The project titled ' nPROUD' (New Programme for Removal of Unused Drugs) will be inaugurated by Health Minister Veena George on February 22
The Kerala government has allocated an additional Rs 300 crore for Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (KASAP), its integrated health protection scheme designed to provide coverage to over 64 lakh poor and vulnerable people in the state. With this additional allocation, the total amount earmarked for the flagship scheme in the present financial year has gone up to Rs 978.54 crore, state Finance Minister K N Balagopal said in a statement on Sunday. According to government sources, KASAP aims at providing a health cover of Rs 5 lakh annually to over 41.99 lakh poor and vulnerable families (approximately 64 lakh beneficiaries) that form the bottom 40 per cent of the Kerala population. A total of Rs 700 crore has already been earmarked for the scheme in the state budget for the next financial year, he noted. The minister said that deserving families are provided with free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh per year, benefiting a total of 41.99 lakh poor and vulnerable individuals. Currently, the
Highlighting other challenges faced by the people, she pointed out the lack of access to health and education services for Adivasi communities
Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal on Friday, while presenting the budget for the financial year 2025-26 in the Assembly, said the state has survived the most intense phase of financial crisis without any of its welfare schemes or development work being affected. Presenting the second Pinarayi Vijayan-led government's fifth budget in the Legislative Assembly, Balagopal announced a Rs 750 crore project for the rehabilitation of the Wayanad landslides victims. Balagopal said that the Mundakkai and Chooralmala villages in Wayanad witnessed an extreme calamity that plunged Kerala into deep sorrow. The disaster claimed over 200 lives, destroyed hundreds of properties and thousands lost their livelihoods with the estimated loss due to the landslides being around Rs 1,202 crore, while the cost of rehabilitation is expected to be approximately Rs 2,221 crore, as assessed by a team of experts, the minister said. He said the 2025-26 Union Budget has not allocated any assistance for the ..
The State Food Commission on Saturday warned of legal action against ration traders on their proposed indefinite strike in Kerala from January 27. Legal action will be taken against anyone obstructing ration cardholders from receiving their entitled share of food grains, according to an official release issued by the Commission. "It is the responsibility of the State Food Commission to ensure that the food rights guaranteed under Section 16 (6) (b) of Chapter II of the National Food Security Act, 2013, are upheld and made available to consumers through the public distribution system." "The Commission will take a serious view of any act that disrupts the delivery of food grains to ration cardholders and will initiate legal proceedings against those responsible," the release stated. The Ration Traders Coordination Committee announced the indefinite strike starting January 27 after talks with Finance Minister K N Balagopal and Food and Civil Supplies Minister G R Anil failed to resolv
A registry for rare disease patients in the state will become a reality this year, State Health Minister Veena George said on Friday. Speaking after inaugurating a workshop for experts in rare disease treatment here, George said the government aims to prevent rare diseases as its primary objective. She said a rare disease treatment clinic will be established in Kozhikode this year. The government is making efforts to bring affected children back to life, the minister said. "The registry for rare disease patients in the state will become a reality this year," George said. According to her, currently, more than 90 per cent survival rates have been achieved for children undergoing treatment for SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). She said the state government aims to identify congenital disabilities and ensure specialised treatment for children. "Kerala is making significant strides in the field of rare disease care. In February 2024, the state government launched the CARE scheme for ra
Greeshma, a literature student from Tamil Nadu, and Sharon, a BSc Radiology student from Kerala, were in a year-long relationship that ended with Sharon's murder in 2022
Development projects worth Rs 6,000 crore have been implemented in the higher education sector over the past four years, Kerala Minister for Higher Education and Social Justice R Bindu said on Saturday. Speaking at a press conference, the minister said the state's higher education sector is being elevated to international standards. "A total of Rs 2,000 crore was allocated for infrastructure expansion. Significant advancements have been made in this sector through initiatives funded by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), Plan Fund, and the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)," she said. She also stated that the laboratory complexes established at Kerala University and MG University have become the largest facilities of their kind in South India. "Over the past few years, Rs 250 crore has been spent to upgrade the laboratory facilities at CUSAT to high standards," she added. The two-day conclave on higher education, organised by the Department of Higher
A tense atmosphere prevailed outside the Bishop House of the Angamaly-Ernakulam archdiocese here, after the police on Saturday evacuated from there several priests who were on an indefinite fast demanding withdrawal of certain documents issued by an Apostolic Administrator. Believers and priests strongly criticise the police action. They claimed before TV channels that the protesting priests were forcibly evacuated by the police from the Bishop House in the wee hours of Saturday. Visuals on TV channels also show that some of the protesting priests were injured in the police action. Several believers and priests, thereafter, began arriving in numbers at the St Mary's Basilica where the protesting priests were relocated and police were also seen in large numbers. The believers also got into a heated argument with police outside the Angamaly-Ernakulam archdiocese headquarters. They also accused Ernakulam ACP C Jayakumar of saying that the government was against the Angamaly-Ernakula
Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan stated that the Congress party would conduct its own internal investigation alongside the police inquiry
The Congress also denounced Rane's comments, linking them to past Communist Party of India CPI(M) statements about the victories of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in Wayanad
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) earlier in the day confirmed its awareness of the death sentence handed to Nimisha Priya and assured that the government is providing all possible assistance
The devastating landslides that wiped away three villages in Wayanad, Congress' thumping victory in the Lok Sabha polls and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's maiden electoral victory were the significant events that shaped the Kerala's socio-political scenario in 2024. The revelations of sexual abuse and harassment in the Malayalam film industry, brought to light by the Justice Hema Committee report, also stirred up the political pot due to the delay in disclosing the panel's findings, which followed allegations of rape against some key actors, including ruling CPI(M) MLA and actor M Mukesh. On 30 July, massive landslides occurred in the Chooralmala and Mundakkai regions of Wayanad, triggered by torrential rains, resulting in over 200 deaths, numerous injuries, and thousands being left homeless. It is considered one of the worst natural disasters in Kerala's history. Hundreds were left buried under the debris and many had to be pulled out by rescue agencies, which ...
