Erode:On behalf of the Dhanvantri College of Nursing and District AIDS Awareness movement, a candle light rally for AIDS awareness was conducted on Sunday evening.The Lions District Governor-elect Ms Poornima Tanna inaugurated the rally.The Chairman of the Erode District Chamber of Commerce and Industry T.A.Venkatachalam, Managing Director of M.R. Colour Lab L. Narayanan, Critical Care Physician Dr N. Ganapathy and Chief Medical Officer, Dhanvantri Critical Care Centre Dr G. Nagarajan and others spoke.Dr Nagarajan said since 1983, the candle light rally had been conducted at the international level to create awareness on AIDS.This was the 24th year that the rally was being conducted in Erode.He said that as per statistics more than 50,000 HIV positive and AIDS patients were in India.Madurai in Tamilnadu had a large number of patients, as well as Namakkal, Erode and Salem.He wanted the general public to create awareness among youth about the evils of AIDS.