Renowned spiritual guru Swami Udit Chaitanya will deliver  discourse in London on two days from tomorrow. On Saturday, October 15, the Swamiji would address an event to be held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (4A Castletown Road,London W14 9HE . Phone020 7381 3086)from 3pm to 4pm. Sunday, October 16, swami Chaitanyai would deliver speech from 3pm to 5pm at Sree Narayana Guru Mission (16 Barking Road,London E6 3BP). From 5:30-7pm he will address the devotees at Murguan Temple(78-90 Church Road London E12 6AF).

The selection of the new Melsanthi of  Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa Temple is due to be held at the temple precincts on October 18. 
The selection of the new melsanthis for Sabarimala and Malikappuram Devi temples will be held in front of the  Sopanam at 8 a.m. on October 18 after Usha pooja.
 The shortlisted melsanthi aspirants of nine each for Sabarimala and Malikappuram were selected at an interview held at the devaswom headquarters on October 3 and 4.  The final melsanthi selection, on the basis of draw of lots, would be held …

The development of Kochi Metro rail proejct is gathering pace with the authorites start dismantling the North rail overbridge (RoB). After demoliting the entry point of the bridge, holes were drilled in the middle part of the bridge to cut it into pieces.
The entire structure will be lifted and moved to other places where it will be broken into pieces. Each side bay is four-and-a-half-metre wide. The construction of the side bays is expected to be completed in six months. The dismantling of the other side bay will begin after …

The State Government has sanctioned Rs12 crore for the proposed Attukal Towsnhsip Project. The government would  appoint a special officer for the devel[pment project, the Industries and Town Planning Minister P K Kunhalikutty said.
 The Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and the State Government together fund the  Rs 4 crore for conducting the annual festival. But there is no administrative office for the project.

Actor Mohanlal will lead the Kerala Strikers – Malayalam film industry’s answer to teams from other moviedoms in the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL). Actor Indrajith has been named the vice-captain. The team of Malayalam actors, along with its jersey and logo, was launched at a sparkling function here on Thursday. 
 The Kerala cine actors’ team is set to battle out with its counterparts from the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi film industries in the second edition of the T-20 cricket tournament organised exclusively for filmstars.
The team will play five matches in …

Christians or Hindus, thousands of tiny tots in Kerala were initiated to the world of letters, traditionally called `Vidyarambham”, Thursday.
Children thronged temples, churches, clubs and other places. The ceremony saw academics, litterateurs, teachers and even politicians hold the hands of the young ones to help them write Malayalam letters on a plate of rice or on sand.
Originally perceived as a Hindu event, for the last few years it has taken place at churches, with the local priest or a guest invited by the church helping the children write. 
While Hindus write …

Kerala government is looking for private investors to develop the state’s more than a dozen minor ports. The government is working on a proposal regarding this that would be presented at the forthcoming Global Investors’ Meet-Emerging Kerala. 
The development of ports is expected to reduce the movements of cargo on roads to a great extent. The development of minor ports would also be a booster to the tourism sector. 
Though basic infrastructure such as breakwater and warehouses are  provided at some of the ports, no significant investments were made to construct berths, …

Kerala  became the first ‘total banking state’ in the country, with the unique distinction of each household in all the 14 districts having at least one bank account and banking facilities available within the reach of people everywhere. 
It was the “Total Financial Inclusion Programme” (FIP) launched by the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) that brought the achievement. 
Making the landmark announcement at a meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that even as the state had added yet another first to its credit, the banks should shed their conservative …

Cruise tourism is back in Kerala with Chennai-based Amet Cruises launching its operations from next month.  
The vessel is set for its first sail on October 7. The ship will conduct services from Kochi for three months starting from October.
Every week, the mv Amet Majesty will sail from Kochi to the Maldives (four nights), to Lakshadweep (two nights) and also operate one high-sea trip during weekends. The high seas service starts at 8 pm every Saturday and come back by Sunday noon.
Amet Majesty has a dance floor, disco casinos, show-lounge …

Emirates airline will operate daily flights to Dublin from January 2012 marking its first route to the Republic of Ireland and 29th destination of the airline in Europe.
The daily service, from January 9, will leave Dubai at 7 a.m. to arrive in the Irish capital at 11.30 a.m.. The return flight will leave Dublin at 12.55 p.m. and reach Dubai at 12.25 a.m. the next day. An Airbus A 330-200 will be deployed between Dubai and Dublin, offering First, Business and Economy class to the travellers.
Emirates’ customers in Ireland who …

