The raging war of words in the Congress over who should get credit for the government decision to clamp down on the sale of hard liquor, eventually leading to total prohibition, is showing no sign of waning. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V.M. Sudheeran, who had fired all the early salvoes that forced the United Democratic Front (UDF) high power committee and the government to move away from the earlier argument of ‘pragmatism’ to give the big push for prohibition, is now at the receiving end of flak from his party colleagues for having forced the Chief Minister’s hands.
Mr. Sudheeran is not one to give in easily. Faced with barbs from Excise Minister K. Babu and his many other detractors in the party, he has gone on record that he would not hesitate to criticise and correct even the highest in authority. Although he qualified his statement by saying that he was referring to the Advocate General’s poor performance in the Kerala High Court in a case relating to the 418 bars that were denied licence this year owing to their poor upkeep, his message was loud and clear. Looks like the debate will go on for some time.
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When the government decided to seek amendments to the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification to address the problems faced by people residing in the coastal areas, the fishing community had expressed fears that it could turn out to be a threat to their livelihood. The meeting held by the high-level committee constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests with State government officials in the capital last week appears to have confirmed their worst fears.
With the Chief Minister himself using the meeting as a platform to make a pitch for coastal tourism, the fishers feel they have been betrayed by the government. “It is one thing to be neglected by those in power, and worse to be used as a cover to promote the commercial utilisation of coastal areas,” said the leader of an organisation representing the fishers. It will be interesting to see how it will regain the trust of the sizeable coastal community while securing the interests of the tourism sector.
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You could almost hear a collective sigh of relief from the State’s sports fraternity when the news emerged that there was no change in the list of Arjuna Award nominees recommended by the selection committee headed by Kapil Dev. That meant all the five Kerala athletes — Tom Joseph, Geethu Anna Jose, Saji Thomas, V. Diju and Tintu Luka — would get the second-highest sporting honours of the country.
Hockey administrators had cried foul about the selection process Hockey India’s president, Mariyamma Koshy, a Malayali herself, had gone on record, questioning the credentials of Tom and Geethu. The selection panel, when it reconvened, stood its ground. A source said nobody on the panel had any doubt about the eligibility of the Kerala athletes.
“The fact is the panel had in the earlier meeting discussed two other athletes from Kerala for the award, so there could have been seven Arjuna awards for Kerala,” the source added. “If Kerala gets so many Arjuna Awards, that is because the State contributes much to the Indian sport. As for complaints from the hockey administrators, their own representative had not recommended anyone for the award.”
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When the government gave the nod for production and marketing of ‘Neera’, much before it veered round to the position that the State would do well without hard liquor, there was all round appreciation for the decision. Now that the government has decided to go in for prohibition, there is all the more reason for promoting the non-alcoholic beverage. However, the Excise Department appears to be determined not to permit ‘Neera’ to get to the production line that quickly.
As many as 156 producer federations that had applied for licence to go in for ‘Neera’ production and marketing have been waiting for clearance from the Excise Department for months now. It is not that the coconut growers are complaining. They are reaping a windfall in the interim owing to a sharp spurt in the lease rate for letting coconut palms for toddy tapping, up from Rs. 180-220 a palm to Rs. 500-600 in parts of Palakkad.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had promised, as early as March this year, to ensure that all coconut growers would be given licences to tap and sell Neera. By way of follow-up on the Chief Minister's promise, the government had issued an order on March 5 facilitating grant of Neera licences. However, only 17 of the 176 applicants have received the licence so far. The rest have been left wondering why the Excise Department is sitting on their applications.
(With inputs from C. Gouridasan Nair and T. Nandakumar (Thiruvananthapuram), P.K. Ajith Kumar (Kozhikode) and K.A. Martin in Kochi).
