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Friday, May 30, 2008

Mahindra defers Chennai tractor factory plan

Mahindra & Mahindra, the world's fourth largest tractor maker, has deferred its plan to build a Rs 400 crore tractor facility in Chennai on apprehensions that tractor sales may slow, a top company executive has said.

"We have postponed our plans for an integrated plant in Chennai which was supposed to come up inside the company's research facility following the downturn in the industry," Anjani Kumar Choudhari, president, farm equipment sector, Mahindra & Mahindra, said.

Mumbai-based Mahindra's tractor facility in the southern Indian city was expected to produce 145,000 units a year.

Indian auto makers are deferring plans to build new factories as demand for vehicles fall owing to high interest rates and rising fuel prices. The Reserve Bank has raised the cash reserve ratio nine times to 8.25 per cent since January 2007 to help Finance Minister P Chidambaram curb inflation.

On earlier occasions too, automotive projects of majors including truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland, two-wheeler leader Hero Honda had put their proposed greenfield ventures on hold on the back of a weakening market. Growth of commercial vehicles was near flat at just a 4 per cent rise in sales while sales of two-wheelers slumped to a negative growth of 8 per cent last fiscal.

"We are going to witness a flat to 5 per cent growth in sales of tractors during this year. Finance (availability) will be the key issue," admitted Choudhari. The industry sold 302,241 units last year as compared to 318,328 units sold in the previous year. The current financial year will be a tough season for tractor manufacturers, claim auto analysts tracking the segment.

According to the latest figures for April provided by M&M, the company saw a decline of 4.20 per cent in sales, selling just 8,679 units against 9,060 units in the same month of the previous year.

Growth in market share for the company (excluding that of Punjab Tractors) was negligible during the last year. The company maintained its full year domestic market share at 29.9 per cent. In addition the company saw a decline of 4.7 per cent in sales at 90,509 tractors during the same period even as the industry witnessed a decline of 5.1 per cent.

Punjab Tractors (PTL), which was bought over by M&M last year for nearly Rs 1,400 crore, has huge spare capacity at its plant. The brand produces just 28,000 tractors currently, less than half of its total installed capacity of 60,000 units a year. PTL branded tractors sells mostly in the northern market and has about 10 per cent market share.

"The reason we wanted to set up a base in Chennai was because of the relative lower presence of our brand in the southern market. We have facilities in the north, central and the west but not in the south (of the country)," Choudhari said.

Piyush Parag, analyst, Religare Securities, said, "There are major concerns over the financing part (of tractors). There was a steep rise in the NPAs (non-performing assets) last season and following this banks may reduce their exposure even further in the segment. In addition if the monsoon is irregular this year then sales of tractors will further fall." Rising material costs will also continue to dent the margins of the company during the year too. Last year M&M had passed on the full price hike in materials cost of Rs 15,000 to the customer. Costs of steel has doubled in the last three years claim industry experts. M&M's share price slipped by 2.26 per cent to close at Rs 592.50 a share on the Bombay Stock Exchange, as compared with yesterday's close of Rs 606.20 a share.

Virudhunagar betters its own record

With a success rate of 95.48 per cent, Virudhunagar district continued to reign supreme in the State in 10th examination (SSLC) overall pass percentage for the 22nd straight year.

In fact, the district has bettered its record registered in the previous years. Last year, 93.69 per cent of students had passed out. This year, 20,740 students out of 21,721 who appeared for the examinations have succeeded.

Chief Educational Officer S. Nagaraja Murugan attributed the success to the untiring efforts of teachers. “It is not just that more number of students have passed. But we have achieved more than that. The number of centum in subjects and the number of schools recording 100 per cent success rate too have gone up substantially.”

This year, the district had secured 858 centum, including one in English, as against mere 145 centum got in subjects last year. A total of 619 students had got maximum marks in Mathematics, 230 in Science and eight in Social Science.

Aruppukottai Educational District, comprising backward regions such as Tiruchuzhi and Narikudi, has bettered the Virudhunagar educational district.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

CBSE results: double delight for Chennai

After having topped the regions in the Central Board of Secondary Education Class XII examinations, it is a double delight for Chennai this year as it has obtained the highest overall pass percentage of 95.26 in the Class X results.

There has been an overall increase of 2.64 percentage points from 84.44 per cent in 2007 to 87.08 per cent this year.