Emphasising the need for more central funding, Kerala on Friday demanded a special package of Rs 24,000 crore to tide over the state's liquidity stress as well as Rs 2,000 crore for relief works at Wayanad, which was devastated by landslides earlier this year. In a pre-Budget meeting here, Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal also sought continuation of the GST (goods and services tax) compensation scheme to states until systemic issues are fully corrected and the original promise of GST revenue is attained. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, finance ministers from other states and senior officials, among others, were present in the meeting. "We reiterate our demand for a special package of Rs 24,000 crore to tide over the current liquidity stress by scheduling it over a period of two years from 2025-26," Balagopal said. Citing that substantial resources are required for relief works in Wayanad, he urged the government to provide a special package of Rs 2,000 crore in the
The Kerala High Court on Wednesday asked the Centre whether it can exclude around Rs 120 crore from the Rs 132 crore demanded as airlift charges for rescue operations carried out by the IAF in the state since 2006. A bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Easwaran S said if the Rs 120 crore was freed up in this manner, the amount can be utilised immediately for the rehabilitation of the landslide victims in Wayanad. The bench asked the Centre to consider giving permission to temporarily free up the Rs 120 crore and relaxing the NDRF/SDRF norms so that the amount can be utilised for the rehabilitation purpose. "It is for a noble cause, so the central government should not have a problem," the court said and listed the matter on January 10, 2025 to await the Centre's response on the aspect. During the hearing, the bench also said that the sending of the bill of Rs 132 crore as airlift charges in October right after the state sought financial assistance from the Centre for ...
The opposition Congress in Kerala on Wednesday accused the ruling CPI (M) of being "intolerant" towards other political parties and denying them the freedom to freely function even in the home village of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The Marxist party and CM Vijayan were acting with a "dictatorial mindset", which is unacceptable, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan told reporters here. He was speaking after visiting the recently vandalised new Congress booth committee office at Venduttayi near Vijayan's hometown of Pinarayi. The Congress has charged the CPI(M) with "orchestrating the vandalism" on Saturday last. Terming the incident as "highly unfortunate" and "condemnable", he said, "It was in the home village of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that the office of a political party was vandalised and set on fire." The LoP sought to know what kind of democracy prevailed in the state as other political parties were not allowed to function even in the home village of the CM. Sathe
Kerala is not averse to discussing any new project with the Adani group and will do so only if there is a "win-win" situation which benefits the people of the state as well, a senior state minister has said. However, the southern state is not keen to have any big industries which will cause pollution and ecological damage, P Rajeev, the Minister of Law, Industries and Coir, told PTI. The comments from the minister come even as there seems to be some unease among southern states when it comes to dealing with the Adani group, especially after the second richest Indian Gautam Adani and others faced charges of bribing officials to secure contracts. Rajeev said Kerala has a big investment from the Adani group in the Vizhinjam Seaport near its capital Thiruvananthapuram and added that the current government decided to go ahead with the project signed by the predecessors only because the benefits accrued to the state and its people through the ambitious transshipment port. He also clarifi
The BJP on Sunday accused the Left government in Kerala of "failing" to utilise the central funds in the SDRF and the NDRF for the relief and rehabilitation of Wayanad landslide survivors and carrying out "fake propaganda" against the union government. The saffron party said that the Narendra Modi government has provided sufficient funds to Kerala through the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). "The Pinarayi government is sitting on available funds and blames the Centre," senior BJP leader and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar alleged in a social media post. In a hard-hitting X post, he said the Centre has allocated over Rs 500 crore for this purpose through SDRF, which already has a balance of approximately Rs 700 crore. "The state has failed to utilise the Rs 700 crore in the calamity fund. People world over have donated to CM Relief fund. This is also not used. This is the hypocrisy of LDF and UDF, and their fake propaganda has
Stepping up its attack on the union government over the lack of assistance for the landslide survivors of Wayanad, the Kerala government on Sunday said it was yet to get any information regarding the amount to be allotted to the state for their relief and rehabilitation. The Left government reminded that the state and the Centre were not enemy nations, but part of the same Constitution and requested the Centre to act as a "guardian angel" during the time of tragedies. Revenue Minister K Rajan said the state government has submitted all the details in connection with the landslide and the union government has not notified it so far if there was any mistake in the figures provided by them. The figures of the loss suffered during the landslide had to be submitted by the state initially and it was done without any fail, he told reporters here. Later, the state had submitted the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) in accordance with the norms. There was also no information about the
Chief Minister Vijayan said that it was apparent that they had not got any training or imparted with awareness of safe working near railway tracks