Category Archives: Records, All

Sister Rani declared Blessed by Vatican

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinion
Bishops attend a ceremony for beatification of Sister Rani Maria in Indore on Saturday. | Photo Credit: PTI

She was stabbed to death in Madhya Pradesh in 1995

Kerala-born nun Rani Maria Vattalil, who was stabbed to death in Madhya Pradesh in 1995, was declared Blessed, a sacred title in the Roman Catholic Church order, on Saturday.

Vatican’s head of the Department for Cause of Saints Cardinal Angelo Amato declared the nun, popularly known as Sister Rani, Blessed, a stage below sainthood. Cardinal Amato read out the Apostolic (Pope’s) letter declaring her Blessed in Latin at a Holy Mass at St. Paul Higher Secondary School’s ground at Indore. The nun’s killer also attended the ceremony.

Cardinal George Alencherry read out the letter of Pope Francis in English, while Cardinal Telesphore Toppo did so in Hindi.

Selmy, sister of the slain nun, said she was “overwhelmed” by the declaration. “The Blessed title is considered a prelude to sainthood as was the case with Mother Teresa,” Public Relations Officer of Madhya Pradesh Catholic Church Fr. Maria Stephen said. But for sainthood, a miracle is required, he said.

All the four cardinals of India, Mar Baselios Cleemis (president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India), Mar George Alencherry (of the Syro-Malabar Church), Oswald Gracias (Archdiocese of Bombay) and Telephore Toppo (Archdiocese of Ranchi), attended the ceremony.

Sister Rani, then 41, was stabbed about 50 times on board a bus in Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district on February 25, 1995, Fr. Stephen said. She was a member of the Syro-Malabar Franciscan Clarist congregation.

Her attacker Samunder Singh was hired to kill the nun as a few landlords in Indore were upset with her work for the uplift of landless people, he said. Singh was sentenced to life in prison. His sentence was commuted because of his good conduct in prison, Fr. Stephen said. He was pardoned by Sister Rani’s family. At the ceremony, Singh recalled his brutal act. “Then, I was in the grip of evil spirits. My life has changed,” he said.

The then Indore Bishop George Anathil initiated the process for Sister Rani’s canonisation process of the Blessed in 2001. Two months ago, the Vatican cleared the canonisation process to promulgate the ‘Decree of the Blessed’ on Sister Rani.

Sister Rani was born to Paili and Elisha on January 29, 1954 at Pulluvazhi in Kerala.   She took her first vows in 1974 and was then assigned to Bijnor for mission Apostolate. After serving in Bijnor, she was transferred to Satna and later in 1992 to Udainagar, the MP Catholic Church said. She was a champion for the poor, it said.

In Madhya Pradesh, the nun organised people exploited by moneylenders. She was threatened several times, but she refused to be cowed down.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States > Kerala / PTI / Bhopal-Indore, November 04th, 2017

Mega project on the lives of Travancore Kings

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All

Seems like the Malayalam industry is all set to scale new heights, in terms of budget in 2018.  Joining the bandwagon of big-budget projects is director K Madhu, known for directing Sethurama Iyer CBI series.

A portrait of the king of Travancore | Wikimedia commons

He has announced a mega project on the lives of two Travancore kings who ruled from 1700 AD to 1800 AD.  The movie will be made in two parts, the director said.

The first part of the movie has been titled Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma- King of Travancore.  It will trace the life of Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the only Indian king who trounced a foreign power in India when he won the battle against the Dutch at Colachel. The second part will be on the Karthika Thirunal Marthanda Varma, who went on to be known as the Dharmaraja. This part is also said to deal with the Karthika Thirunal’s fight against Tipu Sultan too.

“This will be a project on a massive scale. Scriptwriter Robin Thirumala and I have been researching intensively for the last three years. We have finalised the script and signed the crew, that includes big names. We plan to go on the floors by next August,” says K Madhu, who adds that this is his ambitious project.

He says: “We have prominent actors from Malayalam and other industry. While we have fixed a superstar for the first part, the leading actor for the second is yet to be ascertained. We will announce the names and the production banner soon.”  K Madhu adds that the movies will boast of big names from Indian cinema. “We plan to make it in five languages,” he adds.  The director says he has signed the technical crew, that includes Peter Hein for action and Resul Pookutty for sound design. R Madhi will crank the camera. Keeravani, who composed the tunes for Baahubali, will be the music director.

This will be a project on a massive scale.

Scriptwriter Robin Thirumala and I have been researching intensively for the last three years. We have finalised the script and signed the crew
– K Madhu, director

48-hour free care for accident victims

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Travel

Thiruvananthapuram :

The state government has decided to launch a trauma care project to provide immediate treatment for accident victims.

