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February 16th, 2010
Kerala Kaumudi is giving away an excellent Malayalam calendar for the year 2010. The calendar is in PDF format and the download size is about 1MB. You can download Malayalam calendar 2010 from here.
The calendar is also suitable for printing and is marked with all major events in Kerala. An excellent reference for all NRIs who may find it difficult to get a printed Malayalam calendar.
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February 16th, 2010
Indian government and Kerala government are creating more and more laws under the assumption that it will lead to a better life for the common man. However, in reality more laws means more power to the corrupt police officers and usually means more corruption. Instead of solving problems more laws are creating more problems in Kerala society. People who has political backing or are powerful can always go and break the law with impunity and common citizen finds it almost impossible to be a law abiding citizen.
Take for example, the law about helmet use. First of all, the law is to protect the person who rides the bike. It is a citizen’s personal responsibility that he wears a helmet. But ever since it was made into a law, police started abusing bike riders. Every day, hundreds of common people are treated like hardcore criminals just because they didn’t wear a helmet! Many people are routinely abused by Police for not wearing a helmet, a crime for which the maximum legal penalty is Rs. 100. It has reached such a state that Police now even started snatching mobile phones or cash from bike riders. In a recent incident, a bike rider was critically injured when he was pushed from the running bike by police for not wearing helmet!
Yet more disturbing is the fact that many police officers think that they can get away with horrible human rights violations. Take for example what happened to doctor Paul Chandy in Kayamkulam when he tried to help car accident victims near his hospital (quoted from the Hindu report),
The police officer allegedly stopped the doctor from taking the injured to hospital, saying he had to take their statements. When the doctor opposed this saying that they required urgent medical attention, he was pulled out of the car and assaulted. He was also taken to the police station, where he was trashed again. Dr. Chandy is currently under treatment in the Kayamkulam Government Hospital. The officer, according to eye-witnesses, was allegedly in an inebriated condition.
The newspaper goes on to report,
Mr. Kumar, police sources said, had beaten up a speech impaired boy during a temple festival at Haripad last year. He was transferred to the Adoor police station following this. There were a couple of other similar incidents too. Mr. Kumar was transferred to the Kayamkulam station a few months back.
I am also attaching the Manorama report below. The doctor was brutally assaulted by a group of police constables under the instruction of the accused Sub Inspector,
As per the Manorama report, doctor has partially lost eye sight due to the assault. No wonder, intelligent Malayalees are very reluctant to help accident victims.
Why is this fellow not dismissed? I am at a loss as to how Police establishment or our government can tolerate such officers? Why are they never prosecuted? What is the so called "Human rights commission" in Kerala doing other than just driving around in a car?
It is very important for a democratic government to ensure that swift and proper punishment is given to criminals in uniform. It is also important that they are dismissed from the service as soon as their crime is established. They also need to be prosecuted aggressively by the government. Exemplary punishment is the only solution to this problem.
More and more power is nowadays being given to local Sub Inspectors (For example, the new IT law basically gives a blank cheque to the local SI). But without proper oversight and proper control from higher officers, more power inevitably means more human rights abuses by local police.
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December 5th, 2009
The seventh edition of Barcamp Kerala will be taking place at Kristu Jyoti College of Management and Technology, Kottayam on 20th December 2009. There are over 10 sessions planned and over 100 technology enthusiasts are expected to take part in the event.
What is Barcamp Kerala?
Barcamp Kerala is get together of technology enthusiasts and geeks from all over Kerala. It is a one day event with a number of presentations which are usually on technology. It is also a networking event for geeks. It is open to all and it is impressive that Barcamp Kerala is still not hijacked by companies 
Where is Barcamp Kerala 7 taking place?
Barcamp Kerala 7 is taking place at Kristu Jyoti College of Management and Technology, Chethipuzha, Changanassery, Kottayam (1.5KM from Changanassery Railway Station). The sessions may start between 9AM and 10AM and can go up to 6PM. Following route map would be helpful,
What are the sessions planned at Barcamp Kerala 7?
For an up to date list of sessions planned at Barcamp Kerala 7, please see the sessions page. Some of the sessions I am looking forward to are,
Is there a live webcast of Barcamp Kerala 7?
For a lot of people who are outside Kerala, a live webcast would be really useful. However I think we may not see this during Barcamp Kerala 7.
