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Monday, June 23, 2008

SPEL Semiconductor drops plans for SEZ project

Chennia-based SPEL Semiconductor Ltd has dropped plans for setting up Special Economic Zone (SEZs) due to its inability to execute such projects.

It has decided to approach the Government of India with representation to withdrawcancel approval granted to SEZ project, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

The board of IC assembly and test company took decision on June 20, 2008 to approach the government with request to cancel the approval.


The company did not elaborate on reasons for dropping plans for the project.

SPEL Semiconductor had received nod in June 2007 to set up SEZ Chennai to develop facilities for IT hardware manufacturing.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

I will mediate between Left and Congress: Karunanidhi

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi will mediate between the Congress and the Left parties in an effort to resolve their differences over the India-U.S. nuclear deal.

“We have a duty to resolve the differences between the Congress and the Left parties in the interest of the nation,” he said at a function here on Saturday to mark the diamond jubilee of the Indian Union Muslim League.

Mr. Karunanidhi, who is meeting Left leaders in Chennai on Sunday, said he would go to New Delhi soon to find an amicable solution, and expressed the hope that his mission would “help save India.”

Appealing to all secular parties not to allow communal forces to gain the upper hand, he said if such forces came to power, issues such as construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya would crop up again, and the country would not be able to remain peaceful.

Guideline Value Puthakarm 2008

Friday, June 20, 2008

Alliance issue closed: Karunanidhi

Ruling out any rapprochement with the Pattali Makkal Katchi, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Friday termed the alliance issue a “closed chapter.”

Talking to reporters at his Gopalapuram residence after inducting Tindivanam Municipality Chairman A. Boopalan, who was elected on a PMK ticket, into the DMK, Mr. Karunanidhi rejected the criticism that his party had unilaterally decided to snap ties with the PMK.

“The decision was taken within the party (DMK),” he said, adding that there was no proposal from Dr Ramadoss to consult others before nominating his son to the Rajya Sabha and later making him a Union Minister.

Asked about the resolution adopted in the general council meeting of the PMK, rejecting action against Kaduvetti Guru and giving a point-by- point reply to the DMK’s charges against the PMK, the Chief Minister said,

“It has proved what he had spoken.”

He said the speech could not be simply brushed aside just because it was made some months ago.

Asked whether any case would be filed against Mr. Guru, he said the issue had to be dealt with according to the law.

On the efforts made by Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi president Thol Thirumavalavan to bring the DMK and the PMK together, the Chief Minister said that he also met him.

“But I told him that there was not even an attempt to express regret for Mr. Guru’s words.”

Asked whether he was open to rapprochement if the PMK came forward to express regret, the Chief Minister said the resolution of the general council did not make any such attempt. The alliance issue was a closed chapter, he said to persistent queries from reporters. Mr. Boopalan, who was with the DMK before defecting to the PMK, said he was returning to the DMK because he was not able to do any work in his municipality. He refused to go into the bickering between the DMK and the PMK.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

STAR WARS in Tamil Nadu Electoral ambitions of Tamil superstars pop us, as fans 'pray' for a political base.

A small temple in Tamil Nadu's Rajapalayam town saw an unusual crowd last week - a gathering of Rajnikanth-fans who prayed fervently for their icon to make the decision to enter politics.

The members of the Rajnikanth Fans Association also sacrificed 10 goats at the Pechiamman temple in Rajapalayam, about 100 km from Madurai, to appease the deity, hoping that their wish would be fulfilled.

After the huge success of ‘Sivaji: The Boss’, Rajnikanth is now busy with his next film ‘Kuselan’, whose rights have reportedly been sold to Pyramid Saimira for Rs.640 million. With Rajni still engrossed in films, only divine intervention could draw him into politics, his fans felt.

"We pray that our superstar should enter active politics," said Yogasekaran, the leader of the fans association.

He pointed out that other film heroes like Vijayakanth and Sarath Kumar had their own parties. Even actor Karthik had left the All India Forward Bloc and set up his own political party.

