Chirakkal Sree Shiva Bhagavati Temple

Dear friends,

Chirakkal Sree Shiva Bhagavati Temple, Payyadimethal near Palazhi, Kozhikode-673019 is our ancestral temple. In swarnaprasnam it is observed that this Temple is about 800 years old. The renovation and punaprathista was performed during 17-21April 2010.



The Temple Complex is comprised within 69.75 cents of land situated east bank of Mampuzha river. The main temples in the temple complex are Shiva Temple and Bhagavati Temple faced to each other which is a rare event in Kerala. The other daitees are Ganapathi, Sasthavu, Gurudevan, KaliyachanGurukkal, Karimkutty, Pookutty, Thalasillavan and Villi. Near by the Temple Complex there is a Nagathan Kotta and Naga Prathista.

പ്രദാന വഴിപാടുകള്‍
വിളകുമാല, പുഷ്പാഞ്ജലി, സ്വയംവരപുശ്പന്ജലി, രക്തപുഷ്പാഞ്ജലി, ഭാഗ്യസൂക്തപുശ്പന്ജലി, ആയുര്സൂക്തപുശ്പന്ജലി, ജലധാര, മലെര്‍നിവേധ്യം , കുവളമാല , താമരമാല , തുളസിമാല ,ഇളനീരഭിഷേകേം , ത്രുമാധുരം നെയ്വിളക്, കര്പുരരധാന, വെള്ളനിവേധ്യം ശിവങ്കല്‍, വാഹനപൂജ, ഉണ്ടാമല , ഷീരധാര , പാല്‍കൊടുക്കള്‍, ചോറുണ്, പാല്‍പായസം, വിശേഷല്‍പൂജ, അപ്പനിവേധ്യം , കെടാവിളക്, ചുറ്റുവിളക്,
വിവാഹം, മുട്ടരുക്കല്‍, മൃതുഞ്ഞയഹോമം, ദീപസ്തഭംതെളിയികള്‍ തുടങ്ങിയവയാണ് പ്രദാന വഴിപാടുകള്‍.

Voice of Evictees

Dear friends,

Today one more of our staff, Shri. P Sasi, retired from cwrdm service. Shri P Sasi joined in cwrdm-subcentre at Cheemeni in Kasergod district on 16th June 1992. In the welcome address performed by 'Tarangam' president and Head,ESD, Shri P Jayakumar has pointed out that shri Sasi is the 110th personal retiring from cwrdm service and reduced the staff strength of cwrdm to half without much recuipment. He hopped that the cwrdm authorities will take necessary steps for the recruitment of the vacant posts.

Shri P Sasi joined in cwrdm as part-time staff and worked about 7 years in that post and latter appointed as full time staff. As a result he was not benefited the actual 18 years of service he rendered in cwrdm even though he has worked as 'full time' staff in cwrdm-subcentre,Cheemani in Kasargod District because his place of work was too distant from his residence in Kozhikode. Hence he stayed 24 hours in the sub-centre itself. He got the job under evictees category from whose land the cwrdm started.

In 1960 about 156 acres of land was taken by Kerala Government for the establishment of Calicut University but at the time of Chief Minister Shri C H Mohammed Koya(October12,1979 to December, 1979) it was transfered to Thanjippalam in Malappuram District and the land was handovered to cwrdm.

As per GO MS No 47/77/ Plg dt 30-11-77 the Government have ordered that all appointments to the Research & Development Institutions established under Science & Technology Wing except appointments to technical categories of posts whose basic salary is Rs 500/-and above to be made through the nominees of Employment Exchange observing communal reservation rules. Since the evictees were agitating against the appointment of persons other than those whose land have been acquired by the Calicut University and subsequently taken over by the centre and this matter was reported to Government by the Executive Director of cwrdm and the Government ordered by GO MS 11/83/LAR dated 26-2-1983 that persons whose lands have been acquired for establishing cwrdm will be sponsored for the posts of Helper, Driver, Sweeper, Sweeper-cleaner, Watchman, Assistant grade-II, typists and Stenographers. But the authorities filled the above said posts without considering the evictees until Shri M R Venugopal, Working President of cwrdm Employees Association started Hunger Strike in March, 1988. As a result of this agitation the authorities unwillingly agreed to implement CSIR promotion rules and appointments for evictees and they tried to topple this agreement also. But at last towards the end of 1991 the authorities are forced to implement it. Late Com: C P Balan Vaidyer played a major role in implementing it. As a result of the grudges on the part of authorities, they have posted these partime staff in cwrdm-subcenters at Kasergod, Kannur, Palakkad, Manimalakunnu, Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram which was actully againt rules.

The most impotent thing in human beings is that after getting the benefits we will forget the blessings showered on us by others. As a result of these type of attitudes we are unable to utilize the full benefits we are actually expected to get.

