KERALA

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.

Vizhinjam project will attract 60,000 crore investment: Fin min

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Finance minister K N Balagopal said that Kerala will become a manufacturing hub if Vizhinjam port becomes a reality.

He was speaking after the inauguration of the first edition of Made in Kerala award ceremony of the state council of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and (FICCI) held Saturday.

It is expected that an Investment of Rs 60,000 crore will come to the state with the creation of a new development zone in the area from Vizhinjam to Paripally, the minister said. He said that the governments policy is to promote value-added products as much as possible.

Govt has no objection to single-sex schools becoming co-ed: Min

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MinisterV Sivankuttysaid that thegeneral Education departmentdoes not have any objection to single-sex schools inKeralagetting converted toco-educational schools. Speaking at a news conference atKanhangadinKasaragodon Monday, he said that many boys-only and girls-only schools would like to become co-educational institutions.

It is not being decided by education department. The decision is being taken unanimously by Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of schools, teachers of the institutions and the local body institution concerned; the department is approving their decision. Education department does not have any objection to boys and girls Learning together, he said.

Meanwhile the minister said that the education department has not taken a decision to implement gender-neutral uniforms in state. He said that some organizations have a misunderstanding that gender-neutral uniforms are being imposed by the government and education department.

Govt launches contest to boost innovations in Kerala

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For promoting youngentrepreneursand new concepts of as part of observing the ongoing financial year as the ‘Year of Entrepreneurship’, the government has launched a contest seeking ideas on new avenues of entrepreneurship.

The industries and commerce department has come up with the contest ‘Dreamvestor’ for prospective business aspirants in the state. The initiative’s aim is to provide a platform for the innovators in the state to present their ideas before an eminent panel and to explore the possibility of turning their innovative concepts into a business venture.

The ideas selected in the contest will be given necessary handholding support such as access to incubation space in government-owned business incubation centres, mentoring support to overcome challenges, access to seed capital assistance, etc.

Kerala University to set up international study centre

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Higher Education minister R Bindhu has announced the governments decision to set up an international research centre in memory of physicist Thanu Padmanabhan.

The centre would come up underKerala University(KU), the minister said while inaugurating the student life cycle management system and a host of digital Services readied by KU. Bindhu said the decision to set up an international study centre in memory of the renowned physicist who died recently was taken based on a suggestion of CM Pinarayi Vijayan. A plan for the project was in the final phase, she said.

PM Modi unveils SPRINT challenges for Indian Navy

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled SPRINT challenges, an initiative aimed at boosting the usage of indigenous technology in the INDIAN NAVY.

Modi unveiled the initiative at a naval seminar organised to engage Indian and academia towards achieving self-reliance in the DEFENCE sector.

The NIIO, in cooperation with the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), aims to induct at least 75 new indigenous technologies/products into the Indian Navy in sync with Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav commemorating 75 years of the countrys Independence.

This collaborative project is named SPRINT Supporting Pole-Vaulting in R&D through iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence), NIIO and TDAC (Technology Development Acceleration Cell).