Category Archives: Records, All

Fuel-efficient car heads for global contest

Education, Green Initiatives & Environment, Records, All, Science & Technology, Sports, World Opinion

CarKERALA15jan2015

A prototype of a fuel-efficient car, developed by mechanical engineering students of the Government Engineering College, Barton Hill, has been selected for the International Fuel Efficiency Contest, to be held from February 26 in the Philippines.

College Principal B. Anil said the car could give mileage of 200 km per litre. The technology was developed with the support of Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment under the Technology Development and Adaptation Programme. The innovation was made by Bibin Sagaram, Ronith Stanley and Vishnu Prasad S., all in their sixth semester, with guidance of faculty members Santhosh Kumar and Anver Sadath.

The college was the only one selected from the State for the International Fuel Efficiency Contest, named Shell Eco Marathon. The contest would see participation of 120 teams from 16 countries, a press release said.

Prototype developed by students of Barton Hill engineering college.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Staff Reporter / Thiruvananthapuram – January 15th, 2015

Phase-II of Mission Kochi Project

About Kerala, Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

Kochi :

The Kochi Corporation will launch the second phase of the ‘Mission Kochi’ project and the ‘City Beautification’ project on Tuesday.

As part of the project, a new campaign titled ‘One Kochi, One Colour’ will be rolled out.

The programme will be inaugurated by actor Mammootty at a function to be held at Njalipparambu, Fort Kochi.

“As part of the project, the Corporation authorities will enforce stringent restrictions on advertisements and flex boards in the city. A meeting will be held with representatives of the political, religious, cultural and film fields soon,” said Mayor Tony Chammany here on Monday. “The primary aim of the One Kochi One Colour project is to paint the important buildings in the Corporation limits and public spaces in the city in ‘blue’, as Kochi is described as the Queen of Arabian Sea. The paint required for the beautification project is supplied by Berger Paints, and the project will be titled Berger Paints One Kochi One Colour,” Chammany said.

He said that the official colour of Kochi will be blue, and that the public places in the city, especially the walls, will be painted blue.

We have identified Fort Kochi, which is already in a colourful mood owing to the Biennale and the Carnival, as the most suitable venue for launching the project, Chammany added.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Kochi / by Express News Service  / December 30th, 2014

Cochin Airport Reaping Profits Year After Year

Business & Economy, Records, All

Cochin-AirportKERALA30dec2014

Aluva :

Armed with its new brand identity and a slew of development projects, CIAL will be aiming for the stars in 2015 as one of the most successful PPP ventures in the state. The profit for the first half of the financial year 2014-2015 clocked at `69 crore, as compared to `63 crore for the same period the previous year. The new international terminal is all set to be completed by December 2015. However, the construction of 8 Small Hydro Electric Power Plants (SHEP) is proceeding ahead of schedule and will enable the airport to become power neutral, officials noted.

Passenger safety was a slogan of paramount importance in 2014-2015, with the introduction of almost `12 crore worth of Canadian robotic equipments such as Threat Containment vessels and Remote Mobile Investigator (RMI-9WT) robots. Commonly used in the West and American Police force, the robots are capable of remotely handling the Improvised Explosive Devices(IED), hazardous chemicals, radioactive materials, fire fighting, hostage and other  situations. Apart from these, the airport has also adapted bomb inhibitors, real time X-ray viewing systems, deep search metal detectors and non-linear junction detectors which are able to discover and disarm an entire spectrum of explosive devices, into its safety repertoire. “Rather than merely purchasing the new security devices, we were able to integrate it with the existing safety measures flawlessly. In the few instances of hoax threats in the year, the airport security ran flawlessly without causing discomfort to the passengers in any way,” airport officials noted.

Gold smuggling

With the sheen of the yellow metal increasing manifold, the customs officials at CIAL were kept busy throughout the year confiscating gold from hordes of smugglers, who baffled officials with their ingenuity. Going by  official records, almost 82 cases were recorded until November 2015 and almost 55.71 kg gold worth `14.04 crore was confiscated. Customs officials noted that the number of smuggling cases have gone down.