Executive Director Dr Jayakumar presided over the send off function. Registrar Col.(retd) Yohannan and Dr Pradeepkumar, Ex cwrdm-Chemeni-subcentre Head and present MOS Head spoke vividly on their initial trrifying and then the enjoyment life at Cheemeni. Dr N K JOseph, Head, Surface water division pointed out that Shri Sasi is a hard worker and a great devotee of God. He is an active member of Manathanath Annapoorneswari Temple. Dr K R Prasennakumar, Working President of cwrdm Employees Association and Dr Dinesan, Working President of cwrdm Employees Organisation also spoke on the ocction. Shri M T Anilkumar, Tarangam Secretary expressed vote of thanks. After photocession and planting of tree, we accopanied Shri Sasi to his residence at Chemancherry. Shri Sasi's wife is a home maker and they have two married daughters and their son is working abroad. I wish him a happy and prosperus retired life.

with best wishes
ktv

Election Duty

Dear friends,

First Nayanar Ministry came to power on 25th January 1980 as a result of the election held on 21st January 1980 and it didn't complete its tenure and consequently a bi-election to Kerala Legislative Assembly took place on 9th May 1982 and Karunakaran Ministry came in to power on 21st May 1982 .

I joined in cwrdm on 1st October 1980 and my first appointment for election duty was in 1982 for the bi-election to Kerala State Legislative Assembly. I was appointed as First Reserve Polling Officer. Since Reserve Polling Officer has nothing to do till he is called for somebody's place as the original person has not attended the election duty with sufficient reasons. So, normally few Reserve Persons will get actual election duty. The Reserve Personals should sit there until all Election Duty assigned personals have left with their complete crew. I was not called for the duty till all Election Duty assigned personal left and I was freed from Reserve Duty at about 3 pm on that day.

In December 1984 Loksabha Election took place and this time I was appointed as First Polling Officer and my Presiding Officer was an School master who was not having previous experience as Presiding Officer and hence he contacted his experienced friend who was not posted for that election duty. He gave all guidances and I also gathered necessary precaution and actions we have to take in-order to act as "One day King". We have put distinguishing marks on the top right hand corner of both on the back of counter foil and also on the back of the ballot papers alloted to our polling station.Half of the ballot papers were signed by the presiding officer and kept in his safe custody. Filled all forms and covers with Polling station No, Name of Constituency etc. and pasted labels on Ballot box . Towards the end of the poll an arrangement was made so as to avoid unused but signed ballot papers by signing the Ballot Papers by the Presiding Offer in-situ. The poll ended peacefully and we have packed all the materials and arranged the forms according to FORM No 22 (receipt for return of election Records and Materials after poll). Generally people appointed for Election Duty will not go through these forms the day before polling and they will try to fill these things after the poll, at that time all will be in a hurry to reach their destination, resulting confusion and in a hurry they go to receiving center and at the receiving station they will ask one by one and we will not be able to produce things properly. If a single person has committed this mistake, all others have to suffer!!!

After this election, in almost all elections, I served as Presiding Officer and I didn"t experience any difficulty in discharging my duties as Presiding Officer. I got wholeharted support from my collegues, polling agents and political parties in the conduct of election. The only difficulty I phased is in the receiving centre. This is due to the lack of proper decision and directions from authorities. The directions given in rehearsal class will some times contradict when we go to handover the materials to the Receiving Authorities and more over we will be forced to give different materials in different counters also. This also creates utter confusion in the midst of haste crowed, who were eager to dispose the materials and leave the place. If the authorities take some more precautions and give proper written directions (some times they do) apart from HAND BOOK this confusion will be averted and the election duty will become a nice experience and employees will accept election duty wholeheartedly.

Nowadays election duty is a compulsion and most of the persons getting election duty memo tries to get a medical certificate from a doctor and approaches the authorities for getting exemption from duty. It is a very sad plight!!!

In the last Panchayat election held on 26-09-05, I was posted as Presiding Officer in polling station No 2/1 Ekarool, Unnikulam, Balussery. As per the directions prevailed at that time, apart from other things, I submitted three covers containing ballot paper accounts (one for Grama Panchayat-GP, one for Block Panchayat-BP, and one for District Panchayat-DP), One cover cotaining Paper Seal account, One cover containing the declaration of the Presiding fficer, three covers containing presiding officers Diary and one cover containing aquittance Roll of TA to polling personals. These covers need not be sealed and the officials in the collecting centre will veryfey the contents on receipt itself. Packet-I STATUTARY COVERS, Packet-II NON STATUTORY COVERS are to be sealed.PACKET-III and PACKET - IV need not be sealed

It is a strange experience that every employee should try to acquire and imbibe in their mind for the inspiration during the relaxing period of retired life. It will surely give a sense of satisfaction much above the routine duties discharged during their official tenure.

