KERALA

The has given administrative sanction to establish a robotic surgery system at Regional Cancer Care Centre (RCC) at a cost of Rs 30 crore. The government has directed the department of Health and family welfare to ensure that the specification of equipment, instruments and related accessories procured in connection with the project are at par with global standards.

Procurement shall be done through global or international tendering, the order issued by the planning and economic affairs said. The robotic surgery system will also be established at Malabar Cancer Centre, Thalassery.

The estimated cost of the robotic surgery system with accessories and instruments is Rs 30 crore per unit, and the total cost for establishing it in both RCC and MCC will be Rs 60 crore.

The project will be executed under the Rebuild Kerala initiative. The proposal submitted by the department of health and family welfare shows that premier institutes like Aiims-New Delhi, TMH-Mumbai, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology- Bangalore, Adayar Cancer Centre- Chennai and GCRI- Ahmedabad have facilities for robotic surgery.

Theerraticbehaviour of twomonsoonsin 2020 has affected thegroundwater levelsin the state. According to a report by the state groundwater department, 80% of themonitoring wellsshowed afalling trendin November 2020 compared to the previous year.

The report points out that 81 % of observation dug wells, 84 % of bore wells and 72% of tube wells recorded a falling trend compared to the previous year which had recorded a slight rise in levels.

The report is based on the monthly recordings of selected wells in the state. The main recordings were conducted during the pre-monsoon period in April and the post-monsoon period in November.

While on paper, the state did not record high monsoon deficiency, it did not see the trend of heavy rains in June and July. Moreover, the rains tapered off off in August and September.

As drinking water shortage hits the district amid soaring mercury, theKerala Water Authority(KWA) has started a water audit to identify points where people receive more water and where supply is less. The Auditing is expected to complete in a week. The move is to examine the water distribution system in the district which experiences water scarcity every summer.

The water authority is also looking into the quantity of water being distributed from the main water treatment Plants like the one at Maradu to each area through the main pipelines.

Water scarcity has been reported more in the outskirts of the city. As the main pump houses of KWA and commercial establishments are situated in the heart of the city, the latter get more water and residential areas in the peripheral areas do not get adequate water.
Nearly 170 to 180 MLD water is being distributed through KWA pipelines, public taps and tanker trucks to the corporation limit.

A time-series analysis study on the eroding shorelines from 1973-2021 shows that erosion is dominant in nearly 39.12% of the entire coastal length inKerala. The eroding length is highest in theNorthernregion at 44.04 percent followed by 38.67 per cent in the central and 33.8 percent in the south.

The study by researchers at the department of Resources“>Water Resources engineering,NIT Karnatakaled by MMParvathyand officials of the state Irrigation department, points out that unlike pre-2000, the results indicate that the past two decades have undergone a drastic transformation, which can be attributed to anthropogenic interventions and global climatic changes.

A time-series analysis study on the eroding shorelines from 1973-2021 shows that erosion is dominant in nearly 39.12% of the entire coastal length inKerala. The eroding length is highest in theNorthernregion at 44.04 percent followed by 38.67 per cent in the central and 33.8 percent in the south.

The study by researchers at the department of water resources engineering,NIT Karnatakaled by MMParvathyand officials of the state irrigation department, points out that unlike pre-2000, the results indicate that the past two decades have undergone a drastic transformation, which can be attributed to anthropogenic interventions and global climatic changes.

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, a part of Wipro Enterprises, announced the acquisition of Nirapara, a Kerala-based packaged rice powder and spice mixes brand.

The move comes a few months after Wipro announced its plans to foray into the packaged foods business. Nirapara was launched in 1976 and is owned by KKR Group of Companies. It is best known for its blended spices and ready-to-cook rice powder products. It has an annualised revenue of Rs 100 crore.

About 63% of its revenue comes from Kerala, while the bulk of the rest comes from GCC countries that have a strong diaspora Population from Kerala, said Wipro Consumer Care CEO Vineet Agrawal. Nirapara is our 13th acquisition and gives us a clear foothold in the spices and ready-to-cook segment, he added.

Though the Union budget 2022-23 gives impetus to digital Education, most of the new announcements made with regard to this, including the digital university, have already been implemented in Kerala by the .

Imparting supplementary TEACHING and providing high quality digital content through TV in the times of online Learning during the pandemic was carried out by the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology of Education (KITE).

However, experts said that budget proposal aimed at universalizing quality education through digital medium will further help the state to take forward the ongoing projects. Welcoming the decision to increase the number of TV channels under the PMs E-Vidya programmes from 12 to 200, KITE chief executive officerK Anvar Sadathsaid that it could promote one class-one TV channel policy of the central government.

The first agro-processing cluster (APC) inKerala– CVJ Agro Processing Cluster ofSynthiteGroup, a producer of spice extracts and value-added spices – has started functioning in Pancode near Kolanchery in Ernakulam. TheAPC, set up in 19.8 acres with an of Rs 175 crore, was developed under the Pradhanmantri Kisan Sampada Yojana, promoted by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI).

The APC – which is functioning as a part of Synthite Taste Park – provided all common amenities, including facilities for raw material storage, boiler, common laboratory, raw material cleaning, grading, sorting, grinding,weigh bridge, electrical distribution,rainwater harvesting, fire fighting, common truck bay and the like. It is expected to provide direct EMPLOYMENT to around 500 people while it will be beneficial to thousands of farming families across the country.