Working women feel safe in Coimbatore, says survey

COIMBATORE: The city is among top 10 cities in India preferred by women employees, states the India Skills Report 2016. This is not the first time that the cotton city has been featured in this list.

For the past three years Coimbatore has consistently featured in top 10 list for preferred place to work by females.

In this survey, 5.2 lakh students across 29 states and seven union territories took part. Various factors that influence candidates to take up job in certain locations were examined. The voters who preferred Coimbatore were mostly graduates from engineering & polytechnic courses.

"It is exciting to see Tier 2 cities like Coimbatore featuring amongst preferred places to work. While the government is trying to expand the business growth through initiatives like smart cities, skills supply at these cities is improving (as per India Skills Report 2016 candidates from Tier 2 cities are more employable than Tier 1 cities).

This interest from the job seekers is a great sign," said Kiran Kumar, founding member and vice-president of People Strong. As per another company representative, the city also featured amongst the top 10 cities where students scored better in numerical & logical ability. 

"Coimbatore has been featuring in various categories the previous years as well such as top 10 cities where candidates with better score in English, computer skills and preferred city to work by male candidates," said the representative.

Industrialists, company owners and various other stake holders said affordable standard of living, availability of jobs, moderate climate, geographical location, connectivity with other cities were among the top reasons for this selection.

Vice-president, engineering and centre head, Bosche, Coimbatore, TV Sriram said, "Even before IT companies came to the city, women in the city formed a major part of the working sector. Women find the work environment in the city quite conducive. The city is neither a metropolitan nor very conservative," he said. K Ilango, an industrialist from the city said the growth rate and an expansion in opportunities made it a preferable location for women.

"Women find ample opportunities in jewellery, food processing, IT, education, trade, service industry, fashion, health and other sectors. This is a city which has the perfect blend of a metro and a small town," he said.

Many said the reason could be less crime rate against women in the city. As per the national crime records bureau, in comparison to most other cities in the country, the cotton city is safer for women. Rape, dowry deaths, assault/molestation and cruelty by husbands or relatives have reduced tremendously in the past five years. "I work till late in the night and travel on my two-wheeler.

I still find it very safe. Though sometimes, I feel though there are less opportunities, safety is my priority when it comes to working," said Bindhiya Bhaskaran, a techie from the city. Many who have migrated from villages also seconded this.

"I am from a small village and come from a very conservative family. The city which is known for its people who are amicable and full of respect was a major factor that helped me cope here," said Jeyasuriya L. Less traffic congestion was also stated as a factor.

For Nithyanandhini Manoharan, a fitness expert who has worked as an HR professional in Mumbai and in various other sectors in Chennai and Bangalore, Coimbatore was a welcome change. "I completely accept that Coimbatore is the best location for women. People from all cultures mingle in the city and no one treats you as an outsider here which is not the case in some other cities," she said.

When we consider the gender-wise employability geographically, as in we try to understand which are the states where "employable" males and females are found in large numbers, we found that Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh top the chart for males whereas Andhra Pradesh & Tamil Nadu lead the race for females, said a company representative from People Strong.

Coimbatore, Madurai police to be equipped with Tetra communication system

The Technical Services Wing (TSW) of the Tamil Nadu Police is set to install a new system called Terrestrial Trunked Radio (Tetra) to replace the conventional Very High Frequency (VHF) system in Coimbatore and Madurai.

Tetra is now being used by select sections of the Chennai Police. Tetra, formerly known as Trans-European Trunked Radio, uses the time division multiple access (TIME) system. The police now use the VHF radio communication system.

Often, lack of efficient transmission, clarity in transmission and television channels picking up VHF signals, defeated the confidentiality of communication. Hence, the decision to go in for Tetra, sources in the technical services wing said.

Under the present communication system, when a VHF handset is lost and lands in the hands of the common man or mischief-mongers, confidentiality of the conversations is lost. But Tetra ensures complete confidentiality.

At present, Coimbatore city police have two VHF channels: one for law and order and crime and another for traffic management.

Tetra will be introduced in the cities of Coimbatore and Madurai as a combined project at a cost of Rs. 4.5 crore.

Installation:

The installation works are nearing completion. Coimbatore has 15 police stations spread over 230 square kilometres. TSW has already installed repeater towers at Saravanampatty, Kovaipudur and atop the four-storeyed Police Commissioner’s Office. Tetra, expected to completely phase out the VHF system, comes with effective and efficient network management. There is also provision for call record logs. Since Tetra comes with a Global Positioning System (GPS), location of the handset is possible.

