People's Democracy

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.