Ms Haritha V. Kumar, topper of the 2012 civil services examinations, is all set to take up her first assignment as Kannur assistant collector on June 26.
She has successfully completed her one-year training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, and will return to her home here on Saturday.
Her businessman father R. Vijayakumar, his wife C. S. Chitra and their twin sons, Sadheerth and Sadharsh, who are engineers, are eagerly awaiting her arrival, though they had visited her in Mussoorie last week.
Mr. Vijayakumar said, “Haritha’s training will end on Thursday and she will spend 10 days at home. She has to join as Kannur assistant collector on probation before June 30,” he said.
He recalled with joy that when he and his family members reached the LBSNAA after a two-hour road trip from Dehradun, Haritha was waiting for them at the gate.
“Security is high there and we also had to produce our identity cards.
Haritha stayed in a building named ‘Ganga’ on the third floor while we were provided with two rooms on the ground floor,” he said.
They spent two days sightseeing in Mussoorie along with Haritha and visited the Tibetan Buddhist Temple also.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC / by Cynthia Chandran / June 12th, 2014
Eminent Malayalam scientist-turned-writer C Radhakrishnan has been selected for the prestigious Moortidevi Award for 2013 for his novel “Theekkadal Katanhu Thirumadhuram”.
The novel is a biographical account of Thunchat Ramaanujan Ezhuthachan, widely regarded as the father of Malayalam language.
The novel attempts to bring back to life the socio-cultural ambience of 15th century, according to a press release issued by Bharatiya Jnanpith which has instituted the award.
Radhakrishnan has also contributed to popular science and all branches of literature, mostly fiction.
Moortidevi Award carries a cash prize of Rs four lakh, a plaque and a statue of goddess Saraswati.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / PTI / June 13th, 2014
Niravu farmers rely on traditional methods to keep pests away. Frontyard of Babu’s house, packed with creepers. / Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup / The Hindu
A look at life in Niravu, a resident’s association in Vengeri, that swears by its organic produce
Walls are sparse here. Hop, jump, climb up, slide down and one has crossed umpteen plots, a few houses and many gardens; not prim, puny ones, but gardens where grass is unruly, foliage thick and free. Niravu in Vengeri may well be the most well-known resident’s association in Kozhikode. It is our flagship – for organic farming and community living. The media sets aside many column space for its initiatives, ministers throng it, to inaugurate, applaud and proclaim it as a model worth emulating. It is a tax-paying resident’s association with a membership fee of Rs.10.
Amidst the fuss and the media attention, life goes on quietly here. What continues is the hamlet’s quiet determination to keep working, unmindful of distraction. People are comfortable with the attention and are keen to teach, but their beliefs are firm-footed. From a community that grew vegetables it needed; executed stringent methods for plastic disposal and ventured into entrepreneurship that was eco-friendly, Niravu, and, consequently, ward 10 which houses it and the neighbourhood it belongs to, is dreaming big. Niravu is set to take its locally produced vegetables to a larger market. Steps for it began with the launch of an official website – www.niravu.com. Supported by NABARD, the Niravu farmer’s club will take their surplus vegetables to the market by Onam. The association has taken a building on rent at Tali where Niravu LED lights are already on sale.
New step
Niravu’s decision to be a market presence is another small step in a long journey. “We do not believe in sudden leaps, but small steps,” says Babu Parambath, project coordinator. The residents meanwhile, 117 households to be precise, of which 85 are actively into kitchen gardens, are getting ready to produce a larger volume of vegetables. Till now, they took home what they grew, gave neighbours and loyal customers the rest. As part of its new initiative, Niravu will also collect vegetables from farmers whose produce has been verified and confirmed to be organic. Rules are stringent, says Babu, “Every vegetable at the shop will have a slip with the farmer’s name and place. So customers can get the produce tested too.” Niravu’s vegetables have already been given a zero-pesticide certificate by the Pesticide Residue Research and Analytical Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram.
