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April14, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]New reports CHRO,Regi,Madhu & Sukla Sen >> |
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From: "CHROkeralam" <chro1@rediffmail.com> Date: Mon Apr 11, 2005 Subject: KERALA: The "Extremist" MN Vijayan And The CPI(M) Inc (WITH CHRO NOTE BOTTOM) STORY: 1 New Indian Express, April 11, 2005, Monday M N Vijayan at his sarcastic best TRIPUNITHURA: ??????At a time when even the almighty is being substituted by money-lending banks, I have no other option but to wish you sleepless nights and restless days,??™??™ said Prof. M.N.Vijayan who inaugurated the 73rd anniversary celebrations of the Mahathma Library and Reading Room. The world is now ruled by financial capitalism and we Indians are eager to lease our land to contractors engaged in the ??????development??™??™ of our country,??™??™ Vijayan said. ??????We have not yet understood the changes taking place in our society as also in the manipulated democratic system, Vijayan said. The changes occurring in establishments like the judiciary can easily be identified by the verdict in recent cases like the ???Sooryanelli case??™. Everything seems to be going in the reverse direction. Earlier, newspapers used to pave the way for ???tomorrow??™s thoughts??™ but now we see the purpose of newspapers as a way to earn a car or a gold coin, Vijayan said. While Mahathmaji urged people to donate their gold and other valuables for causes like Independence, today our leaders are seeking the support of jewelers to start TV channels, Vijayan said. He said the lethargic Indian mind should be bombarded with new thoughts that were entirely different from the conventional style of borrowing thoughts and ideas from established world powers. On Sunday, C.N.Karunakaran inaugurated the painting exhibition titled ???Chithrakoodam??™ at the Mahathma Art Gallery. A poets??™ meet was also held as part of the annual celebrations in which noted poet D.Vinayachandran, Kalamandalam Keshavan and others read their poems. Praffullan Tripunithura presided over the function. Noted writer Sara Joseph inaugurated the concluding session. Sara stressed the need for a properly-functioning Left movement to save the state from the existing anarchic situation. She blamed the government for not producing adequate evidences before the court to do justice to the victim in the Sooryanelli sex scandal. She alleged that the government was trying to foil the case by not producing necessary documents needed for getting justice to the Sooryanelli victim. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20050411015803&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0& ------------------------------------------------------------ STORY: 2 New Indian Express, April 11, 2005, Monday Now, Kerala comrades can't touch bourgeois money KOCHI: It's back to Red basics for Kerala's market-savvy comrades. Giving in to the hardliners, Kerala's CPI(M) Inc has decided to not allow any more ``bourgeois investment'' into its multi-crore commercial projects. And no more going to the share market to mop up the moolah. ``It's a state secretariat decision. I am no one to say if it would be reviewed in future. But this won't affect existing shareholders in our ventures,'' says E. Narayanan, the party's specialist for market forays. Narayanan is chairman of the CPI(M)'s showpiece rubber cooperative RUBCO, logging a Rs 450-crore turnover, and also heads its Cooperative Hospital Federation. The party has begun restructuring of investment plans for the two business ventures already under way _ a state-of-the-art Hypermarket in Thalassery at Rs 10 crore and a Rs 25-crore amusement park in Kolmotta-Anthur, the Red bastion in Kannur. The Thalassery venture was to open next year. ``We will now raise the money from cooperatives, from outright advance sale of floor space and bank loans,'' said Narayanan. The amusement park is expected to be commissioned by a team of international consultants who had designed Colombo's Millennium Park, by this year-end. The comrades had originally floated a cooperative _ Malabar Tourism Cooperative Society _ under former district secretary E.P. Jayarajan, his sister-in-law and CPI(M) central committee member P.K. Sreemathy and other heavyweights to get the idea going. The money was to come from cooperative banks and financial institutions. That didn't work out as the Congress-led UDF government soon dissolved governing bodies of all cooperative banks and brought them under the state administration. So the party floated a public limited company, Malabar Pleasures Limited, in which some 200-odd CPI(M)-controlled cooperative societies in the area could legitimately buy shares worth Rs 10,000 each. Local comrades could chip in to buy Rs 500 shares in these societies. The original idea was to accommodate on the board as many non-comrades as possible with money to invest, as in the case of the party's TV channel, Kairali. But the decision to keep them out has overturned things. ``We have raised about Rs 2 crore from the societies. But since we have now decided not to take private investment, we hope to have a nationalised bank loan us the