For the Chennai region, the results were declared on Tuesday. Results for the other five regions – Delhi, Ajmer, Allahabad, Guwahati and Panchkula – were announced on Thursday.

“Girls have done better than boys. The pass percentage for girls is a high 87.96, while boys have secured 86.46. Last year, there was a neck-and-neck race between the two, but this year girls have surged ahead by 1.5 percentage points,” said CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly at a press conference here on Thursday.

The overall pass percentage of regular students is 88.96 while that of private candidates is 26.34. As for the decline in overall pass percentage of private candidates from last year’s 26.74 per cent, Mr. Ganguly said: “Bulk of these candidates are from Delhi. The Delhi government should give appropriate guidance to these institutions. We have made suggestions to them. There could be a State open school to take care of these students.”

The pass percentage for candidates from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas is the highest in the country with a remarkable 97.54 compared with 96.41 in 2007.

Kendriya Vidyalayas have secured an overall 96.07 per cent, up from 95.64 per cent.

Two petitions against ‘Dasavatharam’ dismissed

The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed two petitions against the film ‘Dasavatharam. The petitions had alleged that the film contained scenes which offended Hindus.

In its order, a Division Bench comprising Justices K.Venkataraman and M.Sathyanarayanan, said: “We are constrained to come to the conclusion that the apprehension of the petitioners at this stage before they could view the film could only be a surmise and without proof that there are certain scenes which will affect the Hindus, more particularly the Vaishnavites.”
“IPR not involved”

The Bench said freedom of expression guaranteed under Art.19 (1) could not be curtailed on mere assumptions of the petitioners that the film contained certain scenes which would hurt the sentiments of Hindus.

There was no Intellectual Property Rights involved in the use of the title ‘Dasavatharam.’ The persons who view the film are not so illiterate as to take a view that it is 10 ‘avatars’ (incarnations) of Lord Vishnu.

“We are confident that the people at large will knowthat the hero of the film Kamal Haasan is acting in 10 different roles and that is why the film is named Dasavatharam.”

The usage of the title would not affect the sentiments of Hindus.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

“No need to write to Centre, Karnataka on executing Hogenakkal project”

There is no need for Tamil Nadu to write either to the Centre or to the Karnataka government on implementing the Hogenakkal drinking water project, which is proceeding on schedule, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi asserted on Wednesday.

The Rs.1,334-crore water supply and the fluorosis mitigation project will benefit 3 municipalities, 17 town panchayats and 6755 habitations in 18 unions of Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts.

Mr. Karunanidhi said the timeline of the project remained unchanged.

The first part of the work related to selecting a project management consultant. For this, tenders had already been called in February 2008 and the last date for submission was end of March 2008. The finalisation of the consultant would be done in July.

SSI, Unitech JV for township in Chennai

Urban infrastructure firm SSI has entered into a joint development agreement with a consortium of Unitech and Arihant Foundation to develop a 70-acre integrated township in Chennai.

SSI stated that the joint development venture, based on 43:57 revenue sharing model, is expected to generate Rs 2000 crore cash flow for the company.

With approximately 4000 units and a total build up area of 7 million sq.ft the project is expected to be completed over 7 years. The project will be mainly developed as a residential township with supportive retail and commercial space.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Government drops move to privatise sand quarries

Bowing to the demand of its allies, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government on Monday decided not to go ahead with the decision to privatise sand quarrying.

In a resolution adopted at the end of a meeting of political parties represented in the Assembly here, a resolution was adopted to the effect that the government would continue sand quarrying across the State. Trucks could be permitted to carry up to three units of sand and the law should be amended to ensure that sand was not smuggled to neighbouring States, it said.

A committee comprising secretaries of the Industries department, the PWD, Revenue and Home departments will be constituted to study the present system and present a report to the government.

The main Opposition party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, its ally, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Desiya Murpokku Dravidar Kazhagam stayed away from the meeting, protesting against the government move to privatise sand quarrying.

Sand quarrying was in private hands till October 2003. The AIADMK government took over quarrying in a bid to prevent overexploitation of the natural resource and to boost revenues. The DMK government continued this policy. It announced on May 19 that sand mining would be leased through tenders and open auction.