Fans of Rajni fear that others will hog the political space for actors in the ruling DMK, especially after the exit of Sarath Kumar.

Chennai is rife with rumours that Karunanidhi, after having dropped the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) from the DMK-led alliance, is ready to welcome Vijayakanth's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kahzagam (DMDK) into the fold.

Last week, Vijayakanth, popularly known as Captain, told the media in his constituency Vriddhachalam that the DMDK will "only align with parties that give a written undertaking to strive for the people's welfare" for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

On Sunday, he said: "I have no plans to team up with any party, I am confident of my alliance with the people. No one can stop me from becoming the chief minister.

"Reject both these parties (the DMK and the AIADMK) and give new thinking a chance... Take their money (DMK's and AIADMK's), because it is really yours and vote for the DMDK," the Captain said.

He stressed that common people were reeling under the burden of "price rise and Special Economic Zones" and demanded "a ban on online trading of food grains" - similar to what one-time actress and AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa has been saying for the past several weeks.

Her focus of criticism, however, was not arch rival DMK, but Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and the United Progressive Alliance's policies to ensure that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) keeps her AIADMK in its radar for the 2009 polls as a staunch detractor of the UPA.

Jayalalithaa has, in several recent attacks on Vijayakanth, said she and her party "were the true inheritors of MGR (AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran)", dismissing all talk of any friendship with Vijayakanth, known as 'Karuppu MGR' or black MGR.

This has lent credibility to the rumours of the DMDK allying with the DMK rather than with the AIADMK, which is more likely to extend its hands to the tried and tested PMK.

But where is superstar Kamal Haasan in all this star talk?

Kamal perhaps wants his much-hyped Friday released ‘Dasavatharam’ to speak for his politics. The opening and ending shots of the film had DMK patriarch Karunanidhi and the film began with the debate on whether there is god - the Dravidian rationalist's constant argument.

It ends with the argument that if there is god, should he let this happen - Shots of a great tsunami devastating Tamil Nadu's coast, drowning a statue of poet-saint Thiruvalluvar, and one of Kamal's avatars Vincent Poovaragan, a Dalit leader.

The film was also replete with shots of Jayalalithaaq reviewing relief work in a helicopter and gave credence to crank theories about the 2004 tsunami, thrown in with a liberal dose of anti-Americanism - perhaps aimed at pleasing the Indian Left. The film, therefore, gave his audience ideas that Kamal Haasan too was preparing for a political debut with a very unscientific potboiler.

All-India Samathuva Makkal Katchi president Sarath Kumar has, meanwhile, made his anti-DMK stand stronger by calling for the "resignation" of Chief Minister Karunanidhi, who must "own responsibility for his failure to check prices of essential commodities".

The actor-politician even went on to ask, "Will reinstalling the Kannagi statue and securing classical, divine-language status to Tamil help control the rates of essential commodities?"

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

DMK snaps ties with PMK

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam announced on Tuesday that it was snapping its ties with the Pattali Makkal Katchi since the DMK “could not accept that … relations had to be continued with a party that denigrated” it.

A nine-page resolution, adopted at the end of over hour-long deliberations of the party’s High Level Policy Implementation Committee here, said that after a PMK leader spoke in a cheap and derogatory manner that sought to take away the DMK’s self-respect — he was not even apologetic, nor did the PMK leadership take action against him — and since it could not be accepted that the alliance had to be continued with such persons, “the committee regrets to announce that a situation had emerged where the [Democratic Progressive] alliance could not go forward along with such people [the PMK].”

The speech in question was made by J. Guru, former MLA, who spoke at a PMK meeting in a derogatory manner about the DMK leadership. He said that if any PMK functionary was arrested, Union Minister A. Raja and MLA Sivasankar would not be alive. The PMK contends that the speech was an “old issue” that “has been sorted out.” Asked about this, Mr. Karunanidhi shot back: “Will you condone a murder just because it was committed some time ago?”

Mr. Karunanidhi said he had read about the speech in the media but had not taken it seriously.