Keeping track of Barcamp Kerala 7
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August 10th, 2009
Marxist party has been fighting self financing colleges for a long time. According to them, self financing college is an evil. Unfortunately all that changed once LDF came in power. Since LDF came to power, a lot of self financing colleges were started all around Kerala. Here is a break up of colleges allotted by Marxists,
A total of 51 colleges had started under LDF rule!! Now the street fighting gangs of LDF(SFI and DYFI) is silent on the issue. Across Kerala, co-operative unions are starting self financing colleges at cut-throat rates. A large number of these unions are ruled by communists. No one has any issue with this. But intellectuals are outraged when they see church groups running educational institutions efficiently. All these communists run to Christian run schools, colleges, hostels and hospitals whenever they require education or hospital care. None of them goes to the government run "high quality" institutions. Why?
This is not the first time communists are doing a complete U-turn in their ideology. Earlier according to them computers were number one enemy of the common man, now they are running around implementing computers everywhere; even in places where it is not needed. Similarly they organized violent demonstrations against "plus-two" (pre-degree was converted to plus-two by UDF) and in the end they completed the "plus-two" implementation! There were lot of leftist intellectuals against the express highway. Now LDF is doing a feasibility study of the same.
That is the strange paradox about Kerala. Kerala has the highest literacy rate, yet it also has a large number of morons who can’t understand double standards like those above.
Unfortunately the primary responsibility of the government – Ensuring that institutions are run properly and examinations are conducted properly etc. takes a back seat in all these.
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August 3rd, 2009
A bunch of Malayalees with nothing else in life to do has come up with a cool album on Kerala’s own beverage – Kallu. Diazepam drug is usually mixed in Kallu (Toddy) in Kerala, and the video shows what happens when you drink it.
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June 17th, 2009
In Trivandrum edition of newspapers, the goonda menace is always in the front page of the “city edition”. There are high tech goondas who has nothing to fear from police (since they pay well) and then there are politically connected goondas who has good political protection. Due to lack of political will and lack of courageous and independent police force, goondas are having a free run in Kerala.
Some of the immediate steps to be taken are,
Some people think that goonda menace won’t affect them. But you will never know when your time will come. Check the real life experience of an engineering student from Trivandrum (CET),
The guy followed and started whacking me with the stick. Initially I shouted out, asking him not to hit me, telling them that I was a nobody (at that time I thought that this was because of the hartal). This was like a reflex action, since on thinking back on these events I never felt my brain giving the commands for me to shout and scream. I had probably got two or three hits then including the one which broke my left forearm. Doctors say that the first instinct when you are about to be hit is to raise the arm which you use for everything up for self protection. I being left handed raised my left arm. I was rolling on the ground when I got my first hit in my face, on my right cheekbone. I fell silent at that point. I could only hear a ringing sound. I stopped feeling pain. Even though I was fully conscious, I didn’t feel any of the subsequent hits. The attackers left me on the road.
The incident above is nowhere near a real goonda attack, but should give you an idea about the menace. The residents of Men’s Hostel are also culprits in this case. It is also notorious for the brutal “ragging” of first year students.
Ragging is another type of goondaism which may force people to take law into their hands. If your son or daughter is sexually assaulted by a gang of thugs what will you do? What will you do if the principal says – “hey man, forget it. It is part of life”. My opinion is that the hostel warden or the principal should get bigger punishment than the culprits since it happened under their watch and if they try to suppress it.
There are two killings in Trivandrum where the wrong guy was killed by a “quotation team”. In one of these cases, the brother of the person killed took his revenge by killing one of the gang members. Remember, you and me could be next.
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June 17th, 2009
Huda Info Solutions is providing free download of Quran Malayalam translation MP3 files. All 114 surahs are available for download. MP3s are encoded in 32kbits and is of decent quality. You can also purchase high quality CDs from the same Web site.
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June 16th, 2009
Following is a detailed presentation on the SNC lavalin scandal. It is interesting that SNC Lavalin got away with Rs. 300 crore which was initially worth about Rs. 24 crore. What is all the more perplexing is the relation between cancer centre and the power plant renovation.
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June 8th, 2009
Kerala is famous for its caste system. It was so horrible that even someone from India (Swami Vivekananda) called it the "lunatic asylum". Exposure to other cultures and rapid communication mechanisms improved the situation in Kerala drastically.
Yet caste based divisions are still strong. There is a strong undercurrent of both caste based and religion based politics. Take an example – Sri Narayana Guru was a visionary who realized that caste system is a plague. He said "Jaathi chothikkaruthu, parayaruthu, chinthikkaruthu" (Don’t ask, don’t talk and don’t even think about caste). But it is unfortunate that even the organization he founded is now hijacked by people who wants to spread the caste plague in our state.
