Agriculture Principal Secretary B Ashok has been tasked with leading the probe, armed with the authority to summon records, question officials and private parties, and even seek clarifications from journalists and media outlets.
Published Aug 16, 2025 | 12:00 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 16, 2025 | 12:00 PM
Vijayan clarified that the probe focuses on understanding how the confidential document was leaked, not on targeting journalists.(IMG-https://media.assettype.com/newslaundry/2023-07/249c42ff-cc47-44ac-a525-dfeadb0f2421/AI___Pinarayi_Vijayan_Kerala_2.jpg?w=1200&h=675&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max&enlarge=true)
Synopsis: Agriculture Principal Secretary B Ashok has been assigned to investigate the leak of information to the press. He has been armed with the authority to summon records, question officials and private parties, and even seek clarifications from journalists and media outlets.
A fresh controversy has stirred Kerala’s media circles after the state government ordered an inquiry into the leak of documents related to the World Bank-assisted KERA project.
The scrutiny is focused on newspaper reports highlighting the Agriculture Department’s handling of the scheme, with officials trying hard to identify the source of the information leak.
Agriculture Principal Secretary B Ashok has been tasked with leading the probe, armed with the authority to summon records, question officials and private parties, and even seek clarifications from journalists and media outlets.
The findings are due within a month — but will the investigation open new debates on press freedom and transparency?
“The delay in transferring the amount was due to technical issues. It has now been credited to the designated account. There is nothing to worry about,” State Finance Minister KN Balagopal had assured earlier this year.
But behind those words lay a controversy that, despite its scale, never dominated the headlines. It centred on the Kerala Climate Resilient Agro-Value Chain Modernization (KERA) Project, Kerala’s flagship agricultural modernisation programme, supported by the World Bank.
KERA was designed to shield the farm sector from climate-related disasters like floods, strengthen agricultural value chains, and encourage value-added production and rural entrepreneurship.
The ₹2,366-crore project is to be funded mainly through a World Bank loan of ₹1,656 crore, with the remaining ₹710 crore from the state treasury. Its goal is to directly benefit around four lakh farmers and indirectly support another ten lakh.
The dispute arose when the first instalment, ₹139.66 crore from the World Bank, was released on March 17.
According to the funding terms, the money had to be transferred to the project’s implementing agencies within a week. Instead, it was allegedly diverted for other expenditures at the close of the financial year. Critics claimed this breached the agreement, while officials attributed the delay to technical problems.
World Bank representatives scheduled a visit on May 5 to review the project’s progress. Meanwhile, the state planned to formally inaugurate KERA as part of its fourth-anniversary celebrations.
Now, months later, the matter has resurfaced, not over the alleged diversion itself, but over how the media obtained internal documents about it. The government has ordered an investigation into the source of those leaks, adding another layer to a controversy.
R Rajeev, Chief News Editor of Malayala Manorama, told South First that the report on the confidential World Bank-funded KERA project first appeared in the newspaper as an exclusive.
Following the report and the announcement of a government probe, several media houses and journalists raised concerns that the action curtailed press freedom.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan responded, dismissing such claims. “Reports that the government is imposing restrictions on media freedom in the state are baseless. No such move has been made by the government.”
Vijayan clarified that the probe focuses on understanding how the confidential document was leaked, not on targeting journalists.
“The government decided to investigate the circumstances under which a highly confidential letter related to the World Bank’s funding for the ‘KERA’ project was leaked to the media. Investigating any lapses or errors in duty by officials is a natural procedure,” he said, adding that claims about summoning journalists are incorrect.
The chief minister also criticised outlets spreading misinformation but reaffirmed the government’s commitment to press freedom.
“The freedom and rights of the media will be protected in every sense. Deliberately discrediting the government by leaking misleading news is a malicious act, and no such unscrupulous methods will be tolerated.”
He emphasised that Kerala’s media literacy and political awareness help counter fake news, and reiterated that no action will restrict press freedom in the state.
When South First contacted Jose T Abraham in the Finance Minister’s office, he clarified that the KERA project is not the first World Bank-backed initiative in Kerala. Projects by KSEB, the Agriculture Department, and others have also received World Bank support.
According to him, delays and adjustments are normal in large-scale, heavily funded projects and do not threaten their continuation.
He emphasised that even if liquidity adjustments occur, the World Bank will continue funding, as it earns a 5% interest here compared to just 2% in the global market.
However, BA Prakash, financial expert and former Planning Board chairman, painted a bleaker picture.
”No project in Kerala is running smoothly at present. If you refer to CAG reports, projects costing over ₹1 crore rarely function efficiently. Many developmental projects face poor execution due to inadequate planning, a lack of timely support for execution officers, and insufficient monitoring. Beyond publicity, very little tangible progress is happening,” he told South First.
Roy Mathew, a political expert and journalist from Kerala, described the move as a clear case of curtailing press freedom.
He said, ”This is an intrusion into our work, similar to what Modi has been doing. Immediately after the Pinarayi government came into power, the PRD issued a circular restricting journalists’ access to the Secretariat and limiting their ability to question ministers, though it was not implemented following protests. From day one, the government’s approach has been to facilitate measures that curtail media freedom.
A classic example is that from 1957 to 2016, Kerala maintained a regular and timely cabinet briefing every Wednesday, which every CM adhered to except Pinarayi Vijayan.
Keeping the media away has effectively become policy under this government, much like in West Bengal, where journalists were denied access to the Secretariat. In the KERA case, authorities are trying to trace journalists’ sources.”
When asked about whether such resistance had ever happened in Kerala before, Mathew shared a case related to Kerala Kaumudi.
”During K Karunakaran’s tenure, just before the Emergency, Kerala Kaumudi published a groundbreaking investigative series on forest looting titled ‘Kattu Kallanmar.’ The reports exposed how officials were complicit in the illegal exploitation of forests. At the time, raids were conducted at Kaumudi‘s offices to seize documents and identify sources.”
Senior journalists NRS Babu and S Jayachandran Nair were behind the series, supervised by the late MS Mani. It was later published as a book under the same title.
However, in his career, Mathew believes no government has been as anti-journalist as the current one.
”They are very keen on keeping any truth or internal matters away from journalists, and most departments are pressured to stay away from the media. A recent example is the Hema Committee report. Despite RTI provisions, it remained hidden for over five years. Public figures like Suresh Gopi evade press questions, and the same lack of transparency exists within government departments. This probe appears aimed at creating fear among journalists’ sources and curtailing press freedom,” he said.
He concluded by saying that recent incidents, including NH collapses and the persistent crisis in government hospitals, have been consistently reported by media outlets, helping to pave the way for potential solutions.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