Chrysler in talks with TN for car plant

The US car maker will send a team to the state for feasibility study.

American car maker Chrysler is in talks with the Tamil Nadu government to set up a greenfield facility in the state. The company has agreed to send a team to Tamil Nadu to study the feasibility of the project in the state.

While the discussion with the Tamil Nadu government is at very early stage, a senior official in the government said that Chrysler was looking at expanding its operations in Asia and India is one market the car maker is keen to enter.The amount of investment could not be ascertained.

VROOMING FAST

# Chrysler is looking at expanding its operations in Asia and India is one market the car maker is keen to enter.
# Earlier, a team of senior officials from various state departments toured the US to woo investments.
# Members of the TN team met Chrysler executives to brief them on the advantages of setting up their first plant in the state.

Friday, June 13, 2008

TCS creates record at VIT

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest IT company, has selected a whopping total of 1,075 students of VIT University after a very rigorous screening in the first slot for the 2009 June passing out batch. The interviews were conducted at VIT from June 2 to June 4.

TCS has thus created a world record by selecting the largest number of students from a single campus by any company anywhere in the world. In June 2007, TCS had selected 789 students from VIT and set a record at that time.

For this year 1,696 VIT students had appeared for the TCS online test and 1416 qualified, which is the highest percentage of pass for TCS from any campus across the country as on date. Students from BTech (EEE, E&I, Civil, Chemical and Mechanical) fared equally well along with those from IT branches. TCS also recruited 128 MS (Software Engineering) students out of the 166 students in the PG stream.

Well known IT giants like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Oracle etc., had visited VIT for placements in the last academic year and are expected later this year. VIT has topped the campus placements in the last 5 years throughout the country in the private sector.

VIT Chancellor, G Viswanathan announced the final selection list at Anna Auditorium, VIT University on June 4 amidst thunderous applause from the students. He thanked TCS CEO, Ramadorai and the TCS selection team headed by Antony Dinesh for their faith in the quality of VIT students.

Tamilnadu New Assembly complex by 2010


Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the new Legislative Assembly complex and Secretariat at the Omandurar Government Estate here.

The Assembly complex, spread over 1.2 lakh square metres in two blocks, will have a mix of both traditional and modern features. The Assembly division will have seating for 300 MLAs.

The 2010-2011 State budget will be presented in the new Legislative Assembly, said Public Works Department Minister Durai Murugan.

Chief Justice of the Madras High Court A.K. Ganguly, speaking on the decision to attend the function, said the normal practice was for “judiciary and its members” to stay away from the other arms of the State — executive and legislature. “That is the conventional view. I think judiciary is a part of the State. That is also the Constitutional dispensation. Being part of the State, Judges and judiciary are not out of place in this evening’s function.”

Mr. Karunanidhi, who took permission from the Chief Justice to speak remaining seated, explained that the complex was not coming up at the cost of other schemes. He recalled many of the schemes being implemented, to stress that the government was serious about all development schemes. It needed a new place for legislators to debate on the schemes. He called upon the PWD Minister and the department not be swayed by hostile opinion and wanted them to complete the project at the earliest.

Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan said the movement from inside Fort to the government estate was symbolic as it represented one more step closer to the people.

Plea against ‘Dasavatharam’ rejected

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to interfere with a Madras High Court judgment allowing the screening of Tamil film ‘Dasavatharam,’ starring Kamal Haasan, thereby paving the way for its release on Friday.

A vacation Bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice P.P. Naolekar dismissed a special leave petition filed by Swami Govinda Ramanuja Dasa, president of the International Sri Vaishnava Dharma Samrakshanaa Society, challenging the High Court judgment. The Bench heard the Swami, and counsel K.K. Mani and K. Ravi, appearing for film director K.S. Ravikumar and producer V. Ravichandran of Oscar Films. Counsel denied ‘Dasavatharam’ “sarcastically ridicules or denigrates the religious sentiments of Hindus.”

