TRIVANDRUM, 13 January 2003 — As many as 283 ‘Pakistani’ nationals‚ residing in the Malabar region of Kerala would be allowed to stay back if the state government demands so, the federal Home Ministry assured yesterday. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) lawmaker A Vijayaraghavan said Home Secretary Gopalaswamy conveyed this to him in response to his representation. These Keralites, who migrated to Pakistan after the partition only to be sent back by the Pakistani authorities, and living under miserable conditions without Indian citizenship, were hoping against hope that there would be an end to harassment by the Indian authorities who treat them as foreign nationals. Kerala Chief Minister A. K. Antony had already expressed his willingness to take up the case of these hapless men, most of them in their seventies and eighties living a life a of refugee.
National youth fete begins
The eighth National Youth Festival got under way here yesterday. Around 3,000 youths representing various Indian states, SAARC countries and Egypt are participating in the 6-day event being held at eight venues in different parts of the city. Federal Urban Development Minister Anant Kumar was the chief guest at the inaugural function, which was presided over by Chief Minister A.K. Antony.
Online tutorial for Malayalam
Kerala is planning to set up an online tutorial for Malayalam language for the children of the Non-Resident Keralaites (NRK), the NRK affairs minister M.M. Hassan said. The Air-India (A-I) and NRK Affairs Department are planning to offer a month-long stay in Kerala for the successful candidates, the minister said.
Incidence of impotence rising among NRKs
Incidence of impotence is alarmingly rising among the Gulf-based non-resident Keralites (NRKs), according to leading infertility clinic in Kerala. “We have treated 14,626 childless couples till date since inception in 1996. Around 75 percent of them are the expatriates from the Gulf countries,” said Dr. K.K. Gopinathan of Center for Infertility Management & Associated Reproduction (CIMAR), Edappal, where 200 test tube babies have already been born. The spurt in the increasing incidence of impotence is generally attributed to psychogenic, functional and traumatic factors coupled with poor eating habits, alcohol, smoking and yeast and parasitic infections. Separation from the spouse, stress, anxiety, circumstances and nature of job also contribute to this alarming rate of infertility among the expatriates.
NRI group to invest 1b rupees in Kerala
A Dubai-based ENT surgeon and promoter of the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences and CMD of Consolidated Resorts and Estates Pvt Ltd, Dr. MA Mohammed said his group was planning make investments worth one billion rupees through the Global Investor Meet (GIM) beginning in Cochin. The group plans to set up a public school of international standards, an adventure academy and a film/video/photography academy in Kerala besides an eco-village in the tourist spot of Vagomon, Dr. Mohammed told the journalists here.
First Haj flight from Kozhikode
The first official Haj flight carrying 410 pilgrims, including an eight-month-old baby, left for Jeddah on Saturday from the Kozhikode airport. There were 175 men and 235 women pilgrims, besides the infant onboard the Air-India’s Boeing 747 aircraft, which was seen off at the airport by E. Ahamed, MP, in the presence of the Central Haj Committee Vice-Chairman Mohammed Zuhail Lakhandwala, Education Minister Nalakath Sooppy, Abdussamad Samadani, MP, and the relatives and friends of the pilgrims.