with best wishes
ktv

Unpleasant Truths

Dear friends,

Today 19th July 2010 farewell ceremony of Smt Pushpa was conducted in lieu of 30th June 2010 as she was infected with some ailments and it was not took place on that day . She actively participated in Tarangam activities and almost all functions held in cwrdm started with her prayer. She is a good singer graced with very pleasant voice. She worked almost all Divisions in CWRDM and all of them appreciated her competance in discharing the duties assigned to her. Her husband had already retired from Legal Metrology Department and they have a son and a daughter. She joined in CWRDM as Typist in 1980 and retired as Typist even though cwrdm adopted Secretariat pattern as carrier improvement rules for administrative staff in the beginning but later it was switched over to KFRI pattern and paved all types of anomalies and disparities among the equals. She was one of sch victims and Registrar in Charge and Head, Surface Water Division Dr N K Joseph pointed out this fact and said that he tried to implement at least one designation change coupled with promotion to this category, but it was in-vain. Actually Thechnical Officer and Technical Assistant Category also suffers the same injustice.

Dr. Jalaja, Scientist, ESD opened that it is better to avoid unpleasant truths from these type of sorrowful occasions as it will only increase the gravity of sadness in the sorrowful eve. What she said is true but the authorities want to show that they have tried to do something for the staff, at least during their retirement. Now a day all things are becoming a show and we are only the actors.

The farewell ceremoney was welcomed by Shri M R Venugopal, President, Tarangam and Scientist & in Charge of RSC. Dr P Jayakumar, Executive Director, presided over the function. Dr Madhavan Komath, Scientist,CWAL also spok on the occation. Tarangam General Secretary E G Soman expressed vote of thanks.

Smt. Pushpa and family and my family mentained a acordial relationship and we wish them a wealthy, healthy and prosperous life.

with best wishes to all,
ktv.

Recognition

Dear friends,

Owing to some family matters I was unable to attend the retirement function that held on January 2010 and that held on 31st March 2010. On 31st January 2010, Smt Nirmala Stepan, Technical officer, Environmental Studies Division and Shri Abdulla, Driver, Construction and Maintenance Wing, retired from cwrdm service. I have expressed my best wishes personally to them. Smt Nirmala Stephan is a law graduate apart from having Science Degree. She performed her duties silently.

On 31st March 2010 two more colleagues Shri P Krishnan and Shri KG Ittoope retired from service. Shri P Krishnan, Sr Stenographer who was PA to Registrar for long time and later shifted to Construction and Maintenance Wing and lastly to Isotope Hydrology Division. Shri K G Ittoop, Electrical Engineer who was appointed as technical Assistant and through his sustained efforts got Diploma in Electrical Engineering and latter got appointment as Electrical Engineer in Construction and Maintenance Wing of cwrdm. Both of them discharged their duties very effectively and systematically. Shri Ittoop's wife is a homemaker and they had one daughter(married) and two sons of which one is married. Ishri Ittoope helped me a lot in the electrification of my house and we wish them a very happy and prosperous retired life.

Shri Krishnan's wife is employed in KSFE and his son is a Doctor (MBBS). They are very friendly to all. They have already celebrated their silver jubilee of married life and we wish them a very healthy, wealthy and happy long life. They used to visit us frequently and it is on his and his son's affectionate words that we have approached Medical College Hospital for my wifes neck lymph cyst checking and subsequent surgery.

At this point we would also like to express our gratitude to Head and Professor of Pathology Dr Sathi, wife of Shri M R Venugopal, Head, Remote Sencing Cell, CWRDM, for madams kind help and advise given to us in the surgical process and for their sisterly approach, even in the midst of their son's Entrance Examination. We are very much glad to note that their son has got 36th place in the Medical Entrance Examination which is a record in cwrdm staff members children's are considered. We congratulate Shri Kannan and his great parents.

On 31st May 2010 three of our colleagues retired from cwrdm service. Shri Remesh kumar, Messenger and Smt Sethulakshmi, Assistant Registrar(Human Resources), both from Administration Division and Shri Surendran Nair from Isotope Hydrology Division. They have served the center 32 years, 29 years and 20 years respectively. Owing to some family matters Shri Remesh kumar left the office early and the other two participated in the farewell function organized by Tharangam. Smt Sethulakshmi was the Tharangam Arts Secretary twice and do actively participate in the activities of Tharangam. She has joined in cwrdm service after relinquishing her job in Calicut University.

Shri Remesh Kumar joined in cwrdm in its beginning. His wife is a homemaker and they have one son employed in abroad. His son and my son are intimate friends and he helped us whenever we faced difficulties. We are personaly indebted to them. His fathers younger brother, Shri Shadevan sir, was our former Administrative officer on deputation from Government Sereteriat, Thiruvananthapuram. Our best wishes are for all his family and joint family members.

