KERALA

Even as CPM’s politburo raised a red flag against Centre’s push for the deployment of smart electric meters, on Tuesday informed the Union power ministry thatKSEBis all set to replace the legacy meters with smart meters.

Also,power minister K Krishnankuttyhas given instructions to officials concerned to explore thealternative modelsuggested by pro-CPM unions in KSEB for switching to the smart meter regime.

Many states were forced to implement the scheme and thereby withdraw from the responsibility of power distribution and hand it over to private companies for profit maximization. This will impose an unbearable burden on the poor and farmers. This project must be scrapped immediately, said the CPM in its statement.

But, the issue has not even come up for discussion in the state cabinet. Also, CPM Leadership appears to be confident of circumventing the politburo approach by presenting a Kerala-model alternative to TOTEX model project implementation where private firms install and collect cost of meters from consumers in equal instalments over seven years.
Sources confirmed that the state government, following the protest by pro-CPM unions, has finally decided to weigh the feasibility of an alternative model suggested by the unions. Union leaders were only opposing the TOTEX model and had suggested the deployment of smart meters by KSEB, pivoting on the technology available with C-DAC.

Since Centre has unequivocally clarified to state that unless the latter sticks to the modernization plans recommended in the sector, it could lose the grant offered for such a project. The grant component of such projects is 60%.

To encourageentrepreneurshipamongyouth, theKerala State Industrial Development Corporation(KSIDC) would focus on offering financial and technical assistance to the young entrepreneurs, through itsseed fund assistance program.

KSIDC had launched seed fund assistance in 2015, targeting innovative startup ventures that would also provide them incubation facilities, mentoring and networking support.

For successful units that have completed the seed stage, the corporation also provides scale-up support for expanding their business and attaining Growth momentum. In 2021-22, the corporation has decided to offer seed-fund assistance to 30 startup ventures, up to a maximum of Rs 25 lakh per project.

The seed fund scheme primarily aims at supporting commercially-viable scientifically and technologically innovative projects promoted by young entrepreneurs. Under the scheme, financial assistance up to Rs 25 lakhs or 90% of the project cost, whichever is lower, is provided as a soft loan for one year at an interest rate (fixed) equal to the prescribed by RBI from time to time. Presently, the interest rate is 4.25%. After the one-year tenure, the soft loan can either be converted into Equity capital at face value or repaid with applicable interest.

The proportionate share of non-residential buildings out of total constructions in the city has shown an increase from 11% to 14% in eight years, as per the study report on real estate sector by Gulati Institute of Finance And (GIFT) submitted to Kerala Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-ERA).

GIFT analysed the distribution of buildings in the corporation wards from the data available with IKM sanchaya between 2014 and 2021. The observed increase has been at the expense of residential buildings in such a way that their share declined from 85% to 82%.

The report notes that the share of non-residential buildings increased with an Average annual Growth of 18%. The growing importance of non-residential buildings continued even during the pandemic period.

The Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture Department and the Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation will start procuring vegetables from the district as the farmers are unable to sell them due to lockdown.

The Horticorp had already started the procurement of vegetables from the ‘vegetable hub’ of Vadakarapathy, Eruthiampathy, and Kozhinjampara in Chittur taluk. They have also started procuring Mango from Muthalamada ‘mango city’.

The farmers were distributing the vegetables free of cost in some areas as there were no buyers. In some cases, the vegetables were destroyed and cattle were allowed to graze the vegetable farms.

The agriculture department officials said that the procurement of vegetables in Elappully Grama Panchayat will soon begin to help the farmers in dire straits.

TheCentral Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) has approved the request ofCBSEschools inKeralato set 5 years as the minimum age criterion for admission to Class I in the state. There was confusion among parents as central rules mandated 6 years for admission.

The uncertainty over the age criterion was confusing as many schools have either already completed or are in the final stage of Class I admissions.

Earlier, Kerala CBSE schools management association had submitted a memorandum to the and the CBSE not to make 6 years the minimum age for Class I admission this year.

The association said that those completing UKG this year are only 5 years old and they will lose a year if the minimum age is raised to 6.

The gregarious flowering ofbambooin theWayanad Wildlife Sanctuary(WWS) after almost a decade has opened up an unexpected Source Of Income to tribespeople providing them succour during the pandemic.

With bamboo groves in hundreds of acres of the 344 sq. km. sanctuary blooming over the last three months, tribespeople have been busy collecting and selling tonnes of bamboorice.

The gregarious flowering of bamboo is a phenomenon in which bamboo Plants in an entire area blooms simultaneously. Bamboo rice is the seed of the dying bamboo at the end of its life span spanning from around 40-60 years. Though bamboo rice has been traditionally used by tribespeople, it has, in recent years, found many takers outside the forests for its perceived Health benefits.

Given the emphasis on development and self reliance in milk production, the State Government appears to have woken up to the need for rapidly stepping up production of green fodder.

Drawing attention to the decline in the area under fodder production, the Economic Review 2021, prepared by the Kerala State Planning Board and tabled in the State Assembly last week, noted that domestic cultivation meets just 46% of the fodder requirement.

The document indicated that the State has less than 2,500 hectares under fodder cultivation. Large-scale commercial production will have to be ensured to meet the demand in the next decade. Suitable Contract Farming models also should be explored, it said. Kerala urgently needs a fodder and feed plan for its livestock sector. About 15,000 acres of land has to be identified to cultivate fodder in the State over the next two years and domestic capacity of production needs to be expanded, the Economic Review noted.

The state will receive Rs 347.55 crore from the Centre under the newly constitutedstate disaster mitigation fund(SDMF) that will be exclusively utilized for preparatory works to ensure mitigation of natural disasters.

The ministry of Home affairs has allocated the funds, to which Rs 115.85 crore will be contributed by the state as its share, taking the total to Rs 463.40 crore to be utilized for the next five years, on the basis of the recommendations of the 15th .
The state is expected to benefit immensely from the new funds as most of the districts have been complaining about shortage of funds for pre-monsoon activities like desilting, ensuring the smooth flow of storm water for averting chances of flooding, etc.

The SDMF will be used for those local level and community-based interventions, which reduce the risks and promote Environment-friendly settlements and livelihood practices. However, the Centre has specifically asked the states that large-scale mitigation interventions such as construction of coastal walls, flood embankments, support for drought resilience, etc. should be pursued through the regular development schemes and not from the mitigation fund.

The 15th finance commission had recommended Rs 32,031 crore (20% of state disaster risk management fund) for SDMF for the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26. Except for the north eastern and Himalayan states, the Centre will contribute 75%, while the remaining 25% is to be contributed by states.

The immediate challenge beforeIndian Space Research Organisation(Isro) will be to expand its horizons and metamorphose into a self-sustainable organization, said the newly-appointed chairmanS Somanath.

Somanath said the space sector in India was funded by the government and the scene is different in other countries. “Though we are a technical organization and not a commercial one, we should also be able to exploit its commercial side. Though the space programme is funded by the government, end users of the achievements of the organization are many, like television networks, weather forecasting,” he said.

With regards to Isro’s various missions, he said that the earth observation mission that failed, when it was carried out last year (GSLV F10 mission), will have another launch. “Each mission is being carried out as a success-oriented mission and not a trial and error one, as each of them are costly affairs. Some may have a second chance while some of them would end with just one chance. The earth observation mission will get a second chance,” he said.