Kochi lagging in cleanliness, Kerala govt should take responsibility: Goyal

 The port city of Kochi is lagging in cleanliness and the local bodies as well as the Kerala government has to take responsibility for it, Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal said

The port city of Kochi is lagging in cleanliness and the local bodies as well as the Kerala government has to take responsibility for it, Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday. Goyal, while picking up garbage from the roadside in the Marine Drive area of the city, told reporters that he loves Kochi, but not in the way he sees it over here.

He also said that the city has plummeted several hundred positions in the cleanliness index in a short span of time. “I also love Kochi. But I do not love it in the way I see it over here. I do not love Kochi when in a short span of time it falls from fifth rank to 324 in the swachhta index. I think it is extremely sad,” the Union Minister said. He further said “the local bodies and the government will also have to take responsibility” for the lack of cleanliness in the city….Read More

Kerala Governor seeks reports from two universities over exam goof-ups

 Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has sought a report from Kerala and Kannur universities over recent goof-ups in examinations.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has sought a report from Kerala and Kannur universities over recent goof-ups in examinations. The answer key was distributed instead of question paper to students appearing for BSc electronics examination on “Signals and Systems” at Kerala University. The exam was held in February and not a single student raised the issue during the examination. The goof-up was noticed when the answer sheets were sent for valuation. Meanwhile, exams were postponed at Kannur University after it was found that the previous year’s question papers have been repeated once again this year.

A Raj Bhavan official termed the report sought a ‘routine matter’ as Kerala Governor is the de facto Chancellor of state universities. “Action will be taken on the basis of the reports. This is a routine intervention of the Raj Bhavan in the university matters,” the official said. The goof-up in universities has come at a time when the Kerala Governor is indulged in a row with the state government over issues related to the administration of state universities including the appointment of Vice-Chancellors.

Kerala govt makes compulsory for public to follow Covid-19 norms till 2021

The norms have been issued under the 'Kerala Epidemic Disease Corona Virus Disease (Covid-19) Additional Regulations, 2020'

The Kerala government has made it mandatory for the public to adhere to Covid-19 safety guidelines such as wearing of masks for the next one year, as part of its measures to tackle the spread of the virus in the state.Through an amendment brought to the Epidemic Diseases Act, the state government said the regulations for the public will remain in effect till July 2021.

The norms have been issued under the 'Kerala Epidemic Disease Corona Virus Disease (Covid-19) Additional Regulations, 2020.'In the wake of an increase in Covid-19 cases in the state, the government has taken a decision to strengthen precautionary measures against the spread of coronavirus, the government said in an explanatory note with the Gazette notification. According to the regulations, all persons shall cover their mouth and nose with a mask or face cover in all public places, workplaces, any place where the public have access, all kinds of vehicles and during transport.

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"All persons shall maintain a social distance of six feet between person to person in all public places and functions… In all wedding ceremonies and functions thereafter the maximum number of participants at a time shall not exceed50 people," it read. Not more than 20 people would be allowed at shops and funerals.

Signal from PM Modi to CMs: Covid-19 lockdown may continue beyond May 3

Green zones may see more relaxations; states divided on how to end curbs

The nationwide lockdown is all set to be extended beyond May 3, at least until the middle of the month in the red zones of the country, as many states told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video-conference meeting on Monday that it’s not the time yet to lift the curbs.This means more activities may be allowed to resume in green zones of the country. Most Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states support extending the lockdown, but will wait and abide by the Centre’s fresh guidelines. Telangana has already extended the lockdown until May 7, and will take a decision on further extension on May 5.

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Odisha, Meghalaya and some others support extending it by a month. Congress-led governments want the lockdown to be lifted in areas other than hotpots or containment zones.Delhi will take a call by April 30.Maharashtra will also decide by the end of the month, but will not lift the lockdown in urban centres like Mumbai and Pune, which are in red zones, while allowing economic activity in green zones. Mindful of the economic challenges, the government is preparing a detailed exit strategy that would give states more space in deciding their respective plans, sources said after the three-hour meeting.

