Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Saturday took a dig at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by claiming that even he does not trust Kerala’s government hospitals as he is going to the U.S. for his own treatment.

Mr. Vijayan flew to the U.S. on Saturday for follow-up medical check-ups as part of his ongoing treatment.

He is expected to be away for around 10 days, his office had said on Friday, without providing further details.

Mr. Vijayan had previously visited the U.S. for medical treatment in 2022.

Taking a dig at the Chief Minister’s U.S. trip, Mr. Chandrasekhar, in a Facebook post, said, “…the same CM who claims Kerala is number one in healthcare used public funds to fly to America for his own treatment. Even Pinarayi Vijayan doesn’t trust Kerala’s government hospitals!” The BJP leader alleged that the Left government’s “much-hyped” Kerala healthcare model was being exposed as a “hollow facade.”

“Medicine shortages, medical negligence, staff scarcity, and crumbling infrastructure have become daily realities. Even doctors are speaking out, revealing the system’s deep failures,” he contended.

He also alleged that the State government makes “grand healthcare announcements” and then “slashes” funds during implementation.

Mr. Chandrasekhar also accused the Left government of “bleeding Kerala’s healthcare sector dry”.

Neither the Chief Minister nor the State government have yet reacted to the BJP leader’s allegations.

Communal tension gripped Jahazpur town in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district on Saturday (July 5, 2025) after a 25-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death following a minor road accident. The victim’s car hit a roadside vegetable cart in the market, after which a crowd gathered at the spot and thrashed him.

The police have arrested the main accused, Shareef Mohammed, and detained another suspect after registering a murder case against 16 named and 20 unidentified persons. The local administration has withdrawn permission to take out the Muharram procession in the town on Sunday (July 6, 2025), citing law and order concerns.

Sitaram Keer, a resident of Tonk district, was travelling in the car with three friends to attend a family function in Jahazpur. While leaving the main market on Friday (July 4, 2025) evening, their car collided with Shareef’s handcart. A verbal altercation escalated into violence when a mob surrounded the group.

Sitaram was allegedly pulled out of the car and assaulted by the mob, even as he offered to compensate the cart owner for the damage and loss of vegetables. The injured man was rushed to the government hospital on a motorcycle, as the car’s wiring was damaged in the incident. Police said the doctors declared Sitaram dead on arrival.

While the locals shut down the market in protest against the incident, the victim’s family staged a dharna outside the hospital overnight, demanding immediate arrest of the culprits. Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Jahazpur, Gopichand Meena, joined the protest on Saturday (July 5, 2025) morning and negotiated with the administration.

Bhilwara Superintendent of Police Dharmendra Singh said additional police force had been deployed in the town and the situation was “peaceful and under control”. The markets in Jahazpur remained closed on Saturday (July 5, 2025) as a mark of protest amid the continuing tension.

The administration has set a target of reaching ₹18.23 lakh crore as the district’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2047, as part of the action plan for Swarnandhra-2047, said NTR district in-charge Minister and District Vision and Action Plan Unit chairman Satya Kumar Yadav.

Participating in a review meeting at the Collectorate in Vijayawada on Saturday, along with District Collector G. Lakshmisha, MP Kesineni Sivanath, MLAs from the seven Assembly constituencies in the district and other officials, the Minister said a target has been set to increase the per capita income of the district from ₹3,21,651 in 2023-24 to ₹6,38,946 by 2028-29, and to ₹62,88,851 by 2047-48.

The participants discussed the growth potential of agriculture, industry, tourism, and also talked about plans for the development of food processing, agricultural mechanisation, among others. Suggestions were made to achieve an average annual growth of 18.5 per cent in the district.

Mr. Sivanath stressed the importance of skill development, and added that the establishment of an automobile skill training centre in Auto Nagar is a key decision in this direction. He called for setting up of new eat streets in the city and said that aspiring entrepreneurs should be encouraged to set up food processing units.

