NATIONAL SEMINAR ON “GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS”

The Department of Commerce and Research Centre of this institution has organized a National Seminar on “Global Financial Crisis – Opportunities and lessons for India” on 28th and 29th January 2010. The seminar was inaugurated by Mr.MSA Kumar, the CEO of AVT Natural Products limited. Mr. Kumar explained the causes of the present financial turmoil. The nature of the European Financial Market, especially that of the US, the volatility attached with it and the root causes for its failure are objectively revealed by him. India has always maintained a slow and steady growth, the regulators and the legislators played a positive role in strengthening the  fundamentals of the country, he opined. Mr.Kumar. He made a comparative analysis of the depression in 1930s and the present day recession. Mr. Kumar strongly believe that India has got inbuilt strength to withstand and overcome the present financial turmoil. He also presented the present state of affairs of our industrial sector, the direct and indirect elements which affects our industrial growth. Important lessons our nation has to learn from the present crisis and how the threats may be converted into opportunities was also t dwelt upon by him. He is very optimistic about the growth of the Indian economy.
            Rev.Dr.Clement Valluvassery, Manager, St.Albert’s College, in his presidential address, congratulated the department of commerce for organizing a National Seminar on this relevant topic. He place on record his appreciation for organizing the National Seminar by the dept. for the fourth year. He expressed his concern over the fact that the economic growth process is losing its human face. He strongly recommended that the fruits of economic growth should reach the hands of the poor and the downtrodden.
            Capt. Prof. Robert Stanley, Pricipal, St.Albert’s college, revealed that the Dept. of commerce is a forerunner in providing quality education to the student community. He congratulated the dept. for organizing the seminar continuously for the forth year. He expressed his grave concern over the present economic turmoil.
Prof. Leslie Pallath, Director, Albertan Institutions of Higher Education, was very positive in his address. He expressed his views on the strengths of this nation, and he opined that Indian was a strong nation even 200 years back. The rich resources of our country must be judiciously utilised for the future growth of this country, he said. He encouraged the student community by saying that the youngsters of this country should hope for the best and India  is a young nation of 26 years old, because majority of the people on India are less than 26 years of age. He stressed the need for sustained growth for India.

            Mr.Venugopal C.Govind, Managing partner, Varma and Varma, Chartered Accountants, delivered the Key note address during the first technical session. He delivered his address on the topic”Global Financial Crisis and its Impact”. His oratory  capacity took the audience to the newer levels of thinking. India is a safe and growing economy and the FIIs are looking at our country with great expectations. Mr.Venugopal is of the opinion that the infrastructure must be developed to the world class level and the economic policies must intensify the growth process of the country. Nation building must be of  utmost importance. He finds a great future for India. 
            Earlier, Dr.Rajagopala Nair, Head of the Dept. of Commerce, introduced the seminar topic to the delegates and he delivered the welcome address. The seminar was attended by 41 delegates representing the States of Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Kerala.  18 papers were presented by delegates. Dr.K.T.Peter, faculty member in the dept. of commerce, proposed the vote of thanks. The valedictory function was held on 29th January 2010. The function was presided over by Rev.Dr.Clement Valluvassery, manager, St.Albert’s college and was attended by Cept.Prof.Robert Stanley, our principal. Certificates were distributed to the delegates by our Manager. Dr.A.M.Viswambharan delivered the welcome address and Dr.Rajagopala Nair proposed the vote of thanks.

RELEASE OF THE FOURTH EDITION OF OUR RESEARCH JOURNAL ‘COGNIZANCE’

            The fourth edition of the Research Journal of the Dept. of Commerce, ‘Cognizance’ was released by Mr.MSA. Kumar by giving the first copy to Mr.Venugopal C.Govind.