It said: “The petition is premature as the petitioner himself has admitted that he has not seen the full movie. Further, affidavits have been filed in the High Court by the respondents, including the director, producer and the Censor Board, that there are no objectionable scenes in the movie. However, after seeing the movie, if there are objectionable scenes, it is open to the petitioner to take appropriate action…”

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Guideline Value Ayapakkam JUNE 2008

Guideline Value Ayanavaram JUNE 2008

Guideline value Thirumullaivoyal 2008 JUNE

Prices of automotive lubricants hiked

The three national oil marketing companies have increased the prices of automotive lubricants such as two-stroke engine oils, adding to the burden of motorists.

The prices of lubricants across the grades marketed by Indian Oil Corporation have gone up by about Rs. 18 a litre since April, including an increase of Rs. 12 from Tuesday, company sources said. The prices were untouched for around 18 months prior to the increase in April.

The reasons for the increase include an increase in the cost of base oil, a key raw material and additives.

‘Paruthiveeran’ hogs the limelight Awards for Priya Mani and Vasanthabalan



Priya Mani can’t seem to hide her excitement. The news of her winning the National Award for best female lead came when she was enjoying a break at her Bangalore residence.

“I can’t believe this. To get this prestigious award at such an early stage in one’s career is like a dream. I am really excited,” the actor told The Hindu over telephone.

The award, she says, goes to the entire ‘Paruthiveeran’ team. “I also dedicate it to my gurus Bharathiraja sir and Balumahendra sir,” said the actor, who currently has her hands full with films in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu.
Understandably, it’s a double treat for Paruthiveeran’s director Ameer. “I am really happy for both of them. I’m sure Priya Mani will choose to play weighty characters after this,” he said, adding, “I had an amazing team. It would have been wonderful if Karthi and Yuvan had also got an award.”

Director Vasanthabalan, whose ‘Veyil’ was adjudged the best feature film in Tamil, sees this award as an acknowledgement for his 15 years’ struggle. “I did not make the film keeping this award in mind. It was an earnest attempt to say something from the heart. What the audience saw was my story…my poetry…my experiences…my tears and my joy,” he said.

For ‘Veyil,’ which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and also made it to the contest at the Shanghai festival, this is yet another honour.

Vasanthabalan feels it was the liberty given by director Shankar, producer of the film, that made this possible.

“This award has brought a lot of meaning and colour to my life. I dedicate it to my team that gave its best for this film,” he said.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Central station telegraph office faces closure threat

The future of the telegraph office at Chennai Central railway station lies in the balance, following a spat between BSNL Chennai Telephones and the Railways over rental.

The difference of opinion also extends to whether the telegraph office is functioning as a public utility or as a commercial outlet.

The Railways is demanding rent at commercial rates for roughly 650 sqft while Chennai Telephones argues for a concessional rent as the telegraph and public call office was a convenience for the travelling public.

BSNL sources said the department could ill afford the commercial rates proposed by Railways and had no option but to close down the facility.

The BSNL, which approached Railways some time ago with a proposal to construct an additional storey as part of establishing a full-fledged Customer Service Centre (CSC) was told to pay monthly rent at the rate of Rs. 58 per sq ft for the 650-sq ft space and also to cough up nearly Rs. 30 lakh as arrears (calculated from the year 2000 when BSNL became a public sector undertaking).

Birth, death certificates to be issued online

When Primary Health Centres go in for e-administration, there certainly are advantages for the common man. If the well-laid out plans of the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) fructify, birth and death certificates will soon be available online.

Seeking to seamlessly integrate the civil registration functions into its primary health unit, the DPH hopes to facilitate the evolution of the PHC as a one-stop shop for villagers. With the online registration system, certificates can be downloaded via the Internet and printed at one’s convenience from any computer.

However, this will be preceded by a more basic service through which birth certificates will be delivered by the staff (who will liaise with revenue officials) to mothers before they leave the PHC. In effect, this move will provide villagers the same benefits that people in the cities and towns are already enjoying. Parents of children born in government hospitals in cities and towns are now spared the trouble of going through the process of getting a birth certificate. Hospital staff themselves are required to procure the documents with attestation from revenue officials and hand them over to the parents before the mothers are discharged.

