A bus evoking green thoughts
Eco concerns:Forest Minister Benoy Viswom flagging off the ‘Rahma Green Messenger’ bus from the mofussil bus stand in the city on Monday.
Kozhikode: With the monsoon just a few weeks away, it’s an eco-campaign with a difference. An ordinary bus has been transformed into a piece of forest with huge trees, wild rivulets and massive rocks sculpted on the outer body. Inside, the bus is turned into a home theatre ready to screen videos urging viewers to save the earth by planting trees and conserving rain water. It also has a plethora of similar messages displayed in different forms calling upon the spectators to do something for the earth with great urgency.
With an amused crowd watching the unusual ‘bus’ on the road all set to roll on, Forests Minister Benoy Viswom flagged off the ‘Rahma Green Messenger’ mobile exhibition bus on the premises of the Mofussil bus stand on Monday morning.
The exhibition, which is aimed at spreading the message of water conservation and environmental protection, is part of a six-month long eco-campaign organised by Rahma, a social service project recently launched by a collective of earth-lovers, philanthropists and community leaders.
The Green Messenger, which will travel across six districts of Malabar, will stop at several points in all these districts and let the public watch DVDs and slide-shows on water conservation and environmental awareness.
“Sending a message of water conservation to save our earth from an acute drinking water shortage is one of the main objectives of our campaign,” said a Rahma member.
Precious rain water
On an average, Kerala receives 3,000 mm rain annually, which is well above the national average. “But we are able to save only five per cent of it and the rest ends up in the sea in no time,” he said.
Studies have found that around 30 per cent of the rain water can be conserved if people take effective measures. “The Green Messenger is out to spread this valuable message to all,” he said.
According to the organisers, the Green Messenger will be given receptions by environmental activists and socio-cultural organisations in all the districts.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/11/stories/2010051156020300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Taking a ‘sweet revenge'
Success of farm club’s initiative to grow watermelons
Rich harvest:Farmers harvesting watermelons from Parakulam Nilam, near Kakkodi, on Monday.
Kozhikode: It is a harvest of sweet revenge for the members of the Karshaka Mithra Farmers’ Club at Parakkulam Nilam, near Kakkodi, when they heap up the ripe watermelon in tonnes from the five-acre filed they cultivated together for the second time this year. Their “overwhelming success” in watermelon farming at a seemingly unbecoming area is a “fitting reply” to those who discouraged and mocked them when they ventured out with the plan last year.
With the patronage of NABARD and South Malabar Gramin Bank, the collective of farmers embarked on farming watermelon at a good stretch of land leased out for the purpose to have come out with flying colours.
There are more than 150 members in the club. And most of them participated in the initiative. The club found the basic capital for the venture by floating shares and through securing a Rs.1.5-lakh loan from a bank. They sought advice from the expert bodies including the Kerala Agricultural University and local agricultural offices for the purpose and managed to bring the “highbred” seeds from other States. They got good support such as the irrigation facilities arranged by the Chellannur block panchayat.
“And to boot, we were resorting to precision farming with advices from experts in the filed,” said Abraham Mathew, president of the club. “We have harvested only less than one-fourth of our total area today,” said Mr. Mathew adding that the yield was very good and came around three tonnes from less than one acre of filed.
He said the market rate of watermelon was “very high” (Rs.12 a kg) as it was the end of the season. “The quality also is very high with dense red colour inside and huge size for single pieces (around 12 kg),” said K.K. Ayyappan, farmer and executive committee member of the club.
Mr. Ayyappan said they had to face lot of criticism and ridicules from different quarters for selecting a crop no one had tried earlier in their part of the State.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/11/stories/2010051156030300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
How Vengeri went the organic way
VS will unveil State’s organic farming policy here on May 9
FARM IN EVERY HOMESTEAD:City Corporation Ward 7 councillor K.C. Anilkumar at a snake-gourd farm at Vengeri village where organic farming has been the norm for the past four years.
Kozhikode: Vengeri village, forming Ward 7 on the fringes of the city Corporation, seems to be the right choice for unveiling the State’s organic farming policy and launching an organic manure venture of Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd. by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on May 9.
For the past four years, no chemical fertilizer or pesticide has been used at Vengeri. More importantly, all residential and vacant plots within this ward grow vegetable and fruit-bearing trees.
Before 2006, Vengeri’s story was like that of other places in the State. Dreams of Public Service Commission recruitment and jobs in the Gulf were foremost on every youth’s mind and farming, the traditional occupation of the people, was suffering.
When K.C. Anilkumar was elected as an independent from the ward in 2005, a socio-economic survey of the 1,824 houses here, done to ascertain what people expected from their councillor, showed that seven persons, predominantly women, suffered from cancer.
Toward self-sufficiency
The faculty of the Pathology Department at the Kozhikode medical college told Mr. Anilkumar that consumption of vegetables grown using fertilizers and pesticides could be responsible. He then rallied support for a campaign to make the ward self-sufficient in food and use of only organic manure to grow the crops.
