TN government rolls out innovation policy to create 5,000 startups by 2023

Land will be allotted at nominal lease for 99 years to establish ‘Startup Parks’ at appropriate places by entrepreneurs/Startups, including NRIs from Tamil Diaspora.

Published: 20th January 2019 02:29 AM 

Image used for representational purpose only

By T Muruganandham

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government has rolled out the much-expected Startup and Innovation Policy 2018-2023 aimed at creating at least 5,000 startups, including 10 global high growth companies, by 2023. Besides, the policy also has comprehensive measures for creating, supporting and nurturing a vibrant startup ecosystem in the State.

The policy aims at enabling the State to emerge as the ‘knowledge capital and innovation hub of the country’, besides attracting entrepreneurs and investors across the globe. The policy was unveiled by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday.

Numerous measures spelt out in the policy are expected to nurture innovation, investment in R&D, infrastructure, knowledge creation, technological development and skilled manpower, resulting in high growth entrepreneurial ventures across the spectrum of sectors from agriculture, manufacturing, health care, education, logistics, environment, to Fintech and ICT.

For implementing the policy, the State will set up Tamil Nadu Startup Fund with a corpus of `250 crore. The fund will be invested in other SEBI registered Alternative Investment Funds for investment in startups and MSMEs established in Tamil Nadu. The government will invest `75 crore in the fund. The first tranche of `25 crore will be allocated in the budget for 2019-2020.

Besides, a Tamil Nadu Startup Seed Grant Fund (TNSSGF) of `50 crore with an allotment of `5 crore in the first year will be created in partnership with financial institutions and universities for supporting early stage financing requirements of the startups in the form of grants to fill the gap in fund requirement for research & innovation.

The TNSSGF would also provide funding for Idea-to-PoC (Proof of Concept) stages which are pre-startup activities. This will be similar to the erstwhile Technopreneur Promotion Programme (TePP) grant provided by DSIR and would support prototyping and testing of innovative ideas of students/ faculty/ individuals. The Tamil Nadu Startup and innovaTN Mission (TANSIM) will manage this fund, which will be governed by a professional Scientific Startup Seed Fund Board.

The policy will be reviewed every five years. However, amendments in this policy could be made with the approval of the State cabinet without affecting the beneficiaries already covered under the policy. Besides, the performance of this policy will be reviewed by Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Council (TANSIL) every six months based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to be fixed by the council. The TANSIM will also arrange for annual evaluation of the policy and the report will be placed before TANSIL for review and direction.

A centralised registry cum repository on venture firms, incubators, intellectual property support centres, mentors, database of different talents for startups to hire, stakeholders and other activities will be established. The agency will host an online sub-portal for startups to apply for and avail grants and other benefits.

Land will be allotted at nominal lease for 99 years to establish ‘Startup Parks’ at appropriate places by entrepreneurs/Startups, including NRIs from Tamil Diaspora. The government will encourage entrepreneurs by giving access to relevant information/data for creating apps and technologies for public-good.

Core objectives of project

Encourage, facilitate and support emergence of at least 5,000 technology startups
Extend support to at least 10 global high growth startups developing innovative technology solution in sectors like sanitation, clean energy, healthcare, food, education, etc
Establish support infrastructure and strengthen the existing mechanism in thrust areas
Collaborate with educational institutions to promote entrepreneurship among youth
Maximise industry engagement

Provide adequate incentives and resources to startups, facilitators, mentors and investors to promote startup culture in the State
Nurture budding startups defined as START STEPs to graduate into startups

The policy will be reviewed every five years. The performance of this policy will also be reviewed by Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Council every six months

Demand to begin AYUSH nursing courses

Tanu Kulkarni

JANUARY 20, 2019 00:00 IST

‘There is a need for nurses with knowledge of traditional medicines and methods’

With many turning to Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) systems of medicine, colleges are demanding that Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) begin a nursing course in AYUSH.

