Saravanan's Blog

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 29, 2011: Sources: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/high-commission-denies-negligence/298908.html http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/details-of-missing-tn-men-collected/298909.html CHENNAI:  Countering the raging allegations that it never took up the Indian migrant labourers’ ordeal with the Malaysian Government properly, the Indian High Commission in Malaysia has said that it was equally concerned about the welfare of all Indian nationals in the country like any other organisation, and were providing all the needed assistance to Indian citizens, including Indian workers, in distress there. Reacting to the allegation by NGOs working for rights of migrant workers, an official of the High Commission, in an e-mail statement, said they have a Consular Wing and a separate Labour Wing, which assists Indian nationals, including workers, through various means, including handling of labour disputes and providing consular servi...

By G Saravanan Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 29, 2011: Source: http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/beacon-of-hope-for-tn-labourers-in-malaysia/298907.html CHENNAI: For thousands of migrants from Tamil Nadu now working in different places in Malaysia or held at detention camps for visa-related issues, social worker T Kamalanathan is nothing less than a messiah on foreign soil . With his consistent efforts, both Chinnasamy and Gibir Ali, who were held at one of the detention camps in Malaysia for expired visas, returned to India on Thursday. Since 2007, Kamalanathan had rescued more than 1,500 such workers from Tamil Nadu, who were lured with handsome jobs by their agents in Malaysia and finally landed in government-run detention camps for not possessing proper visa or permits for working in the country. An expected help to affected migrants in the alien nation, which was started in a small way in 2007 by the Serdang-born Kamalanathan, finally developed into...

Pic by J Manoharan/EXP By G Saravanan Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 29, 2011: Source: http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/tales-of-malnutrition-deaths-in-malaysian-camps/298877.html CHENNAI: Reports from the Malaysian government-run detention camps for migrant labourers have indicated that 15 Indians, including seven labourers from Tamil Nadu, have died of malnutrition in the last three months. According to a Chinnasamy, who returned to India recently, seven labourers from Nagapattinam, Pudukottai, Virudhunagar, Chennai and Cuddalore districts died of malnutrition and inhuman conditions in the camps. Chinnasamy, who was detained in such a camp for over a year for his expired visa, said, “ In  Lenggeng, Tanah Merah and KLIA camps , where I was detained on rotational basis, I saw the death of 15 Indians in the past three months, due to malnutrition, since food and clean drinking water for the detainees are heavily rationed. Malaysian authorities used ...

By G Saravanan Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 26, 2011: Source: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/rti-act-stamp-aavin-bows-to-pressure/298094.html CHENNAI: After stamping ‘RTI Act purposes only’ on more than 500 replies under the Right to Information Act over the years, the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers’ Federation Ltd (Aavin) has finally bowed to the pressure exerted by a rights activist and ‘decided’ not do it anymore on any replies sent in future. The change in Aavin’s attitude while sending RTI replies c ame after a relentless fight with the organisation by R Natarajan, city-based RTI activist and a research scholar, who strongly objected to the stamping. About 15 months ago, Natarajan had sought information from Aavin on customer data and milk distribution in the city. When he received the information, he was perplexed to see stamping on every page saying ‘For Right to Information Act purpose only’. While going for further appeal on the Aavin...

By G Saravanan Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 24, 2011: Source: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/health-officials-stub-out-4-hookah-lounges/297250.html CHENNAI: The City Health Department of the Chennai Corporation recently ordered the closure of four hookah lounges that functioned illegally in posh Nungambakkam and brought an estimated 20 more such illegal lounges under its scanner after reports of rampant use of drugs there. According to civic body sources, the decision to close the joints was taken on two counts -one, flouting the government ban on smoking in public places; and two, they had license only to run a restaurant, food court or coffee joints . Food inspectors of the City Health Department have also collected samples of substances used at those four hookah lounges for detailed lab analysis. “We deem the 25-odd hookah lounges in the city limit as illegal as the civic body never issued licenses for them per se . The licenses they obtained were me...

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 23, 2011: Source: http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/vasan-reviews-performance-of-chennai-and-ennore/296935.html CHENNAI: Taking stock of the financial and operational capabilities of the homestate ports personally, Union Shipping Minister G K Vasan on Friday held meetings with top officials of the Chennai and Ennore ports. He reviewed the performance of the Chennai Port with its chairman Atulya Misra at the port premises in the morning and in the evening, chaired a similar review meeting on Ennore Port premises where S Velumani, chairmancummanaging director of the port, explained him the status of the different projects there. During the meetings, the Minister fixed specific deadlines for all development projects and directed officials to adhere to the deadlines for achieving sustained growth . Official sources said that the strategy to improve the traffic and trade through Chennai Port in the context of the possible shift...

