Context:
With an aim to providing quality food free of cost at least once a day to the
needy, the Hunger-free Kerala project will be launched in Alappuzha on
January 1, 2018. In the first phase, the project will be implemented in
Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram districts. The State government has
already sanctioned Rs. 70 lakh for the project.
Confusing facts: ‘Hunger-free Kerala project’ and ‘Hunger Free City Scheme in
Kerala’ are different missions by Government of Kerala.
Kerala State Government has started a hunger-free city project for the
poor people in association with the Social Justice Department, Kerala.
In News:
The city is likely to make it to the final list of the Smart City Mission, the
Centre’s flagship urban development programme with the Chief Minister’s
Office (CMO) said to be pushing the case of the historic city in north Kerala. A
proposal highlighting the unique attributes of Kozhikode has been submitted
to the Ministry of Urban Development.
Points to note:
Context:
The government has performed 120 critical newborn cardiac surgeries since
the Hridyam programme was started two months ago and most cases, over
100, have been done at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences
and Technology (SCTIMST).
Aksharasagaram
Context:
About Aksharasagaram:
Context:
The Minister for Labour T.P. Ramakrishnan released the survey reports
prepared for implementing Changathi in the remaining districts in the State,
after Ernakulam. The reports were prepared by the district literacy missions in
association with the local self-government concerned in each district where
Changathi will be implemented.
About Changathi:
Context:
The Health Department has proposed the setting up of Kerala Cancer Care Grid
(KCCG), a voluntary network of all cancer care facilities in public and private
health sector hospitals. The KCCG will play an important role in delivering an
equitable cancer prevention and control programme, a key goal of Kerala
Cancer Control Strategy (2017-30), which has been formulated to reduce the
burden of cancers and enhance the quality of life of patients.
The Kerala Cancer Control Strategy (KCCS) 2017-30, aims at reducing the
burden of cancers and enhancing the quality of life of people with
cancer.
The draft of the KCCS has been developed by WHO India, with assistance
from the Health Department and cancer specialists, to support the State
government in strengthening prevention and management of cancers.
The KCCS for 2030 is proposed along the cancer continuum from
prevention to palliative care, with focus on equipping the health system
with infrastructure and human resource to ensure affordable and
accessible services to all, enhancing leadership and governance and
devising financial protection mechanisms to reduce out-of-pocket
expenditure.
Other major strategies proposed under the KCCS:
o Strengthening the healthcare delivery for cancer through the
setting up of the Kerala Cancer Care Grid
o Improving the monitoring and evaluation of cancer incidence and
mortality through the establishment of a State Cancer Registry.
The Kerala Cancer Care Grid, a proposed voluntary network of cancer care
facilities, will be the crucial vehicle which will help the State achieve the
avowed goals of the KCCS by implementing an equitable and accessible cancer
Kayyethum Doorathu
In News:
The result was (impressive) — 4,000 persons who had been missing out on
various Central and State government aid programmes due to the lack of
relevant certificates managed to secure it at the end of the first phase.
In News:
The anti-GAIL pipeline activists who faced a set back with the majority of
landholders withdrawing from the agitation following the announcement of
the revised compensation package and benefits by Gas Authority of India
Limited are planning to resume their agitations by mobilising public support
through fresh regional campaigns.
Background:
The Kochi-Kootanad-Bengaluru-Mangalore pipeline is an
ambitious project initiated in 2007 by Gas Authority of India
Limited (GAIL).
The project aims at connecting the
southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu
and Karnataka to the national gas
network.
The gas pipeline project was approved
by the Kerala government and
commissioned in 2013. GAIL
authorities had informed that the
ambitious 438-km Gas Authority of
India Ltd (GAIL) pipeline project from
Kochi to Mangaluru is expected to be
The residents claim that the proposed pipeline will be going through densely
populated areas and have expressed their concerns over land acquisition and
demolition of houses. The project requires 160 acres of land in Kozhikode for
completion. The land, 20-metre wide, was to be acquired to for the proposed
pipeline. The Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (PMP) Act of 1962 specified
that no gas pipeline should be laid through residential areas.
