KERALA

The Index for Goals (SDGs) evaluates the Growth of states and union territories on social, financial and environmental parameters. Kerala retained its rank as the pinnacle nation with a 75. The 1/3 rendition of Indias SDG Index was once launched via NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar on third June.

Clean Kerala Company and other empanelled agencies have so far removed over 1,050 tonnes of reject waste from public places in the city, since they started to collect waste after the fire broke out at Brahmapuram waste dumping yard.

All the reject waste collected from the city is transported for burning in cement factories with which the agencies have an agreement. The rejects are waste which cannot be recycled or repurposed.

There is a drop in mixed waste reaching public places now as the public has finally realised that the corporation is not going to collect such waste. Still there are many not willing to abide by laws, and dump waste in public places, said the official.

While the Clean Kerala Company officials said there is no drop in plastic waste reaching public places. They said they are now getting good quantity non-degradable waste which can be recycled or repurposed as against earlier days of the collection.

TheConfederation of Indian (CII) while congratulating theLDFvictory led byPinarayi Vijayansaid it demonstrated peoples support for his far-sighted, people-centric and inclusive Governance.

The governance record and manifesto moored to welfarism and development has helped LDF to retain the power in Kerala.

The government had put in dedicated efforts to ease the process of doing business in the state. Emphasis of the Ease of Doing Business initiatives were laid on SIMPLIFICATION and rationalization of the existing rules and introduction of IT to make governance more efficient, effective, transparent and user-friendly.

CIIs efforts in the areas of promoting Kerala as preferred destination for medical tourism and ayurveda, initiatives towards promoting Keralas prominent sectors such as Food Processing, ITES, financial Services, value-added spices, hospitality,MSMEs and educationwill continue under the new government.

InKerala, the diabetes capital of India, less than a fourth of those at high risk of developing diabetes knew about its effects on vital organs.
While less than 20% of those studied knew that diabetes can affect the heart, only 10% knew that it can infect the feet and 3% knew that it can affect the nerves, according to a recent study.

The study was conducted to understand the awareness among individuals with a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes inThiruvananthapuramdistrict.

The study results are important for Kerala and the rest of India as the state is in the most advanced stage of epidemiological transition and is supposedly the harbinger for other Indian states in relation to the burden of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases.

After a delay of almost two years, authorities have managed to get the expert appraisal committee to recommend environmental impact assessment (EIA) clearance for the integrated urban regeneration & water transport system (IURWTS) project. Still, the project should get approval from theNational Board of Wildlife(NBWL) to get theEIAclearance.

It was in last month that theKerala Coastal Zone Management Authority(KCZMA) gave coastal management zone clearance for the project. The Mangalavanam bird sanctuary, which is considered as the lungs of the city, is just 670m away from the nearest project location. So, the approval from NBWL is mandatory. Once the nod from NBWL is received, the project would get the final EIA approval. As part of the project, around 5,000 trees will have to be cut down.Kochi Metro Rail Ltd(KMRL) in its report submitted before the expert appraisal committee for EIA approval states that 10 times the number of saplings would be planted to make good the loss of trees.

Around 22,000 saplings will be planted on the banks of canals and around the project facilities such as jetties. A 200kW solar plant will be constructed for meeting energy requirements for the project. The project aims at making the canals navigable besides desilting and beautifying the waterbodies. Boats will operate through the canals thereby providing cheaper and green transportation system for the public. The clean canals will help avoid many Health issues now stemming out of the canals which are highly polluted. Flood mitigation is one of the objectives of the project. Using the canal waterfront for social and economic activities for locals as well as tourists is another benefit proposed in the project.

The four sewage treatment Plants being set up as part of the project will address the waste treatment issues to a certain extent.

Keralawill go for timely alterations in its Responsible Tourism (RT) policy to make the activities more people-centric so as to further strengthen the state’s travel and tourism , said tourism minister P AMohamed Riyas.

Riyas said the summit is set to work towards measures that will empower Women in the state. The conclave will discuss RT models of international repute and work towards a global Network in sustainable tourism, he said in his video address .

Riyas said the government has decided to revise its 2008 Declaration on RT and scale up its Environment-friendly activities across the state.

Confusion prevails over eco sensitive zones in the forest fringes of Wayanad even after the publication of the map submitted by the state forest department to the Centre.

Many enclosure villages located inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) under Noolpuzha panchayat are demarcated as eco sensitive zone (ESZ) in the map published on Thursday. Adding to the confusion, many of these enclosure villages are designated as forest areas in the satellite survey.

“It is totally confusing.Four of our wards (1, 2, 3 and 12) in Vadakkadad area are entirely missing in the satellite survey as these areas are classified as forest.

But in the map prepared by the forest department, they are shown as ESZ,” panchayat president Sheeja Satheesh said.

Kerala vyapari vyavasayi ekopanasamithi (KVVES) representatives have said that small scale merchants have nothing to gain from the union budget.

They said that even while the centre claims that 1.3 crore MSMEs were aided via emergency credit line guarantee scheme and that the guarantee amount has been increased from Rs 50,000 crore to 5 lakh crore, small scale merchants do not have much to gain from it.
Previous experiences point out that the promise of aid through credit guarantee trust for micro and small enterprises seldom reaches the eligible merchants.

Chief ministerPinarayi Vijayanhas said that Kerala stands fifth among the Indian states in https://exam.pscnotes.com/good-Governance“>Good Governance and also first among the southern states as per the latest Good Governance Index (GGI) released by the department of Administrative Reforms and public grievances, Government of India.

He said Kerala has recorded an impressive performance in the commerce and industrial sectors and also improved the score in the Ease of Doing Business implementation. Other thanPunjab, only Kerala has recorded an impressive performance in this sector, said the chief minister in a Social Media post.

The GGI says that the state has improved the implementation score of ease of doing business reforms points from 44.82 to 85.00 (in 2018 and 2020 respectively). The compound annual Growth rate of Industry has also improved from 1.00 in 2019 to 7.91 in 2021.
The state has bettered its own record compared to the GGI report of 2019 and leads in the overall ranking .

The state has also topped in the public Health-sector”>Health sector ranking as well as Environment sector ranking. It also came third in social welfare and development sector ranking. In the judiciary and public safety sector ranking, the state came second.
The chief minister said the rankings that have been received by the state is an indication of how the LDF government had brought in good governance by ensuring transparency and also with much populist schemes.