As far as Shri Surendran Nair is concerned, cwrdm is the third heritage. He had more than 15 years service in Army and more than seven years service in Kerala Transport Company. He had one son and one daughter, both of them married and leading a comfortable life. I wish him a happy and prosperous retired life

The function was presided by our Executive Director and Patron of Tharangam Dr K V Jayakumar. Tharangam Vice President Smt Sukumariamma welcomed the gathering and Tarangam secretary Shri E G Soman expressed vote of thanks. Dr N K Joseph, Head, Surface Water Division and in-Charge of Registrar and vice patron of Tarangam, Dr M D Nandeswar, Head, Sub-Centers, Dr Madhavan Komath, Dr T K Jalaja spoke on the occasion. In the reply speech Smt Sethulakshmi expressed thanks for the good words showered on her and said that if these good words were given as piecemeal basis it would have imparted added vigor in performing their duties in cwrdm. Now all of a sudden a splendid feast is given and she is afraid that it will create constipation. She also pointed out that Tharangam should take necessary actions for introducing new comers in the institute.

It is true that recognition or good words will always create added vigor to work, we are all self-esteemed personalities but our ancestors taught us that we should work without expectations

In Bhagavat Geetha Chapter 2 Sloka 47 says,

Karmanya vadhikaraste ma phalesu kadachana
Ma karma-phala-heturbhur ma te sangosttvakarmani

You certainly have the right for prescribed activities but never at anytime in their results. You should never be motivated by the results of the actions, nor should there be any attachment in doing your prescribed activities.

This was plainly indicted by Shri E G Soman, Secretary, Tarangam in his vote of thanks speech.

Once again I wish them all a healthy, wealthy,prosperous and happy retired life.
ktv

Water Card

Dear friends,

Today, 18th April 2010, our Honorable Minister for water Resources of Kerala, Shri N K Premachandran, launched the Water Card to the residents of Kunnamangalam Grama Panchayat by giving a copy to Shri U C Raman, MLA. In the inaugural speech the Honorable Minister promised that the scheme will we introduced throughout Kerala by dividing into Northern, Central and Souther sectors of kerla through water authority/Ground Water Department by providing Mobile Laboratories. He also promised to provide a mobile laboratory facility to CWRDM. He stressed the need for rejuvenating the local water bodies for drinking purposes instead of solely depending on pipe water provided by utilizing distant dam water. The function was presided by CWRDM Executive Director Professor Dr K V Jayakumar and the gathering was welcomed by Dr P S Harikumar, Head, Central water Analysis Laboratory. Shri Anil Kumar, Standing committee Chairman of Kunnamangalam Grama Panchayat felicitated. The function started with the prayer of Smt. Manjula, Technical Officer, CWRDM.

The Principal Investigator of the Project is Dr Madhavan Komath, Scientist, Central Water Analysis Laboratory of CWRDM. Shri Madhavan Komath joined in Water Quality and Environment Division(later renamened as Environmental Studies Division) in 1985 as Technical Assistant and through his sustained hard work he acquired M Sc from Annamalai University through Distance Education and got his Doctorate (PhD) from Pondichery University. He is a humanitarian scientist. He expressed his views through his vote of thanks speech. He invoked the gathering to love water and if we do so the present day problem of water pollution will be over.

Water Card is a new concept introduced by Dr Madhavan Komath who was very much interested in doing scitific work relavant to common people. Once he was telling our former Executive Director Dr P Basak for introducing water testing fecility in CWRDM for common people but it was declined sice CWRDM is not a service centre. Now he has fulfilled his ambition through water card project. I congratulate him for introducing this concept to help and serve the people of Kunnamangalam Panchayat and its possible extension to other panchayats of Kerala. Dr Madhavan Komath's Water Card gives potability status of water which is entirely different from Water Card cocept of Imperial Irrigation Department of California who used water card as certificate of ownership and autherisation of agent or tenant who is autherised to receive water.

With best wishes,
ktv.

World Water Day - 22nd March 2010

Dear friends,

World water day is celebrated on March 22nd in every year since 1992 as an initiative proposed in Agenda 21 of 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The theme of World Water Day 2010 is 'Clean Water for a Healthy World'. Apart from UN member countries, a number of NGOs have used World Water Day as a time to focus public attention on the critical water issues of our era. Since 1997 the World Water Council has drawn thousands to participate in its World Water Forum during the week of World Water Day in every three year. Already three UN world Water reports have been published and the fourth is expected on March 2012. The global water level is a constant and exists in different forms such as solid water (ice sheets,glaciers), liquid water and as gaseous water (water vapor). But due to mans interventions the availability of potable water level is decreasing and its demand is increasing as the population is increasing day by day. Nature tries to purify water by evaporating polluted water and showers as pure water through rain, but we are not utilizing it properly.

