Kerala government was in touch with embassies in Gulf countries to help Keralites now lodged in prisons

Kerala government has asked the Air India to operate more budget services to the Gulf sector, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said on Wednesday.

Replying to a calling attention on the problems being faced by Non-Resident Keralites, Achuthanandan told the state Assembly that the state carrier, which has budget service Air India Express, has been asked to operate more such flights.

On the general amnesty policy declared by United Arab Emirates, he said two officials have been deputed to help those who wanted to avail the facility.

These officials would arrange travel facilities by preparing the necessary documents, he said.

The State government was in touch with embassies in Gulf countries to help Keralites now lodged in prisons there, he added.

Munnar demolitions: will it harm Kerala tourism

In the last one week, more than two dozen illegal tourist resorts in the picturesque hill station of Munnar have been razed and 200 more are to be demolished for encroaching on government land, but tourism industry watchers say the move could harm Kerala's booming tourism industry.

The demolition drive, by the no-nonsense Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, was launched to evict all those who had encroached on government land.

"The drive would be extended to other parts of the state like Kovalam and Kumarakom. We will under no circumstances be lenient on these encroachers," Achuthanandan declared.

But tourism watchers say the drive has come at a time when the state is anyway short of 10,000 rooms during the peak tourist season - October to March - and would result in millions of rupees in tourism investment going down the drain.

However, state Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan Monday said that the demolition drive would not affect the state's tourism industry.

K. Sudish Kumar, who owns a premier resort in Kovalam beach, said the chief minister was "playing to the gallery" in his haste to get on with the demolitions, ignoring the growth of the money-spinning tourism industry.

One year into power, the Marxist hardliner might want to keep his crusader image intact but not everyone is happy with his decision.

Kerala Celebrating Easter on 8th April this year

Easter is the oldest Christian festival, as old as Christianity itself. The Central tenet of Christianity is not the birth of Jesus, but his resurrection. Easter derived from this paschal mystery and from the events of Good Friday.

The content of Easter was gradually analysed into historical events and each began to be celebrated on a different day. As a result, Easter grew into a Holy Week and came to have a preparatory season to precede and a festive season to follow. Thus we have four distinct periods in connection with the observance of Easter - 1. Lent, the forty preparatory penitential days. 2. Holy Week including the Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 3. the Octave of Easter (classical time for Baptism) and 4. the paschal season or Easter time extending over forty more days. On Holy Thursday the Lord's supper is held in the evening. The washing of feet is a remarkable trait, emphasising the love for one another. At home there will be the rite of the pashcal bread. After supper, the 'cross cake' is brought out and cut into pieces. A piece is broken, dipped into sauce and handed over to each member of the family in due order. Good Friday is a day of grief when churches are empty and dark. Services are held in the afternoon. In most churches one finds a bitter drink prepared from leaves, vinegar, etc for everyone to taste after the service. Holy Saturday is a day of mourning and wailing. A total silence reigns the church from morning to dusk. But by ten at night the church is full to observe the Easter Vigil. In the gloom which envelops the church, new fire is struck from flint and blessed. A big candle is then consecrated and from it is lighted many candled indicating the resurrection. Bells peal, music fills the air and light floods the hall. Hallelujah is the joyous word of Easter wish.Easter Sunday is a quiet day and the celebrations rather spiritual and inward rather than social and showy. There will be grand dinner at homes and visit of relatives.

Kerala beedi industry's Struggling for survival

Kerala's Dinesh Beedi is the country's largest co-operative society making beedis. Once a venture of pride for the Communist party, the worker's cooperative is today nearing extinction in the face of increasing competition from cigarette giants.

With the co-operative society all set to wind up, thousands of workers in the CPI-M stronghold Kannur are at the receiving end.

“For the workers in Dinesh Beedi it's their main income and that is being affected. So, it becomes difficult for them to survive while for many others it's an additional income,” says Chairman, Kerala Dinesh Beedi Workers Co-operative Society, C V Kunhiraman.

With stiff competition from cigarette giants, there is a need to diversify. An umbrella manufacturing section and a wing for Dinesh foods has been set up with hopes of re-habilitating the workers.

But for these people who are used to handling tobbaco for 25 years, managing umbrellas, spices, juices and jam are alien territory.

“I don't think even a job diversification will help. You cannot rehabilitate 40,000 workers so easily to other jobs. We are all old people and you cannot expect us to start working on a new project and learn it fast. Beedi has been our livelihood,” reasons a worker, Narayanan.

Meanwhile, the state government has stepped in with Rs 4 crore for the diversification process.

Now, as the beedi industry dies a silent death, also dying are old centres of Communist mobilisation.

Over the years Dinesh Beedi as a co-operative society had reflected the organisational capabilities of the CPI-M. Its extinction today is also perhaps an indication of the party's alienation from the working class.

Kerala woos small investors

Kerala prefers more small investors to a few big ones in a public-private infrastructure company being launched, as a large section of non-resident Keralites have shown willingness to invest in it.
State’s Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem, the chairman of the recently registered Infrastructure Kerala Ltd (InKel), said this message had already been conveyed to the investors at a meeting held in Kochi last week.
“When 26% of the paid-up capital of the company of Rs1bn would be with the government, a minimum of 26% should go to small investors. They could be both non-resident Keralites (NRKs) or people living in Kerala,” he said.
The government has decided to publicise the offer by tapping NRKs through road shows in all Gulf countries, beginning in the second week of April.
“Each share is worth Rs10,000 and the maximum number of shares that a small investor could have is 10. We are limiting this to 10 shares each because we want all people to take part in the development of this company,” said Kareem.
“It has also been agreed that big investors would come in only if we are unable to raise the Rs1bn,” he said.
He added that the state government had informed all Keralite organisations in the Gulf about this offer and they could get in touch with either the State Bank of Travancore or the State Bank of India to subscribe to the shares. The offer opens on April 23 and closes on April 30. “Every person desirous of buying shares can give it in writing to these banks and be served on a first-come-first-serve basis,” Kareem said.
InKel has also identified locations in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi for setting up basic infrastructure for investors interested in starting sunrise industries. – IANS