Now in addition to all the caste and religion based problems, our government has now been successful in introducing a new economic based caste system. Currently it falls into two categories – APL and BPL. APL means "Above Poverty Level" and BPL means "Below Poverty Level". Now there are even proposals to create additional categories such as WBPL (Way Below Poverty Level) and WAPL (Way Above Poverty Level). Now if you thought introducing such system will eclipse caste based systems, you are wrong. It has only increased the divisions further. Now you have APL Muslim and BPL Scheduled Tribe etc.
Obviously one of the primary mandates for a government is to help who are economically backward. But this has to be done in a sensible way and a practical way. In the case of APL/BPL the objective obviously should be that in next few years, we should have zero BPL families in the state. Unfortunately this is not what is happening. Every year, BPL numbers are only increasing. Businessmen and NRIs who earn lakhs of rupees per month are also included under BPL and are given so much benefits that the families in APL are being squeezed like anything.
Governments have been increasing all types of taxation. Electricity charges, water charges, building tax etc have registered 200% to 1000% increase in last few years. Government ensures that BPL families are excluded from these rises. Which in turn affects APL families more. It has reached such a stage that these subsidies and taxes have made the living conditions of a lot of APL families to the level of BPL families. So instead of achieving merit based social progress, government actions are in some aspects turning out more poor people at the same time making a section of people lazy.
Another problem is the ridiculous level that the issue of reservation has reached. Any developed society would remove all types of reservation other than those for the physically disabled or those in dire economic conditions. But in India, we are going in the opposite direction (For example, the creamy layer was increased to 4.5lakh rupees in Kerala. This is an unfair definition but there is even demand to increase it to 7.5lakhs!!!) The following is possible future scenario in India,
A businessman sets up an administrative office. He needs to recruit 10 people for his office. According to the law of 2012 (actual scenario could be worse in the sense that there would be no general merit quota), his staff must include (the scenario is tailored for the reservation system in Kerala),
Reservation was adopted after independence to give all sections of society and equal opportunity. Reservation was time bound and was supposed to be removed within 10 years of independence. However, it has grown to a monster which in long term has the potential to destroy our country.
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June 5th, 2009
Today is “world environment day” and it is celebrated to create awareness of environmental issues. Kerala celebrated this day by planting couple of trees in schools and organizing meetings across the state. Some also think that having a “census of trees”would help in protecting the environment. Unfortunately many of the suggestions put forward by environmentalists are impractical and without any regard to economic and social situation of our country and state. What I think is that we need to be pragmatic in environmental protection. Here are some practical ways of protecting our environment,
Improve public transport- For example consider Trivandrum city. If there is good and comfortable public transport, a lot of people will abandon cars/bikes and would take the public transport. Unfortunately, forget about comfortable travel, if you are a female, you will be harassed in KSRTC buses in the city. The problem is the overcrowding of buses. Government won’t allow private buses to operate, they won’t increase bus schedules or plan about metro rail in the near future. Same applies for road infrastructure. There is a lot of resistance against widening a road to a two lane road in the city (from enviornmentalists, business interests etc.). There are many trees in Trivandrum city standing almost in the middle of the road since some idiots oppose removal of them.
Whenever a road is widened government could take enough land on both sides to plant trees as well. For every tree that is removed, two can be planted. In fact I am ready to pay a tax for it, if they are ready to acquire enough land on both sides of the road.
Waste collection & management- Except in city areas, there is no mechanism for waste collection/disposal. In trivandrum city, corporation runs a good waste collection group which charges just Rs.30 per month. This should be extended to other cities. Also there should be large collection bins across the city. Lack of these waste collection bins forces people to dump waste on the road during night or throw it on a river or lake during night.
Corruption in forest department- There is only one reason for deforestation in Kerala. The corruption of forest department. It is so easy to address this problem. Just visit the home of any forest department official. You will be surprised at the amount of wood used in his house! A large number of wildlife wardens regularly collect bribe from wood industries near forest areas for turning a blind eye. Now if a tourist enters the forest for trekking or something, the forest officials would beat him to pulp. So address the problem of corruption in forest department and you will address the problem of deforestation in Kerala. As they say in my village, without the knowledge of all powerful forest department, not even a squirrel can move in forest!
Limiting the use of plastic – Many environmentalists behave as if plastic is the worst thing invented by humans. In fact it is one of the most useful things that we have invented. However uncontrolled use of plastic is a problem. For example, in retail shops there is no need to use lightweight plastic bags and could be replaced by cloth bags. One of the retail chains in my area (Varkeys group) is giving out cloth bags for Rs. 1 per bag and it is a good idea. Whenever people adopt such good practises, government, media and other organizations should encourage it. But if someone says we should ban plastic buckets, I would call him an idiot.