According to officials, the smugglers have become imaginative. They are resorting to tricks such as smuggling gold by hiding them in the toilet near the immigration wing. As international flights are subjected to through checks, some of the smugglers have resorted to the new modus operandi of disembarking international flights at other airports and using a connecting domestic flight to reach their destination. Customs officials said that the smugglers even embarked from countries like Malaysia and Singapore to throw the officials off the track. “The smugglers usually come in via the gulf route,” officials noted.

CSR activity

As a part of its CSR activities, CIAL is actively involved in the proposed Jalanidhi scheme in Nedumbassery, Kanjoor and Sreemoolanagaram panchayats. Under this facility drinking water facilities will be provided to all the families in the three panchayats. CIAL MD V J Kurien had announced that he was prepared to meet the cost of water connections to all BPL families.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Kochi / by Vaisakh E Hari / December 30th, 2014

7 Keralites on Hurun Philanthropy List

Amazing Feats, Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, World Opinion
Kris Gopalakrishnan,Ravi Pillai
Kris Gopalakrishnan,Ravi Pillai

Kochi :

Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan has been named the most generous person from Kerala according to the Hurun India Philanthropy list 2014.

The IT behemoth’s executive vice chairman who is ranked 8th in the list donated Rs 255 crore mainly in healthcare charities.

The list prepared by Hurun Report, a media group based out of Shanghai, states that region-wise, South Indians were the most generous, donating Rs 13,300 crore, five-times that of the amount given in charity by North Indians.

Ravi Pillai of RP Group is ranked nine in the list with a contribution of Rs 145 crore, mainly in healthcare. As many as seven persons from Kerala have found a place in the list of 49. They together donated Rs 609 crore for charity. Keralites in the list include Azad Moopen (Rs 100 cr), S D Shibulal (Rs 48 cr), P N C Menon (Rs 26 cr), M A Yusuf Ali (Rs 18 cr) and Sunny Varkey (Rs 17 cr).

“It is heartening to see that Indian businessmen are contributing more to philanthropy. This will create a more equitable society. Business is necessary for economic progress and with philanthropy business is also good for overall development of society. I feel proud to see this,” Kris Gopalakrishnan told Express.

The list has Wipro Chairman Azim Premji who gave away Rs 12,316 crore on top.

In September Hurun Report had published a Kerala Rich List topped by Emke Group Chairman M A Yusuf Ali who has a net worth of Rs 11,400 crore. RP Group’s Ravi Pillai came second with Rs 9,600 crore followed by Sunny Varkey, founder and executive chairman of Dubai-centered Gems Education with Rs 9,000 crore.

The India Philanthropy List, which highlights charity contributions made by India’s most generous measured by the value of their cash or cash equivalent donations, debuted in 2013. Donations made by a corporation in which an individual has more than 50 pc holding were recognised as being part of that individual’s personal donation. The period of calculation was from April 1, 2013, to October 31, 2014.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / December 30th, 2014

18,112 Santa Clauses Set Guinness Record in Kerala

Amazing Feats, Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Travel
People in huge numbers dressed as Santa Claus in Thrissur in Kerala
People in huge numbers dressed as Santa Claus in Thrissur in Kerala

Thrissur,  Kerala :   

The archdiocese of Thrissur in Kerala on Saturday created a new Guinness World Record, when it assembled 18,112 Santa Clauses on the streets and broke the existing record set by Derry in Northern Ireland with 13,000.

The event, named “Boun Natale 2014”, was the brainchild of Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, who had last year managed to parade 5,000 Santas.

Guinness officials were Saturday present to oversee the record-breaking event, and each and every Santa was bar-coded before they assembled, to make a scientific evaluation on the exact number.

Luciya, a Guinness representative from Britain, told the gathering that Saturday’s event will be registered in the Guinness World Records as the largest assembly of Santas.

The announcement was greeted with a huge applause by the Santas.

Even though the official figure was registered as 18,112, the organisers said there were more, but could not be documented.

The procession of Santas began at 1 pm and the announcement came after 4:30 pm.

“The Guinness team with the help of new technology did the counting and it was for that barcodes was used for each of the Santas. There was an application process that each Santa had to go through and it came from the various parishes attached to the archdiocese,” said Simon Joseph, an official of the Thrissur archdiocese.

