Monthly Archives: November 2015
First corporate to fight polls sweeps Kerala panchayat
Kochi :
A corporate group opened its account in an election in India for the first time when its political avatar, tackily named Twenty20, breezed into power in Kizhakkambalam gram panchayat in Kerala, winning 17 of the 19 seats. Congress and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) won the other two seats while the Left drew a blank.
Twenty20 became widely popular in Kizhakkambalam, a village situated 22km from Ernakulam, after Kitex Group, a textile major with a turnover of about Rs 1,000 crore invested around Rs 28 crore in two years to usher in unprecedented development in the panchayat and emerge as a credible alternative to the entrenched political parties in the area.
“The Left and UDF have been ruling the gram panchayat till now. However, they have done nothing for us. Today, Kitex Group gives us groceries at half the price. They constructed 458 houses and over 600 toilets for the poor, repaired public roads, conducted medical check-ups and sponsored surgeries. Under the leadership of Sabu M Jacob (chief coordinator of Twenty20, and managing director of Kitex), we selected our candidates, and carried out a phased campaign. The results speak for themselves,” said Biju Athanipparambil, an autorickshaw driver and Twenty20 executive member.
Twenty20 candidates contested against LDF, UDF, BJP, SDPI and independent candidates. According to figures released by the district administration, an unprecedented 90.5% of 24,300-odd voters turned up at the booths to cast their votes last Thursday. In the 2010 elections, the turnout was 84%.
Twenty20’s political opponents are not too convinced about the organisation’s professed aims, saying it is a cover for Kitex’s hidden business agenda. They also allege that Sabu Jacob is known for his autocratic ways and that Kitex Group has done precious little to stop pollution caused by its factories.
“Allegations against Twenty20 and Kitex Group are baseless. I am not an autocrat and this is not a facade. We have already decided to form a political party – Twenty20 Party – and have already approached the Election Commission for registration. We are here because people are fed up with political parties’ poll promises,” Sabu told TOI.
Sabu added that Twenty20 plans to carry out Rs 300 crore worth projects in the panchayat in the coming five years. They plan to rope in other companies for corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities apart from depending on the panchayat’s plan fund.
By noon on Saturday, Twenty20’s victory turned into a mega celebration in Kizhakkambalam village as women, children, businessmen, daily wage workers and a couple of doctors took out a procession accompanied by a noisy band. When an executive member of Twenty20 was asked who would become the panchayat president, he replied: “Sabu sir will decide.” Almost immediately, he revised it: “We will decide collectively.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kochi / by Shyam P V, TNN / November 08th, 2015
09th
08th
07th
6
5
The Muse speaks from prison
Poems by ten people who were imprisoned during the Emergency.
The Emergency in 1975 has had many gruesome after-effects. But ‘Thadavara Kavithakal’ is one positive outcome of the times.
The anthology, the English translation of which is getting ready to be published soon under the title ‘Poems from the Prison’, consists of poems penned by ten people who had been imprisoned during the emergency for various reasons. It was their endless days in prison that unearthed the poets in most of them.
The anthology in Malayalam was first published in 1977, edited by Civic Chandran, one of the poets, and republished with extensive notes and memoirs in 2010. Some of the poems had been translated and used in various English anthologies over the time.
First time
This is for the first time an attempt was made to translate the anthology completely into English and published as one book.
Freshly translated by noted Malayalam poet K. Satchidanandan, with a foreword by Balachandran Chullikkad, the anthology carries 25 poems by ten poets, most of whom are still alive, while a few like Muhammed Ali and Udayabhanu have bid adieu to this world.
The remaining — M. Somanathan, V. K. Prabhakaran, M. M. Somasekharan, Das (Kuttikrishnan), C. K. Raghunath, Purushothaman, C. K. Abdul Azees and Civic Chandran –- are mostly still active as writers, theoreticians, editors and activists, having moved away from the Maoist ideology that had stirred them in the Seventies.
The poems are on diverse themes. ‘An evening note’ by P. Udayabhanu recalls the turbulent times when revolution was brewing across the country while V.K. Prabhakaran’s ‘The People of my village’ is about the unrest beneath the surface.
However, they are marked by certain recurring symbols such as storm and rain and the spirit of revolution.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Aabha Anoop / Kozhikode – November 04th, 2015
Kerala Center to honour six Malayalis
The U.S.-based Kerala Center will honour six Indian-American Malayalis for their outstanding achievements and service to society.
“Every year we invite nominations and the committee has to make a unanimous choice for a candidate in a category to be selected to receive the award and this year is no different from previous years in terms of their achievements,” said Kerala Center board member and trustee Thomas Abraham.
Four-member panel
The honourees were selected by a committee consisting of four members headed by Mr. Abraham. They will be honoured at the Center’s 23rd Annual Awards Banquet on November 7 at World’s Fair Marina in Flushing in New York City.
The honourees include Navin Manjooran, Global Director (Energy) for Siemens AG; Sasi K Pillay, Chief Information Officer, University Wisconsin System; Prem Soman, Director of Nuclear Cardiology and Associate Professor of Medicine and Clinical and Translation Science at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for Medicine.
Other honourees are George M. Kakkanatt, a former U.S. Air Force Captain and chief editor of Azchavattom Malayalam news weekly, Leela Maret, Scientist at New York City’s Environmental Protection for Community Service, and Captain Jophiel Philips, Judge Advocate General in the U.S. Air Force. — PTI
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Kerala / November 04th, 2015
They called this deaf man an ‘idiot’ and look what he went on to build
Thiruvananthapuram :
The neighbourhood kids in Saji Thomas’s remote Idukki village used to call him ‘potten’ (idiot) and not just because, as children often cruelly do, he was born deaf and mute but because he was also constantly trying to piece together junk into something new.
The 45 year-old ‘potten’ has come a long way. Thomas designed and built a twin-seater ultralight aircraft on his own from used parts and recycled material which got him into the record books and will see him featured on Discovery Channel in a programme called HRX Superheroes beginning on Monday. The programme is anchored by Hrithik Roshan and showcases nine people who overcame physical disability to achieve their dreams.
His ultralight aircraft, called Saji X Air-S, has already done several successful flights at a private flight training academy owned by Thiruvananthapuram-based SKJ Nair, a (Rtd) Wing Commander. Thomas’s passion for planes was kindled when as a 15 year-old he saw a small aircraft spraying pesticides on nearby rubber plantations.
He mustered the courage to go and ‘talk’ to the pilots, one of whom gave the mute kid their Mumbai address. A few months later, Thomas ran away from home to Mumbai. Impressed by his enthusiasm, the pilots gave him some manuals on aviation to read up and put him on odd jobs.
Over the years, Thomas has had to undergo severe hardships to build the aircraft, even selling all five cents of land he owned. “First he could only construct the frame of an aircraft and the second one could not fly as an engine from a motor bike was used in it,” his wife Mariya told TOI.
After Thomas sold the second aircraft’s model to an engineering college, he bought an aircraft engine with that money and completed the work on Saji X Air-S last year. Thomas, whose name is mentioned in India Book of Records as the first differently abled person to build an aircraft, often worked as a rubber tapper, an electrician and band photographer to earn a living.
“It was when we lost all hope that support came from Nair who made arrangements for Thomas to test his aircraft and also helped him in flying the aircraft at Manimuthar in Tamil Nadu,” Mariya said.
Thomas is now seeking a licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and plans to build a twin-engine aircraft. He is also seeking a job as an aeronautics mechanic and hopes that some reputed company recruits him.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / National> City> Thiruvananthapuram / by Anasooya S, TNN / November 02nd, 2015