“Now everyone is talking about food security and organic farming. When we started in 2006, the Agriculture Department was sceptical. Now, they actively support us,” Babu Parambath, coordinator of the agricultural activities, says. In 2007, it was decided to raise paddy on 10 acres as a community effort. Agriculture officials said the effort was bound to fail as seeds, labour and organic manure were scarce and the youth would not cooperate.
“We got ‘mundakan’ seeds from an old Vengeri farmer. Sixty-one houses owned cows here but the cow dung provided by just 20 households was sufficient for manure. When the Principal of Providence College asked for 100 students, 175 NSS members from the college volunteered,” Mr. Anilkumar says about the first season. Soon, the 12 residents’ associations and the 36 Kudumbasree units in the ward joined in. In 2008, a large-scale vegetable farming initiative began on 12.5 acres, armed with a government subsidy of Rs.50,000.
The vegetables harvested that year included spinach, okra, bitter-gourd, snake-gourd, pumpkin, cucumber and brinjal. “We earned Rs.1.37 lakh and spent only Rs.33,000 from the subsidy. More importantly, we learnt about optimum water use, using the right manure and warding away pests,” says Mr. Parambath.
In 2009, a ‘Thousand Kitchen Gardens’ project was launched so that every household had a vegetable farm. “Today, we grow all the vegetables we need,” P.P. Mohanan, convener of Niravu, a residents’ association, says. “We also planted 15,000 plantain saplings as an extension of this project.”
Cultural renaissance
That agriculture has sparked a cultural renaissance in Vengeri is another aspect the residents are proud of. They organised a ‘Chakka Mahotsavam’ in March 2009 with 63 food items produced from jackfruit, followed by an exhibition in November showcasing 150 food items, artefacts and implements made from the coconut tree.
In January 2010 when Bt-Brinjal protests were being held across the country, Vengeri residents had a unique answer to Monsanto. The 101 households that are part of ‘Niravu’ decided to produce one lakh traditional brinjal seedlings to put up for sale.
Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran and environmental activists such as Medha Patkar and Sunderlal Bahuguna have all visited Vengeri to witness the silent revolution happening here.
“This movement goes beyond food. Youngsters join the elderly in watering and tending to plants; people away in the Gulf lease their plots for our farms taking no money,” Mr. Anilkumar says. “Our farming practices have rebuilt communities and filled a vacuum people had felt since joint families broke up.”
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/26/stories/2010042650930300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Two new schemes for children
| Kozhikode Corporation programmes to benefit the differently abled |
Ayurveda centre proposed in the city
Money from Poverty Social Fund and Plan funds
Kozhikode, India: The Kozhikode Corporation has decided to introduce two new schemes for children residing in the limits of the city.
One is Support to the Challenged (SUCHAl) and the other Ayurvedic Centre and Research Institute for Child and Adolescent Development (ARCADE). The first scheme will benefit around 300 differently-abled children. The project is aimed at overcoming their challenges and developing their skills for the future.
Deputy Mayor P.T. Abdul Latheef said here on Thursday that funds would be mobilised from the Poverty Social Fund, a component of the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Programme (financed by the Asian Development Bank) and the Plan Fund allotted from the State government. A sum of Rs.23 lakh would be required for implementing the scheme, he said.
He said that parents of these children found it financially difficult to meet the needs of their wards. The scheme would help mitigate the suffering of parents to a great extent. An amount of Rs.15 lakh would be allocated this fiscal for providing scholarship to these children, Prof. Latheef said.
Training
Training would be given to children to develop their skills. Software in this regard was available in the market. Mobility scooters would be provided to physically-challenged children. A sum of Rs.20 lakh would be allotted for this scheme, he said.
The ARCADE scheme is drawn up to study the physical, mental and intellectual problems of children right from the primary age-group to adolescents and provide them with Ayurvedic treatment. A one-acre plot has been identified for the purpose at Nallalam on the outskirts of the city. The area which belonged to the Corporation has scope for further expansion activities.
Elaborating on the scheme, Prof. Latheef said the Ayurvedic centre would deal with epilepsy, behavioural problems and mental challenges faced by children. It would function as a multi-disciplinary research centre as well as provide treatment in physiotherapy, speech therapy and psychotherapy.
The Corporation had planned to involve several government agencies such as National Rural Health Mission, Department of Health Sciences, Department of Social Welfare and Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ayush) under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the project.
The civic body expected funding from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as well, he said.
The Deputy Mayor said K. Sreekumar of Kozhikode District Ayurveda Hospital had been entrusted with the task of preparing a project in this regard. A detailed project report would be submitted to the stake-holders via the State government.
Facilities
He said the Corporation would also consider a scheme to improve facilities at the existing Anganwadis and construct a few more for the benefit of children belonging to the economically backward communities. Already the budget had proposed a sum of Rs.2.20 crore for nutritional needs of children at Anganwadis this year.
Repairs would be carried out in a time-bound manner at 20 Anganwadis, another 20 would be upgraded as resource centres for women empowerment and four new Anganwadis would be constructed this fiscal, Prof. Latheef said.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/16/stories/2010041652750300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Eco tourism project for Kadalundi
A Rs.42-lakh scheme sanctioned as part of a tourism project covering mangrove vegetations.