By G Saravanan Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 23, 2011: Source: http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/minister-sails-away-from-planned-road-roko/296921.html CHENNAI: Slow progress of work on the Chennai-Ennore Port road connectivity project coupled with continuing congestion of container trailers on North Chennai roads forced Union Shipping Minister G K Vasan to go off the roads on Friday on his way to the Port and instead take a sea route. Though Chennai Port Trust officials claimed that the Minister’s visit had been planned from the start via sea, informed sources told Express that the port management altered his original road-travel plan at the last minute, on recei­ving information that a group of con­tai­ner trailer drivers were likely to stage a road-roko on the Ennore Expressway. Sources in the export-import business said that despite the Minister’s repea­ted assurances that more gates would be opened to the Port in order to ease the wait for trailer...

P ublishied in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 22, 2011: As the Madhavaram-Mathur Lake has fully dried up now, some Mathur residents are forced to draw contaminated drinking water from their borewells due to sewage let out by the municipality, Ramesh, a resident said. "The clandestine act by the municipality has increased the health concerns among the thousands of families who have primarily selected the area for its best drinking water quality , " B Thirugnanam, president of TNHB Colony Residents Consumer Protection Awareness Welfare Association told Express.  When contacted, S Ramamoorthy, Commissioner of Madhavaram Municipality, denied the municipality was letting out sewage into the lake . We will inquire about it and visit the spot from where the sewage has been discharged towards the lake, Ramamoorthy said and added that it is not a deliberate act by the civic body to pollute the water body and someone might have routed it that way as the surrounding areas...

By G Saravanan Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 22, 2011: Source: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/chennai-legislators-to-be-briefed-on-expansion/296579.html CHENNAI: Chennai Corporation officials will hold a meeting with legislators representing areas in the city to discuss city expansion plans. Corporation Commissioner D Karthikeyan on Wednesday held talks with representatives of 42 local bodies that would be annexed during the expansion.Officials collected specific inputs on garbage collection and disposal, and the financial position in the 42 local bodies, sources told Express.  The sources said, a detailed report would be sumbitted to the state government . Besides the 16 MLAs, elected from the existing Chennai Corporation limits, another seven MLAs from areas to be annexed: Alandur, Shozhinganallur, Maduravoyal, Ambattur, Madhavaram, Thiruvottiyur and Ponneri, would take part in the briefing. The plan calls for a village panchayat namely Idayanchav...

By G Saravanan Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 22, 2011: Source: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/sewage-released-on-the-sly-into-madhavaram-water/296589.html Pics by P Anand Kumar CHENNAI: Severe health problems due to ground water contamination are threatening about 70,000 families residing at Mathur, Manali and Madhavaram localities in the city's northwestern suburbs. The M adhavaram Municipality has been clandestinely letting out its untreated sewage into a lake that is the only groundwater source for these areas. According to residents from Mathur Village Panchayat in Puzhal Union, the municipality has disregarded their repeated requests to reroute its sewage to the Chennai Metrowatermaintained treatment plant at Kodungaiyur and save the groundwater source meant for thousands of families in the locality.   The  134 acre Madhavaram-Mathur Lake, which remained full perennially and is a source of groundwater for families in the locality, has drie...

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 21, 2011: Pics courtesy: P Anand Kumar Source: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/children%E2%80%99s-playground-turns-into-a-dump-yard/296150.html CHENNAI: The 2.5-acre-plot, which was planned under the area layout as a children park and playfield by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) while promoting residential plots at MMDA-Mathur in the 1990s, has now become an open dumping ground for the local body. Despite numerous pleas to K Elumalai (DMK), the Mathur Village Panchayat president, and even to the Tiruvallur District Collector for the past several years, no solution is in sight yet, angry residents told City Express. Sandwiched between Madhavaram Municipality and Manali Municipality, Mathur Village Panchayat is one of the largest village panchayats in terms of its voters. The village panchayat alone has about 15,000 voters and more than 35,000 people live there . In 1992, when the TNHB sold hundreds of plots within the...

By G Saravanan Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on July 20, 2011: Source: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/chennai-on-top-of-india%E2%80%99s-density-index/295917.html CHENNAI: The provisional population totals released by the Directorate of Census Operations-Tamil Nadu on Tuesday revealed that the Chennai (district) has now become the second district in the country in terms of population density. The North East district in the National Capital Territory of Delhi is the most densely populated district in the country, with a whopping 37,346 people per sq km in 2011 , compared to  29,468 people per sq km in 2001. According to the official statistics released by S Gopalakrishnan, Director of Census Operations in the State, the population density in Chennai has increased from 24,963 per sq km in 2001 to 26,903 people 2011. In other words, about 1,940 people have been added to the city’s per sq km area in the past 10 years. This growth in density puts to rest the popula...