In short, the police personnel on duty cannot cheat on superiors by giving wrong location information. The equipment also has an internal dialling facility which enables the officer/personnel to maintain confidentiality of the information being transmitted. It also has a short messaging service, officials said.

Farm Tradefair "Agri Intex" Coimbatore - Introducting Soiless Agriculture

The 14th edition of Agri Intex 2014, an agricultural trade fair, is scheduled between July 18 and 21 at the Codissia Trade Fair complex here.

The event, which is aimed at transforming Indian agriculture, is being jointly organised by the small industries association Codissia and the State farm university.

Over 235 exhibitors have registered for participation, including exhibitors from Italy, Israel, Japan, China and Germany.

Tamil Nadu's Minister for Agriculture S S Krishnamoorthy is to inaugurate the expo.

Briefing presspersons, G Devaraj, Chairman, Agri Intex, said there would be display of Hydroponics (soilless agriculture), a workshop on Hydroponics, seminars on relevant topics for the benefit of the farming community, a farm research programme to create awareness and targeted business networking for companies seeking new business opportunities and so on.

He urged industry stakeholders to make good use of the opportunity.

As in the earlier edition of the expo, the second edition of the agricultural conference titled 'Next Generation Indian Agriculture' is slated for July 19 at the same venue.

Treated sewage will make Coimbatore more Greener

COIMBATORE: A novel research project is presently shaping up between the Forest College and Research Institute, a constituent college of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, and the city municipal corporation to develop an elaborate artificial forest using the treated sewage from the Ukkadam plant.

The three-year long project will be carried out by a team of researchers from the department of silviculture of the institute. The corporation is expected to pass a resolution in the council meeting this week enabling the institute to start its research in three acres of land near the sewage treatment plant.

"The most apt variety of trees would be selected and our team is planning to start the field research by October. The main objective is to use the treated sewage, which is presently pumped out without any specific purpose," said P Durairasu, dean, Forest College and Research Institute. The state government has earmarked Rs 9.5 lakh for the research.

The researchers are expected to record periodic changes in the soil, water quality and also the level of transpiration from the trees using a portable photosynthesis test.

"Apart from enhancing the green cover and recharging the ground water level with use of the treated sewage, the species that would be selected will also be a commercially viable one which could serve as a means of revenue to the civic body. We are not planning to grow trees that produce edible fruits at the moment since we will be using treated sewage water," said A Balasubramaniam, professor and head of the department of silviculture, Forest College and Research Institute.

Species like Malai Vembu, Kadambu and Arjuna trees could be grown initially, researchers claimed. After the initial round of research, the full grown trees could be utilized for commercial purposes and new saplings could be planted afresh.

The corporation resolution enabling the researchers to start using the land for the study would be tabled and passed at the council meeting scheduled to be convened this week.

Innovative Science Expo at Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: Two students of a city school have come out with an experiment of converting kinetic energy produced by the movement of a person sitting on a chair into electrical energy.

Naveen Kumar K and Shri Sakthi V of Sri Ramakrishna Matriculation Higher Secondary School exhibited their novel idea at the two-day Lead India Science Exhibition for School Students held at the Avinashilingam University in the city on Sunday. This project was among the six others selected to be displayed for A P J Abdul Kalam's visit on Sunday.

"A person sitting on a chair may make some movements. With each movement, there is motion of particle that causes vibration and produces kinetic energy," said Naveen Kumar. "This kinetic energy can be converted into electrical energy," he said. The project also won the second prize under the resources and renewable energy category.

A project by Pawan Kumar Mitruka V and Rahul Prasad Jaiswal from Kikani Vidhya Mandir won the first prize under the community health and hygiene category. It displayed ways of production of bio-fuel from industrial effluents.

"A major part of industrial effluent contains acid oil. We have used carbinol and sodium hydroxide to produce the bio-fuel from the industrial effluent," Pawan Kumar said

The end product of the experiment contains oil (bio-fuel) and glycerin which are separated by filtration and could be used in pharmaceutical industry, Jaiswal said.

Out of the nine government schools participating in the competition, R C Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Ondipudur sketched out a plan to revive the water bodies in the city. They won the first prize under the category of reclamation of water bodies in Coimbatore.

Around 180 projects were displayed by teams from 64 schools at the exhibition. A panel of external judges scrutinized the exhibits under the four themes - reclamation of water bodies in Coimbatore, resources and renewable energy, rain water harvesting and community health and hygiene.

A total of 24 projects were selected to be displayed on Sunday and two under each category were rewarded.

