Kerala Administrative Service Exam Topic 56 – The impossible challenge of reforming Kerala’s higher education “

Reforms anywhere face resistance. This will be severe in a system where there are multiple forces opposing any change to the status quo and there are ideological conflicts.

This book captures the saga of resistance diplomat-turned-educator TP Sreenivasan had to face in his attempts to introduce reforms in the higher education space in Kerala, the state with 100 per cent literacy.

The retired Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer has penned his experiences as the Vice Chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) during 2011-16. Two years after laying down office, he has given a detailed account of the reforms initiated by the council under his leadership and the opposition they had to face from a wide variety of players, ranging from lethargic and egoist bureaucrats to forces playing petty politics.

NR Madhava Menon, Chancellor, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, in his foreword, has described the book as a revealing document on what keeps higher education in Kerala regressive while talented youth migrate in large numbers to institutions outside the state for higher studies.

He notes that there is not only opposition to reforms on ideological grounds but teachers, students and even the ministerial staff of colleges and universities are unionised on the basis of their political affiliations.

“My experience was an eye-opener to the higher education system in Kerala, the bureaucracy at different levels and the strengths and weaknesses of the state. It convinced me that Kerala can realise its full potential only if fundamental changes are made in the mindset, outlook, work culture and ethics of its people,” Sreenivasan writes while summing up his experiences.

The council, under his leadership, submitted as many as 16 reports to the government, laying out a roadmap for reform, touching upon the most crucial areas such as infrastructure, teachers’ training, technology-based education, autonomy, research and internationalisation.

“It is unfortunate that most of our recommendations have remained unimplemented. Proposals like allowing the operation of private universities in Kerala and cooperation with foreign universities were countered on ideological grounds. The reports were not studied or processed for decisions by the government on account of general lethargy and turf battles.”

Sreenivasan believes that higher education has changed globally in the last 10 years rather than in the previous 100 years. “Unless we catch up with these changes and reform the way we teach and learn, we will be unable to make use of the opportunities and meet the challenges of the 21st century,” writes the former diplomat, who had set the goal of ‘Higher Education 2.0’ for the state.

He considers creating of awareness of the need to bring about major changes in education was the most significant achievement of the council during his tenure.

While explaining the logic of the measures recommended by the council and the benefits that are likely to accrue if they are implemented, he highlights the unfinished business of reform and stresses the need for recommendations to be examined by the government.

“Kerala seems to lack the mindset to change and the money to invest in education. Some champions of change in all areas oppose change in education. Absence of a prosperous private sector is also a handicap,” he writes.

He notes that as an advisory body, KSHEC was at the mercy of the Department of Higher Education, which has its own priorities.

“The very authorities who entrusted me with the responsibility of running the system lacked energy and enthusiasm and were concerned only about protecting their own interests. They had no hesitation in countering new ideas, delaying action and conspiring against change,” is how the reformer expresses his frustration.

The author notes that the proposal for permitting private universities got highly politicised even when a committee set up by the council was studying the issue. He recalls that then Education Minister PK Abdu Rabb opposed the private universities even as then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy suggested that the committee’s report be discussed by the cabinet and an all-party meeting.

Sreenivasan mentions how the recommendation for an Arabic University was opposed by some who argued that it would be a nest of terrorists. “I pointed out that Islamic Centres functioned around the world in cities like Washington and that it would be wrong to identify terrorism with a language or religion.”

He writes at length about the incident of January 29, 2016, when he was attacked during a student demonstration near the venue of Global Education Meet. He observes that those who wanted to deny the credit of higher education reform to the Congress-led United Democratic Front government used the internationalisation agenda to demonise the Global Meet as a conspiracy to smuggle in private and foreign universities.

 

By

Kerala Administrative Service Coaching (KAS Mentor)

Source :- The News Minute

Kerala Administrative Service Exam Topic 55 – Meet Chennai’s Reshma Nilofer Naha, the World’s 1st Woman River Pilot!

