The number of tourists flocking to 'God's own country' is increasing by the year. While Kerala saw an 18.41 percent increase in foreign tourist arrivals last fiscal, the growth was 7.70 percent for domestic holidayers.
'At the end of the last fiscal, a total of 554,921 foreign tourists and 6,879,885 (6.8 million) domestic tourists visited Kerala,' Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told the state assembly Tuesday.
Eco-tourism projects in the state had 1.4 million tourists as their guests, Balakrishnan said in a written reply to questions raised by opposition legislators.
The state has been successfully promoted as a tourism destination through the projection of the catch-phrase 'Kerala - God's own country'.
The tourism industry in Kerala has not only brought in increased revenues for investors over the years, but has also created a large number of jobs. The tourism revenue at the end of the last fiscal went up by 25.28 percent, touching approximately Rs.110 billion.
Balakrishnan said the biggest problem the industry faces is a shortage of rooms. While there are 8,800 rooms in the four- and five-star category, there are 6,500 rooms in the one- to three-star category. In addition, there are 300 rooms in the heritage section.
'The central government has now sanctioned 65 new three-star hotels. The state government is also offering 10 percent subsidy on investments in the tourism sector and also offers special rates for electricity for the tourism industry,' the minister said.
To boost the industry, the state government has also decided to appoint organisations of non-resident Keralites (NRKs) working outside India as tourism brand ambassadors to promote the state as a tourist destination.
Around two million Malayalis are settled outside India.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
BIG 92.7 FM launches 'Astha Chamma'
In its endeavor to take the strong association between Tollywood and Radio in the next level, BIG 92.7 FM, Hyderabad’s no.1 station and Art Beat Capital’s producer Ram Mohan P today innovatively launched the music of their romantic comedy Telugu film titled ‘Astha Chamma’. RJ Shekar along with the casts Swathi, Nani, Director Mohana Krishna Indraganti and Music Director Kalyani Mallik at the press of the button played the first song on-air exclusively for BIG FM listeners thus marking the first ever digital audio launch of a movie in Tollywood. The music is available only on BIG 92.7 FM.
BIG FM listeners were enthralled when the movie star cast Swathi and Nani snipped and played few comedy junctures of the movie live at BIG FM studios. Actors Srini and Bhargavi play the second lead role in the movie. The movie is a romantic comedy driven by lots of humor and entertainment.
BIG 92.7 FM has exhaustive on-air and on-ground plans for ‘Astha Chamma’ in order to create unprecedented buzz. BIG 92.7 FM has started the promotion of the movie by exclusively premiering teasers of the music starting June 23. The Station will feature interviews with the cast and crew of the movie and also run contests for its listeners across Hyderabad, Tirupathi and Vishakapatnam.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ashwin Padmanabhan, Station Director, BIG 92.7 FM, said “After our association with big hits like Happy days, Athidhi and Krishna, we are extremely excited to launch Astha Chamma. The movie perfectly links with BIG 92.7 FM Hyderabad’s humorous and ‘bindaas’ positioning. We are approaching the association with the objective of delivering value and exclusivity to our listeners as well as the producers of the movie”.
Says Producer Mr. Ram Mohan P, “With the advent of Radio Stations, Ring Tones on mobiles, iPods and MP3 players, the way music is heard is completely transformed from the traditional audio cassette and the CD formats. By launching the music through the BIG FM, we hope to get in listeners excited about our songs first. BIG FM follows a very structured manner of picking up what their listeners would love. We at Art Beat Capital want this venture to be a "win win" game for everyone. After all, "Ashta Chamma" is a game!
BIG FM listeners were enthralled when the movie star cast Swathi and Nani snipped and played few comedy junctures of the movie live at BIG FM studios. Actors Srini and Bhargavi play the second lead role in the movie. The movie is a romantic comedy driven by lots of humor and entertainment.
BIG 92.7 FM has exhaustive on-air and on-ground plans for ‘Astha Chamma’ in order to create unprecedented buzz. BIG 92.7 FM has started the promotion of the movie by exclusively premiering teasers of the music starting June 23. The Station will feature interviews with the cast and crew of the movie and also run contests for its listeners across Hyderabad, Tirupathi and Vishakapatnam.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ashwin Padmanabhan, Station Director, BIG 92.7 FM, said “After our association with big hits like Happy days, Athidhi and Krishna, we are extremely excited to launch Astha Chamma. The movie perfectly links with BIG 92.7 FM Hyderabad’s humorous and ‘bindaas’ positioning. We are approaching the association with the objective of delivering value and exclusivity to our listeners as well as the producers of the movie”.
