Social media under close watch for poll code violations

വേറിട്ടൊരു ചിത്ര പ്രദർശനം ; വൈബ്സ് 2016

അനധികൃത ക്വാറികൾ വേണ്ട

തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ് കൺട്രോൾ റൂം നമ്പർ

സൂര്യാഘാതം ശ്രദ്ധിക്കൂ

Happy Easter..!!

Beware of credit card scam calls

സൂക്ഷിച്ചാൽ ദു:ഖിക്കേണ്ട

World Water Day

സാമൂഹ്യ സംഘടനകൾക്കുള്ള ശില്പശാല

Kozhikode dist administration's initiative wins int award

Kudos to Compassionate Kozhikode: The Hindu

കംപാഷനേറ്റ് കോഴിക്കോട് പദ്ധതിക്ക് പുരസ്‌കാരം

നാലഞ്ച് MSW ക്കാരെ വേണമായിരുന്നു

Digital Literacy Workshop

ലോകത്തെ നൂതനമായ പദ്ധതികളിൽ ഒന്നായി കരുണാർദ്രം കോഴിക്കോടിന് രാജ്യാന്തര അംഗീകാരം

Laurel from Berlin for Kozhikode

കുളം കോരൽ - കഥ ഇതുവരെ

ഭിന്നശേഷിക്കാർക്ക് സൗജന്യ കബ്യുട്ടർ പരിശീലനം

Times when 'Collector Bhayya' sounds better than 'Collector bro'

A small act of compassion can change someone's life

ഒരു പുതിയ കൂട്ടായ്മ

നന്ദി.. വീണ്ടും വരിക

Service with smileys: The Times of India

KOZHIKODE: It is not every day that you appreciate an outgoing police officer's wit and humour. That's probably because it's not often that an officer signs off by tweeting: 'Alvida ... Until we tweet again' as former Mumbai police commissioner Ahmad Javed did. His last act before he handed over the reins of Mumbai police was to create a Twitter handle that turns routine public service messages into witty lines that get furiously retweeted.

Javed isn't alone in using humour, wit and a responsive online persona to draw in the public to clean lakes, report traffic violations or create a dialogue about drug use. A handful of government officials are moving away from drab social media accounts that looked like they were run by bots programmed only to wish followers on public holidays.

One of the earliest chirpy government accounts was ISRO's @MarsOrbiter, which recently wished 'earthlings' #HappyNewYear, while exclaiming, "North pole looks wicked cool here!" In the same vein, Kozhikode collector N Prasanth is 'bro' to his Facebook followers and chats with them about malaria prevention and civil society initiatives late into the night, while Mumbai customs deputy commissioner Kiran Kumar Karlapu is equally comfortable tweeting about gold biscuits recovered from inside water taps as he is about Andhra Pradesh politics.

"If we have to reach out to people, we have to go where they are," says Prasanth. It is the same reason that prompted former Bengaluru police commissioner MN Reddi in 2014 to set up Twitter handles for the force, probably the first for an Indian police department. The tech-savvy, young population of the city was getting restive about rising crime and apparent bureaucratic apathy. Rumours on WhatsApp and Facebook added to the stress levels and Reddi took to Twitter to reach out. "Urban policing is driven a lot by perception. You have to use media so that incorrect information can be corrected," says Reddi. The Bengaluru police's @CPBlr account notched up more than 3.5 lakh followers within a year. In the aftermath of the recent attack on a Tanzanian student by a mob, people used the Twitter handle to exchange information about the assailants.

Prasanth's "informal and casual style" has landed the Kozhikode district's FB page the highest number of followers among all district administration pages "While most other government pages use it for information dissemination, we are using it for consultation, public grievance redressal and mobilization as well," says Prasanth.

Javed was clear that the public service announcements on drug use and traffic violations had to be catchy enough to grab attention. He sought the services of a digital media agency and came up with witty lines like 'If you roll, we will weed you out. #HoshMeinAao' and 'If you overtake from the left, you can never be right. #FollowTrafficRules'.

