Sabarimala issue set to decide political fortunes in Kerala yet again

In the recent Lok Sabha polls, post-Sabarimala agitation, the Left front had suffered a massive drubbing, losing 19 out of the total of 20 seats.

As the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala gears up for yet another annual pilgrim season next month, major political parties in Kerala are keeping their fingers crossed to know whether the women's entry issue will have any impact on the October 21 bypolls to five assembly constituencies.

The bypolls to be held in Vattiyoorkkavu, Konni, Ernakulam, Aroor and Manjeswaram are seen as a litmus test for the CPI(M)-led ruling LDF and the opposition Congress headed UDF and BJP-NDA ahead of the 2021 assembly elections.

LDF is going all out to ensure that the Sabarimala issue is not discussed in the ongoing campaigns as they had drawn flak from several quarters over the women's entry issue for its alleged hastiness in implementing the Supreme Court order, permitting women of all age groups into the hill shrine.

In the recent Lok Sabha polls, post-Sabarimala agitation, the Left front had suffered a massive drubbing, losing 19 out of the total of 20 seats.

The defeat of the Left and the sweep of the opposition Congress-UDF was generally seen as the impact of the Sabarimala issue.

During the ongoing campaign, the ruling front is trying its best to woo voters by focussing on development issues and listing out the achievements of the Pinarayi Vijayan led government.

Unlike the Lok Sabha polls, even senior Left leaders, including Vijayan, are steering clear of any controversial statements or provocative remarks on Sabarimala in campaigns.

Senior CPI(M) leader and Industries Minister E P Jayarajan had even said the Sabarimala issue would be in LDF's favour in the bypolls and Lord Ayyappa was helping them.

The recent victory of LDF candidate Mani C Kappan in Pala assembly segment, a traditional UDF bastion, had reinfused confidence among the Left cadres and leadership.

Business Standard

Kerala signs MoU with Bahrain to collaborate for startup growth in state

The key focus of the MoU is to build business opportunities for each country's startups in the other's market.

Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), the Kerala government organisation supporting the startup ecosystem in the state, has tied up with the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) to support technology startups. EDB is the investment promotion agency for the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The MoU would help promote innovation in their respective markets in financial technology, information and communication technology (ICT) and related emerging technologies.

The key focus of the MoU is to build business opportunities for each country’s startups in the other’s market. The scope of cooperation also includes the facilitation of delegation visits to Bahrain and India, as well as collaboration on knowledge exchange and best practices regarding education programmes and curricula, including facilitating and enhancing cooperation between relevant parties such as financial and technological institutions, universities and research institutions, technology experts, and government agencies.

It will also facilitate the development and growth of FinTech and ICT start-ups and centres via support from hubs such as Bahrain Fintech Bay, Brinc Batelco IoT Acceslerator, Flat6 Labs Bahrain, Brilliant Lab and KSUM Hub and explore innovation projects in areas such as digital and mobile payments, blockchain and distributed ledgers, big data, flexible platforms (API), AML, eKYC, and other emerging areas in FinTech and ICT.

Saji Gopinath, KSUM CEO said, “Building a robust ecosystem where FinTech startups and IT firms can access and engage with critical soft infrastructures such as universities, financial institutions and government agencies will be a key enabler for growth and innovation in the FinTech and ICT sectors. These are priority areas for both Kerala and Bahrain, and we are immensely excited to build even further upon where we are already seeing incredible growth with this timely new partnership.”

Dharmi Magdani, Bahrain EDB Regional Director for India said, “This is an excellent opportunity for Keralan startups to take advantage of Bahrain’s thriving ecosystem. With the lowest setup and operating costs, some of the most advanced supportive infrastructure and one of the most skilled labour forces in the region, there is no better destination for startups seeking to access and scale across the growing $1.5 trillion GCC markets.”

Business Standard

Flood, landslide hit Kerala again a year after the worst flood in a century

The India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert in four districts, which are Kozhikode, Wayanad, Idukki and Malappuram.