In News:
Background:
In news:
The Apna Ghar Project aims at developing hygienic and safe rental
accommodation for Domestic Migrant Labourers in Kerala.
shouldered by Bhavanam Foundation, a public sector non-profit
company owned by the state government.
The government announced the completion of its first venture
under the Apna Ghar scheme, a 4 storied building with 64 rooms,
in Kanjikode, Palakkad district. The project was completed at a
total cost of Rs 8.5 cr by the government.
The 4 storied building is built in three blocks, with 32 kitchens, 96
bathrooms, 8 dining halls and cloth drying areas. One room is
expected to accommodate as many as 10 workers with bunker
bed facilities. This means that a total of 640 workers will find their
"home away from home" in this building.
In news:
Come February 2018, it will be two years since the first and only Gender Park
in the State was opened by the then President, Pranab Mukherjee, at
Vellimadukunnu in Kozhikode. But the much-hyped facility, which was meant
to be a premier convergence point of gender-related activities, is now
gathering dust.
Context:
About PMAY:
Context:
The Sarana Balyam scheme for identifying and rehabilitating children being
used for child labour and child begging, which has been piloted in
Pathanamthitta, would be scaled up Statewide, Health Minister K. K. Shylaja
said here on Thursday.
The scheme was instituted following reports that children were being
used for begging, for labour and being exploited in other ways at
pilgrimage centres, railway stations, bus terminals, and in crowded
cities.
The main purpose of this scheme is to protect and to rehabilitate the
children from child labour, begging and harassment.
This scheme is under the supervision of the Child Development &
Women Welfare Department.
Once the new initiative comes into complete implementation, the
government is eying on eliminating the children exploitation in the State
completely.
The State government has also started the Toll-free number complaint
service for the better implementation of the scheme. Anyone who found
the child exploitation in the State they can report that through the toll-
free number.
In the four major district of the State government has also established
the special rescue force. Rescue force always stays on alert and act
immediately against such exploitation of the children.
In news:
Context:
Purpose of ‘Jagratha’
Life mission
Context:
Context:
Kerala, Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, and the Airports Authority of India
(AAI) on Wednesday signed a tripartite agreement to commence domestic
flight services from the upcoming Kannur International Airport (KIAL) under the
Union government’s UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, an endeavour
to make regional connectivity easy.
Relevance:
As the Kannur international airport is nearing the takeoff stage with 95%
of the work already completed, the soft launch of the Greenfield airport,
near Mattannur, is planned in January 2018. The new airport would be
the fourth largest in the country in runway length.
The fifth airport of Kerala at Sabarimala may take time and the sixth
could be the resurrected Pathanamthitta airport.
Triprayar Ekadasi
Triprayar Ekadashi is a world-famous event host at the Triprayar Sri
Rama temple, located at the banks of river Theevra, in Thrissur District.
The presiding deity of the temple is Lord Rama, one of the incarnations
of Lord Vishnu.
The Ekadashi is observed after the full moon day in the Malayalam
month of Vrishchikam (November – December).
On Dasami, the day before Ekadasi, there is a procession of Lord Shasta.
This shows the importance of Ayyappa whose temple it was before the
installation of Sri Rama.
On the Ekadasi day, an utsava idol of Lord Rama worshipped in the
temple is taken out for procession atop an elephant and the Lord is
accompanied by 21 elephants.
Thriprayar Temple
Shree Rama Temple is Hindu temple
situated in Triprayar in Thrissur
district of Kerala. The deity is
Shree Rama and with four arms with
bearing a conch, a disc, a bow and a
garland. The temple is situated on the
bank of river Theevra. The Temple deity is
the presiding deity of Arattupuzha Pooram.
Context:
The new policy aims to address the key issues of the tourism industry in
cooperation with the local bodies such as waste management and
renovation of roads.
The policy emphasises on the active participation of the differently-
abled and transgenders while implementing the Responsible Tourism
Mission across the State to promote the tourism sector.
According to Kadakampally, the proposed Kerala Tourism Regulatory
Authority (KTRA) is to ensure quality service for tourists and curb
unhealthy practices in the sector.