When this was implemented on a trial basis in PHCs in Kanyakumari district, birth certificates were provided in three days, according to Director of Public Health S. Elango.

In a unique experiment, Health Inspectors of PHCs were designated birth and death registrars, who will issue certificates.

“For deliveries in Corporation or other Government Hospitals in the Chennai city limits, we have ensured that the birth certificates are handed over within 24 hours or if there is a delay, the document is delivered at home,” Rajesh Lakhoni, Corporation Commissioner, said.

The civil registration system will go online first in the city. Once active, hospitals will provide inputs about the birth to the Corporation’s birth registrar, who will validate the facts and put the information online in the set format, attested with a digital signature. “People can download this from any computer and print it out,” Mr. Lakhoni said.

Dr. Elango said the former Director of Public health P. Padmanabhan had held discussions with the Revenue Administration department to tie up with village-level revenue and panchayat officials to facilitate easy birth and death registration at PHCs.

Software developed by the National Informatics Centre will enable downloading of forms and certificates online with digital attestations. A print out could be taken at the PHC and handed over to the mothers or relatives.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Varsity finalises college locations

Anna University–Tiruchi (AU-T) has finalised temporary locations from where its four constituent colleges would start functioning from the ensuing academic year. In Nagapattinam district, the constituent college will function from Anjugam Muthuvelar Government Higher Secondary School at Thirukkuvalai.

Likewise, in Ariyalur district, the constituent college will become operational from the premises of the Ariyalur Government Arts and Science College.

In Ramanathapuram district and Panrutti in Cuddalore district, the university has identified private locations with huge buildings. The university intends to establish re-locatable sheds.“The task of appointing faculty and creating permanent infrastructure for the four constituent units has already been initiated,” said Vice-Chancellor V. Ramachandran.

A uniform architectural plan has been drawn up for all the four constituent colleges. For each college, a huge 1.25 lakh square feet building has been envisaged. The permanent infrastructural facilities are expected to get ready in a year’s time, he said, exuding confidence that the constituent units would receive the desired patronage at the time of counselling.

State cuts tax on diesel by 2 per cent

Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Thursday announced a 2 per cent reduction in tax on diesel in the State to counter the hike in prices of petroleum products announced by the Centre.

This will lead to revenue loss of Rs.260 crore a year. In addition, State Transport Corporations stand to add Rs. 210 crore to the losses as there is no move to raise bus fares.

Recalling the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, wherein he had said that States levying high tax rates should enforce cuts and absorb the petroleum price hike, Mr. Karunanidhi said when the Centre hiked fuel prices in 2006, Tamil Nadu was the first to cut sales tax, bringing it down from 25 per cent to 23.43 per cent.

Subsequently, the Centre lowered prices of petrol and diesel, but the State government did not restore the tax to the earlier, higher rate. Because of this, the government was losing Rs.200 crore each year.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Dayanidhi, Kalanithi fail to meet Karunanidhi

There was high drama at the CIT Colony residence of Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, when his estranged nephews Dayanidhi Maran and Kalanithi Maran tried to meet him on Tuesday afternoon, but were not given access.

While the immediate family maintained that they had nothing to do with the inability of the Marans to greet Mr. Karunanidhi on his birthday, sources said it was the Chief Minister’s elder son, M.K. Azhagiri, who insisted that there be no such meeting.

Right from the morning, there were people close to Mr. Azhagiri at the Gopalapuram residence waiting to see if the Marans would show up. They did not. Later, the sources said, the Chief Minister’s daughter, Selvi, advised the brothers to go to the CIT colony residence.

The first meeting after the estrangement — between Mr.Kalanithi and the Chief Minister — also took place at the CIT colony residence, though the household itself is not supportive of the Marans. “It is easy to barge into the CIT colony house because unlike the Gopalapuram House [which is the residence of the mother of Mr.Azhagiri], there is no one to stop a family insider,” one source said.