Kerala Flood : A year after the state went through the worst flood in a century, Kerala is experiencing another serious flood situation, with many places inundated and landslides killing several in the Wayanadu district.

The Cochin International Airport has closed operations from Thursday night and has been announced to be shut till Sunday 3 pm.

The state government has announced the opening of 315 flood relief camps across the state, moving around 22,165 people from 5,936 families in the state till Friday morning. Wayanad has the most number of camps at 105, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The shutters of more than 12 dams were opened till Thursday night and the State Disaster Management Authority has said that water has been rising fast in these reservoirs.

ALSO READ: Kerala rain fury claims 4 more lives, over 22,000 moved to relief camps

Local reports said that at Meppadi in Wayanad, a huge landslide, reportedly carrying away almost 100 acres, has devastated the neighbouring locations and the number of people trapped under the debris is not known. Bridges and roads have also been washed away, blocking the rescue operations. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Defence Security Core, along with local authorities, have been deployed for the rescue there.

State authorities are forecasting heavy rainfall, with wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph, to occur at one or two places in the Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts.

High waves in the range of 3.2-3.7 meters are forecasted till 11.30 pm on Saturday along the coast of Kerala from Pozhiyoor in the south to Kasargod in the north, said the Chief Minister's Office, advising fishermen not to venture into these areas during this period.

Business Standard

Delay in monsoon pushes rainfall deficiency to 45% in first 9 days of June

The rainfall deficiency in June could be higher due to the sluggish pace of the monsoon and a weak El Niño, a phenomenon associated with heating of Pacific waters.

A delay in the arrival of monsoon has pushed the country’s rainfall deficiency in the first nine days of June to 45 per cent, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Monsoon made an onset over Kerala on June 8, a week after its normal arrival date. This has also delayed its arrival in different parts of the country. The country received only 17.7 millimetres of rainfall as against the normal precipitation of 32.4 millimetres, which comes to around 45 per cent, it said.

The rainfall deficiency in June could be higher due to the sluggish pace of the monsoon and a weak El Niño, a phenomenon associated with heating of Pacific waters.

An on-going cyclonic circulation in the Arabian Sea could slow down the progress of monsoon over the next few days, it said. “A low pressure area has formed over southeast Arabian Sea and Lakshadweep area and east central Arabian Sea.

It is very likely to concentrate into a depression during the next 48 hours over southeast and adjoining east central Arabian Sea. It is very likely to move north-northwestwards and intensify further into a cyclonic storm subsequently,” the IMD data said.

Of the four meteorological divisions of the country, the deficiency was 66 per cent — the highest in the country — in central India that covers the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Gujarat and Kutch and Saurashtra sub-divisions of central India have clocked a deficiency of 100 per cent, it said.

Business Standard

Sabarimala protests: Prohibitory orders imposed in Kerala's Palakkad town

Palakkad District Collector D Balamurali issued the order for Palakkad Town after considering the reports filed by various officials including the district police chief.

Prohibitory orders have been imposed in Palakkad town and Manjeswaram Taluk of Kasargod district in northern Kerala late Thursday night after widespread protest erupted over the entry of two women in their menstrual age in to Sabarimala temple.

Palakkad District Collector D Balamurali issued the order for Palakkad Town after considering the reports filed by various officials including the district police chief.

ALSO READ: Sabarimala: SC to hear contempt plea after temple was shut for purification

"Prohibitory order has been imposed till 6 PM today after considering the tense situation prevailing in the town. We have called for an all-party meeting at 4 pm. Further decisions will be taken after that meeting," Balamurali told PTI.

Kasargod district Collector D Sajith Babu issued the prohibitory order at Manjeshwaram Taluk under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

Prohibitory orders have been issued at 11 pm Thursday for 24 hours.

Section 144 of CrPC prohibits an assembly of more than four persons in an area.

Palakkad town witnessed widespread violence since Wednesday morning where the party offices of CPI(M), CPI and the BJP were attacked.