On a regular working day, it is largely quiet in the Niravu locality. “About 50 per cent of the families are double income ones,” says Babu. The obvious query is immediately answered. “We devote just half an hour each morning and evening to the plants. Except for potato and onion, I don’t buy any other vegetables,” he says. Most households boast a small patch and one sees the last remnants of a recent harvest. At Babu’s house, long beans and bitter gourd creepers make a canopy. On it hang, stray, lonely vegetables, left to ripe. Each season is an experiment and at Babu’s house, under a rain sheet, is an army of mud pots in which spinach seeds are sown. “We are planning more rain sheets in the community,” he says.
According to Babu, the new initiative plans at generating income with vegetables. “We believe a family will earn anything between Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 10,000 a month,” he says. It helps that most families have their strengths. Though at Babu’s house one finds an assortment – long beans, bitter gourd, spinach, bush pepper, ginger and more – his specialty, he says, is tomatoes. For Ramlath next door, it is fat bitter gourds. For Reeja Sathyan, little away, it is coloccasia. For Aruna, the homemaker, it is broad beans, and for Geeta Devadas, the one-and-a-half-feet long egg plant.
A few hundred metres away, at Asha Gopalakrishnan’s house is a cowshed, where a Kasargod dwarf, a gift from the Jaiva Karshaka Sangham, rests. It is from here that the organic nourishment for the plants – dung and urine – is collected. Outside the shed, is a small collection of large cans filled with cow’s urine. “Not a drop is wasted,” says a proud Babu. While the urine is given to neighbours for free, a basket of cow dung comes at Rs. 50. “The money goes for maintenance; they need to keep the cow’s surroundings clean”. In turn, the cow grazes in the vast spread of green, munching pesticide-free grass.
The community farmers mostly rely on traditional methods to keep pests away. A popular one is a mixture of cow’s urine and garlic juice. The best pest control methods evolved on default. Ramlath’s plump bitter gourds were a result of a can without a lid. While others sprayed their garlic mixture, she kept the large can with the mixture covered by a mosquito net under the gourd creeper following instructions to keep it in the shade. With the strong garlic smell never leaving the surroundings, pests were always at bay and her gourds healthy and large.
With the vegetables in place, seeds are what Niravu is turning its attention to. Geeta brings out small, polythene bags and paper parcels with an array of egg plant seeds. The ripe vegetables collected from neighbours are diligently deseeded and seeds sold for approximately Rs. 20 a pouch. The collected revenue is distributed among those who supplied ripe vegetables. “Last time, at an exhibition, we sold seeds worth Rs. 12,500 in two days,” says Babu. “Here, we have no ego,” Babu explains the spirit behind Niravu. There are no fixed dates for the 21- member executive committee to meet. “Whenever a need arises – once, twice or thrice a week — we meet at somebody’s sit-out and discuss and take decisions over tea. It helps that no posts in the committee are permanent. The president and secretary are chosen for a year. If their performance is exemplary, they get one more. All our roles are well-defined. We are clear in our minds about how to go ahead,” says Babu.
The Niravu Story
Niravu’s story is of the commitment of a few individuals and the support of generous government and quasi-government bodies and educational institutions. It began with what is now a well-documented survey, of the 1,824 houses in Vengeri ward in 2006. It was found that of the seven cancer patients in the ward five were women. “More number of women, cancer patients set us thinking. Doctors remarked that women were more in contact with pesticide-laden vegetables. Each time they washed and cleaned them, traces of pesticides entered their blood stream through little cuts and scratches on their hands,” says Babu.
