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.

UGC to take over the charge of Engineering colleges in India

Engineering colleges in India

After a decade's high growth of technical education, now it is turning down towards journey as the quality of education decreases with a number of engineering colleges increases across India. (30)

According to a report, there are 21 management and engineering colleges from Kerala approached AICTE for approval in 2013, out of which only 9 institutions got the approval. The report further said that there are 892 management and engineering colleges approached AICTE for approval in 2012 which comes down to 494 in 2013.

“The number of technical colleges are increasing, but vacant seats, poor quality education and no placements discourages the youths in the present scenario,” said a lecturer from an engineering college in Kochi at the request of anonymity. Adding to that another students from the same college said he completed his B-tech degree last year, but due to lack of placement, he is still roaming unemployed.

Chairman of the SCMS Group of Institution, Kochi GPC Nair said the Supreme Court's order regarding the affiliation of technical institutions could be a reason for the downturn of technical colleges. Institutions across the country are being closed down since many seats are lying vacant. If the present situation continues at least 20 institutions in Kerala would shut their colleges.

According to a recent release all engineering colleges across the country are set to be under the purview of universities and not answerable to AICTE, if a recent University Grants Commission directive comes into effect. This means, universities in the state could decide on reducing the number of seats left vacant in engineering colleges in the state, once the Act come into force.

No meal for students in Kerala

Students having meal at a government school.

KOTTAYAM: In a rare instance Kerala is mentioned under the states having “Critical issues” regarding the implementation of the Mid-day Meal scheme as it was delaying in submitting its MME (Monitoring, Management, Evaluation) report on time.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) had allotted funds to the state in January this year to construct 2,450 kitchen-cum-stores, but as per the first Quarterly Progress Report (QPR) of January to March submitted by the state, it had completed only 13 per cent of the work, 20 per cent is in progress and 67 per cent has been queued up to start.

Mohammad Mustafa, an official in the Directorate of Public Distribution for the state said they uploaded the QPR on the MHRD's MDM ( Mid-day Meal) portal, but the data mismatched regarding the number of schools and the kitchen-cum-stores that eventually led to the delay.

Speaking on the phone Mr Bhupinder Kumar, Consultant (Plan Monitoring) from MHRD Said the QPR by the Kerala Government always comes in time but they lag behind in the last two quarters (Apr to June and July to September). The state was allotted funds for the kitchen-cum-stores, but as it was behind schedule of submitting its third QPR (July to September ), we are unsure of its implementation as we mentioned in our report.

Merima Abrahim, Head Mistress of Muttabalam Upper Primary School in Kottayam said: “As directed by the government we construct separate kitchen, and we too have a dining hall for our students.”

“We are abide by the guidelines for the provision of the meals and also we ensure the quality of the food and cleanliness of the kitchen.”

Major recall by Maruti-Suzuki India

Maruti-Suzuki India

After the Maruti-Suzuki India has recalled 1,492 units of its four models to rectify the steering column, AVG Motors here has decided to check the problem in all models sold in October and November. (34)

The Maruti-Suzuki India has detect the problem of steering and issued a press release on Nov 17 to recall 306 units of Ertiga, 592 units of Swift, 581 units of Swift Dzire and 13 units of A-Stars across India. It directed all the dealers around the country to contact the owners of the vehicles purchased during the period from Oct 19 to Oct 26. They also put a link on there website, www.marutisuzuki.com, where the customer can register their complaints by putting the 14 digit chassis number.

Assistant Sales Manager of AVG Motors, Binish Abrahim said, “We have sold 20 units of Ertiga, 47 units of Swift, 62 units of Swift Dzire and 9 units of A-stars in last two months. We are contacting the owners who purchase any of these vehicle after Oct 19, but till now we haven't got any complaint.”

“We haven't receive any complaint about the steering column problem from any of our customers, but we are checking all the models which comes to our workshop for the possible problem and as per the company statement we are directed to change the whole steering kit of the defective vehicle for free,” said Praveen CS, Service Manager at AVG Motors.

The November sales report of the Maruti-Suzuki indicates the domestic sales in November has gone down by 5.9 per cent as the company sold 85,510 units compare to 90,882 units in the same month last year. The last recall was done back in 2009 for a defective fuel pump part of 1 lakh A-star model.

Land for less in Kerala

KOTTAYAM: “Landlessness” has been an issue in a land dearth state like Kerela where the Zero Landless Scheme has been launched in an ambition to provide land to the landless. (27)

For the scheme, the district authority of Kottayam has received 4057 applications from 26 villages for land, out of which 30 people were declared eligible to given 3 cents of land each.

