TN PDS goes digital ~ now Ration Cards are Smart cards !!

Do you know – what is the most valuable possession of ‘aamadmi’ –  one that can get them food supplies, help in getting money credit from pawn brokers, serves as a proof of address, helps in establishing self as address proof, proof of income  and much more – the great friend of poor and needy : ‘the ubiquitous Ration Card’.  [and today I got my ration card converted in the form of small Smart card – there are some errors; yet, the initiative of the Govt. is laudable]  ~ and  it is totally in Tamil Only !!

A smart card is a security token that has an embedded chip. Mostly in plastic, they connect to a reader either by direct physical contact (also known as chip and dip) or through a short-range wireless connectivity standard such as Near Field Communication (NFC).  Mostly all chip cards are built from layers of differing materials, or substrates, that when brought together properly gives the card a specific life and functionality. The typical card today is made from PVC, Polyester or Polycarbonate.

During the World War II India faced acute food shortages and to meet the exigencies a separate Food Department was established on 1^st  Dec 1942 under the Commerce Member of the Governor General’s Council. The Food Department was re-designated as Ministry of Food immediately after Independence.    1947. As per available records, the Directorate of Sugar and Vanaspati was part of Food Ministry in 1947.

The Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (colloq. Ration shop) is governed by Government of Tamil Nadu was established in the year 1956. It is responsible for providing food grains, commodities for the people under Public Distribution System through Ration shops. It also provides kerosene at very low cost besides providing rice, wheat, rava, sugar, cooking oil, even soaps.    Public Distribution System (PDS) is a food security system,  established by the Government of India under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution and managed jointly with state governments in India.  A ration card holder should be given 35 kg of food grain as per the norms of PDS.

~ and the news is PDS will happen through smart cards from now on.  In Tamil Nadu, the first batch of smart cards in lieu of  existing ration cards are being issued.  Using this electronic card,  the card holder can get his/her grocery items from the Fair Price Shop's (FPS).The main reason for using this swipe card and making this process computerized is to remove the drawbacks of the present way of issuing products based on ration card. The main drawback in the current system is that the PDS has been criticised for its urban bias and its failure to serve the poorer sections of the population effectively.

The targeted PDS is costly and gives rise to much corruption in the process of extricating the poor from those who are less needy. Also many retail shopkeepers have large number of bogus cards to sell food grains in the open market. Many FPS dealers resort to  malpractice  by diverting  the farm produce procured by the FPS's to the open market.

Ration cards in Tamil Nadu are all set to go fully digital with Chief Minister Mr Edappadi  K Palaniswami launching a smart family card scheme to replace 1.89 crore cards in the state at a cost of Rs 330 crore. "Completion of distribution of smart cards has been planned to be done by May across the State," Palaniswami said after distributing the new cards to beneficiaries at a function here marking the launch of the scheme.

The smart card is modified as smart ration card by coding the microprocessor chip present in it according to the requirements. Each smart ration card contains unique barcode. We need to collect the data from all the valid ration card holders and estimate the total number of smart ration cards to be created. The data includes details like no of members in family, names of the members, head of the family, permanent address, present living address, phone number, aadhar and more.  The database will contain  two different categories i.e. one for the card holder information and the other one to store the details of the items(products) that are being distributed.

Consumers can continue to buy commodities at PDS outlets by using their existing ration cards till such time they received the smart cards, it is stated.  Card holders can get the Smart cards at their respective PDS outlets after getting an SMS from the authorities, he said, adding a new data base has been created by getting the Aadhaar card details of ration card holders. According to the Press release, of  the 6.90 crore members in ration cards, Aadhar details of about 5.85 crore persons have been collated.  TN CM added that Rs 5,500 crore is being allocated annually for the Food department as subsidy.

Have you turned smart already ?

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

13^th May 2017.

the tasty pulpy mango ~ the Yogi mango !!