Officials say social media is a tricky two-way street. For one, you need to monitor posts and respond to followers immediately. The collector says though he has a social media team he is always at hand through his smartphone. "I handle every message and post personally to keep the identity and individuality of the page. This is not a fan page of some film star that can be outsourced but a tool for administration," says Prasanth.

Sometimes listening to a rant is not enough. What really matters is follow-up action. "Listening is the first step in engaging with somebody," says Reddi, whose team issued Action Taken Reports on complaints. Prasanth famously fed Kozhikode biryani to volunteers who cleaned up a huge lake after reading his FB post seeking hands for the operation.

Though seniors are usually supporters, sometimes the attention could rile a politician or two, unhappy over the fact that social media is cutting red tape and middlemen. The old school of administration, which swears by secrecy, frowns upon community participation and crowdsourcing, mistaking it for publicity, says Prasanth. There is also another problem. "Many expect me to be an online demi god who can solve every problem," he says. The other day, a citizen demanded why the collector wasn't clearing an overflowing drain, which is clearly the civic agency's job. To that, he shrugs and writes "Not my job, but tell me bro, where is this drain?"

That's service with smiley.

Author: Sandhya Soman

Original Article 

Kozhikode IAS Officer Invited Common People To Clean A Lake, For A Biryani Treat: The Logical Indian

KOZHIKODE: N Prasanth IAS from Kozhikode has a inspiration following on social media for many of his innovative ways to motivate and pull up people for a social cause. M Prasanth invited people of Kozhikode to clean the 14 acre Pisharikavu pond in Koyilandy of water hyacinth and slush via a Facebook post and promised to offer delicious sumptuous Malabar Biryani in return as a reward. Moreover, the post assured the sanction of money to hire water pumps as well.

In response to his call, 750 people gathered on the Republic Day to clean the pond. And as promised they were treated with the Biryani cooked alongside the pond. According to the Collector, cleaning a 57 mile pond was a Herculean task but the gracious support from the people made it a huge success.

Since the time he was appointed as the District Collector last year in February Prashanth  has accumulated a huge fan following on Facebook turning a total eye candy for the people , the very medium he utilizes to discuss schemes, plans and crowd sourced campaigns.

N Prasanth admits that “being on social media makes administration more transparent, seamless, fast, publicly accountable, and ‘informal'”, he was quoted as saying to the Indian Express. “The people are out there in social media, so we need to be there. It’s as simple as that. Pasting notices on the notice boards of the village office is no longer the way to reach out to the public. Social media as a platform makes administration more transparent, seamless, fast, publicly accountable, and ‘informal’,” said Prasanth in September.

Among other popular campaigns by Prasanth include “Operation Sulaimani “catering to the matters like hunger and poverty aimed at feeding the poor in collaboration with several NGO’s and charity bodies.

The Logical Indian Community appreciates N Prasanth for his efforts to incentivize collective participation of people. People’s participation has always done wonders, it high time the district’s leverages Social Media to its advantage in mobilising people and completing projects.

Author: Gauri Bhansal

Original Article

സാമൂഹ്യ സാംസ്‌കാരിക സംഘടനകൾക്ക് സ്വാഗതം

All active social and cultural organisations are welcome

Mental Health Centre basks in positive changes

World Cancer Day

Again on mosquitoes

പങ്കാളിത്തമാണ് വിജയത്തേക്കാൾ പ്രധാനം

E- toilet facility back in city

The future of Kozhikode, in safe hands..!!

ജീവിതത്തിന്റെ ക്ഷണികതയും സമയത്തിന്റെ വിലയും തിരിച്ചറിഞ്ഞ കുട്ടികൾ

Serving the people makes Prashanth Nair a local hero: The Times Kuwait

KOZHIKODE: Young and energetic Kozhikode district collector, Prashanth Nair, has achieved somewhat of an iconic status among residents of the district with his form of participatory and transparent governance.

Kozhikode formerly known as Calicut is the second largest city in Kerala and is one among the 14 districts of the state. The city has age-old trade ties with the Arab world and Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama landed first in this port city in 1498.