“We have already identified and acquired 91.921 cents of land at Panachikadu and 9.390 cents of land at Aymanam. Those land are already allotted to the beneficiaries,” said Monsy, Tahsildar, Kottayam.

However, he said the process of identifying beneficiaries and acquiring land is still going on and if the number of beneficiaries exceeds in accordance to the land available in Kottayam, then we have to shift them to Idukki district as per the guidelines given by the state government.

“We came across a major problem while shifting the people to other places (even inside Kottayam) because they denied to leave their premises as they have been living in the natives since a long time,” he added.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has launched the Zero Landless Scheme in Kerala on Sept 30 this year. The state government has given a deadline to complete the scheme by 2015. Recently Kannur has been declared the first zero landless district in India. Till now, the district authority of Kottayam has already identified and allotted land to 30 beneficiaries in two months. With such a pace, the Kottayam may got the tag of zero landless district in the near future.

Endanger Ground Water

KOTTAYAM: The level of groundwater is always a cause of concern in the country whereas the haevy rainfall in Kerala this year has also failed to increase the water level in the state.

A well.

According to the report of Central Ground Water Board done in the per-monsoon season, 12,492 wells across the country have been analyses, out of which, 526 wells are showing water level less than 2 meters bgl (bellow ground level). The Board assessed 849 wells in Kerala and found that 60 of it are showing the water level less than 2 m bgl whereas in 2012 the number was 153.

The Central Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM), Kozhikode is actively conducting programmes in educating students about the conservation, quantity and quality of water in the school levels under the aid of UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund ).

Speaking on the phone, the Director of CWRDM, Dr N B Narasimha Prasad said there are 10,000 mcm (million cubic meters) groundwater is available in Kerala right now, out of which 6,500 mcm is recharged and can be used. Ponds and wells are the conservation resources of water and with the leakages in the ground these are recharged every time.

“The groundwater level in Kerala is not in an alarming position as the rainfall is good this year. Except some parts of Kasargod, Malapuram and Thiruvananthapuram, rest of Kerala is safe for now ,” he said.

In the pre-monsoon season Kerala has recorded 220 mm of rain and in the monsoon it got 664 mm, well above its average rainfall.

Able education for disableds

Dr MK Jayaraj and co at Mammen Mappillai Hall in Kottayam.

KOTTAYAM: Dr MK Jayaraj Commission appointed by the state government of Kerala to look upon the issues of the intellectually disabled children in the state has been discussed here at KC Mammen Mappilla Hall on Oct 18.

A panel discussion was held here on the challenges faced by the intellectually disabled children in Kerala based on Jayaraj Commission Report where the members of the panel decided to bring changes in the syllabus of B.Ed (Bachelor in Education) and M.Ed (Master in Education) programmes.

It was attended by Dr MK Jayaraj, Principal of State Institute for the Mentally Challenged, Dr PS Sukumaran, School of Behavioral Science, MG University and other eminent personalities from the field of media, politics and human rights.

Fr Jisho Alumkal, faculty member at Kurakose Elias College, Mannanam said that with the changes in the educational policy the teachers will be trained specially to teach the intellectually disabled students. The panel also suggested to set up more government institutions for such students in the state.

The discussion was held during the handicraft exhibition, organized by KE College, Mannanam where more than 100 students from 17 various special schools from all over the state participated. The exhibition was inaugurated by Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan.

“This is a two day programme organized by a social worker's group from KE College, Mannanam. The exhibition is specially designed to encourage the ability of those children to make them feel that they are not deprived of this world. On the second day we organise a cultural programme where 920 students from 52 schools will perform,” said Fr Jisho Alumkal.

New Heights for Journalism in Kottayam

IIMC regional centre at MG University in Kottayam.

KOTTAYAM: Nearly after two decades Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) is set to expand its wings after it is allotted ten acres of land hear in Pampady.

“The Central Government has sent a conformation letter to the State Government of Kerala for the proposed plan of expanding the campus and the authorities are in process of acquiring the land. It will be started very soon as Center has already allotted Rs. 25 crores towards the project,” said Shri Ramakrishanan, Special Officer at the regional center of IIMC, Kottayam on the telephone.

The new campus will be the third of its kind in India after Delhi and Dhenkanal (Odisha). In 1995 IIMC proposed to set up a new campus here, but for the problem of adequate land, the project was postponed for an indefinite period. In 2011, IIMC started a regional center at the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam. Now it has other regional centers at Amravati(Maharstra), Aizawl (Mizoram) and Jammu (J&K).

Mr Ramakrishanan said that we hope of completing the project in the current five year plan (2012-17). With the campus we are going to start the Malayalam Journalism course along with Radio and TV journalism and Advertising and Public Relation courses. It will be the second center to have such a variety of courses after New Delhi.

