Kannan elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha

Former Speaker P. Kannan was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha after deadline for the withdrawal of nominations ended on Saturday at 3 p.m. Secretary, Legislative Assembly, M. Sivaprakasam, told The Hindu that he had communicated to the Election Commission that since there was no other valid nomination, Mr. Kannan, sponsored by the Congress, was declared elected.

The seat fell vacant following the election of V. Narayanasamy to the Lok Sabha.

He subsequently became Union Minister of State for Planning, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture.

Mr. Kannan will be the eighth prominent politician to represent the Union Territory in the Rajya Sabha.

The first election to the Rajya Sabha from the Union Territory was held in 1963 and Congress member P. Abraham won the seat.

Mr. Sivaprakasam handed over the certificate declaring his election to Mr. Kannan. Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam and Minister for Public Works M.O.H.F. Shahjahan were present.

India ranked ninth in world tree planting

India has been ranked ninth in the tree planting roll of honour in a campaign to plant a billion trees, which was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in November 2006.

The country has registered 96 million trees. Under this plan, civil society and governments are asked to register the number of trees that have been planted in their respective countries. So far, 167 countries have participated in this programme.

The initial target set by the UNEP was to plant at least one billion trees worldwide each year. The billionth tree was an olive planted in Ethiopia in November 2007.

After the campaign hit the two billion mark in May 2008, the UNEP decided to set a new goal of seven billion trees, which is one for every person on the planet. The four billion mark was reached in May 2009.

India, however, could be much higher in the ranking, according to UNEP officials who say that the country does not formally register or report all its campaigns.

"India could have planted a billion of trees already this year," Satinder Bindra, director of communications at UNEP, said. "It would be fantastic if those trees were also registered with the campaign."

Online Movie Ticketing in Puducherry for Kandasami

I'm surprisingly thrilled to know an online ticketing service in Pondicherry for the film Kandasami, stared by Vikram and Shriya. Recently in Onlinepuduvai's "Share your local News" section, i received a message from Limata.com saying that they have started online movie ticketing in Puducherry for Kandasami through Muruga Theatre.


The message goes like "Dear Friends, we have started online movie ticketing in Pondy through Muruga theatre. You can book ur tickets at www.Limata.com. Thanks"

This is absolutely a great news! Thanks for the guys who are behind this interesting service. Friends what do you wait for? Just shop your ticket online and enjoy the show!

Pharmaceutical Company at Kurumbapet given closure order

The Puducherry Pollution Control Committee (PPCC) has issued a closure order to Taica Labs, a pharmaceutical company in Kurumbapet.

Special Secretary to Government and Chairman of the PPCC G. Theva Neethi Dhas told The Hindu that the unit had been issued directions for closure, for unauthorised manufacture of liquid formulations such as tonics.

Environmental Engineer of the PPCC N. Ramesh said that the directions were issued with the approval of the Chairman of the PPCC and the recommendation of Member Secretary G. Rajmohan.

The Department of Electricity had also been directed to stop power supply to the unit.

Mr. Ramesh said that the unit obtained licence to operate from the PPCC in February 2007, stating that it would only manufacture tablets and capsules. Water was not required in the manufacturing process, and there was no scope for effluents to be released. Later, the unit started unauthorised manufacture of tonics with alcohol content. This was brought to the notice of the PPCC by complaints from residents of the area, he said.

According to a resident of Raghavendra Nagar in Kurumbapet, “The unit started to discharge effluents into public drains, because of which water turned green. There was open discharge of effluents too, because of which even grass stopped growing in the area. We started to get frequent bouts of fever and developed skin allergy. There was a strong odour released by the effluents, because of which children used to vomit.”

Mr. Ramesh said that the unit had been collecting effluents in a sump and pumping it into roadside drains through an underground pipe.

Officials of the PPCC inspected the unit and discovered the violation.

“We then issued the unit a show cause notice. But, because the response was evasive and not satisfactory, we have now issued directions for closure under Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974,” Mr. Ramesh said.

Yet to fill Nurses vacancies in Puducherry

While we knew, unemployment has been a constant struggle for any country. The recent economic crisis very generously boosted the toll rate of unemployment in many developed and developing counties. United States and other European countries are not exceptional.

It is not a rare situation that in India you plead the government to fill the vacancies assured some 3 year, 4 years back. Recent “the Pondicherry Government Nurses’ Association has urged the government to fill vacancies to the post of staff nurses, head nurses, public health nurses and nursing superintendents.

At a general body meeting held on Thursday, the association adopted resolutions urging the government to fill the third installment of 100 posts of staff nurses and three head nurses as per the Staff Inspection Unit norms as agreed to by the government in 2004, a release said. “

Filling these posts would surely improve the treatment and services provided in Puducherry Government Hospitals. Let us hope the government to act as quick as possible

Puducherry tops in CBSE class X results in Chennai region

Puducherry with 99.72 pass per cent topped the list of states and union territories in the CBSE class X results in the Chennai region, which were announced on Tuesday.

More than one lakh students out of the 1.05 lakh students who appeared for the exam passed, surpassing the previous year's record of 95.25 per cent, N Nagaraju, Joint Secretary, Chennai region, told reporters.

The Chennai region, comprising Andaman and Nicobar islands, Andhra Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, scored an 18-year high record of 95.60 pass per cent.

Kerala, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also registered pass percentage of more than 98 per cent.

Kerala with 35,000 students had the maximum number of students who took the exams this year.

Source