Vigilance accuses 40 in Mookunnimala illegal quarry issue; Samithi to continue agitation

After a year long struggle, the Mookunnimala Samrakshana Samithi, which is spearheading the agitation against illegal quarries in the hill, has now hope to rejoice after the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau exposed the illegal activities in the hills, accusing 40 persons for alleged fraud and irregularities in quarry operations.

Stating that it was a major setback to to Pallichal panchayat, quarry mafia, political parties and many others, Samrakshanan Samithi Joint convenor Surendra Kumar told express that they would take out a march and hold an agitation in front of Pallichal Panchayat on Monday, demanding the immediate arrest of the accused, including Pallichal panchayat president K Rakesh. Apart from arresting the accused, all their properties should also be seized, he added.

''After a year of agitation, the truth has at last come out through a government agency. We have been telling the government and all authorities concerned that the quarries were functioning illegally. The samithi has also pointed out that the quarry activities has led to environment destruction. But there was no one to hear us. But now the VACB has unearthed irregularities and we hope that the government will at least now take some steps to save the hill,'' he said.

Pointing out that the agitation will not end with the Vigilance filing an FIR in the vigilance court, Kumar said that they would continue the agitation till all the quarry activities were stopped in the hill. On strengthening the agitation, he said that in the second phase, protest marches will be taken to the house of all the 23 members of the Panchayat, demanding their cooperation in the agitation. ''The second phase of agitation has already started with a protest march to the house of Pallichal Panchayat President K Rakesh. In the first week of January, we will be marching to the houses of all members,'' he said.

Source: The New Indian Express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/405614/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/29-12-2014#page/15/1

No need for more Medical Colleges in Kerala: IMA

At a time when the state government has embarked on a mission to set up medical colleges in all the districts, the Indian Medical Association, which is the largest group of medical professionals, has affirmed that there was no need for new medical colleges in the public as well as private sector and that the Non Objection Certificates for starting new colleges should be immediately withdrawn. 

The IMA has called for a detailed study by the government to see if there was a need for another medical college. The new revelations have been concluded in the preliminary report of the IMA on medical education sector in the state. ''The preliminary report of the Committee on Medical Education has been submitted and we would come out with a detailed report in the coming days,'' IMA state president Sreejith N Kumar said. 

Noting that a need based assessment should be done, he said that the government has to think of improving the treatment facility rather than setting up medical colleges. 

Committee Convenor and Kerala Government Medical College Teachers Association state president Dr K Mohanan said ''we have stated that there was no need for any medical college in the public as well as private sector till the available resources are utilised for the upgradation of the existing medical colleges. Apart from this, we also demand that the NOC given for setting up new medical colleges should be withdrawn.''

Mohanan said that most of the private medical colleges do not have the necessary infrastructure and adequate staff. These colleges situated in remote regions with only a few patients normally import patients during times of MCI inspection. Moreover, there are no permanent teachers and most of them work on daily wages and are paraded during the time of MCI inspection for getting recognition. ''All these show where the medical education system in the state is heading for,'' he said.

The IMA also recommends developing district and taluk hospitals instead of pumping in money for the medical colleges. ''If the government wants to provide the best treatment facility, it should not think of Medical colleges but should have to concentrate in augmenting the facilities at the primary level of treatment,'' the convenor said. The Association also calls for upgrading the district hospitals to super specialty hospitals and for development specialty care in the block level.

Coordinator Dr Vasudevan said that there was no deficiency of undergraduates in the state and the need of the hour is more specialisation. ''The focus should be on improving whatever we have and develop at least some of the centres as excellence of treatment units,'' he said. Vasudevan also said that the committee will be holding meetings in different parts of the state before the report is finalised.

source: The Newindian express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/405614/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/29-12-2014#page/3/1

Revenue Adalats sitting on files to inflate plaint figures

In an effort to come out with inflated figures of complaint redressal in the revenue adalat scheduled for every district, revenue officials are allegedly asked to sit on files which have already been positively considered and redressed. It is alleged that instructions have been given to all the revenue offices across the state not to issue pattayams (title deeds) or provide relief measures to those whose applications/complaints have been cleared but only to disburse them at the forthcoming adalats.

The government has decided to conduct revenue adalats in all the 14 districts to sort out various complaints , including issues related to resurvey, pattayam, relief measures under National Family Benefit Scheme and Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund. Most of the complaints that have been settled are alleged to be kept in abeyance for its distribution only in the adalatas for ensuring more participation. 

Alleging that the officials in each district have been asked to make sure of about 20,000 to 25,000 participation  in the adalats,  Kerala Revenue Department Staff Association (KRDSA) president K Sreekantan Nair said ''directions have been issued during the various meetings convened by the district collector and other officials not to proceed on any of the applications which has been settled. But was asked to proceed them only at the adalats.'' The government was only conducting adalats as a forum to blow things out of proportion, he said and added that all the issues that come up in the adalats are normally dealt at the revenue offices itself.  

''There are instances where the files are delayed for years.  The adalats should focus on clearing these long pending files and applications and not for redressing the issues on which action has already been completed. It is absurd on the government to conduct such adalats,'' Nair said. 

