SIT Interrogates Chandy in Solar Scam

KERALA NEWSLETTER

SIT Interrogates Chandy in Solar Scam

N S Sajith

IN a sudden turn in the solar panel scam investigation, the advocate general (AG) of Kerala submitted to the High Court on October 9, 2013 that the special investigation team (SIT) had interrogated the chief minister, Oommen Chandy, in relation to the complaint lodged by Congress leader Sreedharan Nair. Nair had alleged that Oommen Chandy had recommended him to invest in Sarita’s firm of solar panel notoriety and that he had met the chief minister along with Mrs Sarita S Nair, the kingpin of the scam. The advocate general, K P Dandpani, added that the investigation was completed and the chargesheet would be filed soon.

The AG divulged these details when the court asked certain questions on the interrogation of the chief minister. The court asked the AG what after all the relevance of an interrogation was if the latter claimed that the chief minister was not involved in the scam.

DESHABHIMANI JOURNALIST BAGS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD

ON October 5, 2013, Prabha Varma, an eminent Malayalam poet and resident editor of Deshabhimani, joined the list of laureates of the distinguished Vayalar Award that is given for the best literary work in Malayalam. His long poetry work, Shyamamadhavam, was selected for the award by a jury consisting of Dr Anil Vallathol, Dr N Anilkumar and Dr Ambalappuzha Gopakumar.

The jury observed that Shyamamadhavam represented a new aesthetic experience in Malayalam and is an addition to the genre of long poems. Shyamamadhavam, which goes through the mysterious alleys of Lord Krishna’s mind, is a soliloquist treatise of his introspection on the unjustified methods he used to win the Kurukshetra war.

The award was instituted in 1977 by the Vayalar Ramavarma Memorial Trust in memory of the legendary revolutionary poet and lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma. Trust chairman Professor M K Sanu announced the award in a press conference at Thiruvananthapuram on the day. The award, which consists of a cash component of Rs 25000 and a citation, will be given on October 27, the death anniversary of the poet.

Samakalika Malayalam, a Malayalam weekly owned by The Indian Express, group unnecessarily dragged this unique long poetry into controversy last year. The publication, which started serialising Shyamamadhavam, suddenly stopped it after the publishing only two parts. S Jayachandran Nair, editor of the weekly, wrote a pompous editorial note on the decision, alleging that the poet had justified a political murder through an article in Deshabhimani. Later D C House, a prominent publishing house, published the book which became one of the bestsellers in this year.

CONTRIBUTIONS FOR MUZAFFAR NAGAR VICTIMS

The people of Kerala contributed over Rs 54 lakh towards the rehabilitation of victims of communal riots in Muzaffar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. Responding to the call of the CPI(M) state committee, the people in various districts donated Rs 54,30,933 to the party. The fund collection drive was conducted in the last week of September.

The districtwise list of contributions is as follows: Thiruvananthapurm 7,05,000, Kannur 6,73,369, Eranakulam 6,33,217, Malappuram 5,78,911, Kasargode 1,67,158, Wayanad 1,08,589, Kozhikode 2,00,000, Palakkad 2,03,533, Thrissur 4,16,567, Idukki 2,50,000, Kottayam 5,36,438, Alappuzha 5,64,799, Kollam 3,56,082 and Pathanamthitta 45,000.

KERALA NEWSLETTER: POLICE-MEDIA NEXUS AGAINST CPI(M) EXPOSED

N S Sajith

THE unholy alliance between police and corporate media has become a hot subject of debate in Kerala with fresh revelations about the nexus. The lies and half truths cooked up by the Special Investigation Team probing into the murder of RMP leader T P Chandrashekharan have been prominently used by the media to not only malign but create a social frenzy against the CPI(M).

The CPI(M) had approached the Kerala High Court questioning the leakage to media by the police about investigation into Chandrashekharan’s murder. It cited an earlier verdict of the same court denouncing such leakage. The court has served notices to the media houses and the government on the leakage of the details of the investigation. But in an affidavit submitted to the court, the government clarified that no news regarding the investigation has been leaked to the medial so far.

Even while this petition of the CPI(M) is pending before the court, new shocking revelations about the details of the mobile call records of investigative officers emerged. Deshabhimani, Malayalam daily, revealed the records of the mobile phone calls made by the investigative officers to media persons of various television news channels and newspapers in the last two months. The shocking information is that Josy Cherian, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP)  in the Special Investigation Team has made 3000 odd calls to news reporters since the inception of SIT. In the time span from May 4 to July 8, the number of calls and messages made from Josy Cherian’s mobile phone is a surprising total of 7557. More than half of these calls were made to the journalists who were dealing with the stories regarding Chandrashekharan’s death. Josy Cherian has made these calls from his official phone. 

