Page 61 - Kerala

Health ministry cautions eight states with soaring Covid positivity rates

34 districts have reported weekly positivity rates of over 20% from April 12 to 19; Kerala reports 28% compared to national average of 5.5%

Kerala launches 'One Panchayat, One Playground' to revive sports culture

The Kerala government on Wednesday launched a project for reviving the sports culture in the State by opening quality playgrounds in every panchayat of the southern state. The 'One Panchayat, One Playground' project was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Kallikkad here where he said that a good sports culture was essential for building a healthy and happy society. The playgrounds would serve as a hub of local gatherings and social interactions. "It is with this goal in mind that the 'One Panchayat, One Playground' project has been devised," the Chief Minister said at the event. The project will address the lack of quality playgrounds in around 450 local bodies in the State, Vijayan said. Within three years, the playgrounds will be built and for the first phase of the project, a list of 113 panchayats has been prepared, the Chief Minister said. Each playground would cost around Rs one crore, half of which would be footed by the Sports department and the rest w

Kerala lags in providing tap water to rural households: Union Min Shekhawat

Kerala is much behind the national average in providing fully functional tap water connections to rural households, Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, said here on Wednesday. The minister, after meeting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and reviewing the progress made in the area with the officials, said the state needs "more pace, more synergy, and more spending" in the key sector to achieve the central government's ambitious target of providing clean drinking water for every household by 2024. Addressing a press conference, Shekhawat said the pan-India average is more than 60 per cent and "we were able to provide more than 8.5 crore connections over the period of the last three years, but the state of Kerala is much behind the national average." Kerala has so far provided tap water connections to around 47 per cent of households. The minister said that though the total number of houses in the state is 70 lakhs, only 34.17 lakh houses have piped water ...

PM Modi to visit Kerala for two-days, BJP to organise mass road show

: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Kerala on April 24 for a two-day visit and attend a host of programmes including the flagging off of the much-awaited Vande Bharat Express train here. The BJP state unit, which is making all arrangements to accord a grand reception to the PM, shared a poster on Facebook announcing his visit, saying the "world leader" was coming to Kerala and tens of thousands of people would take part in a huge road show in Kochi on April 24. However, they did not specify whether the PM himself would take part in the road show or not, but said the PM would be given a grand reception at the international airport here when he arrives to flag off the semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express on April 25. "It is a historic moment that Kerala is waiting for," the BJP said, describing the Vande Bharat being allotted to Kerala as the PM's "vishu kaineettam" (Vishu gift). As the general elections are around the corner, with just about a year to go, the party's ...

Officials asked to find new place to shift wild tusker: Kerala Minister

The Kerala Forest Minister AK Saseendran on Tuesday, directed the forest officials to find a new place for shifting the rice-eating tusker, 'Arikomban'

Mercury soars in Kerala with record power use of 100 mn units on Apr 17

Kerala has been experiencing searing heat for the past few days with Palakkad district recording the highest maximum temperature of 39.7 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. As the mercury rises, the daily electricity consumption in Kerala has touched 100.35 million units (mu) on April 17, a new record for the state as per the state electricity board. The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) said this was the third day this month that the consumption has crossed the 100 million units mark, a first in the history of the state. Consumption crossed the 100 million unit mark for the first time on April 13, a senior KSEB official told PTI. "Last year, the highest consumption was around 96 million units on April 28. That mark was crossed in the last week itself," the official said. KSEB, however, said that even though the state was witnessing record consumption, the situation was manageable as electricity was available from the power exchange at affordable rate. The official also said the wate

In a first, Kerala adopts water budget to tackle summer water shortage

The Public Water Budget was released by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday, along with the launch of the third phase of 'Ini Njan Ozhukatte' (Let me flow now) project

Kerala govt to act in accordance with court verdicts in Arikomban issue

The Kerala government on Tuesday made it clear that it has the responsibility to act in accordance with the verdicts of the judiciary and that a suitable location to relocate rogue elephant 'Arikomban' would be identified soon. Wildlife officials have been asked to find out the new place for the same and submit a report in this regard, Forest Minister A K Saseendran told reporters here. His statement comes a day after the Supreme Court had refused to entertain the appeal of the state government against the High Court order asking it to translocate the tusker to the Parambikulam tiger reserve in Palakkad district. The state government wanted the rice-eating elephant to be sent to a training centre, noting it had killed seven people and destroyed several homes, but the apex court observed that the Kerala High Court had given a "reasoned" order based on the views of the expert committee. "As a government, we have the responsibility to act in accordance with the verdicts of the ...

