Big Fishes Put Electricity Board in Dark

Consumers standing in queue to pay the electricity bill.

KOTTAYAM: The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is struggling to recover pending arrears of electricity bills from government offices including District Hospital, Municipality and Water Department here.

Consumers arrears in Kottayam amount up to Rs 2,22,128 whereas government departments owed Rs 81,08,539. “The amount to be paid by the government departments are under the court's jurisdiction as their are disputes regarding settlement of bills, the moment the cases being finalised, we will be able to recover the amount,” said Senior Superintendent of Kottayam Central Electric Section, Mrs Girija B Panicker.

Assistant Engineer of Kottayam Central Electric Section Mr Biju S said “We are not authorised to collect money from the government departments although they are on the list of defaulters of arrears.”

He said they divided the arrears into two sections such as permanent and personal. In the permanent section they include defaulters such as District Hospital, Water Department and Municipality to name a few whereas in the personal section they include all private consumers.

On the recovery status in Kottayam Mr Biju S said they are efficient in collecting the arrears from the private consumers but in case of government departments, it is quite difficult for the ongoing court cases.

About the consumers who have major amounts of arrears in Kottyam, Mrs Panicker said they can not reveal the names and the pending amount till the court cases have been settled.

Minister for Power Mr Aryadan Mohammad stated in the assembly session last month that in last one year the department has recovered Rs 100 crore out of Rs 1,300 crore arrears pending in all Kerala.

The Exorcism of cultural ghosts

Chathan temple in Kanady Madom, Thrissur.

THRISSUR: Kanady Madom Tharavadu, one of the ancient Chathan temple here will have a renovated sanctum sanctorum by July this year, with the new temple structure is on the verge of completion.
The associated lord Vishnumaya Chathan Swamy of the temple is believed to be the destroyer of evil powers as devotees from around the nation are coming in large number to worship. The increasing number of devotees is cited as one of the reasons for the expansion of the temple, the temple authorities informed.

Rakesh Kanady, a member of the Thantri family informed that along with the new sanctum sanctorum the temple complex is going to have a guest house to accommodate at least 200 people. A Homa Mandapam and a Kalyana Mandapam are also proposed to be completed.

“The temple complex is nurtured with century-old Pala trees (Alstonia scholaris) and Banyan trees which is associated with lord Chathan. We are not in favor of destroying the nature as we decided to demolish structures inside the temple complex instead of cutting trees, to build the new structures,” he said.

The cost of the new structures is estimated up to Rs 60 lakh and the whole renovation is set to be completed before the next temple festival that is in July this year.

Another member of the Thantri family, Sreejith Kanady said the devotees will be largely benefited by this renovation as more people can come and reside here in the new guest house for days they want and worship lord Chathan.

The temple is now governed by the SCMS trust who are bearing the cost of the whole project, which was collected from the devotees, the temple authorities informed.

An Itinerary through the bug practices of Kerala

KOCHI: After a bone-jarring one hour bus ride from Ernakulam South Railway Station, you will reach the calm and serene temple of Devi Rajarajeswari in Chottanikkara known as Chottanikkara Bhagabathy temple.

Indian devil tree, packed with lakhs of nails and figurines.

At the temple entrance, you will lead by a large corridor with psychotic patients, which will remind you of a mental asylum. Those people believe themselves to be possessed by some evil spirit or some supernatural powers.

Chottanikkara temple is popular for the Baadhayozhippikal (Exorcism), casting out evil spirits out of a human body. According to the temple authorities this ritual is being performed only here in Kerala.

Inside the temple complex, to the eastern side of the Sanctum Sanctorum, situated the Kizhukkavu Devi temple presided by Goddess Kali. A large Paala tree (Alstonia scholaris) is planted on the north-eastern side of this temple filled with lakhs of nails and figurines.

Melasanthy Shashi Kumar said, “Those nails are being hammered by the possessed persons using their forehead which is a part of the exorcism. After hammering the nail, the loose their senses and when they wake up, they are being completely free from the evil spirit inside them.”

A native of Chottanikkara, Babu K, said, “ We have a deep faith in the temple rituals as we have seen people in a possessed state or under attack of some unseen power have been cured completely by the deity.”

The temple is governed by the Cochin Devaswom Board, where they are advertising the temple by selling video CD and distributing brochures explaining briefly about the temple history and methods opted by the priests to perform the rituals of exorcism.

Rag me not for as am a juniour

KOTTAYAM: An anti-ragging cell has been operative actively at Baselius College here to prevent senior students from making fun in a boisterous manner to junior students. (25)

Prinicipal of Baselius College Prof Jacob Kurian Onattu said, “After receiving a number of reports of ragging cases, the college committee had unanimously decided to start an anti-ragging cell with stricter norms possible in 2010.

“We have an anti-ragging squad and a committee to look into the cases. If a case has been reported our work is to set up a fact-finding committee immediately to examine the case and inform it to the police and the district collector.

“Political scuffles and clashes between senior and junior students are frequent, but it can not be considered as ragging. However, we are taking appropriate steps to prevent these kind of clashes too.”

Prof Onattu recalls one incident took place two years ago. He said in 2012 two students from the girls hostel complaint that some drunken boys were chasing them every day and creating a nuisance for them. The college committee took immediate action and expelled those boys from the college.

Student of BA first year Jiji Thomas said he have seen violent clashes between groups during college elections, but he had neither saw nor become a victim of ragging at the college till now.

Explaining the punishment for ragging, Prof Onattu explained they have zero tolerance for such cases and for grievous ragging, the punishment could be of criminal trials, if it's a minor case the students will be suspended for two weeks.

