KERALA

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the two-day Huddle Global, Asias largest tech conclave, organized by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) at The Leela Raviz, Kovalam.

During his inaugural address he defined Kerala as the state that has built the most vibrant startup ecosystem in the country. He further said that an emerging technology startup hub will be set up in the capital to further strengthen the incubation and support innovation programmes.

Noting that the state offered the best opportunities for a wide array of enterprises for startups in various domains like IT, VT (virtualization technology), and Food Processing, the chief minister said a major initiative to connect tourism Industry with startup ecosystem is in the offing.

A high-level meeting of district Police chiefs and supervising DIGs and IGs was held here in the wake of the riot-like situation involving migrant labourers atKizhakkambalam.

Police helpline numbers, contact numbers of SHOs and deputy SPs should be shared with labourers to redress their grievances quickly. All SHOs were also asked to nominate a Hindi-speaking policeman for attending to their grievances. The officers were also asked to prepare an action-taken report based on their visits to labour camps and places of work.

Vaccination coverage for measles has remained unchanged betweenNational Family Health Survey(NFHS)-4 (2015-16) and NFHS-5 (2019-20) inKerala. While 89% children in the 12-23 months age group received the first dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV) in both the survey periods, those who got the second dose (24-35 months) was 16%.

ThoughMalappuramdistrict is now getting all the attention due to the latest detection of cases there (140 measles cases till date), the fact is the no district in the state has achieved 100% vaccination.

Meanwhile, the rural-urban coverage gap in the state is not much. While in urban Kerala, 86% children got the first dose, in rural areas it is 90%. For second dose, the coverage is 17% in urban and 14% in rural areas.

According to sources, of the 46 samples of KWA water tested, only 24 samples were fit for consumption, which means 48% of KWA water samples were contaminated with bacterial presence.

Among the samples tested, 80% of the samples were taken from wells and the remaining were KWA water, packaged drinking water, pond and lake water. These samples were given for testing by the public.

Of the contamination, 70.52% were due to the presence of coliform bacteria and 28.74% samples were due to E Coli.

With the rise in the number of tests in these labs, the KWA has also earned a good revenue. From just Rs 6,63,650 in 2020, the revenue increased to Rs 13,92,630 in 2022 (so far). In 2021, the revenue was Rs 9,27,219.

As per the records available in the assembly, 10,187 Pocso (protection of children from sexual offences) cases are pending in the state for trial. Of the total number of pending cases, the highest is in the capital at 1,474 followed by Malappuram (1,310) and Thrissur (1,196).
The pending cases are in the courts at Kollam (710) Pathanamthitta(351), Alappuzha (532), Kottayam

(479), Idukki (573), Ernakulam (711), Thrissur (1,196), Palakkad (635), Malappuram (1,310), Kozhikode (608), Wayanad (284), Kannur (841) and Kasaragod (483). As per the data, there are 28 temporary fast-track courts that are dealing with Pocso cases in state. In addition, one additional sessions court in each district has been designated as Pocso courts as per Section 28 (1) of the Pocso Act.

The southernmost stateKeralatook a technological leap by collaborating with BSNL, a government-owned telecommunications service provider to provide 100Mbpsbroadband Internet connectivity in high schools, higher secondary schools, and vocational higher secondary schools that are run by the state. For this Kerala and Technology for Education (KITE) partnered withBSNLunder the Hitech classroom scheme of Kerala. Now the state-run schools of Kerala will have high-speed internet connectivity.

The 100 Mbps internet connectivity will be beneficial for 45,000 classrooms of 4,685 schools covered under the Hi-Tech school project, with upgraded ICT-enabled education. TheSamagra Resourcesportal and Sahitham mentoring portal which were available to all the classrooms in offline mode will now become easier to use effectively in online or digital mode with the availability of 100 Mbps internet connectivity. This will also enable the availability of KITE VICTERS educational channels meant for students in the classrooms.

With increasing pesticide content affectingcardamomexports, theSpices Boardhas launched an initiative to promote organic methods in cardamom farming in Idukki. According to Spices Board officials, foreign countries, especially Saudi Arabia, are the major buyers of cardamom and since 2018 they have decided not to buy the cardamom from India due to pesticide content.

During the 2017-18 period, India exported 5,650 tonnes of cardamom. But since 2018, the export has got largely reduced. In the last financial year, India exported only 1,850 tonnes of cardamom and in the current FY it has been decided to export 6,500 tonnes. But the export till date stands at just 18 tonnes. We have checked six pesticides for a sample and found the content of two pesticides in the spice. Detection of pesticide residue above the maximum residue level affects the export and market of cardamom, said Spices Board assistant director VVijeeshna.

The Spices Board in association withKerala Agricultural University(KAU) will provide assistance to promote of cardamom in the district. Presently 15 farmers have shown willingness to turn to organic farming on a trial basis. The trial will be conducted on 165 hectares of land. If it is fetching the desired results, we can change to organic farming in the future.

Cardamom market was badly hit due to the pandemic with prices dipping from Rs7,000 per kg in August, 2019 to Rs 1,000-1,200 in September, 2021 in the local market. The Average price recorded at an auction held at the Spices Park in Bodinayakanur on Tuesday was Rs1,062/kg.