Says Producer Mr. Ram Mohan P, “With the advent of Radio Stations, Ring Tones on mobiles, iPods and MP3 players, the way music is heard is completely transformed from the traditional audio cassette and the CD formats. By launching the music through the BIG FM, we hope to get in listeners excited about our songs first. BIG FM follows a very structured manner of picking up what their listeners would love. We at Art Beat Capital want this venture to be a "win win" game for everyone. After all, "Ashta Chamma" is a game!
ViScope - a stethoscope that shows heart beats
Diagnosis is set to become more accurate now with the launch of ViScope 100, an innovative auscultation device that enables doctors to 'see' heart beats.
HD Medical Group Ltd officially launched the device here Tuesday.
Arvind Thiagarajan, chief inventor of ViScope, told reporters that with this device, doctors could see the heart beat.
The display device shows graphically the heart beat in the form of waves similar to a ECG graph.
According to Thiagarajan, the visual device could be plugged to a computer and a print-out could also be taken. A doctor could also zoom in on to a particular spot for a careful study.
K.Thirumurthi, a nuclear medicine physician at Madras Medical Mission, who has tested the equipment, told IANS: 'Seeing the sound makes a lot of difference in arriving at a conclusion. It takes a long time for a doctor to actually master the art of hearing the heart.'
'The general practitioners may miss to read/hear correctly the heart sound which may turn out to be costly for the patient.' With a devise like ViScope, things were smooth, he added.
According to him, ViScope, which has an improved technology in comparison to stethoscope, could replace the traditional device.
However, the high price of the device, at Rs.30,000, poses challenges to the marketing plans of HD Medical.
'The price has to be brought down at least by half so that general practitioners can also buy the instrument,' Thirumurthi said.
HD Medical has tied up with BPL Ltd to market the product nationwide.
'We are targeting to sell around 50,000 units by the end of 2009 and earn around $10 million. We will be looking at the primary health centres and the various telemedicine projects,' HD Medical chief operating officer and vice-president Vijay Simha said.
HD Medical Group Ltd officially launched the device here Tuesday.
Arvind Thiagarajan, chief inventor of ViScope, told reporters that with this device, doctors could see the heart beat.
The display device shows graphically the heart beat in the form of waves similar to a ECG graph.
According to Thiagarajan, the visual device could be plugged to a computer and a print-out could also be taken. A doctor could also zoom in on to a particular spot for a careful study.
K.Thirumurthi, a nuclear medicine physician at Madras Medical Mission, who has tested the equipment, told IANS: 'Seeing the sound makes a lot of difference in arriving at a conclusion. It takes a long time for a doctor to actually master the art of hearing the heart.'
'The general practitioners may miss to read/hear correctly the heart sound which may turn out to be costly for the patient.' With a devise like ViScope, things were smooth, he added.
According to him, ViScope, which has an improved technology in comparison to stethoscope, could replace the traditional device.
However, the high price of the device, at Rs.30,000, poses challenges to the marketing plans of HD Medical.
'The price has to be brought down at least by half so that general practitioners can also buy the instrument,' Thirumurthi said.
HD Medical has tied up with BPL Ltd to market the product nationwide.
'We are targeting to sell around 50,000 units by the end of 2009 and earn around $10 million. We will be looking at the primary health centres and the various telemedicine projects,' HD Medical chief operating officer and vice-president Vijay Simha said.
Markets maintain gain in afternoon trade
Indian equity markets extended their gain early Wednesday afternoon.
At 12:30 p.m., the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, was up by 216.31 points or 1.67 percent at 13,177.99. It had touched a high of 13,224.26 earlier.
At the same time the broader based S and amp;P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was up by 52.50 points or 1.34 percent at 3,948.95.
However, the market breadth was negative. On BSE 697 shares advanced, 1,796 declined and 53 remained unchanged.
At 12:30 p.m., the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, was up by 216.31 points or 1.67 percent at 13,177.99. It had touched a high of 13,224.26 earlier.
At the same time the broader based S and amp;P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was up by 52.50 points or 1.34 percent at 3,948.95.
However, the market breadth was negative. On BSE 697 shares advanced, 1,796 declined and 53 remained unchanged.