Thereon began a community’s attempt to reclaim a way of life they had abandoned. Senior citizens who had long left agricultural work were called back to guide youngsters with their traditional wisdom on agriculture. Though Niravu, the informal community, was around since 2006, it became a residential association in 2009. To get their first patch of vegetable garden, the residents ventured out wide and far. All those who married into and out of Vengeri searched for seeds in their new and old neighbourhoods. Many vegetables found its way back to the Vengeri gardens, so too four varieties that were not known to have grown here before – square beans, elephant-trunk okra, medicinal ash gourd and the one-and-a-half-feet long egg plant, now commonly known as Vengeri brinjal. At Niravu, now about 30 acres of land is set aside for organic cultivation. Spare patches of land are devoted to paddy. Niravu and Vengeri first ventured beyond vegetables, when they were lead by their councillor K.C. Anil Kumar to harvest paddy in a 12-acre out-of-use land. The naysayers were many, warning them about the impossibility of paddy without fertilisers, labour crunch and non-availability of seeds. But the councillor stood firm, unearthed old seeds from distant relatives and went to sow the seeds, recollects Babu. Labour came in from the girls of Providence Women’s College who got the land ready for paddy. “Seeing them, our own children couldn’t stay away. Old timers polished their old sickles and joined in,” says Babu. Niravu could always garner attention and support. District administration officials and cultural representatives have always espoused Niravu’s cause, making themselves present at all functions. It was so when they sowed and reaped their first harvest, so too when they found a novel way to oppose protesting Bt Brinjal — by growing one lakh saplings of their indigenous variety. In 2013, the agriculture department supplied to 27 families that cultivated vegetables on over two cents of land with requisites – buckets, spade, drums etc. The CWRDM pitched in with workshops: one on water and soil conservation and another on organic farming. Niravu’s Jalasree and Jaivasree project were commended by the Department of Environment and Climate Change. At Niravu, they moved beyond farming. They have a system in place to dispose plastic waste. Four times a year, cleaned plastic and bottles, segregated and stored, are deposited at a designated place and taken to the recycling plant at West Hill.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by P. Anima / Kozhikode – June 13th, 2014
In a rare instance, a Malayali woman has become a Mayor in England. She is Pothencode native, Manju Shahul Hameed, who took the oath as Labour party’s Mayor of Croydon. She has been a councillor since 2006 and contested from the Broad Green ward in Croydon, which was hit by riots in 2011. She wrested the borough from the Conservatives after a period of eight years.
It was marriage to Rafi Shahul Hameed who works with the London Transport that took Manju to London in 1996. After graduating from Chempazhanthy S. N. College, she pursued masters in scientific and engineering software in Greenwich University in London. She was also active in student politics at the university. Manju’s father, M. Jalaludin, had retired as a CID official with the Special Branch, while her mother, Raihanath, is no more. Manju’s priority as Croydon Mayor is to bring the diverse communities there under one banner promoting their rich culture.
“Today’s function is known as the mayoral making and a detailed investiture ceremony is also on the anvil. My priority is to raise the profile of Croydon which has a huge population of Malayalis,” Manju told DC over phone from London. Another Malayali who reached the top echelons of Labour party is Omana Gangadharan, who was the civic ambassador in the Newham borough of London.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC / Cynthia Chandran / June 05th, 2014
Profits from ‘Achani’ funded the Quilon public library, now a cultural hub
It is perhaps the only public library in the country which can boast a genesis linked to a movie. In July 1973, when the Malayalam movie Achani was released, the Kollam-based cashew industrialist K. Raveendranathan Nair who produced it declared that he would donate the entire profits from the venture to the construction of a public library in Kollam.
The movie was a box-office success, and Mr. Nair, who later earned the moniker ‘Achani Ravi,’ kept his word by donating his profit of nearly Rs.15 lakh (a big amount at that time) to the library.
It all began in early 1973 when the idea of a public library for Kollam city germinated in the minds of Mr. Nair, physician T. Kurien, and two journalists M.S. Sreedharan and Devanand. Together, they met the then District Collector M. Joseph, whose response was positive.
Society registered
Soon, an ad hoc conference was called by the Collector with all sections of people in Kollam. The discussion largely pertained to getting the government to allocate suitable land in the city to house the library. The meeting adjourned without identifying a property, but succeeded in registering a society, under the Travancore-Cochin Charitable Societies Act, named the Quilon Public Library and Research Centre (QPLRC).
The immediate task of the society was to identify land. Recalls Mr. Nair, “Fortunately at that time, Kollam had two dynamic ministers — T.K. Divakaran and Baby John — in the then C. Achutha Menon Cabinet. The society office-bearers met TK and put forth a suggestion for allocating some land from the Rest House complex at Chinnakada.”