Piloting a ship from the sea into a port is a tough job. You need to be very sure of what you are doing if you wish to avoid an accident. Ships are not easy to control, and a lot of thought goes into making even the simplest manoeuvre.

Well, this lady will be the first woman river pilot in the world who will be carrying out the difficult task of piloting ships from the sea to the Kolkata Port. Reshma Nilofer Naha will pilot ships through a distance of 223 km, of which 148 km will be up the Hooghly-a treacherous route full of sharp ‘bars and bends’. Chennai-born Reshma is training hard for her task at the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT).

Reshma Nilofer Naha, will be the world’s first woman river pilot. 

Reshma is a BSc (Nautical Science) graduate and was recruited by the (KoPT) in 2011. She served as a cadet at sea for a year and obtained the 2nd and 1st mates competency certificates from the Directorate General of Shipping after joining the KoPT. She cleared the Grade III Part-1 exam from KoPT and will qualify as a Grade III pilot within the next six months, according to JJ Biswas, Director, Marine Department, KoPT.

Reshma will initially handle smaller vessels, and upon gaining experience, will graduate to Grade II and Grade I, where she will pilot large ships like Panamax vessels–known to be nearly 300 metres long, with capacities of more than 70,000 tonnes.

Ships coming to the Kolkata or Haldia port have to make contact with the pilot station on Sagar Island on approaching the Sandheads. From there, to the pilot boarding point at Sagar, Vessel Traffic Management Systems provide remote pilotage. Post that, a pilot vessel meets the ship at Middleton Point where the pilot takes charge of the ship until it reaches Kolkata. Upon reaching Kolkata, the ship is handed over to the harbour pilot.

The job is tricky, explained a KoPT official to The Times of India, as the river has several sandbars and bends, and draughts that create problems. As a result, there are many issues that leave little scope to manoeuvre. Which is why the pilots need to make the best use of tides and be well aware of the channel that the ship has to move along, to avoid getting stranded. Extensive training and experience are required, emphasises the official, without which he says it is impossible to handle a ship in a river.

 

The KoPT chairman, Vinit Kumar, sounds optimistic and claims that 67 river pilots were already in service with Reshma being the newest one, set to join them soon.

By

Kerala Administrative Service Coaching (KAS Mentor)

Source :-BetterIndia

Kerala Administrative Service Exam Topic 54 – Skip Egypt and Go To Gue, the Spiti Village With India’s Only Natural Mummy!

When we hear the word “mummy”, most of us automatically think of the time-honoured pharaohs of Egypt (all right, some of us may also think of the blockbuster movie, The Mummy). Thanks to these unique relics, modern science has learned a lot about the life and afterlife of ancient Egyptians.

But as it turns out, there’s more to mummies than just the Egypt of yore! While most people are familiar with the ancient Egyptian practice of mummification (a painstaking process of preservation that involves treatments with oils and minerals), there are actually a number of ways in which a body can be mummified.

The most intriguing and eerie one among these techniques is natural self-mummification. Interestingly, India is home to a remarkably well-preserved specimen of this ancient tradition — the Gue mummy of Spiti Valley.

Believed to over 500 years old, this rare natural mummy belongs to Sangha Tenzin, a Buddhist monk who started the self-mummification process while still living!

 

In 1975, an earthquake in the wind-sculpted Spiti Valley opened up a time-worn tomb in Gue, a little hamlet about 30 miles from the famous Tabo Monastery. Inside lay the mummified body of Sangha Tenzin, with skin intact, teeth visible through open lips and hair on his head. However, it was not until 2004 that the exposed tomb was finally excavated and the mummy removed.

After the resulting furore had settled down, a tiny, box-shaped concrete museum was built amidst the handful of mud houses at Gue. The 500-year-old mummy was then placed inside by the reverential locals, protected by only a thin sheet of glass.

The reason for the mummy being accorded this deep respect? Local folklore, according to which, Sangha Tenzin is said to have sacrificed himself for the survival of the village.

The story goes that he asked his followers to let him mummify himself after a devastating scorpion infestation. When his spirit left his body, it is believed that a rainbow appeared on the horizon following which the scorpions disappeared and the plague ended.