In the dawn-to-dusk hartal on Thursday called by the Sabarimala Karma Samiti, and supported by the BJP, the party offices of CPI and CPI(M) were vandalised.

Later in the evening, a march of Left Democratic Front turned violent with protesters attacking the BJP office.

Scores of vehicles were damaged in Palakkad town and shops were vandalised.

A day after two women- 42-year-old Bindu, a college lecturer and CPI(ML) activist from Kozhikode district's Koyilandy, and Kanakadurga, 44, a civil supplies department employee from Angadipuram in Malappuram, entered the Sabarimala shrine, Kerala witnessed violence and unrest across the state.

A dawn-to-dusk hartal or shutdown which began at 6 am on Thursday was mired with incidents of vandalism, clashes and stone pelting.

The hartal was called by the Sabarimala Karma Samithi, an umbrella organisation consisting of pro-Hindutva outfits and was supported by mainstream political parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Business Standard

In an open letter, Agnivesh praises women of Kerala, CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Kerala under Pinarayi Vijayan is becoming a laboratory for the democratic self-assertion of women.

I congratulate the two young women of Kerala – Bindu and Kanaka Durga – who have, in breaking the obscurantist, discriminative custom imposed on Sabarimala by Brahmanical patriarchy, raised the banner for women’s liberation and empowerment for all oppressed women in India. If the women’s wall on the New Year day demonstrated the collective power of women in Kerala, this act of exemplary bravery highlights its very source –the awesome willpower of individual women, who will endure no longer the oppression of obscurantist religious customs and practices.

If Gujarat under Narendra Modi was turned into a Hindutva laboratory, Kerala under Pinarayi Vijayan is becoming the laboratory for the democratic self-assertion of women. It is significant that women are at the forefront of this historic upsurge of resistance. I have no doubt at all that women’s firm resolve and noble courage will stall and beat back the invasion of Kerala by parivar mercenaries and anarchists.

ALSO READ: Sabarimala: SC to hear contempt plea after temple was shut for purification

It is significant that the women who constituted the Navodhana wall of resistance to fascist forces on the New Year day, the longest in history, were predominantly Hindu. They are authentic Hindus, wise enough to know that Hindutva is the greatest danger to Hinduism. While Hinduism respects women, aggressive, male-dominated Hindutva wants to keep them subjugated and degraded. The women of Kerala have declared unequivocally that they will fight these regressive forces to the finish.

I appeal to all Indians to be in solidarity with the people of Kerala, as they negotiate this difficult phase in their history. They are being punished for the sinking fortunes of the BJP in its traditional strongholds. The desperation with which the RSS and the BJP are trying to infiltrate into Kerala is necessitated by their need to compensate for huge erosion in their popularity in north India.

Kerala is paying the price for Modi’s lust for power and the maniacal desire to hang on. I have good reasons to believe that the Sangh parivar will meet it with its Waterloo in ‘God’s own Country’. Ironically, the slap on its face will be dealt not by a decorated military leader, but the discriminated-against women of Kerala, who have gained for themselves a voice and a mission that their counterparts in India need to emulate.

Business Standard

Kerala police probes reports of two women entering Sabarimala temple

As per news reports, the women trekked to the hill shrine early Wednesday. A video showed them entering the shrine, wearing black clothes, with their heads covered.

The Kerala Police Wednesday was looking into media reports that two women in their forties had entered the Sabarimala temple early Wednesday, sources said.

According to TV channels, the two women, Kanakadurga, 42, and Bindu, 44, also claimed that they had entered the holy shrine of Lord Ayyappa. They made efforts to enter the shrine in December but had to return due to protests.

As per news reports, the women trekked to the hill shrine early Wednesday. The video showed them entering the shrine, wearing black clothes, with their heads covered.

The police sources in Thiruvananthapuram, quoting DGP Loknath Behara, said details were being collected on the issue.

