Teams comprising officials from the Tourism and Ports departments and the Tourism police have launched checks on houseboats in Alappuzha to prevent the dumping of plastic into Vembanad Lake.

Volunteers removed 9.23 tonnes of plastic waste as part of the second phase of the mega plastic cleaning drive organised in connection with the Vembanad Lake rejuvenation project on Friday.

"Modern Malayalam literature, as we read today, is only five to six centuries old. The first novel, Indulekha, was published in the 19th century, and Chemmeen by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai made waves ...