Library complex
But the visionary that he was, “TK wanted the society leaders to think out of the box and plan a library that would go beyond mere lending of books and promoting reading.” His idea focussed on a library complex that would serve as a cultural hub to promote fine arts and performing arts. “I will discuss it with comrade Baby John,” he told them.
It was Baby John, Revenue and Excise Minister at that time, who suggested housing the library in the Excise Complex on YMCA Road, its current location. The complex was then a dumping space for material objects seized in connection with various excise-related offences.
But finding a suitable alternative accommodation for the Excise Complex was not an easy task. After a lot of effort, on New Year’s Day in 1975, as much as 2.5 acres of the Excise Complex was formally allocated by the government to the QPLRC. At a function held on April 23 that year, Baby John laid the foundation stone for the library building in the presence of Babu Divakaran.
Even as the construction was on, the QPLRC started functioning from a palm-frond-thatched shed in the compound on February 1, 1976.
The then Prime Minister Morarji Desai inaugurating the Kollam public library in January 1979. The then Governor Jyothi Venkatachalam, the then Chief Minister P.K. Vasudevan Nair, and the then Revenue Minister Baby John are also seen. / The Hindu
Building ready in 1978
The building was ready by November 1978, and on January 2, 1979, the QPLRC was inaugurated at a grand function by the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai, in the presence of the then Governor Jyothi Venkatachalam, Chief Minister P.K. Vasudevan Nair, and Baby John. Unfortunately, T.K. Divakaran had passed away in 1976.
Key resource
The QPLRC is today a treasure trove of information for all age groups. With a collection of more than one lakh books, the library is a key resource for undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, researchers, visitors, and the community at large.
It contains separate research and reference sections, apart from a spacious reading room where all newspapers and magazines are available to readers, irrespective of whether they are members or not. Browsing the shelves of the library for a good read or an answer to a question can turn up unexpected pleasures.
A view of the children’s wing of the library. / Photo: C. Suresh Kumar / The Hindu
Membership
The membership has touched 50,000, and over 10,000 are very active. The QPLRC, which operates as a self-financing institution, is also a University Grants Commission-sanctioned research centre for Malayalam and Islamic history. Its archives contain all copies of The Hindu from 1980, bound and preserved on a monthly basis for reference.
Other institutions of the library include the Sopanam Kala Kendram auditorium, the Saraswathi hall, the Library hall, the Sopanam Kala Kshethram, and a children’s library with a membership of 5,000.
These are managed by a 23-member staff. The complex functions as the cultural hub of the city, hosting film shows, book festivals, performing arts, lectures, exhibitions, plays, and concerts.
Since the library’s inception, Mr. Ravi continues to be unanimously chosen by the 40-member governing body as the honorary secretary. The District Collector is the ex officio chairman. Mr. Ravi enriches the library collection through generous contributions.
Staff members say that taking into consideration the services rendered by the library, the government should support it through some funding.
This article has been corrected for a factual error.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Kerala / by Ignatius Pereira / Kollam – June 11th, 2014
The Department of Agriculture has unveiled an action plan aimed at achieving self-reliance in vegetables and milk and reviving coconut farming in the State by 2016.
To be taken up under the government’s Mission 676, the plan seeks to bring an additional 69,400 hectares under horticulture to achieve a production target of 8.69 lakh tonnes by 2015-16.
Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Agriculture Minister K.P. Mohanan and senior officials said 10 lakh coconut trees of the dwarf variety would be planted across the State by February 2016 under a flagship programme to revive the coconut sector and address the shortage of tree climbers. Mr. Mohanan said the Neera production plant being set up at Elathur in Kozhikode by the Kerala State Coconut Development Corporation was expected to be commissioned by December 2015. The plant would have a capacity to produce 1,000 litres of Neera a day.
The action plan includes a variety of schemes aimed at making Kerala an organic farming state by March 2016. The programme seeks to bring 3,000 sq m under polyhouse method of horticulture at Vadavathur in Kottayam and Kodumon Estate, Pathanamthitta by November this year. The State Horticulture Mission will take up a project to set up 1,28,000 sq m of polyhouses and introduce organic certification in 3,500 hectares. Cluster units will be set up in Kannur, Wayanad, Idukki, and Palakkad to extend vegetable farming to 3,900 hectares.