**  பெரிய மாக்கனி, பலாக்கனி, பிறங்கிய வாழை; அரிய மாக் களி, கடுவன்கள்  அன்பு கொண்டு அளிப்பன ** :                                                                                                                கம்பனுடைய இராம காதை - அயோத்தியா  காண்டம்

As the mercury shoots up and as people start predicting that ‘this year summer is going to be more hot’ …. People start thinking of delicious mango season.  Every place have their own variety of mangoes – some to be eaten ripe, some green and raw and some pickled and devoured.  Mangoes have enriched the literature ~ So many stories, real as well as apocryphal, are associated with this sublime fruit. Like cricket among all sports, mango among all fruits has lent itself to the folklore of Indian and subcontinental literature.  Every place in India,  have their own variety of mangoes – some to be eaten ripe, some green and raw and some pickled and devoured.  Sure you can add more to this list ……..Alphonso, Totapuri, Aambaat, Banganapalli,  Neelam, Sindhoori, Malda, Pairi, Chandrakaran, Alphonso, Langra, Gulaab khaas, peddarasalu, Kesar, dashehari, movandhan, mallika …..   

Almost every state boasts of their great stock and variety. There are approximately 500-1000 cultivars of different mangoes in the country. This huge variety not only differs in its shape, size, and color but also in its rich taste.  Recently I had posted on Banganapalli mangoes getting GI Tag. 

The primordial divyadesam Thiruvarangam has its share in mangoes too:  mampazhachalai [literally the road of mango fruit] – on the banks of the holy river Cauvery, as we reach Srirangam lies Thathachariar gardens, where people make a beeline to buy the signature produce - the sweet and soft-as-butter Imam Pasand mango.  The mango is special, though it is no native of Tamil Nadu, probably the silt and water of the Cauvery river seem to have done it a world of good.  The origin of the prized variety’s Hindi/Urdu name is lost in the mists of time.  In the 70-acre farm  Thathachariar Gardens has 700 mango trees, of which around 300 are the Imam Pasand, followed by other varieties such as Banganapalli, Roumani, and Kallamani (Bangloura).

Variety is what adds interest - mango lovers  this summer will get to relish a new variety of the fruit - named after UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The new mango has been developed by Lucknow's famous mango grower Padamshri Haji Kalimullah. Kalimullaha, 74, who has previously named mangoes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, film stars and sport icons, developed the Yogi mango in his orchard in the Dussehri mango belt in Malihabad area.

The Yogi mango, he said, is grown naturally, and is a hybrid of the famous Dussehri variety.   However, it is reported that the mango is still not ripe and its taste to be yet tested.   Before some jump the bandwagon, Kalimullah, who has been growing mangoes since 1957, said he names new varieties after celebrities to make the legends immortal, and has named some after Sachin Tendulkar and Aiswarya Rai too. 

The orchard, spread over five acres, has about a century-old prized tree, on which he started working in 1987 to develop the craft of growing different varieties on it. It is Kalimullah's talent in grafting and cultivating varieties of mangoes that fetched him the Padma Shri title and also that of Udyan Pandit by UP government.  He is famous for growing 300 different varieties of mangoes on a single tree.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

13^th May 2017.

Regularising shops in Marina beach; Venice to become 'no new kebab shops'

Are they eye-sores or means of livelihood ! ~ how would you view that ? – hygiene anyway would go for a toss. 

To the visitor Marina beach [often touted as the second longest beach of the World – factually not so – and that never takes away its credit] and its pristine beauty offers solace, especially from the sweltering heat.  The sands of Marina provide chance of pleasant times – a few decades ago – there was the Radio beach –  behind the Kannagi statue stood ‘Seerani Arangam’- the Thilagar Thidal place on which so many meetings were held.  Opposite to Presidency College, there was a promenade – a  radio kept on a pedestal, people would gather around to hear ‘maanila seithigal’ – the news in Tamil. There used to be many shops selling sea-shells, conches, and more – and of course lot of food ~from cut mangoes, sugarcane juice, murukku, thenga-manga-pattani-sundal and bajji shops [a particular shop run by an old lady – mami bajji shop  was pretty famous]