entire remaining Rs 23 crore,'' said K.K. Narayanan, chairman of the project and CPI(M) district committee member. Hospitals, however, is where the party is focussing. Buoyed with the success of four large multi-speciality hospitals, at least two more are on the party's anvil. Party insiders say the decision to keep off private investment could be a big dampener for these projects, besides a proposed string of IT technoparks across the state. But some kinds of capital are still not taboo. RUBCO, for instance, is still talking to a slew of financial institutions abroad to bankroll its Rs 1,300-crore expansion plan. RUBCO chairman E. Narayanan insists this is alright with the party, as long as conditionalities don't pinch. ``The basic rule is to not lose control,'' he says. Kairali, the party's TV channel with Rs 100-crore authorised capital, had drawn hefty investment from all comers, including party cooperatives, NRIs including those like Muslim League MP and trade tycoon P.V. Abdul Wahab, liquor barons, and even a hooch king now in jail. CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, who had personally headed the fund generation drive, said he would prefer to talk about the party decision on investment issues'' at a later time. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20050410105932&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0& ------------------------------------------------------------ NOTE: Prof. MN Vijayan, considered to be leading left intellectual in Kerala and Editor of CPI-M weekly "Deshabhimani" untill recently, was openly criticised by CPI-M State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan as a left sectarian. MN Vijayan is also ideologically close to Opposition leader, V. S. Achuthanandan, who is Pinarayi's bet noire in the inner party group rivalry. All those who are associated with the above business ventures of CPI-M Inc belong to Pinarayi group.-- CHRO, Keralam --------------------------------------------------------- 2] KERALA: Custodial Death: Two More Suspended chro2003 The Hindu, April 11, 2005, Monday Custodial death: two more suspended By Our Staff Reporter KOLLAM, APRIL 10. The Superintendent of Police, S. Sreejith, today suspended two constables of the Kollam East Police Station in connection with the custodial death of Rajendran, 36, on April 6. The suspended constables are Jayakumar and Venugopal of the crime squad of the station. On Saturday, the additional sub-inspector, S. Babu, was suspended. http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/11/stories/2005041102550500.htm The Hindu, April 10, 2005, Sunday Custodial death: SHRC registers case By Our Staff Reporter KOLLAM, APRIL 9. The Kerala State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has registered a case against the Kollam East Police station in connection with the custodial death of Rajendran, 37, who was taken into custody by the police on charges of theft. http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/10/stories/2005041009620500.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] RAJASTHAN: CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER A FEUDAL CM chro2003 The Hindu, April 11, 2005, Monday Civil rights activists take umbrage at Raje's stance By Our Special Correspondent JAIPUR, APRIL 10. Gandhian, Sarvodaya and civil rights organisations of Rajasthan today accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government of adopting an "undemocratic and anti-people" approach leading to continued injustice to Dalits, minorities and marginalised sections. The groups announced launching of a prolonged agitation to bring people's issues to the centre-stage of the State's politics. The civil rights groups took exception to the refusal by the Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, to meet their representatives ever since she took over in December 2003 and denounced her style of functioning vis-? -vis the policy issues, instances of injustice and the demand for rights by Dalits and women. "Ms. Raje's behaviour smacks of her feudal mindset. She has no time to listen to the grievances of the poor and disadvantaged people," Sawai Singh, president of Rajasthan Samagra Seva Sangh, said. The civil rights activists joined a dharna staged by the Ekal Nari Shakti Sangathan - representing single women - here and announced their plan for a long-drawn-out agitation demanding the resignation of Ms. Raje with the observation that the presence of a "feudal Chief Minister" was not warranted in the democratic system. "Ms. Raje has no right to promote feudalism and insult the people by ignoring their real issues," said Satyanarain Singh of Nagrik Parishad. Citing a number of instances when various organisations tried to approach Ms. Raje with their plea for action, the activists said the Chief Minister refused to meet villagers after the daylight murder of a Dalit youth in Pali district on March 19, gave no time to women activists protesting against the court verdicts in the Sati cases on January 31 and February 5, and declined to give appointment to the delegations after communal violence in several towns across the State. Kavita Srivastava, general secretary of the State unit of