The University of Kerala will hire retired teachers as adjunct faculty for its four-year undergraduate programmes (FYUGP)

The decision was taken at a recent Syndicate meeting after Vice-Chancellor (V-C) in-charge Mohanan Kunnummal put a rank list prepared by a selection committee on abeyance. The list was kept aside on account of a petition at the Kerala High Court that alleged that the selection panel violated University Grants Commission (UGC) norms.

The university intended to appoint 12 lecturers on contractual basis for 11 subjects, with more expected to be hired in the subsequent years to meet the demands of the FYUGP.

Dr. Kunnummal said Professors and Associate Professors, who retired in the recent past, preferably from government colleges, will be considered for appointment as adjunct faculty. The appointees, who will receive a monthly remuneration of ₹30,000, will be chosen after being recommended by the Heads of the Departments concerned based on their requirements.

While a proposal to engage retired teachers had been actively considered earlier, it was shot down by the Syndicate that called for appointing young job aspirants to the posts.

The selection committee had come under scrutiny after the V-C had objected to its constitution. He had opposed the inclusion of Shijukhan J.S., the convener of the Syndicate Standing Committee on Staff, Equipments and Building, in the panel. He also questioned the propriety of having the Registrar in the committee, asserting that the administrative head should not become part of a body that decides on an academic matter.

The UGC regulations mandated that the V-C or a professor appointed by the official should chair an interview for guest lecturer appointments. Dr. Kunnummal had proposed appointing former Syndicate member and senior professor P.M. Radhamany as the chairperson, but this proposal too was turned down by the CPI(M)-majority Syndicate.

The State Human Rights Commission has ordered immediate redressal measures to stop wastewater from Government Higher Secondary School, Kulakada, entering the compound of a nearby house and contaminating the well.

Commission member V.K. Binakumari, in her order, directed the Deputy Director of Education, district panchayat secretary, Kulakkada grama panchayat secretary and the school principal to find a solution within one month. The commission directed the Deputy Director of Education to convene the officials concerned within 15 days and take a decision.

Although the school authorities were aware of the rules regarding the discharge of wastewater, the effluent has been reaching the complainant’s well as the authorities did not pay much attention to it, the commission observed in its order.

In the report submitted to the commission, the secretary of the Kulakada grama panchayat said that wastewater was accumulated in the backyard of the complainant. The report also states that a letter was given to the school principal on July 25, 2024, asking him to take steps to treat the water on the school premises to resolve the complaint. But the steps taken after receiving the letter are not clear. The action was taken on the complaint filed by Akhil, a resident of Kulakada.

The Sadashivanagar police have arrested a couple hailing from Nepal who were growing Ganja plants in their kitchen garden in the city.

The couple used to make short video reels and upload them on social media. In one such video, ganja plants growing in pots were visible. One of the viewers tipped off the police about the ganja plants. Following this, a police team raided the house in MSR Nagar and arrested Urmila Kumari, 38 and her husband Sagar Gurang, 37. According to the police the duo was working in a private firm and confessed to the police that they are cultivating ganja plants in their kitchen garden to sell it to their customers.

The couple reportedly tried to hoodwink the police by plucking all the plants and discarded it in the dustbin as soon as they noticed the police team knocking their door. The police recovered the 54 grams of ganja leaves from the dustbin and seized it for further investigation.

The accused have been booked under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and released them later on station bail.

The rise and growth of Calicut is unlikely to be “a cause and consequence of the ascendancy of the Zamorins alone,’‘ as it had areas of economic importance in the early historic period of the megalithic phase itself, historian M.R. Raghava Varier has said.

He was presenting a paper at a symposium on ‘Calicut in history’ on the second day of the 43^rd South Indian History Congress at Malabar Christian College in Kozhikode on Saturday (November 9). It was K.V. Krishna Ayyar who linked the establishment of the port town to the emergence of the dynasty in his seminal work The Zamorins of Calicut.

Mr. Varier pointed out that the conflict between the Zamorins, who originally belonged to the Nediyiruppu Swarupam near Kondotty in Ernad taluk (now in Malappuram district), and the Polanad chiefs of the Porlatiri Swarupam, the traditional rulers of the coast of Calicut, was probably to get the ownership of those areas of economic importance. It could also be to gain control over the trade routes which spread all over the hinterland, providing outlet not only to the sea, but also to areas beyond the Western Ghats.

According to the legend, the two founders of the Zamorin’s kingdom received two fields, Kokkozhikode and Chullikkadu, and the sword of the last Cheraman Perumal, the sovereign of Kerala, with a royal sanction to “die, kill, and conquer”. Both these places are in the Kasaba Amsam in the city. “Kokkozhikode is a hillock overlooking the river Kallayi. In olden days, it could have served as a strategic point where one could have a view of the entire area, including the traffic in the river. Chullikkadu is mentioned in settlement registers as a ‘patanna’ or a salt pan. According to some authorities, there were 52 salt pans in the area, indicating it was a major economic activity there,” he said.

Thus, the ‘legendary gift’ consisted of a strategic point, Kokkozhikode, and an area of economic importance, Chullikkadu. Kokkozhikode also means the ‘Kozhikode’ that belonged to the king or ‘ko’. Mr. Varier said that the quarrel between the Porlatiris and the Zamorins was for the control of this area with immense resource potential. He also spoke about how the city grew through foreign trade with the Chinese and Arabs during the Zamorin rule.

V.V. Haridas, Professor, Department of History, University of Calicut, spoke about how the Zamorins were key patrons of high culture, as they strategically supported art, literature and religious rituals. Their patronage of the dance drama Krishnattam and Revathi Pattathanam, the annual assembly of scholars, were notable, he said. M.C. Vasisht also presented a paper and Jayaprakash Raghavaiah moderated the session.

Suresh Gopi, Minister of State for Tourism and Petroleum and Natural Gas, made headlines with his remarks on the Waqf at a public meeting in Wayanad on Saturday. Mr. Gopi said the term symbolised a disturbing reality. He was speaking at a gathering at Kambalakkadu in the district to bolster Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Navya Haridas’s campaign in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.