Prashanth Nair was the chief guest during his visit to Kuwait to attend the Kozhikode Fest 2016 celebrations held by members of the district to promote culture and art.

Speaking to The Times Kuwait in an exclusive interview, Prashanth Nair or more fondly called Collector Bro, points out that he is doing nothing new in his governance strategies except putting theory into practice.  “Participatory governance is the way forward and we can only hope for times when we have more people participating and getting involved in governance.”

Since taking over a year ago, Prashanth has been credited with many social welfare schemes that involve public and government including the most popular ‘Operation Sulaimani’ to ensure food for the needy.

Named after the iconic spiced tea of the region, Operation Sulaimani is aimed at making the city hunger free, it is a decentralised participatory project to address hunger in urban areas. Beneficiaries of the project are people who are in the city and cannot afford to buy a meal for whatever reason. They can be a destitute person without money, a student who lost her lunch box or a traveller who finds that he does not have enough money in his wallet. Meal coupons distributed by the project are honored by several restaurants in the city and the person is treated like any other guest. The coupons are then reimbursed from an account maintained by the implementing agency.

Prashanth’s attempt to reach out and seek participation from the residents of the district has resulted in outstanding results. The Facebook page ‘Collector Kozhikode’ that he personally handles has more than 170,000 followers.

Social media is the way forward, he says adding that the people have responded positively with an excellent response. “You can’t go just by traditional governance and administration, and social media, as an addition to existing forum to reach out to people, is yielding excellent results.”

Just recently he managed the envious task of getting the public to clean a huge pond by themselves in exchange for a plate of tempting biryani. When he announced proudly on his official Facebook page that people coordinated to cleanse the 14-acre Pisharikavu pond in Koyilandy of water hyacinth and slush — a feat that he describes as not that easy, it was the participatory governance he spoke about.

Crowd-funded campaigns like these are giving him an almost cult-like following in the district. Prashant has brought with him a lot of energy and drive that the young generation are easily identifying with.

On whether he is facing resistance with such an innovative format of governance he quips, “People who are scared of transparency and speed in administration have a problem,” but he is quick to add that resistance will be subdued in due course when the benefits are seen.

On his future scope of action, Prashanth indicates that his utmost priority is to take care of the weakest sections of society. “People with mental health, the destitute, orphanages and old-age homes all need support,” he says. Making people more compassionate in the new generation, where everyone seems to be self-centered is a challenge, the government has a role in giving leadership to these initiatives, he adds.

Author: Reaven D’Souza

Original Article

ഹമ്പട പഹയാ !!

Let us eradicate Leprosy

ജനുവരി 30; രക്തസാക്ഷി ദിനം

National School Athletics Championship

This District Collector In Kerala Offered Biriyani To Volunteers Who Helped Clean Up A Lake: indiatimes

KOZHIKODE: Prashanth Nair, the district collector of Kozhikode in Kerala felt it was necessary to clean up an abandoned water body in the district to harvest rainwater. And what did he do? He posted the idea on the official Facebook of the district collector calling on volunteers. 

The reward... some mouth watering 'Kozhikode Biriyani'.

What happened next may sound like surprising to any outsiders, but not to the people of Kozhikode. 

On January 26th, some 750 people, mostly youth turned up to clean the Pisharikavu lake in Koyilandi. The 14 acer water body was cleaned up in a day.

And as promised the collector served them with some really good 'Kozhikode Biriyani'. He even posed for selfies with the volunteer. 

This is not the first time, Prashanth Nair, has been able to bring together hundreds of youth for be it cleaning the Kozhikode Beach or arranging food for the poor.

Just a post in Malayalam on his page, which now has over 160,000 likes and he gets the job done.

Prashanth who is really active on Facebook uses it to reach out to his 'fans' who fondly call him 'Collector Bro'. And don't be surprised if you get a reply to your comment from the 'bro' himself, that too in typical 'buddy language'.

The 35-year old has a Superman image among his followers... quite literately.

