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Pinarayi Vijayan sworn in as Kerala Chief Minister

May 25, 2016

Thiruvananthapuram, May 25: CPI(M) strongman Pinarayi Vijayan was today sworn in as Chief Minister of Kerala heading a 19-member ministry of the party-led Left Democratic Front(LDF) that had 13 new faces including two women.

Pinarayi

72-year-old Vijayan, who pipped his bitter party rival V S Achuthanandan to the top post in Kerala politics, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Justice (Retd) P Sathasivam at the Central Stadium here.

Hailing from a poor toddy tapper's family, Vijayan, a first time Chief Minister, took the oath in Malayalam. A CPI-M Politburo member, he is the 12th chief minister of Kerala.

Out of the 19-member cabinet, 12 including the Chief Minister are from CPI(M), 4 from CPI, one each from NCP, Janata Dal(S) and Congress(S). The outgoing Congress-led UDF had 21 ministers.

There are 13 new faces, including two women, in the Cabinet. Five ministers had held positions in previous LDF ministries.

The CPI(M)-LDF had unseated the Congress-led UDF by securing 91 seats in the 140-member House in the May 16 assembly polls.

A huge pandal to accommodate at least 30,000 persons was put up at the stadium, adjacent to the state Secretariat. CCTVs erected at various places enabled the large crowd, who had gathered to view the ceremony streamed live.

The slight drizzle failed to dampen the spirits of the party workers who had arrived in buses and other vehicles from various parts of the state, especially the northern districts of Kasaragod, Kannur and Kozhikode, to witness the swearing-in ceremony, which began at 4 pm.

In 2006 also, the swearing in of then Chief Minister V S Achutanandan and his cabinet colleague was held outside the Raj Bhavan.

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, former Chief Ministers Oommen Chandy, V S Achutanandan, CPI(M) General Secretary Seetharam Yechury, Prakash Karat, 97-year-old K R Gowri Amma, who was Revenue minister in the EMS Namboodiripad cabinet of 1957, former union minister and lone member of BJP in the assembly O Rajagopal, religious and cultural leaders and film actors attended the function.

CPI(M) and CPI ministers took the oath and made solemn pledge, while other Front ministers took the oath in the name of God.

The ministers who were sworn in by the Governor are (CPI-M)) Thomas Isaac, A K Balan, G Sudhakaran, E P Jayarajan, Kadakampally Surendran, K K Shylaja, J Mercykutty Amma, T P Ramakrishnan, A C Moideen, C Raveendranath and K T Jaleel (CPI-M-IND).

CPI: E Chandrasekharan, V S Sunil Kumar, P Thilothaman and K Raju.

Congress S: Ramachandran Kadannappalli.

NCP: A K Saseendran

JD(S): Mathew T Thomas.

This is also the first time that a swearing in ceremony is observing green protocol to ensure zero waste event.

The capital city was a sea of red, with CPI(M) party flags and red buntings flying high in various corners. Party workers were dressed in red shirts and red caps.

Comments

E. SREEDHARAN
 - 
Saturday, 4 Jun 2016

Wish you all the best

E. SREEDHARAN
 - 
Saturday, 4 Jun 2016

Congratulation to you and the team of Ministers. Expect people friendly governance from the Legislatures. Executives, who are often found to be going against wrong directions. needs effective control so as to make real improvements of policy decisions taken by the Legislatures.

Wish you all the best and the entire team of Ministers.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Mumbai, Jul 30: Counterfeiting incidents have increased 24 per cent in the country in 2019 over the previous year, creating an over Rs 1 lakh crore hole in the economy, according to a report.

The report also said counterfeiters are having a free run due to the pandemic-driven disruptions to organised supply chains and the resultant spike in consumer demand.

According to the report by ASPA, a self-regulated industry body of anti-counterfeiting and traceability solutions providers, counterfeiting has risen steadily in the last few years, and exploiting the pandemic as a cover for their activities.

Between February and April 2020, over 150 incidents of counterfeiting cases were reported, mostly about fake PPE kits, sanitisers and masks taking advantage of the high demand for these products, it noted.

