🏙️🌆🏙️ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Updates 🌆🏙️🌆

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The Kerala State Higher Education Council has recommended the setting up of SAAC (State Accreditation and Assessment Council ) in the model of NAAC for continuous assessment of colleges and teachers in the state.

The recommendation would be vetted by the Governing Council of KSHEC and forwarded to the State Government for approval.

KSHEC vice-chairman T P Sreenivasan told reporters here after the first meeting of the newly constituted body that the evaluation of NAAC is often a random procedure and there needs to be a continuous evaluation in the state-level to improve the quality of institutions and teachers, which is why it has mooted SAAC.

The major highlight of the two-day meeting of KSHEC is that it has decided not to throw the proposals of the previous Council into the dustbin.

‘Continuity and change’ is the keyword, said Sreenivasan. There has been many committees and various studies during the last four years. All that would be reviewed and proper decisions would be taken regarding them, he said.

The Council has envisaged a new scheme wherein the industry and education sectors would be linked more tightly. Though campus recruitment already links the two sectors, the new scheme would search for better linkages by drawing investments. The modalities of the scheme would be worked out shortly.

The new Council has also decided to go ahead with the choice-based credit and semester system initiated by the previous Council. The cluster system which was meant to facilitate the CSS has been found weak. However, the Council would approach private colleges, who have so far been aloof to the idea of cluster colleges, to join the scheme and make it rolling.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellors committee would look into the problems in CSS and submit recommendations, vice-chairman said. The Council has decided to extend the period of its scholarship for the 1,000 beneficiaries for five years. For additional funds, it would approach the State Government. Scholarship for professional courses are also under consideration by finding financial source from the fee to entrance examination. Including the Other Backward Class (OBC) in the scholarship pattern has also been recommended.

A centre for Teachers’ Excellence Training Programme has been envisaged by the new Council. It has also decided to study the Madhava Menon committee report on law reforms and forward it to the government with additional suggestions from the Council’s part. The UGC package would be reviewed and the government pressed for implementation. The setting up of an IIT, Malayalam University and an Open University would be taken up with the State Government. The press meet was attended by KSHEC member secretary P Anvar also..

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oy Alukkas, Chairman of Joyalukkas group, announced on Wednesday that the jewellery group has decided to establish eight malls in the next 30 months at a cost of Rs. 1000 crores.

Named “Mall of Joy”, these malls would be designed to offer single window shopping experience mainly for weddings.

The first in the chain of Mall of Joy would be inaugurated near the private bus stand on Mavoor Road in Kozhikode in March 2012, Joy Alukkas announced at a press conference. The second mall would be opened in November in Thrissur.

The mall in Kochi would be on three acres situated near the Oberai Malland in Thiruvanathapuram in Attankulangara. In Palakkad the mall would come up near private bus stand, in Kottayam near the Baker Junction and in Alapuzha near Irumbupalam.

“Today’s consumers love the convenience of a destination that offers them the best under one roof during every shopping trip”, Joy Alukkas said adding his malls were designed to meet such expectations.

Besides Kozhikode, these Malls were proposed to be set up at Kochi, Coimbatore, Trissur, Kottayam, Palakad, Thiruvanathapuram and Alapuzha.

Each Mall of Joy would feature two anchor stores – jewellery and silks besides fashion and clothing, accessories and cosmetics, watches, footwear, eyewear and optical, beauty parlour, restaurant and food courts and a play area for children.

Each mall would have a minimum of two lakh sq feet areas with parking space for at least 200 cars and are being designed by architects and interior designers of international repute, Joy Alukkas said.

The Joyalukkas group had a business turnover of Rs. 2,800 crores. It is expected to swell to Rs. 3,700 crore this year.

Responding to questions about the spiralling trend in gold prices, Mr. Joy Alukkas said though the prices of gold had risen, the volume of sales had dipped. Joyalukkas group would open sales outlets in different parts of the country in the coming months and that it was also preparing for a public issue, he said.