The need for the KTRA assumes significance in the wake of the recent
harassment of a foreign tourist aboard a houseboat in Alappuzha by a crew
member, unhealthy practices in the travel trade and unscientific development
works upsetting the ecology in the name of tourism promotion and increasing
the keys for holidayers.
Context:
Attractions:
In news:
What is Rubella?
What is Measles?
A viral infection that's serious for small children but is easily preventable by a
vaccine. The disease spreads through the air by respiratory droplets produced
from coughing or sneezing.
Symptoms (don't appear until 10 to 14 days after exposure):
Pain areas: in the ear
Skin: rashes, rashes, red rashes, neck rash, or red spots
Gastrointestinal: diarrhoea or vomiting
Also common: coughing, fatigue, inflammation of ear, puffy eyes,
seizures, or sneezing
How it spreads
By mother to baby by pregnancy, labour, or nursing.
By airborne respiratory droplets (coughs or sneezes).
By saliva (kissing or shared drinks).
By skin-to-skin contact (handshakes or hugs).
By touching a contaminated surface (blanket or doorknob).
Under the campaign, children will be given a single shot of Measles and
Rubella (MR) campaign irrespective of their previous measles/rubella
vaccination status or measles/rubella disease status.
MR vaccine will be provided free- of- cost across the states from session
sites at schools as well as health facilities and in the sites of outreach
session.
Importance of the campaign:
o The campaign also marks the introduction of rubella vaccine in
India’s childhood immunization programme to address CRS which
causes birth defects such as irreversible deafness and blindness in
nearly 40 000 children every year.
Diphtheria
In news:
About Diphtheria
Vaccination: The vaccine for diphtheria is called DTaP. It’s usually given
in a single shot along with vaccines for pertussis and tetanus. The DTaP
vaccine is administered in a series of five shots. It’s given to children at
the following ages - 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 15 to 18 months, 4
to 6 years.
Context:
With sickle cell disease, an inherited group of disorders, red blood cells contort
into a sickle shape. The cells die early, leaving a shortage of healthy red blood
cells (sickle cell anaemia) and can block blood flow causing pain (sickle cell
crisis).
Fatigue and Anemia, Pain Crises, Dactylitis (swelling and inflammation of the
hands and/or feet) and Arthritis, Bacterial Infections, Splenic Sequestration
(sudden pooling of blood in the spleen) and Liver Congestion, Lung and Heart
Injury, Leg Ulcers, Aseptic Necrosis and Bone Infarcts (death of portions of
bone), Eye Damage.
Context:
The deep depression which had formed in the Bay of Bengal near Kanyakumari
district in Tamil Nadu, bordering Kerala, has now intensified into a cyclonic
storm named Ockhi.
The name Ockhi was given by Bangladesh which in Bengali means ‘eye’.
This cyclone is a result of a deep depression in the south of Kanyakumari
and west of Sri Lanka. As this depression intensified, it led to the birth of
a cyclonic storm.
Hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones are all the same, just different names for
tropical storms in different parts of the world; Hurricane in the Atlantic,
Typhoon in the Pacific and Cyclone in the Indian Ocean. If the storm's
wind speed reaches or crosses 74 mph, it is then classified into a
hurricane/cyclone/typhoon.
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) started
the tropical cyclone naming system in 2000.
Cyclones in the North Indian Ocean basin are named by the Indian
Meteorological Department and the first tropical cyclone was named in
2004 as Onil (given by Bangladesh).
Eight north Indian Ocean countries — Bangladesh, India, the Maldives,
Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, gave eight names
each which was combined into a list of 64 names.
How is ochki different from other cyclones that have hit the Indian coast?
Mostly cyclones are known to originate in both Bay of Bengal and the
Arabian Seaside, but Ockhi originated near the south-western coast of
Sri Lanka.
In News:
Cyclone Ockhi has left a trail of destruction not only on land but in the
near-shore areas of the seabed and long stretches of the shoreline along
the coast of Thiruvananthapuram. The damage is so severe that it could
Background:
Cyclone Ockhi not only left a trail of destruction across South Kerala but also
raised questions over the State’s preparedness to deal with major natural
calamities affecting tens of thousands of families.
