Criticizes Govt’s Fund Allocation Method, Orders State To Provide Water

Kochi: The state government should take necessary steps to provide sufficient drinking water to Vypeen residents on a daily basis, the Kerala High Court ordered on Tuesday. A division bench comprising justices S Siri Jagan and K Harilal issued the order while considering a petition filed by Rosy Arackal, a resident of Vypeen.

A package for Attappadi tribal hamlets is likely to take a final shape in Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, after several deaths due to malnutrition were reported from the area.

Kerala, Karnataka Want Region Free Of Modified Crops

Thiruvananthapuram: In contrast to the stand of the Kerala and Karnataka governments, the Union agriculture ministry bats for geneticallymodified (GM) crops in the Western Ghats area in its report submitted to the Kasturirangan committee. Both Kerala and Karnataka have already called for a ‘GM-free state’. The department of agriculture & cooperation under the Union agriculture ministry says in its report that there is no reason to enforce a restriction on cultivation of Bt Cotton in the Western Ghats region as there is no perceived threat to any form of biodiversity of tetraploid species present in the region.

Discrepancies In Chalai Project Prompts Govt Decision

The apparent failure of Suchitwa Mission and the transaction advisor in warding off discrepancies from the proposed gasification plant at Chalai has now prompted the state government to seek the technical expertise and guidance of planning commission in implementing similar projects in future.

Thiruvananthapuram: Besides a government failure in disseminating the benefits of numerous social welfare schemes among tribal families at Attappadi, the prevalence of alcoholism among pregnant wom

Apreliminary analysis of the Kasturirangan-chaired report of the high level working group (HLWG) shows that the recommendations, if implemented, would release thousands of acres of eco-fragile land

Kochi: The state water resources department has launched an ambitious project to prepare digital maps of all 44 rivers in the state and feed them on to a geographic information system (GIS)- based

Govt Intention Must Be Notified, Can’t Deny Building Permit Citing Future Plan

Kochi: Building permit cannot be denied citing plans to acquire the land for a public project in future unless such acquisition is already notified by the government, as specified in Land Acquisition Act, the Kerala high court has held. The decision by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice K Vinod Chandran was given while considering an appeal filed by a resident of Thiruvananthapuram.

Around 60,000 sq km of Western Ghats, spread across six states, should be turned into a no-go area for commercial activities like mining, thermal power plants, polluting industries and large housing plans, the high-level working group headed by Planning Commission member K Kasturirangan has recommended.

The committee has not recommended an outright rejection of the Athirappilly hydroelectric project in Kerala and Gundya dam in Karnataka. It has warned that the state government must assess if the Athirappilly dam is viable and if the trade off against the loss of irreplaceable biodiversity is beneficial.

Delegation Submits Five-Point Memorandum To CM

Chief minister Oommen Chandy has responded positively to a demand by a collective of greens in the state to devise a mechanism to bring all activities related to sand mining under government control. The proposal, which is part of the five-point memorandum, submitted by the group led by Sugathakumari and V S Vijayan, would be looked into seriously, assured Chandy.