Mr. Alukkas who started business with a showroom in the United Arab Emirates, now owns a chain of 85 showrooms spread over nine countries. As many as 26 of them are in Kerala.

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Technopark Trivandrum will soon become home to the country’s first telecom business incubator that will be jointly promoted by the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, Technopark Trivandrum, and MobME Wireless.

The Telecom Innovation Hub will be launched by January 2012. It would focus primarily on student start-ups from campuses and would be modelled on technology incubators in Silicon Valley. It aims to incubate at least 1,000 product start-ups over a period of 10 years.

Infosys co-founder and co-chairman, Kris Gopalakrishnan, will be the Chief Mentor of the innovation hub.

The campus of the innovation hub will a have full 4G network and advanced telecom labs and will provide all services including legal, intellectual property, accounting, fully furnished office space, video conference rooms, computers, phone lines, Internet, server space, and virtual office services that are required for a student to start a company even while in college.

The innovation hub will create a vibrant ecosystem for start-ups to create breakthrough technologies for the global telecommunications industry in association with leading companies working in proposed telecom innovation zones.

These zones would bring home the latest technology platforms and products to start-ups in the incubator before they are released in the commercial markets

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Panel reviews rural development schemes
The first meeting of the reconstituted district-level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee on State and Centrally sponsored rural development schemes in the district was held here on Saturday.

Committee chairman A. Sampath, MP, presided. MLAs Jameela Prakasham, A.T. George and V. Sasi, District Collector M. Nandakumar, Rural Development Department project director Chandrashekharan Nair, block and grama panchayat presidents, and officials of the Rural Development Department participated in the meeting.

The implementation of various State and Centrally funded projects, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), and Indira Awaas Yojana were reviewed at the meeting.

The meeting adopted a resolution requesting the Union government to increase the unit cost for houses constructed under the Indira Awaas Yojana.

Joint Development Commissioner Ashok Kumar presented the performance report card for the MGNREGS for the year 2011-12. He said that as on October 19, Thiruvananthapuram district was in the first position in the State in many project implementation indicators in the current fiscal.

The district came first in issuing maximum number of job cards, providing work to maximum number of households, and maximum number of households that completed 100 work days. It was second in wage disbursement. Six grama panchayats in the district had crossed fund disbursement of Rs.1 crore under the project this year.

Against a target of Rs.3,883.2 lakh to be disbursed by October 30, the district had disbursed Rs.3,796.86 lakh. The total project outlay for 2011-12 was Rs.5,943.32 lakh.

Mr. Ashok Kumar said the State government had decided in principle to increase the material component of works undertaken under the MGNREGS. A government order in this regard was expected to be issued soon.

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The biggest and brightest wonder is coming in Trivandrum

Maars Developers in the planning phase of the Biggest and Brightest wonder in Trivandrum. This is going to be a destination that will raise the standard of shopping, leisure, entertainment, good living and for tourist with all international facilities and amenities.
The amazing project is planned in an area of 20 acres of land in the heart of the Trivandrum City with thousands of square meter area of shopping, plenty of car parking, five start hotel, commercial buildings, multiplex cinemas, first class residential condominiums, private villas and lot and lot spaces reserved for events, entertainment, dining many more attraction for adults and children to enjoy.
Interestingly, this is going to be tourist destination and main attraction of South India.