The 58th birthday celebrations of Mata Amrithanandamayi will get underway on September 27 at the Amritapuri campus of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in Kollam. 
 The function will commence with a talk  by Swami Amritaswarupananda, vice-chairman of Mata Amritanandamayi Math. This will be followed by Sreepadapooja. 
 Mata Amritanandamayi will address a  satsang  in the morning. This will be followed by the launch of a series of projects in areas of health, education, environment and charities. 
Of late, Kerala is witnessing a distressing trend of the aged, sick and disabled people being increasingly deserted by their …

Kerala’s Coconut Development Board held  a trial-run of a remote-controlled robot designed to pluck coconuts on its own.
The prototype, which works on the principle of pneumatics, was designed by Mr  Zacharias Mathew, a Mumbai-based Keralite, who has a bunch of other innovations in his pocket. 
The prototype can climb the tree on its own by using compressed air formed by the power from a diesel generator. It is fitted with a blade on top, which helps pluck the coconut. Mr Mathew developed the robot following a request from the Coconut Development …

Kerala’s Ezhava community has got a paternal lineage of European origin, a recent study has revealed.
The study report published in a Croatian Medical Journal (Croat MedJ) said Ezhavas showed more genotypic resemblance to the Jat Sikh population of Punjab and the Turkish populations than to East Asians.
The study on Deoxyribo Nulceic Acid (DNA) profiling of Kerala population was conducted by a three-member team of experts attached to Department of Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering at Sree Budha College of Engineering (SBCE) in Pathanamthitta district.
The study has completely analysed the short tandem …

The second edition of India-UK SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) Conference and Business Meet will take place at Henry Ford College, Loughborough University,  Leicestershire on October 13, 2011.
 The focus of this year’s conference will be partnership in engineering and advanced manufacturing technology.  The Indian High Commission in the UK is expecting 60-70 entrepreneurs from India this time.
The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), the National Small Industries Corporation of India (NSICI), the EEPC India, the Small Industries development Bank of India (SIDBI), the PHD chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Indian …

The central government has given the nod for the much-awaited Railway Coach Factory (RCF) in Palakkad.
The Union Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi yesterday announced that  the railways have cleared the project as the required land for the project had been given free of cost by Kerala government. The foundation stone for the RCF will be laid on October 22, 2011.
The state wanted the proposed RCF to remain as a Public Sector Unit (PSU) and agreed to the  features of the project subject to the condition that land value would be treated …

A delegation of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church has called on the Nair Service Society (NSS) leadership on Sunday.
The four-member delegation led by Bishop Geevarghese Mar Julius, head of the Ahmedabad diocese, and three priests, met the NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair and explained their position in the vexed St Pauls’ and St Peter’s Church issue in which they are in direct conflict with the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church.
 Mr Nair later told the media that  the NSS considers the issue as an internal matter of Christian community and it won’t …

Air India’s (AI) under-construction aircraft maintenance base is set to open by the end of this month. The AI-Boeing joint venture project is coming up near the new international terminal building of Thiruvananthapuram airport.
A trial run was successfully carried out last week. The formal commissioning of the base will be done either during the third or fourth week of September by Union Minister for Civil Aviation Vayalar Ravi. Although the facility would be declared open at the function, it would be operational only after some time.
The base, constructed at a …

The Planning Commission has given its nod to the Rs.4000-crore Kochi  Metro Rail Project. The mass-rapid mode of transportation project was mooted over five years ago to ease Kochi’s a heavy traffic congestion.
The Commission is expected to come out soon with its plans stance on how to raise the required funds for the project. The initial idea is to  raise the fund as a joint venture between the State and Central governments, as demanded by the State government and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the project consultants. Another option …

The Kerala government will focus on rehabilitation of Gulf returnees as the jobs for immigrants in the Gulf countries are fast shrinking, said the rural development and non-resident affairs (NoRKA)  minister K C Joseph.
Inaugurating the NoRKA-Roots Cell set up at the Collectorate Annexe in Kannur, the Minister said that the cell here was the first to be opened among the six proposed in different parts of the State.
Despite the efforts of the Overseas Affairs Ministry at the Centre and NoRKA to free job aspirants from the clutches of fraudulent recruitment …

Attingal would soon evolve as a satellite city of  Thiruvananthapuram.
A meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday to review the progress of the monorail project, which was okayed by the Cabinet last month, decided to extend the monorail traffic facility to Attingal via Technocity, adding another 15 km to the earlier plan. 
The monorail traffic system, which is a rail-based transportation system based on a single-rail, was originally planned for Kazhakkoottam to Balaramapuram covering a total of 28.4 km.
At Monday’s meeting, it was decided to extend the facility to …