A senior official at RGUHS said the request was sent to a committee to deliberate upon the matter. “This has been sent to the new courses committee that looks into the pros and cons of starting a new course. Based on the recommendations of this committee, we will take a call on this matter,” said an official of the university.

B.R. Ramakrishna, Dean of Life Sciences, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana and Vice-President, Central Council of Indian Medicine (Ayurveda), said that there was a likelihood of the course being in demand given that there are several AYUSH hospitals. “These hospitals currently employ nurses who are trained in allopathy. But they may not be competent to treat patients who are undergoing treatment in AYUSH hospitals,” he said.

He added that there was a need for nurses to have a knowledge of traditional medicines and methods. “While some part of the syllabus pertaining to human anatomy and hygiene will be the same, a large chunk of it will be based on the requirements for the AYUSH stream,” he said. “This gains significance as the Union Ministry of AYUSH was planning to open an AYUSH hospital in every district in the State.”

Other states

Universities in several States like Kerala and Rajasthan are already offering programmes such as a diploma in Ayush Nursing and Pharmacy and a certificate course in Ayush-Nursing (Ayurveda).

Students and faculty members also hope that the university will grant approval. “We certainly need assistance from nurses when we are treating patients and it will help if they are trained in Ayurveda so that they understand our treatment protocol,” said Gurumurthy S., who is pursuing an M.Sc in Ayurvedic medicine.

Special tahsildar from Tamil Nadu arrested in kidnap case

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

BENGALURU, JANUARY 20, 2019 00:00 IST

Tahsildar Thomas Pius Arul and his wife G. Aruna Pius

Official is posted in Thoothukudi district of the neighbouring State; victim was the 11-month-old daughter of a labourer-couple based in Bengaluru


The Jnanabharati police have arrested the special tahsildar of Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu and his wife for allegedly paying three men in Bengaluru to kidnap an 11-month-old girl.

On Wednesday, the men kidnapped the toddler with the intention of selling her to tahsildar Thomas Pius Arul, 55, and his wife G. Aruna Pius, 45, for Rs. 2 lakh, said the police, who were able to rescue the baby in Salem and reunite her with her family in Bengaluru the same day.

The three men — Anbu Kumar, 43, who lives in Jnanajyothi Nagar in Mallathahalli, Manjunath, 19, and D. Yogesh Kumar, 21, from KP Agrahara — have also been arrested.

“Anbu Kumar, a local businessman, was an acquaintance of Arul, who asked him to get him a child. Arul told Anbu that he had no children and wanted to adopt one,” said a senior police officer.

Anbu promised to help the couple. He roped in his associates Manjunath and Yogesh.

The trio zeroed in on a labourer couple who had an 11-month-old baby girl, Arnavi Kumari Singh. They approached the parents, allegedly asking them if they were willing to give the baby for adoption. When the couple refused, the trio decided to kidnap the child.

Alerted by neighbours

On Wednesday evening, the parents were preparing to move out of their rented house, and had left their baby alone while they were out searching for a vehicle to transport their belongings to their new home.

The three men allegedly used this opportunity to enter the house and grab the sleeping baby.

One of the neighbours noticed the trio fleeing with the baby on a motorcycle and alerted the parents.

The child’s mother, Rani, 24, filed a complaint with the police and informed them about the offer by the trio. A team led by Inspector V. Shiva Reddy checked CCTV footage from the vicinity, and traced the accused to Omalur in Salem district in Tamil Nadu. They were heading to Thoothukudi to hand over the baby.

Arnavi was reunited with her parents on Wednesday.

Based on the statement of the trio, the police arrested Arul and Aruna on Thursday.

“Anbu and his associates had been given a part of the money as an advance by Arul, who had promised to hand over the rest after getting the baby,” a senior police officer said.

Arul told the police that they were desperate to adopt a child as they had none of their own.

“A team has been sent to Thoothukudi to verify his claim,” the officer added.