Coimbatore Marathon in October to create awareness on cancer

The second edition of Vodafone Coimbatore Marathon, organised by the Coimbatore Cancer Foundation (CCF) in association with Coimbatore Runners and Showspace, will be held here on October 5. The event is supported by the Coimbatore District Athletic Association and the Tamil Nadu Amateur Athletic Association.

The inaugural edition which turned out to be a hit, in terms of participation, has inspired the organising committee to make it a truly world-class event this year, the organisers told presspersons here on Tuesday.

People from all walks of life besides professional athletes took part last year. Indian Air force, Army, Central Reserve Police Force, corporate executives and entrepreneurs were some of them who took part and made the event a grand success, said Ramesh Ponnusamy of Coimbatore Runners.

“Last year, the entries exceeded our expectations. So, this year we expect to touch the 10,000 mark.” he added. “We are looking forward to giving Coimbatore another world-class event,” said Ms.Vani, chief operating officer of Showspace.

Obviously, it involved a huge amount of preparation, planning and execution which would make this a much- talked about marathon. Awareness

T. Balaji, managing trustee of CCF, said the Foundation was working hard to create awareness on cancer and ways to prevent it. The Foundation also offered palliative care and financial support to the patients.

“Increasing awareness on healthy lifestyle and on running as part of fitness is one of the motives of this community event,” said Divya Chandran, and active runner herself and trustee of CCF.
The marathon is scheduled for the first Sunday of October as the month is dedicated to breast cancer awareness.

Mr. Balaji, Mr. Ramesh Ponnusamy and other dignitaries unveiled the logo of Coimbatore Marathon 2014.

The event features the half marathon (21.1 km), a 10-km and a 5-km run/walk open to both men and women. Registration for the marathon began online a few days ago.
It will close by the end of August. Details are available on website: www.vodafonecoimbatoremarathon.com

Green Coimbatore - Sell what you would possible throw

Two years ago, when he came back from the U.S., Karthik Manivasagam, 31, was appalled at plastic littering the roads in his hometown. Often, on weekends, he would head out with friends, gunny bags in tow, pick up the plastic and deposit it in Corporation bins. “But, I knew that it was not a permanent solution. We needed to make people stakeholders,” says the former finance professional who has started GreenBhoomi, a company that collects segregated garbage from homes and pays handsomely for it.
Karthik, who works out of Saibaba Colony, believes keeping a country clean has little to do with its development status. “Even Cambodia and Vietnam are clean,” says the intrepid traveller who has backpacked to about 20 countries. The trigger for GreenBhoomi, however, was a trip to the Kumbhmela last year. “All I saw from the train were heaps of plastic by the tracks. It was a terrible sight.”
For long, he had wanted to turn an entrepreneur and was waiting for an idea that satisfied his soul. He started reading up on waste management. “I toyed with the idea of an NGO but decided I had to build a sustainable model that would survive.” Providing inspiration were some African countries that have monetised their natural resources while protecting them. “Poaching is down, and animal population is up. I believe that when you give every social issue a profitable solution, it solves itself.” Karthik found encouragement in Paperman and Kuppaithotti, two Chennai-based groups that have made a name in waste management. GreenBhoomi, which went live on June 15, has a godown in Kavundampalayam, where it has so far collected about four-and-a-half tonnes of waste. “Most of it was segregated. It makes processing so much easier. When you mix waste, it cannot be effectively recycled. Plus, it poses a health hazard,” he says. Dump from GreenBhoomi is processed thus. Karthik sells the segregated waste to companies that deal with specific waste. Quality plastic turns into plastic cakes that are recycled, while paper waste is sent to paper mills. “Recycled paper is in fashion,” he says.
The proliferation of plastic, says Karthik, has hit the dumpyards too. “Years ago, when the Corporation dumpyard was in Kavundampalayam, farmers would buy the compost for agriculture. Now, there’s so much of plastic in the compost, none wants it.” For the past couple of months, the team has worked night and day to put the logistics into place. The company, he says, will break even once they achieve customer volume.
“That’s the long-term model. That way, we can dedicate a day to every locality. We want to grow slowly but steadily. The goal is to cover the entire Corporation limit,” he says.
Karthik’s ultimate target, though, is to get every Coimbatorean to segregate at source. “That’s five minutes a day towards your future.”
Factfile
Call GreenBhoomi and an operator will arrange to pick up the recyclable waste at your doorstep. The call centre works Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the pick-up service is available from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The company pays Rs. 15 for a kg of plastic bottles, Rs. 200 a kg for brass, Rs. 10 to Rs. 20 for a kg of e-waste and Rs. 9 for a kg of English newspapers. Contact them at 95662-13130, or visit www.greenbhoomi.com