Kill me not! I am still an infant

KOTTAYAM: The increasing rate of infant's death has become a cause for concern of Kerala which rose from 12 to 16 deaths per 1,000 infants in last two years.

According to the data provided by Health Minister V S Sivakumar, Kerala has recorded 9,005 infant's death from April 2011 to December 2013, in which districts of central Kerala including Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta have recorded 2,184 deaths collectively.

Dr P Savida, Child Specialist at Institute of Child Health, Kottayam cited the reasons for increase in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) are adolescent motherhood, gap between child birth and maternal nutrition status.

She explains: “A child born within one year of the previous child, have high risk of dying, it became double if the previous child has died. Another reason for the deaths is obesity of mother, if she has less than 18 kg of Body Mass Index, the chances of her child to die are more.”

Although Kerala has ranked 1^st among other states of having lowest IMR in the country (2011 census), the rapid growth of child deaths has reached an alarming position, admit officials of the Health Ministry. As per a survey by the Planning Commission of India, Kerala is now on the 3^rd slot after Goa and Manipur, which have an IMR of 10 deaths per 1,000 children each.

“We are conducting regular programmes in every district hospitals to educate mothers about the maternal care, as many of them doesn't know what to do and what not to do at the time of pregnancy,” said Dr Savida.

India is improving considerably in maintaining a low IMR from 47 in 2010 to 42 in 2013 but the target of achieving IMR-4 till 2015 (set by the government) seems quite impossible at this stage as major parts of the country is lagging the basic facilities in social, economical and educational fields.

Children yet to dressed up for schools in Kerala

KOTTAYAM:
Students of government and aided schools are yet to get uniforms for last year, as the new academic year is about to begin. The reason cited by the District Project Officer A Karunakara is that the headmasters are not cooperating for the scheme.

Students at a government school in Kottayam, Kerala.

“We already released funds to the Block Programme Officers, but they said that the headmasters are not willing to receive the money saying that it is impossible to buy two pairs of uniform with Rs 400, which eventually led to the delay in the distribution process,” describes Mr Karunakara.

Muttambalam UP School Headmistress Merima Abrahim said, “Our students should have got uniforms before Onam last year. Since we neither got sufficient fund nor the materials, we asked them to wear the old uniforms.”

“Parents are already complaining about the quality of uniforms. How can it be possible to provide two pairs of uniform with such less money?” she questioned.

Mr N R Sunder of National Textile Corporation, who got the tender to supply quality materials for the school uniform defined that the tender was finalised by October last year, but the order has not been delivered yet as the state government is idle on the issue.

Kerala School Teacher's Association and Student Federation of India jointly organised a protest in October last year alleging the Education Department of involving in corruption regarding the school uniform scheme. They alleged that the government is supporting a private textile company who was ready to supply one pair of uniform worth Rs 198 whereas National Textile Corporation (NCT) bids Rs 185 for the same. Later the tender goes to NCT.

No money to buy uniforms for school children

KOTTAYAM: The funds provided by Sarva Shikshya Abhiyan (SSA) for school uniforms for the students of the government and aided schools in the state is falling short of cost and quality.

The scheme is meant for all girls, SC and ST students, and boys from below poverty line families from class one to eight for which SSA is providing Rs 400 for each students to get two pairs of uniform every year.

The District Project Officer A Karunakara said: “There are 1,00,168 students identified to be given uniforms in this district. The amount provided by SSA is not enough as within Rs 400, it is quite impossible to get two pairs of uniforms for the students.”

The headmasters of each government and aided schools were provided the money from whom it goes to the Parents Teacher's Association (PTA) and the School Management Committee (SMC) which is set up for every school. Mr Karunakara said it is the responsibility of the concern headmasters, PTAs and SMCs to get good materials from the market and give ready made uniforms to the students.

Head Mistress of Muttambalam Upper Primary School Merima Abrahim said there are 67 students in her school and they are wearing the old uniforms provided in 2012. “It is quite impossible to provide a ready made uniform to a student of class eight within Rs 400, but it is possible for the students of class one as they need less materials,” she said.

As per the guidelines issued by the Kerala Education Department, all the students were to given uniforms before Onam last year, but it was delayed because of the allegations of corruption in the e-tender process for which the Kerala School Teacher's Association and Students Federation of India launched protest against the government in October last year after which the tender goes to the National Textile Corporation.

Students to get new books this year

KOTTAYAM: Amid loud protests from various teacher's groups, the reforms into the Kerala Curriculum Framework 2007 has turn into reality as from the next educational year students will be provided with revised textbooks. (32)

An expert committee was appointed by the Kerala Government, headed by Dr P K Abdul Azis recommended reforms in the current curriculum. The committee observed that the KCF 2007 had weakened the relevance of teacher in the classroom. They remarked that there are shortcomings with regards to the content of textbooks and also excessive stress on analytical instil which creates obstacles in the teaching process. It is based on activity oriented learning and is student-centric.

The report was introduced in July 2013 and draws objections from various groups of teachers in the state. Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad opined that the new reforms will nullify the concept of learning without burden.

Speaking over the phone Prof K A Hashim, Director of The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) said, “We have conducted periodical meetings with various teachers group and come to the conclusion of revising the curriculum.”

“All the suggestions made by the committee has been accepted by the education department, the implementation is going on and the new textbooks will be introduced by April 2014,” he added.

According to the new reforms literary classics in Malayalam from Ezhuthachan onwards will now find place in textbooks. Contributions made by social reformers like Mannathu Padmanabhan for the educational and social development in Kerala will be included in the new curriculum.