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City to get ANPR system soon
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As part of strengthening the security of the capital city, the City Police are planning to launch a new initiative called 'Automatic Number Plate Recognition' (ANPR) system here. The system, according to the police, will function as a gatekeeper. It will record the registration numbers of all motor vehicles that enter and exit the city.The system will be installed at major locations that act as entrance/exit points, besides other major sites such as the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple and the Secretariat. City Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham told City Express that ANPR is a proven system in foreign countries. It can be used to automatically restrict the entry and exit of vehicles to places like temples and offices. On roads, the system will just be a watchman. ''The City Police have forwarded a proposal to the State Government in this regard. Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple will be the first to get the service of ANPR, followed by the Secretariat and entry/exit points of the city,'' the Commissioner said.Control Room Assistant Commissioner Bijoy said the system will prove very useful once the high security registration number plate system is fully implemented here. ''The system will help keep a tab on the people who are present in the city at any given point of time which, in turn, might prove helpful in busting crimes,'' he said, referring to the increasing rate of crimes, especially vehicle thefts.The project is being launched as part of the expansion of the City Police Control Room and the work will be carried out by Keltron. According to S T Gopakumar, the project manager of the Communication Wing of Keltron, the ANPR units will be equipped with radar cameras that will work on the technology of closed-circuit television and would be connected to the servers of the City Police Control Room and also the Motor Vehicles Department. ''ANPR is also a good alert system. That is, if the police are on the lookout of a vehicle with a particular registration number, they just need to enter the number into the system. ANPR will automatically send an alert to the control room when it comes across the vehicle,'' said Gopakumar.

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From ‘Travancore Bank’ to financial supermarket

State Bank of Travancore (SBT) was originally established as the Travancore Bank Ltd on September 12, 1945, in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore with a paid up capital of Rs 1 crore.

Thirty per cent of the capital was contributed by the then Government of Travancore and the remaining by 4,000 shareholders. The bank became a Scheduled Commercial Bank in 1946 and, in 1960, became a subsidiary of the State Bank of India and assumed its present name.
GROWING IN SIZE

It grew in size between 1959-65 through a series of takeovers, amalgamations and mergers. SBT is part of the State Bank Group.

SBT has its corporate office in Thiruvananthapuram and has five zonal offices, four of which are in the State of Kerala and one at Chennai, and two Regional Offices, one each in Mumbai and another in New Delhi.

In addition, there are spun-off Regional Offices at Thrissur, Kannur, Palakkad, Nagercoil, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Mavelikara, Bangalore, and Coimbatore.

The Corporate Data Centre (CDC) of the Bank is at Belapur, Navi Mumbai, along with all banks of the State Bank group. A Disaster Recovery Centre, a standby unit of CDC Belapur, is functioning at Chennai.
INTEGRATED TREASURY

The bank has a full-fledged integrated treasury department functioning in Mumbai. The Payment and Settlement Group at Mumbai manages Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) – the funds transfer initiatives of Reserve Bank of India – that are straight-through process (STP)-enabled at all the branches of the bank.

A Disaster Recovery Centre for payments and settlement is functioning at the Head Office in Thiruvananthapuram.

As at the end of September 2011, SBT has a network of 797 branches. SBT has its presence in all metros, and 172 branches are situated outside Kerala.

SBT is a tech-savvy bank and serves its customers with modern technologies. All branches of the bank are fully computerised and networked under Core Banking Solutions with Internet Banking and Mobile Banking facilities.
ATM NETWORK

The bank has installed 883 ATMs for improving customer convenience. These ATMs are part of the 25,000-plus ATM network of the State Bank Group, the largest ATM network in India.

International ATM-cum-debit Cards are available to customers to make withdrawals throughout the world. Bank provides remittance facility from the US and the UK through Xpress Remit Product.

The unique remittance product “Money Trans” provides speedy remittance facility from the West Asia to the domestic client having account with any bank.

Online share trading facility ‘eZ-Trade’ gives 3-in-1 advantage with savings, demat and trading facilities. The bank also provides other financial products such as life insurance (in tie-up with SBI Life), mutual fund investments (in tie-up with five mutual funds) and general and accident insurance (in tie-up with United India Insurance Co Ltd).
FINANCIAL SUPERMARKET

Thus, the bank has become a financial supermarket offering full spectrum of products under one roof.

Many new initiatives under business process re-engineering have been rolled out in the bank, which have brought in revolutionary changes in the day-to-day functioning of the branches.

The bank has excelled in the areas of rural housing, educational loans to needy students, finance to self-help groups and retail banking. The bank has tailor-made products to service the customers in all segments.