For the uninitiated, the esoteric tradition of natural self-mummification practiced by Nyingma sect of Buddhist monks — called Sokushinbutsu — involves no embalming. It is incredibly difficult process in which the body is compelled to react in such a way that its fats and fluids reduce at a constant rate.

It begins with the monk ceasing to to eat barley, rice and legumes (food that add fat to the body).This is because fat putrefies after death and so removing the fat from the body helps in preserving it better. This also helps in reducing the size of organs to such an extent that the desiccated body resists decomposition.

The body in kept in a seated posture (with a restrainer — called gomtag — around the neck and the thighs) so that the monk can continue to meditate. During this period of slow starvation, the monk runs candles along his skin to help it gradually dry out.  A special diet (herbs, roots and tree-sap that act as deterrent to flesh-eating insects) is also given towards the end to deplete moisture in the body and preserve the meat on the bone.

Following his death, the monk is carefully placed in an underground room and allowed to dry out further for three years, before being treated with candles again. With time, the physical form literally becomes a statue in prayer, a ‘living Buddha’ as these mummies are now known as.

Interestingly, less than thirty of these self-mummified monks have been found around the world. Most of them have been found in Northern Honshu, an island in Japan whose monks also follows this practice of natural mummification.

The high levels of residual nitrogen (indicative of prolonged starvation) in Sangha Tenzin’s body shows that he followed this procedure to mummify himself.

Presently, the mummy shows little deterioration, despite having no artificial preservation and exposure to the elements. Its excellent state is probably due to the clean air, low humidity and extremely cold climate of the surrounding high-altitude desert.

As such, visitors to Gue’s unique museum can clearly observe Tenzin’s well-preserved form — from its intact head of hair and empty eye sockets to the darkened, taut skin on its broad forehead. As it sits firmly with its fist around one leg, chin resting on its knee, the mummified monk seems to be lost in contemplation as he gazes out at the surreal landscape beyond.

So if you plan to visit Spiti Valley, remember to make a detour to Gue and spend some time with India’s only naturalised mummy!

By

Kerala Administrative Service Coaching (KAS Mentor)

Source :-Better India

Kerala Administrative Service Exam Topic 53 – Humane Society International Launches Tip Line To Report Illegal Electric Fencing In Kerala

On the occasion of world elephant day, in the wake of frequent deaths of wild elephants due to electrocution from electric fences, the most recent being in Munnar, Humane Society International, India has launched a tip-line to report information on illegal high voltage (220V) electric fencing.

The organisation is offering a cash reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the people involved in setting up these fences throughout Kerala.

Recent media reports show the gruesome deaths of three Asian elephants within the past month because of contact with live, high voltage electric fences in Kerala. The Asian elephant is a protected species listed under Schedule I of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972.

Despite numerous instances of elephant electrocution in Kerala, the government has failed to take any serious action against their illegal installation. While erection of solar powered fencing to ward off wild animals from agricultural estates with a mild jolt is permitted, protection of estates and farms with 220V of electricity is prohibited as it has the potential to kill any animal or human who comes in contact with the live wire.

Sumanth Bindumadhav, wildlife campaign manager of HSI, India said, “Elephants as a species face enough threats as it is with shrinking habitat, competition for resources and poaching for ivory. The last thing they need is to be fatally electrocuted by illegally installed fencing. We can address elephant electrocution by ensuring fencing meets the legal guidelines and does not pose a threat to elephants and other wildlife. We also call on the Forest Department to team up with wildlife researchers and conservationists, to come up with a plethora of effective and proactive solutions in their armoury, to help resolve elephant conflicts with farmers.”

HSI supports the limited use of electric fencing in certain human-animal conflict situations, but only as long as the fence is professionally installed, maintained, monitored and the voltage is low enough to prevent harm to wildlife.

By

Kerala Administrative Service Coaching (KAS Mentor)

Source :-sanctuaryasia

Kerala Administrative Service Exam Topic 52-Electronically Coded Papers the Solution to Exam leaks? CBSE Thinks So!

