INDIAN STATE : TAMIL NADU

Economic Infrastructure

Power

The total generating capacity available to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board as on 29.02.2008 is 10122 Mega Watts. This comprises of 5597 MW of TNEB’s own generating stations, 1154 MW of Private Sector Power Plants, 2861 MW as Share from Central Sector generating stations, External assistance of 335 MW and others (Captive Power Plants) of 175 MW. Apart from this, a total capacity of 3693 MW is available from Wind Mills in the Private Sector, 451.6 MW from Co-generation plants and 104.85 MW from Bio-mass plants.

The maximum peak demand so far reached is 9076 MW (20.02.2008). The growth of energy consumption is expected to be of the order of 9% per annum. Energy consumption during 2007-08 upto February 2008 is 60,518 Million Units (MU) with a maximum daily consumption of 191.283 MU during 2007-08.

As on 29.02.2008 there are 1,193 substations, 1.61 lakh Kms. of Extra High Tension / High Tension (EHT/HT) lines, 5.12 lakh Kms. of Low Tension (LT) lines, 1.80 lakh distribution transformers and 192.15 lakh service connections

Aviation

There are five Airports (Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchy and Salem) in the State. Chennai is an international airport with flight connections to all major parts of the world, domestic airlines connect Chennai with all the major cities of India.

Railways

Tamil Nadu has a rail network of 4,181 Km. Regular train services connect Chennai directly with all major cities of the country. Suburban Electric trains run from Beach station to Tambaram and from Central to Gummidipoondi and Arakonam. Centralized at Chennai, the Southern Railways present network expands over a large area of India's Southern Peninsula, covering the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry, a major portion of Karnataka and a small portion of Andhra Pradesh. Tamil Nadu has a complete railway track length of 6,693-kms and there are 690 railway stations in the state. Main rail junctions in the State include Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Salem, Coimbatore, etc.

Roads

The length of road network in Tamil Nadu is nearly 1.70 lakh kms. Private bus operators link the important cities and government buses ply the entire south. The inter-state buses run by State Express Transport Corporation connects Chennai with Karnataka, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh. Chennai being gateway to the south is connected by excellent roads to all parts of the south. taxis, auto-rickshaws and cycle rickshaws are available. All types of tourist vehicle are easily available on hire.

Canals

There are two navigational canals - Buckingham Canal and Vedaranyam Canal - identified as Inland Water Transport systems.

Ports

Telecommunication

Telecommunication in Tamil Nadu is on a roll. Tamil Nadu has the highest rural telephone connectivity in the country with nearly 86% of all its villages in Tamil Nadu covered. Six agencies have already been permitted on a non-exclusive basis to create high bandwidth optic fibre cable networks that will cover every single district in the state. These are M/s BPL Broadband, DishnetDSL, Bharti Telesonic, Macro net Private Ltd. (subsequently renamed as Reliance Infocomm Ltd.), Estel Communications Pvt. Ltd. and Bharti Telenet Ltd. This will make internet access possible in every corner of the state. Reliance Infocomm, DishnetDSL and Bharti Telesonic are in the process of physical implementation of their projects.

Social Infrastructure

Education

Tamil Nadu has a established education system and has been rated by the World Bank as the number one state in delivering education through government schools. It also feels pride in its well-established engineering, medical and other professional institutions.

Expanding the access to higher education and ensuring the quality of higher education are the aims of this Government. In order to achieve these aims, the following effective steps have been taken :-

(i) Two new Arts and Science colleges at Surandai and Kulithalai were established during 2007-2008 in addition to the four colleges started during the year 2006-2007.
(ii) As promised in the Budget for 2007-2008, payment of tuition fees for UG course in Government and Government aided colleges is waived.
(iii) As announced in the floor of Assembly, women students from poor families whose parents’ annual income is less than Rs.50,000/- are provided free education for continuing PG courses in Government and Government Aided Arts and Science Colleges under EVR Nagammai Scheme from the academic year 2007-2008.
(iv) As stated in the Policy Note for 2007-2008, shift system has been introduced in all Government Arts and Science colleges from the academic year 2007-2008. Owing to the introduction of shift system the intake in 1st year UG course has increased.
(v) As announced in the Budget of 2007-2008 with a view to improve the quality of technical education in southern districts a new Technical University in the name of Perarignar Anna has been established at Tirunelveli.

In order to provide quality higher education, this Government has taken the following steps :

(i) Qualified teachers have been appointed in Government colleges on regular basis. One month induction training on teaching methods was imparted to the newly recruited teachers. This is first of its kind in India.
(ii) Accreditation of colleges by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is made mandatory. To accredit the institutions and to ensure the quality, State Level Accreditation Council has been formed under the Chairmanship of a former Vice-Chancellor. This is the first of its kind in India.

Health

Tamil Nadu had long remained the preferred destination of health care in India. The state boasts of some world-class hospitals and specialty clinics offering super specialty health care services. Chennai is emerging as the biggest medical hub in Southeast Asia.

The state has a sweeping range of healthcare system by government and private. Its unique system of buying drugs through an exclusive agency TN Medical Services Corporation and distributing those to general hospitals has placed Tamil Nadu on the top list of public health care in India.

Big names include the Apollo and Vijaya hospitals, the Sankara Nethralaya Eye hospital, the Christian Medical college Hospital at Vellore and the affiliated hospitals of Ramchandra medical college. The Apollo Group, Sankara Nethralaya, Madras Medical Mission and MIOT group have pioneered medical treatment and they attract overseas patients quite regularly.

Naturopathy, aromatherapy, herbal therapies all have become popular among the medical tourists.Corporate hospitals in Chennai lure foreign patients by providing a good package medical expertise, nursing care, priority treatment at reasonable costs