Bindu, a college lecturer and CPI(ML) activist from Kozhikode district's Koyilandy, and Kanakadurga, a civil supplies employee from Angadipuram in Malappuram, had come to Sabarimala on December 24 after 11 women activists of a Chennai-based outfit were prevented from reaching the shrine and chased away by devotees chanting Ayyappa mantras.

The temple was opened on December 30 for the Makaravillaku festival and there has been a heavy rush of pilgrims.

Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) President A Padmakumar said he had no information about the two women offering prayers at the temple.

TDB officials have been asked to view CCTV footage to verify their claim, he said.

The temple had witnessed protests from frenzied devotees over the entry of women in the 10-50 age group in the shrine after the CPI(M)-led LDF government decided to implement a Supreme Court order allowing women of all age to offer prayers there.

The main opposition Congress-led UDF and the BJP have been opposing the entry of young women, saying they are with the devotees.

Business Standard

Women in Kashmir mean business, battle social norms to be entrepreneurs

In recent times, many Kashmiri women have turned into successful entrepreneurs in the conservative society. Many of them are now bravely chasing their own dreams.

In the Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir, shutdowns and curfews often bring life and business to a standstill. Setting up a new business could be disastrous for anyone but for women, who must battle social norms about their role in the workplace, the obstacles are tenfold. Despite this, there is a generation of women who are breaking down barriers and establishing their own businesses.

Mufti Sadia started her business when there were no women in the clothing sector of Kashmir. Her boutique was among the first in the Srinagar after she decided to opt out of her previous job and work independently in the valley.

Facing many hurdles and challenges, Sadia started her own brand called ‘Hangers, the closet‘ in 2014 at a shopping mall. Despite the negative comments, she has never looked back:

“My father wasn't sure what I was doing because I was just 24-year-old back then, but now he also supports me in what I am doing,” says Sadia while attending a customer.

Her family has been a source of inspiration for Sadia, who always helped her cope with the difficulties of being a new, female entrepreneur in the volatile state. Hangers is now a known brand in the Kashmir region.

Sadia draws most of her customers through Instagram and Facebook. Most of her designer wear is aimed at giving the western touch to the Kashmiri traditional wear. Starting from zero, she has expanded and hired a salesgirl among eleven others.

“The response is good so far, I get negative comments on social media, even by women, but I think the negative comments given to me have helped me grow into a better person to a better designer,” Sadia adds.

While Saida has inspired many girls to set up their own clothing line, there is another woman in the old city of Srinagar whose business acumen saved her family from impending bankruptcy.

Rifat Masoodi is a mother of two and soon after the death of her father-in-law, the family was thinking about closing down the bat manufacturing factory located in one of the most volatile areas of Srinagar.

Braving all odds, Rifat convinced her husband to let her run the factory which employes many local workers. Despite the social backlash, she took the up the challenge in the year 2000:

Every morning after sending her kids to school, she steps into the small unit near her house to oversee the work. Today, Rifat's bat unit produces thousands of bats per month which are transported to many states, including Maharashtra and Kerala.

“It is difficult to manage everything. In the morning I do my work at home, then I come to this unit. Later, when the kids come at 4 PM, I go to see them. I also take care of my mother-in-law,” says Rifat.

Article Source BS

Kerala govt treating Sabarimala pilgrims like 'Gulag inmates': Amit Shah

Gulag was a system of forced labour camps established during Joseph Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union.

BJP President Amit Shah Tuesday slammed the Pinarayi Vijayan government's handling of the situation in Sabarimala as "disappointing" and accused the Kerala government of treating pilgrims as "Gulag inmates" and making them spend nights next to "pig droppings".

Asserting that his party stands firmly with every Ayyappa devotee who holds the Sabarimala tradition close to his heart, the BJP President said his party will not let the LDF "crush people's faith with impunity".

In a series of tweets, Shah said, "If several reports of flushing resting places for devotees and them having to spend nights next to pig droppings and dustbin are true, then Pinarayi Vijayan must realize that he can't treat Ayyappa devotees like inmates of Gulag. We won't let LDF crush people's faith with impunity," the BJP chief said.

