News
Actor Jagathy Sreekumar awarded Rs. 5.9 Crore Compensation
The 63 year old actor is now healthy, but is not in a position to resume his career. Nearly two years after he met with a serious road accident followed by prolonged hospitalisation.
Shobha, his wife had sought a compensation of Rs. 13 Crore from the insurance firm.
3 Ministers badly hurt in Kerala Niyamasabha lift collapse
Three Ministers of Kerala sustained minor injuries after a lift collapsed in a building in Niyamasabha. Kunjali Kutty, Ibrahim Kunju and Anoop Jacob were present in the lift at the time of the incident.
The Ministers entered the lift on the ground floor and went up to the second floor and then the lift went into a free fall; it stopped momentarily on the first floor before landing on the ground floor.
Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer passes away
"He (Iyer) is no more. He passed away at 3.30 p.m.," cardiologist Manu R. Varma told.
The death was due to cerebral vascular accident or stroke, worsening cardiac and renal failure and pneumonia. Breathed his last around 3.30 pm. His close family members were by his side when he breathed his last.
Justice Iyer, born in a conservative Tamil Brahmin family in Palakad in Kerala, was attracted to communism and had served as a minister in the first democratically-elected Communist government of the world under the late EMS Namboodiripad in the state.
Born to a leading criminal lawyer VV Rama Ayyar in 1915 in Thalassery, Justice Iyer had his education at the Basel Mission School, Thalassery, Victoria College, Palakkad, Annamalai University and Madras Law College.
After starting legal practice in 1937 under his father in the Thalassery courts, he used to appear for workers and peasants in several agrarian struggle-related cases in his early years of practice.
During his tenure as Law Minister, land reforms were introduced in the 1950s. As a Supreme Court Judge for seven years in the 1970s, he provided easy access to the ordinary people by relaxing the rule of locus standi.
Iyer became a judge of the Kerala High Court in 1968 and remained there till 1971.
He was sworn in as the judge of the Supreme Court on July 17, 1973 and retired at the age of 65 on Nov.14, 1980.
He defined bail jurisprudence in favour of undertrials when he laid down that "bail, not jail is the rule" and was averse to preventive detentions as a general rule.
In 1975, he had stayed the Allahabad High Court judgement that unseated Indira Gandhi as MP from Rae Bareli but it was another story that the High Court judgement led to events that culminated in the imposition of Emergency.
Iyer was regarded as a legend in terms of his knowledge of law and was remembered for his many trailblazing judgements that earned him a place among world-renowned legal scholars.
Iyer celebrated his 100th birthday Nov 15. He was also the member of the Law Commission for two years.
Kalyan Jewellers opens 5 more showrooms in Kerala
Kalyan Jewellers, leading jewellery brand has opened five more exclusive showrooms in Kerala. Kalyan Jewellers' brand ambassadors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Tamil actor Prabhu and Malayalam actress Manju were at the inauguration of showrooms. All the five showrooms at Attingal, Adoor, Thodupuzha, Alappuzha and Angamaly were opened yesterday.
With this launch, Kalyan Jewellers will have 15 exclusive showrooms in Kerala -- the highest number by any jewellery company in the state. The brand presently has 72 showrooms across India and the United Arab Emirates.
KalyanJewellers, founded in 1993 and headquartered in Thrissur (Kerala), currently has an established presence across all major markets in South India, Maharashtra, Gujarat, National Capital Region (NCR) and Punjab.
Presently, it has a network of 58 exclusive outlets in India and nine exclusive showrooms in the United Arab Emirates. Kalyan Jewellers recently opened five new showrooms -- two in Bengaluru, one in Mumbai and three in the UAE.
Press Academy re-named as Kerala Media Academy
The Kerala Government
today renamed Kerala Press Academy as Kerala Media Academy.
Speaking at a function in this regard, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said he had held several discussions with the visual media in this regard and it was decided to raise the standards of the press academy, formed 35 years ago and re-name it as Kerala Media Academy.
The State
Information Minister K.C. Joseph said “There has been huge changes in the media
with new entrants like the visual media coming in.”