The Collector had earlier given a power-point presentation on the action plan for the district. A special focus has been placed on spiritual, eco and river tourism in the district. The Minister said that the administration will work towards achieving the goals by making use of State and Central government schemes.

Operation Sindoor that has displayed India’s defence capabilities to the world will reflect in a renewed thrust for indigenisation of defence products, G. Satheesh Reddy, president, Aeronautical Society of India and former Secretary of Department of Defence Research and Development said in Coimbatore on Saturday.

The takeaways from Operation Sindoor constitute confidence of armed forces in the country’s industry, a boost to the morale of scientists, the possibilities created for industries to get defence orders and the scope for export orders for India’s defence products, Dr. Reddy said, addressing the Academia-Industry Meet – 2025 on Aerospace organised by Kumaraguru Centre for Industrial Research and Innovation (KCIRI) of Kumaraguru Institutions, in association with the CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Atal Incubation Centre (CDIIC) and the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI).

The event was envisioned as a platform to strengthen collaborations between academia and industry, promote indigenous defence technology, and drive progress in the Coimbatore Defence Corridor, in alignment with the national vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

State governments were now vying with one another to make the most of the potential in defence and aerospace industries. Industry clusters could consider creating export promotion cells, as India has set a target for manufacture of indigenous defence products worth ₹3 lakh crore by the next three years. Likewise, the export target has also been increased correspondingly, he said.

Operation Sindoor has shown to the world India’s air defence system, accuracy of strikes, and integrated command system. Now that India’s defence capabilities are known, industry and academia need to work together to further technologies and bring in the surprise element (in future warfare) for assured success, Dr. Satheesh noted, emphasising that industries have to look at opportunities at this juncture.

Lt. General. Karanbir Singh Brar, GOC, Dakshin Bharat Area, in his presentation of ‘Opportunities for development of technologies for defence applications and collaborating with Indian Army’ said that while the processes have been simplified under Atmanirbhar Bharat for conversion of prototypes into orders, and through tweaking of the procurement system, a deep understanding of the users has become a necessity. Most of the start-ups were in the proof of concept stage. In industry-academic collaboration, India needs to accelerate as USA and China have already taken long strides, Gen. Brar stressed.

Earlier, V. Sundaram, CDIIC, CODDISSIA, spelt out the road map for broad-basing Coimbatore’s contribution to the defence sector.

A. Seshadri Sekhar, Director, IIT Palakkad, while addressing on ‘Academia and Defence Collaborative mode for development of disruptive technology’ said the institution has given push for industry-academia collaboration through a unique initiative of academic externship that entitles faculty to avail special leave for two months to study the industrial processes and subsequently engage students in real-time problem-solving.

Chandrika Kaushik, Director General – Product Coordination and Services Interaction, DRDO, dwelt on ‘possibilities of collaboration with the DRDO on development of systems and technologies’. India was now particular about indigenisation of defence products even if it was costlier, Dr. Chandrika said.

The event culminated with an interactive session on Aerospace and Defence Ecosystem: R&D, Production, Policies, and Industry-Academia Collaboration, that had the participation of A. Joseph, Managing Director, BrahMos Aerospace, among other leading experts.

Around 78,000 cases have been settled in the National Lok Adalat held in the State on Saturday, and more than ₹65 crore compensation has been paid to the victims, Andhra Pradesh State Legal Services Authority (APSLSA) Member Secretary B.S.V. Himabindu said.

Nearly 411 Lok Adalat benches have been constituted following the directions of A.P. High Court Chief Justice and APSLSA Chief Patron Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, APSLSA Executive Chairman Justice Ravinath Tilhari and the A.P. High Court Legal Services Committee Chairman R. Raghunandan Rao.

In the High Court, two benches have been formed and 135 cases have been settled, said Ms. Himabindu.

Cases related to excise, police, insurance and others departments have been settled with the cooperation of the officers of various departments and the petitioners in the National Lok Adalat, Ms. Himabindu said in a release.