At the meeting on Monday, Congress Legislature Party leader D. Sudarssanam, who was highly critical of the government in the last Assembly session over the manner in which quarrying operations were being carried out, asserted that new problems would arise if the government leased quarries.

Hackers cracking mobile phones, warn experts

Much to the discomfort of mobile users, hackers, who are already wrecking websites and e-mails, are now targeting cell phones as well. Hackers are intruding mobile phones using hacking tools like spyware and spoofing, according to cyber experts.

Spyware is a tool which manipulates short message service (SMS) and allows them to be read by others, while spoofing, replaces mobile number of sender’s message, they said.

Explaining the functions of spyware, a Delhi-based cyber expert said, “A hacker sends an SMS to the targeted person. The person opens the message, installing spyware onto the device. The spyware, unknown to the victim, takes the SMS and forwards it to the hacker.”

Once installed, the hacker can monitor the ‘compromised’ phone call details and can even listen to the calls made or received by the user, Rajat Khare Director of Information security consulting firm Appin said.

However, it’s very difficult for the user to find out whether his/her phone has been hacked.

Besides spyware, SMS spoofing is another tool which hackers are widely using, Mr. Khare said.

Spoofing is used for changing the identity of source of SMS either with text or any desired number.

Chennai Desalination project could be delayed

The commissioning of the 100-million litres a day (mld) desalination plant at Kattupalli near suburban Minjur is likely to be delayed by four months. It was scheduled to be commissioned in August this year.

Attributing the delay to unseasonal rain in March, Chennai Metrowater officials said about 70 per cent of the works had been completed. Dredging operation also could not be carried out due to rough sea. Dredging would facilitate laying of a separate pipeline to draw seawater from 10-metre-depth below sea level and discharge waste water, a Metrowater official said.

Though about 15 mld of water was to be supplied on completion of the first phase of the project, envisaged to be completed in May, the delay had pushed the project deadline to December, he said.

Chennai Water Desalination Limited, a special purpose vehicle formed by IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Limited and its technical partner Befesa Construccion y Tecnologia Ambiental, Spain, started implementing the project on a DBOOT (design, build, own, operate and transfer) basis last year.

The official said work for constructing units such as sand filters and cartridge filters, used to remove minute particles as part of the preliminary treatment, was under way. The process to erect five reverse osmosis units, an important component in desalinating seawater, was also in progress. Each of the unit that had a capacity to treat 20 mld of seawater would be commissioned one after another during December, the official said.

About Rs.118 crore was expected to be spent on purchase of water from the Minjur plant.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Government revises admission norms for arts, science colleges

The State government has revised the admission guidelines for arts and science colleges from this academic year (2008-09) in view of the introduction of Choice Based Credit System (CBCS).

A G.O., dated May 10, was issued citing the procedures for admission of students to undergraduate/postgraduate courses in Government, aided and unaided arts and science colleges, an official in the Department of Collegiate Education here told The Hindu on Tuesday. Under the new system, colleges will have to prepare a rank list for admission to undergraduate courses out of 800 marks in subject components in the Plus Two examination.

“Colleges have been told to follow the revised guidelines in letter and spirit, and the particulars of how admissions should be made for various courses like B.A., B.Sc. and B.Com. have been sent to them by the Directorate,” said V. Swaminathan, Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education.

Admission to Government colleges will be through counselling like last year. The general rule of calculating marks for the subject component for candidates who apply for undergraduate courses is mentioned in the latest guidelines.

The GO also cites the subjects that a student should have studied in Plus Two for becoming eligible for admission to a particular undergraduate course.

According to the GO, the last date for receipt of filled-in applications by colleges should be fixed as the 10th working day from the date of issue of Plus Two mark statement.

Procedures for sale and issue of application forms for undergraduate courses, selection committees, reservation rules and rank list preparation are extensively dealt with in the revised guidelines.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Sand quarries to be leased out

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Sand quarries to be leased out

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday announced that sand quarries in the State would be leased out through tenders and open auction, thus ending its monopoly.

The District Collectors have been empowered to float tenders and conduct auction. The new system would come into force in July, a State government release said.

In October 2, 2003, when the AIADMK was in power, it scrapped all existing sand quarrying leases in Tamil Nadu. The Public Works Department was given the responsibility of quarrying and selling sand to consumers though storage depots.

