Corporation to introduce new plans for waste disposal

Corporation to introduce new plans for waste disposal

Shilpa S R

            After long discussions and conciliatory moves, the city corporation has now managed to introduce new plans for the disposal of waste.

           

            The government has agreed to give a 75% subsidiary for the implementation of bio-gas plants in houses, hospitals and hotels so that most of the garbage can be treated within the city itself. Severe and immediate punishments will be given to people who are seen throwing garbage on roads or anywhere in the city. People who come in vehicles to throw garbage will be taken to custody along with their vehicles.

           

            The waste disposal system had always been a matter of great concern to the public as well as the Trivandrum Corporation. Earlier, the city was provided with huge yellow dust bins that were cleared once in a while by the corporation itself. The garbage thus collected was taken to Vilappilshala which was the dumping yard of Trivandrum Corporation. That system was later stopped because people started dumping their house hold waste in the same bins.

           

            After a long period of dilemma, the corporation started collecting garbage from every house with the help of the Kudumbasree units. The people were asked to put waste in three different covers, one each for  glasses, plastics and biodegradable wastes. This system was running fine until the Vilappilshala issue. The trucks that carried the garbage were not allowed to dump waste in Vilappilshala as the people in that area were suffocating with the smell of wastes. They wanted the government to take proper action against this cruelty to people.

           

            The city corporation has managed to convince the people of Vilappilshala that some steps were taken to reduce huge piling of wastes. They assured that the garbage treatment factory will be closed down at the earliest possible date. Now the domestic wastes are being taken to Vilappilshala in closed trucks only at night with police protection. 

            After the implementation of the new waste disposal system, the city is likely to become more hygienic and disease free than ever before.

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Another green revolution starts

Another green revolution starts

Anju V Padma

Trivandrum: The Students Empowerment for Environmental Development (SEED) of Mathrubhumi in association  with the Coconut Development Board (CDB) has started a new venture named ‘Ente Thengu’. This programme aims to pave way for a green culture with the participation of students in the schools in Kerala.

           

            Being a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project, the programme is planned to be launched in 38 educational districts which came first in the survey of SEED. It will help the student community to create an attachment  towards Kerala’s once most cultivated coconut trees.

           

            The formal inauguration of ente thengu started with a training programme on 30th September with the participation of all the co-ordinators from 38 educational districts. As a part of this programme, each school is provided with 15 coconut plants which should be planted in the school campus itself.

            Trained teacher co-ordinaters will guide the students to look after the planted trees. All the technical support and guidance will be given by the Coconut Development Board. Continuous monitoring and updating of details of the planted trees should be done by the Principal or Headmaster of the school to the CDB and SEED. The first review meeting for the project is scheduled to be conducted soon. There will be inspections and enquiry done by SEED jury members and the officers from the Environment Protection Committee, Alwaye.

           

            The period of activity of SEED project will be from June to December. As a pilot project ‘Ente Thengu’ is expected to plant 1, 50,000 coconut trees in 10,000 schools in Kerala by the last week of October 2011. “If we are successful in our mission, within a few years, Kerala will be filled with coconut trees”, says Rakesh, co-ordinator of SEED programme.

Calicut to host 4th Children’s Film Festival

Calicut to host 4^th Children’s 

Film Festival

Arjun M C

Trivandrum: The 4th state children’s film festival organised by the State Institute of Educational Technology(SIET) will be held from 14 to16 November at Calicut. Films produced by students across the state and films produced for students will be screened at the festival. Rs 100000 and chief minister’s trophy will be awarded for the best film in the student film category and Rs 50000 for the best film for children category.

            The objective of the festival will be to equip children for film making, to encourage their film ventures and to provide a platform for their creations. The competition will be held in two sections, films produced by students and films for students. Separate competition will be held  for the primary, secondary and B.R.C sections. Competitions for the films for children will be conducted in the general and B.R.C sections. 12 awards will be declared for the best three films, director, script writer, cinematographer, editor, sound programmer, set designer, background musician, animator and dubbing artist.

Workshops and seminars on film studies will also be organised along with the festival. Children’s films at the national and international levels will also be screened in the festival. Certificates will be distributed to students participating in the festival and workshops.

Discomfort for women in God’s own country

Discomfort for women in God’s own country

 Sithara Issac

Trivandrum: The comfort zones for women in the capital city governed by a lady mayor is alarmingly lesser when compared to other big cities. The city residents as well as visitors roam around the city in search of comfort stations to urinate and to refresh. Though there are some toilets in the main centeres, no boards are put up locating this facility. Women naturally are the mostaffected ones as they cannot answer the call of the nature on roadsides like men. They neither ask the public about a toilet in vicinity nor visit a big hotel where there may be clean toilets.

Most medium and small hotels don’t have hygienic toilets. According to the rules, the city hotels having 30 seats and above must have toilet facility for men and women. The rule remains only on paper because no official takes action against such violations.