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All CMs, except Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan, who sent his chief secretary, participated in the meeting. Nine CMs spoke while the rest sent in their suggestions. The PM indicated that Covid-19 is here for a long haul and that people need to learn to live with it. He said masks and face covers would become part of our lives in the days ahead and reiterated the mantra of ‘do gaz doori’ or social distancing…

Over 22 dead in HP, 8 missing in Uttarakhand as rains ravage north India

Delhi witnessed rains with the maximum temperature settling at 29.7 degrees Celsius, four notches below the season’s average

Current Affairs: Heavy rains lashed northern parts, leaving at least 22 people dead in Himachal Pradesh and eight missing after cloudburst in Uttarakhand, while a flood alert was sounded in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab as Yamuna and other rivers were in spate.

In view of heavy discharge being released in the rivers in Haryana, the state’s Revenue and Disaster Management Department has requested to direct the concerned Army officials to be on stand by.

In southern India, the death toll in flood-ravaged Kerala climbed to 116 with the retrieval of more bodies. Ground Penetrating Radars were put into use to locate bodies at Kavalappara in Malappuram and Puthumala in Wayanad, where massive landslides had wiped out two villages.

Delhi witnessed rains with the maximum temperature settling at 29.7 degrees Celsius, four notches below the season’s average, while the minimum temperature was recorded at 24.8 degrees, two notches below the season’s average. As the water level in the Yamuna river neared warning level, the Delhi government sounded a flood alert for the city and asked people in the low-lying areas to vacate their place….Read More

Kerala police probes reports of two women entering Sabarimala temple

As per news reports, the women trekked to the hill shrine early Wednesday. A video showed them entering the shrine, wearing black clothes, with their heads covered.

Latest News: The Kerala Police Wednesday was looking into media reports that two women in their forties had entered the Sabarimala temple early Wednesday, sources said. According to TV channels, the two women, Kanakadurga, 42, and Bindu, 44, also claimed that they had entered the holy shrine of Lord Ayyappa. They made efforts to enter the shrine in December but had to return due to protests.

As per news reports, the women trekked to the hill shrine early Wednesday. The video showed them entering the shrine, wearing black clothes, with their heads covered. The police sources in Thiruvananthapuram, quoting DGP Loknath Behara, said details were being collected on the issue.

Bindu, a college lecturer and CPI(ML) activist from Kozhikode district’s Koyilandy, and Kanakadurga, a civil supplies employee from Angadipuram in Malappuram, had come to Sabarimala on December 24 after 11 women activists of a Chennai-based outfit were prevented from reaching the shrine and chased away by devotees chanting Ayyappa mantras. The temple was opened on December 30 for the Makaravillaku festival and there has been a heavy rush of pilgrims.,,,Read Source Business Standard OR BS

After Sabarimala controversy, BSNL transfers activist Rehana Fathima

Sabarimala Karma Samithi Tuesday organised a protest march to the Palarivattom BSNL office, seeking her expulsion

Activist Rehana Fathima, a BSNL employee who had made an attempt to enter the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala, has been transferred to the Palarivattom telephone exchange in the city where public contact is not required, sources said.| Business Standard 

Fathima, a telecom technician working in the customer relations section at the Boat Jetty branch here, was Tuesday transferred to the telephone exchange at Palarivattom, the sources said. However, the sources said she |BS|has not committed dereliction of duty. Sabarimala Karma Samithi Tuesday organised a protest march to the Palarivattom BSNL office, seeking her expulsion.

The Kerala Muslim Jama’ath Council had expelled Fathima from the Muslim community for “hurting sentiments of lakhs of Hindu devotees”. The activist’s house was allegedly vandalised by unidentified people while she was away trying to climb the holy hills on Friday last.| Latest News 

She made a failed attempt to reach the temple with heavy police protection. The attackers reached Fathima’s house in Panambilly Nagar here while she was climbing the hills.