CWRDM primarily concentrates on research related to water and hence in every year it conducts water awareness programmes for the better management of water . This year it was celebrated more elaborately, under the dynamic leadership of CWRDM Executive Director Professor Dr K V Jayakumar, in four phases starting from 19th March 2010 to 23rd March 2010. The first phase was inaugurated by Honorable Minister for Water Resources Shri N K Premachandran at Thiruvananthapuram and the second phase was inagurated in CWRDM campus at Kottamparamba on 20th March 2010 by Honourable Minister for Forest Shri. Binoy Viswam and the theme was 'Water Quality Monitoring for School Children'. The function was presided by cwrdm Executive Director Prof. Dr KV Jayakumar and the gathering was welcomed by Dr P S Harikumar, Head, Central Water Analysis Laboratory. In the inaugural speech the honorable minister pointed out the present scenario of our river basins which are becoming sand beds for about six months and the people are using it as Volleyball play grounds. He stressed the need for collaborative research activities of different research organization for mitigation of problems encountered in the state and to evolve out clear cut idea about developmental activities. Development should be for the sustainable maintenance of nature and for the benefit of future generations. Dr A B Anitha, Scientist, CWRDM expressed vote of thanks. After the inaguration function Central Water Analysis Laboratory of CWRDM conducted Hands On Training Programme for the students of Calicut Corporation who tested the water samples of Mananchira for potability.

Workshop on 'Water Quality Management ' was organized on 22nd March 2010 which was inaugurated by Dr P B Salim, District Collector, Kozhikode. This was divided in to two sessions. The first session was Chaired by cwrdm Executive Director Prof K V Jayakumar and co-chaired by Dr Unnikrishna Warrier, Scientist, cwrdm. In this session four topics were discussed. The first one was 'Water Quality Status, Issues and Challenges in India and it was presented by Shri A Manoharan , Zonal Officer,CPCB, Banglore. The second paper 'Water Quality for Ecosystem and Human Health' was presented by Prof V N Sivasankara Pillai, former Director, Environmental Studies School, CUSAT. The third paper 'Emerging Threats in Water Quality' was presented by Prof Chandramohankumar, Head, Dpt. of Chemical Oceanography, CUSAT. The fourth topic 'Impacts of Climate Change on Drinking Water' was taken by Prof Thrivikramji, Former Head of Geology, Kerala University.

The second session was chaired by Prof Thrivikramji and co-chaired by Mr C M Susanth, Scientist, cwrdm. In this session seven papers were presented. The first one 'Recent trends in Water Quality Management was taken by Prof K V Jayakumar, Executive Director, cwrdm. The second one 'Water quality Management of Kerala:Issues and Challenges' taken by Dr PS Harikumar, Head, Central Water Analysis Laboratory, CWRDM. Third paper 'Integrated Water Resources Management in Kerala with special Reference to the polluted Holy River Pamba' presentd by Dr George Chackacherry, Head,cwrdm sub-centre, Neyyatinkara. Fourth topic 'Development of Ground Water Information System of Kerala' was presented by Er V P Dinesan, Scientist, Surface Water Division. Fifth topic 'Predicting Water Quality using Artificial Neural Networks' was presented by Er Gopakumar. Sixth topic 'Water Quality Mapping using Geographycal Information System' was preseneted Dr Girish Gopinath. Seventh topic 'Applications of Isotopes in Water Quality Studies' was taken by Dr A Shahul Hameed, Head, Isotope Hydrology Division, CWRDM.

The concluding session 'Young Researchers Conference' was inagurated by Dr G R C Reddy, Director of NIT, Calicut on 23rd March 2010. CWRDM Executive Director presided over the function. Dr M S Susanth, Scientist, CWRDM welcomed the young researchers came from different parts of Kerala. Dr Kamalakshan Kokkale, Joint Director, KSCSTE felicitated the functions and Dr Madhavan Komath, Scientist, CWRDM exprssed vote of thanks. About forty research papers were presented in the conference and Ms Smitha K from NIT Calicut was the Cash Prize winner who conducted researches on Cabon nano tubes for the removal of fluoride from water. The morning session was chaired by Dr N B Narasimhaprasad, Head, Ground Water Division, CWRDM and Dr Resmi , Scientist, CWRDM and the afternoon session was Chaired by Dr E J Joseph, Head, Water Management (Agri) Division, CWRDM and Dr T K Jalaja, Scientist, CWRDM. It was a remarkable conference in the sence of topics as well as in the presentation of their findings. The presentation ability of reserchers from Engineering Institutions and Medical Colleges outwaighed others. This is mainly due to the fact that for most of them it was their maiden presentation, still they showed that they are capable of tackling any challenges posed agaist the sustained upkeeping of Nature for future generations.

with best wishes
ktv

Responsibility

Dear friends,

Today,27th February 2010, two of our staff , Shri K Sadanandan and Dr K N Remani, retired from CWRDM service. The farewell ceremony was organized by Tarangam, the official cultural organization of CWRDM. The function was chaired by our Executive Director Prof. Dr K V Jayakumar. Tarangam President Shri M R Venugopal welcomed the gathering. In the felicitation address Dr N K Joseph, Head Surface Water Division and In charge of Registrar CWRDM mentioned about two factors to be evaluated while retirement. The one is the self analysis of the individual, who retires, has contributed to the Centre which in fact every employee should ask every day before leaving the office. The other one is the responsibility of the Centre to confirm that after the retirement the employee gets sufficient remuneration (pension ) to continue his living without difficulty. He admitted that in fulfilling the second responsibility the centre has failed and hoped for the best in future.