People's Union for Civil Liberties, said the latest instance involved misbehaviour by the Chief Minister's Office with the activists of Ekal Nari Shakti Sangathan. Five members of the organisation, who were called inside the Assembly on April 8, were kept waiting for over three hours and then wrongly told that Ms. Raje had left for New Delhi. The officials allegedly insulted the single women by asking them to leave and work for promoting literacy among themselves before launching the agitation for an increase in their pension. "Ms. Raje then left for Nagpur on an invitation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief in the middle of the Assembly's budget session. This amounts to disrespect to the norms of democracy," said Ms. Srivastava. The activist groups alleged that Ms. Raje had no interest in resolving the issues directly affecting the lives of citizens, and in particular those belong to Scheduled Castes and Tribes, minority communities, women and the poor. Requests for appointment to discuss the issues arising out of the new excise policy, exploitation of ground water by the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Kaladera, and attack on cultural activists in Udaipur last year were simply turned down. Even the noted Sarvodaya leader, Siddharaj Dhaddha, could not get an appointment with the Chief Minister while he wanted to discuss the problems of farmers. "Ms. Raje's attitude of paying no heed to people's problems displays her feudal arrogance. She has a whale of a time for watching movies, going to five-star hotels, attending the functions of the rich and making pleasure trips," Nisha Siddhu of the National Federation of Indian Women said. The civil rights groups have decided to launch a signature campaign demanding Ms. Raje's immediate resignation and generate awareness among the people for boycotting her programmes during her visits to various districts. A demonstration will be held outside the Assembly here on April 13. http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/11/stories/2005041104170500.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [4] RAJASTHAN: Minister Visits Riot-Hit Town; Provokes People's Ire chro2003 The Hindu, April 12, 2005, Tuesday Minister visits violence-hit town; provokes people's ire By Our Special Correspondent JAIPUR, APRIL 11. Indefinite curfew clamped on Mandal town in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan following communal violence that claimed one life last Friday was relaxed today for six hours in two stages, during which a Gangaur procession was taken out peacefully and a palanquin was brought to the local Chabhuja temple. A post-Holi procession carrying the palanquin in the town was allegedly stoned on Friday, triggering violence and police firing. Tension prevails in the nearby Jahazpur and Raila towns following the district administration's refusal to allow the Tazia processions marking the completion of Muharram, even as an all-party committee constituted by the State Assembly visited Mandal and Karjalia on Sunday. The majority of the Muslim families in Karjalia have reportedly migrated following their social boycott. http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/12/stories/2005041209690500.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] New Indian Express, April 11, 2005, Tuesday Nagas in Assam oppose NSCN's merger demand IANS TIPAI GAON: Tribal Naga village elder Tutsi Kikon is an angry man today, fuming at the very idea of shedding his identity as an Assamese. Four generations ago, 64-year-old Kikon's ancestors settled in this small village of Tipai Gaon in eastern Assam, 380 km from the state's main city of Guwahati. But today Kikon's village is among scores of other tribal Naga inhabited hamlets in Assam mired in a blazing controversy. The Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), a frontline separatist group in adjoining Nagaland state, has been demanding the integration of all Naga tribal inhabited areas in the northeast. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEP20050411080637&Page=P&Title=States&Topic=0& ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] UP: BSP Now Actively Woos Brahmins chro2003 New Indian Express, April 12, 2005, Tuesday BSP now actively woos Brahmins LUCKNOW: Realising the limitations of Dalit votes in its bid to grab state power, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is now actively wooing upper caste Brahmins in Uttar Pradesh. BSP chief Mayawati has deputed national general secretary and close associate Satish Misra on a mission to bring the Brahmins into the BSP fold in a big way. Misra has been travelling across the state with Mayawati's new message that the "BSP stands not just for the Dalits but for 'sarv samaj' (entire society)". http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEP20050411073309&Page=P&Title=States&Topic=0& ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [7] The Hindu, April 12, 2005, Tuesday Custodial death: murder case registered KOLLAM, APRIL 11. The special police team that is investigating the custodial death of a man at the Kollam East Police Station on April 6 has registered the death as a murder case. The District Crime Detachment Dy.SP, Ramesh Kumar, who heads the special team, today formally informed the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, S. Thulasidas, of the same. http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/12/stories/2005041201820500.