Department of Commerce and Research Centre
Ph.Ds Awarded

Mr. Mohan P.Philip:
            Topic :An Entrepreneurship Model for Kerala
            Supervising Teacher : Dr.Rajagopala Nair

Mrs. Seena Augustine:
            Topic : Tourism Brand Promotion – An Empirical Study on Kerala 
            Supervising Teacher : Dr. Rajagopala Nair

Talk on‘Cancer Biology’ and ‘Cancer Myths and Facts’

A talk on ‘Cancer Biology’ and ‘Cancer Myths and Facts’ by Dr. V.P. Gangadharan, Head of Medical and Pediatric Oncology, Lakeshore hospitals was organized on 30th June 2009. Dr. Gangadharan talked on the various aspects of different types of Cancers giving thrust to lung and breast cancer which is at highest incidents in men and women respectively in Kerala. He also pointed out the need for an early detection of cancer and upraised audience about the various symptoms by which it can be detected. Students and faculty members of various colleges participated in the program. Dr. L. Jose Head of the Department of Botany introduced the chief guest. He described him as a great humanistic Doctor of the present times.

CONGRATULATIONS !

Dr. Rajagopal Nair, Reader and Head, Department of Commerce has been awarded ‘Sai Samanvaya Award’ for excellence in human endeavour 2009. This award has been conferred on him for his excellent service in the field of education. He joined St. Albert’s College in 1980. He is an approved research guide since 1995 and has produced 8 PhD’s including the first in commerce from M.G. University.

National seminar on global business environment

Department of Commerce and Research Centre, St. Albert’s College, Ernakulam organized a two day National Conference on Global Business Environment Opportunity and challenges for India. The conference was funded by the U.G.C. The conference was inaugurated by
Sri. P.C. Cyriac IAS, Chairman of Cochin Stock Exchange Ltd. Sixty delegates from within the state and outside participated in the conference.

Dr. Rajagopala Nair, HOD, Department of Commerce welcomed the gathering. Rev. Dr. Clement Valluvassery, Manager presided over the function and delivered
the presidential address. He congratulated the department for organising the conference and providing other academic support. He also stressed the importance of global business and the adverse effect of recession.

Dr. P.C. Cyriac IAS, in his inaugural address said that pragmatism is more important than ideology by citing the example of China. Quoting NASSCOM, he said that the software indus-try is not heading for a slow down. The lay-off is only a routine phenomenon and the industry will continue to generate the same amount of export income.

India must turn this challenge into an opportunity for strengthening its infrastructure and making India a beautiful place for business. Government should not be lethargic, but remove the bottle neck that exists in transport system and power genera-tion. Developing the inland navi-gation system in Kerala can dra-matically reduce the cost of transportation. If the government develops a comp-rehensive plan for infrastructure development within the next 5 years, the econ-omy can be prevented from being sluggish.

On the 2 nd day, Dr. T. Mallikarjunappa, Professor and Chairman of Department of
Business Administration, Mangalore University presented a paper on the topic- Global Financial Markets - The current turmoil.

Dr. Mallikarjunappa explained the prime lending rates and opined that the poor economic decisions taken by the Americans and violation of prime lending has led to the current sub-prime crisis in the U.S. Recession has set in the world economy, Germany and France being its first victims.

The valedictory function was presided over by Rev. Dr. Clement Valluvassery. Principal Prof. Robert Stanley spoke on the occasion and distributed certificates to the participants.

Department of Aquaculture & Conservation Research Group’s success with international research grants

Conservation Research Group (CRG) has received its 5 th Major Research Grant from International agencies since it started functioning in November 2008. Various international agencies such as Rufford Foundation (UK), Chester Zoo (UK), Endangered Species International (USA), PADI Foundation (USA) and Chelonian Research Foundation (USA) are currently funding the research activities at CRG.

 Presentations

l Rajeev Raghavan presented a paper entitled ‘Concept of protected areas and ecotourism: the challenge for three developing countries’ at the International Conference on Sustainable Hospitality and Tourism Management: Beyond the Global Economic Recession
held at Silpakorn University International College, Bangkok, Thailand from 14 th to 15 th May 2009.

l Benno Pereira presented an invited talk on conservation of freshwater fishes of Kerala at the Titus Teachers Training College at Thiruvalla

l Dr. Rajagopala Nair presented a paper titled ‘Financial exclusion to financial inclusion’- Presented at the National Seminar organized by the Albertian Institute of Management on 30 and 31 January 2009.

• Dr. Rajagopala Nair presented a paper titled ‘Accounting for managers’ – Presented at the expert session held as part of the Fifth Annual Extramural lecture series Vidyamritam organized by ASAS on 17 th February 2009.

Projects

1. Benno Pereira has been awarded a research grant by the PADI Foundation, California, USA for a study on the conservation of the endemic and threatened cyprinid fish, Puntius denisonii from the streams of Kerala.