Fathima, a model and activist who was part of the ‘Kiss of Love’ movement in Kochi in 2014 against alleged moral policing, was among the two women who had reached the hilltop, but had to return before reaching the sanctum sanctorum following massive protests by Ayyappa devotees.

Read Full Story : Sabarimala  Temple

An unholy mess: How BJP is using Sabarimala issue to make inroads in Kerala

The protests against Sabarimala verdict have exposed the ingrained obscurantism beneath the veneer of a progressive society and the cynical politics of religion that is at play

Latest News : Kerala is under siege like never before in its volatile history. As the state struggles to get back on its feet after the worst floods in a century, it is convulsed in a violent religious campaign that belongs to another time and place. For the saffron brigade, the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the entry of women of all ages into the hilltop temple of Ayyappan in Sabarimala has come as a godsend, the perfect handle to reignite the regressive religious campaign that the RSS-BJP cohort has been pushing for decades in the last Left bastion in the country.| Sabrimala Temple 

In just three weeks after the SC judgement, Kerala has been reduced to a violent, seething mass of agitators seeking to preserve the status quo at a forest-bound temple that debars women between 10 and 50 years from entering its precincts. From Pandalam, seat of the erstwhile royal family which claims a kinship with the deity, to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, thousands of protesting women, organised by the hydra-headed RSS and various Hindu outfits, have been swarming across the state demanding that the CPM-led Left Democratic Front government file a review petition in the Supreme Court and also issue an ordinance to stop women of the restricted age group from going to Sabarimala. The protests have exposed the ingrained obscurantism beneath the veneer of a progressive society and the cynical politics of religion that is at play.

Business Standard OR  BS

Kerala still at receiving end of rain fury, people shifted to relief camps

Over 13,800 people have been provided shelter at 124 relief camps in the district. Low lying areas are inundated

Rains continued to wreak havoc in many parts of Kerala with northern hill district of Wayanad experiencing widespread landslides and flooding overnight, forcing thousands of people to take shelter at relief camps, officials said today.

Several people fled their homes yesterday due to landslides and land slips in the district part of Western Ghats. People living in the downstream have been shifted to relief camps.

Over 13,800 people have been provided shelter at 124 relief camps in the district. Low lying areas are inundated, officials said.

Kerala Rains
Shutters of Banasura Sagar Dam were raised further last night to release excess water.

Many parts of northern Kerala districts including Kannur, Kasargod, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Palakad also witnessed rains last night.

Two shutters of Cheruthoni Dam part of Idukki reservoir were closed last evening.

The water level in the dam is receding further, alleviating apprehensions of the affected people living downstream, particularly in Ernakulam district.

However, water level in Mullaperiyar Dam rose to 136 ft, prompting authorities to sound caution.

Article Source : BS

Adityanath raises Hindutva pitch in Kerala, accuses Left of 'jihadi' terror

Mounting a blistering attack on the Left, the Uttar Pradesh CM said it was its nature to grab power at gunpoint

 

The BJP on Wednesday fielded Yogi Adityanath as part of its campaign against the killing of saffron activists allegedly by the ruling CPI-M in Kerala, where the firebrand Hindutva leader accused the Left party of promoting "jihadi terrorism"

Mounting a blistering attack on the Left, he said it was its nature to "grab power at gunpoint".

The saffron-robed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also raked up the contentious issue of 'Love Jihad', accusing the Kerala government of not taking steps to check the "dangerous trend".

Leading the 'Jan Raksha Yatra', a day after BJP president Amit Shah launched the party's 15-day campaign for "people's protection", Adityanath said Kerala occupied an important place in the Sanatan Hindu tradition, and wondered how the "foreign ideology" of Communism entered the state.

"The CPI(M) raises slogans about secularism but promotes jihadi terrorism. Kerala is a holy land where this is unacceptable. Here only the nationalist ideology should be promoted," he told a public meeting, raising the Hindutva pitch while seeking to highlight the killing of BJP-RSS workers.