Seven guerrillas, army officer killed in Kashmir
Seven guerrillas and an army officer have been killed near the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir in an intense gunfight that started two days ago, officials said here Wednesday.
A defence spokesperson said a group of heavily armed guerrillas had sneaked into the Indian side of the LoC, that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, in the Tangdhar sector of Kupwara district, 106 km from here, Monday evening. A massive flushing out operation was started in the area by the army that is still continuing.
'So far, seven terrorists have been killed in this ongoing engagement between the army and the intruders. One junior commissioned officer also lost his life while eliminating the terrorists,' the spokesperson said here.
A defence spokesperson said a group of heavily armed guerrillas had sneaked into the Indian side of the LoC, that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, in the Tangdhar sector of Kupwara district, 106 km from here, Monday evening. A massive flushing out operation was started in the area by the army that is still continuing.
'So far, seven terrorists have been killed in this ongoing engagement between the army and the intruders. One junior commissioned officer also lost his life while eliminating the terrorists,' the spokesperson said here.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Three workers injured in Bokaro steel plant blast
Three workers were injured in a factory blast in Bokaro Steel Plant in Jharkhand Friday morning, official sources said.
According to officials, the blast took place in the furnace of the Steel Melting Shop of the steel plant.
Three employee have received 60 percent burn injuries, hospital sources said.
The injured employees are being treated at Bokaro General Hospital, where their condition was said to be critical.
Employees of the steel plant are blaming the BSL management for the incident, saying poor maintenance caused the blast.
Factory sources said the production has been stopped and it will take at least 40 hours to repair the blast furnace.
According to officials, the blast took place in the furnace of the Steel Melting Shop of the steel plant.
Three employee have received 60 percent burn injuries, hospital sources said.
The injured employees are being treated at Bokaro General Hospital, where their condition was said to be critical.
Employees of the steel plant are blaming the BSL management for the incident, saying poor maintenance caused the blast.
Factory sources said the production has been stopped and it will take at least 40 hours to repair the blast furnace.
Kerala Tourism wins the best tourism website award
Kerala Tourism’s official website, www.keralatourism.org has won the Net4 PC World Web Award 2008 instituted by the technology magazine PC World, for the best tourism website in India. In its second year, the PC World Web Awards chose www.keralatourism.org from among 57 websites across 31 popular categories.
www.keralatourism.org was launched in 1998 and currently receives around 1,50,000 visitors and 6,00,000 page views per month. The site offers thousands of pages on Kerala, indexed in all major search engines. Designed and maintained by Invis Multimedia, the website was judged as the most visually appealing and won accolades from the judges for being a clean and well-structured site. The website’s use of technology and good search option were also said to be way ahead of others.
On the criteria of evaluation, PC World said, “Our experts rated sites on two levels – design and usability. Design included colours, typography, visual appeal and consistency. Usability took into account interactivity and customisation in India.”
Secretary for Kerala Tourism, Dr. Venu V., said he was thrilled by the award. “This award is a great recognition of how we use the internet to communicate with users. We are constantly upgrading our website to make it more user friendly and interactive”
The website has won several other acclaims including the Award of Excellence from the Government of India for the ‘Most Innovative Use of Information Technology and Best Tourism Website / Portal’ and the 2005 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award for the best travel E-Newsletter, pointed out Mr. M. Sivasankar, Director, Kerala Tourism.
www.keralatourism.org was launched in 1998 and currently receives around 1,50,000 visitors and 6,00,000 page views per month. The site offers thousands of pages on Kerala, indexed in all major search engines. Designed and maintained by Invis Multimedia, the website was judged as the most visually appealing and won accolades from the judges for being a clean and well-structured site. The website’s use of technology and good search option were also said to be way ahead of others.
On the criteria of evaluation, PC World said, “Our experts rated sites on two levels – design and usability. Design included colours, typography, visual appeal and consistency. Usability took into account interactivity and customisation in India.”
Secretary for Kerala Tourism, Dr. Venu V., said he was thrilled by the award. “This award is a great recognition of how we use the internet to communicate with users. We are constantly upgrading our website to make it more user friendly and interactive”
The website has won several other acclaims including the Award of Excellence from the Government of India for the ‘Most Innovative Use of Information Technology and Best Tourism Website / Portal’ and the 2005 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award for the best travel E-Newsletter, pointed out Mr. M. Sivasankar, Director, Kerala Tourism.
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