People's Democracy

KERALA

LDF Govt Reverses the Tide of Decline

Pinarayi Vijayan

DURING the UDF regime, its policies worsened the fiscal condition of the state of Kerala. The UDF government therefore imposed newer burdens on the people. Its financial state reached a dreadful situation, thanks to the chaotic fiscal management and corrupt governance under the UDF. In 2001, when the UDF came to power, total liability of the state was Rs 23,918 crore and but it increased to Rs 50,000 crores by the completion of its tenure in 2006. This impaired even the pay revision of government employees, which is due once in four years. Various pension schemes and welfare measures were either frozen or remained unpaid for long. Most of the days, the government treasury remained closed.

ALTERNATIVE

FISCAL POLICY

As soon as the LDF government was formed in the state, it set in motion several imaginative and innovative schemes and projects so as to strengthen the state exchequer. While intervening to strengthen the fundamentals in various spheres including infrastructure development, the LDF government showed utmost concern to deal with the question of social security and initiated numerous welfare schemes. Its financial management with numerous novel proposals is well appreciated, and the government treasury has never been closed during the LDF period. 

As a result of the alternative fiscal policy of the LDF government, the 3.3 per cent revenue deficit during the UDF period was reduced to 1.9 per cent during 2009-10. Commercial tax collection has recorded an increase of 14 per cent during this period; tax revenue has registered an average increase of 20 per cent. Commercial tax during 2005-06 was Rs 6,983 crore but increased in to Rs 13,194 crore in 2009-10. The value added tax (VAT) has increased to Rs 6,945.41 crore compared to Rs 3,321.9 crore during the UDF period --- a significant increase of 109 per cent in four years. The innovative idea of the government to add to the non-tax revenue by dredging the sands deposited in the major dams has been widely appreciated.

The fiscal deficit in 2004-05 was 4.04 per cent but the last budget projected it to come down to 3.49 per cent during 2010-11. Capital expenditure was merely Rs 682 crore in 2004-06 but is estimated to go up to Rs 4115 crore by 2010-11; it would be an all-time record in this regard. The government is endeavouring to increase its revenue from both tax and non-tax sources by implementing various innovative schemes.

The LDF government has taken utmost care to protect the state’s interests in the inter-state river water disputes. Mega ventures like the Vizhinjam Port project, Vallarpadam Container Terminal, Railway Coach Factory at Kanjikodethe etc are getting materialised because of the state government’s determined efforts. Lots of efforts were made to improve the ports to ensure their further development; a port policy was also formulated. The central government gave to the state the Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra award in 2007 and 2008 for its social forestry project. The forest policy of the state was formulated in this very period. The government has decided to set up a biodiversity research centre of international standards. The wages of the workers employed in forest areas, including the adivasis, has been increased by 30 per cent.

LANDMARK IN

DECENTRALISATION

Unfortunately, while in power, the UDF regime endeavoured to sabotage the People’s Plan which the preceding LDF government had initiated and which had ensured people’s involvement in decentralised planning. Moreover, the UDF government slashed the powers of the local self-government institutions time and again. The Gram Sabhas were turned into mere forums to acknowledge the beneficiaries’ lists and this deteriorated the concept of ensuring people’s participation in the process of decentralised planning and execution. The state government had held back the SC development fund and even attempted to devastate the Kudumbasree, a self-help group. Powers of the local self-government (LSG) were drastically curtailed during that period.

But after assuming power, the LDF government once again showed its zealous dedication to ensuring the decentralisation of powers and took effective steps were taken to strengthen the LSG. The government devolved more powers and sufficient funds to the local self-governments and successfully implemented the concept of decentralisation in its true spirit.

The landmark achieved in decentralisation is significant in the state’s history of development. The People’s Plan has resulted in momentous strides in the overall development of Kerala.

STRENGTHENING PDS,

COOPERATIVE BODIES

In the cooperative sector, the deposits have increased three times during the last four years of the LDF regime. All efforts were made to strengthen the cooperative sector and provide it various loans to the tune of Rs 5,000 crores every year. In the cooperative sector alone, 46,000 retail outlets were established as a part of the LDF’s policy of market intervention and to strengthen the public distribution system.

