Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala governor P Sathasivam on Monday said that there was an attempt to tarnish Kerala's image and create panic among migrant workers. However, Kerala won't bow down to such tactics and overcome such hurdles, the governor said during his address to the assembly.
The Budget session of the Kerala Assembly began Monday amid opposition protest.
As soon as Sathasivam got up to deliver his address, leader of the opposition Ramesh Chennithala stood up and said he wished to speak and pointed out that the Pinarayi government had been a 'dismal failure'.
"The government has been an abject failure in all respects, including tackling of the law and order situation, price rise and the way Cyclone Ockhi was handled," said Chennithala. However, the governor began his speech by saying he would hear them at length after his address.
After Chennithala sat down, Sathasivam began his speech and said that during the past year there have been several campaigns against Kerala, particularly on the social and conventional media.
"Despite being a state with some of the best law and order indices in the country, a month-long campaign was carried out across India, on certain flimsy grounds by some communal outfits.
"Keralites en masse responded to this campaign featuring the hashtags," he said.
The governor pointed out that Kerala was declared by the UN as the only state in the country which figures at the top of the Human Development Index.
He noted that during the past one year, there have been slanderous attacks on the secular traditions of the state.
"Doubts were thrown on our social sector achievements and vilification of the law and order situation from various quarters. But the people of Kerala stood together to defend our traditions and achievements."
Loka Kerala Sabha
On the initiatives taken for the welfare of the Kerala diaspora, he said his government had set up a 351-member 'Loka Kerala Sabha' with NRK (Non-resident Keralite) delegates and special invitees along with MPs and MLAs.
"The government is committed to support NRKs in a variety of ways, including awareness campaigns for safe migration, pre-departure orientation programs, skill upgrade programs and assistance to stranded people.
"My government is also committed to harness the goodwill and financial capabilities of expatriates in the process of modernization and further development of Kerala," he said.
To ensure quality education, the government proposes to enact the 'Minimum Wages Act' for teachers in private unaided schools "This would help attract the best minds to the teaching profession," said Sathasivam.
Cyclone Ockhi
He said that in the wake of the cyclone, a satellite- based navigation and weather forecasting system was being planned in association with the ISRO to assist the fishing community.
"We had the recent experience of Cyclone Ockhi sowing huge misery along the Kerala coast, causing loss of lives and properties of fisher folk," the governor said.
"Though the state government activated its disaster management system as soon as it was alerted, the intensity of the rapidly shifting event affected a large number of fishing vessels at sea," he said.
The state government had 'unleashed every capability in its arsenal' to rescue the men and vessels at risk and succeeded in providing relief to a large number of people.
However, despite co-ordinated efforts, several fishermen have not returned home, the governor said.
The governor also said that 'inappropriate' implementation of demonetization and the GST had resulted in 'serious' deceleration of the economy.
Detailing the welfare measures by the government, he said it was completing 66,939 unfinished houses across Kerala.
"Already 2,000 houses have been completed and the effort is to prepare a comprehensive list of the 4.32 lakh homeless people in the state," he said.
The digital way
Sathasivam said automation, artificial intelligence, nano technology and robotics would make many current jobs obsolete and create new jobs in future.
"Kerala needs to invest in new technologies and borrow the best from global competition," he said.
During 2018-19, the focus would be on waste, water management and non-conventional energy initiatives, he said.
Healthcare
On the health front, a cancer care strategy involving a care grid for knowledge-sharing and capacity-building will be formulated.
The UDF said the governor's policy address 'lacked vision' as it did not propose any concrete measures to tackle unemployment and financial crisis faced by the government.
Chennithala said this was a policy address of a government which didn't function.
"Nothing is happening in the state. All sectors are in the doldrums," Chennithala told reporters.
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