Shri Sadanandan K joined in CWRDM as Driver on 22nd October 1983. He is a dedicated worker always kept punctuality. He also served the staff of CWRDM by managing CWRDM Canteen. He has two married daughters. I wish a healthy, wealthy and a successful aftermath (retirement) carreer

Dr K N Remani joined in CWRDM on 29th November 1980 as Senior Scientific Assistant (SSA) and later appointed as Scientist in Water Quality and Environment Division and it was latter renamed as Environmental Studies Division. She became the Head of the Division. She was the topmost qualified person joined as SSA in CWRDM and such persons were given fast track promotion to Scientist- B in CSIR with effect from 1-2-1981. But this facility was not given to similar staff in CWRDM even though CWRDM accepted CSIR norms for Scientific and Technical staff of the Centre. After a lot of agitation under the leadership of Shri M R Venugopal the authorities of CWRM was forced to implement it in CWRDM, but as a vindictive measure they arbitrarily decided to implement it with effect from 23-3-1988. (The agreement made before the Honorable Minister for Irrigation and Governing Body Chairman of CWRDM Shri Baby John has agreed to implement CSIR in toto to the scientific and Technical staff of CWRDM but it was not implemented in toto.) Consequently lot of persons lost their seven years of precious service uncounted and due date of increment became March and now as a consequence of implementation of 6th Central Pay Commission, the Thuklakin predecessors, the increment date became 1st of July in every year. I don't know what justification is given for these type of vandalism.

Now the emerging trend is to convert Government Servants as slaves of political power. Even the so called unemployed youths are also very much fond of demoralizing their teachers (Asianet Programme) in the controversy about the increase of retirement age of College teachers. Will they relinquish the service benefits amassed by their predecessors when they get Government Jobs? One lady cries that the earth will perish, I am sure that Bhoomatha is not short-tempered as she is. They have to understand that it is the struggle for equality. We are very much fond of finding fault with others but will do nothing. If we want laborers, we have to search for Bhiharis, Tamilians etc. We are not interested in toiling with mud and we will find some reasons for our inactions, ie. the Goverment has fixed MPhil/PhD fas quailfication for Lecturers and hence those who have got MPhil/PhD should be posted as Lecturer in Govt. or aided Colleges!!!

I wonder why we call Indians when one state formulates retirement age as 55 the other state as 58 and Centre declares it as 60, 62, 65 etc. for the same post . Is it the constitutionally provided equality? Some of them says that retirement age should fixed as per the regional needs, then it is better to fix the tenure of Government service as 15 or 20 years and whoever completes this duration should retie without upper age limit as in the case of some Military Services.

Dr Remani didn't participate in the farewell function, I don't know whether it is a protest against the attitude of the authorities. Her husband has been retired from Legal Service and now continuing the legal profession . They have one married daughter serving as Doctor in a Private Hospital. I wish a healthy, wealthy and peaceful retired life.

With best wishes

ktv

More Crop per Drope

Dear friends,

CWRDM became the venue for National Seminar on' Soil, Water and Crop Management for Higher Productivity of Spices' during 11-12 February, 2010. The Seminar was Organised by CWRDM, Kozhikode and Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, Kozhikode under National Horticulture Mission, Government of India. The seminar was Inaugurated by Honorable Minister of State for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India Professor Shri K V Thomas. The function was Chaired by Executive Director of CWRDM Professor Dr. K V Jayakumar. Director Dr M Tamil Selvan, Directorate of Arecanut and Spices development, Ministry of agriculture, Government of India, Kozhikode welcomed the gathering. Dr V A Parthasarathy, Director, Indian institute of Spices felicitated the function and Shri Babu Mathew, Scientist, CWRDM expressed vote of thanks. Delegates from Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerala participated in the seminar. It was divided into six sessions namely

1 Technical Session I(A)- LAND AND WATER MANAGEMENT
The Chairman of the session was Dr Tamil Selvan, Co-Chairman Dr N K Joseph and Rapporteur was Shri R Gopakumar. In this session about nine papers were presented including the lead paper 'Soil, water and input management for increasing spices production' which was presented by Dr V A Parthasarathy

2 Technical Session I(B)- LAND AND WATER MANAGEMENT
The Chairman of the session was Dr A K Sadanandan, Co-Chairman Dr N Narasimha Prasad and Rapporteur was Dr A B Anitha. In this session also about nine papers were presented with lead paper on 'Integrated Nutrient and Water Management for sustainable Spice production' was presented by Dr A K Sadanandan