The DMK government, however, has decided to revert to the system that existed before October, 2003. A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi decided to lease out quarries “with a view to expanding quarrying and selling sand.” It is also necessary to ensure intense monitoring of quarrying and protect drinking water sources, the government said. It was also decided to conduct a meeting of senior police officials in the State on May 25 at the Secretariat. Besides, a two-day conference of District Collectors and Superintendents of Police will be held on June 19 and 20 to discuss the law and order situation, the progress of development schemes and various government projects.

Gold Quest case: police widen probe

Special police teams from the city have gone to Madurai and Hyderabad to inspect some properties and interrogate a few persons in connection with the Gold Quest Net case.

The decision follows an investigation that found that the promoters of the company had invested the money collected from those who joined its multi-level marketing scheme in immovable assets in Hyderabad, Madurai and a few other cities. The total value of the properties may be over Rs.150 crore, said Deputy Commissioner of Police G.Sampath Kumar.

Promoters and some senior company executives were arrested in the first week of this month and the police sealed its office in Chetpet here. Cash and valuables worth around Rs.20 crore were seized.

After a search of the residence of the key accused last week, the police seized incriminating documents.

Joint Commissioner of Police M.Ravi said the number of complaints from those who joined the company’s scheme is over 12,000.

Apart from those in the city, people from Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry have lodged complaints.
Company statement

Meanwhile, a press release issued on behalf of the Quest Net India on Saturday said the company would look into all complaints received by the authorities and all genuine/legitimate complaints will be settled.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Civil Services topper from Khammam


Adapa Karthik of Khammam has topped the Civil Services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission this year.

Mr. Karthik, son of an employee of a rural bank, is an MBBS graduate from the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha. He opted for Civil Services in the hope that it would give him ample scope to “contribute for development at the grassroots level”.

Mr. Karthik got selected twice for the Indian Police Service (166 rank in 2004 and 148 in 2006) and is already undergoing training at the SVP National Police Academy in Hyderabad. Topping the Civil Services examination is a “dream come true for me”.

Chennai to get parking meters shortly

The city will soon have parking meters to regulate on-street parking. A pilot scheme has been proposed on a one-km stretch in Pondy Bazaar.

The meters will be placed every 100 meters along parking lots. Vehicle owners have to pay the charges by inserting coins or currency into the slot and printing the tickets, which have to be prominently displayed. Vehicles without proper tickets will be towed away and fined.

The Chennai Corporation has drawn inspiration from Bangalore city, which introduced parking meters on Brigade Road in 2005.

Tenders have been called for supplying parking meters, each of which is expected to cost Rs.40,000. The pedestal meters will be placed on the pavement without obstructing pedestrian flow.

Parking meters have become necessary because the 104 Corporation parking lots in Chennai yield poor revenue. In 2005, they earned Rs.1,56,18,326, which came down to Rs.1,18,56,154 in 2007. This is much less than the revenue accruing from the far fewer number of car parking lots in private theatres and malls, which earn anything between Rs.40 lakh to 60 lakh a year. The Corporation’s parking lots are managed by TEXCO, an organisation of ex-servicemen, since 1996. The charges have been kept low. According to a source in the Corporation, the parking lots have not been auctioned because of the fear that contractors might harass users. Also, it was felt that there would be difficulty in controlling the collection and managing the agreement.

Greenfield airport site feasible, says study

While the Airports Authority of India prepares to begin work on the modernisation and expansion of Chennai airport in the coming weeks, it has also taken the first steps towards starting work on its greenfield airport project in Sriperumbudur.

The AAI has conducted a techno-feasibility study, and an official told The Hindu that the site was feasible for the greenfield airport.

The proposal is currently with the International Civil Aviation Organisation awaiting approval. While the AAI initially planned to construct four runways on the site, it will now build two parallel runways. When completed, the project will take care of Chennai’s aviation requirements “for the next 50 years,” the official said.

The State government has identified 4,820.66 acres of land in Tirumangalam, Mambakkam, Irungulam, Vadamangalam, Padicherry, Sirukilai, Kilai and Sriperumbudur in Sriperumbudur taluk, and Tirupandiyur and Vayalur in Tiruvallur taluk for the project, and around 6,540 people and 1,078 homes will be dislocated by the development.

