Local Mauritius

Commonwealth reform vital: Sanders

Sir Ronald Sanders, a member of the Commonwealth Eminent People Group (EPG), is presently in Mauritius. He attended the regional outreach event that was held on Wednesday in Port Louis. In an interview to The Independent, the international consultant and writer pointed out that the Commonwealth has to embrace reforms to achieve development aspirations of [...]

25 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Island hosts EPG regional outreach event

To promote Commonwealth values, the British and Australian high commissions hosted the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) regional outreach event on Wednesday at Le Labourdonnais Hotel, Port Louis. Several personalities including the minister of Foreign Affairs Arvin Boolell and representatives from Seychelles, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho and Pakistan were present. The aim was to share ideas [...]

25 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Govt subsidises onion curing

Starting this month, the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security is offering planters a 40 per cent grant to enable them to invest in an onion curing unit. These units are essential for the production of onions because they are used for the drying of the onions to ensure they last longer. With the 40 [...]

25 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Mare d’Albert school now equipped with science lab

A new science lab and media library at the Mare d’Albert Government School was inaugurated by the minister of Education and Human Resources, Vasant Bunwaree on Wednesday. The minister announced that one school from Constituency No 12, Mahébourg / Plaine Magnien, will be used as example to highlight the green school concept. “At the government [...]

25 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Std I list for 2012 ready next week

The provisional list of pupils to be admitted to Standard I in January 2012 will be displayed in all primary schools on August 29 and 30. Representations will be registered at the school where admission was applied for on the same days from 9.30 am to 11.30 am and from 12.30 to 2.30 pm. Representations [...]

25 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

ICAC asked to uncover illegal rosewood cartel

It never rains but it pours, so goes the saying. On July 26 a minister signed the collective resignation letter from the cabinet in solidarity with a fellow colleague arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). He is now alleged by the Malagasy authorities to be involved in the illegal trading of rosewood which [...]

24 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Marathi Speaking Union felicitates bright students

Ministers Bappoo and Dayal spoke on the importance of education among the youth and also underlined Prime Minister Dr Navin Ramgoolam’s vision. They said the PM is facilitating the promotion of languages through the setting up of various unions for ancestral languages. The Marathi Speaking Union (MSU) held a prize giving ceremony on Sunday to [...]

24 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

ERCP launches planters harvest schemes

On Tuesday, the Economic Restructuring and Competitiveness Programme (ERCP) launched the Planters Harvest Scheme (PHS) 1 and 2 during a press conference held at the Labourdonnais Hotel, Port Louis. It was chaired by Ashraf Esmael, president of the association of leasing companies, Iqbal Mallam-Hasham, managing director of the State Investment orporation (SIC), Raj Ringadoo, chairman [...]

24 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Mauritius Union opens branch in Seychelles

The Mauritius Union Assurance (MUA) officially opened its new branch at Méridien Barbarons in Mahé, Seychelles. Several personalities such as the governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles, Pierre Laporte , the chairman of the board of administration of MUA, Dominique Galéa and the chief executive officer (CEO) of the group, Krish Lutchmeenarraidoo were present [...]

24 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Sugar estate residence turned into talents centre

The Talents training centre was launched amidst a star-studded guest list on Tuesday at Pierrefonds. Daniel Girault, chief executive officer (CEO) and Marc Desmarais, human resource manager of Médine sugar estate, Benoit Adolphe, training coordinator of Talents training centre and Linda Pugh, representative of Hemsley Fraser company, which is part of the Demos group that [...]

24 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Truth and Justice Commission proposes effective land management

Mauritius is embarking on a land management reform project, through the LAVIMS programme, in a bid to ascribe a value to land. This will provide for an essential mechanism to facilitate decisions on liabilities, risks and state intervention in land use and planning. The project will deliver a modern land administration, valuation and information management [...]

24 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Food poisoning at Charles Telfair canteen detected

Around 10 cases of food poisoning have been reported at the tertiary institution, Charles Telfair Institute (CTI) located at Moka. However, according to the marketing manager of CTI, Vanessa Harel, only one official case was recorded by a girl who bought food from one of the canteens known as Substation. The girl was a victim [...]

24 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

UoM, ministry award website contest winners

Kirupagaren Kanni, first year BSc (Hons) Computer Applications student of the University of Mauritius (UoM) has been declared the winner of the Web Design competition. A ceremony was organised to reward the winner on Tuesday at UoM, Réduit where the minister of Tertiary Education, Science, Research and Technology, Dr Rajesh Jeetah handed over the prizes. [...]

24 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Minister assures no threat of oil spillage

The minister of Public Infrastructure, National Development Unit, Land Transport and Shipping, Anil Bachoo, speaking at a joint press conference held along with minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Devanand Virasawmy in Port Louis said, “We are following the development of the Panamese cargo vessel MV Angel 1 every hour and doing all that is [...]

24 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Mandela laureate pays tribute to SSR

African poet, musician and Nelson Mandela’s poet laureate, Zolani Mkiva, will soon release a music album comprising a single entitled ‘Father of the Nation’, as a special tribute to Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. Mkiva is expected to arrive in Mauritius next week to promote his work. Limited editions of lithographs highlighting the lyrics will also be [...]

24 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Bundhoo seeks health literacy plan

The new minister of Health and Quality of Life, Lormus Bundhoo, wants to establish a health literacy programme in collaboration with other ministries, NGOs and the private sector. According to him, it is crucial to inform people about diseases and precautions. “Mauritius is a tropical country and we are affected by diseases such as dengue, [...]

23 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Banks scramble to go green

After the State Bank of Mauritius (SBM), the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) has followed suit by adopting the e-statement service. The customers of the MCB are invited, starting this week, to switch to an e-statement. The service allows customers to receive bank account and credit card statements via e-mail. An e-statement is a replica of [...]

23 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Janmashtami celebrated

Krishna Janmashtami was celebrated across the island, particularly by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), from Sunday night till Monday morning. Some 15,000 devotees of Lord Krishna converged at the ISKCON temple to offer prayers. Several prayers, a reading of the Bhgavad Gita which trares the childhood of the Lord as well as distribution [...]

23 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

Home internet records 1.6 pc rise

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) published figures on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for 2010 on Friday, August 19. It reported on Internet Service Providers (ISP), mobile subscriptions and ICT access by households, among others. In 2010, the total number of mobile cellular subscribers rose by 9.6 per cent to reach 1,190,900 in 2010 [...]

23 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily

HRDC focuses spotlight on entrepreneurship

A highly skilled labour force with a dedication to the company and the country is a proven combination, hard to beat. Thus, one of the main objectives of the Human Resource Development Council is to take appropriate measures to ensure a balance between demand and supply of human resource. This was stated by the HRDC [...]

23 Aug 2011, The Independent Daily