KL This Week: Govt Announces Reservation for Transgender People in Nursing Courses

NewsClick brings you a round-up of the important developments from across Kerala during the past week, including the state government's opposition to the amendment to the Cooperatives Act, protests by nurses against the inhuman acts of owners of a private hospital in Thrissur, Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s) enquiry into the Muttil tree felling case, and reservations for the transgender community in nursing courses.

‘COOPERATIVES AMENDMENT AGAINST FEDERALISM’  

Minister for Cooperatives V N Vasavan has accused the Union government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of infringing on the rights of the states through the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill. The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha on July 25 even as the opposition parties were demanding a discussion on Manipur violence. 

The minister for cooperation in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government has accused the BJP-led government of snatching away the rights of the state governments. Kerala has a very strong network of cooperative societies covering several sectors including agriculture, dairy, fisheries, and coir among several others. 

The LDF government has opposed the move to snatch the control of the state governments over the multi-state cooperatives and claimed that the Bill eradicates the primary objective of the cooperatives – to cater to the needs of the common man. 

NURSES PROTEST HIGH HANDEDNESS OF HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT

The managing director of Nyle Hospital, Dr Aloke V R, and his wife Jitha Aloke were booked by Thrissur police for “physically assaulting nurses including a pregnant nurse” during a conciliation meeting. Condemning the alleged act by the owners of the hospital, nurses resorted to protest on July 28, seeking immediate arrest of both.

The nurses accused the hospital management of paying salaries between Rs 7,000 and Rs 12,000 without ensuring any social welfare measures. The hospital owners began to “mentally traumatise the nurses for joining the nurses’ union and demanding their rights”. 

The MD allegedly kicked the nurses during the conciliation meeting with the district labour officer even as the management had retrenched several staff members including paramedical staff for joining the United Nurses Association (UNA). Six nurses are admitted to Government Medical College, Thrissur after suffering injuries during the scuffle. 

RESERVATION FOR THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY

The transgender community in Kerala has been allocated one seat each in the B.Sc. nursing and general nursing courses, as per the latest announcement by the LDF government. The reservation will be implemented from the current academic year itself.

Veena George, the minister for health and family welfare, took to Facebook, highlighting the importance of the reservation for the transgender community. “This is the first time in history that the transgender community is provided reservation in nursing courses. The government, in continuation of the efforts taken to empower the community, has ensured the representation of the community in the health sector,” she wrote. 

The LDF government has also promised to provide housing to all members of the community within three years. 

ED TO ENQUIRE TREE FELLING CASE

The ED has initiated an enquiry into the money laundering charges against the Indo-Asian News Channel Pvt Limited, allegedly in connection with the infamous ‘Muttil Tree Cutting Case'. The information was conveyed in Parliament by Union Minister Rao Inderjeet Singh, in response to a question raised by Congress MP K Sudhakaran.

However, the Kerala Police will continue its inquiry into the tree felling incident, where old sandalwood trees were felled without the permission of the concerned departments in the Wayanad district.

Earlier, the Forest Minister of Kerala, A K Saseendran, stated that the claims made by the accused in the case were “proved false”. The accused individuals had claimed that they had sought approval from the tribals by showing them permission letters from officials to fell trees. However, the tribals denied signing any such documents, which led to further actions being taken under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

MCC SEMINAR ON UNIFORM CIVIL CODE

The Muslim Coordination Committee (MCC) organised a seminar on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) proposed by the Law Commission. The seminar held on July 26 saw the coming together of various political, social and religious organisations, for the second time within a couple of weeks after another seminar led by the CPI-M. 

The influential Muslim organisation, Samastha, despite its contradiction with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), participated in the seminar.