The second annual conference of the Society for Heart Failure and Transplantation (SHFT), an association of cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons and cardiac anaesthesiologists, begins here on Saturday. Governor P. Sathasivam will inaugurate the conference organised by the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology. Some 300 experts in the field of heart failure will take part.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Special Correspondent / Thiruvananthapuram – October 18th, 2014
The Department of Ports is gearing up to make Vizhinjam a bunkering port to tap the potential of the business in view of proximity to the international sea routes and the East-West Shipping Axis.
The procedures to extend bunkering services from the existing wharf at Vizhinjam had started, Director of Ports P.I. Sheik Pareeth told The Hindu here.
The services of multiple agencies were needed and the modalities were being worked out with the stakeholders. The department was trying to exploit the strategic and unbeatable inherent advantages of the location, he said.
The port was just 10-12 nautical miles away from the busy Persian Gulf- Malacca shipping lines which carried almost a third of the world’s maritime traffic. Piracy issues had prompted vessels on the Red Sea – far east route to take a relatively northerly route and steam closer to west India. This would turn advantageous to Vizhinjam and Kochi, sources said.
The aim was to make available from the port food, water, and other things needed for the vessels that moved along the outer channel.
Besides generating revenue, bunkering business would bring in a sea change to the harbour and generate employment in the supply and logistics industry.
More maritime services could be generated in the port area. A supply hub could be developed and the increased utilisation of hotels and flights was possible, Mr. Pareeth said.
The preference shown by shipping lines towards Kochi and the government’s steps to promote it prompted the department to think of Vizhinjam as a bunkering port.
The service delivery would be as per Customs procedures governing the supply of fuel, ship stores, provisions, and fresh water to vessels on foreign run, round-the-clock, he said.
The government had reduced value-added tax (VAT) on bunkers being sold to foreign-going vessels. This had given a boost to bunker sales. Kochi and Colombo were the nearest bunkering ports. The annual bunkering market in India was estimated to be over 12 lakh tonnes, sources said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News. Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by S. Anil Radhakrishnan / Thiruvananthapuram – October 16th, 2014
A worker at the loom in Tasara Kozhikode. Photo: K. Ragesh / The Hindu
Twenty five years on, Tasara continues to bring imagination, aesthetics and exclusivity to weaving
There are no signboards in sight. Tasara, Centre for Creative Weaving, is lost in the small streets of Naduvattom near Beypore, and the lack of signage is deliberate. V. Vasudevan, its chief architect, only wants the curious and the committed to reach. Yet, in the past 25 years, a steady trickle of enthusiasts has landed here from across the world to learn and take back an aging craft woven with new colours.
At Tasara Kozhikode. Photo: K. Ragesh / The Hindu
The first international workshop at Tasara happened in 1989. Tell Vasudevan that makes this their 25th year surviving on creative weaving, he is blasé. Milestones do not matter. Tasara is a philosophy of life for him and family. And they are believers in quiet work. On November 1 begins a month-long residential workshop, a bi-annual feature on the centre’s calendar. “We have eight candidates coming from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and Costa Rica. Every time there would be couple of them who are brilliant. The person from Costa Rica is a textile teacher,” says Vasudevan.
The double-decker residential complex — a large house — is readying for the workshop. Vasudevan, his brother and artist Balakrishnan – the man behind the engaging tapestries, sister Santha and a few more family and a handful of non-family members make up Tasara. The aim is a community where everyone pitches in for everything. Panchali who is scrubbing floors could be found at the loom moments later. Inside, Vasudevan shows his latest piece of work. A running spread of silvery grey coarse material is taking birth on the loom. “Carpet?” I ask. “No, sofa furnishing,” he says. Weaving with wild silk sourced from Chhattisgarh is tough, says the weaver. But it is for a customised order from Scotland, he adds.
A tapestry at Tasara Kozhikode. Photo: K. Ragesh / The Hindu
Tasara’s biggest tapestry at 13 metres height and two-and-a-half metre width was done for The Paul Hotel, Bangalore. “It took seven of us four months to weave. But that is the only one we did for hotels .”