It has a representative office in Dubai and manages two exchange houses – City Exchange LLC, Dubai and Global Money Exchange Company, Oman.

The bank was conferred the special award for excellence in MSE lending for the year 2009-10 by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. This is the fifth time in last seven years the bank has secured such award.
MARKET SHARE

The Bank has on its rolls 11,864 members of staff, comprising 4,403 officers, 5,270 clerical and cash department staff and 2,191 subordinate staff, inclusive of 345 part-time sweepers. The business per employee is Rs 9.54 crore and profit per employee at Rs 9 lakh.

As at the end of 29th July 2011, the bank has a market share of 1.12 per cent in deposits and 1.18 per cent in advances of the all-India ASCB level.

The bank has a very large clientele of non-resident Indians. A 20 per cent share of deposits of the bank is contributed by NRI segment. The bank has correspondent banking arrangements with 18 banks worldwide.

It offers a wide spectrum of services to its NRI customers. In order to facilitate smooth transfer of funds from the Gulf, the Bank has entered into rupee drawing arrangements with 28 exchange Houses and one bank in the West Asia.

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City gearing up for Erudite Conclave
Erudite Conclave-2011, a prestigious event which brings together intelligentsia of varying niche under a single roof, organised by faculty and students of Thiruvanthapuram Medical College, would commence on November 8.
The programme, which falls on the occasion of the diamond jubilee celebration of the college, will be adorned by eminent speakers, including Nobel laureate Dr Rolf Zinkernagel and Magsaysay award winner Dr Sanduk Ruit.
Erudite conclave will bring together students from the three most cherished tiers of education, the IIM, IIT and medical colleges across the country.
The participants, expected to be over 600, will collaborate in solving an issue of social relevance, the organisers said. The presented work will be judged by a faculty panel drawn from the three institutions.
Selected participants will take part in a national-level panel debate. The conclave will also witness converging of experts from various fields, including business, medicine, health care, arts and magic.
Head of International Academy for Research on Cancer Dr R Sankaranarayanan, Prof E D Jemmis, Dr M G Deo, Prof Chandan Chakraborthy and Prof Sangeetha Bhattacharya of IIT Kharagpur, Prof Anil K Gupta of IIM Ahmedabad and Padmabhushan Dr B M Hegde will attend various sessions. Musician Balabhaskar and actress Sobhana will take part in the art dialogue.
The event is scheduled to be held at C O Karunakaran Memorial auditorium at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. The programme would conclude on November 9.

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Thiruvananthapuram among the 36 “future cities” of India identified by the Global Initiative for Restructuring Environment and Management

Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Kozhikode are among the 36 “future cities” of India identified by the Global Initiative for Restructuring Environment and Management (GIREM) for their future growth potential, harmonious and vibrant lifestyles, and other qualities.

GIREM is a voluntary organisation focussed on urban planning, development, and corporate real estate.

The “future cities” have been selected from among tier-II cities for their natural growth potential, population profile, and strength of education and culture, the essential ingredients of growth, GIREM president Shyam Sunder S. Pani says in his introduction to the Future Cities report.

The report says Thiruvananthapuram, which has a population of nearly a million, is a centre for excellence in education and research, tourism, information technology, biotechnology, and so on. The city, it says, is a major destination of chartered flights from abroad.

Kochi has a population of over six lakh and its strengths flow from being a trading, construction and manufacturing hub and education centre, the report says.

Kozhikode, with a four lakh population, is a future maritime port city suited to trading, education, and training. The motto of GIREM 36 is “Jobs should go where the people are,” rather than people going after jobs wherever they are. “The smaller cities which lack a focussed attention for development and growth have hid in them a vast treasure of natural resources that is waiting to be tapped with the right mix of investment and strategy,” says the introduction to the report.

GIREM feels that the tier-II cities, when their values are unlocked with the help of modern technology, can rival the large metropolises, which are struggling to cope with rapid growth and degradation of their environments.