Many public offices in the city have comparatively good toilets, but they are not accessible to the general public.  People avoid foul smelling and filthy toilets in KSRTC bus stands and market places. Instead of visiting such discomfort zones  men will find the roadsides more comforting, though it appears to be indecent to the public, especially women. Women find it extremely difficult to walk with their children on their shoulders when their urinary bladder fills up. Would somebody in power listen to the woes of the sisters in discomfort, in the city of the richest deity in the world.

School transport safety: accidents worry parents

School transport safety:

accidents worry parents

Farsana Jaleel A

            The concern of parents opting private vehicles to carry their children to school is steadily growing. Many parents fear for the safety of their children who are left at the mercy of such vehicle operators. And the cause for their fear and concern justifies the accidents that take place often.

            Four students of Thumba Jyothinilayam H.S.S were killed and many others injured when a minibus carrying them plunged in to Parvathy Puthanar near Channankara last month. Another accident of a similar nature occurred last February involving Parvathy Puthanar near Karikkakam. It had claimed seven lives including an Aya. Reckless driving was the reason cited then. Following the accident, several corrective measures, including strict checking of school buses were done then, but had to stop in the middle due to the interference by vested interests, it is alleged.

                        The accident at Channankara has caused due to laxity on the part of the law – enforcing agencies, it is reliably learnt. Besides flouting school transport norms co-ordination between police, Education Department and Motor Vehicles Department is found wanting.

            The driver of ill – fated vehicle that plunged into the water near Karikkakam last February was busy with his mobile phone when the accident occurred.

            Preliminary findings show the private vehicle involved in the Channankara accident had a seating capacity of 16 but was jam – packed with 24 students. It is also revealed that the driver was inexperienced and did not possess a badge required for plying school buses. Many feel that the bad condition of roads contributed to these tragedies.

            An increasing number of schools continues to flout norms in this regard, said an official source. Some of the schools also fail to ensure the services of a teacher as nodal officer for transport safety.

You won’t get this at jakehalpern.com!

You won’t get this at jakehalpern.com!

tête-à-tête with Jake Halpern by Gokul P & Remya Nair

It was a very rare view of Trivandrum Golf links on this sunday evening from the apartments of Professor Jake Halpern.   This boundless greenish lawns & the silence which environs this place may sometimes makes you a poet or a painter. I do feel gratitude to this silence for making Jake more clear & audible to me & my batch mate Ramya who were there at his abode for a short chat. Prof Jake reached the capital city two weeks ago but, this is not his first visit to Kerala. He being a popular author, journalist & radio producer from United States, travels are part of his life. Now he is here in Thiruvanathapuram as a visiting Fulbright scholar in the Department of Communication and Journalism, Kerala University. As a journalist, Jake has written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, GQ, Sports Illustrated, The New Republic, Slate, Smithsonian, Entertainment Weekly, Outside, New York Magazine, and other publications.  In the realm of radio, Jake is a contributor to NPR's All Things Considered & This American Life. Prof Jake along with his wife Kasia Lipsk & two sons, shares some personal perceptions about his life in this interview.

Working as a journalist & teaching journalism are two different dimensions. How do you treat them?

            It varies from person to person. What I usually teach is what I usually write. My classes are mostly based on my experiences & I give examples from my own stories.

What is the impact of internet journalism over print journalism?

            (Clicking an icon of The New Times on his iPad) See, it is so compact & comfortable means of reading news. You do have the option of reading more than one paper over net. I think all the news papers have to make their copy available over internet.

How friendly is Thiruvananthapuram to you & your family?

            It is absolutely a friendly place.  My four year old son Sebastian, on his first day at school felt happy. He was the only foreign kid. But he didn’t feel any difference at all. We grownups may treat this situation with more difficulty, but for him it was quite easy. So, me & my wife were joking afterwards that among four of us he is more adaptable to this place.  It is the way how we look at things. The younger one Lucian is not that happy with some Keralite dishes.

When did you meet your wife for the first time?

            I think there are many things in America which I am not happy about, but something which I like the most is it’s cosmopolitan culture where people from different places come & live. My wife also came to America when she was fourteen.

Which are your favorite Kerala dishes?

            I eat more fish. I do like coconut and the aroma of coconut oil.

So Mrs Jake, how long have you been here in Thiruvananthapuram?

            I was here in 2002. After some time, I am just back in Sree Chithra Institute of

Medical Science and Technology. I am so happy for this come back. Some changes have happened, among them the increase of vehicles & traffic. It is something more visible. Fortunately we hire a car to go for work.

Professor Jake is so fond of some Indian dishes. Mrs. Jake, are you crazy about Indian dishes? Do you cook Indian food?

            Yes I like Indian food but I am a very bad cook.

How was last Onam here in Kerala?

            It was so wonderful. We had food on those leaves, with all colors on it, red, green & all. We ate with hands. It was nice.

So, Professor Jake, you are here to take classes in journalism. How different are the students of Kerala when compared with those in US?

            I am focusing on classes in magazine journalism. Students here are more formal. They are more polite. I was astonished to find a student coming to me asking a doubt after the class which he could not ask during the class. In US students are more open and friendly.