Kerala welcomes Thiruvonam with colour, feast and tradition
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Dressed in traditional clothes, cooking generous feasts and filling courtyards with bright flower carpets, people across Kerala marked Onam, the state's harvest festival, on Friday with colour and cheer.
The culmination of the 10-day festival, known as Thiruvonam, saw crowds heading to temples in the morning, from small villages to busy towns.
Children and young people decorated homes with pookkalam -- intricate floral patterns made from petals in every shade imaginable.
In many villages and housing colonies, tall swings, or oonjal, were put up in courtyards, bringing back the playful spirit of old celebrations.
Families came together as elders handed out onakkodi -- new clothes gifted during Onam -- while women prepared the grand sadya, a vegetarian feast served on banana leaves with an array of pickles, curries and the much-loved dessert, payasam.
Community groups and local clubs staged traditional games such as tug of war (vadamvali) and uriyadi, where players try to smash a clay pot, alongside performances of classic art forms like pulikali (tiger dance), thiruvathira and theyyam, keeping alive the festival's cultural richness.
According to legend, Onam is rooted in the return of King Mahabali, the mythical ruler remembered for a golden age when people lived in fairness and harmony.
As the story goes, Mahabali's growing popularity unsettled the Devas, who turned to Lord Vishnu for help. Vishnu, in his dwarf form, sent the king to the netherworld.
Yet before leaving, Mahabali won a promise-- he would be allowed to visit his people once a year, on Thiruvonam, the day that Keralites still celebrate in his honour.
Onam is also one of Kerala's busiest shopping seasons.
In the run-up to the festival, markets stayed crowded late into the night as people rushed to pick up their favourites for the celebrations.
By Thursday evening, malls and high streets were packed with last-minute buyers, while long queues formed outside fair-price outlets run by the State Civil Supplies Corporation, Horticorp and Consumerfed.
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41 lakh illicit liquor seized, 1.84 lakh arrested in major drive: K'taka Minister tells Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The Karnataka Excise Department has conducted a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor trade over the last two years, resulting in arrests and seizures of alcohol, Karnataka Excise Minister R B Timmapur said on Tuesday.
As many as 1,09,017 people were arrested, and seizures included 13.66 lakh litres of liquor and 27.19 lakh litres of beer, he said in a written reply to a starred question by Harihar BJP MLA B P Harish in the Karnataka Assembly.
The Minister said the enforcement drive covered the financial year 2023–24, 2024–25 up to June, and 2025–26 from July to October, targeting unauthorised liquor manufacture, storage, sale and transportation across the State.
"During this period, statewide enforcement drives resulted in a total of 1,84,570 raids against illegal liquor sales,” Timmapur said.
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He noted that 9,179 non-bailable cases and 91,968 bailable and compoundable cases under Section 15(A) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, were registered during the same period.
According to him, there have been no reports indicating that students have become addicted to alcohol due to illegal liquor sales.
The sale of alcohol to minors is strictly prohibited under the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, and the department has issued periodic instructions to initiate legal action against violators, with strict enforcement and investigation measures in place, the Minister said.
Excise officials are carrying out regular road and night patrols, collecting intelligence, monitoring habitual offenders and conducting raids to identify illicit distillation units, unauthorised liquor outlets and spurious liquor manufacturing centres, he said, adding the department is also enforcing the law to prevent the production, storage, sale and transport of spurious, non-duty-paid and unauthorised liquor.
Regular patrols are being conducted on national and state highways, with suspicious vehicles being subjected to checks.
At the district level, standing committee meetings are held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners, and joint operations are carried out with the police and forest departments to curb excise-related offences.
The department is also conducting awareness programmes through Gram Sabhas and in schools and colleges to educate the public and students about the physical, mental and social health hazards associated with alcohol addiction and substance abuse, Timmapur added.
