Lucky man

Chief Minister Ommen Chandy is out and out a lucky man. He escaped unhurt after his car went off the road and fell into drain at Kanakkary near Vaikom. Likewise he escaped from all abuses hurled upon him by his detractors. The Solar scam,  Vizhinjam and what else are turned into feathers on his  cap. 
Would he snatch out one more term, the innocent people of Kerala  wonder?
-K A Solaman

Not a Kangaaroo court

Additional Chief Secretary K M Abraham's action to put an end to the unsolicited appointment by certain ministers at the fag end of their tenure is a welcome  move. By doing so he has proved that the Government of Kerala is not a Kangaroo court.
The out of way appointment is not a new thing. There was the story of  minister P K Shreemathi appointing her kin to gazetted post after taking her as cook in her personal staff. 
The off door appointment is undoubtedly an action against constitution. And it is a calculated way of snatching the rights of eligible applicants by the influential ones. And in any case the temporary staff  should not  be put in permanent posts. Show them  the way out and ask  to get appointed through Kerala Public Service Commission.

-K A Solaman

Advantage Congress

The Congress High Command has visibly admitted that the Kerala Chief Minister Ommen Chandy is corrupt. That is why they ask the trio namely Chandy, Sudheeran and Chennithala together to lead the Congress in the election. And Chennithala saying that the Congress never project a CM candidate before election is aimed at becoming the next CM. However his detractors say that Chennithala is not able to sail over smoothly from Harippad.

What is more interesting in the UDF is the mutual infight among its leaders. Each leader has announced their constituency without consulting with UDF leaders. And the only hope among Congress leaders is the ugly gestures of some Marxist leaders. For instance, the Marxist leader MM Mani hurling all the abuses on a hapless woman principal of Cheruthony Polytechnic is an added advantage for UDF.

K A Solaman

Recovery of bad loans

Accumulating  bad loans in commercial banks in India cannot be considered as an eventual process. It is the result of willful attempt by  bank higher ups and politicians. How could liquor baron Vijay Mallya lead a lavish life when he remains as a defaulter of several crores to many banks? Why is he not arrested and put in jail after confiscating his  assets?

So, in this regard the Supreme Court directive to the Reserve Bank of India to provide the list of companies that are defaulters of bank loans, is in the right direction. The banks, for instance, the SBI or PNB are not taking any stringent action to recover the loan amount from defaulters. Their strongest action is seemingly, declare a defaulter as a ' willful defaulter'. This is some thing akin to ' growth of banyan tree in the back of shameless defaulter'.

Average investors and retirees who put their money in bank stocks are now sitting their fingers crossed. Are these banks going to melt in thin air?

If anyone says recovery of bad loans is not visible in near future then it is certain that he is also involved in the robbery. Recovery from the private assets of bank officials who issued loans and of defaulters should soon be done to save banks. The SC directive will also restrict future looting by banks by way of advancing large- scale loans to unscrupulous promoters.

-K A Solaman

My laboratory days with Ravi Sir

I studied my B Sc  degree in Physics at NSS college, Cherthala during 1970-73 after completing my pre-degree course from St.Michael's college, Cherthala. In St.Michael's Cherthala, every thing was fine at that time. The class rooms were well furnished and spacious, the laboratories were well equipped. The Physics practical lab was well furnished with large white painted tables and even a ball pin fallen anywhere could be easily visible. The windows of the lab were fitted with two shutters, one of glass and other of wood. The closing and opening the labs were a tedious job for laboratory attenders but they did the job meticulously. And that was according to the strict instruction given by the management. 

When comes to chemistry lab, the things were more sophisticated. Each table was furnished with bottles containing  all sorts of colourful chemicals. There were more than sufficient number of burettes and pipettes. All chemical tests to identify acid and basic radicals were done by we students and there was no restriction to the use of chemicals. We had done number of  experiments , a few of them were not even needed for pre-degree level. The teachers asked us to perform more experiments under the assumption we would once become good achievers. The management showed no laxity in procuring equipment and chemicals.

All these things had  totally changed when I joined NSS college, Cherthala for my degree course. The college is situated in a barren area 8 km north of Cherthala town. The surroundings of the college was full of    cashew trees grown on white sugar like sand.  At that time this white sand was kept uncared but now it is a costly commodity.

The NSS college was managed by Nair Service Society. As the management had many colleges in Kerala, this college received no special attention. The walls of the college remained with no white wash, windows kept opened and benches and desks full of pigeon filth. It was routine job for we students to remove pigeon filth from benches before the start of class.

