Progressive Moves

There are two news items that did not catch the attention of many. They appeared only in the smallest letters in some papers. I do not know whether these items deserve to be lauded or decried.
The first one is about the parents in Sacred Heart College resisting the onslaught of the youth wings of the ruling party and making sure that the entrance examination was conducted without a hitch. Those who came to block the examination had to go away, shouting slogans. Have the parents begun to realize the importance of imparting quality education to their children even if it involves payment? Those who are really interested in the progress of education in Kerala might pray: "May the creed of these parents increase!"
In this context, I would like to believe that the recent agreements made by the Government with the Managements of professional colleges smack of surrendering to the Will of the managements. Most colleges have been given the freedom to charge the fees as they like, provided the Government gets 50% quota at the rate of fees prescribed by the managements!
The second news item is about permitting the use of beedi in jails and increasing the wages of the prisoners three fold. I don't know whether this is a progressive move, but I am sure that this will certainly encourage more and more criminals to opt for the jail. The exemption can easily be extended to liquor and mobile phones at a later stage, which will make life in jail more confortable than life outside.
It is said that if a despatch clerk becomes a minister, he will be very concerned about improving the lot of despatch clerks in all offices. So, there is nothing wrong in Kodiyeri Balakrishnan taking these steps to improve the lot of criminals in jails. He should certainly know that he belongs there!

Achu the Saviour?

Sending earthmovers and bulldozers to Munnar to remove illegal encroachments is creating ripples in the Politics of Kerala, especially the LDF allies including CPM. The public support is not as evident as the rift within LDF. The envy emanating from the GIANT STATURE Achuthanandan has achieved is gathering momentum. Let us hope that it will not become another Gonu.

This action was long due, but the UDF was fighting shy of addressing it. At least the present CM has shown the courage to do so. Now he has reached a stage where he cannot pull back, or reverse his decision. It sounds something like the boon given to Bhasmasura. The ripples are moving all around the State.

I am sorry only for the quantum of national waste involved in pulling down all the buildings. I am also worried about the message this might send to real estate investments.

The idea concerning paddy reclamation projects seems somewhat far-fetched. Kerala's achievements in educating its people are precisely why paddy fields are dwindling from their peak in the 1970s. In our hurry to glorify white collar jobs, we have diminished the glory of hard labour. The situation in the state is such that there are no people to do the work in the fields. Machines have to be used for each and everything with the approval and ‘ransom’ to the trade unions. And the cultivation of paddy has become a seriously doubtful investment. In Kuttanad, for example, growing fish is hundred times more fetching than farming. The State is already grown into one of the biggest consumer centres and it may have to use the money it produces to buy rice and other essential items from outside the State. In the present trend of globalizing everything, we will have to do with producing money through profitable crops and NRI means; spend it to buy paddy.

From that point of view, Achuthanandan’ s policies in either fronts seem to buckle – first by driving away investment in real estates and secondly by leaving vast areas of usable land arid and uncultivated.

Rough days for Government

Things are not going well for the LDF Government. Controversial issues continue to pile upon pile. First, the statements by Paloli and AK Balan, now the Munnar encroachment issue and, to add to the confusion, the infant deaths in SAT hospital.
It has been widely propagated that most of the encroachments in Munnar are done either by the members of the Marxist Party or their close relatives. The UDF has cleanly washed their hands off, demanding impartial enquiry and punishment to the offenders. But, the nexus between the officials and the party is likely to wreck all investigation, the UDF says.
It is pathetic that so many new borns died in the premier hospital at Trivandrum. It is needless to say that this has resulted from the negligence of the staff, authorities and the Government. The Health Minister cannot easily wash her hands off the incident, because the sanitary conditions in all hospitals in Kerala are in a bad situation because of paucity of funds. Reports and recommendations made by various committees are criminally ignored and shelved for ever. When another incident arises, one more committee will be constituted to waste so much of paper. Sacking a Superintendent or some doctors will not help.
This is the situation is a State which found its name in the list of WHO for many firsts in primary health. It is imperative on the Government to take immediate steps to alleviate the distress.

Raging Controversies

The Ministers in Kerala seem to revel in controversies. First, it was Paloli Mohammad Kutty who passed some unwelcome comments on the Judiciary. He is facing trial in the courts now. Next came the turn of the Electricity Minister Mr. Balan, who declared that the gods in temples of Kerala had no clothes on.

Mr. Sudhakaran, the Devaswom and Co-operation Minister appears to be the master of controversies. First, it was against the IAS Officers, then it shifted to the director boards of co-operative banks. He had no doubts when he said that all Devaswom Board Members were corrupt and were living on the wealth usurped from temples. Now comes his turn to say that Guruvayur should be opened to Yesudas. Devotees will no doubt will take it on as an encroachment on their rights and privileges, whether Yesudas desires that or not.