Even as the Coast Guard, Navy, and Air Force began efforts to rescue over 150
fishermen reported missing at sea, coastal communities allege that the storm
had exposed fundamental flaws in the State’s disaster management system.
Criticism: Against the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) for the
failure to provide a warning in time.
Counterpoints by SDMA:
The routine alerts on strong winds and high waves issued by the IMD
and INCOIS could not be taken for a disaster situation. The SDMA kicks in
only after a cyclone has been declared. This is to avoid creating false
alarms that could lull vulnerable communities into complacency.
Background:
Cyclone Ockhi struck Kanniyakumari district in Tamil Nadu and parts of Kerala
on November 29th night and 30th morning. As per the information was given
by fishermen associations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, over 120 fishermen are
dead and about 900 are still missing.
What has happened to the National Disaster Management Act (2005), the
National Policy on Disaster Management (2009), the National Disaster
Management Plan (2016) and the National Disaster Response Force and
infrastructure created thereof? Did the disaster management control room in
The cyclone has also resulted in massive losses to the livelihoods of people
living on the coasts due to the destruction of crops, banana, rubber, coconut
and forest trees.
In news:
The Centre will release Rs 133 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund
as immediate assistance for the rehabilitation of Ockhi victims in the state.
Union Additional Secretary (Disaster Management) Bipin Mallick announced it
during his visit to cyclone-hit areas in the capital. He said the amount would be
sanctioned in response to the state government’s request to grant Rs 423
crore as immediate relief.
The state government and its agencies are coordinating with the Navy, Air
Force and Coast Guard for the Ockhi rescue mission christened ‘Operation
Synergy.’
Declared compensation:
» From January, the fishermen from the state will be guided in the deep
sea through NavIC, which is the country’s own regional satellite
navigation system.
Context:
The South Indian Bank has successfully executed overseas transactions using
blockchain technology in partnership with a leading currency exchange house
in the Middle East.
What is blockchain?
The technology can work for almost every type of transaction involving
value, including money, goods and property. Its potential uses are
almost limitless: from collecting taxes to enabling migrants to send
money back to family in countries where banking is difficult.
Blockchain could also help to reduce fraud because every transaction
would be recorded and distributed on a public ledger for anyone to see.
Blockchain records and validate each and every transaction made, which
makes it secure and reliable.
Blockchain technology discards the need for any third-party or central
authority for peer-to-peer transactions or exchanges.
Users are in control of all their information and transactions.
Blockchain data is complete, consistent, timely, accurate, and widely
available.
Blockchain transactions can reduce transaction times to minutes and are
processed 24/7.
The decentralized system, therefore it is less risky to be hacked.
In news:
Ration shops in Kerala are set to switch over to electronic Point of Sale (PoS)
machines for distribution of items to consumers from January 2018.
Why is it important?
In news:
The government has joined the Reserve Bank of India in cautioning potential
customers about investing in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, likening them to
ponzi schemes where investors risk losing their money.
What is cryptocurrency
E-way bill
Context:
The mandatory implementation of the e-way bill system from February 1 for all
inter-State movement of non-exempted goods will help boost compliance
under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, according to Finance Secretary
Hasmukh Adhia.
The e-way bill provisions aim to remove the ills of the erstwhile way bill
system prevailing under VAT in different states, which was a major
contributor to the bottlenecks at the check posts.
Moreover different states prescribed different e-way bill rules which
made compliance difficult. The e-way bill provisions under GST aims to
bring in a uniform e-way bill rule which will be
applicable throughout the country.
The E-way bill mechanism will ensure that goods being transported
comply with the GST Law and is an effective tool to track movement of
goods and check tax evasion.