A slow game
At the hallway at Tasara are piles of hand-woven material. There are large tapestries , stacks of wild silk stoles, woven table mats, elaborate floor mats, yoga mats, hand-woven shirts and bed spreads — all from the loom. The space embraces art and mundane together. “Once in a while someone comes to buy. But it will all be sold slowly,” says Vasudevan.
‘Small’ is a big word here. Growing in terms of quantity is not the focus. “It is about doing things with dignity. Everything you do is part of your personality,” he says.
Remaining small and exclusive has let Tasara live. Their creations have been exhibited in Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Germany and the United States. “I can say that there not many countries in the world that does not have a small thing of ours,” says Vasudevan.
Handloom can survive not by mass production, but by scaling down. This was a lesson Vasudevan learnt quickly. He began like many others in the 1970s of Kozhikode with Spider Weavers when weaving went bullish. “There was an enormous market for cotton crepe in the U.S. and U.K. and production was not matching up to the demand. The weaving hub was Kannur, but it spilled over to Kozhikode and many units came up.” Weaving was simple to learn and many came to make a quick buck. The bull ride though lost steam quickly.
“When crepe cotton went out, we wove satin bed sheets with viscous fibre. It went to Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. When washing machines took over lives, these 90-inch bed spreads woven by 12 over a day and a half, was pushed out. A machine could wash only a bed spread at a time.”
The Hindu
Experimentation, adaptation and innovation proved the only way. There were enough reasons to shut down, few ways to survive. “Slow production is the weak point of handloom, but it has to be converted into our strength. Limited supply will always have demand.” The way forward was in being creative and creating custom-made, exclusive products. “I realised the significance of a counter experience. Handicraft would be valued only if it is exclusive. Secondly, it has to be more aesthetic. I tried to bring in the texture of a painting onto woven textiles,” says Vasudevan.
A random mention of his weaving enterprise to a German friend in Chennai led to an order for curtains at the Max Mueller Bhavan there. The weavers experimented and the order became their statement. Handloom bordered on art and drew attention. The curtains at Max Mueller led to an offer to collaborate for an exhibition by the Alliance Francaise in Chennai. It was the metamorphosis of the commercial enterprise Spider Weavers into the cultural Tasara. Collaborating with a French artist, the men and women of Tasara created tapestries what were soon given the name “woven art.”
Max Mueller Bhavan followed suit with the proposal for an international workshop. Painters came from within and beyond to create and execute ideas. Many artists have stayed and worked here — Adimoolam, Achuthan Kudallur, Jayapala Panicker, Surya Prakash and others. Ever since, international workshops have been an annual feature at Tasara. “When creative people come together something is bound to happen,” says Vasudevan.
Workshops are Tasara’s means to never stop learning. As enthusiasts come in from world over — from an IT guy to textile academicians — new techniques and ideas emerge. “At the last workshop, we were introduced to eco printing by a participant. Teaching is the best way to be updated,” says Vasudevan. They also allow an apprenticeship of six months free of cost for those interesting in weaving. Learning continues and Tasara lives. Sustenance is through workshops and small sales. “We have happily survived; importantly work does not feel like work.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Fashion / Kozhikode – October 10th, 2014
NRKs planning to invest in agriculture back home now have a golden opportunity to do so and to understand how to go about it. The Agriculture Department is planning a two-day investors’ meet in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday and Friday to attract investment and to generate awareness regarding the scope. The meet will also feature a ‘single window clearance’ mechanism for potential investments, Agriculture officials said. This is the first time that the Agriculture Department is organising a workshop outside the country, Agriculture Minister K P Mohanan said here on Tuesday.
“The meet is aimed at potential NRK investors in this sector. But it will also help to boost the possibilities of the meet which will be held in Kochi in November this year,” he said. The Global Agro Meet is to be held on November 6 and 7 and aims at showcasing Kerala’s own agro products. This list includes indigenous rice varieties, other produces such as Vazhakkulam Pineapple and spices like Malabar Pepper.