Gulag was a system of forced labour camps established during Joseph Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union.

Shah's comments underlined his party's support to devotees protesting against the state government's move to implement a Supreme Court order lifting the bar on women of menstruating age from visiting the temple.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has accused the BJP of politicising the court order with the chief minister asserting that it is the job of a government to implement the apex court's order.

Shah said the way Pinarayi Vijayan's government is handling the sensitive issue of Sabarimala is disappointing as the "Kerala police is treating young girls, mothers and aged inhumanly, forcing them to take the arduous pilgrimage, without even basic facilities like food, water, shelter and clean toilets".

"If Pinarayi Vijayan thinks he can rise against people's movement to preserve Sabarimala by arresting K Surendran, BJP's Thrissur district president and six others, then he is mistaken," Shah said.

Business Standard

Karnataka to West Bengal: How climate change is ravaging India's coastline

West Bengal has lost 99 sq km of land in the past 26 years, making up 63% of the state's coastline and equivalent to the area occupied by 18,500 football fields.

Business Standard : First, in 2011, the sea took away some of their land. Three years later, the waves demolished a section of their home. That is when Budhwant Karvi, 40, knew it was time to move but his elderly parents refused.

“They said we have lived here for generations and will continue to do so,” said Karvi, a worker on a fishing trawler that sails the Arabian sea.

Karvi’s home is in Pavinakurve, a village along the scenic Honnavar coast with blue waters reflecting the sky in Western Karnataka. The view from the home was once a narrow strip of sandy beach and the vast Arabian sea. On the right is the island of Basavaraj Durga, a popular tourist destination.

The view from Pavinakurve and the island of Basavaraj Durga in northwestern Karnataka. The sandy beaches of Pavinarkurve are being steadily eroded.

Seven years ago, the waves began to crash against the walls of Karvi’s home made of red, large bricks. “At times the waves would completely wash over our home and leave behind plastic bottles that were discarded in the sea by people,” Karvi said, pointing to the waste bottles on the land. Soon the sandy strip of the beach went under water. Then one by one the sea swallowed six guntas (1/7th of an acre) of the land the family owned, roughly six times the size of an average two-bedroom flat.

Millions living on India’s coasts are threatened as India has lost 33% of its coastline to erosion in 26 years between 1990 and 2006, according to a report released in July 2018 by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) in Chennai, which is mapping changes to India’s shoreline, and is affiliated to the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

This is the second story in our series on how climate change is disrupting people’s lives (you can read the first part here). The series combines ground reporting from India’s climate change hotspots with the latest scientific research.

India has a coastline of 7,500 km--nearly three-and-a-half times the distance between Ahmedabad and Kolkata--divided almost equally on the east and the west of the country. Along it are nine states, two union territories (UT) and two island territories. Of the country’s 1.28 billion people, 560 million, or 43%, live within these coastal territories.

Of the coastline that is eroding, 40% is in four states/UTs alone. West Bengal has lost 99 sq km of land in the past 26 years, making up 63% of the state’s coastline and equivalent to the area occupied by 18,500 football fields. Puducherry has lost 57% of its coastline, Kerala 45%, and Tamil Nadu 41%, to heavy erosion.

India’s coasts are under attack both from man-made activities--such as growing construction, damming of rivers, sand mining and destruction of mangroves--as well as natural causes linked to climate change such as rising sea levels, according to the report... Read More

Sabarimala braces for pilgrims, protests after Hindu group leader's arrest

The temple had opened Friday evening for the two-month-long annual pilgrim season as a stand-off continued over the entry of menstrual age women into the shrine.

Business Standard : Thousands of pilgrims offered prayers at Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala early Saturday, the first day of Malayalam month of 'Vrischikom,' even as a 12-hour strike against the preventive detention of a Hindu Aikya Vedi leader began. 

Pilgrims, including children, queued up in large numbers since the temple opened at 3 am.

