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Kerala State Issues

KERALA GOVT. : Issues | updated : july 02 / 2008

No govt interference in religious affairs: Kerala minister TRIVANDRUM - Kerala Health and Social Welfare Minister P.K. Sreemathy yesterday ruled out any intervention in the religious affairs of the people. She stated the government's stand while replying to a calling attention motion moved by K.M. Mani of the Kerala Congress in the state assembly on State Women's Commission's suggestion for a law to protect the nuns. Commission chairperson D. Sridevi had last month said that they would ask the state government to frame laws fixing the minimum age for women to join nunnery with provisions for rehabilitating those who quit the vocation. "The commission has not made any such recommendation to the government. We have also not received any complaints regarding human rights violations of nuns. Therefore, there is no need for the government to act on the matter", Sreemathy said. The minister said the government had no intention to interfere in the matters of faith and rites of any religious community. However, she said that the women's commission could examine if they received any complaint about violation of the Canon Law being followed by the Christians. Moving the calling attention motion, the Kerala Congress (M) member said that the Women's Commission move in this regard was misleading. He pointed out that the Canon law of the church insisted that no person could become a priest or nun without attaining 18 years of age. The Women's Commission chairperson's statement had sparked protests from the church and some of the opposition parties and termed the move part of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front's campaign against faith. The statement came at a time when church and its organisations are already waging a battle against alleged move by the government to inject Communist ideology in the minds of school children through textbooks. Meanwhile, the Local Administration Minister and CPM central committee member Paloli Muhammed Kutty said that the party was not against faith. Talking to a private television channel, he said majority of the 300,000 party cadres were people who follow different religions.
States demand increase in ceiling of OBC creamy layer New Delhi, July 2: Backward class commissions of several states on Wednesday demanded near doubling of the existing ceiling for creamy layer for reservation in the OBC category even as some felt there should be no such layer at all. Thirty six representatives from 20 states including the chairmen of backward caste commissions and secretaries in-charge of respective state departments took part in a closed door meeting of the National Commission For Backward Classes (NCBC) here. While Karnataka and Maharashtra demanded a much higher ceiling, Madhya Pradesh state commission chairman Babulal Kushwaha demanded fixing of Rs 10 lakh ceiling for service classes and ownership of 50 acre of land for farmers. NCBC chairman S R Pandyan, however, said the average demand for the rise in ceiling was between Rs 4 and Rs 6 lakh on which there was a consensus. The ceiling is currently fixed at Rs 2.5 lakh. The original ceiling of Rs 1 lakh was last revised to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2004. Pandyan admitted a few states even held the opinion that there should be no creamy layer at all. NCBC member Lakshmi Chand said Backward Classes Commissions of most of the states attending the meeting also demanded more power for grievance redressal in matters of reservation. State commissions in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh do have these powers. He said currently even the NCBC does not have any such power and it can only recommend inclusion or exclusion of castes. Representatives from Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Karnataka demanded a fresh census of OBC in their states and the country as a whole. NCBC will send a detailed report to the Centre on the matter by June 30.