
No scope for controversy over Vijnana Keralam post, says Isaac
Dr. Isaac was reacting to a public interest litigation questioning his appointment and an amicus curiae report to the High Court based on it. Dr. Isaac said he was happy to have received an opportunity to explain matters before the court.
Only travel expenses
On the question of the remuneration for his post, he said he was eligible only for travel expenses. Vijnana Keralam is aimed at aligning skilling with job creation, according to Dr. Isaac.
Skilling programmes for the student community under the Vijnana Keralam campaign is to be rolled out from August, he said. He went on to add that the Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (K-DISC) assumed its present structure during the previous LDF government's term. K-DISC was shaped with the approval of the Finance department, he said.
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New Indian Express
an hour ago
- New Indian Express
The futility of banning books
On August 5, as the Chinar Book Festival backed by the central culture ministry unfolded in Srinagar, the Jammu and Kashmir administration under Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha banned 25 books, branding them as promoters of 'false narratives' and 'secessionism'. Works by A G Noorani, Sumantra Bose, Arundhati Roy, and Victoria Schofield—texts on Kashmir's history and human rights—were targeted under Section 98 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, with penalties for possession or distribution ranging from three years to life. How ingenious is it for a government to run a grand festival and simultaneously cancel books? The J&K home department justified the ban as a necessary purge of 'secessionist literature'. The order claims these books—such as Noorani's The Kashmir Dispute 1947-2012 and Roy's Azadi—radicalise youth by 'distorting historical facts, glorifying terrorists, vilifying security forces, and fostering grievance, victimhood, and terrorist heroism'. Police raids on Srinagar bookstores followed, although no confirmed seizures have been reported. The books, many of which were published years ago by the likes of Penguin and Routledge, raise a question: why now, when their presence has long been acknowledged? Since 2019, the central government has funded literary festivals in Kashmir. These events profess to celebrate ideas, yet the ban and measures like this set back the progress that the Indian State claims it is making in Kashmir. Since the 2019 revocation of Article 370, J&K, as a Union territory, grants the L-G sweeping powers under the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019. Amendments to the Transaction of Business Rules in July 2024 further entrenched the L-G's control over police, public order, the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and prosecution sanctions, sidelining Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, whose National Conference won the November 2024 elections.


News18
an hour ago
- News18
Nepal Court denies release request of former Home Minister Lamichhane
Agency: Last Updated: August 11, 2025, 23:30 IST Representational image (Image: News18) Kathmandu [Nepal], August 11 (ANI): A district court in Nepal ordered former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane to remain in judicial custody, rejecting his application for release on cooperative Rupandehi District Court late on Monday evening hearing over the application filed by Lamichhane, also the founder of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) upheld the judicial custody.A single bench of Judge Narayan Prasad Sapkota refused to let Lamichhane out, though he had submitted an application for release in connection with the Butwan-based Supreme Saving and Credit Cooperative fraud case.'Since the amount of money owed to him has not been determined, and the process of examining witnesses and other evidence in the case is still pending, and since the documents attached to the file do not show that the petitioner is in compliance with Section 71 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 2074 BS, it does not appear that he can file the petition with the bank guarantee as requested, and the date is fixed, it should be done in accordance with the law," the order from the court with the application, the former Home Minister also had submitted a bank guarantee equivalent to the amount attributed to him in the case. He submitted bank security worth Nepali Rupees (NRs) 27.4 a bench led by Judge Bashisht Kumar Ghimire at the same court had set his bail at NRs 10 million on charges of fraud and organised crime for the embezzlement of money from the Supreme the court order, Lamichhane challenged the decision and approached the High Court, seeking cancellation of bail and a regular hearing date. However, the Butwal bench of the High Court in Tulsipur ordered his continued detention for judicial investigation on April has been in the Rupandehi prison since April 4 and had applied on August 4. Advocates Narayan Kandel, Rajendra Thapa and Mahendra Pandey argued for his release under provisions of the National Criminal Procedure Act, while government attorneys opposed the move, citing the Supreme Court's earlier decision to uphold his cooperative fraud case alleges that Lamichhane and others transferred over NRs109 million from the Butwal-based Supreme Cooperative to Gorkha Media Network Pvt Ltd, misappropriating the have been filed in Kaski (Suryadarshan Cooperative), Chitwan (Sahara Cooperative), Kathmandu (Swarnalaxmi Cooperative) and Parsa (Sano Paila Cooperative). In all the districts, Lamichhane has been accused of diverting deposits to Gorkha Media Network, which ran the now-defunct Galaxy 4K Television. Lamichhane was arrested from his party office in Kathmandu on 18 October, 2024 by a team from the Central Investigation Bureau on charges of organised crime and misappropriation of cooperative December 22, 2024, the Kaski District Police had formally lodged the case against Lamichhane on cases of fraud, organised crime and money laundering. The District Government Attorney's Office filed the charge sheet against Lamichhane and others at the Kaski District Court in connection with the Suryadarshan Cooperative fraud is accused of illegally amassing over NRs 270 million, with the money allegedly originating from Surya Darshan Savings and Loan Cooperative. The case also alleges that Lamichhane has not disclosed the source of NRs 2,78,944,705, which is considered to be of illicit post as Member of Parliament has also been suspended after the District Attorney's Office filed a case of organised crime and money laundering. The former Home Minister and founder of RSP, the fourth largest party in the parliament, has denied the charges of money laundering, cooperative fraud, and organised crime in his statement to the Kaski District 2024, a parliamentary committee formed to investigate the cooperative scam prepared and tabled a report in parliament on September 16, 2024. This report indicted Lamichhane for embezzling millions of