Thrissur is often referred to as Kerala’s cultural capital, and through this award winning effort, yet another feather has been added to its cap.

source: http://www.ndtv.com / NDTV / Home> South / by Indo-Asian News Service / December 27th, 2014

EMS Cooperative Library bags award

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature, Records, All

EMS Cooperative Library, Kakkanad, promoted by the Ernakulam District Cooperative Bank, has been selected for the award for the best library in the cooperative sector.

A statement issued by the library here on Tuesday said this was the first time that such an award was being given away.

The award was presented to the District Cooperative Bank directors P.P. Joy and Benny Paul and the bank’s general manager M.K. Radhakrishnan by former Minister for Cooperation G. Sudhakaran at a function in Thrissur. The library was opened in October 1999 with a view to inculcating the habit of reading among the young people and it was the first such venture under the cooperative sector, said the press statement.

The library is spread over 13,500 sq.ft. area in three storeys. The library is home to 86,000 books and it has a total of 11,400 members.

One of the key features of the library is a garden and walkway filled with trees and plants attached to the library and the library was launched as a place for reading in the garden.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – December 24th, 2014

Stunning maps from another era on show

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel

A motley collection of brilliant and rare maps from the 16th to the 19th century is on display at Heritage Arts in Mattancherry as part of ‘Cosmology to Cartography’, an exhibition—the first of its kind in India—jointly organised by the Hyderabad-based Kalakriti Archives and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

It showcases as many as 47 maps straddling four centuries and under ‘Jain Cosmic’, ‘Pilgrimage’ and ‘Cartographic’ categories. On display are the early cartograms produced with vegetable dye on cotton and the ones in woodcuts, copper engravings with colour or watercolour and ink on paper.

A pilgrimage map to Nathdwara temple are among the exhibits at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
A pilgrimage map to Nathdwara temple are among the exhibits at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

Kalakriti founder Prashant Lahoti collected the unusual treasure of India maps. The brightly-coloured maps present the world in many fashions: some in sync with Jain philosophy where the earth is divided into regions of the Gods, mortals and the cursed; the pilgrimage maps, on the other hand, chart out panoramic routes to Badrinath in the Himalayas or Shatrunjaya in Gujarat.

“The exhibition displays move from the symbolic to the political, and there is a dichotomy in the first, the middle and the last few,” said executive curator Vivek Nanda, who is a town planner and whose current projects include the Mumbai-Delhi corridor. “The early part of the exhibition represents a world of meaning, while the political ones are a world of order. They depict coastal towns and sea ports, which were important trading indicators.” Also on show are the first Dutch map of the subcontinent and the Middle East, and the first map of India as a single entity, made in 1822, for the directors of the English East India Company.

The first Dutch map of the subcontinent and the Middle East done in 1596.
The first Dutch map of the subcontinent and the Middle East done in 1596.

Arts and Medicine

The famed biennale programme, in its 43rd episode on the General Hospital premises on Wednesday, saw Kochiite Charles Antony crooning songs in at least 10 languages, including Italian, English, African, Sinhala and Japanese, as he played the guitar and the mouth organ. Mr. Antony had sung a Spanish song alongside Diego Maradona during his visit to Kerala in 2012. His 80-minute performance began with Jim Reeves’ ‘Welcome to my World’. Mehboob Memorial Orchestra provided accompaniment.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – December 18th, 2014

Man who changed the course of a river

About Kerala, Amazing Feats, Green Initiatives & Environment, Leaders, Records, All
The statue of Chemban Kolumban, the Adivasi leader instrumental in the construction of Idukki dam, at Cheruthoni. Photo: Giji K Raman
The statue of Chemban Kolumban, the Adivasi leader instrumental in the construction of Idukki dam, at Cheruthoni. Photo: Giji K Raman

Memorial of Kolumban, who identified the ideal spot for a dam at Idukki, renovated.

Chemban Kolumban, the Adivasi leader who discovered the site of the Idukki dam, is finally being remembered by the authorities with the renovation of the Kolumban Park, close to the Cheruthoni dam of the Idukki Hydroelectric project here.

Kolumban had identified the ideal spot for a dam when he found the Periyar river flowing between the Kuravan and the Kurathi hills.

