Bureaucrat weds MLA
It was a love affair Kerala followed with gusto. It culminated on Friday as Congress MLA K.S. Sabarinathan tied the knot with Thiruvananthapuram sub-collector Divya S. Iyer. Their love affair became an open secret when Sabrinathan announced the wedding in May on Facebook. It is for the first time that a politician-bureaucrat wedding was taking place in the state.
Sabarinathan, son of late Congress leader G. Karthikeyan, had entered politics after the death of his father in 2015. An engineering and MBA graduate, he had won the Aruvikkara by-poll and became the youngest MLA in the state assembly in 2015. He had retained the seat in 2016 assembly elections with an impressive margin. Divya, a graduate in medicine from CMC, Vellore, is an IAS officer of the 2013 batch.
The low-key ceremony was attended by close relatives and friends of the bride and groom. Divya, who is skilled in performance arts like Kathakali, Odissi, classical music and solo acts, rendered a keerthanam after the wedding ceremony.
Happy farewell note
He had taken charge as the state director general of police (DGP) amid high controversies. But his farewell was uneventful. T.P. Senkumar, who had assumed charge as the DGP creating huge embarrassment for the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government, ended his last day in office by thanking the CM against whom he had approached the apex court. Senkumar had taken legal measures after the left government removed him from the post of DGP from the very first week that it assumed power.
There were many reports of a tiff between him and the government during his three-month-long tenure in office as DGP. Senkumar, however, dispelled the general impression that all was not well between him and the CM after he rejoined the service on the back of an SC verdict against the government.
"The CM gave me unstinted support ever since I joined the service,’’ he said in his farewell speech. Maintaining that there was no conflict between him and the government, Senkumar praised the CM for his clarity and vision regarding governance. Making it clear that he is ready to be take up any assignments with the government, Senkumar said that he will extend all support to the government in the future too.
The gun-toting MLA
It was a scene straight out of the badlands of north Indian politics. But it is something never heard or seen in a political state like Kerala and it did create quite a stir. MLA P.C. George, who has mostly hit headlines for wrong reasons, recently pulled out his gun and pointed it at an agitated mob which surrounded him on Thursday afternoon in the Kottayam district.
The incident took place at a rubber estate area in Mundakayam where around 50 families, mostly daily wagers, allegedly encroached on the estate land. The labour union at the estate and workers had tried to move them out but got agitated when the seven-time legislator reached the spot and supported the families instead. Visuals showed the MLA waving the pistol when they shouted slogans at him. He later explained that he had done nothing wrong as he was a licensed gun holder and used it only to protect the innocent.
George, better known for his maverick actions, won as an independent in the assembly polls last year, defeating the candidates of both the leading fronts.
Nightingales on strike
The services of Malayalee nurses are much sought after across the globe; but not in their homeland. The nurses have to fight a tough battle to earn a decent living in the state which produces the majority of nurses in the country.
Those who work in 1300-odd private hospitals across the state are struggling to make both ends meet, and they have been on strike for quite some time. They are getting paid even lesser than other blue collar jobs with most getting a maximum pay of Rs 8,000 in a state where even a migrant labourer earns anywhere between 800 to 1,000 per day. This is despite the directions of an SC-appointed committee to ensure that nurses working in hospitals having more than 50 beds should pay the nurses the same salary as that of a government hospital.
The fact that job opportunities abroad are decreasing has added to their woes. Earlier most nurses who worked in private nursing homes used to work for a pittance just to get the required experience so that they can fly to other parts of the world where Malayalee nurses were high in demand. But that scenario has changed. But hospitals prefer not to mind this as nurses are still aplenty.
As the nurses went on strike in various hospitals, the state labour commission has intervened. The government is expected to bring in some mechanism to ensure a better pay for the nurses.
Real action in Mollywood
Mollywood has been witnessing drama and conspiracies rivalling its own films ever since a top actor was abducted and molested. It took a serious turn the other day as a leading actor-cum-producer Dileep was questioned by the police for nearly 12 hours. The name of Dileep, who did not share a good rapport with the molested actor, has been part of gossip sheets ever since the incident happened.
It hit headlines as a letter apparently written by one of the accused got leaked to press. In the letter, the accused is asking money from Dileep for not revealing his hand in the whole episode. The actor, however, complained to the police that the accused had been trying to blackmail him.
The drama is still continuing as the police is expected to question Dileep again soon.
