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

Alappuzha

No permanent rivalry in politics

There is no permanent rivalry in politics. The opposition is based only on issues and that would change in course of time. If anyone has doubt see the TV footage of Shanimol Usman sitting adjacent to KPCC President V M Sudheeran in a public meeting at Alappuzha held in connection with his jana raksha yathra. The organisers of the yathra are seemingly deliberate in keeping Usman in the strong fold of the President.

Those with poor memories are invited to V.M Sudheeran’s statement on May 4, 2014 about Shanimol Usman’s strong reaction through a letter to him. According to Sudheeran its timing was part of a conspiracy to divert public attention, authored by certain sections in the party opposed to his strong stand on the liquor policy. Rubbishing the contents of the letter as "baseless and exaggerated", Sudheeran said Shanimol appeared to be acting as a "pawn" in the hands of those annoyed by his firm position on the issue of renewal of licences to over 400 liquor bars in the state. He said the whole thing smacked of a conspiracy against him and announced a three-member party committee to probe the entire aspects of the development.

The three-member panel, with KPCC vice-president M.M. Hassan as convener consisted of Lally Vincent, KPCC vice-president, and P.M. Suresh Babu, KPCC general secretary, as members. It is unknown to the public that whether the panel enquired the matter or not and what action had been taken against Usman.
Usman’s demand of an inquiry by a party commission into the alleged nexus between K C Venugopal and solar case accused Saritha Nair also not met. Any way everything is now in order and both Usman and the President are seen happy in the meeting.

K A Solaman

CM need not step down

The United Democratic  Front (UDF) government in Kerala plunging  into a serious crisis following the statements made by con woman Saritha Nair in the solar scam is not a new issue as it was heard since 2013.  As long as  UDF leaders keep  a decisive stand to extend unconditional support to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and confront the Left Democratic Front (LDF) campaign for his resignation inside and outside the Assembly, there is no harm for the ministry. And in the immediate level there is no ground for the Chief Minister to step down. Nevertheless, in the next election the UDF is unlikely to win the election as people of Kerala always needed a change.

Moreover,  the conspiracy hatched by the LDF and the bar owners along with solar scam accused Saritha Nair cannot be ruled out. The allegation now raised by Saritha Nair was originally aired by Malayil Sreedharan Nair, a quarry owner three years back. He then made a statement before the magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code that he had met the Chief Minister along with the solar-scam accused Saritha S. Nair. On credibility aspect Sreedharan Nair is more acceptable than Saitha Nair but it has made no impact till this date. 

And what is more doubtful is the foul play of LDF making conspiracy with criminals and welcoming betrayers like Kovoor Kunjumon to their fold. More over the judicial activism on the part of Vigilance court, Thrissur cannot be ignored. The way selected  by Opposition by joining hands with con woman Saritha,  fortune seeker Kovoor Kunjumon MLA and the bar owners  to  shatter the credibility of the Chief Minister and the government he leads is, in fact, brings shame on LDF.

K A Solaman

Big relief

,

It is a big relief for Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the Kerala High Court putting a stay on a vigilance court's directive that a FIR be lodged against him in the Solar Scam case. The High Court also stayed a similar directive by the vigilance court against Power Minister Aryadan Muhammed. The HC  Justice came down heavily on vigilance court judge and opined that the vigilance court acted irresponsibly. And in that case the Opposition parties owe an apology to Kerala civic for their massive protest against Oommen Chandy.

The Opposition making heavy protests based on the words of a criminal woman and a thoughtless vigilance judge is deplorable. The role of visual media in igniting the whole incident is also intolerable.

K A Solaman

Et tu Kunjumon!

 

In another blow to the UDF government that is already facing the heat over bribery allegations related to the solar scam, RSP leader Kovoor Kunjumon  resigned his membership of the state Assembly. The story of back stab never ends. The self-pride of Kunjumon has culminated at its maximum at the fag-end of the UDF rule and that prevented him not to remain with that Front..

It is now only Kunjumon recognised UDF as a corruption front. His resignation is after realizing that the way the UDF is going ahead now is not the right way. Possibly his tirade will continue with Left front which is now becoming the haven of betrayers  and fortune seekers.

K A Solaman

                                                                                                            

Judicial activism

The Vigilance Court of Thrissur had clean bowled the Kerala Excise Minister K Babu days back by ordering registration of FIR against him. The same has been again applied by the same court against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed in the view of the bribery allegations levelled against them by solar scam accused Saritha Nair. Hence there is ample reason for Oommen Chandy and Aryadan to resign. Nevertheless, court believing the public statement of a criminal woman is out of the ordinary. The court order is on a plea filed by an activist on solar scam.

There in our midst are innumerable activists and criminals. Any one could file a petition based on contradictory statements,which are available in plenty in channel discussions,and if a court is to allow such petition no one could rule the state in the future. Presumably the act of Thrissur vigilance court can be put in the category of cases related to judicial activism.

K A Solaman

Bar owners playing fiddle

State Excise Minister K Babu is seen very happy after his relinquishment from ministerial ship.  On resignation  he along with his family has gone for the film ' Two countries' a film suited for viewing by post vacated ministers  and all the country fellows. Interestingly this film like the recently released one 'Pavaada' glorifies drunkards and hence bar owners

Minister K Babu is known for his appeasement of bar owners, but unfortunately he was thrown out of the post by the disclosure of the same people.  Babu may be congratulated for one thing that he has not arranged any rally with reception from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi  unlike the one arranged by ex-bar bribe minister  K M Mani to Pala. It is ironical see that the fate of Kerala UDF Ministry is decided by the unscrupulous bar owners.

 K A Solaman

Mani gimmicks

Rubber party of eastern Kerala can do only the sort of agitation known as slimming exercise. The body condition of all leaders of Kerala Congress need occasional overhauling by way of fasting and meditation. Otherwise they would run out of excessive cholesterol and sugar. The Thirunakkara ground booked for three days for an 'indefinite' fasting drill by KC(M) MP Jose K Mani is indented for his body rejuvenation and not for any rubber farmer.

The Kerala Assembly election is in the offing and hence some leaders organise rallies and some others perform hunger strikes. People from various walks life visited Jose K Mani, nevertheless the absence of BJP leaders remains conspicuous.


K A Solaman

Illogical and undemocratic

The decision of the Delhi Government to permit odd and even number cars on alternate days is illogical. This will encourage car swap system among people. The government needs to provide the hassle-free public transport system and persuade people to use it.  Banning cars more than 15-year-old is not people-friendly, instead strict pollution norms should be implemented. 

K A Solaman
The Tribune, New Delhi.  Dec 9, 2015