“The visual media is very active in the state. But there have been instances when incorrect reports have been aired without proper cross-checking”, the Minister said.
Government was not against negative reports. But this type of tendencies will only result in the medium losing its credibility, he said adding they should introspect on whether a code of conduct was necessary.
Former Chairmen of the Academy—K. Mohanan, S.R. Shaktidharan, V.P. Ramachandran and N.P. Rajendran were honoured by the chief minister with 'ponnadas.'
CM also gave away the media awards for 2013.
Collector bans poultry movement from Alappuzha, Kottayam districts
Ernakulam District Collector M.G. Rajamanickam has ordered a ban on the movement of ducks, chickens and eggs from Alappuzha, Kottayam and the bordering Chellanam panchayat to the district.
The order comes following the confirmation of an outbreak of avian flu (bird flu) in Alappuzha and Kottayam districts.
He directed the police and the Sales Tax department to keep an eye on the border roads since poultry products could be transported in small vehicles.
The Animal Husbandry Department has confirmed that avian influenza is responsible for the death of nearly 17,000 ducks in Alappuzha district.
The confirmation of the disease was made on the basis of findings received from the Bhopal-based National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD). The institute had confirmed that the deaths were due to the highly virulent H5N1 subtype of the Influenza A virus.
“AI, or “bird flu”, is a contagious disease of animals caused by viruses that normally infect only birds and, less commonly, pigs. AI viruses are highly species-specific, but have, on rare occasions, crossed the species barrier to infect humans,” says the website of the Animal Husbandry Department.
District Veterinary Officer Dr. Paul T. Kunnath reportedly told that the Animal Husbandry Department was checking the sale of ducks and chickens on road sides.
“The flu spreads through contact. The virus can stay alive on clothes for a long time. So clothes used in the affected areas should be burned,” Dr. Kunnath said.
The Collector has asked the public to inform the administration about any incidents of bird deaths to the control room numbers 9497315144 and 9496800705.
Bird Flu Danger : Kerala Hikes Compensation
The Kerala government today sanctioned Rs 2 crore as an immediate allowance for containing the spread of bird flu (avian influenza) in Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts.
The Cabinet meeting held today also decided to raise the compensation to farmers in the light of strong protests in the affected areas. Accordingly, farmers will get Rs 100 for each infant duck and Rs 200 for every two-month-old ducks. Earlier, these were Rs 75 and Rs 150, respectively.
The state government has directed the respective district collectors to ensure the culling of all birds in the affected areas and burn them using petrol.
The cabinet also decided to buy more vaccines from Rajasthan for supply in the affected zones.
Meanwhile, a central team of experts arrived in the state today morning and visited the affected belts in the Kuttanad area.
In some places of Alappuzha, people have voluntarily started killing birds with the help of the Animal Husbandry department and village panchayat officials. This is in the light of spread of viral fever among people in the affected areas.
No evidence against K.M. Mani so far : Kerala Govt.
Kerala Finance Minister KM Mani, who is under a cloud over charges of corruption on the bar licence issue, Wednesday got relief after a preliminary probe by the vigilance did not find any evidence against him.
Advocate General KP Dandapani submitted a report to a division bench of the Kerala High Court. The probe team took statements from 19 people.
Biju Ramesh, who owns a string of bars, has alleged that Mani was given Rs 1 crore to ensure that the 418 bars in the state are allowed to reopen.
Since then, Mani came under heavy attack from the Left opposition who demanded that the 81-year-old legislator who has won every election he contested since 1965 should quit.
To cool down tempers, the state government asked the vigilance department to conduct a quick verification on the allegation.
The high court, acting on a petition filed by Communist Party of India (CPI) legislator VS Sunil Kumar, has directed the probe team to keep the court posted on the progress of the investigation.
Bird Flu danger: Tamil Nadu bans poultry products from Kerala
To prevent the bird flu virus from spreading to Tamil Nadu, the state government on Wednesday banned the movement of poultry and poultry products from Kerala into the state.
