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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. Rain havoc: Orange alert in 6 Kerala districts, train services disrupted due to waterlogging
2. Kerala Assembly passes Lokayukta Bill; Opposition calls it a black day
3. Kerala CM meets half of Vizhinjam fishers' primary demand, warns of action if stir is not withdrawn
4. Shashi Tharoor likely to contest against a non-Gandhi in AICC presidential poll
5. Rs 40,000 for a ticket to UAE, steep Gulf airfares force NRI families to delay return
Let's get into the details
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1. Heavy rains continued to lash different parts of Kerala on Tuesday.
The India Meteorological Department issued an orange alert in Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki and Thrissur and a yellow alert in the remaining districts.
An orange alert is issued when an area receives rainfall between 6 and 20 cm and a yellow alert is sounded when the rainfall received is between 6 and 11 cm.
The Met Department has also forecast widespread rain in the state for the next five days.
Meanwhile, heavy downpour and waterlogging threw life out of gear in Ernakulam district. Several parts of Kochi, including MG Road, and Puthenkurish, were inundated after the rains.
In Kochi city, Vytilla, Edapally and Palarivattom areas witnessed huge traffic blocks on Tuesday morning as the roads were flooded.
Mayor Anil Kumar said it was the worst case of waterlogging the city has ever seen.
Train services were also affected due to the waterlogged railway tracks and faulty signals at Ernakulam stations. Many long-distance trains were also delayed.
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2. The Kerala Lok Ayukta (Amendment) Bill, which takes away the enforceable rights of the Lok Ayukta, was passed in the Assembly on Tuesday. The Opposition UDF boycotted the day's proceedings saying it would not be witness to the government's autocratic approach of using its brute majority to annihilate the only anti-corruption mechanism that existed in Kerala.
The Opposition was especially critical of the new changes that were introduced when the Bill was under the consideration of the Assembly Subject Committee. This relates to the restructuring of the competent authorities to whom the Lok Ayukta would make its recommendation.
In the 1999 Act, which has now been superseded, the Governor was the competent authority in the case of any findings against the Chief Minister. This has now been changed to the State Legislative Assembly. Meaning, the Assembly will now sit in judgment over the Lok Ayukta recommendations against a Chief Minister. The State Legislative Assembly would be the competent authority for MLAs, too.
After the Amendment, the Lok Ayukta findings will not be binding on the competent authorities; they can either accept or reject the Lok Ayukta's recommendations. Sensing that a Governor, perhaps acting at the behest of the Centre, could accept adverse findings and unseat an elected Chief Minister, the LDF Government has removed the Governor from a position that could give him power over the Chief Minister. This was also emblematic of the government's growing mistrust of Governor Arif Muhammad Khan.
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3. Even while sticking to his earlier stand that there was no scientific basis whatsoever for the perception that the Vizhinjam port construction was causing coastal erosion, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday agreed to half of the agitating fisherfolk's primary demand.
The fishers wanted the port construction to be stopped and an independent study to be constituted to assess the social and geological impact of the port construction on the coast. The Chief Minister announced the formation of an expert committee to assess the impact of the port construction on the coast. He said no scientific study had found a link between erosion and port construction but the committee was being formed "considering the concerns of the fisherfolk". He said the committee would submit an interim report in three months.
However, he ruled out stopping construction work on the port, while reiterating that certain agitating elements had special motives, hinting at the involvement of the Latin Church. "Some have political designs and the intentions of certain others do not sit well with the interests of the State Government," said Pinarayi Vijayan.
He exhorted the fishermen to call off their agitation immediately and warned of harsh measures if the agitators continue to hold out. The agitation entered its 15th day on Tuesday.
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Before we move on, here's a quick reminder to checkout Onmanorama's other podcasts, Wacky News and News Brake. Wacky News is a collection of the weirdest and strangest news from across the globe and News Brake is a clutter-free explainer of the major news story of the week. Both programmes are available on all podcast platforms.
Now, back to Daily News Dose.
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4. Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor is likely to run for party president if no one from the Gandhi family contests the election.
Parleys are on in G-23, the group of 23 senior reformist party leaders, to field Tharoor against a non-Gandhi candidate. In case the former diplomat-turned-politician is unwilling to contest, Manish Tewari, the MP representing Anandpur Sahib in the Lok Sabha, would be the group's candidate. Tewari is likely to contest even against Rahul Gandhi.
Though the dissident group has not made a final decision on challenging the party high command's candidate, the leaders felt that a contest is necessary to make the issues the Congress has been facing and their solutions, a talking point within the party.
The Congress presidential election is slated for October 17. If there is only one candidate, that person will be declared the winner on October 8, the last date for withdrawing the nomination papers. The G-23 is trying to avoid such a situation.
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5. Airfares to the Gulf sector have soared forcing Non-Resident Indian families to think twice about travel plans even as schools reopened after the summer holidays.
Several families who returned to their home countries during the just-concluded summer vacation in the Middle East find it difficult to book return flights as they cannot afford the steep hike in flight fares.
Despite schools in Gulf countries reopening after vacations, many families remain in Kerala waiting for the fares to drop.
For a four-member family flight fares to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are between Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh. Travel to Abu Dhabi costs even higher as the ticket price is about Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 more. A one-way ticket for one person is now available at more than Rs 40,000.
However, the airfares are unlikely to go down soon as there are many takers for high-priced tickets. As per reports, there are no seats available on direct flights now despite the high fare. Many UAE-bound travellers have to opt for connecting flights to reach their destinations. They spend many more hours to make the trip even as a direct UAE flight from India takes about only 4 hours.
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That brings us to the end of this episode. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.