About


Kerala PSC
The Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) is a body created by the Constitution of India to select applicants for civil service jobs in the Indian state of Kerala according to the merits of the applicants and the rules of reservation.
The Head Office of the KPSC is located at Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram, the State Capital. It has three Regional Offices and fourteen District Offices.
The Kerala Public Service Commission is a body created by the Constitution of India. The Commission advise the Government on all matters relating to civil services referred to it under Article 320 (3) of the Constitution and publish notifications inviting applications for selection to various posts as per the requisitions of the appointing authorities, conduct written test and/or practical tests, physical efficiency test and interview, prepare ranked list based on the performance of the candidates and advise candidates for appointment strictly based on their merit and observing the rules of reservation as and when vacancies are reported.
There was a Public Service Commissioner in the erstwhile Travancore state whose duty was to select candidates for direct recruitment to various categories of posts under the Government. G.D. Nokes was appointed as the first Public Service Commissioner on 14 June 1936. The Office of the Public Service Commissioner, Travancore continued to function till the integration of Travancore and Cochin States.
In Cochin there was a Staff Selection Board constituted in 1936 to select candidates for initial recruitment to lower posts. In 1947 a three-member Cochin Public Service Commission was constituted under an Act of the State Legislature.
The Travancore-Cochin State was formed on 1 July 1949 by the integration of the two Princely States of Travancore and Cochin. With the integration of the States of Travancore and Cochin on 1 July 1949 a Public Service Commission for the State of Travancore-Cochin was constituted by an Ordinance. There were three members on the Commission including the Chairman. The functions of the Travancore-Cochin Public Service Commission were generally the same as those laid down in the Government of India Act, 1935. Later, when the Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950, the Travancore-Cochin Public Service Commission continued to function under the Constitutional Provisions.
The State of Kerala was formed on 1 November 1956 consequent on the Reorganisation of States. It comprises the former Travancore-Cochin State (except the present Kanyakumari District and Shencottah Taluk of the present Tamil Nadu) and the Malabar District and the Kasargod Taluk of South Kanara District of the then composite Madras State.
With the formation of the State of Kerala on 1 November 1956 as a result of the reorganisation of States, the Travancore-Cochin Public Service Commission was transformed into the Kerala Public Service Commission. V.K. Velayudhan was the 1st Chairman of Kerala Public Service Commission. The number of the Members of the Commission was increased to five in 1959, to Seven in 1971, to Eight in 1981, to Nine in 1982, to Thirteen in 1983, to Fourteen in 1984, to Fifteen in 1984 and to the present strength of Eighteen in 2005.

Digitization of Flora through QR Code method 
QR codes or Quick-Response Codes are easily readable two-dimensional barcodes that when scanned with a QR decoder can translate the code into a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). It allows to encode over 4000 characters in a two dimensional barcode. Popularity of QR codes has increased exponentially now a day with the technological advancement.
QR linking is an emerging field of barcoding; however the best way to link specimens to databases and other materials is still under discussion. Some other options include Unique Specimen Identifiers (USI), Globally Unique Identifiers (GUIDs) and Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs). Currently one of the most frequently used methods is Barcoding. This method was implemented in biological collections in the 1990s at INBio and the Smithsonian Institution (Janzen 1992, Thompson 1994). QR codes were originally invented in 1994 by a Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave Incorporated, in order for storing more information.
QR codes have nine standard features (Denso Wave Incorporated 2013):
1. Capacity to handle different types of data: numeric and alphabetic characters, Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, symbols, binary and control codes.
2. Large capacity: up to 7,089 numeric and 4,296 alphanumeric characters can be encoded (hundreds of times more than in a barcode).
3. Small printout size: the same information can be encoded in a QR code one-tenth smaller than a barcode.
4. High speed scan: omni-directionally readable, with position detection patterns circumventing the negative effects of background interference.
5. Universal standardization: AIM International Standard, Japanese Industrial Standard and ISO International Standard (ISO/IEC18004).
6. Dirt and damage error correction: QR codes allow a maximum of 30% of damage without losing information.
7. Compartmentalization: QR codes can be divided into multiple data areas (as many as 16), allowing smaller printouts.
8. Flexible representation: shapes and colours of modules can be changed, even allowing for artistic representations (QR code Art).
9. Readability: QR codes can be read by any Smartphone, tablet or laptop with a camera, using freely available software.
QR code linking have immense applications in various fields like commercial tracking, transport and entertainment ticketing, visa and passport information, libraries, education etc.