by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Business Ideas, Economy, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Medium Enterprise, News, Politics, SMEs

Pinarayi Vijayan
Kochi : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday launched an online mechanism to ensure clearance to investment proposals within 30 days of the application, while calling for more industrial production to take place in the state.
K-SWIFT (Kerala Single Window Interface for Fast, Transparent Clearances), a cutting-edge software application to simplify and speed up approval of government clearances for those looking to launch enterprises in the state, was unveiled at the ASCEND Kerala 2019 – an initiative of the government to position the state as an investment hotspot.
In his address, Vijayan urged the officials to change their attitude towards entrepreneurs.
“The 30 day time limit, which is applicable from village to secretariat level, may be reduced to even 15 days in future. You should not have the wrong belief that advent of industries means exploitation of people,” he said.
“Kerala’s economy has been consumerist where lots of products have buyers, but not much of production is happening in the state. This has to change. We have to increase MSMEs (micro, small, medium enterprises) in the state. Through them, the government aims to provide jobs to around 50,000 people this year,” Vijayan added.
State Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan said ASCEND Kerala 2019 was part of the government’s efforts to form an industry network in the state.
“A new era has dawned upon Kerala’s industry sector. Any delay in taking steps in the online applications would attract serious steps against the departments and officials.
“Specific industrial parks will be set up in private and public sector as per the types of industry. In rural areas, the area limit will be 25 acres. The urban parks will have 15 acres. The government will provide the same facilities to the public sector and private sector parks,” Jayarajan added.
The meet was to showcase Kerala as a top-notch investment destination, where entrepreneurs from India and abroad can set up a wide array of enterprises in a speedy and hassle-free manner with minimum of bureaucratic interventions.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics

Pinarayi Vijayan
By Sanu George,
Thiruvananthapuram : With the CPI-M preparing for its state conference next month, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is all set to ensure there is no one to challenge him in the state and he has complete control over the party – and will be hoping his clout will give him a larger say in the partys national affairs.
Ahead of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state conference in Thrissur from February 22 to 25, he has ensured that his is the final word in all the 14 districts.
Gone are the days when the party was deeply divided between Vijayan and former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who, even though he led the campaign from the 2016 assembly elections, was upstaged by the former and prevented from occupying for the Chief Minister’s chair a second time.
Since then, it has been Vijayan all the way, with only a small faction left with the veteran Achuthanandan.
If one looks back over the years, unlike in other parties, the final word in the CPI-M has been that of the party’s State Secretary, to whom the Chief Minister often played second fiddle.
The one reason why Vijayan has been able to have an iron grip on the party is his 17-year uninterrupted reign as the State Secretary from 1998 to 2015, during which he was able to edge out even the hugely-popular Achuthanandan.
On account of his long tenure, he has been able to pick and choose his aides and if Achuthanandan had some sections of the party with him at the time of the 2015 state party conference, Vijayan has had a free run this time around. By the time the 14 district party meetings are over later this month, there will be only one leader at the helm and it would be the 72-year-old Vijayan.
Vijayan managed to do this when he saw to it that Achuthanandan was kept out of the district meetings. Another Politburo member from the state who has been sidelined this time is M.A. Baby.
The present state Secretary, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who is close to Vijayan and also a Politburo member, will, in all likelihood, get a second term at the state party conference.
All eyes are now on the constitution of the state committee and state secretariat, besides the selection of the around 175 members to attend the CPI-M’s 22nd Party Congress in Hyderabad in April.
With the party’s West Bengal unit losing its sheen, it’s going to be an added bonus for the Chief Minister, whose relationship with CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri is not all that warm.
Much like senior party leader and former General Secretary Prakash Karat, who is from Kerala, Vijayan is strongly opposed to any truck with the Congress for elections. Yechuri, on the other hand, believes aligning with the Congress is the need of the hour given the rise and rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party and other right wing forces.
The question now is: Will Vijayan will be able to consolidate his position and play the kingmaker in Hyderabad?
(Sanu George can be contacted at sanu.g@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Investing, News, Politics