The latest controversy is now brewing about the Pathrakkadavu Project. The ministers themselves do not see eye to eye on this issue. The project was once vehemently opposed by the Leftists when they were in the opposition. Just like the ADB Loan, everything is good when they themselves do it, and totally bad when the UDF plans of doing it.

To add to this all, is the re-opening of the Abhaya Case. The crux of the investigation is not whether a crime had been done against the nun, but how the secret report leaked out now, after nearly 15 years. No doubt, those who are behind publishing the secret documents will be brought to book!

Anyhow, these controversies have a good side to them after all. The rift in the Marxist Party has been pushed to background, the inertia of the Government is not much discussed. The Smart City and the Vizhinjom Port are yet to be realized, though much hope is spread around to keep the machinery clicking.

Education Vs. Ministers

There has been a lot of talk about the educational status (or lack of) of the Ministers of Kerala. Most of them are said to be school dropouts or attempted degrees. I wonder why we should worry about it.

For the kind of activities that take place in the Assembly (and for that matter, the Parliament), what is the need for so much of education? The Ministers, most of them, read out what their Secretaries have given them in writing and the opposition walks out. All that the Ministers need to know is to put letters together in the form of words while reading; the opposition doesn’t need even that.

I have no doubt that Mr. A K Balan is a prodigy. As the electricity minister, he electrified the otherwise sleepy assembly with his stunning statement. That put everyone on the alert and the opp. gratefully accepted another opportunity to walk out. But the gist of AKB’s message is still missing – do people go to temples to see the depiction of Kamasutra or to worship gods? Or, are these naked statues worshipped by people like AKB? Again, which of the Hindu Gods are supposed to move about without clothes? Just like another esteemed minister said, the priests do not cover their nakedness well. I feel, if you go to a temple to see God, you will see him. If you seek the balls of the priest, you will have enough chance to see that.

Aren’t there some good things happening in Kerala?

Yes. There are many good things taking place in Kerala - Promises of umpteen commissions to look into so many atrocities and welfare of the people. The ministers spell out hundred of new steps to reform the well being of Keralites. I am taking stock of the offers made. By the time the reports of the commissions come out and gather dust, the next election will be due.

Smart plans for the State

All on a sudden, there are many offers jumping out for Smart City. Where were these people all these days when the Government was sorting out issues with DIC? It is usual with land developers. Once a deal is settled with someone for sale of land, there suddenly appear a few offers suggesting that ‘we would have given so much’. Let us wait and see.

It is confirmed that Kerala is the first in per capita consumption of liquor. To make this doubly certain, the new Abkari laws will make sure that liquour is within the reach of every individual. The limits for storage of Arrack/alcohol will be raised to 25 litres and the fines for illegal storage reduced to a minimum. What a fine policy to help the suffering and the poor! So, hereafter, farmers don’t have to commit suicide – they can wallop in liquor and forget everything.

One doubt remains. Why should there be any restriction on public drinking and drunken driving? Selling maximum quantity of liquor is Government’s policy, so that the State coffers swell with excise and taxes; then, why discourage people from drinking in public? Drunken driving is a sure way of containing population explosion during these days vehicle proliferation and limitations of roads. The more the vehicles crash, the less will the roads be crowded. We can also save a lot of money on road-building! The taxes for the vehicle for fifteen years will already have been paid – so there is no loss in that account.

A silver ray

After waiting for so long and talking all about the damage caused by hartals, here is a silver lining in the cloud, though only a faint one. Manorama reports that the unit of Vyapari-Vyavasayi Co-ordination Committee of Bharanikkavu, a small village near Kayamkulam has come out against these frequent hartals. The traders there have realized that, in addition to the State-wide hartals exhorted by major political parties, they are forced to close shop for even minor incidents, sometimes twice or thrice on the same issue. If not complied with, even man-handling takes place. They now suspect the hands of some anti-social elements in organizing hartals frequently and are now decided on resisting the forced closure of shops. So far so good. At least, people in a small way are realizing the menace called hartal and are showing signs of protest.
In a significant move, one Jewellery bigwig who has branches all over the world has come up with the declaration that he will not open another branch in Kerala. In his opinion, it is impossible to run business in Kerala because of the tax norms and frequent hartals. He plans to shift his head office to Bangalore shortly and none of the thirty new branches to be begun will be in Kerala.
Some bad news, isn't it?
No confirmation about the Smart City still!