3. Technical Session II-VARITAL IMPROVEMENT AND PLANT PROTECTION
The Chairman of the session was Dr M Anandaraj and Co-Chairman was Dr Kamalam Joseph and Rapporteur was Dr T K Jalaja. In this session two lead papers and 9 papers were presented. The lead paper 'Plant Protection Measures for enhanced productivity of Spices' was presented by Dr M Anandaraj and the second lead paper 'Spices varities and Varital Improvements for changing land, water and crop envirornment' was presented by Dr K M Kuruvilla

4. Technical Session III-CROP MANAGEMENT
The Chairman of the session was Dr K V Peter and Co-Chairman was Dr E J Joseph and Rapporteur was Shri George mammen. In this session also two lead papers and 9 papers presented. The first lead paper 'Enhanced productivity linkd to higher farm gate price to spice farmers' was presented by Dr K V Peter and the other lead paper 'Cropwater Requirements Estimation Methods' was presented by Dr S Mohan.

5. Technical Session IV was the farmers meet and Technical session V was Panel discussion and lastly Valedictory session

About 150 delegates participated in the function

ktv

Service Pension for Employees of KSCSTE

Dear friends,

Service Pension to the employees of research institutions established by Government of Kerala is a very long pending issue and after the inception of KSCSTE the issue regained its importance and was discussed in many forums, still, it didn't materialize. The first Nayanar Ministry was very much positive for the implementation of the same but at that time some of the scientists were not interested in it and now they also understood the importance of service pension. After the swearing in ceremony of LDF Government headed by Shri V S Achuthanandan and the appointment of new Executive Vice President Dr E P Yesodharan and Member Secretary Dr G Muraleedhara Kurup gave a new dimension to this issue. The Chief Minister has directed the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and environment to submit a proposal for service pension for the Research Institutions under KSCSTE. The office order Council (M)34/2009/KSCSTE dated 4th March 2009, the Executive Vice President has entrusted Dr G Muraleedhara Kurup for formulating a pension scheme for the employees of the Council and its R&D Institutions within a period of three months. On 23rd January 2010 the Member Secretary has submitted his report and it is now circulated for comments.

I whole heartedly welcome this report with a humble request to the Government that kindly waive the condition to refund the EPF loans taken from Employer's contribution for HOUSE CONSTRUCTION purpose as there was no Government loan available to these employees and they have already paid a huge some of interest to private agencies for which no subsidy is obtained from government and, moreover, it is a cumbersome procedure.

Prof. Muralidhara Kurup's report is a very concise one and at the very outset itself he has pointed out the importance of Service Pension to S&T Staff. "Kerala has pioneered literacy and female education among other social advances. At the higher education and research level, Kerala has somewhat lagged, yet we have a small set of academic and scientific institutions created by the State Government that have done commendable work. ... Although the Kerala government has been generous in funding infrastructure development and providing Non-Plan grants, retirement benefits were not provided except for the mandatory EPF contribution. This, unfortunately, is a poor substitute for service pension which all teachers and staff of Universities and aided educational institutions in Kerala avail. At the National level also research Institutions like ICAR, CSIR, DRDO, BARC, ISRO etc; have provided attractive retirement benefits."

Further the report reminds the government that "The Research Institutions under KSCSTE have been established by the government to serve the State. As they have been in existence for over three decades, the government has a commitment to provide Non-Plan grants for salaries and EPF contribution. Service Pension is a reasonable social security for those who serve the State. This is applicable also for the scientists and staff of the Research Institutes created by the State."

The Conditions laid out in the Proposal are;
1. The Kerala Government may make a Cabinet decision and issue a Government Notification grantig service pension to staff of Research institutes under the KSCSTE, who have completed 10 years of continuous service as on 1 November 2009.

2. Service pension will be fixed as per Kerala Service Rules Part III, by the Accountant General in the usual way for government employees and it shall be mutantis mutantis revised as and when the State Government or the central Government revises the service pension according to the pay scales of the employees.

3. Employees who wish to opt for Service Pension in lieu of the current EPF should agree in writing to surrender their credit in the Employer's contribution and to refund the loans taken from the Employer's contribution with interest within the time frame fixed by the government.

4. The employees provident fund organisation give exemption and exclusion from EPF, the outstanding credit in Employees' Contribution will be transfered to State General Provident Fund (GPF) and it will be maintained for each employee and managed as per the GPF Rules.

5. Service Pension will be paid from the State Treasury as for regular State Government Employees and teachers in aided schools and colleges either by the Accountant General direct or through a designated officer of the planning and Economics Affairs or the Science and Technology Department of the Government of Kerala.

6. The LIC assisted Group Gratuity Scheme existing in the Institutions may be reviewed later.

7. For those provided with State Government pay scales and retiring at 58 years, pension will be fixed on the basis of their salary as in state Government service. i.e.at 55 years.