In news:
The Lok Sabha amended the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code law to prevent
wilful defaulters and existing promoters from taking part in insolvency
proceedings of stressed assets of companies unless they make their bad loans
operational by paying up interests. The Bill will replace an ordinance that was
brought in November to prevent unscrupulous promoters from misusing the
provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
The amendment has inserted two new sections in the insolvency code —
Section 29A, which provides for persons ineligible to be a Resolution
Applicant; and
Section 235A, which provides for punishment for contravention of
the provisions where no specific penalty or punishment is provided.
In news:
A trade mark is a sign which is used in the course of trade and it distinguishes
goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Whereas a
geographical indication is an indication used to identify goods having special
characteristics originating from a definite geographical territory.
In news:
A paperless digital work flow for speedy and hassle-free submission of police
verification report (PVR) for passports is on the anvil in the State. A mobile
application, e-VIP (Electronic Verification of Indian Passport) developed by civil
This will expedite the police verification process and to make it hassle-
free.
The police verification process is going to be faster and efficient. While
at present, it takes on an average 20 days to complete the PVR, the app
will reduce it to five to seven days.
The public can view the status of the application by typing the 15 digit
file number in the online portal. They can also download the app and
convey remarks to the District Police Chief.
Free SMS service is also available.
Context:
The National Green Tribunal (NGT), Chennai Bench, on Friday rejected the
pleas to restrain Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) from going ahead with the works
for the proposed LPG terminal at Puthuvype in Kochi.
Those opposing the terminal say that their concerns are on grounds of both
environmental and safety considerations.
a) The proposed IOCL LPG plant will have the capacity to store 15.47 TMT
(thousand metric tonnes) of LPG, and residents question the wisdom of
storing such large quantities of combustible material within an inhabited
area, populated by almost 65,000 people.If leaks, ruptures or accidents
occur in the plant, they argue, it could lead to a disaster in such a
c) The project was being planned in the intertidal zone and within 200
metres of the high tide line in the Puthuvype Special Economic Zone.
CRZ 2011
Permissible activities:
Challenges:
Context:
The Union government has ruled out the possibility of altering the
boundaries of the Kurinji sanctuary.
In reply to a question by Mullappally Ramachandran in the Lok Sabha,
Union Minister for Forest and Environment Harsh Vardhan said that it
required the permission of the Forest and Wildlife Board.
The move to limit the boundaries is seen as a move to protect the
encroachments.
Background:
The controversy on the boundaries of the sanctuary started with media reports
on encroachment of revenue land at Kottakambur by Joice George, MP, and
his family by forging documents. The documents were cancelled by the
Kurinji sanctuary
In news:
Thus, the move to develop the forest path would be a perfect recipe for
instigating man-animal conflicts in that region
Counter-argument:
Now it takes a 15-km journey through the forest of the North Wayanad forest
division and the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary to reach Kutta in Karnataka from
Mananthavady. But when the new road opens it would reduce to 1.7-km the
journey through the forest area and it would help to reduce the wildlife stress
and man-animal conflict.
Contex:
The Kerala High Court on Friday upheld the Kerala Cooperative Societies
(Amendment) Act, 2017, which has brought about certain changes in the
provisions of the Act, especially relating to the voting rights of primary
cooperative credit societies and urban cooperative banks.
In news:
Contex:
Safeguarding Wetlands:
An Act to conserve the paddy land and wetland and to restrict the
conversion or reclamation thereof, in order to promote growth in the
agriculture sector and to sustain the ecological system, in the State of
Kerala.
The Act was enacted in the year 2008.
The Kerala conservation paddy wetland Act is a progressive step and is
taken in order to prohibit the conversion of paddy and wetland.
Objectives:
Confusing fact: Similar act and its details are given below
The Centre on September 26 notified a new set of rules under the head
Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 replacing the
Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2010.
One of the outstanding rules of the notification is that encroachments
on wetlands stand banned. The rules prohibit solid waste dumping,
discharge of untreated waste and effluents from industries, cities,
towns, villages, and other human settlements into wetlands.
The new notification is expected to appreciably benefit the State
government’s Haritha Keralam Mission to conserve and protect
wetlands.
There is considerable scope for the new rules to complement the Kerala
Irrigation and Water Conservation Act, 2003.