IMPORTANT PARTS OF THE JUDGEMENT BY MADRAS HIGH COURT ON SAMACHEER KALVI CASE ON JULY 18, 2011: VISIT THE MHC SITE FOR FULL JUDGEMENT:  http://judis.nic.in/judis_chennai/qrydisp.aspx?filename=32985 DOWN BELOW IS THE REPRODUCTION : As noticed by us in the preceding paragraphs, t here would be a great impact on the student community if the Amending Act is to be implemented.   It would unsettle settled issues, causing chaos and confusion in the young minds, which we cannot permit.   Much has been said about the syllabus and text books of Matriculation schools.   At this stage, we may point out that one of the Committee Members nominated by the Government, after the direction was issued by the Supreme Court, in her comments on the Uniform System of Education, the syllabus and text books, has stated that Samacheer Kalvi is a laudable object and a necessity and the present Matriculation and Anglo-Indian Streams are not perfect systems and do not conform to the principles ...

Source: http://www.dinamalar.com/News_Detail.asp?Id=277664 சென்னை: தமிழகத்தில் சமச்சீர் கல்வி தொடர்பாக சென்னை ஐகோர்ட் பரபரப்பு தீர்ப்பை வெளியிட்டுள்ளது. நடப்பாண்டில் அனைத்து வகுப்புகளிலும் சமச்சீர் கல்வியை தொடர வேண்டும் என்றும் வரும் 22 ம் தேதிக்குள் சமச்சீர் கல்வி தொடர்பான புத்தங்கள் வழங்கிட வேண்டும் என்றும் ஐகோர்ட் பரபரப்பு தீர்ப்பளித்துள்ளது. ஆட்சி மாற்றம்- கல்வி முறையில் மாற்றம்:  கடந்த தி.மு.க., ஆட்சி காலத்தில் தமிழகத்தில் மெட்ரிக்., அல்லாத எல்லோருக்கும் சமமான கல்வி வழங்கும் நோக்கத்தில் சமச்சீர் கல்வி என்ற புதிய திட்டத்தை துவங்கியது. இதன்படி கடந்த கல்வி ஆண்டில் 1ம் வகுப்பு, மற்றும் 6ம் வகுப்பில் இருந்து கொண்டு வரப்பட்டு திட்டம் துவக்கப்பட்டது. இந்த ஆண்டு ஏனைய வகுப்புகளுக்கு இந்த திட்டம் கொண்டு வரப்படவிருந்தது. இந்நிலையில் அ.தி.மு.க, ஆட்சி மாற்றத்திற்கு பின்னர் சமச்சீர் கல்வியை ரத்து செய்வதாக தமிழக அரசு அறிவித்தது. எந்த பாடத்தை கற்பிப்பது, புத்தகம் அச்சிடுதல் உள்ளிட்ட காரணத்தினால் கடந்த ஜூன் 1 ம் தேதி திறக்கப்பட வேண்டிய பள்ளிகள் 15 ம் தேதி வரை தள்ளிப்போனது. பள்ளிகள் திறந்தாலும்...

""தொழிலதிபர்களான "இந்தியா சிமென்ட்ஸ்' சீனிவாசன், சன் குழுமத் தலைவர் கலாநிதி மாறன், விஜய் மல்லைய்யா போன்றவர்களுக்கு நமது அதிகாரிகள் குழைந்தும் நெளிந்தும் விமானத்திலிருந்து இறங்கியதுமே எல்லா சேவகங்களையும் செய்து, சிறப்பு வாகனத்தில் ஆறாவது வாயில் வரை சென்று வழியனுப்புவார்கள். ஆனால், தமிழகம் முழுவதும் லட்சக்கணக்கான ரசிகர்களை கொண்டிருக்கும் ரஜினிகாந்த் "இமிக்ரேஷன்' சோதனைக்கு நடத்திச் செல்லப்பட்டார். அவர் மூச்சிரைக்க நடந்து வந்ததைப் பார்க்கவே சங்கடமாக இருந்தது''  காவல்துறை கான்ஸ்டபிள் Published in Dinamani, on July 15, 2011: சென்னை, ஜூலை 14: சிங்கப்பூர் மவுண்ட் எலிசபெத் மருத்துவமனையில் சிறுநீரகப் பாதிப்புக்குச் சிகிச்சை பெற்று, பூரண குணமடைந்து சென்னைக்குத் திரும்பிய நடிகர் ரஜினிகாந்த்துக்கு, விமான நிலையத்தில் அதிகாரிகளால் தரப்பட்ட அவமானகரமான மரியாதை பலரையும் வேதனைப்படுத்தி இருக்கிறது. PIC Courtesy: http://www.pravasitoday.com/rajinikanth-leaves-for-singapore புதன்கிழமை இரவு ரஜினிகாந்த் சென்னை திரும்புவதாக "தினமணி' உள்ளிட்ட எல்லா ஊடகங்...