotary Club of Adyar is organising a musical event by prominent singer Anup Jalota in Chennai on September 10, to raise funds for its project to establish a free medical centre for the poor and underprivileged people in the city. The Jalota concert will take place at the Music Academy. The event is managed by Media Mix. Anup Jalota is one of the most famous bhajan and ghazal singers in India and abroad. He has given over 4,000 live concerts and holds a world record in receiving more than 100 gold, platinum and multi-platinum discs. His albums like Takhaiyul, Shamakhana, Moods and Farmaish have been great hits.

Pambara Kannalae

Tuesday, September 6, 2005 | AY
The Srikanth starrer 'Pambara Kannalae' is touted to be a comedy. This is the first ever time the hero with chocolate boy looks is doing a comedy flick. The director of this film is none other than Parthi Bhaskar, the son of Composer R. D. Bhaskar and the nephew of Music Maestro Ilayaraja.

Scientists make tiniest transistor

Tuesday, September 6, 2005 | AY
Two non-resident Indian scientists have created history by making the world's tiniest transistor entirely from carbon nanotubes. The discovery heralds a new era of ultra miniature electronics where standard silicon transistors are replaced with much smaller versions fashioned from carbon nanotubes. The new transistor is a Y-shaped nanotube with two branches that meet a central stem at a junction. Current flowing from one branch to another can be switched on and off by applying a voltage to the third. Such binary logic called "gating" is the basis of nearly all transistors. Their work published in the September issue of 'Nature Materials' has won instant acclaim from international science community.

Diabetes education centre launched

Monday, September 5, 2005 | AY
LifeScan, Johnson & Johnson Medical, division of Johnson & Johnson Ltd., has launched OneTouchTM Diabetes Education Centre, the first of its kind in India. Dr. V. Mohan, renowned diabetologist and chairman, Dr. Mohan's M.V. Diabetes Specialities Centre, inaugurated the Diabetes Education Centre located at 499, Anna Salai, Teynampet in Chennai. The OneTouchTM Diabetes Education Centre has facilities like a conference room exclusively for doctors to hold seminars on diabetes and patient education programmes, a trained diabetes educator-cum-dietician, a library with books and videos on diabetes management and a gallery with display of educational material on various aspects of diabetes, health tips and dietary regimen. In no other health problem does the affected person need to be informed and educated as much as in diabetes. Therefore the need arises for a diabetes education centre to help educate on the day-to-day aspects of managing diabetes, said Dr V Mohan. He also said that since the propensity to become a diabetic is higher in Indians due to genetic susceptibility and a low threshold for risk factors, the need for a diabetes education centre cannot be stressed more.

Girl makes record for floating on water

Monday, September 5, 2005 | AY
A 24-year-old city girl from Chennai has made an entry into the Guinness book of world records for floating on water for 54 hours and 27 minutes. The previous best was by Shanmugham of Chennai in 1987, who clocked 51 hours and 10 minutes. Showing the certificates to reporters, Thajoomi said she was coached by A Anbalagan. She thanked the city corporation authorities for allotting a specified time for women to practise in the swimming pool on the Marina.

Petrol

Sunday, September 4, 2005 | AY
'Petrol', which has the newly wed Prashanth in the lead, was launched in AVM Studios this morning. Produced by Gopi Sasthri for Samarth Creations, this film will be directed by A.Venkatesh who also handles the story and screenplay. Music is by Srikanth Deva. We have to wait and see if the film sets the screen on fire, justifying its name!!

Jayalalithaa absent at PM's function in Chennai

Sunday, September 4, 2005 | AY
Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa did not attend the inauguration of the National Institute of Siddha by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “due to indisposition”. The speech that she was to have delivered at the function was read out by State Health Minister N. Thalavai Sundaram. This is the second time a just over two months that she has not attended a Prime Minister's function in the state. On July 2, she stayed away from the launching of the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project at Madurai, citing her Opposition to the launch of the project without further ‘detailed and scientific’ studies on the possible environmental impact and loss of livelihood of fishermen. Sources said that the decision not to attend was taken at the proverbial eleventh hour and that too only on grounds of illness, and that there was no political or other motives involved.

Chennai promoting medical tourism

Saturday, September 3, 2005 | AY
Tamil Nadu, which registered an overall growth rate of 11.4 per cent in tourism last year, was now gearing up to promote medical tourism in a major way to further accelerate the growth rate. The government was also keen to leverage the presence of world-class medical infrastructure and knowledge power in the state to promote medical tourism in a major way. Medical tourism mainly revolves around patients and their families visiting the state hospital. It also spans the medical colleges and institutions of the states, which attract students and research scholars. The government was closely co-ordinating with multi-speciality hospitals and with the private sector running these hospitals to promote medical tourism. The ancient Indian healthcare system of Ayurveda, meditation and yoga were also being promoted in a major way to attract both domestic and foreign tourists. The Central government has also announced a new category of `medical visas' for the convenience of `health tourists.

