News and Views

CPI (M) general Secretary Prakash Karat flagged off the ‘Nav Kerala March’ led by party leader Pinarai Vijayan, at Uppala near here on Saturday.

The march is being organised as a prelude to the Assembly election campaign by the party highlighting political and developmental issues.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated the permanent campus (Phase I) of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) at Vithura near Thiruvananthapuram today.

Vice President of India M. Hamid Ansari declared Kerala as the first Total Primary Education attained State in India here on Wednesday.

Mr. Ansari said the remarkable performance of Kerala on the various socio-economic indicators was a testimony to the transformative nature of mass education. “You have set a model for the rest of the country to follow,” he said.

However, in an open letter to Mr. Ansari, BJP leader V. Muraleedharan discounted Kerala's claims regarding Total Primary Education and demanded that the Vice President should seek and explanation from the State Government.

Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has submitted a report to the Vigilance Court stating that they could not unearth evidence that K. M. Mani, who was  Finance Minister, had either demanded or received bribes in connection with renewal of bar licences.

Superintendent of Police Sukesan, who investigated the case, said in his report that there was discrepancy about the time given by one of the bar owners who claimed to have handed over money to Mr. Mani in Palai.

CPI (M) has come out strongly against filing of the petition by State government before High Court seeking speeding up hearing on Lavlin case.

The Government has sought immediate consideration of the revision petition filed by CBI and others against the trial court rejecting the charge sheet filed by the CBI against CPI (M) leader Pinarai Vijayan and others. The Government is maintaining that the court overlooked evidence before it.