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Why Kerala government is opposing Adanis Vizhinjam port deal
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Adani Ports and SEZ (APSEZ) Ltd is moving to sell 49% of its stake in Kerala’s Vizhinjam port to Switzerland-based container shipping behemoth MSC Group for around $1.4 billion (more than Rs 13,000 crore).The state government, however, has said that it was kept in the dark about the development. According to the Congress-led government — as well as the Opposition CPI(M) — the concession agreement with Adani mandates the state’s approval for such a deal.A state panel is now examining the proposal. Here’s a look at what the agreement between the Kerala government and Adani Ports says and why the deal has created a controversy in Kerala. First, what is the Vizhinjam project? Vizhinjam is India’s first deep-water container transshipment port and is expected to handle domestic and regional cargo at a lower cost rather than routing it through Sri Lanka, according to its website. The project is being developed as a public-private partnership between the Kerala government and Adani Vizhinjam Port Pvt Ltd (AVPPL) — the port’s operating company and concessionaire — under the Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) model. The Kerala government, then led by the Congress, signed the concession agreement with AVPPL on August 17, 2015. After several delays, the first phase of the port was commissioned in December 2024, with the next stage slated for December 2028. The annual handling capacity in the first phase was one million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), which is expected to increase to three million in the next phase. The Kerala government invested Rs 5,595 crore in the first phase of the project while the Adani group put in Rs 2,454 crore. The Centre had provided a viability gap fund of Rs 817 crore. The DBFOT is for 40 years with provisions to extend the period for another 20 years.Story continues below this ad What did Adani Ports do? On June 30, APSEZ disclosed to market regulator SEBI that it had entered into a share purchase and subscription agreement with Mundi Ltd on the previous day (June 29). Mundi Ltd is a subsidiary of Terminal Investment Ltd (TiL) which, in turn, is the terminal operating arm of the MSC. Under the deal, the MSC subsidiary was to acquire the 49% stake in AVPPL for $1.397 billion (around Rs 13,000 crore). This would be the largest foreign private investment in domestic port infrastructure if it goes through.Story continues below this ad The disclosure to SEBI has not set any deadline for the share transfer but said the transaction is subject to customary approvals, including regulatory ones. Why did Kerala government object to the Adani deal? The Kerala government has stated that Adani’s decision to sell the 49% stake constitutes a change in ownership under the agreement’s terms and, thus, requires government permission. On Thursday, Chief Minister V D Satheesan communicated the state’s displeasure to Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd. His office said in a statement that the state envisaged the port as a competitive global container transhipment hub, one where all stakeholders would get a level playing field. The government fears that the deal will lead to a monopoly in shipping and container traffic for MSC, which is the world’s biggest container shipping company. The agreement says the concessionaire should manage and operate the port on a “common-user” basis, which means providing non-discriminatory access to all vessels, vehicles, shipping lines, shippers, receivers, forwarders and other users.Story continues below this ad TiL has a joint venture with APSEZ in Mundra port in Gujarat since 2016. In 2023, TiL had acquired 49% equity in Adani Ports Ennore Container terminal. The Ennore deal, however, has not led to the monopoly of the investor in port operations. The port policy in India makes it mandatory that terminal concessionaires operate under the “common-user” terminal model. What is the Adani group’s stand on Vizhinjam project? AVPPL issued a communication to the state’s ports department
Singer-songwriter Rabbi Shergill, best known for Bulla Ki Jaana and Tere Bin, has shared his views on AR Rahman's communal bias remarks (Photo: @rabbishergill, @arrahman/ Instagram, X) When AR Rahman recently suggested that communal bias had seeped into India’s entertainment industry, it sparked a wave of reactions from across the music and film world. The latest voice to weigh in belongs to Rabbi Shergill, the artist behind hits like ‘Bulla Ki Jaana’ and ‘Tere Bin’, who says that whatever the precise context of Rahman’s remark, the concern it raises is impossible to brush aside in the current climate. ‘How can you deny the communal angle?’ Rabbi Shergill made the remarks during an appearance on The Life Savers Show, where he was asked to respond to Rahman’s comments. “I don’t know in what context he said it, but how can you deny that right now? How can you deny the communal angle?” he said.Rabbi then brought up teh term ‘propaganda cinema’ and claimed that a lot of film financing had gone in that direction. “I can’t specifically say it’s there in the music industry because I don’t live in Mumbai or interact with those people daily. But a lot of film financing has gone into what many would call propaganda cinema,” he said. Also Read: Why Ishan Shukla felt the need to trace Amarendra Baahubali’s afterlife in The Eternal War As examples of what he meant, Rabbi Shergill pointed to films like The Kashmir Files and The Kerala Story that have attracted significant box office attention in recent years but have also been at the centre of debates about bias and political intent. “These are political films and they don’t necessarily present an unbiased view of things. So if Rahman is saying this, I think you have to take him at his word. It probably does exist, and that’s one of the biggest problems of our times. It’s not just India; it’s happening across the world,” he said. That last point, about the problem extending beyond India’s borders, led Rabbi Shergill into a broader analysis of the global political mood. Asked whether what he was describing was part of a larger worldwide shift, he said the question answered itself. “Absolutely. If you look back to the 1960s, left-leaning politics was influential across much of the world. Today, if you look around, you see right-wing governments and ideologies becoming more dominant in many countries. Maybe it’s cyclical and things will change again, but right now nobody is immune to these global currents,” he said. “Just look around our neighbourhood. Pakistan has changed dramatically over the decades. China is deeply ideological. Sri Lanka too has become increasingly driven by ideology. It’s difficult not to conclude that politics everywhere is moving in this direction,” he said.Story continues below this ad ‘Admire AR Rahman for his creative genius’ In an earlier chat shared on Divas Gupta’s YouTube channel, Rabbi said that after Rahman started working in Hindi films, lyrics became secondary. “I admire Rahman for his creative genius. He is a genius. There is no doubt about it. But Rahman phase is not pro poetry or pro lyrics phase in Hindi film industry. It means that the words in his songs are just ornaments and not the whole thing,” he said and added, “I feel after Rahman came, the lyrics in the Hindi film industry became secondary and if lyrics become secondary, that means expression becomes secondary, it means that somewhere your humanity and existence become secondary, this is my issue with Rahman.” He also mentioned, “It is not his fault because it is not his language. He doesn’t understand it. The stuff that he does in Tamil music is really representative of him. It is another ball game, at least that’s what I hear.” What did AR Rahman say? In an earlier chat with BBC, when AR Rahman was asked whether he had faced any ‘prejudice within the Hindi film landscape’, he said, “Maybe I never get to know of this, maybe it was concealed but I did
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