The LDF government has organised 51 Pattayamelas and allocated the title deeds to the landless poor; 1,20,300 landless people were thus given land. In case of any land acquisition for infrastructure development, the LDF government has shown extreme care in rehabilitating the affected families and ensuring them sufficient compensation for the land acquired. A land bank has set up during this period to protect lands from the illegal possession of and encroachment by the wealthy and distribute them among the landless poor.

The LDF government earnestly endeavoured to protect the interest of the believers. A Sabarimala master plan has been prepared for comprehensive development of the Sabarimala shrine. The Malabar Devaswam Board has been formed to administer the temples in the Malabar region and all the Devaswam appointments have been made transparent by handing the appointing job over to the Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC). In place of the meagre remuneration given to the priests, the government has introduced a pay scale and their salary levels have been increased from Rs 500 and Rs 5,000 to Rs 3,150 and Rs 8,390 respectively. Construction of the Karippur Hajj House was recently completed. The LDF government has implemented a welfare scheme, including a pension scheme, for the Madrassa teachers also.

The UDF government’s policy had resulted in a shrinking of the Kerala State Roadways Transport Corporation (KSRTC); the design was to ultimately dismantle it. But the LDF intervention reversed the situation and the corporation has now successfully implemented numerous creative projects. The entire functioning of the corporation has modernised, 4,965 new bus schedules have started and natural gas is now being used in most of the buses in order to improve the fuel efficiency. Permanent appointments have been made in the KSRTC and thus more than 19,000 jobless youth have got employment. So as to ensure transparency in the purchases, open tender system has been implemented. This has saved more than Rs 1.5 lakh per bus, compared to the previous government. The KSRTC presence in public transport had shrunk to 13 per cent during the UDF regime; now it has increased to 27 per cent. The LDF government’s consistent effort to improve the road traffic will be remembered all the time.

The LDF government has ensured that all the permanent appointments are made through the KPSC.

FOR GREATER

TRANSPARENCY

For the first time in the country, physical education has been included as a part of curriculum in the state. The sports quota appointments have increased from 20 to 50 so as to ensure more employment opportunities to the sports persons. Aiming to protect the rights of the youth, setting up a youth commission with quasi-judicial powers is in progress. All the dues of the contractors till December 2009 have been cleared and e-tendering has been implemented to ensure transparency.

The Registration Department was in a chaotic state and no effort was made to ensure transparency in the registration of property. The LDF government intervened to ensure transparency and to prevent unlawful activities. It enacted a law to prevent fraudulent registration and to check forgery of documents. Benami transfers of property and other frauds in registration have been effectively checked by mandating the affixing of a photograph and thumb impression on the documents.

As a result of the ardent intervention of the LDF government in Kerala, not a single household of common men in Kerala is now left out of the advantages of one or another project. It is the LDF government that recovered the state from the clutches of the UDF policy that threatened to obliterate all the past advantages. If the UDF regime had continued, the people of Kerala would have been in a state of utter devastation and anguish. The historic importance of the LDF government’s tenure is that it overturned a chaotic situation and led the state to progress and development, despite the menace of the central government’s devastating policies and also the impact of the worldwide economic recession. Obviously, it was possible due to the alternative policies framed within the perimeters of a state government’s limited powers.

The LDF government is marching ahead, writing memorable chapters in the history of Kerala’s development. Reactionary forces in the state have united to sabotage the LDF government’s efforts and are trying to unleash the caste and religious sentiments for their dubious game. The self-declared pseudo revolutionaries have also joined them. The right wing and reactionary media extend tremendous support to such heinous moves.

But there is no doubt that the enlightened people of Kerala are capable enough of rebuffing all such ignominious designs. The state has been a model in safeguarding the communal harmony and no effort of the evil forces could ever disrupt the secular fabric of the state. The Kerala legislative assembly is one of the rare legislatures the Sangh Parivar could never enter. The Kerala model of development has been made possible by confronting the communal forces on the one hand and by implementing the pro-common man policies at the centre of all development efforts, on the other. On their part, the people of Kerala will no doubt extend solid support to the LDF efforts for rapid development and to protect the secular fabric of the state.