TRIVANDRUM, 19 September 2005 — Tens of thousands of people paid homage to prominent Kerala Muslim leader T.M. Savankutty and popular playwright and scriptwriter S.L. Puram Sadanandan. Savankutty, a former central panel member of the Islamic Development Bank and chairman of the Kerala Public Service Commission, died aged 73 at his residence in Calicut Friday after prolonged illness. He was buried at the Odathilpally graveyard in his native Tellicherry town in the northern Cannanore district. He leaves behind his wife Mariyam, two sons and three daughters.
Before being appointed member of the PSC, the state authority for staff selection, in 1971 and its chairman in 1974 till 1980, Savankutty was the general secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
Born to T.P. Abdullah Keyi and Thayyilakkandi Mukkattil Bichumma in 1933, he had his law graduation from the Madras Law College and began his career at Kerala High Court in 1957. He joined the IUML in 1959 and was its general secretary from 1968 to 1971 under Syed Abdurrahman Bhafakhi Thangal.
S.L. Puram Sadanandan, who died aged 82 Friday, was cremated at his home in Alleppey district. He was under treatment for a liver ailment for quite some time. He died on his way to a hospital in nearby Cherthala town. He leaves behind his wife Omana and sons Jayasurya and Jayasoma. He was a member of the Communist Party and had closely associated with the 1946 Punnapra Vayalar peasant uprising. His works include Satram, Agniputhri and Kattukuthira. He was the scriptwriter of Chemmeen, the first Malayalam film that had won the President’s medal, among some 200 other films, most of them commercial successes.
Preparations for
Civic Polls
Preparations for the Sept. 24-26 elections to the three-tier self-government institutions will be complete by today, State Election Commission (SEC) chief N. Mohandas said. Some 60 million ballot papers have been dispatched. A meeting of all the 14 district collectors has been called for today to identify sensitive polling stations for deploying more security forces. Training of the poll officers was also complete.
Meanwhile, the IUML has denied allegations that it had entered into secret pact with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The IUML general secretary P.K. Kunhalikkutty said it was actually the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) that reached local-level adjustments with the BJP in Malappuram district, the IUML bastion that the CPI-M was storming recently. He claimed that the exit of former Chief Minister K. Karunakaran from the Congress party had strengthened the United Democratic Front (UDF) that the Congress leads in Kerala, of which the IUML is the second largest partner.
Bridging the
Digital Divide
International recognition has boosted the state’s efforts to impart computer literacy to every household within a year, said Information Secretary P.H. Kurian, who is back here after receiving Prix ARS Electronica’s Golden Nica Award in the digital community category for the state’s Akshaya project at a function held in Linz, Austria.
Kurian received the award from Dr. Franz Morak, Austria’s secretary of state for culture, arts and media. Akshaya is among the six winners of the award instituted by ARS Electronica, a platform for digital arts and media, this year. The prize money of 10,000 euros will be used for strengthening the pilot project in the Muslim-dominated Malappuram district, which was declared India’s first total e-literate district last year.
No Takers for Free Software
Given the option between Microsoft and the free software as the operating system, all the 2,640 high schools barring two have said no to free software for the ambitious IT@School project despite a long-drawn campaign led by leader of the opposition V.S. Achuthanandan against the MNC. The Government Mappila Higher Secondary School, Koilandi, and Patyam Gopalan Memorial School, Vatakara, preferred not to install Microsoft software while others found it more credible and flexible.
The government decided to make the options open after the left parties led by the CPI-M that termed it an attempt to allow Microsoft’s entry into Kerala. The Kerala School Teachers’ Association had threatened to boycott the IT practical examinations last year as the software was developed on the Microsoft platform, forcing the government to make the options open.