The lands marked out for the greenfield airport are close to the Chennai-Bangalore National Highway. A State government official said that developing connectivity to the proposed site will be strongly emphasised in the planning for the project as the government was keen on avoiding a repeat of the teething troubles faced in Bangalore and Hyderabad, where similar greenfield airports were set up on the outskirts of the two cities.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Karunanidhi calls for cooperation from all


In a poignant speech on the floor of the Assembly that moved several members to tears, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi made an emotional appeal to all political parties to join him in the “unfinished task of making Tamil society grow and prosper in a united manner.”

Repeatedly referring to his frailty and also to a time when he would no longer be around, Mr. Karunanidhi, now 84, said that he felt the sudden urge to live long after he crossed 60.

“Since the days remaining [in my life] are fewer, the days I can serve people are restricted… It is because of this sad fact that I have wanted to want to live longer,” he said, adding that he was constantly looking after his physical well being.

One huge desire he had now is that he wanted to fade away from the scene with the satisfaction of having worked hard and untiringly; and with everyone in true camaraderie. Mr. Karunanidhi made it clear that when he referred to the allies in the process of taking the Tamil society forward, he did not merely mean the allies of the DMK: it included the parties that were in the Opposition now too. Requesting them to uphold values of humanism, he said that the greatest tribute that he could have was for everyone to work towards this end, taking to heart the “pleadings” of “this small man.”
No birthday celebrations

He chose the day his government completed two years in office to declare that he will not celebrate his 85th birthday on June 3. On Tuesday morning, after reaching the Secretariat and before entering the Assembly, he told his secretary that he would not be in Chennai in the first week of June.

He attributed his desire to stay away to his “mental and physical health.” He appealed to cadres not to come to meet him on that day.

Only after the appeal reached Murasoli, the office of the party organ, did senior Ministers come to know of it. But no one dared to ask him.

In the Assembly, Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan, replying to the debate on the demands for grants for the Tamil development and Public departments, said that even when Mr. Karunanidhi was away, he would be working. The last time he left town to take rest produced ‘Tholkappiya Poonga,’ an explanatory work on the difficult grammar text Tholkappiyam.

Sitting next to him, Electricity Minister, Arcot N.Veeraswami, gestured and said that no one could prevent people like him from celebrating the Chief Minister’s birthday.

JAIPUR 60 killed, 150 injured as terror strikes Pink City

Terror struck the Pink City for the first time on Tuesday evening as serial blasts killed at least 60 people and injured more than 150. Starting around 7.30 p.m. there were nine or 10 blasts within 15 minutes at six crowded places, including in the vicinity of two Hanuman temples, in the Walled City area.

Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria confirmed 60 dead and 150 injured though unofficial sources said the casualties could be higher.

Eyewitnesses said they could count 60 bodies in the overflowing mortuary of the City’s leading hospital, Sawai Man Singh. Some bodies were reportedly kept in the satellite hospital, Kanwatia, and a private hospital, Santokbha Durlabhji Memorial.

The blasts caused panic in the entire city while the authorities sealed off the Walled City. No traffic was allowed through its historic gates. The communication system also was jammed with mobiles not giving out signals.

The former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, who spoke to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, said the Centre had assured the State authorities all possible help to handle the situation. Union Minister of State for Home Jaiswal is reaching here on Wednesday.

Director-General Police A.S. Gill told this correspondent that forensic experts were still verifying the nature of the explosives. He did not confirm the use of RDX but said high intensity explosives were used in the bombs.

The blasts outside the temples targeted the devotees who gather in large numbers on Tuesdays. One temple is at Sanganeri Gate, while the other is at Chandpole.

The Chandpole blast was said to be of less intensity while the explosion on Maniharon ka Rasta near the victory tower, Sargasuli at Tripolia, was the most powerful.

Realty bites tech hubs in Bangalore, Chennai

The stock of unoccupied properties with real estate developers in the main technology hubs of Bangalore and Chennai is mounting and indications are that their problems will only get worse as software companies head towards greener pastures.

In Bangalore’s Whitefield suburb, once a magnet for IT firms, supply outstripped absorption by 300,000 sq ft in 2007 and about 8% of the developed area remained vacant, data from real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) show. Prices are stagnating and the situation is deteriorating. In the first three months of 2008, the demand-supply mismatch was more than a million sq ft.