8. Detailed Rules and Regulations for implimentation of Service Pension and GPF can be drawn up as soon as policy decision is taken by the Government in the matter


It is true that EPF with 12% of salary will be more attractive on the basis of calculation but reality has shown that after few years of retirement the amount has exhausted. EPF pension will not be a sufficient source of income for persons with old age ailments with loneliness . Instances are there to quote who have committed suicide due to penury. In this circumstances I heartily congratulate the LDF Government, EVP, Member Secretary , Unions and others for their sustained endeavor to full fill the long cherished dream of Science and Technology Staff of Kerala. I congratulate all of them involved in the mission and wish all success in their endeavor to materialize service pension to the employees of KSCSTE which is a revolutionary concept that they have taken in an era of Contributory Pension which squeezes the employees in the name of pension.

If it is materialized, the V S Government will be remembered by this as in the case of Land Reforms Act of EMS Government.

With best wishes

ktv

Indian Science Congress

Dear friends,

Kerala once again hosted Indian Science Congress after two decades. The first was held in Kochi in 1990 and now the capital city of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram became the host city with co-organizers of the meet were ISRO and Kerala University. Kerala University is the 16th University in India prevailing the model of Western Universities established by King of Travecnore in 1937.

97th Indian Science Congress ended on 7th January 2010. It was inaugurated on 3rd January 2010 by our Honorable Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. In his inaugural address he expressed his concern over red-tapism, political interference and lack of proper recognition of good works have resulted in 'regression' in Indian Science. He urged the scientists to come out with suggestions to 'liberate Indian Science from from the shackles and dead-weight of bureaucratism and in-house favoritism'. He aptly pointed out that '..scientific capability is what will determine our ability to overcome the challenges which lie ahead'. He also noted that centre has declared 2010-2020 as the 'Decade of Innovations' to produce newer solutions to meet the needs of the society. He also pointed out that 'we need to concentrate on strengthening the linkages between academia, research and Industry. Today, each operates within its own silo. Unless we close these gaps, our research and development sector may report high performance in terms of published papers, but our challenges of the 21st century will remain unsolved.' The function was Chaired by Dr G Madhavan Nair, General President of Indian Science Congress and former Chairman, ISRO.

He also called for special efforts to encourage scientists of Indian origin working abroad to either return to India or visit Indian Universities and scientific Institutions for short periods inorder to combat brain drain.

About 7000 delegates including 2000 students from different parts of the country participated in the meet and 2000 scientific and technical papers presented in 97th Science congress and discussed about food and energy security, global warming, water scarcity, challenges in health sector etc. The focal theme of the science congress was Science and Technology challenges of 21st century- National perspective.

Indian Science Congress Association(ISCA), as in the case of Indian National congress, was formed by the initiatives of two British Chemists, namely, by Prof: J L Simonsen and Prof; P S MacMahon, in line with the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The objective of the ISCA was 1.To advance and promote the cause of Science in India. 2. To hold an annul congress at a suitable place in India. 3. To publish proceedings, journals, transactions etc. 4, To popularize science.

The first meeting of the Indian Science Congress was held during 15-17 January 1914 at the premises of Asiatic Society, Calcutta. At that time the President of ISCA was Honorable Justice Sir Asutosh Mukherjee, the then Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University. In that meet 105 Scientists from different parts of India attended and 35 papers divided into six sections, namely, Botany, Chemistry, Ethnography, Geology, Physics, Zoology were discussed under six sectional Presidents. Now there are 14 sections. They are 1. Agriculture and forestry Sciences 2. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences 3. Anthropological and Behavioral Sciences(including Archeology) and Psychology &educational sciences 4. Chemical sciences. 5. Earth system sciences 6. Energy sciences. 7. Environmental sciences 8. Information Communication & Technology(including Computer science). 9. Material science 10. Mathematical sciences(including Statistics) 11. Medical sciences(including physiology) 12. New biology(including Biochemistry, Biophysics , Molecular Biology and biotechnology). 13 Physical sciences and14. a committee on Science and society.

The silver jubilee of SCA was held in 1938 at Calcutta under the president ship of Lord Lutherford of Nelson but due to his sudden demise the chair was took over by Sir James Jeens. From this annual meet on wards foreign scientists took part in Indian Science congress.

Golden Jubilee of ISCA was held in 1963 at Delhi with Prof: D S Kothari as General president.

Diamond Jubilee was held at Chandigarh in 1973 under the President ship of Dr S Bhagavantam.

Platinum jubilee was held in 1988 under the President ship of Prof C N R Rao.

In 1976 Dr M S Swaminathan, the then General president of ISCA introduced the concept of focal theme of national relevance, which is now discussed in every section, committee and forum during the annual section

Another significant breakthrough was made in 1980 when DST,Government of India set up a permanent Task Force involving representation of ISCA and chiefs of different agencies and voluntary agencies chaired by Secretary,DST as being responsible for following up various recommendations of Focal Theme

Next Indian science Congress will be held at Chennai.

ktv