KERALA

The government is consideringamendmentsinKerala Motor Vehicle rules, making it mandatory for vehicles removingwasteto securepermissionfrom the concernedlocal body, said transport ministerAntony Rajusaid in the assembly.

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He said that there are sections in the MV Act, 1988, to take action against such vehicles. As per Section 190 (2), any person who drives or causes or allows to be driven, in any public place a motor vehicle, which violates the standards prescribed in relation to road safety, control of noise and air-pollution, shall be punishable for the first offence with a fine of Rs 1,000 and for any second or subsequent offence with a fine of Rs 2,000. The minister said that there are also provisions for suspending the licence of such vehicles.

Raju said that though the permits for goods carriage are provided under Section 79 of the Act, it does not specifically talk about vehicles carrying waste.

Kerala: Civil dept to deliver ration goods through auto rickshaw

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The Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department has implemented a new scheme in Kerala called ‘OPPAM’ which aims to deliver ration articles at the doorsteps of extremely poor families with the cooperation of auto rickshaw employees.

According to the statement, the scheme aims to deliver ration articles by obtaining the acknowledgement of beneficiaries for the receipt of stock and on the same day the issue details are recorded in the E-POS machine under the supervision of concerned Rationing Inspectors, by which the department can ensure error-free distribution without arising any complaints.

837 ration licensees willing to establish K-Stores: Anil

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Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil has said that 837 licensees have evinced interest in partnering with the government to establish Kerala Stores (or K-Stores). The government intended to launch at least five such multi-service centres in each district in the initial phase of the project, he added.

The proposed outlets will have an area of not less than 300 sq ft. Ration dealers who express willingness to establish the outlets will be provided priority. Preference will also be given for those outlets situated in locations where there are no Supplyco outlets, banks and Akshaya centres within a radius of 2 km.

Kerala government allots Rs 1,777 crore to acquire land

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In a major breakthrough for widening theEdappally-Kuttippuramstretch of the national highway, the government has allocated Rs 1,777 crore as compensation forland owners. Revenue officials have prepared a plan to complete land acquisition along the stretch within three months and hand it over to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

The total amount earmarked for compensation for the land owners along Edappally-Kuttippuram stretch of the national highway is Rs 5,400 crore. The land acquisition process which was started in 2009 hadnt progressed much till recently. The notification for acquiring land was issued in the same year. The government expedited the land acquisition process after 2018. The acquisition process was completed as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

The revenue officials are serving notices to the land owners asking them to move out within 60 days. The compensation amount will be given to the land owners as they submit various documents regarding their holdings. The for holdings with dispute over ownership will be deposited with the court.

Government firm on free-vaccine policy, says Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan

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Thestate governmentis of the firm opinion that Covid-19 vaccine should be provided free-of-cost to every citizen, chief ministerPinarayi Vijayansaid in the assembly.

The chief minister said that the state has written to the Prime Minister requesting him to provide Vaccines to all sections of the Society, considering the greater common good. The state has also placed an order for purchasing 70 lakh doses ofCovishieldand 30 lakh doses of Covaxin through the state medical Services corporation.

The state has requested the Centre to take initiative to float global tender for procurement of vaccine as states competing in the market for vaccines would result in the increase of price of vaccines.

Kerala to get 5,261 oxygen concentrators from United States

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The state will soon receive a large consignment of Covid-19 relief material from the United States. TheIndo-USstrategic PARTNERSHIP forum is learnt to be supplying as many as 5,261Oxygen concentrators, 1,048 pulse oximeters, 52,329 anti-viral face coverings and 4,81,697 rapid antigen testing kits to the state.

The USISPF is currently engaged in urgently deploying critical medical supplies, medical equipment and other Covid-19 related materials to aid the countrys fight againstCovid.

TheUSconsignment has been allotted to 18 states, andKeralais the third state afterMaharashtraand Karnataka to receive the highest share from it. As many as 50,224 Oxygen concentrators, 10,000 pulse oximeters, 5,00,000 anti-viral face coverings and 46,00,000 rapid antigen testing kits are part of the consignment.