The temple had opened Friday evening for the two-month-long annual pilgrim season as a stand-off continued over the entry of menstrual age women into the shrine. All regular pujas began this morning under the supervision of the new Melshanti (chief priest) Vasudevan Nampoothiri.

Amid unprecedented security, Kerala State Transport Corporation buses were bringing pilgrims from Nilackal to Pamba and no services had been stopped, KSRTC sources said. Shops and hotels near the temple complex were open.

However, normal life was hit elsewhere in the state as the strike progressed; buses and auto-rickshaws remained off roads in several areas.

KSRTC Managing Director Tomin J Thachankary said the corporation was running buses in Sabarimala with police protection to help pilgrims reach the temple.

In Balrampuram near Thiruvananthapuram, protesters attacked a KSRTC bus and damaging its windows, he told PTI.

In the state capital, passengers had a tough time in getting vehicles to reach their respective destinations due to the hartal. Many patients and their relatives were unable to reach the regional cancer centre and Thiruvananthapuram medical college hospital.

The Aikya Vedi state president, K P Sasikala, who was on a pilgrimage to the Ayyappa shrine, was taken into "preventive custody" near Marakkootam, close to Sabarimala, at 2.30 am after she allegedly defied the orders, police said.

Police had decided not to allow devotees enter the temple premises when it was closed for the night.

Sasikala was stopped by them late Friday night when she was on her way to the shrine with the traditional "Irrumudikettu" (offerings to Lord Ayyappa carried by devotees on their head) as the temple would have been closed by the time she would have reached there.

She was later taken to Ranni police station.

Sudheer, leader of another outfit, was also taken into preventive custody.

Aikya Vedi protesters, meanwhile, gathered outside the Ranni police station and Erumeli and began "Nama Japa" protests Saturday morning.

Condemning the police action, BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai said the state government's effort is to "destroy" the Sabarimala pilgrimage... Read More

After Sabarimala controversy, BSNL transfers activist Rehana Fathima

Sabarimala Karma Samithi Tuesday organised a protest march to the Palarivattom BSNL office, seeking her expulsion.

Activist Rehana Fathima, a BSNL employee who had made an attempt to enter the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala, has been transferred to the Palarivattom telephone exchange in the city where public contact is not required, sources said.

Fathima, a telecom technician working in the customer relations section at the Boat Jetty branch here, was Tuesday transferred to the telephone exchange at Palarivattom, the sources said.

However, the sources said she has not committed dereliction of duty.

Sabarimala Karma Samithi Tuesday organised a protest march to the Palarivattom BSNL office, seeking her expulsion.

The Kerala Muslim Jama'ath Council had expelled Fathima from the Muslim community for "hurting sentiments of lakhs of Hindu devotees".

The activist's house was allegedly vandalised by unidentified people while she was away trying to climb the holy hills on Friday last.

She made a failed attempt to reach the temple with heavy police protection.

The attackers reached Fathima's house in Panambilly Nagar here while she was climbing the hills.

Fathima, a model and activist who was part of the 'Kiss of Love' movement in Kochi in 2014 against alleged moral policing, was among the two women who had reached the hilltop, but had to return before reaching the sanctum sanctorum following massive protests by Ayyappa devotees.

A mother of two, the activist had kicked up a row last year by posing for photos topless with watermelons to protest against a Kozhikode-based college professor's statement comparing women's breasts to watermelons.

A case has been registered by police in Pathanamthitta against the activist for hurting religious sentiments.

On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra had lifted the centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine, but a section of devotees has been protesting the decision.

Business Standard

An unholy mess: How BJP is using Sabarimala issue to make inroads in Kerala

The protests against Sabarimala verdict have exposed the ingrained obscurantism beneath the veneer of a progressive society and the cynical politics of religion that is at play.

Business Standard : Kerala is under siege like never before in its volatile history. As the state struggles to get back on its feet after the worst floods in a century, it is convulsed in a violent religious campaign that belongs to another time and place. For the saffron brigade, the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the entry of women of all ages into the hilltop temple of Ayyappan in Sabarimala has come as a godsend, the perfect handle to reignite the regressive religious campaign that the RSS-BJP cohort has been pushing for decades in the last Left bastion in the country.