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] The Hindu, April 12, 2005, Tuesday Poovar riot case: EMS Colony resident arrested By Our Staff Reporter THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 11 . The Poovar EMS Colony communal riot case has taken a turn with the police arresting a colony resident on the charge of exploding country bombs that resulted in nearly 100 houses on the sea front getting gutted on February 27. The Circle Inspector, Poovar, S.S. Firoz, identified the accused as Asim, 19, a Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) worker. The police are on the look-out for another DYFI member, Ibrahim. According to the police, Asim, along with Ibrahim, had exploded powerful country bombs against a mob that attacked the colony. The police are investigating 30 other people of the neighbouring fisher folk settlement in connection with the attack. `Karate' Johnny, who is accused by the police of leading the attack against the residents of EMS Colony, is yet to be arrested. http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/12/stories/2005041217450300.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] TN: Another Bhopal In The Offing In Coimbatore chro2003 New Indian Express/ANI, April 10, 2005, Sunday A chemical factory in TN waiting to be another Bhopal SIRUMUGAI: People of Sirumugai on the outskirts of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu are living each day in fear since they heard of a potential danger of pollution or leakage of 450 tonnes of high density liquid carbon - di - sulphide stored in 14 tanks at a factory in their vicinity. The textile yarn factory is loaded with carbon-di-sulphide and other chemicals and to prevent these chemicals from evaporating, they are stored under water at a temperature of about 30 degree centigrade. The threat of chemical pollution arose when both water and electricity supply was recently cut off from the factory, which was lying in a non - functional state for the past four years. The chemicals are now lying in an exposed state, which can lead to cloud formation eventually causing an explosion. http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IET20050409103614&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0& ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [10] New Indian Express, April 10, 2005, Sunday Anti-Coke stir to be intensified KOCHI: Activists of Plachimada Aikyadardhia Samithi and Coca-Cola Virudha Samara Samithi have asked the government to move the Supreme Court against the High Court's decision allowing the company to resume their operations at Plachimada. This was decided at a joint meeting held here to discuss the future action plan of these committees. The meeting has decided to intensify the agitations against the Cola major. The meeting has also asked the Pollution Control Board to refrain from giving the No Objection Certificate to the company. The meet also pledged to support Perumatty panchayat, which is moving an appeal in the SC. The third anniversary of Plachimada Protest Campaigns, which falls on April 22, will have a huge public meeting organised at Plachimada. A protest march will also be organised on April 15 to the High Court. The meeting was attended by Vijayachandran, R.Ajayan, protest committee convener Velur Swaminathan, Hameed Vanimel, V.D.Majeendran, C.R.Neelakantan, P.Prasad and P.T.M.Hussain. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20050410014746&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0& ------------------------------------------------------------ The Hindu, April 10, 2005, Sunday `Court verdict on Coke row disappointing' By Our Special Correspondent THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 9. The Leader of the Opposition, V. S. Achuthanandan, has termed `disappointing' the Kerala High Court decision to equate the water rights of the poor people of Plachimada and the Hindustan Coca-Cola Company and allow the latter to draw water for its operations. http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/10/stories/2005041010520400.htm The Hindu, April 10, 2005, Sunday JD(S) plea to move Supreme Court PALAKKAD, APRIL 9. The State and Central Governments should move the Supreme Court against the High Court order permitting the Coca-Cola plant at Plachimada to draw groundwater, the Janata Dal(S) Kerala unit's secretary general, K. Krishnankutty, said at a press conference here today. Mr. Krishnankutty said implementation of the order would amount to infringement of the powers of local bodies. ??” PTI http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/10/stories/2005041010470400.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| << April10, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net] Kerala updates from CHRO |
April14, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]New reports CHRO,Regi,Madhu & Sukla Sen >> |
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