2024 has been racing ahead at a dizzying pace. As January entered its third week, the Aditya L1 flew close to the sun while the CPM got scalded in a series of controversies surrounding the Chief Minister's daughter and Kerala celebrated the 100th death anniversary of poet Kumaran Asan.
Here's a list of weekend reads from Onmanorama for the readers who were unable to catch them during the week.
Onmanorama Explains | Did Veena suppress facts for deal with CMRL?
Dive into a tale of alleged corporate misconduct linked to a political leader's family in our latest investigative piece. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter, Veena Vijayan, is under scrutiny for financial dealings between her company, Exalogic Solutions, and Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL). The Registrar of Companies has recommended action against Veena Vijayan for several violations under the Companies Act 2013, including fraud and false statements.
Click through to uncover the full extent of the allegations, the intricate web of corporate governance, and what this could mean for the involved parties.
Icarus was a bad dream. Here's why Parker and Aditya should fly close to sun.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe has bravely flown through the sun's corona, with plans to get even closer this December. The Aditya L1 Mission – India is not far behind, as their first sun probe reaches an optimal point to study the Sun-Earth system. Madhulika Guhathakurtha (popular in science circles as Dr Lika), an Indian-born American astrophysicist and scientist with NASA's Heliophysics Science Division speaks of how flying closer to the sun is no more the stuff of reckless ambition but a matter of survival.
'Unsustainable' Rubco owes Rs 322 crore as interest to 450 cooperative societies, says ED
The Rubco brand, a well-known entity from Kerala, faces questions about its sustainability with alarming financial figures coming to light. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) reveals Rubco is in a dire situation, with cumulative losses of Rs 905.65 crore and interest liabilities of Rs 322.41 crore as of March 2023. The investigation into Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank loan scam unearthed this crisis, impacting 450 agricultural cooperative societies and the state government, major shareholders in the cooperative. Now, a government-initiated revival plan is in discussion, with a debt restructuring proposal and the introduction of new products.
Money trail: ED's affidavit lists how Karuvannur loan scam funded CPM's political activities in Thrissur
The ED has uncovered shocking financial malpractices involving the CPM at the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank in Thrissur, Kerala. According to ED, CPM's illegal accounts at the bank were used for laundering funds from corruption and illegal loans and party committees were accused of directing the sanction of loans to ineligible recipients for kickbacks. The scandal, deemed one of Kerala's largest with political ties and public duping, involves over 50 accused and a deep dive into a 26,000-page chargesheet by the ED.
CPM shuts down a day-old liquor outlet to honour M V Govindan's 'unwritten pact' with bar owners.
Discover the brewing conflict in Kasaragod, where local communist party workers and trade unionists have locked horns with their leadership over the closure of a liquour outlet. Political drama, economic woes, and allegations of corruption swirl around the shuttered store as ConsumerFed faces resistance from within and public protests for shutting down a profitable business on its opening day.
Kumaran Asan meant business! Malayalam’s great poet-reformer ran a tile factory too.
This weekend, delve into the multifaceted legacy of N Kumaran Asan, a figure who not only shaped Malayalam poetry but also ventured into realms as diverse as social reform, politics, and yes, even industry. As Kerala commemorates the centenary of his untimely demise, discover an often overlooked aspect of Asan's life: his role as an industrialist and the tile factory he founded, which endured for eight decades.
73-year-old widow on indefinite sit-in before Thodupuzha Tahsildar demanding title deed.
Alakkal Ammini, a 73-year-old widow from Idukki, has initiated an indefinite sit-in at the local Tahsildar Office in Thodupuzha to protest decades of neglect that have left her without a title deed for the land she's lived on for over half a century. Her small property has been whittled down from 10 cents to just 1.5 due to a dispute with a neighbour who claims most of her land. Despite previous recommendations for Ammini to receive her deed and the personal history she has with the land, authorities have yet to resolve the issue. Will justice finally be served for Ammini, or will her protest at the age of 73 go in vain?
Soured ambergris deal unravels web of trickery, kidnapping & police rescue
A nefarious tale unfurled in Kozhikode when police rescued four young individuals from a menacing kidnapping situation. At the heart of the crime? A substance known as ambergris, or "whale vomit," a highly coveted material in the perfume industry due to its rarity and cost, dubbed "floating gold." A deal involving 10 kg of ambergris, valued at Rs 4 crore, went disastrously wrong, leading to the deception of middlemen and the subsequent capture and torture of the four youths by a seven-member gang.