Going though the comments on his page, one can see how proud people of Kozhikode are about their 'collector bro' while people from other districts want him to be the collector of their districts too!

Well done bro...

Author: Bobins Abraham

Original Article

This Collector Made People in Kozhikode Clean a Pond. Here’s How He Did It: The Better India

KOZHIKODE: This time, he made an offer which Kozhikode’s residents couldn’t refuse. He recently posted a message on his Facebook page asking people of Koyilandy in the district to help clean a 14-acre pond filled with water hyacinth and slush. And in return, he promised them a plate of Kozhikode’s famous Malabar biriyani.

The money for providing biriyani was taken out of the district administration’s drought prevention fund.

Prashant, who is very popular on social media, has always batted for the need to keep water bodies clean. His followers fondly call him “Collector Bro”. And has 1, 69, 273 likes on Facebook.

Known for his innovate ideas, Prashant launched a campaign called ‘Operation Sulaimani’ in 2015. Through the scheme, poor people in the city could eat at restaurants by producing food coupons given by the district administration.

In response to his call, quite a few volunteers got together to clean up the 14-acre Pisharikavu pond. And Prashant took to Facebook to thank them all.

Author: Meryl Garcia

Original Article

Kozhikode District Collector gets local water body cleaned in exchange of free biryani; public happily oblige: IBN live

KOZHIKODE: IAS officer Prasanth Nair has been known for bringing innovative ideas to get work done in Kozhikode district of Kerala. Recently, the Dictrict Collector asked locals to Pisharikavu lake in Koyilandy in exchange of; yes, a sumptuous plate of Kozhikode special biryani. Needless to say, locals happily obliged.

Nair on 26th January posted on Facebook that how the cleaning of the lake, which was polluted and covered with slug and water hyacinth, was a daunting task and how volunteers together managed to clean it. "Congratulations to all the volunteers who got together this morning to clean up the Pisharikavu lake in Koyilandy. Cleaning up a 57,000 square meter water body is not a small deal!"

The Biryani was funded by the a portion of the drought prevention fund of the district administration. Nair had mentioned in an earlier post on Facebook that maintenance of water bodies is essential for prevention of drought.

The District Collector is known for bringing innovative ideas for civil improvement in the area and has earned a huge fan following for his good work. Popularly known as 'Collector Bro', Nair is known to encourage crowd funded events.

Author: IBN live

Original Article

Mental Health Centre Calling

Kozhikode IAS officer does it again: Now offers biriyani to clean water body : The Indian Express

KOZHIKODE: An IAS officer in Kerala, who has often been in the news for his ingenious campaigns to improve public amenities and increase youth engagement, is back with a new formula.

Prashanth Nair, district collector of Kozhikode, managed the envious task of getting the public to clean a huge pond by themselves in exchange for: yes, a plate of tempting biryani. The young officer announced proudly on his official Facebook page that people coordinated to cleanse the 14-acre Pisharikavu pond in Koyilandy of water hyacinth and slush — a feat that he describes as ‘not that easy.’

In exchange, he got them stomach-full of sumptuous Malabar biryani, money for which was taken out of the drought prevention fund of the district administration. Prashanth had announced earlier on his Facebook page that water conservation and maintenance of ground water level were critical to prevention of drought in summers.

Crowd-funded campaigns like these are at the heart of what Prashanth wants to do in Kozhikode: building up a ‘compassionate’ population in the district which looks after one another. In an interview in September last year, Prashanth told IndianExpress.com, “I wish to see a compassionate population in my district, people who care for each other. Our focus should shift from structures and concrete to people.” Prashanth, who has an almost cult following in Kozhikode, is a social media darling with his Facebook page amassing more than 1,60,000 ‘likes’ in less than a year’s time. He is addressed by his followers as ‘collector bro’, a term they use with a lot of respect and admiration for his work. Perhaps the best proof of their love for him is this: a Facebook comment in which someone asks him, “can you become the collector of all the districts?” “The people are out there in social media, so we need to be there. It’s as simple as that. Pasting notices on the notice boards of the village office is no longer the way to reach out to the public. Social media as a platform makes administration more transparent, seamless, fast, publicly accountable, and ‘informal’,” said Prashanth in September. Before being posted as the district collector last year, Prashanth was secretary to the state Home Minister. In Kozhikode, some of Prashanth’s popular campaigns include ‘Operation Sulaimani’, a decentralised participatory project to address urban hunger and poverty. The IAS officer also takes special interest in organising cultural programmes and has written-directed a short film for the state government.

