Thiruvananthapuram: On Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s statement, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, “when the CAA bill was brought into parliament, I had opposed its introduction and I spoke in the debate denouncing the bill explaining why it’s unconstitutional and a violation of Article 14. The Constitution makes that explicitly clear that your caste, religion, language, place of birth, whatever is irrelevant to your citizenship, you’re on the same equal plane as every other citizen. The communist party contributed minimally in the freedom struggle, and today they’re trying to reap its benefits and score political points in the most disgracefully dishonest way.”
Tag: Kerala CM
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Pinarayi Vijayan: Attempts are being made to turn India into a religious nation: Kerala CM
Malappuram (Kerala): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday expressed concern over the alleged attempts being made to turn India into a religious nation, and accused those in power at the Centre of trying to blur the lines between religious institutions and the state.
Without mentioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said nowadays those who hold constitutional positions are turning into priests during religious ceremonies. The Left veteran was apparently referring to the recent consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya in which Modi was the ‘yajman (master of a yajna)’.
“Attempts are being made to turn India into a religious nation… This evokes great concern,” Vijayan said, speaking during the valedictory session of the 10th Mujahid State Conference at Karipur in this northern district. He labelled as “pathetic” the attempts by certain leaders “even in Kerala” to justify such events. In present India, those who are in power are attempting to blur the lines between religion and the state, Vijayan further said. The chief minister also accused the Centre of sabotaging projects meant for minority communities.
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Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan announces doorstep assistance scheme for aged, disabled and destitute persons
By PTI
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday announced a ‘doorstep assistance’ scheme under which senior citizens unable to go out due to their age, those bedridden as well as destitute and disabled persons would be provided various services like social security pension and emergency medicines at their place of residence.
To start with, a lifetime certificate, preparation of an application for assistance from the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund, social security pension, delivery of emergency medicines and palliative care, would be the services provided under the scheme, the CM said and added that other services would be added subsequently.
The first phase of the scheme, which would commence from September, will be implemented in areas under 50 local bodies and based on the government’s experience it would be extended to the entire state in December, he said in a release.
Explaining how the scheme would be implemented, the release said that in all Local Self Government Institutions, a committee consisting of an accredited social health activist (ASHA), a Kudumbasree representative and volunteers under the chairmanship of the Ward member will carry out the work of providing the services.
The Asha workers will have the primary responsibility of contacting those in need of service, the release said, adding that those in need of the service can contact the committee members by phone.
“For this, a card containing the phone numbers of the committee members will be issued,” it said.
Akshaya centres and volunteers will be available to assist the Asha workers.
The LSGIs would be responsible for locating the volunteers by using a transparent methodology, the CM said and he directed the Health department to ensure that the medicines required by each person are available locally.
He also said that the progress of the door-to-door service activities should be regularly reviewed at the district-level and at the level of the LSGIs and added that the District Collector and the District Planning Committee will have a crucial role to play in the implementation and monitoring of the scheme.
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SC defers hearing in SNC Lavalin corruption case to April 6
By ANI
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred the hearing of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) appeal challenging the acquittal of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan along with two others in the alleged multi-crore SNC-Lavalin scam to April 6.A bench of the apex court headed by Justice Uday Umesh Lalit adjourned the matter to April 6.
According to the prosecution, Vijayan is accused of allegedly hatching a criminal conspiracy while he was serving as the Electricity Minister of Kerala from May 1996 to October 1998.
Vijayan and other senior executives of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB)–former Power Department secretary K Mohanachandran and former joint secretary A Francis–were accused of allegedly awarding the contract for renovation and modernisation of few hydroelectric projects to a Canada-based company SNC-Lavalin at exorbitant rates, “thereby illegally causing a loss of around Rs 350 crores to the state”, the prosecution said.
CBI had moved the top court after the Kerala High Court upheld the trial court order giving a clean chit to the Chief Minister due to lack of evidence against him.