Youths have great responsibility

Youths have great responsibility”

NCC Week celebrations conclude

THE BEST: Collector Ashish Vachhani presenting a rolling trophy for the best marching contingent to 2 (TN) Battalion NCC in Tiruchi on Friday.

TIRUCHI: Ceremonial march past and distribution of prizes to cadets who excelled at the State and national level competitions marked the National Cadet Corps Day parade organised here on Friday to mark the culmination of NCC Week celebrations.

A total of eight contingents including cadets of 2 (TN) Battalion NCC, 34 (TN) Independent Company NCC and 3 (TN) Technical Air Squadron NCC took part in the ceremonial parade.

The NCC week is celebrated to commemorate the raising of the first NCC unit in Delhi in 1949.

Taking the salute on the occasion, Collector Ashish Vachhani said the NCC had emerged as the world’s largest uniformed youth organisation today.

He said youths had a great responsibility in taking the country forward. The NCC, he said, had grown by leaps and bounds over the years.

Colonel Benz K. Jacob, Group Commander, NCC Group Tiruchi said NCC aims to instil character, discipline, patriotism, spirit of adventure and selfless service amongst the youth.

The Tiruchi Group was the mainstay of the Tamil Nadu Directorate, which has been doing exceedingly well in NCC activities in the country, he added.

The cadets were administered anti-dowry and anti-female foeticide pledge on the occasion.

The rolling trophy, instituted by the Tiruchi Group Headquarters in memory of Major M. Saravanan, for the best marching contingent was presented to 2 (TN) Battalion NCC Tiruchi.

Commanding Officers of various battalions, Permanent Instructional staff and Associate NCC Officers participated in the function.

Six killed as buses collide near Kancheepuram

Six killed as buses collide near Kancheepuram

15 out of 29 injured persons referred to Chennai hospitals

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Government bus was running to Tiruttani from Kancheepuram

Private bus coming from Sri Kalahasthi to Kancheepuram

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MANGLED REMAINS: Rescue operation going on near Kancheepuram on Friday where two buses collided, claiming six lives. —

KANCHEEPURAM: Six persons were killed and 29 others injured in a road accident involving two buses on the Kancheepuram-Tiruttani Road near here on Friday evening.

A State Transport Corporation bus proceeding towards Tiruttani from Kancheepuram and a private bus coming from Sri Kalahasthi to Kancheepuram collided near a school at Sembarambakkam. In the impact, the side portion of the STC bus was ripped off. While drivers of the buses, a woman passenger and a school student died on the spot, two passengers including a woman died in the District Government Headquarters Hospital here. Nearly 15 out of the 29 injured persons were referred to Government Hospitals in Chennai as they had sustained multiple injuries.

However, relatives of some of the victims preferred to take them to nearby private hospitals as the authorities were unable to mobilise the required number of ambulances to transport the injured persons to Chennai.

Vellore Collector Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, who had taken the Tiruttani-Kancheepuram Road to reach Vellore after completing an inspection at Arakonam, coordinated with his Kancheepuram counterpart in the rescue operation. Kancheepuram Collector Santosh K. Misra and MLA Sakthi Kamalammal visited the injured in the hospital here.

10 children rescued from garment unit near Tirupur

10 children rescued from garment unit near Tirupur

A total of 41 children, including 9 girls, rescued in a fortnight

Freedom: Children rescued from a hosiery unit near Tirupur on Friday.

TIRUPUR: Ten children were rescued from a stitching unit at Vavipalayam, in Nerupperichal village on the outskirts of Tirupur on Friday. Four more were rescued on the same day from other units.

This is the first incident in recent times such a large number of children are being rescued from a single unit. According to sources, based on a tip off the authorities conducted a raid at Lakshmi Stitching Centre, run by K. Ramamurthy (41). The job-working stitching unit involved in innerwear manufacturing for a domestic brand.

Ten children, including two girls in the age group of 11 to 13, were rescued from the unit. All of them are children of quarry workers.

Led by Revenue Divisional Officer B. Murugesh and K. Kaliannan, a team of officials conducted intensive raids for the last two weeks.

Mr. Kaliannan said that so far they had conducted raids in 2,923 establishments, mostly garment units, hotels and bakeries here, and rescued 41 children, including nine girls. The children were handed over to Kovai Child Labour Abolition Support Society (Kovai CLASS) for rehabilitation.

Except three, all the 38 were employed at hosiery units, particularly those involved in the production of garment meant for domestic market, he added. A case has been filed against Ramamurthy under section 3 of Child Labour Regulation and Abolition Act, 1986.

Though child labourers are not employed largely by export units because of social accountability code by importers to place orders and third party verification of its compliance, there has been widespread complaints against domestic units for employing children.

Trade unions and non-Governmental organisations have been demanding officials of the departments of labour and factories to curb the practice.

Arts and humanities have potential

“Arts and humanities have potential”

New avenues: Students at the exhibition in Madurai.

MADURAI: The District Collector, S. S. Jawahar, has urged school students not to ape others while choosing courses at the higher secondary and college levels.

Mr. Jawahar was addressing students from various schools at the inauguration of a three-day exhibition on higher education, organised by the Lady Doak College here on Thursday.

He pointed out that many students were not getting proper guidance in making the right choice and hence they thought that only engineering and medicine were the best options available.

He lamented that there was a trend among students to look down upon arts and humanities courses without understanding the potential they have.

“Many outstanding personalities are not engineers or doctors. They are from pure sciences that have vast scope and have relevance to day-to-day life.

So, get the right guidance after tenth standard based on your personal interest in a subject and do not ape others. Simultaneously, pick up soft skills/ tips for personality development,” the Collector told students.

He also asked parents not to impose a course on children when he or she was not interested since it would not give any job satisfaction to youngsters even though they earned substantial salaries. The Collector lauded Lady Doak College for organising an exclusive exhibition to showcase the relevance and utility of higher education to students at school level itself.

Nirmala Jeyaraj, Principal, said that the exhibition, titled ‘Cognizance-2007,’ was an event organised as part of the institution’s diamond jubilee celebrations to enlighten school children about the opportunities and courses.

Fifteen departments have put up stalls, models and charts at the exhibition.

Walking tall

Walking tall

For a living: A youth from Rajasthan seeking alms by walking on stilts in Salem.

Residents protest move to demolish road

Residents protest move to demolish road

VENTING THEIR IRE: Residents of fishing hamlets protesting the demolition of a road and a retaining wall near the East Coast Road on Thursday.