Daily News Dose: Centre's silence on K-Rail intriguing, says HC | Apr 7, 2022

Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Vishnu, and these are the major news stories of the day:

1) Centre's silence on K-Rail intriguing, says Kerala High Court

2) K V Thomas throws Congress diktat to wind, to attend CPM seminar

3) Kerala forest officials try to create new divisions keeping minister in dark

4) Kerala Government to review bus fare hike

5) Welfare activities in Kerala's adivasi areas hit a roadblock

Let’s get into the details.

1) The Kerala High Court has expressed surprise over the Centre's silence regarding the controversial SilverLine semi high-speed project proposed by the CPM government. “The Centre has 49% equity share in the project. However, the Union Government has not revealed what would be its role in K-Rail,” observed Justice Devan Ramachandran while considering a batch of petitions filed against the laying of boundary stones with K-Rail markings on private land. In its affidavit filed before the court, the Central Government has not said that a survey for SilverLine cannot be carried out, the judge pointed out. It also said the Supreme Court has allowed a social impact study in the affected areas. The High Court stated that the petitioners need not be concerned over acquisition of their land for the project at this stage as the state government has assured the court that its intention was only to conduct a social impact survey. 

2) Throwing the Congress leadership's warning to the wind, senior leader K V Thomas on Thursday said he will attend the CPM's ongoing Party Congress in Kannur. The former Union minister announced his decision at a press meet in Kochi, in which he slammed the Congress leadership for barring him, along with other Congress leaders, from attending the seminar. Thomas said he will attend the seminar on 'centre-state relations' as it's a national issue. “Those opposing BJP and communalism should stand together. Congress has its own limitations. There maybe issues between the Congress and CPM in Kerala. It should be kept aside. I am going to attend the programme. Congress has to rectify its mistake,” he said. KPCC President K Sudhakaran had on Wednesday warned that Thomas would face expulsion if he decides to attend the seminar violating party diktat. When asked about this, Thomas said, “I'm an AICC member. Only the AICC can expel me.”

3) In bizarre development, a move was made at the bureaucratic level to create three wildlife divisions in the State without the knowledge of the minister concerned. The move came to light after the chief minister returned the file forwarded to him circumventing the minister for forests A K Saseendran, who nixed the move after the CMO forwarded the file to him. The bureaucrats' move, apparently, was to create new designations and convenient posts.

4) The Kerala government is likely to review the bus fare hike following complaints from various quarters. The hike will put a huge financial burden on the people, as per the complaints received by Transport Minister Antony Raju, along with the figures. All the previous fare hikes were up to 7-10 paise per kilometre, but the current increase is 30 paise. In addition to this, the distance that can be travelled for the minimum fare has been slashed to half. As the distance that can be travelled for the minimum fare has been reduced from 5km to 2.5km, the hike would be doubled in all the subsequent fare stages. Till now, Rs 19 was the charge for the 8th fare stage for which a distance of 20km can be covered. But as per the new fares, this would be Rs 28. As per these figures, the government will also invite criticism for implementing the biggest fare hike in the country. Even when the minimum charge has been hiked to Rs 10 in Kerala, it is merely Rs 5 in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu, prompting the government to reconsider.  

5) Kannur: Welfare activities in the state's tribal belts have run into a roadblock following the laying-off of ST (Scheduled Tribe) promoters. The promoters were ousted on March 31 ahead of appointing new hands. Though the written examination for selecting new promoters was held on March 27, the shortlist has not been published. The posts of ST promoters may remain vacant for a while since the appointment of new staff, after conducting interviews and sending appointment letters, is time consuming. Meanwhile, adivasis are having a tough time, even without basic facilities, including adequate healthcare and food. The promoters had been coordinating the government schemes meant for the ST population. Pregnant women, elderly people suffering from various ailments, and children are among those who need immediate help. With the posts of promoters remaining vacant, the State currently has no mechanism to ensure that adivasi students are taking SSLC and Plus-II exams. The Directorate of Scheduled Tribes said the ST promoters would be appointed this month itself. An outside agency that had conducted the written test provided a district-level shortlist of candidates. The process of shortlisting candidates at the panchayat level is currently on.

Now, let’s check out the covid update:

6) India logged 1,033 new Covid cases on Thursday, pushing the overall tally to 4,30,31,958, while the active cases dipped to 11,639.

The death toll climbed to 5,21,530 with 43 more fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry.

While the daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.21%, the weekly positivity rate stood at 0.22%.

That brings us to the end of this episode. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.