Factories feel shortage of manpower.

Reminding the sight of migrant workers huddling together at Railway Stations during the Covid 19 severity, the flight of the migrant workers to their homes triggered by fears of shortage of cooking gas is a sad sight these days!

Manpower crisis

Federation of Indian Export Organisations(FIEO) says around 5-7% workers did not return due to LPG-related disruptions.

Industry players are seeking government intervention to improve living conditions of workers, introduce measures to minimise reverse migration.

The Tamilnadu government has asked Torrent Gas to ensure piped natural gas(PNG) supply to industrial units in madras within 60 days.

Around 10-20% migrant workers or roughly 10,000 labourers across western and southern Tamilnadu, have not returned to their workplaces.

Industry estimates indicate that nearly 2 lakh workers in Coimbatore left for Holi and are yet to return.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked on the courtyard; recited my prayers.

Bath followed by breakfast of assorted stuff.

Lunch followed by siesta.

The evening chores.

Watched the movie, "Sarvam Maya", starring Nivin pauly, Riya Shibu and Preity Mukhundhan along with the others. Lekha and I enjoyed it.

SIR in UP.

UP's final voter list out, 2 crore names deleted.

No of voters in UP post SIR           13.39 crores

Male                                                7,30,71,061 (54.54%)

Female                                             6,09,09,525 (45.46%)

Transgenders                                             4,206

Highest growth in voters since SIR first phase

Prayagraj                                               2,85,061

Lucknow                                               2,85,961

Bareilly                                                 2,57,920

Ghaziabad                                             2,43,666

Jaunpur                                                 2,37,590

Sahibabad                                                82,898

Lucknow west                                         54,822

Loni                                                         53,679

Firozabad                                                 47,757

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked on the courtyard; recited my prayers.

Bath followed by breakfast of Puttum pazhavum.

Worked on my laptop.

Lunch followed by siesta.

The evening chores.

Through the Sabarimala entry case.

Restricting temple entry by denomination harms Hinduism

Hinduism will be adversely impacted if temples and mutts restrict entry on grounds of separate denominations inside a religion, Supreme Court says.

State can step in under article 25(2)(B)

The nine-judge Constitution Bench was responding to submissions of senior advocate CS Vaidyanathan that article 26(b) over 25(2b). The court did not agree with the supremacy of art 26(b) over 25(2b). Justice Nagarathna said that the State can step in under article 25(2b) to ensure access to temples to all sections.

Specificity of denomination not good : the court

* Vaidyanathan, for the devotees of Lord Ayyappa of Sabarimala temple, submitted that they constitute      a separate religious denomination and hence have the right to manage the temple's affairs

* To his submission, Justice Nagarathna said, ".....if you say only my denomination will attend the             temple, that is not good for Hinduism".

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre.

Morning cuppa with everyone.

Bath followed by breakfast of masala dosa and coffee.

Worked on my laptop.

A boisterous lunch, a bit of "Snehakkoottu" followed by siesta.

Padmakumar, Rema and Achu returned to Thrippunithura; enroute they'd dropped our maid at the Chavakkad bus stand. Had handed over the 'Vishukkaineettam" to the three of them!

A quiet evening.

Cast my vote!

Our day had begun at a half past 4, went through our chores and was ready by a quarter to 7. Off to the RCUP School which was our polling booth at 7 with the Radhakrishnans, our neighbours, in their car. Cast out votes by 8, had a 'Guruvayur darshan' before having our breakfast at Renai's hotel. Returned by a quarter to 10.

It was yet another quiet, warm day.

The maid was absent.

Lunch at our usual time with Lekha preparing chicken curry.

Saw "Snehakkoottu" followed by siesta.

The evening chores. 

Lekha went to the temple to have a darshan of the good Lord and offered the first mango from our tree at the 'nada'.

A video conference of our classmates, orchestrated by Babu Sahdev. The quorum was less than what I thought it would be, but it was nice all the same.

Padmakumar, Rema and Achu fetched up from Kochi and it was yakkittiyak as always. Slept past 11.  

News from Kalpakkam, Tamilnadu.

Prototype fast blade reactor(PFBR) is a fast breeder nuclear reactor with 500 MW electric capacity. Nuclear fuel in the reactor is Plutonium 239. 

Along with production of electricity, this reactor converts Uranium 238 to Plutonium 239. Thus it produces or converts more nuclear fuel material than it is consuming for power production.

Utilising this technology, Thorium 232 can be converted into Uranium 233 which is also a nuclear fuel material. Incidentally, India has the largest Thorium reserve in the world.

Hence the technology which is demonstrated now has the potential to solve the energy requirement of our country for generations.

My take

A great step indeed. Thankfully, the heap of sand - rich in Thorium - off the coast of Chavara, Kollam will be gainfully employed! 

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Carried out the Wednesday 'aarathi' of the house.

Walked on the courtyard; recited my prayers.

Bath followed by breakfast of upma.

Worked on my laptop. Lekha goes to town to get a lot of work done.

Lunch, watched "Snehakkoottu" followed by siesta.

The evening chores. 

9 cops sentenced to death in Tamilnadu.

In a groundbreaking verdict, a court in Madurai handed death penalty to all the nine policemen convicted in connection with the custodial torture and death of two traders - P Jeyaraj and his son, Beniks - at Sathankulam in Thoothukudi in 2020.

Referring to similar incidents in the US, First Additional District and Sessions Judge G Muthukumaran observed that custodial killings are a social evil and an assault on human rights. The judgement, it's hoped, will serve as a warning to stop the recurrence of similar incidents.

As per prosecution, on 19 Jun 2020, the convicted cops picked up Jeyaraj for allegedly keeping their mobile phone shop open beyond the Covid-19 curfew hours. When Beniks went to the police station and requested his father's release, they verbally abused Jeyaraj in front of him, leading to a quarrel. Following this, the father-son duo was subjected to extreme physical assault, leading to their deaths in a hospital a few days later.  

My take

A very sad incident!

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked within the house; recited the prayers.

Bath followed by breakfast of pancakes.

Worked on my laptop.

Lunch; the power outage prevented us from viewing the television, siesta.

The evening chores.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).

The NFR achieves milestones, boosts connectivity

The Northeast Frontier Railway has achieved significant milestones during the 2025-26 fiscal year, with enhanced connectivity, modernisation, passenger comfort and development across the region.

It introduced 20 pairs of new train services, including premium, semi-premium and conventional trains, strengthening connectivity.

NFR increased the speeds of 35 trains, resulting in a cumulative saving of 675 minutes in travel time. 

Simultaneously, the railway made notable progress with 100% electrification, contributing to Indian Railways' mission of sustainable and energy operations.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre.

Resmi calls up to say that the wedding of Kripa-shankar and Aishwarya ( daughter of a Telugu couple settled now at Ambalamukku, Thiruvananthapuram), sometime next year. Aishwarya is working at Google in the US and is friends with Kripa-shankar. She's a Brahmin girl and they want the wedding to be done as per their traditions!

Walked within the house; recited my prayers.

Bath followed by breakfast of appams and chammanthi.

Worked on my laptop.

Lunch, watched "Snehakkoottu" followed by siesta.

The evening chores.

Met the Medical specialist, Jimmy Francis and my friend to show my recent test results at KIMS, Thiruvananthapuram. 

Morning cuppa with Lekha.