The November expo is also intended to acquaint farmers here with the latest trends and possibilities on offer in the international market. The meet also proposes to discuss ways and means to strengthen marketing and supply chain infrastructure for farm products in the state.The Biofach India 2014 trade fair also will be held alongside the Global Agro Meet.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / October 15th, 2014
All India Institute of Medical Sciences,New Delhi.(Inset: Dr Athira R)
New Delhi :
Dr Athira R recently won the Sorel Catherine Freymann Book award for the ‘Best Post Graduate Student in Pediatrics’ at the AIIMS.
Lov Verma, the Union Secretary Health and Family Welfare, has presented the award to Dr Athira on the occasion of the 59th institute day of AIIMS, New Delhi commemorated on September 24th, 2014.
Dr Athira, hailing from Palakkad district, has published articles in International journals. She had also secured the best outgoing student medal in MBBS from Govt Kilpauk Medical College, Chennai.
source: http://www.english.manoramaonline.com / OnManorama / Home> My News / by Staff Correspondent , OnManorama / Tuesday – September 30th, 2014
‘Face of Palliative Care’ in India, Dr. M.R Rajagopal. Photo: Wikipedia
Four advocates for Human Rights, Dr. M. R. Rajagopal from India, the Founder Chairman of ‘Pallium India’, Shin Dong-Hyuk from North Korea, Father Bernard Kinvi from the Central African Republic, Arwa Othman from Yemen have been chosen for the ‘Dr Alison Des Forges Award’ in 2014.
The award is named after Dr. Alison Des Forges, senior adviser at Human Rights Watch for almost two decades, who died in a plane crash in New York State on February 12, 2009. Dr Alison was the world’s leading expert on Rwanda, the 1994 genocide and its aftermath.
‘Dr. Alison Des Forges Award’ will be presented at the ‘Voices for Justice Annual Dinners’ in 20 cities worldwide. The first dinner will be held in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara in November, where Dr Rajagopal will be honoured. The others will be presented with the award at various venues around the world.
Shin Dong-Hyuk, who was a victim of the brutality and starvation prevalent in North Korea’s forced labor camps has worked tirelessly to alert the world to these horrors since his escape in 2005.
The others recipients of the award include Father Bernard Kinvi, a Catholic priest who saved the lives of hundreds of Muslim civilians targeted during sectarian violence in the Central African Republic; Arwa Othman, a leading advocate working to end child marriage and promote equality for women in Yemen.”
Dr M R Rajagopal, a clinician, academic and an activist for human rights is the ‘Face of Palliative Care’ in India. He has been working to promote Palliative care in India as a ‘Human Right’ and to ensure that the patient has the right to be relieved of their pain and die with dignity.
He developed the world’s most successful Community-based Palliative Care Programme, ‘Pallium India’ and he is responsible in convincing the Indian Government to make morphine available for patients.
His main contributions over the past 20 years have been the formation of the ‘National Programme in Palliative Care in India (NPPPC) in 2012 and in bringing the Parliament of India to amend the harsh ‘Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985 (NDPS), and the amendment was passed in 2014. ‘Pallium India’ aims to stop the suffering of millions in India who are denied of Pain relief and medical care.
They encourage volunteers and the well-wishers to help them in their endeavour to achieve this goal! Dr Rajagopal believes that patients should not suffer from treatable pain, which is in fact a violation of human rights.
source: http://www.english.manoramaonline.com / OnManorama / Home> My News / by Liz Menon / Saturday – October 04th, 2014
There was a sulphury-saltiness in the air that brought the smell of the sea to Jitish Kallat, curator of 2014 Kochi Muziris Biennale, as he sat watching the holiday crowd changing shapes at Fort Kochi’s Jawahar Park.