Protection of waterways – This is one of the most important thing and is overlooked a lot. The pollution of rivers is one of the most serious problems we face. Discharge of untreated waste into river is one problem. Another is the direct plumbing of sewage to the rivers. Both should be banned. Unfortunately widespread corruption means you cannot do anything until you address the corruption problem.
But this should never prevent us implementing hydroelectric power plants. The alternatives in this case such as thermal plants or nuclear power plants is never a comparable solution. Whatever power conservation we do, our power requirements are going to double in the near future. If we don’t adopt the cheapest and most nature friendly solution (hydroelectric plants) we are doomed. Another interesting aspect is that a power plant and its associated administrative setup is quite useful in fighting corruption in forest department. For example, take the Idukky power project. After the commissioning of Moolamattom powerhouse, conservation of the forest around it has been successful.
Pesticides- Pesticides is the biggest threat to both environment and health of the people. Uncontrolled use of it is causing both direct damage and also slow poisoning of the population. There needs to be a concerted effort to limit the use of pesticides and promote traditional/organic ways of controlling pests. Unfortunately this is an area where environmentalists are a complete failure. Instead of blocking progress and development activities they should focus on things like pesticide control (Endosulfan is causing unimaginable suffering in Kasargod). You are able to stop railway lines and hydro electric plants but why can’t you stop pesticide abuse or the new phenomenon of genetically modified foods? Why are you going after coca-cola which contains 0.001% of pesticides while the drinking water supplied by government probably contains 1000 times more pesticide?
Thankfully we don’t need to worry about large scale pollution from industries. Our comrades have ensured that no industry can run in Kerala for a long time!
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June 1st, 2009
Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is one of the most inefficient and useless departments. Over years this department has been roting steadily. Instead of improving power situation and improving their service, they are looking for cheap popularity stunts such as million CFL campaign. Instead of increasing power production, they are asking people to switch of fridge in the evening. And remember, the polio vaccine they give to your child is also stored in a fridge.
It is like cutting your leg to fit it in the shoe.
KSEB has been increasing electricity bills under various heads. There is nothing called “customer service” in KSEB’s dictionary. But they are good in assaulting customers.
Recently I got a bill from KSEB and was stunned by the “terms & conditions” at the back of the bill. It says,
It is urgent that central government takes serious action to dismantle KSEB. Kerala government has been resisting the move since politicians fear that their ability for corruption will be affected (remember lavalin case?).
Here is an action plan for KSEB.
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April 8th, 2009
I am really surprised at the speed of adoption of Internet in government activities. The latest is the Web site hosted by Election commission for LokSabha elections 2009. The Chief Electoral Office Web site can be used to find your polling booth!! The best thing is that it works!
Here is a step by step guide,
1. Visit the "electoral search screen" at http://www.ceokerala.com/search.php
2. You can select either "legislative assembly" or "district" from this screen. Selecting district is the easiest option. In the following example, I selected "Trivandrum" then clicked on "Search".
3. In the next screen you will have options to search by two distinct fields. The first field can be used to enter your name or your electoral card number. The second field can be used to enter house name. Use the Malayalam online keyboard on the left side for data entry!
In the above I have selected "Mano" and clicked on search. What it shows me is the list of voters from Trivandrum whose name starts with Mano.
4. Now click on the "Thirichariyal card number" (electoral card number) to access your voter data.
5. Now click on the polling booth link at the bottom to get your polling booth information including the school and the booth number!!
Man, that is one cool stuff by government! And guys, don’t forget to vote. Now even your last excuse (I don’t know the polling booth) is not valid
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April 3rd, 2009
Resurvey of land in Kerala is probably the biggest running task (the most inefficient one also) undertaken by Government of Kerala. It is running since 1966 and yet the end is nowhere in sight. Funnier is the fact that since it is running for over 40 years, most of the information is completely out of date. So instead of any benefit, it is causing unbelievable amount of torture for poor land owners in Kerala.
Consider this scenario. You are a very careful fellow and takes every precaution before you buy your piece of land. You have worked 25 years and using all your savings you are buying 8 cents of land somewhere in the outskirts of a city. Now since you are aware of land mafia and other property disputes you are careful to ensure that all documentation is in order. You look at old registration documents and new registration documents and make sure that they are in order. You look at land tax receipts and ensure that ownership is clear. You take an "Encumbrance Certificate" from sub-registrar office which guarantees that the land has no liabilities or loans against it. You even look at any pending cases against the owner. You are sure that it is all clear.
You are happy and you bought the 8 cents.