Pinarayi Vijayan
By V.S. Chandrasekar,
New Delhi : Kerala will soon formulate an industrial policy under which a single-window system will be put in place to clear investment applications while making it easy to do business in the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
More than a year after his CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government came to power, he says corruption is a thing of the past in Kerala and industrialists are now keen to invest in the state.
“We’re making policies towards ease of doing business. We’re formulating a policy where an industry would get clearance in a particular number of days after filing an application. It would happen soon. We are working towards making Kerala one of the best states in the country,” Vijayan told IANS in an interview.
He said corruption was a big problem in Kerala. “But now there is a common understanding that there is no corruption. Problems at the top level have been removed. Now industrialists are interested to come. And law and order situation is stable and people are ready to come to the state (for investment),” he said.
Asked about new investments, Vijayan said information technology was one field where the state was lacking a bit because of the economic slowdown. “But new investments have been promised. Infosys has promised new investment and one other company has also come forward to invest in the state.”
The 73-year-old Chief Minister said before the LDF came to power, there was a sense of hopelessness. “There were many achievements we had made earlier but after that nothing was going forward. There was a standstill. There was climate where nothing was going forward. Many plans were stuck. The state’s common demands were not being met.
“For example, the problem of national highway widening. Everyone had agreed for 45 m (width of the highway), all political parties had accepted for 45 metres. But, it was kept aside. When we came, we said everyone had agreed for 45 m, so we have to implement it now. When we decided to do it, the people were with us.”
Earlier, he said, the feeling was that no land could be acquired. At some places there were groups which were supposedly protesting for the people. But the reality was that groups which oppose everything were opposing the move. “But we took a stand that it should be done.”
He said now, apart from the normal delay in land acquisition, there was no situation that land cannot be acquired due to people’s opposition.
From Kasaragod (in north Kerala), many places have reached a stage where tendering can be done. Thalassery bypass has reached tendering stage. In rest of the places, decisons on how much land has to acquired are being taken. Everyone believes that things will happen now, Vijayan said.
Similarly, Vijayan said GAIL was laying a pipeline to take liquified natural gas (LNG) from Petronet in Kochi to Mangalore. “We also need this for our power plants. The plan was kept aside thinking that it won’t happen. When we came, we said this has to be implemented. Some people opposed it as usual. If some people oppose, government will have to take action if we have to go forward. Now the project is going to be completed in a time-bound manner.”
He said the Kudankulam power line had to go through Kottayam and in some places rubber trees had to be cut and the project was abandoned because of that.
“We said it has to be implemented. We took due procedures. A former Chief Minister called and said we should come to a compromise. We didn’t have any problem with it. We just wanted to make the project work and there was nothing else. Now the project is going on. These are the changes. Now there is a belief that things will happen.”
He said almost all public sector units were suffering losses. Some have now become profitable and work is underway to make the rest profitable.
(V.S. Chandrasekar can be contacted at chandru.v@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews

Pinarayi Vijayan
By V.S. Chandrasekar,
New Delhi : A pre-poll alliance with the Congress is ruled out, says Kerala Chief Minister and CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan, who appears not to completely rule out a tactical tie-up with it after the 2019 general elections to check the BJP.
The Marxist leader also favours his party taking the initiative in mobilising secular parties, especially the regional ones, against the Bharatiya Janata Party in various states.
“Generally speaking, there is no question of any truck or alliance with the Congress. The Congress is not a party with which we can have an alliance. Other things are hypothetical,” Vijayan told IANS in an interview here.
The Chief Minister also talked about the “flop show” of the BJP-RSS against the Left in Kerala and controversies like beef ban and the atmosphere of intolerance in the country.
Having come under pressure from the BJP and the RSS-led Sangh Parivar, which has launched an aggressive campaign ‘Janraksha Yatra’ (Protect People March) in his state, the veteran leader vowed to fight the BJP and the Sangh Parivar “tooth and nail”, saying they want to “destroy” Kerala, which the people won’t support.
The BJP had become “a national enemy with its policies” and the country was in deep economic trouble due to demonetisation and the GST (Goods and Services Tax), he said.
He also accused the BJP of towing the RSS line completely and spreading intolerance in the society by forcing people’s eating habits and violence against intellectuals.
The CPI-M leader’s stand on pre-poll alliance assumes significance in the context of the just-concluded three-day meeting of the party Central Committee, which discussed the issue amid speculation that a section of the party, led by General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and including V.S. Achutanandan, favoured a tie-up with the Congress to take on the BJP.
Media reports say the Central Committee was divided 32-31 against a tie-up with the Congress. The section led by former General Secretary Prakash Karat was said to be strongly opposed to doing business with the Congress.
Asked if the party would reconsider the strategy of not tying up with the Congress to keep the BJP at bay, Vijayan said: “Things about elections the party will decide at that time. We can talk about it only at that time. We cannot take a total stand right now.”
To a question whether tactical seat adjustments with the Congress was possible, he said: “In this current atmosphere, this is our stand. Rest of the things we will think at the time of the election.”
The Chief Minister said that even in 2004 elections, because of the danger of the BJP, the Left and the Congress entered into a Common Minimum Programme, but the government formed by the Congress pursued neo-liberalisation policies, which were now being followed by BJP.
“The BJP is the main enemy, but that doesn’t mean that the policies of the Congress are welcome. To oppose communalism and neo-liberal policies is our stand,” the leader said. The Congress never accepted that it made a mistake, he added.
On tying up with non-Congress secular parties, he said the CPI-M would make electoral alliances to defeat the BJP.
Asked about the recurring political violence in Kannur district in Kerala between the CPI-M and RSS cadres, the trigger for the Sangh Parivar’s verbal assault on the ruling party, Vijayan laid the blame squarely on the RSS.
“The RSS started it. The attack was started to gain power (control of area) in a specific way.
“Now, we tried to end these violence through peace talks. After becoming Chief Minister, we had discussions in two stages: All party meeting and bilateral meetings and a consensus was reached to restore peace,” he added
But, Vijayan said, after the talks there have been incidents and the RSS had given leadership. “That’s why the whole problem is not ending.”
He referred to the much-publicised Janraksha Yatra this month when BJP President Amit Shah travelled to Payyannur in Kannur to launch the campaign, which Vijayan termed “a complete flop.”
“Amit Shah thought and gave an impression that the whole of Kerala will go berserk and follow him. In their march, apart from those walking on the road with them, there was no one to welcome them. Because of the failure, the next day Amit Shah called off a march he was to carry through in front of my house in Kannur,” the veteran leader said.
Vijayan said for the first time in the history of the country the entire power of the Centre was used in a state against a political rival.
“Central ministers, Chief Ministers of different states and MPs all had come to Kerala for the march. Even though it is said to be BJP’s march, actually the RSS is behind it. The RSS chief in his Vijayadasami speech had attacked Kerala and the march followed the speech.”
The Chief Minister expressed satisfaction over the result in the Assembly by-election in Vengara, where the BJP was pushed to the fourth position in the midst of attempts by the RSS to pitchfork the party to the front.
Though the LDF lost the elections, it raised its vote share by getting 40,000 plus votes in the area, which is dominated by Indian Union Muslim League.
On the controversies surrounding the ban on beef, Vijayan said the BJP was implementing RSS’ policies of intolerance.
“People have different eating habits. Can anyone say that you should eat only what I eat? If someone does, can the society accept it? But they (BJP) sought to enforce it with very high intolerance. What right do I have to look at what is the food stored in your kitchen? They’re doing this because they’re in power,” Vijayan said.
Referring to killing of intellectuals by suspected rightwing forces, he said: “Your opinion may not match mine and I can oppose it openly and that’s the tradition which was being followed in our country. But now people who speak up are being killed. Thinkers Pansare, Kalburgi, Dabholkar were killed. Then Gauri Lankesh and Santanu. All this shows a high level of intolerance.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics

Oommen Chandy
New Delhi : Dismissing allegations of vendetta in ordering a case against his predecessor Oommen Chandy, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday rejected the demand for making public the report of the Justice G. Sivarajan Commission in the solar scam issue saying it will be tabled in the state Assembly at the appropriate time.
“Now, we will submit the Commission report along with the action taken report in the Assembly the next time it meets. It has to be tabled within six months. If we do anything else, that will be illegal. We haven’t taken any partisan decision in this subject. According to law, what a government has to do, we have done only that. The timing (of tabling the report) hasn’t been decided,” Vijayan told IANS.
Rejecting the charge of vendetta as has been alleged by the Congress, Vijayan said the Sivarajan Commission was set up under the Commissions of Inquiry Act by the government under Chandy. “This government didn’t appoint the commission, the previous UDF government had set it up. We had to agitate a lot (when in opposition) to set up the commission,” he said.
The Chief Minister said there was evidence before the Commission and it submitted the report. According to the Commissions of Inquiry Act, the government can take two decisions on the commission report. “First, submit the whole report to the Assembly or we can take action on the report and submit the action taken report to the Assembly.”
“Since it was a very controversial case and it was a four-volume report, we sought legal opinion from the Advocate General and Director General of Prosecution, and according to their advice, we took actions. Now, we will submit the commission report along with the action taken report in the Assembly the next time it meets. It has to be tabled within six months,” he said.
The Solar scam made headlines over four years ago with the arrest of Saritha Nair and her partner Biju Radhakrishnan, who had allegedly conned businessmen by floating their high-level connections including with Chandy, who was then the Chief Minister.
The probe decision was announced by Vijayan after the weekly cabinet meeting last week, based on the recommendations of the Solar Scam Commission report submitted by Justice (retd) G. Sivarajan in September.
A Special Investigation Team led by Director General of Police Rajesh Diwan has been set up to investigate the cases.
—IANS