Apart from Josy Cherian, his colleague DSP Shoukath Ali, a former Youth Congress activist, also continuously made calls to particular media persons and received large amount of calls from the media persons. Josy and Shoukath Ali have become infamous for cooking up stories against CPI (M) and its leaders. According to a reporter, who wishes to remain anonymous, some media persons have even gifted mobile phones to these police officers exclusively for this purpose. 

Reporters from Asianet News Channel, Reporter TV, Manorama News, Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi, Madhyamam,Mangalam, Veekshanam were the main vehicles for this cooked up anti-CPI(M) stories planted in the media. With Deshabhimaniexposing the call details, it has now become quite explicit that police –media axis is behind all anti-CPI(M) stories. It has also exposed the fact that the affidavit filed by the police in the high court is bogus.

P MOHANAN SUFFERS BRUTAL TORTURE

In a shocking incident unheard of in recent political history of the state, a senior leader of CPI(M) P Mohanan, district secretariat member of CPI(M), has been brutally tortured by the Special Investigation Team investigating  into the murder of T P Chandrasekharan.  P Mohanan, who was arrested on June 29 while returning from a Party programme, revealed about the torture to the ten member team of legislators that visited him in the Vatakara police station lockup.

CPI(M) central committee member E P Jayarajan, state secretariat member Elamara Kareem and Kozhikode district secretary of the Party T P Ramakrishnan, who led the team, said in a press conference that the interrogation of Mohanan crossed all limits of civility. Police officers were using abusive language aimed at Mohanan’s wife K K Lathika, who is an MLA, and his daughter. This kind of mental torture is extremely condemnable, they said. SIT was resorting to  such inhuman acts in order to get Mohanan’s statement against prominent CPI(M) leaders. Later the CPI(M) leaders had a discussion with AIG Anup Kuruvilla John. Apart from these leaders, legislators A Pradeep Kumar, James Mathew, K K Lathika, K Dasan, M Kunjammad, Purushan Kadalundi, C Krishnan, K K Narayanan, and state committee members of the Party, N K Radha, P Satheedevi were in the team.

DSP Shoukath Ali, who is a former Youth Congress activist, has been frequently terrorising the CPI(M) leaders, including P Mohanan, in order to force them to make statements against state level leaders of CPI(M) in this case. Jayarajan charged the police of using Chandrasekharan murder case as a weapon against the CPI(M). It appears the police is under pressure to obey the orders of Mullappalli Ramachandran, union minister of state for home affairs and state home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, said E P Jayarajan. Kareem said that Mohanan was even denied proper bedding in the lockup.

K K RAGESH MADE ACCUSED

In an apparent case of political vendetta, the UDF government appointed Special Investigation Team in charge of the investigation into T P Chandrasekharan’s murder has included CPI(M) state committee member K K Ragesh in the list of the accused. 

According to SIT, the charge against former SFI all India general secretary K K Ragesh is that he had given instructions to arrange shelter to P K Kunjanandan, the alleged mastermind of the murder. The SIT has also stated that the case against Ragesh has been registered on the basis of the statement given by Sarin Shashi, SFI Kannur district president who was arrested earlier and set free after interrogation. This is the first time a state committee member of the CPI(M) is being made an accused in this case.

Reacting to this development, K K Ragesh said that this is a clear case of political vendetta and personal feud. He failed to understand how a case being registered against a person who is undergoing ayurveda treatment for the last three weeks. He also said that he did not leave home except in unavoidable circumstances. He pointed out that this latest move of the police comes in the wake of a series of hate news by right wing media.

CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the new move of the police proves that the investigation into Chandrashekaran’s murder is being undermined by using it to crush the political opponents.

LOKAYUKTA SERVES NOTICE TO CM

The Lokayukta has served a notice to chief minister Oommen Chandy and health minister Sivakumar following a petition questioning the back door appointment of a nurse in Regional Cancer Centre. Questioning the appointment of Flower Augustine, daughter of former KPCC member Augustine, to the post of Nursing Superintendent in RCC Thiruvananthapuram, a social activist, A Girish Kumar, had filed an appeal in the Lokayukta. 

“Flower Augustine, who was once fired from the service before her probation term, was appointed as the Nursing Superintendent through a wrong way, and the salary and other benefits were awarded to her for eight years -- a period during which she was not in the service”, stated Girish Kumar in his appeal. The notification regarding her appointment and payment was issued on May 12, 2012.  

