News and Views

Kerala government approved establishment of cathlabs in ten hospitals including medical colleges in Ernakulam and Kollam.

With this, the total number of government hospitals with cardiac catheterisation laboratories will increase to 16.

Joint Director of Higher Secondary Education, Kerala, has issued circular restricting Onam celebrations in higher secondary schools.

Programmes should be organised without affecting teaching, examinations or extra-curricular activities. A full day should not be set apart for celebrations and large sums should not be collected for celebrations, it said.

Update: The circular, issued on Thursday, was withdrawn on Friday on a directive from Education Minister C. Ravindranath.

Thiruvananthapuram: The government has come to an understanding with 13 private self-financing colleges regarding admissions and fees.

Accordingly, admissions to 50% of seats in these colleges will be under government quota. While the fees for 40 per cent of the seats under government quota ((20 per cent of the total) will be Rs. 25000, the fee for the remaining seats will be Rs. 2.5 lakh a year. (Last year’s rate was Rs. 1.8 lakhs on these seats.)

The fee for management seats will be Rs. 11 lakh.  The fee for these seats was Rs. 8.5 lakh previously.

The 24-hour, nation-wide strike by joint action council of trade unions began at midnight on Friday.
All trade unions excluding BMS are participating in the strike. The strike is affecting normal life in many parts of the country. In Kochi, tension prevailed in front of some industrial units where BMS workers reported for duty.

Ministry Railways and Kerala Government signed a joint venture agreement for development of railway infrastructure in the State here on Thursday in the presence of Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu.

The agreement will cover projects such as, Sabari rail, railway coach factory, Kochi-Madurai line and other projects. Other projects to be taken up on a priority basis under the agreement include suburban rail between Thiruvananthapuram and Chengannur, Nilambur-Nanjangode line, Guruvayoor-Thirunavaya line and Thalassery-Mysore lane.