The draft rules had largely sought to dilute the Centre’s onus for wetland
conservation and pass that responsibility to the State governments.
Functions of SWA:
It will develop a comprehensive list of activities to be regulated and
permitted within notified wetlands and their zone of influence. It will also
recommend additional prohibited activities for specific wetlands define
Prohibited Activities:
The rules prohibit activities like the conversion of wetland for non-
wetland uses including encroachment of any kind, setting up and expansion of
industries, waste dumping and discharge of untreated wastes and effluents
from industries, cities, towns, villages and other human settlements.
POCSO Act
In news:
What is POCSO?
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) 2012
was formed to protect children from offences of sexual abuse, sexual
harassment and pornography and to provide a child-friendly system for
the trial of these offences.
Punishment
The POCSO act also provides provisions for punishment for false
complaint or false information.
The Act prescribes stringent punishment according to the gravity of the
offence and prescribes rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not
Criticism
The POCSO Act, 2012 does not recognize consensual sexual acts among
children or between a child and an adult. And this is where the problem
lies – especially in societies where legal literacy is poor.
Context:
Amidst protests from a few political parties, including those close to the BJP,
the Lok Sabha on Thursday passed by voice vote the Bill that makes instant
triple talaq or talaq-e-biddat a criminal offence, with a jail term of up to three
years.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Bill — The Muslim Women
(Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017 — will act as a deterrent since
Background:
Talaq
The word Talaq originally meant “rejection” or “repudiation”. In Muslim
law, it means divorce initiated by the husband. Only the husband has a
right to pronounce Talaq. Talaq can be effected in writing (Talaqnama)
or orally.
Talaq Ul Sunnat
Under this form of Talaq, once the husband initiates Talaq, there has to
be a three-month waiting period (iddat) to factor in three menstrual
cycles of the woman. This time is meant for reconciliation.
Talaq-e-bidat
It means instantaneous Triple Talaq. Under this form of Talaq, once the
husband pronounces Talaq thrice in one sitting, the divorce occurs
immediately irrespective of iddat. Once pronounced, it cannot be
revoked.
It has no origin in Quran. According to Muslim scholar Tahir Mahmood,
this form traces its origin to the time when the first caliph (Abu
Bakr) used it once so as to grant an instant divorce to a few women who
were no longer willing to stay with their husbands.
Nikah halala
Under this, if a female divorcee wants to remarry her previous husband
then she has to follow the following
Background:
In yet another effort to conserve the smallest cattle breed in the world, the
Muhamma grama panchayat will set up a natural mating centre exclusively for
Vechur cattle on Pathiramanal Island.
Vechur cow:
Vechur cow milk is considered good for health as it has got a higher
proportion of smaller fat globules and saturated fatty acids - it would be
therapeutically useful in malabsorption syndrome. Thus the Vechur cow
milk and its products are suitable for infants and the sick.
Conservation Movement:
Context:
Clinical signs:
The incubation period for foot-and-mouth disease virus has a range between
one and 12 days. The disease is characterized by high fever that declines
rapidly after two or three days, blisters inside the mouth that lead to excessive
secretion of stringy or foamy saliva and to drooling, and blisters on the feet
that may rupture and cause lameness. Adult animals may suffer weight loss
from which they do not recover for several months, as well as swelling in the
testicles of mature males, and in cows, milk production can decline
significantly.
Transmission:
Composition:
The vaccine contains a mixture of Foot and Mouth Disease Virus Serotype(s) O,
A, Asia 1, propagated in cell culture, inactivated by BEI, concentrated and
emulsified in a mineral oil adjuvant.
Indication:
FMD vaccination is mandatory in the State for getting government benefits and
licences.
In news:
How to use?
To detect contamination, one has to rub the strip over the fish and later apply
a drop of the solution on the strip. The result will be known in two minutes.
The kit comes with a colour code indicating the level of contamination.
The kits had been developed over a period of six months in the wake of reports
(around 16% of fish samples brought in by Food Safety and Standards
Authority of India officials from local markets had been found contaminated)
of rampant use of chemical agents to preserve fish. Some of these chemicals
are extremely harmful to humans, while formalin is a cancer-causing aldehyde.
