The Center will make additional allocations of foodgrains and sugar to Kerala for coming Onam festival. This was conveyed to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy by Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Professor K.V.Thomas in New Delhi on Tuesday during a meeting held to review Public Distribution System requirements in Kerala.

Professor Thomas said that the Center has decided to make additional allocation of 59,000 Metric Tonnes of rice and 29,500 Metric Tonnes of wheat for Onam festival to Kerala at Minimum Suppor Prices.

It has also made adhoc additional allocation of 84978 Metric Tonnes of rice and 34190 Metric Tonnes of wheat for Below Poverty Line families in the State.

Professor Thomas said it has also been decided to consider the request of Government of Kerala for additional allocation of sugar for Onam festival.

A detailed discussion on the 10 point development plan mooted by Sam Pitroda for Kerala's comprehensive development was held in Thiruvananthapuram today. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who presided over the meeting said five key areas such as Coastal Shipping, Knowledge City,E-Governance, Waste management and Ayurveda have been identified. 

Chief Minister informed newspersons that a Coordination Committee has been constituted to give final shape to the proposals. He said the Committee will meet during the first week of August. Sam Pitroda, who is adviser to Prime Minister and Chairman, National Knowledge Commission was appointed as mentor for Kerala development by the State government recently. 

Pitroda said focus will be on implementing the development projects with public-private partnership. He lauded the State Government political will in implementing the proposals.

In Kerala, the relatives of the two fishermen have agreed to withdraw their criminal complaint and to abandon all claims against the two Italian marines accused of killing the fishermen, in return of an ex-gratia payment by Italian government. An agreement to this effect was signed at the Lok Adalat in Kochi today, to settle the Admiralty suit filed by the kin of the two fishermen. The Italian government gave one crore rupees each as ex gratia to the fishermen's kin, as part of the deal to settle the compensation claim. The agreement signed by the relatives of the two fishermen and the Italian government released the marines from all liability under the Admiralty suit. Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court has ordered to return the three crore rupees furnished by the vessel owner in connection with the case, in view of the settlement reached between the two parties.

India has recorded a decline in under-five mortality rate. However, more females are dying even now before they reach their fifth birthday. Country's latest Sample Registration System data finalised by the Registrar General of India says India in total saw 15.41 lakh under-five deaths in 2010 as compared to 16.83 lakh in 2009.

According to the data, while the death rate of male children before they reached five years of age stood at 55 deaths per 1,000 male children born in 2010, it was 64 deaths per 1,000 when it came to female children.

Also, the child mortality rate was much higher in rural India than in urban. While 61 male children died per 1,000 male births in rural India, the corresponding figure for females stood at 71 .The corresponding numbers for urban India were 36 for male children and 40 for female children.

Among Indian states, Assam recorded the highest overall under-five mortality rate followed by Madhya Pradesh Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. At the other end of the spectrum, Kerala recorded the lowest overall under-five mortality rate of 15 followed by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra , Delhi , Punjab and Karnataka. Deaths of female children before their fifth birthday was highest in Assam and UP and lowest in Kerala.