Stop further proceedings in PM SHRI scheme: Kerala tells Centre
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Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala government on Wednesday sent a letter to the Union Education Ministry seeking to stop further proceedings in the implementation of the PM SHRI scheme in the state.
State General Education Secretary K Vasuki sent the letter requesting the union government to temporarily stop the proceedings, a source said.
The letter was sent after receiving the legal opinion of the Advocate General, the source added.
The General Education Department's move came weeks after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had announced the LDF government's decision to put on hold the implementation of the PM SHRI in view of strong resistance from the coalition partner CPI.
He had said that a seven-member Cabinet sub-committee had been constituted to study the implementation of the central school scheme.
Though the Department had recently signed an MoU with the Centre without even discussing the matter in the Cabinet, the CPI strongly opposed it, saying that the action would pave the way for the implementation of the RSS agenda in the education sector in the state.
Expressing happiness over the sending of the letter, CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam said that the Left parties, including the CPI and the CPI(M), cannot take any decision other than requesting the Centre to stop its implementation in the state.
It is a success of everyone who strongly objects to the "infiltration of the RSS" in the education sector, Viswam added.
In 2020, the Centre announced the PM-SHRI scheme, which aims to upgrade existing schools into institutions aligned with the vision of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, supported by funds from the central and state governments in a 60:40 ratio. The Union Cabinet approved the scheme in September 2022.
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3 officials of private banks arrested in Gujarat in Rs 2,500 crore cyber fraud; 20 held so far
Rajkot (PTI): Three officials of leading private banks were arrested for their alleged involvement in a Rs 2,500-crore cyber fraud racket in Gujarat's Rajkot district, bringing the number of those held so far in the case to 20, police said on Monday.
Those arrested were identified as Maulik Kamani, a personal manager at Yes Bank in Padadhari; Kalpesh Dangariya, a manager at Axis Bank in Jamnagar; and Anurag Baldha, a personal banker with HDFC Bank, Rajkot (Rural) Superintendent of Police Vijay Gurjar said.
Dangariya and Baldha were previously employed with Yes Bank, he added.
Kamani allegedly assisted the earlier arrested accused in opening and managing suspicious accounts. He also helped bypass banking alerts triggered by high-value transactions by submitting additional documentation to keep accounts active, the SP said.
Kamani was allegedly involved in cash withdrawals that were later routed through hawala channels (illegal money transfer system), supported by digital evidence recovered from his mobile device, he added.
Dangariya is accused of facilitating the opening of fraudulent accounts using fake or misrepresented identities, police said.
He also assisted in structuring documentation, including Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-related papers, to prevent transactions from being flagged as suspicious, they said.
On the other hand, Baldha opened new accounts after verification and certification processes as part of the racket, Gurjar informed.
All the three accused are in police custody, while others are in jail under judicial remand, SP said.
So far, police have identified 85 bank accounts linked to the racket with 535 complaints filed on the cyber crime portal.
The total transaction linked to the cyber fraud exceeds Rs 2,500 crore, police said.
The earlier fraud amount was pegged by police at Rs 1,500 crore.