If Whitefield is in a bad way, the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) technology cluster on the outskirts of Chennai is deep in the doldrums, with just nine deals in the whole of 2007. Of the four million sq ft that came into the market last year, only 1.7 million sq ft were absorbed even as rentals fell by 18% and the vacancy rate was up to 11%, again according to C&W data. Most of the more than half a million sq ft that entered the market between January and March have gone abegging.

Property developers’ greed must take a major portion of the blame for the current plight, even insiders say. “The key factor contributing to the oversupply is the consistent overpricing of projects in both micromarkets. Developers who priced projects at Rs 4,000 per sq ft were unknowingly killing their golden goose in a sense,” Shriram Properties managing director M Murali said.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Gold Price falls on reduced demand

Gold prices fell by Rs 30 to Rs 12,070 per 10 grams in the bullion market here today on reduced offtake amid weak global trend.

Marketmen said sluggish demand against adequate supply and reports of weak global markets mainly led to decline in gold prices. Buying activity in gold also reduced owing to off marriage and festival season and some investors shifted their funds from gold to rising equity market, they added.

Global trend which normally set prices band here in domestic markets, fell by 4.40 dollar to 880.45 dollar an ounce and silver by 10.5 cents to 16.71 dollar in overseas markets. Standard gold and ornaments lost Rs 30 each to Rs 12,070 and Rs 11,920 per 10 grams respectively, while sovereign, remained flat at Rs 9,875 per piece of eight gram. In similar fashion, silver ready dropped by Rs 350 to Rs 22,850 per kg, but silver weekly-based delivery gained Rs 210 to Rs 23,200 per kg.

Silver coins also traded lower by Rs 100 to Rs 26,600 for buying and Rs 26,700 for selling of 100 coins on reduced offtake by coins makers.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Marina beautification on course


Structures for nine of the 14 proposed galleries along the Marina as part of the beach beautification project have been completed.

Besides landscaping work, two of the four proposed toilet blocks have also been completed, a Chennai Corporation official told The Hindu. With nearly 40 per cent of the work done, this stretch was likely to be ready in six months, the official said. The stretch from Rajaji Salai to Napier Bridge would be ready latest by August 15, as at least 60 per cent of the work had been completed.

More toilet blocks in the proposed parking lot and other areas are coming up. Work is progressing on footpaths, a sunken court and paved platform. Three islands near the War Memorial building are also being built.

The Corporation had planned new pathways, service lanes, landscaped lawns and seating for visitors at the beach. Renovation of parking lots, lawns, footpaths and service lanes between Kamarajar Salai and the beach are part of the proposals for the three-km stretch.

Hat-trick hero


Chennai Super Kings paceman L. Balaji is congratulated by his team-mates after claiming a hat-trick, the first in IPL, to end the contest against Kings XI Punjab at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday. Balaji took five for 24 as the host won by 18 runs to register its sixth win in eight games. He was adjudged Man of the Match

Manmohan: hope nation will heed Kalam’s counsel on nuclear deal

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday expressed the hope that the country “will listen to the voices of wisdom” on the India-U.S. civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.

Asked about the remarks of the former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam favouring the nuclear deal with the U.S., Dr. Singh said: “He was intimately associated with Pokhran-II and is a distinguished scientist and former President. I hope the country and the people will listen to his advice.”

Asked if the Left would heed Mr. Kalam’s advice, Dr. Singh smilingly repeated his comment: “I hope the country and the people will listen.”

The Prime Minister was speaking to reporters after the Padma Awards presentation ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The former President, who had played a pivotal role in the 1998 Pokhran-II nuclear explosion during the National Democratic Alliance regime, said on Friday that the country should go ahead with the nuclear deal as it “does not compromise India’s sovereignty.”

Mr. Kalam said India could “any time withdraw, if any national security need arises in future.” He said since India did not have enough uranium resources, it should look to getting it from countries which had it in abundance.

Friday, May 9, 2008

'Kol, Chennai airport modernisation delay'

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel today said the commencement of modernisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports had been delayed by a couple of months, but the process of shortlisting of construction firms and related activities were on.

"There has been a delay of a couple of months in Kolkata and Chennai... But we are continuing with the parallel process of shortlisting construction and other companies. It is an overlapping process," Patel said here. Asked about CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury's appeal for Prime Ministerial intervention to check privatisation of the process through the "backdoor", he said the terminals would be "managed and maintained by the Airports Authority of India."