In a first, Kerala adopts Water Budget to tackle problem of summer shortage

An abundance of rivers, streams, backwaters and a good amount of rainfall contribute to the lush greenery in Kerala, many parts of which yet face acute water scarcity when it comes to the summers. And this has led to the state adopting a Water Budget -- the first of its kind in the country. The details of the first phase of the Water Budget in the state covering 94 grama panchayats in 15 block panchayats were unveiled on Monday by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. At the event, Vijayan said that the state was witnessing a reduction in water availability and therefore a water budget would be helpful in properly utilising the resource and preventing wastage. Water experts welcomed the initiative and said it would help the state ascertain the demand and supply of the precious liquid resource and apportion it accordingly, as the problem was not one of availability, but of management. "It is not an issue of scarcity, it is a managerial problem," said Dr Sunny George, a limnologist

KFL posts Rs 621 cr sales turnover, passes Rs 42 cr as subsidy to farmers

The state-run Kerala Feeds Limited (KFL) on Monday said it has posted impressive results in 2022-23 with its total sales turnover going up to Rs 621 crore from Rs 577 crore the previous year. In a release, KFL, a State Public Sector Undertaking, said it has played a vital role in the growth of the animal husbandry sector in Kerala during the period by ensuring an adequate supply of high-quality cattle, poultry, and rabbit feeds at affordable prices to farmers. The company claimed that its products like Kerala Feeds Midukki, Kerala Feeds Elite, Dairy Rich Plus, Karamine Mineral Mixture and Milk Booster were well accepted in the market. Even as the price of raw material kept soaring, KFL made available to farmers high-quality cattle feed at subsidised rates. The company passed on benefits worth Rs 42 crore by way of subsidies during the year, the release said. Significantly, 80 per cent of the company's revenue was netted through the sale of its products in the open market and the .

Kerala to conduct trial run for its first Vande Bharata Express today

The Vande Bharata Express will operate between Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur railway stations in the state

Kerala's milk federation objects to Karnataka's dairy brand entry to state

Karnataka's own dairy brand Nandini expanded to Kerala as it opened two outlets in the southern state. The move, however, drew flak from the local cooperative milk marketing federation.The federation objected to the move saying that it is concerned over the tendency of some state milk marketing federations to "aggressively enter markets outside their respective states"."...holding that this involved total breach of co-operative spirit based on which the country's dairy sector has been organised for the benefit of millions of dairy farmers," it said.Kerala's own local brand Milma's chairman KS Mani, in a statement, called the practice "unethical"."The move of Amul (Gujarat Milk Co-operative Federation) to promote its staple products in Karnataka has been met with strong resistance from the stake-holders in that state. But Karnataka Milk Marketing Federation recently opened its outlets in parts of Kerala to sell its Nandini brand of milk and other products. How could this be justified? .

PM Modi to flag off Kerala's first Vande Bharat train on April 25

The first of two Vande Bharat trains, sanctioned for Kerala, would be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Thiruvananthapuram on April 25

Demonetisation, unscientific GST implementation caused disaster: Kerala CM

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan while inaugurating 'Entrepreneurship 2.0, Mission 1000' claimed that demonetisation and "unscientific" implementation of GST caused a disaster for the country

'Atonement for past deeds' of Sangh Parivar: Kerala CM on PM's church visit

"Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were seen visiting all the churches in Kerala. So there is no harm here. There is no harm in taking a different position," he added

Congress up in arms as user fee introduced to register complaints in Kerala

Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said this move is a first of its kind in the state and "is a cruel one too"

Kerala demands reconstitution of NCERT with representatives from all states

Alleging the central government of pursuing a vested political interest rather than the academic interest he said Kerala will not use NCERT textbooks of 11th and 12th standards

Kerala Police investigates PFI, SDPI link in Kozhikode train fire case

Even as the accused in the Kozhikode train fire case, Shahruk Saifi has deposed before the investigators that he had planned the attack on his own, police have not taken that version at all.

Kerala train blaze: Accused Shahrukh Saifi sent to 11 days police custody

Accused of setting fellow passengers ablaze on a moving train, Shahrukh Saifi, 24, was, since Thursday morning, undergoing treatment at Kozhikode Medical College hospital.

Kerala Samastha exam results announced: Here's how to check and download

The Islamic board, Samastha Kerala Islam Matha Vidyabhyasa Board, declared the Kerala Madarasa Public examination result 2023, the board conducts exams every year in Kerala