The report provides snapshots of the emerging cities, which have been crying for attention in the past.

The report is an attempt to bring into action an integrated approach “that woefully was lacking in big cities posing a big challenge to making them sustainable future cities.”

The report, in consonance with the strategy of decongesting major cities, believes that creation of jobs will be at the heart of future economic development in a country where about 70 per cent of the population live in rural areas.

GIREM will submit the Future Cities report to the Union Urban Development Ministry with the expectation that the Ministry will initiate a process of consultation among stakeholders to promote the concept of future cities and extend policy support.

Mangalore, Belgaum, Mysore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Salem, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Nagpur, Anand, Surat, Vadodara, Udaipur, Manesar, Ambala, Karnal, Rohtak, Cuttack, Pantnagar, Indore, Gwalior, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Agra/Mathura, Puducherry, Shimla, Ludhiana, Ranchi, Guwahati, and Patna are the other cities identified for their potential.

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Nod for Projects Worth Rs. 121 Crore
The District Planning Committee (DPC) has given sanction for projects worth Rs 121 crore planned by the District Panchayat during 2011-12. While addressing a press meet here on Wednesday, District Panchayat president Ramani P Nair announced the details of the projects.
“As many as 543 new projects have been planned for this year.
The ` 121,70,43,218-projects aim at the overall development of the district. They include projects in agriculture, sanitation, education, health and women’s welfare. The amount includes ` 56,29,85,509 of Plan allocation, ` 12 crore of maintenance grant, ` 3.46 crore of non-road section and amount allocated for Central schemes like NRHM, SSA and RKVY. For the first time, the District Panchayat will join hands with grama panchayats in implementing projects on palliative care, food security, comprehensive farming etc,” Ramani said.
“One of the major projects is the free mobile dialysis unit worth ` 50 lakh. The project is being planned with the support of Sri Satya Sai Orphanage Trust,” Ramani said.
An amount of ` 10 lakh has been granted for the herbal therapy of autistic children. As part of eradicating cancer from the district, a ` 22.5-lakh project was announced. It will be implemented with the support of Regional Cancer Centre. ` 1.80 crore has been granted for the renovation of District Hospital, Neyyattinkara. ` 15 lakh has been allocated for ‘Santhwanam’ - the palliative care project. And ` 20 lakh for solid waste management project.
As much as ` 36.55 crore has been earmarked for road development, ` 1.29 crore for food security and ` 5 crore for various water supply projects in the district. As part of attaining self-sufficiency in agriculture sector, District Panchayat, in association with various grama panchayats, will implement projects for comprehensive farming. ` 2.89 crore has been earmarked for this. The project will be implemented first in Kilimanoor.
Three schools, Govt HSS Venjaramoodu, Govt HSS Vellanad and Govt HSS Punnamoodu, were declared as model schools in the districts. These schools will get ` 10 lakh each for their development.
` 1 crore has been allocated to establish a KILA centre at Vithura. To buy vehicles for Buds School, ` 80 lakh has been allocated. ` 75 lakh has been granted to provide better education for SC/ ST students. As part of ‘Vidyaprasadam’ project, evening tuition and food will be provided to the poor and needy students. ` 15 lakh has been given for Vidyaprasadam project. As many as 15 schools will get new biogas plants as ` 9 lakh has been allocated for the project. The schools under the District Panchayat will bear a common look as the council is planning to paint common colours for the school.
Explaining on women welfare measures, Ramani said, “‘Punarjani’ is a project to rehabilitate destitute women and children, ` 29 lakh has been allocated to construct a centre in Venjaramoodu. A 90-cent land has been identified for that. The project will be implemented with the support of Kerala Mahila Samakhya Society.”
“` 10 lakh has been allocated for girls’ schools to fix napkin vending machine and destroyer. This will be implemented as a pilot project. If found successful, it will be implemented in all government schools in the district,” Ramani said.
Projects for infirm and HIV-infected children were also announced. Vocational training will be provided for such children.