Many parents are furious following reports that in the ongoing CBSE board examinations Class 10 maths and Class 12 economic question papers were leaked. As a result of these leaks, the CBSE was compelled to announce a re-examination in both the subjects.

Evidently, a leak of this magnitude has brought officials from the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the CBSE to re-evaluate the current mechanism under which exams are conducted.

The aim is to implement a stronger system, thus ensuring that such leaks do not happen again in the future. In response to this requirement, the board has proposed a solution.

“One option being discussed is to have electronically coded papers, the key to which will be given only one hour before the exam to the centres and they will print it in the presence of observers,” a senior official at CBSE told The Hindu. Presently, these question papers are stored in bank lockers and released to the test centres only prior to the examination, the publication reports.

Other reports indicate that the Delhi Police are conducting raids across various locations in the national capital to nab the alleged mastermind behind the examination.

Earlier this week, the CBSE academic unit had received a package containing four sheets of handwritten answer papers of the economics exam slated to be held later that day, reports ABP News. Inside this package was a letter which alleged that the papers were leaked and circulated through WhatsApp numbers.

With reports of a leak, parents took to social media and voiced their discontentment at the CBSE for failing to prevent the leaks.

Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, shared a student-driven change.org petition detailing their frustration, and sought greater accountability from the board.

By

Kerala Administrative Service Coaching (KAS Mentor)

Source :-better india

Kerala Administrative Service Exam Topic 50 – Neutrino Observatory Project Gets Centre’s Approval: Why Its Huge For India

In a big development for the nation’s scientific community, India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project has got a new lease of life with the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) finally granting it environmental clearance to set up its lab in Bodi West hills of Tamil Nadu’s Theni district.

However, while giving permission as a special case, the panel also made it clear that INO would still require a thumbs up from the state’s Wildlife Board and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).

Here’s all you need to know about Neutrinos and the INO, India’s most ambitious basic science project till date!

Neutrinos are born in violent cosmic events such as supernova explosions.

An elusive elementary particle that travels at near light speeds, Neutrinos are one of the universe’s essential and most abundant ingredients. Born from violent cosmic events like exploding stars and gamma ray bursts, they can move as easily through lead as humans can move through the air.

In fact, about 100 trillion neutrinos pass through your body every second that you stand in the sunlight. But because these nearly massless particles don’t interact with any of the particles in your body, you never notice them. Which is why these tiny ‘ghost particles’ are notoriously difficult to pin down.

The combination of this abundant yet elusive presence and the important role they play in the universe is why neutrinos can help scientists understand some of the most fundamental questions in physics —  such as understanding the evolution of the universe, figuring out the energy production mechanism in the Sun and why the universe is made up of matter, not antimatter.

Nicknamed the ‘blueprint of nature’ by scientists, neutrinos are also an important tool for mankind to learn how matter evolved from simple particles into more complex composites, creating everything around us.

Interestingly, India was the first country in the world to detect atmospheric neutrinos in 1965 during the Kolar Gold Field (KGF) experiment in Karnataka.

 

Sponsored by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), KGF’s underground lab — located deep within what was then one of the largest active gold mines in the world — served as a training ground for young and aspiring particle physicists from 1951 to 1992.

It also hosted path-breaking international collaborations, including the one that first discovered atmospheric neutrinos (India’s only major contribution to experimental particle physics).

After four decades of conducting pioneering experiments, the facility was finally shut down in 1992 after the mine’s vast network of tunnels got flooded due to disuse (as the gold reserves had dwindled, the mining operations had stopped). However, soon after, India’s particle physicists got together to shape a plan for a new place to study fundamental particles and forces.

In 2002, this group of scientists (led by TIFR physicist Naba Mondal, who had researched at Kolar for over a decade) officially announced the ambitious INO project to create a national underground ‘neutrino telescope’.

To implement this vision, Inter-Institutional Centre for High Energy Physics (IICHEP) was established in Madurai.

