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Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 16, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Briefly

Inauguration

KOLLAM April 15. The Rajya Sabha MP, N.K. Premachandran, will inaugurate the pavilion of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College at the All-India Exhibition grounds in Kollam organised by the Rotary Club of Quilon. Mr. Premachandran will also inaugurate a music fountain set up at the entrance of the exhibition venue.

Collector's directive

KOZHIKODE April 15 . The District Collector, T.O.Sooraj, has directed assistant returning officers and tahsildars to ensure that the election code of conduct was maintained strictly. Mr.Sooraj has directed that all election graffiti of the candidates at public places be removed forthwith. In case there was any opposition to this, the assistance of the police and district authorities may be sought, he added.

Ghazal programme

KANNUR APRIL 15. A `Ghazal Evening' programme will be organised here on April 17 by the Kannur Sangha Chethana's Ensemble of Arts. A press release from Sangha Chethana here today said that the ghazal concert by Shahabas Aman to be held at the Dinesh Auditorium at 6 p.m. on April 17 was the second programme of the Ensemble of Arts. It had earlier organised a `ganamela' by the noted playback singer, S. Janaki. The press release said popular ghazals by K.S. Saigal, Ghulam Ali and Pankaj Udas as well as old Malayalam songs tuned by Baburaj would also be sung at the function.

Plea to accord university status

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM APRIL 15. The former Speaker, Varkala Radhakrishnan, has called for according the status of a university to the Kerala Hindi Prachar Sabha. He was inaugurating a meeting in connection with the second death anniversary of the former secretary of the Sabha, M.K. Velayudhan Nair in Thiruvananthapuram today. The educationist, A. Sukumaran Nair, who presided, held Mr. Nair responsible for developing the Sabha from a small language institution to a large cultural movement.

Ananthamurthy panel report

The chairman of the School Education Commission, U. R. Ananthamurthy, will submit his report to the Minister for Education, Nalakath Soopy, tomorrow, it is learnt. Dr. Ananthamurthy told The Hindu that he had sent a copy of the report he had drafted to all the members of the Commission. The Commission would hold a meeting tomorrow where any suggestions by the members will be discussed and incorporated into the report, if needed.

Bank concessions for farmers

The Kerala State Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank has announced more concessions for farmers. According to the bank president, K. Sivadasan Nair, these included full waiver of the 2.5 per cent penal interest with effect from April 1, 2004 which those who availed of long-term loans had to pay if they defaulted repayment and allowing more time for the repayment of the balance of the principal and interest on agriculture loans, These would be limited to those who suffered crop loss due to the drought, he said. The bank was also reducing to 8.5 per cent the interest on the new loans it proposed to give for raising crops afresh and for other agricultural purposes. This would have effect from today. These steps were in addition to the staying of all revenue recovery and attachment measures on agriculture loans, he added.

Loan scheme for nurses

The State Bank of Travancore has launched a new loan scheme for meeting the migration expenses of nurses seeking employment abroad. The maximum loan amount is Rs. 1.5 lakhs for migration to the Gulf countries, Rs. 2 lakhs to UK and the European countries and Rs. 3 lakhs to the US. The interest is 9.5 per cent per annum and 75 per cent of the expenses on registration charges and agency commission will be reimbursed as loan on production of the selection document. The amount is to be repaid in three years in equal monthly instalments and there is no pre-payment penalty. Those who have passed B.Sc. (Nursing) on Diploma in General Nursing and are not above 35 years are eligible to avail of the loan. The applicant should be serviced by a licensed recruiting agency.

`Smrithi sayahnam' organised

Uthradam Tirunal Marthanda Varma, head of the royal family of erstwhile Travancore, has said that the country will achieve progress only if the agriculture and industrial sectors grew simultaneously. Inaugurating the `Smrithi sayahnam' organised by the Travancore Titanium Products (TTP) to honour its former employees in Thiruvananthapuram, he said that it was with this concept in mind that the former Maharaja of Travancore, Chithira Thirunal, had laid the foundation for the development of Travancore. But later, due to various reasons, the concept was not given due importance and that was responsible for many problems of the day.

Vakkom's suggestion

The Speaker, Vakkom Purushothaman, has urged those concerned not to put out the available light even if they do not manage to make the country shine. Inaugurating the State conference of the Akhila Kerala Latheen Katholikka Aikya Vedi in Thiruvananthapuram, he wondered how the country in which several died in a scramble for a piece of cloth worth Rs. 30 or Rs. 40 shone.

Muslim youth plan campaign

KOCHI APRIL 15. The Kerala Muslim Youth United Front has said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would not be allowed to open its account in the coming Lok Sabha elections in the State. At a press conference here today, the Front leaders said that its workers would launch a strong campaign against the NDA candidates in the Thiruvananthapuram and Muvattupuzha Lok Sabha constituencies. The Front would only support those candidates who were trying to protect Muslim interests, they said. The minorities had lost their confidence in the Congress with the destruction of the Babri Masjid, they said. The Congress leaders should realise that the organisation would crumble if it could not regain the confidence of the minorities, they said. The Front demanded implementation of the special recruitment drive as provided in the Narendran Commission report.

Temple wall demolished

The demolition of a temple wall at Putthankavu in Elavoor led to tension in the area today. According to information reaching here, the compound wall was bulldozed by a JCB machine, allegedly with the connivance of some vested interests. A Thrissur-based `ashram' that has been spearheading the campaign against reviving the `thookkam' ceremony said that inspite of alerting the authorities, the demolition was allowed to take place in the presence of the police. The local Revenue authorities reportedly said that the temple committee had no right over land and property. They were only there to administer the temple's daily matters, they said.

CPI(ML) leader remanded

KOZHIKODE April 15. The CPI(ML)Red Flag leader, K.T. Kunhikannan, was remanded today by the Judicial First Class Magistrate- I. Mr. Kunhikannan had been issued a warrant by the court in a case of attempted suicide when he had undertaken a fast-unto-death at the Kidson Corner here in 2001. The court rejected his bail plea and remanded him under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code today.

Incidentally, Mr. Kunhikannan is a candidate in the Vadakara Lok Sabha Constituency.

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