KERALA

Leading eye-care chain, Agarwals Group of Eye Hospitals, will invest 100 crore to set up 10 new centres in Kerala. On Monday, it opened a new tertiary care eye hospital at Kochi, the third facility after Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam in the southern state.

The eye-care chain currently has 135 hospitals in its Network, of which 114 are located in India. As part of expansion, it is looking at opportunities with higher focus on emerging markets such as Kerala, .

After undertaking a detailedlandslidesusceptibility study inWayanaddistrict following the devastating landslides which struck the district in 2018-19 and putting in place a first-of-its kind localized rainfall monitoring and weather forecasting system in the district, the Hume Centre for ECOLOGY and Wildlife Biology (HCEWB) along withKeralaSastra Sahitya Parishad and other stake holders are planning to take up a similar exercise at the landslide-hit areas inKottayamdistrict.

Experts from the Wayanad-based HCEWB who attended the virtual meeting gave an overview of the localized rainfall monitoring and weather forecasting system developed in association with Cusat for Wayanad. Also, the Centre along with KSSP had mapped landslide-prone locations in Wayanad with public participation after the massive landslide incidents in 2018-19.

The states Industrial Policy that is being revised after four years, focuses on the upgradingskillsof youth for jobs of the future, industries and technologies for a fourth Industrial revolution, and aligning the Industrial Sector with the states vision of responsible and sustainable investments.

The major sunrise sectors that have been identified include , space sector, ayurveda, and Biotechnology, among others.

The existing industrial policy was formulated in 2018. The minister said the draft industrial policy would be shared with stakeholders within 10 days, and inputs will be taken from Industry bodies and others before finalizing the policy. The new industrial policy will be finalized and released in January next year, and will be effective from April 1, next year.

has decided to continue the existing process for preparing the entrance rank list and shortlisting candidates eligible for admission to engineering and pharmacy courses in state.

Following the uncertainties regarding the evaluation of Plus Two students by CBSE and ICSE boards, the state entrance commissioner had earlier asked the government to consider the entrance test score only for preparing the rank list. But, the government took a wait-andwatch policy and decided not to tamper with the existing system which considers the marks obtained by students in qualifying examination too while preparing the rank list.

The year-on-year district-wise quality analysis of school Education, on a six-point scale, released by theUnion ministry of education has shown that the Learning outcome of students inKeralaschools has tanked substantially in 2021-22. If two districts Kollam

andThiruvananthapuram could score above 200 in the 290-point score in the 2020-21 report, the highest score in 2021-22 is 173 (Ernakulam).
In fact, the report showed that almost all districts in Kerala underperformed in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21.

All 14 dists performed much better in 2018-19 Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam districts topped the chart in 2021-22 as in the previous academic year. Interestingly, all 14 districts performed much better in the 2018-19 period, it said. The PGI-D report is not bad per se, as far as Kerala is concerned.

He said the state had identified some gaps to be filled in the learning outcome process in lower classes post Covid and overhauled the teacher training programmes this year to address the issue. As a result, the predominant focus in class I and II is on language, in class III mathematics and in class IV English, he added. The report published as an indicator for states to improve their performance in the school has put all districts in Kerala in the Ati Uttam category in 2020-21 whil e two districts Alappuzha and Idukki fell in the Uttam category in 2021- 22.

Highlighting the big drop in school education performance at the district level post Covid, no district from across the country could bag the top two grades Daksh (above 90% score) and Utkarsh (81- 90%) in the 2021-22 index. Punjab topped in the Ati Uttam category (71%-80%) with 18 districts. Districts with a score of 61-70% fall in Uttam category. The PGI score is arrived at by considering the learning outcome, effective classroom interactions, Infrastructure facilities & students entitlements, school safety & child protection, digital learning and Governance process.

For new industries minister P Rajeev, the job at hand is not easy. His aim is to take Kerala from the 28th spot in Ease-of-Doing-Business (EoDB-2019) index to within the top 10 in the country and it begins at a time when the ongoing Kitex debacle is making an impact in the minds of investors who already view Kerala as a graveyard of industries.

Kerala government has implemented K-Swift (online single-window clearance mechanism) and all top officials across departments know this system. But, local-level officers in departments, including LSGD, should be equally wellversed in the new system. This can significantly improve EoDB in state, said chairman of CIIs Kerala State Council Sreenath Vishnu.

He said the best way to create awareness among panchayat-level officers is to set up a rewarding system for each local self-government, based on the number of jobs created and the direct and indirect taxes generated by new companies there. This will result in a healthy competition between panchayats to help set up businesses in their area. he added.

Considering the Geography, Small and Medium Enterprises are more suitable here, Vishnu added. Kerala has great potential in electronic products (including electronic chip) and Food Processing. Perhaps we got the best water quality in the country, making the state the best location for food industries, he said.

We have an E-Commerce platform. Improve it by transforming it into a fullfledged e-commerce portal, developed and maintained by one of the leading tech companies. Also, government should rate the products offered on the platform, he added.

Setting up a hub that can easily transport products out of Kerala is an urgent necessity, Vishnu said. At present, logistics cost of bringing a truckload from Rajasthan is Rs 1 lakh, which is high because they dont get cargo while returning. So, we need a comprehensive logistics plan to take care of this. We should give focus to exports too once the container availability improves, logistics cost in shipping will also come down, he added.

Government has designed projects worth Rs 269 crore to address drinking water issues inKalamasserylegislative assembly segment where water scarcity is severe throughout the year. TheKeralawater authority (KWA) has started the works of JalJeevanMission at Alangad gramapanchayat.

The cost of various works under the mission at Alangad will come to Rs 61.59 crore. Industries minister P Rajeeve inaugurated the relaying works of water pipes at Alangad on Monday. Replacement of old pipelines with new ones and giving water connections to households are part of the Jal Jeevan Mission works. Around 4,000 new water connections will be given to households in Alangad gramapanchayat. The old 250mm asbestos cement (AC) pipes which carry water from the water treatment plant atMuppathadamto Alangad overhead storage tank will be replaced with 300 mm ductile iron (DI) pipes, Rajeeve said.

The Kerala cabinet approved an ordinance amending the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2012 for ensuring more protection to healthcare personnel.

The amendment has been brought in following the murder of house surgeon Dr Vandana Das at Kottarakara taluk hospital by a man brought there for treatment by Police on May 10.

Those attacking healthcare institutions, damaging properties or equipment and those who instigate such violence will invite imprisonment of six months to a maximum of five years and a fine from Rs 50,000 to a maximum of Rs 2 lakh under the new law.

It provides for a maximum punishment of up to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine up to Rs 5 lakh for attacks on healthcare workers. The cases registered under this Act will be probed by a police officer of circle inspector rank or above.

Kerala Bankwill soon start accepting deposits from NRIs, said minister for cooperation and registration V N Vasavan on Saturday. Speaking to reporters, Vasavan said the government is also considering linking the bank to the local self-government institutions too.

The aim is to make it to the number one position in the state. Currently, the bank occupies second position, he said.

In order to achieve this, various loan and deposit schemes will be launched.

He said the will strongly oppose acts like the SARFAESI Act. As part of the modernization process all the Cooperative banks will be linked to a single Network.