Thiruvananthapuram, Thursday, September 24, 2009: The Department of Information and Public Relations will organize seminars and other programmes in connection with the yearlong observation of the centenary of banishment of Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai from erstwhile Travancore State on account of his journalistic work.

Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan will inaugurate the observation function to be held here on Saturday morning. The Chief Minister will also reinstall the statue (bust) of Ramakrishna Pillai, which has been shifted from the AG’s Office premises here, at Palayam. Writer and journalist P. Govinda Pillai will deliver a commemoration lecture and Education Minister M. A. Baby will switch on the camera for the documentary on Ramakrishna Pillai to be directed by M. A. Rahman. The grandson of Pillai will attend the function.

Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs M. Vijayakumar, who released the centenary logo at a brief function here this morning, said that the seminar would be organized at the State and district levels besides Chennai where the editor had spent part of his life in exile. Competitions would be organized for students. A prize would be instituted for senior journalists.

The Minister said that the Swadeshabhimani Memorial at Kannur would be renovated. A committee would be appointed to study the feasibility of an International center for media studies there. There was also plan to put up a memorial for Vakkom Moulavi, the printer and publisher of Swadeshabhimani, in Thiruvananthapuram.

Mr. Vijayakumar said that the Kerala Union of Working Journalists, Vakkom Moulavi Foundation, local self-goverments, Kerala Grandhasala Sahakarana Sanghom and Swadeshabhimani cultural movements would be participating in the observation. The Union would lead a march heralding the centenary from Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram district on Friday. Minister for Water Resources N. K. Premachandran would flag off the march from premises of Ramakrishna Pillai’s house at Neyyattinkara.