“This facet of Kochi – its involved local people – was a huge takeaway from the last biennale. They walked in with spotless innocence, like clean canvases. Their views were free from preconceptions about contemporary art. And this gives me guidance at work,” says Kallat.
Other biennales showcase a global migratory audience. But Kochi’s local art lovers, “deeply engaged in cultural, social and political purposes”, give all of us a new reference for a prismatic reorientation of the present, he says.
For Kallat, the biennale experience which “plucked him out of the solitude of the studio and dropped into the swirling milieu” is in itself an effort to turn Kochi into a protagonist in each of the 90 works that will be put up. “Kochi will be a viewing device and not vista. As a site, she offers a special orientation and signage to reach the present. We’ve conceived the event as an observation deck hoisted to picture a version of the world. Since Kochi plays a role, ideas are going to be site-responsive and not site-specific.”
Kallat wrote different and personal letters to all artists explaining the theme of the biennale before finalizing on the list of 90 artists from across the world. “We gave them historical and cosmological pointers. If the cartographic reference was 1500 AD, the cosmological puzzle was the sense of incomprehension among us that we are living on a planet that hurtles at 1500 km/minute through space,” says Kallat.
He explains: “Two chronologically overlapping, but perhaps directly unrelated historical episodes in Kerala sparked off my earliest thought processes. The period from 14th to 17th century was a time when the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics was making some transformative propositions for locating human existence within the wider cosmos. It was also the moment when the shores of Kochi watched the arrival of a string of navigators sailing on early winds of colonialism.”
Each of the 90 artists who accepted the invite will endeavour to create an axis of time and space. “But for Vatsan Koleri (whom Kallat calls the umbilical connect between biennale I and II), rest are all new names with 45 of them coming from different South Asian countries,” he says.
In this voyage, Kallat sees himself as a mediator incessantly conversing with the artist, site and audience. “It’s not a challenge. And challenge is a very wrong word to use as there is no confrontation. There is still an unravelling going on and my bid is to draw site lines that allow cross pollination of art works,” he says.
“There is a biology of the project that can be moved only at the risk of altering metabolism. For, a biennale is very different from a museum show which can simply follow a set and predefined structure. Biennale offers flexibility and the broad contours sketched across Kochi’s horizons for biennale II give a large frame of play,” he says.
“Curating biennale has definitely changed me but no idea how it has…. May be when I go back to the quiet of my studio, masonry of this dialogue would find expression and better articulation,” he ventures.
“We will be using all the platforms, mainly the Aspinwall campus to mount biennale II also. We are also in talks to open two local houses and workshops for the artists. Two artists have already arrived and others are expected by end November and early December,” he says.
For Kallat, the thrill of the moment is in watching the “sentence being moulded by words that are also emerging”, much like the ever-changing form of Fort Kochi crowd moving in front of his eyes like clay on a potter’s wheel.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kochi / Manoj K Das, TNN / October 04th, 2014
Authors and literary critics M Leelavathi and M Achuthan were honoured by the organisers of the Kochi International Book Festival here on Sunday. The veterans of Malayalam literature are having prolific influence on the literary circuit in Kerala.
The function was inaugurated by writer C Radhakrishnan. Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Vice-chancellor M C Dileepkumar, PSC chairman K S Radhakrishnan, prof Thuravoor Vishwambharan, prof Thomas Mathew, E N Nandakumar, T Jayachandran, E M Haridas and retired judge Justice R Bhaskaran were present. ‘Sathya-dharma Darshanam Ithihasangaliil’, by Leelvathi that was published by Kurukshethra Publications, was released on the occasion. The Kochi International Book Festival is an annual event organised by a committee comprising ministers, MLAs and other eminent personalities. Justice V R Krishna Iyer, MPs K V Thomas and P Rajeeve are members of the organising committee of the book festival. The 18th Kochi International Book Festival will be held from November 29 to December 8.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / Octobe 13th, 2014
As the College of Engineering, Trivandrum (CET) celebrates its platinum jubilee, the author delves into the history of the college to discover how and when women managed to gain admission to the college
In 1939 when the College of Engineering, Trivandrum (CET) started there were no women either as teachers or as students. Today the Director of Technical Education is a woman and so is the Principal of the college. Many faculty members and B.Tech students in the college are women. The change in the gender picture is in tune with the times. A gender audit of the University of Kerala conducted early this year reveals that except for the higher echelons of power, the University has a huge majority of women as employees and students. Of the 200-plus doctorates awarded last year, more than 50 per cent went to women. In the University Post-Graduates Departments, nearly 75 per cent of students are women.