INO collaboration meeting held in 2014.

As per the proposed project, the underground facility to study atmospheric neutrinos will be built in a 1,300-m deep cavern nestled at the base of a monolithic hill in the Bodi West Hills. The reason for doing this is that the stable and dense Charnockite rock will filter all other cosmic rays and provide an opportunity to detect the feeble signatures of these shy particles.

Moreover, if completed, INO will house the largest magnet in the world, — a 50,000-tonne iron calorimeter, four times larger than CERN’s Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector’s magnet. The size of the detector would allow up to three neutrino detections per day.

Interestingly, the INO project has been gaining urgency in the recent years with China announcing the construction of a similar neutrino observatory in its Jiangmen province. Like the INO, the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory is also expected to be completed by 2020-2022.

The country which wins this scientific race will find it easier to establish its primacy in atmospheric neutrinos research.

A laboratory of the Daya Bay Experiment, a China-based multinational particle physics project studying neutrinos.

However, the INO project also has its critics. Many argue, among other things, that using explosives to build a subterranean facility — even controlled blasts that limit the impact of vibrations — is a threat to the fragile ecology of the Western Ghats.

Answering this question, D. Indumathi (physicist and outreach coordinator of INO) told The Hindu,

“This is exactly like making a 2-inch hole to insert a pipe through a 10-foot-high wall. It will not affect the stability of the hill. Even the Chennai Metro Rail project can dig just metres under the buildings without damaging them because of advances in technology.”

The second concern is radiation, though particle physicists say that the risk is negligible and that these allegations arise from misconceptions in basic physics. According to them, there is no scope for radioactivity or for leaching of water and that these facts have been explained to the panel (in the presence of a DRDO expert).

In fact, the scientists of INO have spent time talking to the residents of Pottipuram (the village near the proposed site), fielding questions like whether the experiment will produce a radiation hazard (it won’t) and whether the village cattle will continue to have access to the shrub-covered hill (they will).

Detailed answers to questions on the impact of various aspects of the project have also been outlined in the INO website.

The site of INO’s proposed lab.

Yet another concern is that spending crores on scientific research of this kind is a waste of money. Scientists counter this argument by highlighting the enormous achievements 20th century has brought in on the pillars of relativity and quantum mechanics.

Furthermore, they point out that the INO faculty will give Indian particle physics students the chance to do cutting-edge research at home. This counter-argument gains significance considering the fact that more than half the Nobel Prizes in physics in the past 50 years have been awarded to basic research in particle physics — this includes the 2015 Prize for the discovery of neutrino oscillations!.

Thus, while public apprehensions about projects like INO are understandable, they also illustrate the fact that communication between the scientific community and citizens needs to be more basic and more democratic. At a time when India is battling a brain drain epidemic, doing this could give its scientific community a much-needed boost while making science accessible to the larger public.

 

By

Kerala Administrative Service Coaching (KAS Mentor)

Source :-better india

Kerala Administrative Service Exam Topic 49 – How Is a Rajya Sabha Member Elected? 10 Things You Need to Know

With the impending retirement of many members, the Rajya Sabha, which is the Indian Parliament’s upper house, is gearing up to elect 58 new members from 16 states alongside a bye-election to elect one member from Kerala.

But how exactly is the electoral process to pick the representatives of the states and the Union Territories in the council of states undertaken and who plays the decisive role in this procedure?

Here is everything you need to know about the entire process—right from nomination to election and bye-election:

1. As per Article 80 of the Indian Constitution, the maximum strength of the Rajya Sabha cannot exceed 250. The present strength of the upper house, however, is 245, out of which 233 are representatives of the States and Union territories of Delhi and Puducherry, while the remaining 12 are nominated by the President of India.

2. The members nominated by the President are people having a distinctive knowledge or practical experience in fields such as literature, science, art and social service.

3. The representatives of States and Union Territories in the Rajya Sabha are elected by the method of indirect election by the elected members of Legislative Assembly pertaining to each State and by the members of Electoral College for that Union Territory, respectively, through the proportional representation with the single transferable vote (STV) system. Each voter’s vote is counted only once.

