In an open letter, Banerjee said the COVID warriors, including police, home guards, civil defence volunteers, correctional home and disaster management employees, will be administered the vaccine on a priority basis.
The Indian Medical Association states that cases are likely to rise further before coming down in Kerala as about 50 per cent of its population is still susceptible to the virus.
At an Onam celebration that took place recently at the Indian consulate in Dubai, Muraleedharan said nobody knows how legendary king Mahabali got linked with the celebrations.
The Tanur police said a case was registered on Sunday itself against the owner of the boat, which reportedly did not have a licence to function.
The Kerala government imposed fresh restrictions in the state as a preventive measure to contain the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
A source in the medical college said the suspect, who was caught from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra on the Wednesday, was admitted there after his examination.
The direction to Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL), or K-Rail as it is popularly known, was welcomed by Congress-led United Democratic Front opposition as they termed it a victory of the first phase of the struggle against the semi-high speed rail corridor.
The ED case has been booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the agency will record the statement of the accused. The central agency will investigate if proceeds of crime were generated by the accused by laundering of funds that were earned through the alleged gold smuggling racket.
Going against the assurances given to the Kerala high court, the protesters agitating in front of the under-construction Vizhinjam seaport had on Saturday blocked the trucks carrying construction materials to the site.
Tamil Nadu and Kerala are voting in single-phase for 234 and 140 assembly constituencies respectively.
UDF convener Benni Behanan said the Front has also decided to move a resolution against Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and seek his resignation.
Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad Khan slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and minister of higher education R Bindu over the issue of appointment in universities and said he is not able to work in an environment where too much political interference.
'The current launch is a sounding rocket, this cannot be called a milestone. The importance is this is for the first time a private player is doing it.'
Given the politics behind it all, one possibility is for binding the governor to act according to the decisions of the state government and clarifying his position vis a vis bills and resolutions passed by the state assembly -- or, re-enacted if returned, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'I am the senior most Congress party leader from Kerala, and I don't know why I am sidelined.'
'The problem is with those who are entrusted with powers.'
While the CPI-M in a statement after the secretariat on Friday maintained that Balakrishnan, who is also a Polit Bureau member, had sought leave for further treatment which had been accepted, the leader of opposition in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala dubbed the move as a delayed dawning of wisdom.
'Our views are different on fundamental matters right from the question of citizenship, all the way up to what the character of the Government should be, how a democracy should function and whether investigation agencies should be allowed to function independently.'
While Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has made his national ambitions amply clear, even rechristening his party to aid the process, his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin insists he is already in the national scene and used his birthday rally on March 1 to not only strongly pitch for the Congress as a force to reckon with in the efforts to dislodge the Narendra Modi-led dispensation at the Centre, but also sought to shoot down the prospects of a Third Front.
The senior politician's arrest was formally recorded after he was brought to Thiruvananthapuram via road from his residence and thereafter, he was produced before a duty magistrate who granted him bail.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the decision was undertaken to avoid the illicit flow of liquor in the state amid a partial lockdown to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus after 67 confirmed cases were reported.
Authorities have sounded red alert in three districts of Kerala on May 14 and five districts on May 15, indicating the possibility of extremely heavy rains under the influence of a low pressure area over the Arabian Sea.
Kerala-based Kitex Garments, the world's second-largest children's garments producer, has landed in trouble after sporadic violence at its workers' camp led to an attack on the local police, injuring at least five officers. The local police told Business Standard that at least 156 migrant workers were detained after the incident and around 50 have been arrested so far. A decision on any possible action against the company will be taken after the investigation.
Amidst the heightened social media campaign to induct K K Shailaja into the new cabinet, the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Wednesday said the dropping of the popular health minister was a 'political and organisational' decision of the party and there would not be any re-look into it.
Kerala Chief Minister and CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, West Bengal CM and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, and Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy lent support to the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government's fight with the Centre.
'We each have our challenges, some tougher than the others...but, get through this...WE WILL...TOGETHER!!!'
As results pour in for the four states -- West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam -- and one Union Territory -- Puducherry - here's a glimpse at the leaders who are trailing and those who are leading.
Pinarayi is exploring the potentials of 'socialism with Indian characteristics'. The next five years under Pinarayi's watch will be a transformative period for Kerala's development, observes M K Bhadrakumar.
Days after three infant deaths were reported in Kerala's backward tribal Attapady, the National Human Rights Commission has been petitioned about the issue seeking its urgent intervention and detailed probe.
'Vote banks will change affiliations and the BJP will come out with good success in Kerala.'
Unsubstantiated and illogical opinions, delivered freely from within or abroad, could not destroy the democratic nature of the country, he added.
The government has declared that night curfew would be enforced in the state from next week to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
'The situation in India is much more grave and serious than all of us think.' 'That's why it's important to defeat the BJP in 2024.'
'For the UDF, it will depend on how far Rahul Gandhi will succeed with the goodwill he has.' 'That will make a difference.'
The LDF government -- which has negotiated a series of crises in the form of natural disasters to the Covid pandemic -- cannot turn a blind eye to the accumulated debt of the state that now exceeds Rs 3 trillion and the need for more jobs, investment and industry.
"We should understand how secularism gives birth to extremism by looking at the growth of conservative racist movements in the West. The situation of India will not be different if we fail to accept Indian secularism in its literal sense," the Bishop wrote in Church's mouthpiece Deepika.
The apex doctors' organisation said it would knock the doors of the Supreme Court if the Kerala government does not enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour to curtail the rising menace of the viral disease by withdrawing this decision.
Reiterating his support to Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt, whose 'narcotic and love jihad' remarks had triggered a widespread controversy in the southern state, Gopi said the bishop had not spoken ill of any community.
The actor met with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and discussed the political situation in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.