Though ammonia is not a cancer-causing chemical, its repeated ingestion can
lead to health problems including injury to the mucous membrane, throat,
oesophagus, and stomach.
In news:
Free and open-source software (FOSS) allows users and programmers to edit,
modify or reuse the software's source code. This gives developers the
opportunity to improve program functionality by modifying it.
The term “free” indicates that the software does not have constraints on
copyrights. The term “open source” indicates the software is in its project
form, enabling easy software development from expert developers
collaborating worldwide without any need for reverse engineering.
The free and open-source software may also be referred to as free/libre open-
source software (FLOSS) or free/open-source software (F/OSS).
In news:
Almost 94 years after his death, a memorial to poet Kumaran Asan is getting
ready at Kumarakodi, near Pallana. If things go as planned, the memorial will
be thrown open to the public on January 16, 2018.
Asan, one of the highly acclaimed poets of Kerala, lost his life in a boat tragedy
at Kumarakodi in 1924.The memorial is being built in the form of a boat and an
ink pen, amalgamating the life and death of the poet. The memorial and
houseboat terminal will be managed by the Kumaranasan Smaraka Samithi.
About Kumaranasan:
Birthplace: Kayyikkara
(Thiruvananthapuram)
Born on: 12th April 1873
The only poet in Malayalam to be
‘Mahakavi’ without writing a ‘Mahakavyam’
The title ‘Mahakavi’ was given to Asan by
Madras University
Also known as ‘Sneha Gayakan’
First Malayalam poet appeared on Indian postal stamp
First poet to become member of Travancore legislative assembly
Kumaranasan undertook a studentship in poetry under
Manamboor Govindan Asan
The work of Asan written in vanchipattu vritham is Karuna
Vichitravijayam and Mrityumjayam are the plays written by
Kumaranasan
Veenapoovu was published for the first time in Mithavadi
Kumaranasan was honoured by the Prince of Wales in 1922
Kumaru was the childhood name of Kumaranasan
In news:
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to
propose Verghese Kurien, the architect of White Revolution for Bharat Ratna,
the country’s highest civilian honour. In a letter to the Prime Minister, the
Chief Minister said that the country would be honouring millions of dairy
farmers by conferring the Bharat Ratna on Dr Kurien, who had set an example
for the rest of the world by taking the country to the forefront of milk
producing nations and ensuring a contented life for millions of dairy farmers.
In news:
K P Ramanunni
In news:
K. P. Ramanunni is a novelist and short-story writer from Kerala, India. His first
novel Sufi Paranja Katha (What the Sufi Said) won Kerala Sahitya Akademi
award in 1995 and his latest novel daivathinte Pusthakam (God's Own Book).
"Jeevithathinte pusthakam" won 2011 Vayalar Award. Currently, he is
administrator of Thunjan Memorial Trust, Tirur, Kerala. He lives at
Poovattuparmbu, Calicut.
Mannath Padmanabhan
In news:
3. Who has received this year's Kendra Sahitya Akademi award for
Malayalam novel?
Answer: K P Ramanunni for ‘Daivathinte Pusthakam’
4. Which movie won the Suvarna Chakoram (Golden Crow Pheasant) award
at the 22nd International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK).
Answer: Palestinian film Wajib, directed by Annemarie Jacir (told the
story of the fragile relationship between an estranged father and son)
6. Which city of kerala is among five places in the world that have been
recognised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as
success stories in fighting the problem of solid waste.
Answer: Alappuzha (Besides Alappuzha, the other cities on the list
includes Osaka (Japan), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Penang (Malaysia) and
Cajicá (Colombia))
7. What is the decided strength of World Kerala Sabha (Loka Kerala Sabha),
a common discussion platform floated by the State government.
Answer: 351 (Non-Resident Keralites all over the world could nominate
their representatives to the World Kerala Sabha - It would comprise
MLAs and MPs from Kerala, NoRKs nominated by the government, and
also prominent NoRKs who have made a mark in different realms of life).