Right now the strength of the institute is 11 students comes from various parts of the country. “With the new campus the students will be benefited as IIMC will introduce different courses,” said Mr Deepu Joy, faculty at IIMC, Kottayam.

Public Disturbing System in Kerala

KOTTAYAM: Public Distribution System (PDS), which is meant to provide food security to the people at a subsidized price through a network of ration shops is proving wrong again as the lack of food grains is still persist here.

“Allotment of food grains are insufficient from the Centre and we hope the new Food Security Bill will help stopping this leakage,” said P S Prassannakumar, Taluk Supply Officer in the Civil Supplies Office, Kottayam.

According to official data given by Jayaraj VR, Junior Superintendent in District Supply Office for the month of August the requirement of rice for the APL (Above Poverty Line) card holders is 3,623 mts (metric tonnes) but the allotment is 3,084 mts (lacks 539 mts), wheat requirement is 1,086 mts but availability is 690 mts (lacks 396 mts ). For the BPL (Below Poverty Line) card holders requirement of rice is 2,400 mts but allotment is 1,746 mts (lacks 654 mts) and wheat requirement is 480 mts but availability is 458 mts (lacks 22 mts).

Out of the district's population of 1,974,551 there are only 4,94,349 people have all varieties of ration cards (APL, BPL, AAY and Annapoorna). As per the government norms, per month allotment of rice for the APL card holders is 9 kg and wheat 2 kg where the availability is 8 kg of rice and 1 kg of wheat. For the BPL card holders rice allotted is 25 kg and wheat 8 kg where the availability is 18 kg of rice and 6 kg of wheat.

However, the two other flagship schemes like AAY (Antyodaya Anna Yojana) for very poor and Annapoorna for the senior citizens who were not covered under the PDS got their required quantity of rice each month but wheat and sugar are not available for them.

No dumping yard!

KOTTAYAM: After the Municipality gave a project report to the Collector on waste management, the District Collectorate came up with a forum to draw suggestions from the public on this regard

“We started a forum on the district website asking for solutions on waste management from the public but i am very disappointed as we receive only 26 mails,” said District Collector Ajit Kumar.

The report submitted by the municipal authority to the DC stated that 30 tonnes of garbage generated a day in Kottayam out of which 20 tonnes are organic waste. Mr Kumar explained that there are two solutions for the problem one is centralized with organic waste and decentralized with solid waste. “Waste will have to be buried or burned.”

Waste dumping problem is not new to the people of Kottayam, but from last six months it is worsen. After the agitation by the Vijaypuram Panchayat, the municipal authority assured the closure of Vadavadoor dump yard by 31^st Dec.

To deal with this problem Mr Kumar said that now the amount of garbage taken to Vadavadoor dumpyard is only 8 tonnes and after the bio-gas plant set up at Kodimata (5 tonnes), it will be reduced to only 3 tonnes.

Tropical Institute of Ecology and Science (TIES) came up with a proposal of generating electricity and gas out of the solid waste. When asked abut this to the DC, he said “ anyone who came up with proposals like this, we told them to implement it on their own expense for at least six months. If it is successful then we will accept it, but Kottayam is not a place for scientifically experiments.”

Greet the arrival of food in fervour

Natives performing Dalkhai during Navarna in Sambalpur.

BHUBANESWAR: Onam is to Kerala, Pongal is to Tamil Nadu, and Bihu is to Assam, Nuakhai is the same harvest festival to Odisha and is observed throughout the western part of the state.

Nuakhai, the traditional day long festival held in Odisha to welcome the new paddy crop after offering new grain to the presiding deity Samaleswari at Sambalpur.

“People who are away from their native places gathered at one place at one time to celebrate Nuakhai. This is an amazing moment comes once in a year and we all waited for this day eagerly,” said Sumeet a native of Balangir (western district of Odisha).

People organise the festival with the head of the family distributing new rice produced out of the first harvest after offering Nua-dhan (new rice). Another significant part of the festival is that younger members get blessings from their elders in the house and also locality. People also exchange greetings among themselves on the evening of the festive day which is called Nuakhai Bhet Ghat(social gathering).

“As Nuakhai is a harvesting festival, we first serve the Nua-dhan (new rice) to our deity Samleswari at a decided time then we all ate together. This year the festival is being celebrated on the fifth day of Bhadraba month in Odia Calender,” said Dhanapati Parida, priest at Samaleswari temple, Sambalpur.

Despite of the ongoing agitation for a separate Koshal state and a new High Court bench in Western Odisha, the people celebrate Nuakhai with gaiety and fervour.