Earlier Flower Augustine was appointed as the Nursing Superintendent in RCC in 1993. She went on leave in the probationary period itself and was dismissed from the service in 1994. A high court verdict against Flower over the dismissal was upheld by the Supreme Court also. In 2002, the UDF government re-appointed her on the condition that no benefits would be awarded. But a new order dated May 12 said that the benefits of this eight year period will be granted to Flower, the appeal stated.

KERALA RECALLS GLORIOUS FIGHTS ON AIKS ANNIVERSARY

M Prakashan Master

THE 75th Anniversary of the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) is being celebrated throughout the country. The All India Kisan Council (AIKC) has decided to celebrate the occasion by organising seminars and rallies, commemorating the glorious history of the kisan movement in different parts of the country.

One notes that the All India Kisan Sabha was formed on April 11, 1936, at an all-India conference held in Lucknow and since then the AIKS has conducted a number of historic struggles of the Indian peasantry in various parts of the country.

The Kerala state committee of the Karshaka Sangham, affiliated to the AIKS, has decided to celebrate the occasion with various programmes in each and every district of the state from July 13 to August 19 which is the death anniversary of Comrade P Krishna Pillai, the founder leader of the Communist Party in Kerala.

The state level inauguration of the 75th anniversary celebrations of Kisan Sabha was held in Kannur on July 13 this year. It was because the first kisan organisation in the state was formed at ‘Naniyoor,’ in Kolachery Panchayath of Kannur district, on the same date in 1935. It was in this ‘Naniyoor’ that the foundation meeting of Kolachery Karshaka Sangham was held in the house of Comrade Vishnu Bharatheeyan, another famous founder leader of the Communist Party in Kerala, popularly known as Bharatheeyan. The meeting with 28 participants elected Comrade Vishnu Bharatheeyan as the president of Kolachery Karshaka Sangham and Keraleeyan, another veteran leader of the freedom movement and founder leader of the kisan movement in the state, as its secretary.

Various programmes were arranged in the district to felicitate the occasion. These included an exhibition which portrayed the numerous inspiring moments in the history of the kisan movement and was based on old photographs, newspaper reports and descriptions. The exhibition, named as Kisan Kerala, Fighting Kerala, was inaugurated by P Jayarajan, acting secretary of the CPI (M)’s Kannur district committee on July 10.

Torchlight marches were started from the memorials of great martyrs who laid down their life during the heroic struggles of the 1940s, including those in Karivellur, Munayankunnu, Kavumbai, Padikkunnu, Chirakkuni, Cherukallayi, Pazhassi and Thillankeri. Torchlight processions started from all these places under the leadership of the district committee members of Karshaka Sangham, culminating in the evening at the venue of the inaugural function where the main torch was lighted. It was undoubtedly an inspiring moment when the atmosphere reverberated with the loud slogans raised by a big gathering of people from all walks of life.

The presence of great fighters on the occasion was an inspiring experience for the participants of the function. These veterans were Comrade M C Padmanabhan Nambiar, an accused in the armed fight of the peasants with the Malabar Special Police. He was imprisoned for two years in this case. Another veteran was Comrade E V Kunhikkannan Nambiar, who was accused at an early age of 18 years in connection with the great Munayamkkunnu struggle, an armed struggle against brutal police atrocities. He was hit by two cartridges in his stomach in the course of this struggle. When the Karshaka Sangham state secretary K V Ramakrishnan honoured these veteran fighters, all the delegates loudly applauded them; slogans were raised from every corner of the hall.

AIKS president S Ramachandran Pillai inaugurated the state level celebrations of the 75th anniversary of Kisan Sabha. The function was attended by a thousand and five hundred kisan delegates from different parts of the district. General convener of the reception committee, Valsan Panoli, welcomed the gathering while M Prakashan Master, chairman of the committee, presided over.

The function opened with a Sangeetha Silpam – Nanma Malayalam – organised by artists of the Cherukunnu–Kannapuram Progressive Arts Centre.

In his inaugural address, S R Pillai said the blood of the Kisan Sabha fighters and martyrs has not gone in vein. It is because of the rich history of the struggles waged by these veteran fighters that Kerala has attained tremendous achievements in regard to the life and livelihood of its people. He stressed that Kisan Sabha has been in the forefront of India’s struggle against British imperialism and against the brutal rule of the feudal princes in various principalities, just as it has been fighting, and is still fighting, against the anti-kisan policies of the successive governments since independence.