Arul told the police that he and his wife were desperate to adopt a child as they had none of their own

BSNL upgrades network

SALEM

UPDATED: JANUARY 20, 2019 03:43 IST

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Salem, has announced commissioning of next generation network technology from January 18 in the following exchanges starting with STD code 0427:

Attayampatty, Elampillai, Karipatti, Mallur, P. Mannarpalayam, Panamarathupatty, Sukkampatti, Thirumalagiri, Veerapandi, Vembadithalam, Kammalapatty, Kootathupatty, Kuppanur, Rakkipatty Thirumanur, Vellakundam, Akkarapalayam, Kullappanaickanoor and Salem Main.

A release said that all the above exchanges will now be added with many rich features giving facelift to landline telephone customers. There is no change in numbering scheme and customers having dynamic locking facility of ISD/STD have to register afresh.

. For clarifications, contact 0427 – 2459000 / 2250000.

PM to inaugurate super speciality block of GRH

STAFF REPORTER

MADURAI, JANUARY 20, 2019 00:00 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Madurai on January 27, 2019, is expected to inaugurate the super-speciality block constructed at Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) under the Prime Minister Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).

The construction of this 320-bedded facility, opposite Anna bus stand, faced a prolonged delay of at least three years, reportedly due to delay by the contractor and subsequent litigations.

While a ‘soft launch’ of outpatient services alone was planned this month before the full-fledged inauguration, officials in GRH said that the plan had been postponed since the entire facility will be inaugurated by the PM. Though specific details of PM’s visit was not yet known, officials said that he was unlikely to visit the facility and instead would inaugurate it from the site for All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Thoppur, where he is laying the foundation stone for the project.

“He is also expected to inaugurate the super-speciality blocks built under PMSSY in Thanjavur and Tirunelveli from here,” a senior official from GRH, said.

The super-speciality block at GRH, which will have high-end treatment facilities in more than ten specialities, also includes an overbridge between the block and the trauma care centre on the opposite side of Panagal Road to swiftly shift patients without needing ambulance.

Inspection begins

STAFF REPORTER

CHENNAI, JANUARY 20, 2019 00:00 IST

Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) began inspection of the stretch from Washermanpet to AG-DMS, the last stretch of phase I. Once CMRS gives its approval, this stretch can be inaugurated.

“The four stations that we inspected so far seem quite fine. There are a few minor issues like installation of sprinklers and some modifications of signage that we have asked them to carry out. We didn’t find any other major issues,” a CMRS official said.

CMRS K.A. Manoharan said he will inspect Washermanpet, Mannady, High Court and Chennai Central Metro stations on Saturday and the remaining like Government Estate, L.I.C and Thousand Lights on Sunday.

Former Director of Public Health passes away at 66

STAFF REPORTER

CHENNAI, JANUARY 20, 2019 00:00 IST

S. Elango

He took up several initiatives for tobacco control

Former Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, S. Elango, died on Saturday after a brief illness. He was 66.

In a career spanning over 30 years, Dr. Elango held various posts in the health department including deputy director of health services, faculty member of Department of Community Medicine, joint director and additional director of public health. He served as the Director of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine from 2008 to 2010.

After retiring from service in 2010, he worked in the departments of community medicine in private medical colleges. A resident of Dindigul, Dr. Elango was also the president of the Tamil Nadu chapter of Indian Public Health Association.

As the DPH, he had taken up a number of initiatives for tobacco control in the State.

K. Kolandaswamy, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, recalled that it was during the tenure of Dr. Elango that an initiative to issue birth certificates at the institution for babies born in primary health centres took off.

P. Kuganantham, former city health officer, Chennai Corporation said Dr. Elango handled the 2009 outbreak of H1N1 influeza very well, and is known for his “unbiased” and “bold” expert opinions during public health emergencies.

The last rites will be held at Palayamkottai near Sempatti, Dindigul, on Sunday.