The Cabinet, on Wednesday night, gave its approval for the draft nutritional policy that aims to reduce the incidence of malnutrition in the State through short-term and long-term interventions.
Briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the draft policy had been prepared by experts with the assistance of the UNICEF. The Social Welfare Department had taken the initiative to prepare the draft nutritional policy of the State.
A five-member Cabinet subcommittee, with Agriculture Minister K.P. Mohanan as convener, was set up to look into the Agriculture Development Policy formulated by experts, Mr. Chandy said.
The Cabinet gave administrative sanction for providing Rs.238.53 crore for completing the first phase of a drinking water project for Kochi. The funds will be made available from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
The Chief Minister said a sum of Rs.1.11 crore was approved for creating the basic facilities for imparting training for sub-inspectors selected by the Kerala Public Service Commission.
Seven institutions/organisations — Kerala Agricultural University, Bevco, Coconut Producers Society/Samithy, Coconut Producers Federation, Bonafide Jaggery Producers, Kerala Agro Industries Corporation, and Coconut Development Corporation — have been given the nod to produce and supply Neera.
Mr. Chandy said it was decided to give pension to the employees of the seven research and development (R&D) centres under the umbrella of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, Centre for Earth Science Studies, Centre for Water Resources Development and Management, Kerala Forest Research Institute, National Transportation Planning and Research Centre, Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, and the Kerala School of Mathematics.
The Cabinet also approved the creation of 112 posts — Junior Nurse (80), Nursing Assistant (10), and Assistant Professor (16) — for the Inpatient Block and Stem Cell Transplantation Project coming up at Malabar Cancer Centre. The MoU of Bio Resource-cum-Agro Service Centre in Kannur was approved. The Chief Minister said the land needed for 32 families in the Alacode rehabilitation area in Kannur would be provided to increase the land under their possession to one acre. The Kerala Feeds would get 10.79 acres of land on lease to set up a feed factory at Thiruvangoor.