At a high-level meeting convened by chief minister Pinrayi Vijayan , it has been decided to provide free treatment to accident victims for the first 48 hours.

Once the project kicks off, the hospitals would be asked not to demand any kind of payment from the patient or their bystanders. The government has decided to provide necessary funds for providing all kinds of treatment, including emergency surgeries, in all government hospitals.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Thiruvananthapuram News / TNN / November 03rd, 2017

Kerala’s top literary award for K. Satchidanandan

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K. Satchidanan

A pioneer of modernism in Malayalam poetry Satchidanandan’s works have been translated into several languages.

The State government has decided to confer the prestigious Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the top literary award of the Government of Kerala,   on poet-critic K. Satchidanandan.

A pioneer of modernism in Malayalam poetry, a bilingual literary critic, former Editor of Indian Literature, the official journal of the Sahitya Akademi, Mr. Satchidanandan’s works have been translated into several languages. The former secretary of the Sahitya Akademi, he is a public intellectual who has upheld secular and anti-fascist position in his life and work.

The prolific writer who has been making trail blazing interventions in literature and society, Mr. Satchidanandan has over 30 collections of poetry, over 25 collections of essays and another 20 odd collections of translations of poetry from various Indian and foreign languages to his credit.

Announcing the award at a news conference here on Wednesday, Culture Minister A.K. Balan said Mr. Satchidanandan was chosen for the award by a jury chaired by Kerala Sahithya Academi chairman and writer Vaisakhan.

The award carries a purse of ₹ 5 lakh.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Special Correspondent / Thiruvananthapuram – November 01st, 2017

Kerala historians question move to give ‘Paika Bidroha’ first war of independence tag

About Kerala, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion
Paika Bidroha celebrations in Bhubaneswar on October 21, 2017. | Photo Credit: Biswaranjan Rout

They argue that the ‘Attingal Revolt’ of 1721 was India’s first freedom struggle

A section of historians in Kerala on Tuesday disputed the Centre’s move to announce Odisha’s 1817 Paika Rebellion as the “First War of Independence”, saying various uprisings against foreign powers had occurred in the southern State much before it, but never got due recognition.

They said the coastal State had witnessed a number of minor and major struggles against foreign powers even before the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, which has so far been regarded as the first war of Indian Independence.

A few among the historians wanted the tag of first war of independence for “Attingal Revolt”, an agitation by locals in the then princely State of Venad against the English East India Company in 1721 over the latter’s arrogant approach and unjust measures that they tried to implement in the land.

As many as 133 English East India Company soldiers were killed during the revolt which according to State historians, was the first organised uprising against the foreign powers in the country.

The struggles led by legendary king of Malabar, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja who locked horns with the British during the period 1795-1805, the strike by Nair Brigade in Travancore in 1804 and the agitation led by Travancore diwan (prime minister) Veluthambi Dalawa in 1809 were some of the uprisings against foreign powers witnessed by the State, they said.

The fight of 16th century naval captain Kunjali Marakkar against the Portuguese forces was also prominent among them, they added.

History Protection Council, a State-based outfit, is planning to submit a memorandum to the State government to press the Centre to declare the “Attingal Revolt” as the first freedom struggle of the country instead of Paika Bidroha.

Eminent historian and former chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), M.G.S Narayanan said facts should be examined before including Odisha’s “Paika Bidroha as the first war of independence” in school textbooks.

“The matter should be examined thoroughly before taking a decision to include so in school textbooks,” he told PTI.

Noted historian K.N Ganesh questioned the government’s right to decide the prominence and value of historical movements and struggles.

“I am not questioning the significance of Paika rebellion.. But how can a government decide the merit and significance of revolts, struggles and agitations in history?” he asked.

“It should be decided by the academicians and the bodies like history research council and so on.. No minister can simply say that Paika rebellion is the first war of independence in the country without due consultation with historians and academicians concerned,” he said.

Historian and academician P.M Rajan Gurukkal, said many local struggles happened in this part of the country including the historic Colachel War did not get deserved recognition.

“It is true that many local uprisings had gone unnoticed in the history.. One of the most significant among them is the Colachel War between Travancore king Marthanda Varma and Dutch East India Company in the year 1741.

“It was the first ever victory of a princely State against a European power in Asia.. But, it did not get deserved recognition,” he told PTI.

A debate on the first war of independence was triggered after union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar’s recent announcement that Paika Bidroha of 1817 would find a place in the history books as ‘the First War of Independence’ from the next academic session.

The announcement was made at a function marking the bicentenary of the historic rebellion.

