Kerala, India - 100 million dollar loan for Additional Skill Acquisition Programme Education

The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to avail of a 100 million dollar (Rs.614.5 crore) loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to implement the Additional Skill Acquisition Programme (ASAP).

The programme would be carried out by the Higher Education Department. It aimed at providing additional skill sets to students along with their regular courses to enhance employability.

It had decided to allocate Rs.5 crore as share capital for Kerala Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. to increase supply of medicines to government hospitals. As much as Rs.70 lakh was granted for completion of the ongoing work on its laboratory.

The Minister said the Cabinet had extended the last date for filing of applications for granting of no-objection certificates for starting CBSE and ICSE schools in the coming academic year up to January 31, 2015. Rs.15 lakh would be sanctioned to the Thiruvananthapuram District Collector for improving basic facilities at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple and Attukal Devi Temple here for Sabarimala pilgrims.

The term of the T.K. Chandrasekharadas Commission, appointed to recommend measures to reduce traffic accidents, would be extended by six months from October. It cleared the proposal construct an over bridge at Pachalam in Kochi at a cost of Rs.52.59 core on the same terms and conditions as applied to DMRC in respect of similar work for Kochi Metro.