"There was a 24 per cent increase in counterfeiting in 2019 over 2018, leading to the loss of more than Rs 1 lakh crore to the overall economy," said Nakul Pasricha, president of Authentication Solution Providers Association.

The association works with global authorities like the International Hologram Manufacturers Association, Counterfeit Intelligence Bureau of the Interpol, and domestic industry lobbies like Ficci, he said.

Counterfeiting is a universal issue and is 3.3 per cent of global trade, according to the OECD data, impacting social and economic development across the world.

The report lists the currency, FMCG, alcohol, pharma, documents, agriculture, infrastructure, automotive, tobacco, lifestyle and apparel, as the 10 sectors impacted most by counterfeiting.

Among these, currency, alcohol and FMCG continue to be the top three sectors with the highest counterfeiting in the last two years. The FMCG sector is most vulnerable, as counterfeit incidents rose 63 per cent between 2018 (79) and 2019 when the reported cases jumped to 129.

Within the states, the fakers have a free run in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Punjab, Jharkhand, Delhi, Gujarat, and Uttarakhand, calling for urgent actions to frame anti-counterfeiting policy measures.

According to the report, UP continues to be on top followed by Bihar, Rajasthan, and together these three states represent almost 45 per cent of all counterfeiting reported in the last two years.

What is more alarming is that counterfeiting is not limited to high-end luxury items today, as common everyday items as fake cumin seeds, mustard cooking oil, ghee, hair oils, soaps, baby care vaccines and medicines are aplenty in the markets.

"There is an urgent need for building and nurturing authentication ecosystems in the country with the active involvement and active participation of all stakeholders," said Pasricha.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Jehanabad, Jan 28: Anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Imam, who was on the run after sedition charges were slapped against him for allegedly making inflammatory statements, was arrested from Bihar's Jehanabad district on Tuesday, the state's police chief Gupteshwar Pandey said.

The JNU scholar was wanted by police of several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi.

"Sharjeel Imam has been arrested from his native Kako village in Jehanabad," Bihar's director-general of police Gupteshwar Pandey said.

Earlier in the day, Sharjeel Imam’s brother was picked up by police in a fresh attempt to trace the anti-CAA activist.

Police had raided his ancestral home on Sunday as it went hunting for him but Imam eluded the dragnet.

He is likely to be produced in a Bihar court where police will seek his remand for questioning. It is not yet clear whether he will be questioned in Bihar or taken to the national capital.

A graduate in computer science from IIT-Mumbai, Imam had shifted to Delhi to pursue research at the Centre for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He was slapped with a sedition case after a video of his purported speech went viral on social media in which he was heard speaking about "cutting off" Assam and the Northeast from the rest of India.

"If five lakh people are organised, we can cut off the Northeast and India permanently. If not, at least for a month or half a month. Throw as much 'mawad' (variously described as pus or rubbish) on rail tracks and roads that it takes the Air Force one month to clear it.

"Cutting off Assam (from India) is our responsibility, only then they (the government) will listen to us. We know the condition of Muslims in Assam....they are being put into detention camps," he was shown in the video as saying.

Meanwhile, reacting to Imam's arrest, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said people have the right to protest but nobody can talk about the country's disintegration.

Kumar told reporters that police must have acted in accordance with law in arresting Imam and now the courts will take appropriate action.

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News Network
June 18,2020

New Delhi, Jun 18: Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday removed Sanjay Jha as a party spokesperson, days after he wrote a newspaper article criticising the party. She also approved the appointment of Abhishek Dutt and Sadhna Bharti as national media panelists for the Congress.

"Congress president has also approved that Sanjay Jha be dropped as AICC spokesperson with immediate effect," the party said in an official statement.

In the article published a few days ago, Mr Jha had said, "The Congress has demonstrated extraordinary lassitude, and its lackadaisical attitude towards its own political obsolescence is baffling..."

"I would like to call a spade a spade here and a shovel: there has been no serious effort to get the party up and running with any sense of urgency," he had said in the article in a national newspaper.

"There are many in the party who cannot comprehend this perceptible listlessness. For someone like me, for instance, permanently wedded to Gandhian philosophy and Nehruvian outlook that defines the Congress, it is dismaying to see its painful disintegration," he had said.

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