Dubai-based KEF Holdings gets started on Rs. 800 crore 'clinical wellness' resort project in Kerala
Dubai-based engineering venture KEF Holding is all set to take up a Rs. 811 crore integrated clinical wellness resort project in Kerala which is touted to be first-of-its-kind clinic in South Indian State. The company has acquired 30 acres in Calicut District to develop this project.
According to a report published in Gulf News, the KEF will have the ground-breaking for the project next month and the first phase is scheduled for completion in March 2023. Second phase will be delivered in 2024.
"The emphasis is on the ‘clinical wellness’, and we will integrate Ayurveda, Tibetan healing, natural and Western processes,” said Faisal Kottikollon, founder of KEF Holdings. “This will be quite different from the ‘wellness’ concepts that are being used so frequently these days.” he was further quoted as saying by Gulf News.
What KEF is trying to do is be the first-to-market with an integrated clinical wellness offering. Until now, most ventures have focussed on a particular aspect, such as Ayurveda, for instance. The Rs. 800 crore (Dh400 million) project will also try and leverage Kerala’s return as a tourism destination after being undone by two years of COVID-19 and a devastating flood that ravaged the state.
Keeping it all sustainable
The resort will be built as per the latest sustainability concepts, with the intention of being a “net-zero” carbon emitter. For future water needs, the project is ‘harvesting’ rainwater in tanks totalling 10 million litres in capacity. “The plan is to collect 40 million litres each year, retain 10 million and use the rest for the organic farm that is part of the development,” said Kottikollon.
Hotel and hospital
The resort will have a 130-room hotel component, which will be managed by KEF. These details are yet to be worked out. “Wellness is about holistic integration of body, mind, and spirit,” said Shabana Kottikollon, Director at KEF Holdings. Shabana hails from Mangalore and is daughter of wellknown entrepreneur and philanthropist Late B. Ahmed Haji Mohiudeen of BA Group.
400 jobs
Recruitments are on for the various positions that will be created in future at the resort. This will include a core team of doctors and associated staff as well as personnel for the hospitality element. “The plan is to be a 400-strong workforce by the time of the second phase completion,” said Faisal Kottikollon.
“The resort, which is 15 minutes from Calicut airport, will also have close links with the premium Meitra Hospital that we own and operate. It’s about KEF playing a part in element of a person’s need for physical and mental wellbeing” added Faisal.
About KEF Group
Dubai based KEF Holdings first came to limelight when its unit Emirates Technocasting ( ETC), was sold to the engineering giant Tyco in 2012 for $400 Million. Faisal and Shabana, then set up a foundation which took over a government school in Kerala as part of a transformation project. The School was rebuilt in 90 days using prefab technology. The model was then replicated in over 900 schools covering 2 million students. It lead to the setting up of KEF Infra at Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu, which became the largest prefab factory in India. It was later acquired by Katerra in 2018.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Cabinet approves classical language status to five languages, including Marathi and Bengali
New Delhi, Oct 3: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved conferring classical language status to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali languages.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"This is a historical decision and it goes very well with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government's philosophy of taking pride in our culture, taking pride in our heritage and taking pride in all the Indian languages and the rich heritage that we have," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a cabinet briefing.
Classical languages serve as a custodian of Bharat's profound and ancient cultural heritage, embodying the essence of each community's historical and cultural milestone, the government said.
In a statement, it said the inclusion of Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali in the classical language category will create significant employment opportunities, particularly in academic and research fields.
Additionally, the preservation, documentation and digitisation of ancient texts of these languages will generate jobs in archiving, translation, publishing and digital media, the government said.
The primary states involved are Maharashtra (Marathi), Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (Pali and Prakrit), West Bengal (Bengali) and Assam (Assamese), while the broader cultural and academic impact will extend nationally and internationally, the statement said.
On October 12, 2004, the Government of India decided to create a new category of languages as "classical languages", declared Tamil a classical language and set criteria for according the status.
These criteria were -- high antiquity of its early texts or recorded history over a thousand years, a body of ancient literature or texts which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers, and literary tradition must be original and not borrowed from another speech community.
Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia were later given the classical language status.
A Linguistic Experts Committee (LEC) was constituted under Sahitya Akademi by the Ministry of Culture in November 2004 to examine the proposed languages for the classical language status. The criteria were revised in November 2005.
About the inclusion of Marathi in this category, the statement said a proposal was received from the Maharashtra government in 2013, requesting classical language status to Marathi and it was forwarded to the LEC.
The LEC recommended Marathi for classical language status.
Assembly elections in Maharashtra are slated to take place soon and this is a major poll issue in the state.
During inter-ministerial consultations in 2017 on the draft note for Cabinet for conferring classical status to the Marathi language, the Home Ministry advised that the criteria be revised and made stricter.
The PMO, vide its comment, said an exercise may be conducted to find out how many other languages are likely to become eligible.
In the meantime, proposals were also received from Bihar, Assam and West Bengal to confer classical language status to Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali.
Accordingly, the LEC, under Sahitya Akademi, in a meeting on July 25, 2024, unanimously revised the criteria. Sahitya Akademi has been appointed as the nodal agency for the LEC.
The committee recommended Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali languages to be fulfilling the revised criteria and be considered as a Classical Language, the statement said.
The Education Ministry has taken various steps to promote classical languages. Three central universities were established in 2020 through an Act of Parliament for the promotion of Sanskrit language, it added.
The Central Institute of Classical Tamil was set up to facilitate the translation of ancient Tamil texts, promote research and offer courses for university students and language scholars. To further enhance the study and preservation of Classical Languages, the Centres for Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, and Odia were established under the auspices of the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysuru.
