Page 178 - economic review

SOCIAL SERVICE150

• State Institute of Encyclopaedia Publications published Malayalam Encyclopaedia Volume
4 & 5 (revised edition) and celebrated golden jubilee Year of the Institute .As part of
Golden Jubilee Celebrations the Institute had conducted Workshops and Seminars at
Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur and published the reference book “Samskarikam”.

• Vasthu Vidya Gurukulam completed the renovation of mural painting works at Thali temple.
Human Resource Development Ministry approved VasthuVidya Gurukulam as National
nodal agency for Vasthu. It is also listing out and documenting all heritage buildings in
Kerala for State Tourism Department.

• State Institute of Language in collaboration with Science, Technology and Environment
Council and DC books, released 109 modern scientific books in the International Book
Festival organized during November 1 to 16, 2014 at Thiruvananthapuram.

• The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is an international exhibition of contemporary art forms.The
second Kochi-Muziris Biennale which was started on 12 th December 2014 would last till
29 March 2015 (108 days). It is enriched with 100 works of 94 artists from 30 countries at
eight venues.Indian and international artists exhibits artworks across a variety of mediums
including film, installation, painting, sculpture, new media and performance art. Inaddition to
this the Biennale offers a rich programme of talks, seminars, screenings, music, workshops
and educational activities for school children and students. More details will be available
from the website www.Kochimuzirisbiennale.org.

• The 19th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) 2014 organised by Kerala State
Chalachitra Academy has been held from 12th to 19th December in Trivandrum.140
movies from different countries were screened in the one-week film festival.Argentine
movie ‘Refugiado’ had won the ‘Suvarna Chakoram’ for the Best Feature Film. Japanese
director Hiroshi Toda’s ‘Summer Kyoto’ was adjudged with the ‘Rajatha Chakoram’ for the
best director. More details are available from the website www.iffk.in.

Section 3
Medical & Public Health

4.61 Kerala has made remarkable strides in terms of Health indices like Infant Mortality rate, birth
rate, death rate, expectancy of life at birth etc.It is a difficult task to further improve upon these
achievements and to even sustain the already gained achievements. Further, the State is facing
an uphill task of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, coronary heart disease, renal disease,
cancer and geriatric problems. Emerging new public health problems like bird flu, chikungunya fever,
dengue fever, leptospirosis, swine flu (HINI) etc. also are a major concern. Other than these there
are newer threats to the health scenario of the state, to mention a few mental health problems,
suicide, substance abuse and alcoholism, adolescent health issues and rising number of road traffic
accidents. To tackle these concerted and committed efforts with proper inter sectoral co-ordination
is essential.

Health Indicators of Kerala

4.62 Comparative figures of major health and demographic indicators compared to National average
are as follows:

Kerala State Planning Board