After a few months, you decide build your dream house on the plot. Your land is in a village and you approach an architect. He says that in order to build the house you need permission from the Panchayat.
Till recently permission from Panchayat was not needed. Government has brought this new requirement much to the joy of Panchayat and other government officials. Now they have new ways of getting more bribe from the poor land owners.
When you approach Panchayat, they claim that the land is not yours!! You get a shock! You had all the necessary documents, but yet it is not yours! The re-survey department is saying that the land belongs to someone else. The re-survey effectively makes all your documents invalid!
Well, it turns out that the land is re-surveyed sometime in 1970 and hence it is now in some dead guy’s name. You are now frantic. The re-survey official is very happy. He got another victim to extract bribe from. You are now being asked for thousands of documents some of which are impossible to obtain. How can you get a "no objection" certificate from a dead guy. You are gradually becoming insane…..
This, my dear friends, is called the "Re-survey torture from Kerala". It will continue till the government dismantles the so called "resurvey department".
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March 11th, 2009
Over the last few years Indian government and local state governments have been introducing a lot of stealth taxes. These are taxes never directly visible to people, but at the same time squeezes money from multiple points. I got a forwarded email which humorously analyzes the situation,
1) Que. : What are you doing?
Ans. : Business.
Tax : PAY PROFESSIONAL TAX!
2) Que. : What are you doing in Business?
Ans. : Selling the Goods.
Tax : PAY SALES TAX!
3) Que. : From where are you getting Goods?
Ans. : From other State/Abroad
Tax : PAY CENTRAL SALES TAX, CUSTOM DUTY & OCTROI!
4) Que. : What are you getting in Selling Goods?
Ans. : Profit.
Tax : PAY INCOME TAX!
5) Que. : How do you distribute profit ?
Ans : By way of dividend
Tax : Pay dividend distribution Tax
6) Que. : Where you Manufacturing the Goods?
Ans. : Factory.
Tax : PAY EXCISE DUTY!
7) Que. : Do you have Office / Warehouse/ Factory?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY MUNICIPAL & FIRE TAX!
Que. : Do you have Staff?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY STAFF PROFESSIONAL TAX!
9) Que. : Doing business in Millions?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY TURNOVER TAX!
Ans : No
Tax : Then pay Minimum Alternate Tax
10) Que. : Are you taking out over 25,000 Cash from Bank?
Ans. : Yes, for Salary.
Tax : PAY CASH HANDLING TAX!
11) Que.: Where are you taking your client for Lunch & Dinner?
Ans. : Hotel
Tax : PAY FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT TAX!
12) Que.: Are you going Out of Station for Business?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY FRINGE BENEFIT TAX!
13) Que.: Have you taken or given any Services?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY SERVICE TAX!
14) Que.: How come you got such a Big Amount?
Ans. : Gift on birthday.
Tax : PAY GIFT TAX!
15) Que.: Do you have any Wealth?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY WEALTH TAX!
16) Que.: To reduce Tension, for entertainment, where are you going?
Ans. : Cinema or Resort.
Tax : PAY ENTERTAINMENT TAX!
17) Que.: Have you purchased House?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY STAMP DUTY & REGISTRATION FEE !
18) Que.: How you Travel?
Ans. : Bus
Tax : PAY SURCHARGE!
19) Que.: Any Additional Tax?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY EDUCATIONAL, ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL & SURCHARGE ON ALL THE CENTRAL GOVT.’s TAX !
20) Que.: Delayed any time Paying Any Tax?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY INTEREST & PENALTY!
21) INDIAN : can i die now??
Ans :: Wait, we are about to launch the funeral tax!
The sad part is that most of this money is eaten by corrupt politicians and officials. People who pay these taxes rarely get any benefit.
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February 25th, 2009
Criminal assault (also called as ragging) is common in professional colleges in Kerala. It has reached such a scary situation that some think that they can get away with rape under the disguise of ragging. Many people suffer horrible abuse at the hands of these criminals. These criminals know that they can easily get away under the banner of “ragging”.
In the SME case, the court has convicted three of the criminals under multiple sections. Kerala Online has published the photographs of all the accused in the rape case.
Yet it raises more questions. Why are the officials not convicted? They obviously have resposibility in preventing such crime from happening inside the institution. Now where are those senior students who tried to protect these criminals so that their careers are safe?
I think the only effective way to curb this is to ensure that the people who has the power to ensure discipline (principals, teachers etc.) are also convicted if anything like this happens. Also the first years students must be educated on the need to protect themselves. Our constitution even allows us to kill someone in self defence!
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