According to historians, Paikas, the peasant militia under the Gajapati rulers of Odisha who rendered military service to the king during the times of war, had rebelled against the British rule under the leadership of Baxi Jagandhu Bidyadhara as early as 1817.

Earlier, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had, in a letter to the Centre, urged that it should recognise ‘Paika Bidroha’ as the first war of independence against the British rule as it took place four decades before the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, which has so far been regarded as the first war of Indian Independence.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by PTI / Thiruvananthapuram – October 31st, 2017

Kerala start-up makes it to top 10

Records, All, Science & Technology

Infopark-based Inntot Technologies chosen for Industrial Innovation Awards 2017 instituted by CII

Thiruvananthapuram :

Inntot Technologies, a media entertainment start-up incubated at the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), has been chosen as one of the Top 10 Promising Start-ups of India for the Industrial Innovation Awards 2017 instituted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Inntot has also bagged the CII Industrial Innovation Award for the best service start-up.

Based at Infopark, Kochi, Inntot Technologies specialises in providing cost-effective radio digital solutions and offers software solutions and services in consumer electronics, Internet of Things, and the mobile sector.

The company was founded by Rajith Nair and Prasanth Thankappan at Kakkanad in 2014. It was shifted to Infopark this year.

Inntot is also working on other technologies including a communication facility that enables safe and comfortable vehicular traffic. It participated in the 26th edition of the IT Week held in Japan recently.

Infosys co-founder and CII Startup Council chairman S. Gopalakrishnan was the chairman of the jury.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States / by Special Correspondent / October 29th, 2017

Tracing a musical journey

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All
K.P. Jayasankar and Anjali Monteiro

A Delicate Wave to be screened in city today

Kochi :

The Cochin Film Society and the Orthic Creative Centre are joining hands to felicitate award-winning documentary filmmakers K.P. Jayasankar and Anjali Monteiro at the Children’s Park Theatre on Park Avenue Road at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday.

A galaxy of eminent personalities, including oncologist V.P. Gangadharan, former civil servant K.R. Viswambharan, filmmaker Dilish Pothen, critic I. Shanmughadas, and artist T. Kaladharan will take part in the event.

The programme will be followed by a screening of A Delicate Wave directed by the duo, faculty members at the School of Media and Cultural Studies at Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Set in Kutch, Gujarat, A Delicate Wave, the latest in their Kutch trilogy, traces four different musical journeys, all converging in the ways they affirm religious diversity, syncretism, and love of the other.

Poetic legacy

Drawing on the poetic and musical traditions of Kabir and Shah Bhitai, as well as the folk traditions of the region, these remarkable musicians and singers bear testimony to how the oral traditions of compassion are being passed down from one generation to the next.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / October 28th, 2017

Govt revises pension for 1,119 royal family members

Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

Thiruvananthapuram:

As many as 1,119 pensioners belonging to Travancore and Kochi royal families will reap benefits as government has decided to revise the family and political pensions.

On Wednesday, cabinet decided to unify and increase the pension to Rs 3,000/month for all those members who have been drawing the pension as on July 1, 1949 (as per revenue department’s order on Aug 29, 1969) which is the criteria for granting pensions to royal family members.

Also, the government is battling a string of anomalies that are prevailing among pensioners belonging to royal families in the state. While Travancore and Kochi royal families draw pension from Kerala, members of former princely states of Malabar (part of British India) have been drawing pension from the Centre, titled Malikhan.

In 2012, the UDF government had enhanced the pension of Njavakkattu, Meenachil royal families to Rs 3,000 with retrospective effect from January 1, 2011.But others will be eligible for the increased pension from the date the government issues an order based on the latest cabinet decision. This is likely to be challenged legally in the court.

Also, the recipients of Malikhan, that includes Zamorins of Kozhikode, Chirakkal/Kolathiri family, Kadathanad/Kurumbranad family, have also taken up pension issues with the government. In 2013, the UDF government issued an order saying that since the members belonging to Zamorin family had wilfully handed over their properties worth crores to the government after the formation of the state, they will be granted family and political pensions, and on the basis of this, the government issued an order granting Rs 2,500 per month as pension to 826 family members. The order that came into effect from June 2013, granted pension to even a minor (four years old). Sources said that this was a grave mistake, and this financial assistance was originally intended to be titled as a grant or allowance that should not have been categorized as family and political pension.

With the decision, several representations have come to the government from all other branches of families receiving Malikhan saying that their central pensions are meagre and hence state should grant pensions just like the Zamorin families. The representations are now under the consideration of the government. “The worst part is that even those who are financially well-off are availing pensions. There is no system in the government whereby their actual financial position can be assessed and pensions are granted only on the basis of their economic condition,” sources said.