Author: Vishnu Varma

Original Article

Kozhikode collector promises to give people biriyani if they help clean a city pond: Scroll.in

KOZHIKODE: District Collector of Kozhikode Prashanth Nair convinced the people of his constituency to clean a large pond by themselves in exchange for a plate of biriyani. He announced on his Facebook page that people had coordinated to clear the 14-acre pond filled with water hyacinth and slush. The money used to feed all the volunteers was taken out of the drought prevention fund of the district administration, The Indian Express reported.

Nair is known for pushing such crowdsourced campaigns, which he says will build a compassionate population in Kozhikode. The IAS officer’s social media popularity stems from his belief that now, such platforms are the most effective way to reach people. “People are out there on social media, so we need to be there. Pasting notices on the notice boards of the village office is no longer the way to reach out to the public. Social media as a platform makes administration more transparent, seamless, fast, publicly accountable, and informal,” he said.

Author: Scroll Staff
Original Article

കൊയിലാണ്ടിക്കാർ ചില്ലറക്കാരല്ല; കുളം കോരൽ കൊല്ലം ചിറയിലും

Happy Republic Day

കലാമാമാങ്കം ജയിച്ച് വരുന്നവർക്ക് അഭിനന്തനങ്ങൾ..!!

Koz Corp to make e-services effective

Voters’ day fete today: The Hindu

KOZHIKODE: District Collector N. Prasanth will inaugurate the National Voters’ Day celebrations in Kozhikode district on Monday. Singer Sreya Jayadeep, will be the chief guest at the programme, to be held at St. Joseph’s College, Devagiri. The identity card of newly enrolled voters from the area too will be distributed on the occasion.

Staff Reporter

Original Article

മാനാഞ്ചിറയിൽ മനോഹാരിത നിറയ്ക്കാൻ 'നിറവ്‌'

Welcome to Kozhikode Ronaldinho

കോഴിക്കോട് മാരത്തോൺ 2016

Calicut Marathon 2016

പൂളാടിക്കുന്ന് - വെങ്ങളം ബൈപാസ് ഉദ്ഘാടനം

The renovation of the Government Mental Health Centre at Kuthiravattom will begin in February.

According to Minister for Social Justice and Panchayats M.K. Muneer, a Rs.30-crore master plan has been prepared for the renovation of the hospital which is struggling due to space congestion and lack of many facilities for a long time. The administrative sanction for the Rs.10-crore first instalment will be given soon. The remaining Rs.20 crore will be sourced from social and voluntary organisations under the leadership of Dr. Muneer.

The work will be carried out by a special committee and the Hospital Development Authority headed by District Collector N. Prashanth.

Earlier, the staff had presented their ideas to the Minister and District Collector regarding the requirements of the centre, the beautification of the premises and other details they had worked out.

The services of a reputed architect have been made available for the project, for which the funds have been sourced from the public, Medical Superintendent of the centre N. Rajendran told The Hindu .

The area survey for the project has been completed, and the architect has made his own observations regarding it, Dr. Rajendran added.

In July 2015, a special committee consisting of the District Collector, District Medical Officer and the Medical Superintendent was formed to prepare a report on the steps to raise the centre to international standards.

In April 2015, the National Human Rights Commission Acting Chairman Cyriac Joseph, who visited the centre, pointed out that the hospital lacked adequate facilities and that it was over-crowded. He had advised repair and maintenance of many wards on a war-footing and to take steps for renovation.

The commission had also suggested measures to rehabilitate the patients who were fit to be discharged.

