The Hindu : Kerala News : Briefly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 15, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Briefly

Pilgrim dies

PATHANAMTHITTA DEC. 14. A 53-year old Sabarimala pilgrim, Sreenivasan of Pooleri, Kulathottil in Kannur, died of heart attack while climbing down the Appachimedu this afternoon. This is the eighth casualty due to heart attack at Sabarimala during the ongoing pilgrim season. The body was taken to Kannur later.

Injured

A 40-year-old pilgrim, B. Rambabu from Namachi taluk in Andhra Pradesh was injured when he fell down from a moving KSRTC bus at Pampa this afternoon. He has been admitted to the Ayyppa Medical Centre of the Amritha Institute of Medical Sciences at Pampa.

Dharna planned

Thiruvananthapuram Dec. 14 . Paramedical students will stage a dharna in front of the Secretariat on December 22 in protest against the Government's decision to allow paramedical courses in private colleges. This was stated t a press conference here, the All Kerala Government Paramedical Students Association president, R. Jayadas.

SBT hikes interest on deposits

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM DEC. 14. The State Bank of Travancore will offer higher rates of interest on long-term deposits of five years and above with effect from tomorrow. The new rate for such deposits will be 6.5 per cent a year (which translates into an annualised rate of 7.60 per cent), as against the present rate of six per cent. Senior citizens (aged above 60 years) will get an additional 0.5 per cent interest on Rs. 5,000 or more deposited by them for five years or more. The effect interest rate for them will be seven per cent a year, which works out to an annualised yield of 8.29 per cent, the bank said in a statement here today. The new rates will be applicable for new deposits and renewals of existing deposits.

Excel prepaid SIM cards

BSNL Excel Prepaid connections for those who had booked from September 3 to 6 will be released from December 16. The total booking during these three days period is 86,039. The applicants can collect the SIM cards from the booking centres or distributors concerned by producing the original booking coupon and identity cards. With this release, the total connections released for the booking during the period September 1 to 8 is 1,38,183. The connections for the pending waiting list of 82,299 are likely to be released within a month.

TRAI directive

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued new regulations concerning broadcasting and distribution of cable television, with a view to ensuring non-discriminatory access of TV channels to cable operators and cable TV channel distributors. An official pressnote said here today that as per the new regulations, pay channels should provide their signals on a non-discriminatory basis to all cable operators and cable TV channel distributors, irrespective of the number of connections or the charge levied. Moreover, if a pay channel, for any reason, decided to switch off its signals to a cable TV operator, it should do so only after giving the operator a month's notice. In addition, the pay channel should also inform consumers of such a notice by publishing it in the newspapers or carrying it as a scroll in the channels concerned.

MD ayurveda rank-list

The provisional rank-list of candidates for admission to the Ayurveda Vachaspathi (MD Ayurveda) programme, 2004 has been published by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations. A press note issued here today said the first rank has gone to H. Shripathi Adigh, a resident of Udupi district, Karnataka. The rank list is available for reference at the office of the CEE, the office of the Director of Public Relations and also on the web site, `cee-kerala.org'. This list would also be available at all district information centres from December 17 onwards. Those who wish to know their marks and rank in the entrance examination can apply to the CEE along with a postal order for Rs. 100 drawn in favour of the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations, payable at GPO, Thiruvananthapuram and a self-addressed enveloped stamped for Rs. 5. The applications should be reach the CEE on or before January 15, 2005.

Elected ACU president

K. Mohandas, Director, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, has been elected the President of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) at the annual general meeting held in London. The association, with more than 500 universities from over 32 Commonwealth countries, is the oldest association of universities in the world.

Cancellation of trains

The Ernakulam-Kayankulam-Ernakulam passenger trains 335/336 have been cancelled on December 16 and 18, in order to undertake track maintenance work on the Ernakulam-Alleppey-Kayankulam sector.

Self-financing university

KOCHI DEC.14. The Kerala Self-Financing Engineering College Management's Association has decided to start a self-financing university to put an end to what it termed as the harassment from the universities in the State. The decision was taken at the general body meeting of the association, G.P.C. Nair, association president, and C.I. Abdul Rahiman, secretary, told mediapersons here today. The association expected the support of the State Government as the universities of the State were violating even the directives of the Government, they said. The association plans to approach the State Government for obtaining clearance for the university. It has also plans to acquire about 50 acres of land in Kochi for the proposed university and Rs. 100 crore would be set apart for the project, they said.

Deputation of staff flayed

KOZHIKODE DEC. 14. The Kerala Civil Supplies Officers Association today protested against the Government order on the deputation of employees from Civil Supplies Department to Civil Supplies Corporation.

The association general secretary, M. Sasidharan Nair, today demanded withdrawal of the order since in his view it ran counter to the convention that was being followed for nearly three decades in line with Kerala Service Rules and other recognised norms.

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