In 1922, Kolumban had joined a team of the Malankara Estate superintendent and his friend on a hunting trip in Idukki. They found it difficult to move as they reached Kuyilimala. It was while moving between the two hills that they found the spot. They thought of diverting the water to the low range of Malankara-Moolamattom for power generation. In 1932, the then superintendent of the Malankara Estate, W.J. John, submitted a project to the Travancore government regarding the possibility of constricting a dam connecting the two hills.

The Travancore government in 1947 entrusted Electrical engineer P. Joseph John with the task of conducting a feasibility study and a report was submitted to the Central Waterpower Commission which gave the nod for the construction of a dam in 1961. The construction was entrusted to a Canadian company in 1963 and it was commissioned by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on February 12, 1976.

A sculptor Kunnuvila Murali made a statue of Kolumban near the Cheruthoni dam then as a tribute to him. For long, it was a forgotten chapter in the history of the dam with weeds growing over the statue.

The park was renovated as part of a major project taken up by the Department of Culture to renovate the Kolumban memorial on the roadside near here, where his body was cremated.

His grandchildren are living at the Kolumban colony and are the carriers of a rich legacy. According to Roshy Augustine, MLA, visitors to the dam would be interested in the history of the dam, of which Kolumban is an integral part.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Kerala / by Giji K. Raman / Cheruthoni (Idukki) – December 24th, 2014

South India’s First Crematorium for Pets to Come up in State

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

Idukki  :

Efforts to set up South India’s maiden crematorium for dogs and similar animals are gaining steam.

According to reports from High Range Kennel Club, which is behind the project, there has been no crematorium in South India for such animals while North Indian states like Gujarat and Delhi already have.

Dr Babu K Nalakathu, secretary of the club, told ‘Express’ they are looking for a suitable site in Kochi to set up the first plant. Efforts will then be made to start one each at Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram.

The plant is estimated to cost `15 lakh, and raising the fund wouldn’t be a problem, said Babu, adding that such a project would make a new beginning in treating animals with honour once they are dead. Developed countries have very strict regulations in disposing of dogs after their death.

In Kochi and its suburbs, an estimated 50 dogs die each day, and almost all of them are disposed of in an unceremonious manner, he said. In most cases, they are being given a watery adieu, flinging them to rivers and other water bodies, which are used by people for drinking purposes. The responsibility of removing the carcass of dogs, cats and the like falls on local bodies, who change hands to certain agents. These agents dispose them of in rivers in the dead of the night, he said. It is a grave problem which the government has not taken any interest so far.

For every pet dog there are eight stray dogs in the state as per the figures by the SPC. While the pet dogs get a decent departure, the stray dogs are treated roughly, which is a trend to be stopped. The public should join hands to begin a new culture of giving respect to the animals. A number of associations already are willing to cooperate to make the dream come true.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by P.B. Jayasankar / December 25th, 2014

Unesco heritage site status sought for school, Chala

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion

Various organisations, including Citizens for Sustainable Alternatives, Tree Walk and the Attakulangara School Samrakshana Samiti, have demanded that the Attakulangara school and Chala market be declared as Unesco heritage sites.

“The Attakulangara school was started more than 134 years ago and it has a long traditional relevance in history. It has trained many eminent personalities,” said veteran journalist B.R.P. Bhaskar, addressing a press conference here on Monday.

Though the Centre had declared similar initiatives for several schools of repute, there was no positive response from the State government even after filing many petitions on behalf of the Attakulangara school.

As for the Chala market, the Trivandrum Development Authority (TRIDA) had announced plans to transform the area into a shopping mall. This conversion of Chala would not benefit the traders in any manner, who were asking for a proper drainage system, waste disposal, fire safety measures, good bus stops and parking spaces, the organisations said.

Minister, VS petitioned

A petition containing 3,000 signatures had been handed over to Cultural Affairs Minister K.C Joseph and Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan earlier this month, they said, adding that the Director of Archaeology had been requested to study the entire Fort area along with the Arts and Heritage Commission so as to declare it as a heritage zone.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by A Correspondent / Thiruvananthapuram – December 06th, 2014