As many as 2,00,000 milch cows will be added to the cattle population while the annual production of fodder will reach 44 lakh tonnes. Three new dairy farms are to be set up at Enmakaje, Kottoor and Muthalappara in Kasaragod district. Two new hi-tech dairy farms are expected to be commissioned at Vithura in Thiruvananthapuram and Kuriyottumala in Kollam by August 2015.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Kerala / by Special Correspondent / Thiruvananthapuram – May 29th, 2014
George Varghese celebrated his 90th birthday with the 15th edition of the Kaipattoor tournament. / Photo:S.Gopakumar / The Hindu
Golf is still a passion for George Varghese, the oldest member of Kowdiar Golf Club
The nine-hole course at the Golf Club in Kowdiar comes up short in containing George Varghese’s exuberance as he strides across the turf waving his slightly worn-out golf club in the air. After the game, as the 90-year-old man gave a little sprint for the camera, some of his much younger teammates smiled at each other, with a glint of envy in their eyes.
Mr. Varghese, the oldest member of the club here, celebrated his birthday in style on Saturday with the 15th edition of the Kaipattoor tournament, which he started in 2000 as a tribute to the ‘unknown village’ where he was born, Kaipattoor in Pathanamthitta district, in 1924.
All the 50 of them who gathered at the club were wearing the yellow t-shirts designed for the tournament. Mr. Varghese’s was a special one though, with the number 90 stitched at the back. Members, among them retired civil servants and defence personnel, vied with each other to get themselves photographed with the grand old man, whom they affectionately address as ‘uncle.’
“I have been a member of this club since 1986. Four of us have made a team and we play in the afternoons at least four times a week. I have got some great friends from this club,” says Mr. Varghese.
Golf has been a life-long passion for him, even during his stint as the manager of a private firm in Singapore for 40 years.
Since 1952“I became fascinated with golf way back in 1952, as the famed Island Country Club was near my apartment. There were at least 12 international golf clubs in that small city and I became a life-long fan there,” he says.
When he came back to the country in 1986 after retirement, his only consideration was to stay in a place where he could regularly play golf. And so, he settled in Thiruvananthapuram. The golf course here is peculiar in that there are no carts to ferry you to the spot for the next shot. Mr. Varghese walks all the distance, as fast as the younger ones.
“One of my memories of ‘uncle’ is of the day when we were playing at Ootty recently. The golf course is reached by a steep climb and we had ridden up on our cars. Only he was missing from the crowd. After some time we heard loud cheers from the crowd and saw him walking up after parking the car downhill,” says John Thomas, Captain of the club here.
A member of the Golf Addicts Society of Southern India, Mr. Varghese speaks softly but hits the ball with all the force he could muster.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by S. R. Praveen / Thiruvananthapuram – June 08th, 2014
Wood cuttings, lithography, and line drawings being prepared for printmaking at the College of Fine Arts on Wednesday. / Photo: S.R. Praveen / The Hindu
The textures on the faces and the depressions on the surreal landscapes depicted on miniature and square rectangle pieces of paper tell one that there is more than just human hand at work there.
Shining through these prints are the ages of the trees and the unpredictability of acids, which decides the final form of the work.
In the age of instagram when we are carpet-bombed with a million photographs on a daily basis, these prints which are made with the effort of more than the day harks back to a period when time literally stood still.
When the annual degree show of the College of Fine Arts opens on Thursday on the campus, one of the novelties will be the printmaking section, which will showcase the talent of the students in etching, lithography, and wood cutting.
This is probably the first time that an exhibition of such prints will be held in the city.
“The advantage of prints compared to the normal paintings is the subtle gradation of tones achieved in this. The printmaking itself is an intimate process which begins with tapping out the wood, applying the acid, and transferring it into paper. Though multiple impressions can be taken of the same work, each turns out unique,” says Melbin Thomas, a final year student.
