KERALA

In order to tide over financial crisisKochiCorporation authorities are planning to introduce 15% service cess onproperty tax. Opposition councillors slammed the proposal pointing out that it would add to the hardshipps of the public already burdened with the adversities stemming out of Covid-19.

The corporation is head-deep in a financial crisis which has evolved over the past several years. The local body owes the contractors a huge amount and lack of funds has impacted the implementation of many projects. It is against this backdrop the local body authorities have mooted the proposa. We discussed the proposal at a meeting of the finance standing committee. We provide the residents various Services including waste clearance, streetlight and drainage cleaning.

is planning to bring in a piece oflegislationas part of exploring limited Options to maintain control over thedeemed to be universitiesthat are about to come up in the state inprivate sectorsooner than later.

As part of the move, the state higher Education department has issued an order early this month engaging theKerala state higher education council(KSHEC) to prepare and submit to the government a detailed report on the broad outline within which the deemed to be universities can be allowed to function. The order clearly mentions what triggered the department to order an immediate study by the council.

The UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations 2019 leaves little elbow to the state government to exercise discretionary powers to resist or deny eligible institutions from seeking and obtaining deemed to be university status from the UGC. According to the regulations, an institution applying for the deemed to be university status should satisfy a set of eligibility conditions such as it should have been in existence for not less than 20 years, should have NAAC accreditation with at least 3.26 CGPA for three consecutive cycles.

The Kerala state Disaster Management authority (KSDMA) along with Indian National Centre For Ocean Information Service (Incois) is jointly organizing a tsunami-preparedness programme for select coastal villages to be certified as tsunami ready.

The programme, under the aegis of Unesco, will certify villages as tsunami ready based on community preparedness to handle the situation in the event of a tsunami. As part of the certification, the coastal village is expected to have disaster mitigation plans, maps that help in addressing and ensuring relief and rehabilitation, mock drills, awareness classes, etc. The final announcement will be made after inspection by the Unesco team.

Presently in India, only two villages in Odisha have received this recognition so far. The training programmes have begun in some of the six coastal villages identified for the purpose. As part of the project, training program, mock drill and other related programs are being conducted.

and the ability to observe earth Resources systematically.

It will also supply eco-systems applications with time-series data.

NISAR mission

NASA and ISRO are working together on NISAR. Both organizations collaborate to co-develop and launch a dual frequency synthetic aperture radar on a spacecraft for Earth observation.

NISAR will be launched in 2023 and will be the first dual-frequency radar imaging satellite.

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar will use sophisticated radar imagery to map the height of Earth’s land and ice masses.

Mapping will take place four to six times per month, with resolutions ranging from five to ten meters.

According to the reports, the Kerala Film Chamber has prepared the design of the notice and logo for the committee and the notice, announcing its formation, will be posted at different movie locations. The notice will consist of the name, status, and phone number of the five committee members. One among the five members of the redressal committee will be having no association with a films shooting process.

Even two years after awarding the work on integrated urban rejuvenation and water transport system (IURWTS) project, theKochi Metro Rail Ltd(KMRL) the nodal agency is yet to secure environmental clearance for the project fromKerala coastal zone management authority(KCZMA).

Though KCZMA has asked KMRL to “submit details and data regarding the implications of regulating water flow by the canal lock gates” on July 2, 2021, the Metro agency is yet to submit the details. When the Rs 1,528 crore IURWTS project, which was designed for cleaning and beautifying six canals in Kochi and making them navigable, was launched in November 2019, the plan was to start the work within six months.

Moreover, the land acquisition wing of KIIFB-funded projects in Kochi is overburdened. There are just 12 officials in the team which is to take care of land acquisition of all the KIIFB-funded project.

On the occasion, shramdaan cleaning activities were also started in the Port areas.

Activities that were proposed during the Pakhwada comprise of cleaning of work places, crafts & public spaces and office premises within the Port area.

Programmes will be led by all heads of the department during the period.

Swachhta Pakhwada was Started in April 2016, with the objective of bringing a fortnight of intense focus on issues and practices of the Swachhta by engaging all the government ministries & departments in their jurisdictions. In order to plan the Pakhwada activities, an annual calendar is circulated among the Ministries in advanced. Ministries that observe Swachhata Pakhwada are monitored by means of online monitoring system of Swachhata Samiksha. On this system, action plans, images & Videos related to Swachhata activities are uploaded and shared.

This is an Environment awareness campaign launched under Swachh Bharat Mission. It was launched to achieve the goal of total sanitizations and cleanliness by October 2, 2019. Under the campaign, several ministries organise a theme wise campaign called Swachh Bharat Fortnight. It is a voluntary exercise and it seeks to raise awareness and target programmes.