rupees as part of the seven-membered committee formed on May 28 last year was tabled in the parliament, which was formally endorsed by the house session. The report concludes that millions of rupees injected into Gorkha Media came from cooperatives which were traded on the basis of forged Home Minister Lamichhane had worked in Gorkha Media, the parent company of now defunct Galaxy 4K Television, as managing director at the time when cooperative savings were invested, violating cooperative legislation. Incumbent parliamentarian also had clarified that he was engaged in Gorkha Media taking a sweat later in the year 2022 entered politics, announcing the formation of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, and entered the federal parliament as a parliamentarian, contesting the election the same year. The television, failing to pay salaries to its staff, shut its formal operation since last committee in its report has also recommended that the government take legal action against everyone involved in the transfer of money to Gorkha Media from various cooperatives. Millions of rupees were inducted into Gorkha Media from various cooperatives, Suryadarshan from Pokhara, Supreme from Butwal, Swarnalaxmi from Kathmandu, Sahara Chitwan from Chitwan and Sanopaila from report has stated that embezzlement of amounts was completed in the active involvement of GB Rai, Kumar Ramtel, Rabi Lamichhane (then managing director), and Chhabi Lal Joshi. Rai and Lamichhane had operated a joint account in the bank and had issued cheques amounting to millions, which shows their involvement, the committee report includes.'Every company has its own objective and spirit. Promoters and shareholders are the ones with the main responsibilities in such institutions. Those in the role and responsibility as shareholders, promoters and managing directors cannot be allowed to not be responsible and accountable for the money received by the company," the report the investigation, the committee also had held inquiry session with former Home Minister and incumbent Chairperson of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Lamichhane for over 10 hours. Throughout the inquiry session he claimed to be unaware about the transfers that were made to the Gorkha Media originated from cooperatives, that too savings of about 50,000 arguing over the case, Lamichhane also claimed the Rabi Lamichhane who had borrowed money from Suryadarshan and Supreme Cooperatives also to be someone not in his knowledge. The committee had asked him a set of 50 questions about his alleged involvement in the the tabling and endorsement of the report, House Speaker Devraj Ghimire directed the government to implement the report of the parliamentary special inquiry committee formed to investigate misappropriation of savings of cooperatives. Speaker Ghimire then directed the Parliament Secretariat to send the report to the government for HoR had formed the committee headed by CPN-UML lawmaker Thapa on May 28, 2024 after Nepali Congress demanded formation of a parliamentary investigation committee saying Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane, who was then deputy prime minister and home minister, was involved in the misappropriation of cooperative savings. The HoR had initially given the committee three months and later extended its tenure by 15 Badu of Nepali Congress, Ishwari Neupane, Sabitra Bhusal of UML, Lekhnath Dahal of CPN (Maoist Center), Shishir Khanal of RSP, and Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan of Rastriya Prajatantra Party were members of the parliamentary committee. (ANI) view comments News agency-feeds Nepal Court denies release request of former Home Minister Lamichhane Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. 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India Today
2 hours ago
- India Today
Saved you once: Chief Justice recalls contempt warning while junking lawyer's plea
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition by Mumbai-based advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay seeking action against alleged illegal activities of political parties, calling it non-maintainable. The bench also rebuked Upadhyay for his courtroom conduct, with Chief Justice of India BR Gavai recalling a prior contempt warning from his Bombay High Court petition sought directions to State Election Commissions (SECs) to curb alleged illegal activities by political parties that, he claimed, could endanger the "sovereignty, integrity, and unity of the country." The petition also sought directions for the registration of an FIR against MNS leader Raj Thackeray and his workers for allegedly assaulting citizens over the use of the Hindi bench in its order said, "The public interest litigations are necessary but in the name of PILs, we cannot allow publicity interest litigations," while dismissing the plea. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and Atul S Chandurkar took strong exception to the petitioner approaching the top court directly, bypassing the High Upadhyay insisted on the maintainability of his petition, the Chief Justice questioned why he had not first approached the Bombay High Court.'Can't this be raised before the Bombay High Court? This is nothing but a publicity interest litigation. Though PILs are necessary to protect citizens' rights, this petition concerns policy matters of the Union or ECI and does not justify a direct approach to the Supreme Court under Article 32,' the bench court permitted Upadhyay to withdraw the petition with the liberty to approach the appropriate High Court instead. 'Take a flight and go and file there tomorrow,' the Chief Justice briefly rose during the hearing when the Chief Justice addressed Upadhyay's courtroom conduct. Reminding him of a prior contempt episode during his tenure as a judge of the Bombay High Court, Chief Justice Gavai warned, 'I have saved you once after finding you guilty. I don't want to issue contempt. Don't make these gestures. Don't remind me of Bombay days. Recollect what saved you that time. Don't make me remind you of what happened there.'Sources familiar with the earlier incident said that Upadhyay had been cautioned by a Bombay High Court bench led by Justice Gavai after he insisted on being heard against the court's advice. A show cause notice for contempt was reportedly considered but later dropped following intervention by another the Monday hearing, Upadhyay, maintaining that the relief sought in his plea could not be granted by the High Court, eventually agreed to withdraw the is not the first time the bench has issued such guidance. Just days earlier, it directed Sunil Shukla, President of the Uttar Bhartiya Vikas Sena, to approach the High Court first for similar petition had urged the Supreme Court to instruct all SECs to adopt a coordinated framework to monitor and prevent unlawful conduct by political parties. However, the top court reiterated its position that such matters must first be addressed before appropriate High Courts.- EndsTune InMust Watch IN THIS STORY#Supreme Court