In addition, there will be a display of the vintage printmaking machines.
The degree show is the culmination of four years of work put in by the students and is a platform for them to display their best works.
“The degree show is a kind of bridge for us to the general public, who are not very familiar with what is happening here. It is a way of letting them know what these students have become in these four years,” says M. Lekha, college Principal.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by S. R. Praveen / Thiruvananthapuram – June 05th, 2014
The Rs 12-core Da Vinci robot is a three-unit piece which includes a remote-control console, a five-armed robot and a processing system. (Thinkstock Photos/ Getty Images for representation purpose only)
Kochi :
Robot-assisted surgery has come to town and performed a procedure on 61-year-old for prostate cancer.
“We used a robot-assisted procedure to remove the prostate gland and the surrounding lymph nodes using a robot called Da Vinci. While hospitals are using open or laparoscopic procedure, this method is more efficient, both for the patient as well as the surgeon,” said Dr Kishore T A, consultant urologist and transplantologist, Aster Medcity, Kochi.
The Rs 12-core Da Vinci robot is a three-unit piece which includes a remote-control console, a five-armed robot and a processing system.
The surgeon sits on the remote control console which senses his hand movements and translates them electronically into scaled-down micro-movements to manipulate the tiny instruments.
It also detects and filters out any tremors in the surgeon’s hand which makes the surgery highly accurate and precise, say the doctors.
The robotic surgery, which has been performed in some of the major hospitals in the country, is expected to become popular in the state.
“We need just one nurse at the table to assist the surgeon to hand over the instruments to the ‘arm’ according to the surgeon’s instructions.
“The advantage of robotic prostatectomy is that it reduces pain and blood loss, tissue trauma, a shorter hospital stay, and a quicker recovery period than a traditional prostatectomy.
“You usually can return to normal activity with minor restrictions in two to four weeks after the surgery,” he said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kochi / TNN / June 03rd, 2014
A meal without the crisp and creamy yellow, pappads and its crunchy, tactile feel, would be unappetising to an average Malayali. It’s demand in various sizes does not stop with the sadya. For most it is a favourite with the Kerala’s own ‘puttu’ or the ‘upma’. The older generation even prefer it to biscuit for tea. Some even like it roasted than fried.
Be it children or adults, pappads are much sought after on the dining table. Children love to down it with rice or ‘kanji’, especially those who can’t stand ‘hot’ and savoury curries.
Yes, the demand for the wheatish and fluffy flat bread is growing by the day, but the industry is short of hands which has taken its toll on the traditional method of pappad-making.
Though manufacturers have slowly turned to mechanisation, handmade pappads still hold sway over the true culinary faithful. To cater to their needs is Viswas Pappads, near Changampuzha park, one of the oldest handmade pappad makers in Kochi.
An extension of Guruvayur manufacturing establishments, Viswas boasts 60 years of tradition. “The unit was set up by my father. and I followed in his footsteps,” says Viswanathan, the proprietor.
The dexterous process of pappad-making is a savoury sight to behold, now fast disappearing. Dal, salt, and ‘pappada karam’ are mixed to form a dough. The dough is kneaded and rolled by hand into long, thick strips which are cut into wafer thin slices and rolled into small flat spheres after which they are dried in the sun. “The handmade ones are sold out within hours of making,” said Viswanathan.
The pappads come in five different sizes, from ‘kutti’ pappads to the larger ones. The ‘kutti’ pappads, ideal for kids, and ‘masala pappads’ sell like hot cakes. “The pappads here are unadulterated, handmade, and delicious. It is profitable too, that is why I am a regular here,” says Jayakumar, an avid pappad lover.
Another legacy of Viswas is the price estimation based on number of pappadams in a packet. While other manufacturers fix them by weight, Viswas pappads go by traditions. It costs `60 for a packet of 100 (medium size). The ‘art’ of making pappads that requires great speed, skill, and expertise, comes with lots of practice and Viswas has made a mark in it.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Kochi / by Maya Philip, Jaya Thampi and Anaida Davis / June 06th, 2014