Kozhikode, India: The Kadalundi panchayat is gearing up to implement a Rs.42-lakh eco tourism development scheme that has been sanctioned as part of a tourism project covering mangrove vegetations fund in the region between Vallikkunnu panchayat in Malappuram and Kumbla in Kasaragod district.
The fund for the project has been sanctioned by the Central government. The panchayat committee scheduled to meet on March 17 is expected to chalk out a plan of action to implement the project. Provision has been made in the project to set up facilities like walkways to enable visitors to observe mangroves at close range and to put up protective barriers for the vegetation.
The project also has provision for toilets, a boat jetty, and a fishing point.
The Kadalundi panchayat committee had already given its green signal to the project at a meeting which was presided over by panchayat president O Bhaktavalsalan.
Anil Marath, chairman of Kadalundi Community Reserve, said the mangrove project would be useful to students to understand nature better
The project will complement another Rs.58.66-lakh scheme that has been sanctioned for neighbouring Vallikkunnu panchayat in Malappuram district Tour packages are proposed to attract visitors to these sites.
Only eco-friendly materials would be used for construction.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/14/stories/2010031451060200.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
10-hour tribute on keyboard
Musician’s homage to music director
G. Devarajan
Programme in Kozhikode on Sunday(March 14, 2010)
KANNUR, India: A ten-hour musical performance on keyboard will be staged by a musician here as a homage to the late music director G. Devarajan.
Ratheesh Nirmalagiri will play the keyboard uninterruptedly for 10 hours to pay his tributes to the late musician at the Municipal Town Hall here on March 14, the day that marks the fourth death anniversary of Mr. Devarajan.
Mr. Ratheesh said here on Wednesday that the musical performance being organised by the Sruthilaya Kalakendram, Nirmalagiri, would be inaugurated by Municipal Chairman B.P. Farooque at 9.30 a.m.
The conclusion of the programme would be marked by a function to be inaugurated by Devaswom Minister Ramachandran Kadannappally at 7 p.m., he said.
Talk on songs
A talk on ‘Music and literature in Devarajan’s songs’ would be held on the occasion, he added.
He said his ten-hour performance on the keyboard would present the tunes of the songs composed by the late music maestro.
Mr. Ratheesh said he would be accompanied by artistes Krishnakumar and Mithur on guitar, Prakash Kannur on base guitar, Raghu and Jyothish on keyboard, Devarajan Mangattidam and Tharun Muzhakkunnu on tabla, Byju Pazhassi and Madhu Thuvvakunnu on the rhythm pad.
Sajesh Babu Manathavady would be the orchestra controller and K.T. Joseph and Georgekutty Thomas would compere.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/11/stories/2010031150710200.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Brain-dead man's kidneys transplanted
KOZHIKODE, India: The kidneys of Hashim, a 43-year-old man from Malappuram district, who was declared ‘brain dead’ following brain haemorrhage have given a new lease of life to two persons who were on dialysis owing to kidney failure.
Hashim, before being admitted to Baby Memorial Hospital on March 4 with brain haemorrhage, had told his relatives that he wished to donate a kidney to his brother, Shamsuddin, who was on dialysis. After doctors declared Hashim brain dead, his wife and relatives gave their consent to donate his kidneys.
One kidney from Hashim was used on Shamsuddin in a transplant surgery conducted at Baby Memorial Hospital. This is reportedly the first cadaver kidney transplant conducted in north Kerala. It was performed by Roy Chaly, a senior surgeon who was on the team of doctors who performed the first kidney transplant at Government Medical College Hospital years ago, and Paulose Chaly.
The second kidney harvested from Hashim was donated to 17-year-old Santhosh who was on dialysis at Government Medical College Hospital. The patients were well on the road to recovery, hospital authorities said on Tuesday.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/10/stories/2010031052320300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Brain-dead man's kidneys transplanted
KOZHIKODE, India: The kidneys of Hashim, a 43-year-old man from Malappuram district, who was declared ‘brain dead’ following brain haemorrhage have given a new lease of life to two persons who were on dialysis owing to kidney failure.
Hashim, before being admitted to Baby Memorial Hospital on March 4 with brain haemorrhage, had told his relatives that he wished to donate a kidney to his brother, Shamsuddin, who was on dialysis. After doctors declared Hashim brain dead, his wife and relatives gave their consent to donate his kidneys.
One kidney from Hashim was used on Shamsuddin in a transplant surgery conducted at Baby Memorial Hospital. This is reportedly the first cadaver kidney transplant conducted in north Kerala. It was performed by Roy Chaly, a senior surgeon who was on the team of doctors who performed the first kidney transplant at Government Medical College Hospital years ago, and Paulose Chaly.
The second kidney harvested from Hashim was donated to 17-year-old Santhosh who was on dialysis at Government Medical College Hospital. The patients were well on the road to recovery, hospital authorities said on Tuesday.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/10/stories/2010031052320300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
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