In a major initiative to promote electric vehicles, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (Bpcl), a Maharatna company, on Friday announced the launch of 19 EV fast-charging corridors on 15 major highways inKerala, Karnataka and Nadu.
Among the 19 corridors, which connect important religious and tourist destinations with major cities, three are in Kerala.
Kerala is the startup powerhouse of India which has immense potential to emerge as a global startup destination, said delegates from across the world attending a tech conclave here on Friday.
On the concluding day of the Huddle Global 2022 startup conclave held at Kovalam in this southern district of the State, delegates from various nations lauded efforts of India to emerge as a startup destination, according to a release issued by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM).
The delegates highlighted the initiatives of KSUM to make the State the startup powerhouse of India, the release said.
The Centre on Friday expressed concern over high positivity rate inKerala(6.1%) andMizoram(8.2%), even as the overall Average daily new cases in the country continue to remain below 7,000 and case positivity below 1% for the last two weeks.
The Centre also cautioned against lowering of guard and said the world is witnessing the fourth surge and and the overall positivity is 6.1% globally.
The government also emphasised on the need for effective containment at the district level and imposition of local restrictions by states wherever required, particularly during the festive season and in the wake of increasing Omicron cases.
The state is the recipient of the largest share of grant as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission in the period ranging from 2020-21 to 2025-26 among all states, as per a statement submitted by the state finance department in the assembly.
The figures also point towards the need for the state to exercise more financial discipline and increase its non-tax revenue, the eligibility of states to receive this grant and the quantum of grant for the period from 2020-21 to 2025-26 was decided by the 15th finance commission based on the gap between assessment of revenue and expenditure of the state, after considering the assessed devolution during this period.
As per the statement by finance ministerKN Balagopalbefore the assembly, the state has been granted Rs 53,137 crore as revenue deficit grant on the recommendations of the commission, which is the highest when compared to other 16 states which have got the grant.
The state’s main committed expenditure include salaries, pensions and interest payments on loans and the revision of the salaries and pensions on the basis of the recommendations of the 11th pay commission alone has caused an additional burden of Rs 15,000 crore annually to the state. At the same time, to bridge the gap of revenue deficit, state’s revenue generation has to improve correspondingly, that also has not been happening.
Almost seven months after a committee appointed by thegovernmentsubmitted its report on theparticipatory pension scheme(national pension scheme,NPS) implemented for the employees, the government has not taken any decision on it, while keeping the report under wraps without revealing the committees recommendations.
After the committee submitted its report to the government on April 30 this year, the report reached additional chief secretary (finance)Rajesh Kumar Singhwho examined and forwarded it to finance minister K N Balagopal on July 20 this year, as is clear from the electronic file records of the government. The file is now resting on the table of the finance minister.
It is reliably learnt that the government is going slow on the report as the committee has recommended that the scheme can be continued, which is against the LDFs pre-election assurance in 2016 that the scheme will be withdrawn if theLDFgovernment comes to power.
The body of technology companies inKerala,GTech, has launchedMuLearn2.0, an industry-enabled digital platform for peer Learning to nurture the students with necessary expertise in the IT industry from their college days.
They have also launched an art of TEACHING contest and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Digital University of Kerala and Google. Finance ministerK N Balagopallaunched the new version of MuLearn (MuLearn 2.0).
The Academy and Technology Focus Group under GTech has formed a platform comprising leading IT companies, Abdul Kalam Technological University,Kerala University, Digital University of Kerala, ICT Academy and colleges across the state. The MuLearn 2.0 website will be available to the public for free. Awards were distributed to the top three performers in the platform.
Kerala Higher Education Minister Dr R Bindu released the first uniform sign language alphabet in Malayalam and said that it would bring a complete change in the life of hearing-impaired people.
She also promised to look into its use in special schools.
The alphabet has been developed by the Thiruvananthapuram-based National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH) in collaboration with the All Kerala Association of the Deaf.
Bindu further said that all potential technology to ensure physical and mental support to the hearing-impaired to enable them to lead a normal life would be used by the .
She also added that Kerala government will extend all support to NISH become a global institution.
Notably, the event coincided with the International Week of the Deaf observed in the last week of September.
In addition to weaker sections who shall be considered in the project, BPL families with HIV infected members, orphaned children and LGBTQ members will be considered as extremely weaker sections who shall be given priority.
The government has announced in the budget of a micro plan for extreme POVERTY eradication in the state. Approximately five lakh families are expected to be included in this category and the government plans to collect accurate data regarding these families.
The sub-committee formed to compile the set of recommendations towards drafting the guidelines for conducting the survey to identify families suffering from extreme poverty included eight family groups for whom priority shall be given for special consideration.
Keralahas received the Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus status from the Centre for making all the villages meet the parameters prescribed by the Swachh Bharat Mission.
This was achieved by ensuring that all villages have been equipped with modern facilities for sanitation and waste disposal as per the parameters set by the department of drinking water and sanitation, Union ministry of Jal Shakti. Kerala is targeting to achieve 100% ODF model status by December. The criteria for declaring a village as ODF Plus include sustained ODF status along with implementing either solid or liquid Waste Management systems. The focused effort by all villages and grama panchayats in meeting the yardsticks helped the state attain the status, which reflects on the policy initiatives and their meticulous implementation by the government.
The grama panchayats have implemented projects for source-level management of biodegradable waste, collection of biodegradable waste byHaritha Karma Sena, construction of community and household toilets, installation of public disposal facilities for biodegradable waste, liquid waste disposal facilities and various informative campaigns.
A Probability chart of the number of schools and hospitals in the state that are exposed to floods has found that 1,252 schools and 113 hospitals are exposed to floods, having a flood return probability of once in 10 years. The data was prepared by theKeralastate Disaster Management authority (KSDMA) in association with theUnited Nations Environment Program(UNEP).
The maps are relevant in the wake of a recent report by theIntergovernmental Panelon https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change (IPCC) that has predicted serious Impact Of Climate Change on the state and the unpredictable climatic patterns seen in the state’s climate cycle in recent years, especially since 2018.
As per data,Alappuzhahas the highest probability of flood returns in the once in 10-year category, with 12 hospitals and 237 schools exposed to floods, while the number is the least in Wayanad and Palakkad, where there are no hospitals and only nine schools and one hospital and seven schools, respectively, in this category.
The chart has been prepared both based on historical data available and also based on climate change scenarios. As per historical data, there are six hospitals and 132 schools in Alappuzha that would come under the flood return probability of once in 10 years. In Wayanad and Palakkad there are only four schools in this category.