The entry of women into higher education institutions in the city was achieved much earlier than the establishment of the University of Travancore or CET. The College for Women was established in 1889, and gave women in the city representation in higher education. However, the story of CET was very different. There was nothing in the rules that prevented women from entering the portals of this college. However the decision of admission was entirely left to the Principal of the college. He could, without assigning any reason, accept or reject students in an interview and norms for the conduct of the interview were not codified and the Principal’s decision was final.
An Englishman Professor T.H. Mathewman was the first Principal of CET. His own country’s prestigious University of Cambridge gave entry to women as late as 1948. Women were allowed to study courses, sit for examinations, and have their results recorded from 1881, but they were not “admitted to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts”.
It was only in 1948 that women were made full members of the University of Cambridge, but women had to be in all-women colleges. All-men colleges in Cambridge began to admit women only between 1972 and 1988.
Devi Leela Bai was denied admission to College of Engineering, Trivandrum, because of her gender. / The Hindu
In the first year of the existence of CET, a woman from the city came forward to study engineering. She was Devi Leela Bai, who hailed from Poovalathu Veedu in Arasummoodu, a place close to the present campus of CET. She had completed her B.Sc in Mathematics. Admission to engineering required only an intermediate (current Plus Two) with physics, chemistry, and mathematics as subjects. So Leela Bai was actually over qualified. She walked into the engineering college office in the present PMG buildings to buy an application form for seeking admission. The clerk who sold the application form refused to issue a form to her as she was a woman and he was under instructions that no application forms were to be issued to women. The gates were shut before Leela Bai. She entered the government service and retired as a Deputy Collector in the Treasury Department.
Chellamma Jacob with her daughter Jaya Joseph. Photo: Achuthsankar S. Nair / The Hindu
A couples of decades later, things were not very different, if not worse. Chellamma Jacob who did her intermediate in physics, chemistry, and mathematics dreamt of being an engineer, after hearing about women from Travancore going to Madras [Chennai] and studying engineering and coming back into government service in Travancore.
Chellamma remembers that in school she was asked to write an essay on herself. She articulated her dream to emulate the women engineers of Travancore. In the Fifties, it was not only a meritorious pass in the intermediate alone that was required, but also an entrance examination for admission to engineering had to be passed and this involved questions in drawing and drafting. Even during those days, there were private agencies that coached students for the examination. Chellamma joined one of those private coaching centres and did well in the entrance examination. The interview had to be cleared, but with her good academic records and the pass in the entrance examination, Chellamma was confident of making it to CET. She did attend the interview and recalls that she did well, but in the end it did not make any difference, because the Principal M. V. Kesava Rao ended the interview by saying that everything was fine, but “you cannot be admitted as you are a woman”.
Keshava Rao was also a person who had worked in the United Kingdom but his exposure did not seem to have changed his attitude towards women. Chellamma went to the Government College for Women to study B.Sc. Mathematics and did her masters in English from the same college. She retired as the head of the Department of English in the University College.
K. Gomathi with her husband K. A. Muraleedharan. Photo: Achuthsankar S. Nair / The Hindu
During her stint as a teacher in Women’s College, Chellamma had a student called K. Gomathi who went on to earn the distinction of being the first woman student of CET. Chellamma still recalls her frustration when she was denied admission to CET. But in some way she feels compensated that her student entered the portals of the College. Chellamma’s daughter Jaya Joseph also graduated from CET in 1985.