In just three weeks after the SC judgement, Kerala has been reduced to a violent, seething mass of agitators seeking to preserve the status quo at a forest-bound temple that debars women between 10 and 50 years from entering its precincts. From Pandalam, seat of the erstwhile royal family which claims a kinship with the deity, to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, thousands of protesting women, organised by the hydra-headed RSS and various Hindu outfits, have been swarming across the state demanding that the CPM-led Left Democratic Front government file a review petition in the Supreme Court and also issue an ordinance to stop women of the restricted age group from going to Sabarimala. The protests have exposed the ingrained obscurantism beneath the veneer of a progressive society and the cynical politics of religion that is at play.

Coarse, violent language – unheard of in Kerala – is making the headlines as the BJP whips up religious frenzy. Actor Kollam Thulasi shocked listeners as he told an NDA rally in Kollam that women who tried to enter the temple must be ripped in half. For good measure, Thulasi, a known BJP supporter, said one half of the woman should be sent to the chief minister’s office in Thiruvananthapuram and the other half to Delhi. “What we are seeing is a repeat of the Ayodhya madness and north Indian barbarity, both new to our state,” says P Jyothsna, a high school teacher from Irrity.

All of a sudden, the discourse is about “vishwasam” or belief, an odd subject for Kerala where the semantics of dialectic materialism continues to be discussed. The state, however, is a paradox in many ways, a place where religion and rituals fill the calendar while communist governments are voted in regularly. This time though things could change and, possibly, in a lasting way. The frenzied politics of religion that is being played out over Sabarimala is extraordinary and could well tip the balance of power and the fortunes of the three main political formations in the state: the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), the BJP’s NDA and the United Democratic Front of the Congress and its allies which includes the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

It was odd to see the IUML lead a rally, complete with party flags, in Changanassery, Kottayam district, in support of Hindus protesting the opening up of Sabarimala. But there’s a good reason why IUML general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty is openly backing maintenance of status quo at the Ayyappan temple... Read More

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has also confirmed that a passenger aircraft has successfully landed in Kannur International Airport.

The first passenger aircraft has successfully landed in Kannur International Airport, marking the readiness of the fourth airport in Kerala for commercial operations. The airport, which is getting ready with an investment of Rs 22.92 billion is expected to help the state attract tourists.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has also confirmed that a passenger aircraft has successfully landed in Kannur International Airport.

"The trial was carried out by the Air India Express aircraft IX 555. It is part of the final procedures for getting clearance to commence commercial operations. KIAL has informed that the trial was successful," he said.

The project is being developed by Kannur International Airport Ltd (KIAL), promoted by Government of Kerala, to build and operate airport of International standards at Mattannur, in Kannur District, the northern part of Kerala, primarily to cater the need of large Non Resident Indian (NRI) population in the region who travel frequently to various international destinations, the business community and tourists.

According to the company, around 32.86 per cent of the shares of KIAL is held by the state government while 22.54 per cent is by central public sector undertakings, 9.39 per cent is by Airports Authority of India and 32.21 per cent by others including qualified institutions buyers, individuals, companies, cooperative banks and societies.

This will be the second greenfield airport in Kerala, being built on Public Private Partnership model in an area of about 2,300 acres. The land is acquired by the state government through KINFRA, the Nodal Agency, and will be transferred to the company in a phased manner. The airport will be operational in 2018, and the company has earlier claimed that it would make Kerala the only state in the country to have four international airports. As per the Information Memorandum prepared by SBI CAPS, the airport is expected to have an approximate annual traffic of 1.65 million international and 0.16 million domestic passengers in the first year of operation.

It is estimated that currently 13% of the district population is employed overseas which is forecasted to be increased is a considerable rate in the coming years, it added.

Article Source Business Standard