2. Benno Pereira has been awarded a minor project by the University Grants Commission for a study on the utilization of small dense fishes in aquaculture.

3. K. Krishnakumar and Rajeev Raghavan has been awarded
a research grant by the
Chelonian Research Foundation, Massachusetts, USA for a study on the endangered Cochin Forest Cane Turtle, Vijayachelys silvatica.

Publications

1. G. Prasad & Rajeev Raghavan 2009 ‘Fishing down’ and ‘farming up’ the food webs: Should India be concerned? Proceedings of the National Academy of Science ( India) 32 (1&2): 11-14.

2. M.C. Sabu and R. Tikekar 2009 ‘Anisotropic superdense star models in General Relativity’, Vol. 7 (i), 19-24, Science & Society.

Workshop

 Benno Pereira attended the Winter School on the Recent Advances in Breeding and seed production of marine finfish and shellfish held at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi.

Dr. Rajagopala Nair participated in the International Conference on Information Security in Banking organized by the Albertian Institute of Management on 20 th and 21 st March 2009.

Edwin Tomson and Sabu M.C. attended the Mathematics Talent Search and Nurture Programme 2009 during the month of April and May organized by University of Calicut and funded by NBHM, Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India

Editorial Board

Rajeev Raghavan has been invited to represent the editorial board of the international journal - ‘Aqua-culture, Aquarium, Conservation and Legislation - International Journal of the Bioflux Society.

Workshop on SPSS

A three-day workshop on "Research Methodology and Application of SPSS for Data Analysis", was inaugurated by Dr. G. Syda Rao, Director, CMFRI, Kochi at the Albertian Institute of Management, a unit of St. Albert's College, Ernakulam. The participants of the workshop were researchers, research guides, university/college teachers, scientists and executives. Dr. Rao mentioned that successful corporates and institutions today are increasingly using statistical tools and packages for performance improvement, and this should in turn benefit the society at large.

The function was presided over by Capt. Prof. Robert Stanley (Principal, St. Albert's College). Dr. Francis Cherunilam (Director, Albertian Institute of Management), Prof. Leslie. J. Pallath (Director, St. Albert's Institutions of Higher Education) and Prof. George V. Antony spoke on the occasion.

KUDOS

 Dr. M L Joseph (Dept. of Zoology) has been appointed as the district Co-ordinator of Kerala Bio-diversity Board. He will be in charge of the preparation of Bio-diversity Register of Ernakulam District.

Wu-Shu Champion

Our first year M.Sc. Physics student, Sri. Jerrin George brought laurels to the college by winning the International Sport’s event of Kerala Wu-Shu assoication affiliated to IOA. He won the gold medal in 52-56 kg category. The cometition was held at Kozhikode. He was trained by Sri. Antony Jimmy, staff of St. Albert’s College.

DST - FIST Sponsored instrumentation lab inaugurated

The DST - FIST sponsored Instrumentation lab of the Chemistry department was inaugurated by His Excellency Rev. Dr. Joseph Karikkasserry, Aux. Bishop of Verapoly on the 3 rd March 2009. The lab has sophisticated instruments like Fourier Transform Infra Red Spectrophotomer and UV - Visible spectrophotometer costing together around 29 lakh Japanese Yen besides Semi Micro electronic balance, equipments for water analysis, polarimeter, polaroscan and so on.

The computer lab with a network of 10 computers was also inaugurated on the same day. Books worth Rs. 2 lakhs were purchased with the above fund.

The “Earn while you learn” programme initiated by the Spices Board, Ernakulam Division has been helping our students to gain valuable training on sophisticated equipments in their lab. The team from spices Board visited our college during the month of May 09 and selected 24 students who completed B.Sc. course in Chemistry from our college.

The renovated staff room of the department was blessed by our beloved Manager Rev. Dr. Clement Valluvassery on 1 st June 2009.

VEMBANAD FISH COUNT 2009

 More than 25 students and 4 faculty members of the Department of Aquaculture participated in the ‘Vembanad Fish Count 2009’ a participatory survey of fish resources in Vembanad Lake, organized by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE). St. Albert’s College was also one of the coordinating institutions that provided technical and logistical support for the program.