Some Hard Truths

The news today is that there is still some uncertainty about the Smart City. The CM affirms that there is no truth in the rumours: the spokesmen of DIC are non-committal. The audacity of the Kerala Government to ask for the Chairman's post(to be gifted to some local CITU leader) seems to have come in the way. Let us wait and see.
The Education Minister has said that those who come into the field of education should uphold certain values. Something that is not essential in politicians. But, it is a great thing that he knows of the existance of certain desirable values , somewhere. All the teachers organizations, especially leftist, who are mainly responsible for converting the teacher's profession into a business rather than a commitment should listen to Baby's words.
Finally, the Sports lottery is over. Targetting 200 Crores, it earned only less than 30 crores.
(This at least proves that the people of Kerala are not as foolish as the FM who believed that Kerala's Financial woes could be overcome by making a 2000 crore business of Lottery annually.) Of this, 2 Crores will be set apart for the benefit of Sports , whereas 3 crores were spent on advertisement alone. Nice way of doing things - collecting 30 crores from the ordinary people and spending 28 crores to 'amass' 2 Crores for Sports!

Controlling prices

The Chief Minister announced yesterday that prices of essential commodities and food items in hotels will be reduced by 5%. This happens when the papers report that the prices have gone up by 50 to more than 100 per cent. In the same cabinet, it was also decided that the price of Milma milk will be increased by one rupee!
But the traders and hoteliers maintain that they are unaware of such a decision (to reduce prices) taken by the ministry in the presence of their representatives. So, in effect, the announcement of the CM appears to be just an eye-wash!
How long can a 'popular' government sustain itself through such gimmicks?

Minister visiting temple

The most important discussion of the day is whether a Marxist Minister visited a temple or not. All the other real issues of Kerala go to the background. As if this is the most crucial issue to be solved. The Crime Branch has been entursted with conducting an enqiry and proving that Kodiyeri had never ever gone near any temple and all the people who allege him of having done so are lying. Surely, the CB will achieve this, let us hope.
The Medical College in Trivandrum is newly equipped with a lie-detector and a brain-mapping system.Mr. Kodiyeri threw open the service yesterday. Presumably, he did not inaugurate the lie-detector by testing himself. Otherwise, perhaps, the machine would have exploded the moment he touched it!
The Government is likely to envisage a ban on ministers and political leaders being tested in the new lab.
For more details, visit DailyIndia.com dated 06.02.07

Crisis in Public Health

According to Dr. C. R. Soman, former Professor at Trivandrum Medical College, Kerala is heading towards a crisis in Public Heath. The reasons he cites are:

1. Achievements in the fields of mortality and fertility have reached a plateau
2. Immunization coverage has dropped in most districts
3. Frequent outbreaks of epidemics (insect-borne) are on the increase.
4. Natural ecology has been tampered with. The backwaters and canals are full of weeds and infested with disease germs.
5. Waste disposal is not being done properly.
6. Health Service departments are severely understaffed.
7. Distribution of drugs is totally insufficient.
8. The State Medical colleges are poor in bright young academics.
9. The State has the highest burden of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and over-nutrition.
10. Every year, 45-50 thousand people die of heart attack and nearly 20 thousand die of stroke, whereas the toll of HIV/AIDS is only 200. But the Govt. lays more stress on the latter than the former.
11. Lack of Govt. facilities allows Private institutions to fleece the patients.
12. Students who undergo Graduate and PG courses in private medical colleges try to realize the huge amounts spent on their education through hyper-testing and exorbitant fees.
13. Medical care in the State has become dehumanized and privatized. Commodifying health-care will demolish all that the State has achieved in the past 20 years.

    Source: Culcutta.News.net

    4^th Feb 2007 (IANS)

Recent news

Some recent news items:

1. The IIT will not be a reality in the next Central Budget.

2. No more schools or courses will be sanctioned, no more posts will be allowed to be created.

3. The 1600 Toddy shops, closed down during Antony regime, will be opened.

4. The mandatory distance from liquor shops to educational institutions and places of worship will be reduced from 400 to 200 metres.

5. More liquor shops will be opened.

6. The Universities in Kerala will be made starecrows with the advent of the Higher Education Council consisting of representation from all fields other than education.

Great times in the offing, isn't it?

Keralavarthamanam

Kerala is unique in many respects. It is known as ‘God’s Own Country’ because of the abundant blessings of Mother Nature. It has an evergreen surface, has plenty of rivers and a great number of tourist spots. The people there have the highest literacy rate in India, are well educated, are very pleasant in their dealings with others, are hard-working at least outside Kerala and can boast of a high culture and tradition.

Yet, there are some misgivings about the progress of Kerala as a State. Disconcerting news comes up every now and then about the efforts to achieve progress and the impediments that they have to face.

This blog attempts to depict such news, Good and Bad, on an everyday basis. Readers are free to analyze the details, and if required, suggest remedies for the ills. Thus we can turn this into a discussion forum wherein all those who are interested in the well-being of Kerala participate with the best of intentions