4. The Rajya Sabha is a permanent House and is not subject to dissolution. However, one-third members of the Council of States retire after every second year. A member who is elected for a full term serves for a period of six years.

5. The election held to fill a vacancy arising other than by retirement of a member on the expiration of his term of office is called a ‘bye-election.’ A member elected in a bye-election retains the post for the remainder of the term of the member who had resigned, died or disqualified to be a member of the House.

6. The presiding officers of Rajya Sabha have the responsibility to conduct the proceedings of the House. The Vice-President of India is the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha. The upper house also elects a Deputy Chairman from amongst its members.

7. The allocation of seats is made on the basis of the population of each State. Consequent to the reorganisation of States and formation of new States, the number of elected seats in the Rajya Sabha allotted to States and Union Territories has changed from time to time since 1952. A person to be qualified for the membership of the Rajya Sabha must not be less than 30 years of age.

8. A member may be disqualified as a member, if he voluntarily gives up the membership of his political party, or if he votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction issued by the political party to which he belongs.

9. A member elected as an independent candidate shall be disqualified if he joins any political party after his election. A member nominated to the House by the President, however, is allowed to join a political party if he/she does so within the first six months of taking the seat in the House.

10. As per article 75(3) of the Constitution, the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha which means that the Rajya Sabha cannot make or unmake the Government. It can, however, exercise control over the Government and this function becomes quite prominent, particularly when the incumbent government never enjoys a majority in the Rajya Sabha

By

Kerala Administrative Service Coaching (KAS Mentor)

Source :-better india

Kerala Administrative Service Exam Topic 48- SC Says Yes to ‘Living Will’ of Terminally Ill, Passive Euthanasia: All You Need to Know

In what is being seen as a big move made by the Supreme Court, it has allowed the execution of ‘living will’ and the right to die with dignity – passive euthanasia, with certain strict guidelines to be followed until the Centre brings in a legislation.

A constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, gave the 5-0 ruling. “Human beings have the right to die with dignity,” the bench said while announcing the ruling.

Some key takeaways are:

· One can draft a ‘living will’ specifying that they not be put on life support if they slip into an incurable coma. This ‘will’ needs to be made when the person is of sound mind.

· Passive euthanasia will be applicable only to those who suffer from terminal illness and have no hope of recovery.

· The Supreme Court will constitute a medical board, to consider cases of passive euthanasia.

· A family member or friend of the terminally ill patient seeking passive euthanasia will have to approach the High Court and seek permission from the Medical Board.

The guidelines are still coming in and this article will be updated once the order is available in the public domain.

By

Kerala Administrative Service Coaching (KAS Mentor)

Source :-better india

Kerala Administrative Service Exam Topic 47-Teachers turn drivers at this K’taka govt school to improve falling student numbers

Every day, Nooruddin GM (47) and Radhakrishna Nayak (45), teachers at a Kannada medium school in Bantwal, turn drivers and make six daily trips to ferry about 80 children from home to school and back.

The duo has been doing this service, each morning and evening, for over nine years now to contain the dipping number of students at their school. At its peak, the 44-year-old Darul Islam Aided Higher Primary School at Panemangalore in Bantwal had over 400 students, but now the number has plunged to 185.

The teachers say the students are more than happy to accept what is a joyride for them to school and back.

“All the students are from poor economic backgrounds. So the concept of travelling in the car itself is a dream come true for most of them, and so they never give it a miss,” Physical Education teacher Radhakrishna says.

For driving the 16 km each trip, the teachers do not receive any extra remuneration. In fact, assistant teacher Nooruddin has to travel approximately 27 km every day to get to the school from his home in Mangalore. But sharp at 9 in the morning, the duo ensures that all their students are in the campus.

Nooruddin says he is not embarrassed to become a driver and that he would go to any extent to bring more students to school.

