State wants Centre to bear 25% of the cost Centre had earlier rejected the scheme The State government has resubmitted its project for distribution of essential commodities through ration shops to the Centre for assistance and proposes to lobby for it strongly. The project envisages distribution of 13 items, such as green gram, Bengal gram, split gram, coriander and chillies, through the ration shops in the State at subsidised rates. The State wants...

KFRI study finds serious health and environmental hazards in some districts Overuse of pesticides in pineapple farming is feared to have caused serious health and environmental hazards in some districts in the State. Overuse of pesticides, herbicides and weedicides has been reported from Kuttikanam in Idukki and the Mundakkayam and Erumeli areas in Kottayam, where pineapple is grown in rubber estates as an intercrop. A field verification study by the Kerala Forest...

THENI: From now on, petitioners in remote villages need not wait in the corridors of district police office or in front of the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police to hand over petitions or air their grievances. They can meet top district police officers at their doorsteps. Theni district police administration launched ‘Police Administration Towards People,’ a special meet-the-people-at-their-village programme, at Chinnamanur near here on Saturday. A team of...

KEY TRENDS   • Suicide by self-employed persons in agriculture as a percentage of total suicides at the national level stood at 15.6 percent in 1996, 16.3 percent in 2002, 14.4 percent in 2006, 13.7 percent in 2009, 11.9 percent in 2010, 10.3 percent in 2011, 11.4 percent in 2012 and 8.73 percent in 2013. Suicides committed in the farming sector (by farmers plus agricultural labourers) as a proportion of total suicides in India was 9.4 percent in...