In addition, the government is also paying annual allowances to key members of Travancore and Kochi families, which are revised from time to time. Nine members of Travancore family were granted an annual allowance that was last revised in January 2010. The amount ranged from Rs 39,000 to Rs 4,91,000. Key members of Kochi royal family receive anything between Rs 9,000 and Rs 20,000 as monthly pension.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Thiruvananthapuram News / TNN / October 26th, 2017

Organic near-infrared filter developed by NIIST team

Records, All, Science & Technology
A. Ajayaghosh, right, and Samrat Ghosh. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Can be used in night vision glasses and night photography

An organic filter that allows only near-infrared (NIR) light to pass through has been developed by scientists at the CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST) based in Thiruvananthapuram.

The new NIR filter can be used for night vision glasses, night photography, and will have applications in security and forensics such as identifying blood stains on a dark fabric.

Currently available inorganic filters are expensive and brittle whereas organic filters are easy to process and flexible too.

The filter was prepared by mixing a black dye (diketopyrrolopyrrole or DPP) having an amide group that helps the molecules to be in close contact with each other and interact, leading to changes in their optical properties.

“The amide group helps in binding and self-assembly of the molecule leading to the formation of a soft organogel,” says Ayyappanpillai Ajayaghosh, Director of NIIST, who led the team of researchers.

Organogel is key

The organogel-based filter has the ability to absorb both ultraviolet and visible light while allowing the near-infrared light alone to pass through. The nanofibres formed through the self-assembly of the DPP molecules are responsible for the broad light absorption of the material, making it appear dark.

The researchers developed the filter by mixing the organogel with a transparent polymer (polydimethylsiloxane). The addition of the dye turns the transparent polymer into a semi-transparent one and the filter appears black as it absorbs most of the ultraviolet-visible light.

“Only very little of the organogel has to be added to the polymer to make the filter. The material is present throughout the polymer matrix even though very little is added,” says Samrat Ghosh from the Chemical Sciences and Technology Division at NIIST and the first author of the paper published in the journal Advanced Materials.

The filter was found to absorb light from 300-850 nm (both ultraviolet, visible and a part of NIR light) and transmit NIR light from 850-1500 nm. The researchers tested it for night photography and found the filter responsive only to NIR light.

Dried blood stains on a black cloth that remained invisible to naked eyes became clearly visible and detectable when viewed through a camera with the NIR filter. Tampering of a cheque which was not discernible to naked eyes could be easily identified when viewed through a camera with the filter.

A potential application of the new material is in the design of hidden security codes on documents which can be viewed only through a NIR-readable camera.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Science / by R Prasad / October 24th, 2017

India’s largest floating solar plant ready

Green Initiatives & Environment, Records, All, Science & Technology
The solar farm on 18 floating platforms in Banasura Sagar reservoir

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Highlights

  • The solar photo voltaic panels of the floating solar farm have been installed on 18 floating platforms made of ferrocement floaters with hollow insides.
  • KSEB sources said that they were waiting for the availability of chief minister to inaugurate the plant possibly by next month

_____________________________________________________________

Kozhikode :

The construction works of the largest floating solar plant in the country have been completed at the Banasura Sagar reservoir in Wayanad.

The 500 kWp (kilowatt peak) solar plant of the KSEB floats on 6,000 square metres of water surface of the reservoir. The outlay for the project is Rs 9.25 crore.

The solar photo voltaic panels of the floating solar farm have been installed on 18 floating platforms made of ferrocement floaters with hollow insides.

“The installation works of the floating solar panels is over and the plant will be ready for inauguration soon,” said Manoharan P, assistant executive engineer at the KSEB research and dam safety sub-division, Thariyode.

He said the 500 kWp project is the largest floating solar project to come up in the country. The work of the project had begun on March 2016.

KSEB sources said that they were waiting for the availability of chief minister to inaugurate the plant possibly by next month.

Officials of Thiruvananthapuram-based Adtech Systems Ltd, which set up the plant, said that the plant would be able to generate 7.5 lakh units of power annually which will be fed to the KSEB grid using underwater cables.

“We have used high efficiency solar panels for the project as per KSEB stipulations. Also, we have set up a floating substation on the reservoir to convert the output into 11kV considering economic and safety aspects,” said Raveendran T Nair, vice-president (projects) of Adtech Systems Ltd.

He said that the floating solar plants had higher efficiency compared to ground-mounted installations due to the moderating effect of water bodies on panel temperature.

“Also, when compared to ground based units, the floating panels will accumulate lower concentration of dust,” he said.

The 500kWp project is a scaled up version of the 10kW floating solar project which was commissioned in Banasura Sagar reservoir in January 2016.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City News> Kozhikode News / TNN / October 17th, 2017