Adityanath claimed that the God's own country, as Kerala is often called, has been witnessing political violence sponsored by the ruling party.

"It is in the nature of the Left party to grab power at gunpoint," he told PTI.

"There is no scope for violence in democracy, but, unfortunately, Kerala has been witnessing politically- sponsored violence. With this 'yatra', we will make people aware of the CPI-M's misrule," he said.

He said if the CPI-M believes in democracy, it will have to answer questions about the political killings taking place in Kerala....READ MORE

Real ‘Airlift’ hero Matthunny Mathews dies in Kuwait

During the 1990 Gulf war Mathews had helped thousands of Indians to flee the gulf nation

Prominent Indian businessman in Kuwait, Matthunny Mathews, who was instrumental in the safe evacuation of stranded Indians during the Iraqi invasion in 1990, passed away in Kuwait.

81-year-old Mathews, who hailed from Kumbanad in Pathnamthitta district, was ailing for some time and passed away yesterday, media reports here said.

Expressing his condolence, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Sunday that during the 1990 Gulf war Mathews had helped thousands of Indians to flee the gulf nation and his services would always be remembered.

By not taking efforts to save his own life and property, Mathews had done yeoman service to bring his countrymen, who had lost everything in the war, safely back, Vijayan said.

“He provided food and drinking water to the stranded Indians and we remember it with gratitude,” Vijayan said.

The V P Singh government had in 1990 carried out the biggest evacuationduring the gulf war when over 1.50 lakh standard Indians had been safely brought back by flight. At that time Mathews had functioned as the Central Government’s “unofficial representative” in Kuwait to coordinate the evacuation process, the Chief Minister said. Popularly known as ‘Toyota Sunny’, Mathunny Mathews was said to be the inspiration of Akshay Kumar’s character in Bollywood film ‘Airlift’.

“Extremely sad news, was an honour to portray him on screen. Thoughts and prayers with his family”, Akshay Kumar said in a tweet.

Mathews, left for Kuwait 1956 at the age of 20 in search of job. He joined as a typist in the Toyota company and rose to become its Managing Director when he retired in 1989. (readmore…)

NEET 2017: Kerala girl forced to remove bra; 4 teachers suspended

NEET 2017: Teachers were suspended for the 'overzealous act' by the CBSE

 

As outrage grew over a student in Kerala being asked to remove her bra at a medical entrance test, four teachers at the exam centre in a school were today suspended for the "overzealous act" by the CBSE which also ordered the principal to apologise to her.

Late tonight, Kannur Police registered a case under section 504 of IPC (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and section 509 of IPC (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) on the basis of a complaint by the girl student who was forced to remove her bra, police said.

Police went to the residence of the girl and recorded her statement, sources said.

Earlier, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) directed the principal of the institute where the incident occurred on Sunday to apologise.

The directive for the apology came after CBSE Chairman RK Chaturvedi met Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi, two days after the incident to check cheating was reported from a school in Kannur.

The CBSE described the incident that occurred before the girl was allowed to sit for the exam on Sunday as an "overzealous" act and suspended the four teachers pending inquiry. The incident also rocked the Kerala Assembly.

In a related incident, examination officials at a school in Ernakulam in Kerala were booked for allegedly trimming the shirt sleeves of a student as part of the CBSE's steps to curb cheating in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), held on May 7.

The CBSE, which conducts the examination at over 1,900 centres across India for admission to undergraduate medical and dentistry courses, however, defended the stringent dress code it had imposed.

It was a measure to "secure the sanctity" of the high- stake examination in which 11 lakh students vie for 95,000 seats, it said.

"The incident reported in Kannur is unfortunate and a consequence of the overzealousness of a few persons involved in the process. However, the inconvenience caused to the students inadvertently in the process is regretted by the Board," CBSE spokesperson Rama Sharma said in New Delhi.

Sharma said the principal had been directed to apologise to the candidate who was made to remove her bra and added that the Board would "sensitise" the frisking staff at exam centres to prevent such incidents.| Read full story