The Hindu : Briefly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 29, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Briefly

`Cancel decision on wells'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 28. The CPI(M) State Secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, demanded here on Sunday that the Government should cancel the decision to introduce registration for wells and to make permits mandatory for digging new wells. The CPI(M) State secretary said his party was not against measures for regulating the exploitation of groundwater. However, it would not be right to harass the people and collect fee from them. Now, people would not only have to shell out Rs. 50 to Rs. 1,000 as fee for digging wells in their court yards, but would also have to face hurdles in getting the permits. The Government Order, Mr. Vijayan noted, had said that the applications for permits would be approved only after scrutiny at different levels. The specification that permission was needed for deepening and repairing wells would add to the misery of the people, he said.

SBT to accept tax remittances

The State Bank of Travancore has made arrangements for collecting income tax and other direct tax remittances at the counters of its branches at all major centres in the State, a press release issued by the Bank said.

`Protect traditional knowledge'

The Minister for Culture, G. Karthikeyan, said here on Sunday that his Department was taking steps for protection of traditional knowledge in architecture and other areas. The Department, he said, had enquired about reports that Vasthu had been patented in another country. Steps had been taken to ensure that the State would not lose its rights over Vasthu. Mr. Karthikeyan said that the Department would collaborate with the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library to document the traditional knowledge of the State. The Vasthuvidya Gurukulam at Aranmula had been asked to get the guidelines and work towards protecting the State's traditional knowledge. Joint projects would be implemented with the Library. He noted that none could patent a science though patents could be obtained for inventions based on science. Procedures were available for protection of current knowledge and systems.

Council to be inaugurated

The Gandhian Studies Centre of Kerala University and the Gandhi Centre for Rural Development have set up a Council for joint action by governmental and non-governmental agencies for conservation of natural resources. The Natural Resource Management Council will spearhead action in areas of water conservation, environmental protection, development of energy sources for rural sector and waste disposal. The vice-chairman of the State Planning Board, V. Ramachandran, will inaugurate the Council at a function to be held at the Studies Centre on March 31.

Railway booking to resume

The Southern Railway Computerised Passenger Reservation System, which was taken up for maintenance today, will resume normal working at 6 a.m. on Monday. A Railway spokesman said the public would be able to make advance reservation of the tickets when the computerised reservation centres commence working at 8 a.m. The maintenance of the mainframe of the computerised passenger reservation system is being carried out at Chennai and is expected to be completed by 6 a.m. The automatic enquiry systems such as interactive voice response system, passenger-operated enquiry terminals, touch-screens for reservation and departure enquiry will become functional in the morning.

Temple festival begins

PATHANAMTHITTA MARCH 28. The annual festival at the Thevalasserry Devi Temple at Nedumprayar, near Maramon, began today. sThe temple Tantri, Pullamvazhi Devan Krishnan Nampoothiri, hoisted the ceremonial flag at 7.45 p.m.A `Bhagavatha Saptaha Yajnam' will be held at the temple from tomorrow; Mannadi Hari is the `yajnacharya'. `Lalitha sahasranama archana' will be held at the yajna mandapam on all the seven days of the yajnam. `Theeyattu ritual will be held at 8.30 p.m. on the temple premises on all the eight days of the annual festival. The festival will come to a close with the `theeyattu' ritual on April 4 evening, according to the temple authorities.

DYFI slogan

KOLLAM MARCH 28. Raising a slogan `India is fading and Kerala is sinking', the Democratic Youth Federation of India(DYFI) today organised marches and public meetings in eleven places in the district. The public meeting at Karunagapally in this connection was inaugurated by the DYFI national president, K.N. Balagopal, and that at Bharanikavu by the CPI(M) leader and LDF candidate from Kollam, P. Rajendran.

Inauguration

The central election committee of the LDF candidate from Kollam, P. Rajendran, will be inaugurated at the N.S. Memorial Complex here tomorrow by the CITU State general secretary, P.K. Gurudasan. LDF leaders from the district will be attending the function.

NAAC team's visit

ALAPPUZHA MARCH. 28. A four-member of team of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) lead by the vice-chancellor of the Managalore University, V. Hanumayya, will visit the Cherthala S.N. College on March 29 for assessment, according to a college communique. The college, founded in 1964, has 11 undergraduate courses and four post graduate courses. It is also a study centre of the Indira Gandhi National Open University. The NAAC team will stay at the college for two days, said the communique.

Programme for students

KOZHIKODE MARCH 28. The Silver Hills Higher Secondary School here will offer a new programme, Multi-intelligence Programme, exclusively for school students from April 2. The learning process, which will be a 40-hour programme (20 days), will help the students to gain an upper hand in studies. The targeted group is students between the age group of 10 to 17 years. For more details, contact, Silver Hills Higher Secondary School, Paroppady, Marikunnu PO, Kozhikode-673012 or at Ph: 0495 2370615.

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