EDUCATION FOR ALL: CONCERNS AND OPPORTUNITIES
S C Tripathi*
India is going to host an international meet on education with focus on girls’ education. The meet is to evolve strategies to bridge the gender gap at elementary school level by 2010. India is committed to not only impart elementary education to all children of 14 years by that year but also to ensure that girls do not lag behind the boys in education. More
New method to detect leaky steam generator at atomic station developed
KM College Monitor - Psychology Exhibition -Kerala University College - Psychology Exhibition organized by Kerala University College
by R.S.Priya
Thiruvananthapuram Nov 18: An interesting psychology exhibition is organized by the Kerala University College at the YWCA Hall here, which was inaugurated by George Mathews, former head of the psychology department . The event titled "Psycho fest 2003" . The University College is conducting an exhibition on Psychology is held after a span of 3 years, said organizer Shivaprasad, M.A.Psychology 2nd Semester student in the University College. The event started on 17th Nov and will end on 19th Nov.
There are participants from different institutes like National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH), Institute of Communicative and Cognitive Neuro Sciences (ICCONS), Pratheeksha De-addiction Centre, Sri Chithra Thirunal Medical Centre, Prasad Laboratory and various exhibits by the M.A.Psychology students of University College. There was also a separate section for Parapsychology. In the Parapsychology section, the extra-sensory perceptions are tested. A person may have what is called 'Sixth Sense'. Parapsychology deals with this aspect of the mental frame set. There are also exhibits dealing with diseases like epilepsy, dementia and other neuro-disorders.
The NISH, an institute dealing with the treatment of speech and hearing problems, is present in the exhibition hall with its hearing aids. According to NISH there are many causes for speech and hearing disability for curing which it has exhibited different hearing aids. In addition, there are instruments like audiometer, echo-check and middle-ear analyzer on display. There are also many instruments for checking the different aspects of mind like aspiration test, sensitivity test, problem solving ability test, concept formation test, tension and anxiety test etc.
The Pratheeksha De-addiction Centre at Shanghumugham is an institution aiming to control addiction to alcohol and drugs. "The mode of treatment there is by slowly removing the patients addiction to alchohol and drugs, by a few phases" said Binu Rajan, a social worker and cousellor at Pratheeksha. The aspiration test helps to find out how much a person aspires and whether one is able to achieve his or her target. At times, the aspirations may be much above the ability to achieve.
A sensitivity test helps to detect the artistic ability and problem solving maze helps to find how fast one can solve a given problem. There is also the concept formation test, which helps to test the ability of a person to create something in a fast pace. There are also different informative stalls on various neurological problems and how to deal with such problems. Canara Bank, Indian Express and Parthas have sponsored the exhibition (keralamonitor.com)
Beware of Fixing Fixed Depositors Federal Bank, SBI Officials join hands with NRI to Cheat Depositor
NRI who cheated a Delhi Businessman of Rs.67 crore arrested and sent to jail
New Delhi, 18th Nov: CBI has arrested an NRI, Antony Joe Kingslay Fernandez on charges of cheating a rich old man of Delhi and his son, a British citizen of nearly Rs. 67 Crore. Fernandez was produced before the CMM, Delhi and was sent to Judicial Custody for 14 days. Fernandez originally hails from Nagarcoil in Tamil Nadu.
CBI registered a case against Fernandez following a complaint made to the Investigating Agency by a Delhi- based businessman, Anand Kumar. The businessman's two sons are settled in Britain since more than 20 years and they together own 12 departmental stores in England and Ireland. In early 90s, his younger son Mukesh Kumar decided to invest money in India because of higher interest rates. To manage his huge investments in India, he nominated his father Anand Kumar as his attorney. In the year 2000, Anand Kumar was approached by one Arun Jain, a Delhi-based agent who promised him better incentives in lieu of bank deposits. Anand Kumar agreed and transferred nearly Rs. 12.5 Crores from his son's bank account in Delhi to the Nagarcoil Branch of Federal Bank through Fernandez. This money was deposited in the form of FDs for a period of three years. However, instead of giving the original FDs to Anand Kumar, Fernandez handed over fake FDs to him and kept the originals with himself. Soon after, he opened a joint NRE account in his own name and that of Mukesh Kumar in the Nungambakkam Branch of SBI in Chennai based on a fake letter from Mukesh Kumar. The Bank officers opened this account even without the Account Opening Form and specimen signatures. On the very next day, Fernandez got the amount of Rs. 12.6 Crore which was in the name of Mukesh Kumar in the Federal Bank, Nagarcoil transferred into this joint account and on the same day, he withdrew part of this money in cash and the rest was siphoned off through cheques and demand drafts.
Using the same modus operandi, Fernandez in connivance with the bank officials induced Anand Kumar to transfer another about Rs. 25 Crore from the accounts of his son, Mukesh Kumar in Delhi to the joint account in the Nungambakkam Branch of SBI and the bank officials issued the FDs in the joint names of Mukesh Kumar and Fernandez, despite clear instructions from Anand Kumar for issuing FDs in the name of his son Mukesh Kumar only. On each occasion, Fernandez encashed the FD prematurely and siphoned off the funds. In fact, he grew so confident that he obtained huge loans on several occasions from SBI against these FDs.
The fraud came to light in October 2002 when Mukesh Kumar received a letter from the bank giving details of some of the FDs held by him jointly with Fernandez. Unable to comprehend what has happened, the father and the son took up the matter with the bank authorities, but the response from the bank was less than encouraging. Finally in September this year, Fernandez asked Anand Kumar to come to Trivandrum to settle the matter and handed over a demand draft issued by Canadian Imperial bank, Toronto for an amount of 19.70 million US$ in lieu of the 18 FDs from Anand Kumar. But when this demand draft was presented in HSBC Bank, New Delhi, Anand Kumar learnt to his horror that the Canadian Bank had never issued this demand draft and it was fake. This is when Anand Kumar realised how badly he had been duped and finally approached CBI in October 2003.
The CBI investigation revealed many interesting facts. It was found that Fernandez had prematurely encashed the original FDs issued from State Bank of India, Chennai and handed over fake FDs to Anand Kumar who believed them to be genuine. Little did he realize that his son's hard-earned money had already been siphoned off by his own agents. A background check on Fernandez has revealed that he owned a placement company by the name of Engineers King in Nagarcoil and was engaged in sending people to Middle East till late Eighties. In early Nineties, he emigrated to USA and that is when his meteoric rise in life started. In the next ten years, he amassed huge assets in India and abroad, including a 50 acre farm in Canada, Plantations in Vallumalai near Kanyakumari and several companies. For FERA violations in 1994 he spent some time in jail. (keralamonitor.com)
Centre asks Tamilnadu government to suspend its operations of sending temple elephants to rejuvenation camp
Nov 18: Concerned at media reports on the alleged physical torture being meted out to a large number of temple elephants in Tamil Nadu while transporting them to Madumalai Sanctuary for a so-called rejuvenation camp under the instructions of the Tamil Nadu Government, the Centre has asked the state government to provide a factual report on the issue. The state government has also been asked to put on hold the transportation of these elephants till such time as the matter is reviewed in the Ministry of Environment & Forests. -Keralamonitor.com