Often there are talks about regularizing shops in Marina ~ sometimes they would be banned and would reappear in a week or so.  Even recently, regularisation of shops at Marina beach was intensified  with heavy machines being used to lift and shift the shops. Chennai corporation officials say the shops are planned to be settled in seven rows and add that such raids will be conducted at regular intervals thereafter to discourage new shops coming up.   Marina as could be seen in old films – boats beached with lovers sitting around – for the others – ‘thengai manga pattani sundal’ & ‘kai murukku’  were the hits.  There is also the view that t as hawkers are spread out across the beach, incidences of chain-snatching and harassment are much less !  This year, the corporation took up the issue following repeated complaints from  regular beach-goers and a few NGOs, on the mushrooming of new shops during summer months. These shops came up on the pavement or on the sands of Marina preventing walkers and fitness enthusiasts from carrying on their routine, they claim it to be.

Miles away, Venice is known as the 'City of Canals' and the 'Floating City' - and it can now add another name to that list: 'City of No New Kebab Shops'. Local authorities have banned new fast-food outlets, including those selling kebabs, from opening in the romantic tourist destination to 'preserve Venice's cultural heritage'. The new law, which came into effect recently, also sets a limit on the number of shops which can sell slices of pizza.

'We want to put the brakes on types of activities which are not compatible with the preservation and development of Venice's cultural heritage,' said Paola Mar, the city's tourism chief, according to The Guardian. She added that the Italian city did not object to kebabs or fast foods in principle, and stressed she did not have a problem with people eating outside. 'The problem is that with a tourist city like ours, there is a risk of it losing its identity. There are local products that we must try to promote,' she continued. To discourage tourists - who visit in their millions each year - from eating takeaway food in hotspots, Mar said there were plans to establish picnic areas.

However, Artisanal ice cream will be exempt from the new rules, as it is a firm favourite of the city's mayor, Luigi Brugnaro.   Quite simply, artisan ice cream is ice cream made by an artisan which the dictionary definition of artisan being a ‘skilled craftsperson’. Delving a bit deeper in to the dictionary tells us that a crafts-person is some one who makes things skilfully by hand. Although now-a-days, ice cream makers do not plunge their hands in to a bowl to make their ice cream, the artisan makers certainly do take a very ‘hands on’ approach using all the skills that many have learnt from many, many years making ice cream with recipes and techniques often handed down from one generation to the next.

An ice cream parlour in Rome which charged British tourists £54 for four cones in 2013 took out a newspaper advert justifying its high prices. The Antica Roma gelataria charged brothers Roger and Stephen Bannister and their wives the sum when they stopped at the outlet near the city's famous Spanish Steps. When the unlucky tourists complained, they were told the cost would have been double if they had eaten their gelatos at a table instead of standing up. One Rome councillor called the prices ‘a scandal’. The family complained about the cost to a national newspaper - reigniting a debate over high prices faced by tourists in parts of Italy. But the firm responded by taking out a full page advert titled 'the price is right,' in which it justified the cost of its products.

Last November, the Mayor of Florence was sued for $20million (£15m) by McDonald's after he refused to let them open one of their restaurants in the shadow of the city's famous Duomo. The American fast-food giant wanted to open an outlet in the Piazza del Duomo, deep in the heart of renaissance Florence. But the Mayor, Dario Nardella, told the city council earlier in 2016: 'McDonald's has the right to submit an application, because this is permitted under the law, but we also have the right to say no.' Mr Nardella's decision was upheld by a panel of conservationists who are in charge of preserving the city's most historic areas. But the company, which has more than 36,000 diners around the world and is worth $37billion, did not accept his ruling.

Interesting !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

13^th May 2017.

TN +2 results out ~ SYMA Growth students perform moderately well.

Our student B Karthika has done us proud securing 1154/ 1200 – Business Maths 200;  Accountancy 199; Commerce 197 & Economics 193.. .. ..