It was in 2009-2010 that the Darul Islam Aided Higher Primary School noticed a substantial fall in their student numbers. It not only affected the number of staff of this government-aided school but also affected the faculty’s morale. Several factors such as preference for English medium over Kannada and rise in neighbourhood schools played a role in the dip in student numbers.

“However, distance and non-availability of school transport was mainly pointed out by parents for the withdrawal of their wards,” headmaster of Darul Islam Aided Higher Primary School Pakruddin said.

“The school authorities were concerned that at this rate our school might just shut down,” Pakruddin said.

It was then that, in consultation with the staff, the school authorities decided to introduce free pick up and drop for their students. In an act of selflessness, the faculty of the school chipped in a part of the amount and raised Rs 1.2 lakh for procuring two second-hand cars – an Ambassador and a Maruti Omni for the school trips. The school also dedicated Rs 2 lakh annually for fuel and maintenance of the vehicles.

“Each year we make it a point to exchange the vehicles for better ones, so that the safety of the children is not compromised,” the headmaster added.

The school cars make trips as far as 8 km to the remote areas at Golthamajal-Kalladka.

“Preference is given to primary level children and girl students,” Pakruddin says.

Encouraged by the school’s proactiveness, now even the parents of the respective children along with a few residents are contributing towards the transport expenses.

The school has students from Class 1 to 7. At present there are six government approved staff and the school has hired the service of two more faculty on honorarium basis.

The school authorities say that they have not approached the government for vehicles, additional financial assistance or drivers, but for over 9 years now they have successfully run an incident-free transportation service for their students.

“We won’t boast that the number of students has increased greatly. Frankly speaking even after the introduction of the transport service, the number is fluctuating. But we want to keep this school alive for the next generation and we will try to be more creative in our efforts,” Pakruddin says.

Speaking to TNM, Block Education Officer (BEO) of Bantwal, N Shivprakash, said that at the moment the government provided transport only for schools catering to differently-abled children. However, in future, the government may consider extending the service to regular schools as well.

By

Kerala Administrative Service Coaching (KAS Mentor)

Source :-news minute

Kerala Administrative Service Exam Topic 46 – In Kerala, Sewer-Cleaning Robots to Soon Replace Manual Scavengers

Thiruvananthapuram: Robots will soon replace men in cleaning up sewer holes in Kerala, ending the age-old practice of manual scavenging in the southern state.

‘Bandicoot’, the robot developed by the startup firm Genrobotics, will be used for cleaning sewer holes.

The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) and Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) today signed an MoU for transfer of technology and products, including use of the robots for the purpose. The MoU was signed between Kerala Water Innovation Zone under KWA and KSUM at the Chief Minister’s office here, a statement said here.

‘Bandicoot’ will start its work, so far mostly done manually, by cleaning sewer holes in the city during the coming famed Attukal Pongala festival in Thiruvananthapuram in March, it said.

The robot has four limbs and a bucket system attached to a spider web looking extension, which can go inside the manhole. After shovelling the heap of garbage at the bottom of the manhole, it will be collected by using the bucket system before lifting it upward. It also has Wi-Fi and bluetooth modules, it said.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Minister for Water Resources Mathew T Thomas, IT Secretary M Sivasankar, KSUM CEO Saji Gopinath, Additional Chief Secretary, Water Resources,Tom Jose, KWA officials and eight representatives from Genrobotics were present on the occasion.

KSUM had funded for the project by Genrobotics, which conducted a field study to find a solution for manual scavenging. Genrobotics is planning to market the product within six months. It has already got enquiries from states like Tamil Nadu to take it to the national-level.

Founded in 2015, GenRobotics specialises in powered exoskeletons and human controlled robotic systems.

The robot is powered by pneumatics (using gas or pressurised air) since using heavy electronic equipment inside is risky as they can react with the explosive gases present in the manhole.

Meanwhile, KWA is also also conducting research on the issue following the Chief Minister’s instruction to find a remedy for it.

The KSUM is a nodal agency of the Kerala government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state

By

Kerala Administrative Service Coaching (KAS Mentor)

Source :-Wire