In 1957, one of the first women students walked into CET (there were two students – K. Gomathi and Sumithra Ram Mohan, but it was Gomathi who graduated first from CET). The local newspapers carried the news that two women were admitted to CET. Around 400 students, all male, waited to receive them. Keshava Rao was still at the helm of affairs in CET.
First day in CET
Gomathi remembers her first day in the college, with almost all the students out on the verandahs in all floors of the building and greeting her with howls and whistles. She was scared, shaken and embarrassed, but braved it all. She sat in a corner of the class, alone on a bench.
She recalls that it was S. Krishnakumar (later an IAS officer and central minister), a senior, who first talked to her, to seek her vote for the student elections. Sumithra was married and did not regularly attend college due to her family commitments.
Gomathi has unpleasant memories of the first year in CET when she was denied a ladies’ waiting room or even a separate toilet. She wanted to do civil engineering, but switched to electrical engineering as the former required survey camp attendance in outstations, which lasted a few weeks, and with the gender insensitivity demonstrated by the college authorities, she feared it would be torturous.
Gomathi graduated in 1961 as the first woman engineering graduate from Kerala University (women from Kerala had earlier graduated from Guindy Engineering College in Chennai).
K.P.P. Pillai, one of her teachers in the final year, remembers that Gomathi was a hardworking student. Dr. Pillai who taught in CET for many years recalls that in the next batches there were seven students and thereafter the numbers started increasing.
K.A. Muraleedharan, a year senior to her in CET, became her life partner. Gomathi went on to become the first woman post-graduate in engineering and took her doctorate from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
She became a lecturer in her alma matter itself and became head of the department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering and retired as joint director of technical education in 1994. She was not only a popular teacher, but a great mentor to her students.
In CET, her name is synonymous with IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering), the largest professional society of engineers in the world. She was the faculty counsellor for IEEE for almost two decades and was honoured by the society more than once, with international awards for her leadership in IEEE’s CET activities. The cash prizes she received were donated to the IEEE branch itself to enable it to buy the costly IEEE journals, which in those days were very difficult for her students to get.
Dr. Gomathi currently enjoys her retired life, running a unique school for tiny tots and is passionate about painting. Of her two daughters, Girija Muraleedharan graduated from CET, while Saradha Muraleedharan is an IAS officer.
Gomathi feels happy that CET is no longer a men’s enclave but a place where women have a just place too.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Society / by Achuthsankar S. Nair / Thursday – October 10th, 2014
Sounding rockets will sear the skies and high altitude balloons will climb new heights at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), coinciding with the observation of the World Space Week (WSW) – 2014 from October 4 to 10 this year.
An array of programmes will be organized for schoolchildren during the week.
The programmes planned include an essay competition for High School Students on the topic ‘Space – Guiding your Way’.
Essays can be in English, Hindi or Malayalam. Handwritten essays not exceeding 2,000 words along with a certificate from the head of institution should reach the WSW office of VSSC on or before September 26.
The envelope should be superscribed WSW-2014 Essay Competition’.
The best essay will win the GSLV gold medal.
During the week, resource persons from VSSC will visit educational institutions in Kerala to organize lecture Programmes at high schools, higher secondary schools, teachers’ training institutions and polytechnics.
Interested institutions can register online on or before September 19.
A ‘Space Quiz’ will be conducted for school students on October 4. Students of class 9 to 12 can register on or before September 24 at wswquiz@vssc.gov.in or by post. Applications shall be certified by the head of educational institution. Only one team consisting of two students from each school can participate.
Following that, an open house will be organised at VSSC space museum, which will be open to public from October 7 to 10 from 9 am to 5 pm. On production of any photo ID card, free entry passes will be issued at the Canal Gate of VSSC upon arrival.
Further information can be had on the web portal http://wsw.vssc.gov.in.
The postal address for registration is WSW-2014 office, TDAD, VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram? 695 022, Phone: 0471-2564271/4272.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Thiruvananthapuram / TNN / September 11th, 2014