Crops on nearly 41,000ha lost to natural calamities in Kerala

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Kerala, which depends on other states for Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture products, has been losing crops on huge tracts of land natural calamities every year, shows data procured under the RTI Act.

Crops on around 40,960 hectares (ha) of agricultural land were lost to calamities in the state in just three-and-half years from June 2019 to December 2022, as per data from the agriculture department. Crops on 18,899.79ha were destroyed due to heavy rain. Crops on around 186ha were lost due to drought during the same period.Landslidesalso washed away crops on 183ha.

Alappuzhaand Kottayam districts were the worst affected by the extreme weather events. Alappuzha reported crop loss of 5,939ha in just from April 2021 till December 2022 and it was 2,957ha in Kottayam. Kasaragod reported the lowest crop loss of 119ha in the same period.

The crop loss affected 3,15,013 farmers in the state with banana cultivators being the worst affected. Banana crops of around 1,12,643 farmers were destroyed in three-and-half years due to the calamities. They are followed by paddy and coconut farmers.

Union Budget: Tax incentives to help startups

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The startups in the state will benefit from the Union governments proposal to extend the period of incorporation of eligible startups by one more year till March 31, 2023, for providing tax incentives, saidKerala Startup Missionformer CEOSaji Gopinath.

He added that it normally takes three to four years for a new startup to start making profits.
Finance minister in herBudgetspeech said that the country has seen a manifold increase in successful startups over the past few years.

Startups will be getting one more year of tax benefit. It will make a huge difference for those into hardware units, which take around six to seven years to start making profits. Especially for those startups whose profit will come a little later, this is a huge benefit, Gopinath said.

WithCovid-19affecting the overallrevenuein the last financial year, the state government significantly reduced the share offundstoKerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board(KIIFB) for 2021-22, as against the funds sought by it.

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As per top government sources, while KIIFB sought Rs 2,400 crore for 2021-22 for fulfilling its project commitments, the has cleared only Rs 1,560 crore till now. It is reliably learnt that the government has not yet taken a call on the remaining Rs 840 crore. The state governments income from motor vehicle tax and petroleum cess in the last financial year was hit due to the pandemic. The obligatory share to KIIFB had to be reduced correspondingly. KIIFB asked for Rs 2,400 crore to meet its expenses but the government has not taken a final call. There are chances that the balance amount may be sanctioned as a loan from the government, sources said.

The KIIFB received Rs 1,921.11 crore, as its share from petroleum cess received by the state till March 31, 2020. As per KIIFBs annual report of 2019-20, the government provided Rs 3,651.74 crore from motor vehicle taxes and Rs 2,634.52 crore as grants. As per KIIFB (Amendment) Act, 2016, government set apart 10% of motor vehicle tax in 2016-17 for KIIFB, increasing it by 10% every year until it reaches 50% in the fifth year. The cess levied on petrol and diesel is also given to KIIFB, before Dec 31 every year and paid on an escrow basis from state treasury to KIIFB accounts automatically. The government channelled Rs 8,207.07 crore to KIIFB under these three heads till March 31, 2020, as per the audit report.

In addition to Rs 2,150 crore raised through masala Bonds at an interest rate of 9.723%, KIIFB availed long-term loans from NABARD (Rs 565 crore at 9.30%), State Bank Of India (Rs 1,000 crore at 9.15%), Indian Bank (Rs 500 crore at 9.15%) and Union Bank Of India (Rs 500 crore at 8.95%).

30% tourist boats operate illegally in Kerala

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Almost 30% of the tourist boats (motorboats, houseboats, shikaras and country boats) are operating without necessary permissions in Kerala. Though many boats have licenses, they overload passengers without ensuring safety.

Also, several jetties are not maintained and there is no proper dredging (removal of sediments and debris from the bottom of waterbodies) at regular intervals.

A cruise through the intricate web of rivers, lagoons, canals and lakes in Kerala is popular not just with international and domestic tourists, but also locals. Even as tourism department promotes these activities to attract tourists, it has little control over boats that operate for tourism purposes. They are not able to ensure quality and service.