Professor Ravi, Kannezhathu was our Chemistry teacher for subsidiary for two years. Though I was Physics main student I had to study Chemistry and Maths as subsidiary subjects. Now these subjects are renamed as complementary subjects but I never understood the advantage of such a name change. Mathematics is purely theoretical and hence no laboratory work is assigned to it. On the other hand laboratory experiments are compulsory for Chemistry.

As I mentioned earlier the chemistry lab was poorly maintained. Colourful reagent bottles were rare unlike what was seen n St Michael' s college. Many reagent bottles were seen empty but a few others were filled with colourless solutions.

I do still clearly remember a reaction performed in the lab under the supervision of Ravi sir. He asked me to perform the experiment. It was done by adding sodium bitartrate along with soda lime in a test tube and with continuous scratching. Scratching is a technique done by grinding a glass rod against the walls of the test tube containing chemicals. I was well versed in this experiment as I had performed it in the pre-degree class. There I was successful in the first trial itself but in NSS college lab, even though I scratched several minutes no white precipitate was obtained. I reported the matter to Ravi sir. And with all seriousness he asked me to repeat the experiment but I never succeeded.

After one year, I passed my BSc  degree meritoriously. I went to meet Ravi sir  in his department.  He was seen very happy and congratulated me for I was the topper in subsidiary chemistry too. I cherished my experience of scratching experiment in the chemistry lab. He laughed and said:

" There were no chemical by name sodium bitartarate in our lab. What you used was tap water collected and kept in the bottle. Students will scratch several times and finally they stop when their hands ache. You said truth of the negative result but many claimed they had received white precipitate with water treatment!. All right. Wish you the best".

Ravi Sir is no more.  He died a few days back because of heart failure.

K A Solaman

Mounting bad loans

Mounting of bad loans in commercial banks in India cannot be considered as an eventual process. It is the result of willful effort by  bank higher ups and politicians. How could liquor baron Vijay Mallya lead a lavish life when he remains as a defaulter of several crores to many banks? Why is he not arrested and put in jail after confiscating all other assets owned by him?Average investors who put their money in bank stocks are now in total distress. Are these banks going to extinction?

If anyone says recovery of bad loans is not visible in near future then it is certain that he
is also involved in the crime. Recovery from the private assets of bank managers who issued loans and of defaulters should soon be done to save banks and thereby people's money.

K A Solaman

Teachers under scanner

The government coming with teacher scanner to ensure the safety of children in school  campuses is a good gesture, however to what extent the corrupt police of the country could do this job genuinely, is doubtful.The separate manual on transportation which will make it mandatory for state governments to ensure that all schools provide transportation facilities to students, is also doubtful. And the act of not allowing private mode of transport like rickshaws and autos is objectionable. Many rickshawvalas meet their both ends by transporting children to schools. And if this permanent source of income is denied there is no other way for these poor people to live. Implementation of any rule under RTE act should be favorable to students and vast sections of the society

-K A Solaman

Flower

Unwise idea

A girl child is often a lantern of a home and any attempt to avoid girl child birth is detrimental. In that sense pre-natal sex determination to avoid a girl child is a crime. However Union Minister Maneka Gandhi stresses the need for pre- natal test to ensure birth of girl child. This sort of advice is dangerous to both mother and the child and it is a calculated attempt to help scanning centres.

It is true that in India among a few communities the birth of girl child is thought as bad incident because of dowry and other expenses in future. Even the mother of a girl child is unable to take a decision in her favour in such communities. Awareness campaigns can do a lot in such societies.
The Minister who takes bizarre decisions in issues like stray dog menace and pre-natal test needs good advisers in her office to take practical decisions.

K A Solaman

Kerala proud

The State of Kerala can be proud of emerging as winners in the 61st National Schools Athletics Championship. Kerala amassed 39 gold medals along 29 silver and 17 bronze. Credit goes to parents and teachers of these children who worked hard to bring glory to the State in the national level.

The present victory should be appreciated by all of us. And more efforts must be taken to maintain this glory in future also

K A Solaman

Shocking incident

The report of a boy beaten to death at Vakkom is shocking indeed. This incident not only ended the life of a boy aged 23 but spoiled the lives of four others. The sad incident is not based on any parental fault but partly on the impact of modern Malayalam cinema where violence is the prime topic of discussion. Lack of proper moral awareness and societal negligence are also responsible for similar incidents. Youngsters have no outlet for shedding out their extra energy as play grounds have disappeared and libraries are dysfunctional. What are accessible too them are liquor shops and drug peddlers. The net result is total ruin.
K A Solaman