Meanwhile, Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash said that there were some people who were out for scuttling a major event.  Stating that the adalat will give more focus on complaints that have been pending for a long time, he said that instructions  have been issued to settle all the issues except that is entangled in court cases. ''The adalat is being conducted for getting results. It has been directed that the applications received after the announcement of the adalat should be cleared at the event itself. We hope that a majority of the complaints and applications will be disposed off at the adalat,' he said.   

Source: The New Indian Express 

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/400765/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/22-12-2014#page/6/1

Public Health initiatve; IMA to adopt 100 villages

Thousands of doctors across the state will move to the villages in the next one year, giving fresh impetus to public health and community based programmes for building a healthy Kerala. The doctors under the banner of Indian Medical Association (IMA), which is adopting 100 villages, will focus more on lifestyle diseases and health awareness.

With the adoption of 100 villages in the state, the IMA, Kerala, is gearing up for new initiatives in public health sector and community based programmes, according to IMA state president Sreejth N Kumar. ''We have envisaged a programme – Arogyamaithri --under which 100 villages are being adopted. The focus will be on life style diseases, especially cardiovascular  
problems. Under the adoption programme, the focus will be on tobacco/blood pressure control, which is a major threat in all cardiovascular problems. We would give importance to awareness, detection and treatment of cardiovascular diseases through Arogyamaithri,'' he said.  Moreover, 

cancer screening and its awareness, which is already part of IMA's programme, will continue, he added.

As a first step, medical camps and health awareness programmes will be conducted at these villages. The IMA branches, which comes to 103, will be focussing on each village that comes under its jurisdiction, Sreejith said. 

Talking to Express, IMA Public Health Assurance Committee convenor Dr A Althaf said that the focus of Arogyamathri will be identification of health problems of the locality, health check ups and awareness campaigns. With life style diseases showing an alarming rise in the state, the adoption programme will focus on creating awareness, screening and treatment

Pointing out that the Association had about 27,000 members, he said ''all the active members, including specialty doctors, will participate in the Arogyamaithri programme. Though life style diseases, especially cancer, will be taken up initially, we would be focussing on the requirement of an area.'' He also mentioned that there would be active participation of experts, ward members, local MLA, local politicians and others in the programme. Noting that IMA had earlier also addressed public health issues, he said that it was for the first time that the Association was taking such an initiative related to public health in village level. 

Source The New Indian Express 

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/400765/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/22-12-2014#page/5/1

Massive Failure of Medicos in Kerala Raises Concern

The massive failure of medical students in the state, particularly in the private medical colleges, has raised serious concern among the medical fraternity, who point out quality erosion in the medical education sector, including shortage of faculty and lack of infrastructure for the failure.

With the results out for the first year MBBS, a majority of the self financing and private colleges showed a poor performance than the government medical colleges. As per the results, some colleges had 90 per cent failure and in total more than 30 per cent of the students have failed.

''The failure only shows that the medical education sector is distorted,'' said Dr B Eqbal, former Vice-chancellor of Kerala University and a public health activist. The Kerala University of Health Sciences should have to reassess the affiliation given to the medical colleges that has come out with such poor result.

It is alleged that the quality of medical education has come down with the uncontrolled proliferation of medical colleges in the state. There are not enough qualified faculty and also proper infrastructure for ensuring that the students are given the best education, it is alleged. It is also said that the faculty at the institutions are not given proper training.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) president Sreejith N Kumar said that the results were of serious concern and all the aspects that led to the failure should be analysed. ''The absence of dedicated faculty and lack of infrastructure are some of the reasons that the IMA sees as a cause,'' he said. Most of the medical colleges engage faculty during the time of MCI inspection, which has to be strictly monitored, he said. Kumar noted that a detailed analysis of the student intake was also needed. Noting that the KUHS also had a major role in ensuring quality of education, he said '' apart from the MCI inspections, the KUHS should also conduct random checks and ensure that a system is in place for improving quality of medical education.

source The Newindian Express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/398000/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/18-12-2014#page/6/1

Kerala stern on encroachers; to take back all lands in illegal possession of HML

At last the Kerala government has taken a stern step against encroachers in the state, especially with the Special Officer for Land Resumption M G Rajamanickam serving notice to Harrisons Malayalam Ltd to vacate 29,185 acres of land spread over Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Idukki districts. Apart from this, the government is also for recovering the other stretches of lands, illegally held by the company in the different parts of the state.

It is estimated that HML are in the illegal possession of about 60,000 acres of land. Though several probes have concluded that the HML was in the possession of lands that belonged to the government, no government had taken a firm step against the company until the High Court ruled that that the state government was vested with necessary powers under Kerala Conservancy Act to retrieve the land.

Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash said that all the lands that are to be taken back are government land and the company had fabricated documents. He made it clear that the special officer was appointed based on a High Court order. Before serving the eviction notice, the special office had inspected all the four districts and verified the documents.

The Minister also said that the company had sold 8,147 acres in the four districts from where the company has been asked to vacate. He also said that the company was misleading the people by placing advertisements, which amount to contempt of court. The advertisements have been given by HML Vice president (Legal) V Venugopal, against whom the vigilance had recommended a case after a preliminary inquiry found evidence of forgery of documents and survey maps with the Plantation Majors.