Class XII: pass percentage up to 84.4

The overall pass percentage of students who took the State Board Class XII (HSC) examinations this year has gone up to 84.4 per cent. An increase of 3.4 percentage points from last year’s 81 per cent, this is the highest pass percentage recorded in the State since 2003.

Declaring the results here on Friday, Director of Government Examinations Vasanthi Jeevanandam said 87.3 per cent of the girls had passed, while boys recorded a pass percentage of 81.3.

A total of 5,87,994, students appeared for the Class XII examinations this year in schools across the State.

School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu told The Hindu that he was very happy with the results. “We have had a series of subject-wise review meetings since the time quarterly examinations got over. Teachers have been focussing on students who did not perform too well in those examinations and have helped them score high.”

Azhagiri acquitted in murder case

M.K. Azhagiri, elder son of Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, and 12 others accused in the murder of former Dravida Munnetra Kazagam Minister, ‘Pasumpon’ T. Kiruttinan, were acquitted by a Chittoor court on Thursday.

Delivering the judgment in a packed court hall, Principal District and Sessions Judge P. Durga Prasad held that the charges against the 13 accused were “not proved” and declared them “not guilty.” The accused included Deputy Mayor of Madurai Corporation P.M. Mannan, and several other cadres of the ruling DMK.

Mr. Azhagiri and others were booked under various sections including 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 109 (abetment to commit an offence) of IPC. The trial court examined 82 of the 114 persons named as witnesses in the case. The police had thrown a security blanket around the court as a precautionary measure.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Chennai emerging as hub of modern art

Teeming with a young breed of high salaried professionals, once conservative Chennai is fast emerging as a hub of modern art as young artists from across the country are making a beeline to cash in on the new wave of interest in paintings.

There has been an emerging trend among the young professionals classified as High Networth Individuals (HNI) which mainly included top management staff of IT and ITES companies, to buy paintings as an investment option, industry experts said.

Lalit Kala Akademi Regional Secretary R M Palaniappan told PTI the akademi had hosted about 50 to 60 painting exhibitions of young painters in last year. The number of buyers for paintings had increased drastically and the young artists find the city a perfect platform to sell their works.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Round-the-clock traffic signals at select spots

Automatic traffic signals on select arterial roads, including Anna Salai, in the city will function round-the-clock from Tuesday.

Traffic police have decided on this measure to curb over-speeding and reduce accidents. They would be on patrol duty to ensure that motorists complied with the rules. Other important roads on which the signals would be operated at night include E.V.R. Salai, 100-feet Road and Sardar Patel Road, traffic police officers told The Hindu.

Drivers found ignoring the traffic signal would be punished as surveillance cameras fitted at these points would facilitate the police to identify the violators, officers said.

Though vehicle movement considerably reduced beyond 11 p.m. at the junctions, overspeeding is common on a relatively free road, say traffic police. Many of the accidents reported between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. were major.

According to the officers, drivers found overspeeding or driving rashly during night hours would invite severe punishment. In cases of drunken driving, the vehicles would be detained and the accused sent to government hospital for medical examination. Letting them off after a penalty or severe warning would not suffice to curb drunken driving, some traffic police officers had suggested to the top brass. In the wake of Kamarajar Salai witnessing traffic snarls, in the evenings over the past few weeks, the police have decided to restrict vehicles on the stretch along the Marina during weekends.

Aircel to invest $4bn in upgradation

Mobile Service Provider Aircel, which is 74 per cent owned by Malaysia's Maxis Communications, is aiming to invest an amount of $4-5 billion in beefing up the existing network and also in rolling out its service in mobile operations in the remaining circles by 2010.

Aircel invested close to $500 million in 2007 and aimed to double it by 2009. Aircel launched its GSM services in Kolkata, its tenth circle, on Monday.The Kolkata launch completed Aircel's eastern region footprint.

Aircel will have a 200-seater customer care centre providing service in Kolkata and Durgapur to back up 1,200 retail outlets in Kolkata. Aircel had 7,000 towers now and aims to acquire 15,000 more towers either by merger or acquisitions at a cost of $1.6million.

Aircel aimed to roll out Wimax in Kolkata for corporate clients and also launch BlackBerry services within two to three months.