In his address, Pillai cautioned the people that Dr Manmohan Singh’s proclamation on a second green revolution is in fact intended to benefit the big corporate houses of the country who are seeking to acquire ownership of thousands of acres of land all over India. These big multinational and Indian corporate houses are getting various scientific and technological developments patented in order to increase their profits; they are even buying rivers and constructing hydal projects of their own. Farmers are getting compelled to sell their land as they find no other way to escape from the traps of debt. Pillai said one peasant committing suicide in the country every thirty minutes. The agricultural policies of the country are being decided by American multinationals. The Kisan Sabha is fighting these very anti-kisan, anti-national policies of the government. Pillai asked the kisan movement in Kerala to chalk out programmes to fight these policies with vigour and constancy.

K M Joseph, state joint secretary of the Karshaka Sangham, also spoke in the inaugural session.

A history seminar was organised in the afternoon session; it was inaugurated by famous historian K K N Kurup. He said several of our historians have really failed to interpret the historical relevance of the kisan movements of the past. These should be reinterpreted.

The programme came to a conclusion with the participants taking the pledge about forging united and planned mass interventions of the kisan movement so as to ensure the ultimate victory of the peasants and other toiling people of this country.

In fine, the state level inauguration of the 75th anniversary celebrations of Kisan Sabha has been one of the richest experiences for the kisan cadre in the district.

Courtesy: People’s Democracy

KERALA: UNEMPLOYMENT FELL DURING LDF TENURE: NSSO

THE recent round of survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) reveals that the unemployment rate in Kerala had come down during the tenure of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government. The survey shows that both rural and urban employment fell down and reflects a welcome trend as unemployment has been a major problem facing the state during the last two decades.

Dr Thomas Issac, a member of the CPI (M) Central Committee and the finance minister during the last five years, has given the details of the survey to the media, characterising it as an unusual trend. The sample survey results, released every five years, had never before shown the curse of joblessness lessening in Kerala. But the state scored a significant and historical achievement in the field of economic development during the last five years, he said. The survey says that this achievement is a result of vibrant functioning of Kudumbasree scheme and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme as well as of the stress on paddy farming. Since 1987, the growth rate of the economy in Kerala has been above the national average and the trend gained further strength during the last five years when the LDF was in power. Consequently, Kerala is now fourth from the top in the order of states in the matter of per capita income of the people.

According to the NSSO’s 66th round of survey done in 2009-10, the rate of rural unemployment came down from 15.8 per cent in 2004-05 to 9 per cent in 2009-10 and the rate of urban unemployment came down from 19.9 to 8.3 per cent in the same period. In 2009-10 the male unemployment rate had come down to 3.8 per cent and that of females to 21 per cent. The rate was 8.3 per cent and 30 per cent respectively during 2004-05.

In the rural areas, 8.3 per cent of the grown-up male population was unemployed as per the 2004-05 sample survey. This proportion declined to 3.8 per cent as per the 2009-10 sample survey. Similarly, in the urban areas, the unemployment rate among men decreased from 9 per cent to 3.4 per cent during the five-year period, Dr Isaac said. Among rural women, the unemployment rate decreased from 30.9 per cent to 21 per cent and among urban women from 42.9 per cent to 19.8 per cent during the same period. The employment participation rate in the state was 54.4 per cent in the case of men and 17. 5 per cent in the case of women, he said.

The NSSO survey analysed the details of 4455 households in 326 villages and 232 urban blocks. The survey team covered 18,061 persons including 8,502 males and 9,599 females.

Rate of Unemployment from 1977-78 to 2009-10

(%)

Region	1977-78	1983	1987-88	1993-94	1999-00	2004-05	2009-10
Rural	19.2	12.6	16.6	9.4	10.9	15.8	9.0
Rural male	13.6	10.6	12.5	7.2	7.6	8.3	3.8
Rural female	29.2	17.0	25.0	15.8	19.7	30.9	21.0
Urban	23.5	15.6	19.6	12.0	12.5	19.9	8.3
Urban male	16.2	11.9	14.2	7.6	6.9	9.0	3.4
Urban female	39.5	25.6	34.0	24.4	26.4	42.9	19.8
Total	19.8	13.1	17.1	10.1	11.4	-	8.8
Total male	14.0	10.8	12.8	7.3	7.4	-	3.7
Total female	30.6	18.4	26.3	18.2	21.5	-	20.7

Employment Participation in Kerala

2004-05 to 2009-10

(%)

Region	2004-05	2009-10
Rural	34.3	35.4
Rural male	52.4	55.0
Rural female	17.8	17.6
Urban	32.9	34.4
Urban male	51.4	53.4
Urban female	14.9	17.1
Total	-	35.1
Total male	-	54.5
Total female	-	17.5

Courtesy: People’s Democracy