Staff Reporter
Original Article

കോഴിക്കോടൻ ഇതിഹാസങ്ങൾ: ജോൺസൺ

Legends of Kozhikode: Johnson

A Patient's Famly

ഒരു രോഗിയുടെ ബന്ധുക്കൾ

Kerala Literature Festival

മാലിന്യ സംസ്കരണം : ഷോര്ട്ട് ഫിലിം റിയാലിറ്റി ഷോ

Discovering Compassion within us

Are you a good teacher? Can you help us?

Army Day

Musical Evening

ചിത്ര പ്രദർശനം

മലമ്പനി പ്രതിരോധനം

Innovation Club Inaugurated

Collector N Prasanth opens Innovation Club: Deccan Chronicle

 

KOZHIKODE: District collector N. Prasanth on Tuesday inaugurated the district-level Innovation Club at Silver Hills School.

The project aims at encouraging students to think of innovative concepts and technology that can bring in fast changes in the society.

“The base of all innovations and inventions are creative thinking with endless and independent research,” he said.

He pointed out that the core of creativity is the continual process of asking doubts and through innovation club, students should develop quest to know about everything around them.

“Our students stop blindly accepting the things people communicate and start doing research and remove all their doubts,” he said.

The club, under State Innovation Council and district administration, will conduct innovation fair in two phases. Some 257 educational institutions were identified for starting Innovation Club in the district.

Each club will have a voluntary teacher as a programme officer and a 15-member student executive. Students are selected based on their aptitude and passion.

They should be active members in any of the existing clubs in the institution like Nature Club, Science Club, Mathematics Club, Students Police Cadet, etc.

The club will be formed in 24 colleges, 28 vocational higher secondary schools, 181 higher secondary schools, seven technical education institutes and 12 high schools.

Deccan Chronicle

Original Article

Kerala Literature Festival

Clarification to be sought from govt. on land acquisition rules: The Hindu

Utilisation of Rs. 29 cr. allotted for widening of Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu stretch of NH

District-level meeting to review the progress of the Kozhikode City Road Improvement Project (KCRIP) on Monday decided to seek a clarification from the State government on the utilisation of the recently released Rs. 29 crore allotted for the widening of the Mananchira- Vellimadukunnu stretch of the National Highway.

The meeting chaired by Minister for Social Justice and Panchayats M.K. Muneer said that the new rules framed by the government based on the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, required the acquisition authority to conduct a social impact study as well as constitution of a committee comprising Revenue officials and elected representatives to look into the utilisation of funds for mega projects.

The government has allotted Rs 29 crore for two purposes. About Rs 25 crore is to acquire land and the remaining Rs.4 crore to construct a compound wall to prevent encroachments on government land falling in the alignment of the national highway.

However, this amount is yet to be released to the Revenue Department though the Public Works Department has received a Letter of Credit from the government on the payment. In any case, the amount would be used to acquire land by February, official sources said.

At present, the Revenue Department has received Rs 25 crore as first tranche and another installment of Rs 10 crore for the road widening project. The first tranche had been used to acquire land at the Malaparamba junction. The Revenue department had also taken into government possession about 40 shops at the junction.

It was decided to use the amount to acquire the land between the Additional District Magistrate‘s (ADM) Bungalow and IQRAA Hospital, considered to be narrowest stretches along the 8.4-km Mananchira- Vellimadukunnu road.

Now the Rs 10 crore would be used exclusively to complete the land acquisition of ADM Bungalow- Christ Hall- IQRAA Hospital stretch of Malaparamba junction. The land required is 6,356 sq.m (1.57 acres) for the junction.

But the Revenue Department had not been able to rehabilitate the shop keepers. Already the shops at the Malaparamba junction had been demolished, officials said.

A.Pradeepkumar, MLA; District Collector N. Prasanth; Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) general manager Sudarsanan Pillai, KRFB coordinator K. Lekha; Special Tahsildar (KCRIP and Land Acquisition) N. Ramla and PWD officials took part in the meeting.

New rules require the acquisition authority to conduct a social impact study

Biju Govind
Original Article