After bird flu broke out in certain parts of Kerala, the Tamil Nadu government said on Wednesday that there was no impact of the disease in the State.
As a measure of precaution, it decided to halt the entry of poultry and poultry-related feed from the neighbouring State.
The decision was taken at a meeting Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam had with senior Ministers and officials at the Secretariat here on Wednesday.
“We are establishing checkpoints where any such product will be tested and disinfectants will also be applied to it before being sent back,” he says.
The Commissioners of Commercial Taxes and Transport, along with the Director of Animal Husbandry, will work together to make sure that vehicles carrying poultry products from Kerala are returned at the checkpoints.
Eight hundred response teams will be formed to monitor the overall situation. A control room will work round the clock at the Central Research Laboratory, Saidapet. (044-24339097, 9445032504).
The movement of migratory birds in bird sanctuaries will be observed by the Chief Wildlife Garden. Southern Railway will be requested to stop the movement of poultry and poultry-related feed by train and sanitise the bogies of the trains coming to Tamil Nadu from Kerala, says an official release.
The state has also ordered ducks and chicken brought from Kerala in the past few days to be culled and vehicles that have crossed over from Kerala to be disinfected.
“All measures will be taken to stop the spread of the disease into Tamil Nadu,” said an official statement.
Tamil Nadu is the hub of India’s poultry trade and home to all major producers and exporters.
The state’s poultry sector, however, doesn’t foresee bird flu having a major impact on its business. P Nallathambi, president, Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers Association, said,
“We don’t see any impact of the bird flu issues in Kerala…We are dealing with chicken, which is well protected against any such virus infection through bio-security measures.”
Across the country, too, traders aren’t worried. “As of now, the bird flu in Kerala has just impacted ducks and that, too, in a part of the state. Therefore, I don’t see any large-scale impact on poultry exports from India as of now,” said Rickey Thapar, convenor of the Poultry Federation of India.
In 2013-14, India exported 437,673 tonnes of poultry and poultry products, worth Rs 566 crore. During April-August this year, exports stood at 190,326 tonnes; these were worth Rs 242 crore.
Meanwhile, the central government has set up a control room in Krishi Bhawan in the national government to monitor the situation. It has assured the Kerala government of assistance and asked the department ofhealth and family welfare to provide medical aid if needed.
“The department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries has requested the ministry of health to facilitate control and containment operations,” said an official statement.
Two Japanese Military Vessels in Kochi
Kochi : Two ships of the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) minesweeper tender JDS Bungo and minehunter JDS Yaeyama arrived and docked at Kochi Port on a three-day visit.
Captain Keiji Yoshida, JMSDF Commander of Mine Countermeasure Division-51, who arrived with the flotilla and Captain Shusuke Takahashi, Japanese Naval Attaché in New Delhi, called on Rear Admiral A.K. Jain, Chief of Staff of the Southern Naval Command, on Wednesday. Ship visit exchanges and professional activities are planned during the vessels’ stay in Kochi.
Both navies will undertake a passex (passing exercise) as the flotilla leaves Kochi on November 28.
During their stay, various activities have been planned with Southern Naval Command which includes exchange visits by specialist officers and men from both Indian and Japanese navies.
Indian Naval personnel will be visiting the JMSDF Naval ships and JMSDF personnel will also be visiting training facilities at Southern Naval Command.
Leading the JMSDF Flotilla units is Captain Keiji Yoshida, Commander Mine Countermeasure Division 51.
The ship, JDS Bungo a Minesweeper Tender, is commanded by Cdr Takuya Sanada while Cdr Kiyose Omatsu is commanding JDS Yaeyama, which is a Minesweeper Ocean.
Captain Shusuke Takahashi, Naval Attache from Embassy of Japan, New Delhi is here in connection with the ships visit.
Commander Mine Countermeasure Division 51, NA Embassy of Japan and the Commanding Officers of the visiting Japanese Naval ships called on Rear Admiral A K Jain, Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command today.
The ships had last visited Al Dammam, Saudi Arabia prior arriving Kochi and are scheduled to visit Changi Naval Base, Singapore.
1-10 of 17