E-tech research centre coming up in Chennai

Saturday, September 3, 2005 | AY
Research in e-technologies and the IT revolution will get a fillip as the Centre has decided to set up a Rs 212-cr joint venture company -C-DoT Alcatel Research Centre, in Chennai within three months. The tie-up between C-DoT, the Centre's premier telecom research and development institute, and Alcatel, a French telecom major and global leader in broadband and wireless technology, will work on broadband wireless solutions initially on WiMAX technology suitable for rural areas. This will help in the speedier implementation of e-governance, e-education, e-health, e-agriculture and telemedicine initiatives in the rural sector. Besides helping business and individual interests in urban areas, the research centre will put India in the category of leading nations in the research and manufacturing of next generation wireless technology.

New method to prove one's identity

Saturday, September 3, 2005 | AA
Do you get bored and agitated to repeat the same set of answers, such as date of birth or spouse's name, to your credit card company for validation? A solution is in the offing in the form of speech biometric. LatticeBridge Infotech Private Ltd, a Chennai-based software firm, has developed Sure Identity, a technology that will establish the identity of a person using a set of features extracted from that person's voice, says its Managing Director, C. Mohan Ram. A person's features such as liveliness, accent and pitch are captured by the system and stored as original voiceprint. Later, they are compared with the "original", and based on a weighted factor the technology identifies the person. Voice verification empowers to verify the authenticity of the person, answering the question: "are you who you claim to be." Voice recognition engines identify what the person is saying, he says.Sure Identity, which uses Scansoft's SpeechSecure Platform, has two major modules - enrolment and authentication. During enrolment the system asks users to register their identity and "pass phrase" - callers can speak in a language of their choice and can use their favourite song, dialogue or a sentence. The system captures pass phrase and passes the biometric signature to an engine to verify and authenticate genuine users/callers, he says. The human voice is a biometric measure and like other biometric signs such as fingerprints and iris scans, is unique to each individual. No two people have the exact same voiceprint, just as they cannot have the same fingerprint, says Ram. The system uses a mathematical pattern encompassed in the voice and can be compared against the voice captured to authenticate the speaker using advanced algorithms to reach a high degree of reliability and accuracy over many communication channels. This includes telephone, mobile phone and VoIP (voice over Internet protocol), he says. According to Ram, a number of manual methods are in use to check the validation of the person. These include PIN (personal identification number) codes and passwords using an IVR (interactive voice recognition) system or directly with a live agent, and manual verification through a series of questions asked by an agent, such as mother's maiden name or spouse's maiden name. These manual verifications are prolonged by 30-60 seconds for callers to answer the questions - if they remember all the answers. The current methods are also open to fraud, increasing the risk of security breaches and theft (someone just needs to know a person's personal details like date of birth and address) and can do many things, he adds. However, Sure Identity offers increased security and there is no need for bothersome verification information that can be stolen or forgotten. Customers enjoy an improved experience, without annoying questions (tell me last two transactions of your credit card or what is your secret question). Since verification questions can take up to 20 per cent of the time of an average call, voice verification can reduce costs significantly, he adds. Globally, such speech secure technology is in use in firms such as American Express, Allianz and Air Canada, and in India it is being introduced for the first time, he says. For Sure Identity customers can own, rent or pay per transaction with minimum commitment charges on monthly basis. LatticeBridge would do end-to-end implementation, including back-end integration. A leading private sector bank has tested Sure Identity and reported satisfaction, but with a few suggested enhancements that are being looked at by the development team, he says. [Agency]

PM visits chennai

Friday, September 2, 2005 | AY
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will arrive here tomorrow for a brief visit to the city. For the first time since assuming office last year, he would be sharing a platform with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at the function. Jayalalithaa, who was invited to participate in the function to lay the foundation stone for the Sethusamudram project at Madurai on July 1, in which the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone, declined to attend the function on the plea that work on the project had been started without proper environment assessment. Manmohan Singh would also release a book written by MDMK chief Vaiko, at a function here tomorrow evening, before leaving for New Delhi at 8 p.m.

First 3D TV serial

Friday, September 2, 2005 | AY
GV Films Ltd has entered the TV arena with a bang. It has lannched the shoot of 'Paramapadam', the first-ever live 3D television serial in India. Mukesh Khanna, the lead man of 'Shaktimaan', who earned all-round praise for her performance as Bheeshma in 'Mahabharat', has been signed up as the lead actor. Billed as a fantasy thriller, it is being made simultaenously in Tamil and Hindi. GV Films has acquired the technology and exclusive rights to produce live 3D content in India from D3, a Los Angeles company that has patented technology for out-of-the-box effects. Paramapadam - 3D is the story based on the famous snake & ladder game concept, directed by Naaga. Naaga is a well-known director of several successful serials in the recent past.

Sandaikozhi

Friday, September 2, 2005 | AY
Meera Jasmine is working in the Tamil remake of Kasturimaan and another film called 'Sandaikozhi'. In this film, she is to perform the role of a brave village girl. The hero is Vishal. In a scene, she takes up smoking seeing Vishal smoke. She also admits that she has done it all for a film sequence. With the recent ban on smoking scenes in films, will this scene continue, or will it end up on the Censors’ cutting table?

Chenniayil oru Mazhailkkalam

Friday, September 2, 2005 | AY
Surya’s next film is "Chenniayil oru Mazhailkkalam". The music director for this film is A.R. Rehman and the heroine is none other than his favourite Jo. Surya has plans of singing a song in this film. If this ever becomes a hit then there are chances of his singing in his future projects.

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