SYMA [Srinivas Youngmen’s Association]  has been in the field of Social service since 1977 ~  in the past few years, our initiative in the field of Education ‘SYMA Growth’ has been prospering.  SYMA Growth – a fullfledged tuition centre, is our  cherished  initiative in educating the economically poor children, uplifting their standards and making them responsible citizens.   In realising our unsaturated desire for improving the society, there is need for shaping the children and inculcating in them the good qualities, making them responsible citizens.

In this beautiful World, most students are frightened to face the Public examinations.  SYMA’s vision is  to provide good quality education training free of cost  for those students who suffer for want of opportunities.  On 6th July 2008,  Mr.R Sekar, IPS, Commissioner of Police launched our Tuition Centre ‘Growth’  and a right beginning was made.  Every year since, we have been tasting grand success with very good results.

The classes for the present academic year started  in June 2016 after our initial screening ensuring that the most deserving were selected on economic criteria.  The Centre is run on all days from 6-8 pm in the evening and on Sundays @ 10-12 am and has  +2 Commerce, + Science Group; X standard – Tamil and X Std English medium – each having around 30 students. 

There are anxious moments in life ~ the day when results are announced is one of that. In earlier days, SSLC was a great landmark and results used to be published in Newspapers.  In fact, local dailies would run a special supplement and finding one’s number in the paper would give the student the greatest joy.  The SYMA administrators re-live that anxiety these days when the results of +2 / X are announced, as we care so much  for the future of our students from SYMA Growth.

Today, +2 results have been announced in the State.  In what is percieved as the first of many changes that is to come in Tamil Nadu's education system, the education department has said that the first three ranks in the state board exams will not be announced. Normally, the department announces names of three rank holders.  This announcement came  on a day when a panel is meeting in Chennai to discuss the necessary reforms in education in the state.

For those who do not know, the structure of education in TN State is based on the national level pattern with 12 years of schooling (10+2+3), consisting of eight years of elementary education, that is, five years of primary and three years of middle school education for the age groups of 6-11 and 11–14 years, respectively, followed by secondary and higher Secondary education of two years each besides two years of pre-primary education. The entry age in class 1 is 5+. Prior to 1980s it was : 11 + PUC + Degree.

For the first time in the history of Tamil Nadu a transgender candidate cleared class 12 state board exams, the results of which were announced today.   The state saw an overall spike in the pass percentage from 91.4 last year to 92 this year. Among the districts, as usual, Virudhunagar topped the list with 97.85% students passing the exam.   A total of 8,93,262 students took the exam in March this year and 8,22,838 cleared it.

At our Tuition Centre – SYMA Growth – 9^th year of operations, the results have been a mixed bag.  School topper from Growth has secured 1154 out of 1200, a Himalayan achievement indeed. Overall, 6 students got more than 1000.  The results are to be viewed in the background that these students hail from very poor economic background, with parents mostly having no education and the atmosphere is also not conducive for studying.  Some have performed well; yet it would have given us more happiness if all of them had passed.  In Science group 2 students failed and in Commerce 4 failed out of 24. 

No words can describe our gratitude to the management of NK Thirumalachariar Educational Trust and NKT Boys Higher School.  We thank the NKT Management for providing us the infrastructure and all the support.  We thank  the Head master of the School Mr S Venkatadri.  We pray to Almighty for continued success of this project and look forward to continued support of you all.  The success is due to the blessings of Lord Parthasarathi who guides us in all our steps.  We must place on record our thanks and gratitude to those teachers who taught these students with great dedication, commitment and devotion.  Our Coordinator Mrs Thara and the team who assisted her also deserve special appreciation. .  A Big Thank you to all of you  who have been supporting us in all our endeavours.

Together We will strive to make the society better place for all of us. ~ and very very special thanks to M/s Experis IT and Manpower Inc for their sponsorship.  Gratitude is due to  Mr PV Venkatesan of Manpower also.

SYMA rededicates itself and marches on in the 10^th year of the Operations striving to ensure that students from lower echelons of the Society are provided quality educational support, free of cost.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

12^th May 2017