KERALA

Chief ministerPinarayi Vijayanhas said that the government plans to make the state waste-free by 2025. To achieve the goal, a comprehensive programme to improve waste collection, treatment and disposal would be implemented, he said.

The CM said that the programme would be implemented in a phased manner and incentives and Awards would be given for best performing local bodies at each level.

The CM said that the Global Expo would help create new perspectives and awareness about Waste Management. He said that toilet waste treatment Plants would be constructed in all districts and joint efforts of local self-government bodies are required for timely completion of the project. The chief minister also released a book titled Putting Waste to Work, which explains the best waste management models being implemented in the state.

In a major step towards ensuring transparency in liquor sales, the government has decided to inscribe e-labels with QR codes on liquor bottles being sold in the state.

The move is aimed at reducing the illegal sales of liquor as the QR code will help the authorities to easily scan and track the point of origin, point of sales and authenticity of liquor bottles. The order in this regard was issued by the taxes department.

As per rule 26 of the foreign liquor rules, 1953, it is mandatory to affix security labels over the liquor bottles being sold in the state. At present, the security labels are fixed manually at warehouses ofKeralastate beverages corporation. TheIMFLbottles, which are stored in the warehouses, are taken out only after affixing the security labels issued by the excise department and verified by excise officials posted in each warehouse.

Kumbalangi village in Cochin is all set to become Indias first sanitary-napkin-free panchayat.

The village has previously won acclaim as Indias first model tourism village.

This move is a part of Avalkayi initiative, which is being implemented in the Ernakulam parliamentary constituency, in association with Thingal Scheme of HLL Management Academys and Indian Oil Corporation.

Avalkayi Initiative

Under this initiative, menstrual cups will be distributed to Women aged 18 and above in Kumbalangi village. 5000 menstrual cups will be distributed under it.

Model Village

In the same event, Governor will also declare Kumbalangi village as a model village. The model village project is implemented as a part of Pradhan Mantri Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (PM-SAGY). A new tourist information center will also be set up in the village.

Kumbalangi is an island village, located in the outskirts of Kochi city of Kerala. It is a major tourist attraction and is famous for the Chinese fishing nets. It is situated amidst backwaters, about 12 km from the city center. The village is also the first eco-tourism village in India. The village is having an area of 16 km2 and is located about 15 km from Ernakulam Junction RAILWAY station. Cochin International Airport is around 40 kms from it.

The cabinet has decided to register Kerala Space Park as a Society by the name K-Space, under the Travancore Cochin Literary Scientific Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955.

The government also decided to hand over 18.56 acres from the land owned by the Technopark in the capital for the space park society. The cabinet has also decided to grant Rs 2 crore as seed capital for the society.

The draft agreement and the rules of the proposed society have been cleared by the government. The cabinet also decided to create 10 posts on contract basis in the new society. Those employees who are in excess in the IT parks, Kerala Startup Mission and Kerala State IT Ltd will be given priority for appointment in the society on contract basis.

The Space Park was launched by the State Government to attract global startups working in the space sector, under the Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd. The state government had also joined hands with the VSSC to develop the Space Park. Later, when the gold smuggling row hit the government, one of the main allegations was that Swapna Suresh, one of the key accused in the case, was employed in the Space Park despite that she did not have required qualifications.

The Women and child development department has announced Rs 25,000 as incentive to persons giving information on children being used as labourers/workers.
According to the orders issued by the department, an incentive is being promised to any person providing information on children being used for labour. This is mainly aimed to ensure more public participation in the protection of children. The amount will be disbursed if the information passed is confirmed and found to be true. At the district level, information can be passed on to the district WCD officer or the child protection officer.

The informants identity will be kept secret, and the amount will be transferred to the their bank account once the information is verified.

The city again performed very poorly in the Swachh Survekshan 2022 rankings released by theministry of housing and urban affairson Saturday.Kochistood at 298th position among 382 cities with a Population between one lakh and 10 lakh. The only consolation is that it made a marginal progress as compared to the 324th position in 2021.

Kochi stood second in the state after Alappuzha , which secured 190th rank. The performance of municipalities under zonal ranking has also been dismal. No municipality fromErnakulammanaged to make it to the list of top 100 clean cities, underscoring that the Waste Management in these regions is still in tatters.

Kochi performed badly in segregated door-to-door collection, cleanliness of roads, public toilets, market areas and citizen grievance redressal. Surprisingly, more than 90% drains in the city surveyed were adjudged clean.

The educational institutions inErnakulamdistrict excelled in the 2021 national ranking published by National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), ministry of Education, on Thursday. Out of the 19 colleges in the state that secured a spot in the top100 colleges in theNIRFRanking 2021, five are from Ernakulam district.

It is the highest number of colleges making it to the list from any district in Kerala. Moreover, the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) is one among the four universities in Kerala that secured a position in NIRF list of top 100 universities.

With the release of the academic calendar for the 2021-22 session, many state universities have started the admission process for undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Though some of them are still waiting for the board and final-year results to be announced to start the admission.

The University of Kerala has got more than 24000 applications including from international students for various postgraduate courses, with high priority for Science, English and Commerce programmes.