Sonia Gandhi to launch 'Zero Landless Project' in Kerala today

Congress President Sonia Gandhi will on Monday launch the 'Zero Landless Project', a unique initiative of the Kerala Government to provide land to all the landless people in the state by 2015.

Gandhi, who arrived here on Sunday, inaugurated the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Development Studies, a state-of-the-art research and training centre.

Speaking on the occasion, the Congress president said Rajiv Gandhi would be proud of the institute, and also of the workers of the party who had made the institute a reality.

"This institute should see that it creates young leaders who will take the country forward in the 21st century. Apart from the research activities that this institute would take up, the centre should see that training is given to students to gain practical knowledge which will help the country," she said.

As part of her two-day visit to Kerala, Gandhi, earlier on Sunday, unveiled the statue of former Kerala chief minister R. Shankar at the Martyrs Column and addressed a public meeting at the Kerala University Senate Hall.