V.T. BalramFailures, lapses and murder calls made up Kerala's administration over the last one year. A lack of administrative experience, the overconfidence provided by a brute majority and the latent arrogance have prompted the chief minister to square off with courts and other democratic bodies and to brush aside political opponents in violation of all conventions. The coterie of advisers surrounding him is not helping either.
The death of Jishnu Pranoy, students’ agitation in the Law Academy Law College, the removal of police chief T P Senkumar and the eviction of encroachments in Munnar were some of the issues that put the Left Democratic Front in a difficult spot.
Even hardcore loyalists could not help criticizing the government. The Pinarayi Vijayan government has left disappointed the people who voted it to power with great expectations.
A check on prices for five years was one of the promises put forward by the LDF in its election manifesto. But we are witnessing a steep price rise now. The public distribution system is heading for a breakdown because of the government’s inability to receive the state’s share of rice from the center on time. The government has not put in place any comprehensive plan to deal with the price rise, except going for symbolic gestures like starting a few rice shops.
Development activities have suffered a setback in one year. The plan implementation of government departments and three-tier panchayats remains the lowest in recent years.
The state failed to avail of central government funds and to utilize whatever it received. Projects including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Rural Roads Project and the housing project are facing a crisis.
The LDF government is in an unenviable position when it marks its anniversary by inaugurating projects like the Kochi Metro which were started during the rule of the United Democratic Front.
The charade of the anti-corruption crusade unraveled in the first year itself. This government has not shown the slightest interest in pursuing the corruption charges against the previous government or to get the accused punished, if any.
For the CPM-led government, corruption is only an issue to get even with political opponents. The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau director was forced out.
The government is also trying to sabotage the Right to Information Act, the greatest weapon in the fight against corruption, and even to keep cabinet decision as a secret. An influential minister had to resign on charges of nepotism, which is equivalent to corruption.
The alliance the CPM struck with K.M. Mani was the biggest example of that party’s political immorality. Former minister R. Balakrishna Pillai, who had gone to jail in a corruption case, has been granted the cabinet rank on a par with V.S. Achuthanandan.
I would rate the increase in welfare pensions as a positive action. Even the previous government had raised the welfare pensions considerably.
The pension was increased three-fold to Rs 600 and the pensioners’ number was raised from 13 lakh to 35 lakh during the term of the UDF government.
Though this government had promised to pay welfare pensions at the pensioners’ doorsteps every month, that was done only three times in one year.
The government needs about Rs 200 crore every month to grant welfare pensions. Yet the government’s white paper in June 2016 has listed only about Rs 600 crore as dues to in welfare pensions, disproving the LDF allegation that the UDF government had left behind a large amount as dues.
The government lavishes project declarations on the basis of a single matra - the KIIFB (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board).
Even ministers are skeptical of the practicability of this system which is designed as a parallel budget. The government has announced infrastructure projects worth Rs 20,000 crore through the KIIFB in the first year and projects worth Rs 25,000 crore in the second year.
However, the KIIFB has not spent a single rupee in the first year, as the finance minister himself admitted in the Legislative Assembly.
As much as Rs 5,000 crore is expected to be spent this year and Rs 10,000 crore is expected to be spent in each of the remaining three years.
In short, the government only expects to finish projects worth Rs 35,000 crore in five years whereas it has already announced projects worth Rs 45,000 crore. Then why is the government trying to hoodwink the people with all these announcements.
The police, who are in the direct control of the chief minister, was in news throughout the year with their inept handling of many cases. We have seen the complete breakdown of law and order and a spike in harassment cases against women and children.
Kannur has fallen back on the days of political murders. There were 18 politically motivated murders in the last year. The gang war between cadres of the party that rules Kerala and the party that rules at the center is humiliating to Kerala.
There is nothing to expect from the chief minister to resist communal politics and violent activities other than rhetoric, secular-minded people have been convinced by now. The arms training at an RSS camp was brought to light by the Kairali TV yet the chief minister told the assembly that the home department was not aware of it.
The police could not even arrest the RSS criminals who tried to hurl a bomb at the CPM state secretary. Nobody expects such a force to ensure justice to the common people, including minorities.
We thought the government excesses and encounter deaths belonged to the 1970s but the government has brought back the memories in the name of a Maoist hunt.
From the outset, the government has tried to create an impression among the people by projecting symbolic gestures and namesake interventions.
The opening of a few cashew factories in Kollam (and the subsequent closure of them), the cultivation in Aranmula paddy fields and the takeover of a private school at Malaparambu have been effectively used by party workers for campaigning for the government. We are yet to examine the broad-based impact of these gestures.
I wish the projects announced in tandem with the Nava Kerala Mission bear fruit. I completely agree with the idea behind the General Education Protection Mission. But we have to bear in mind that many of the creative interventions in this sector were started by the previous government.
A majority of the Rs 5 crore asset development fund allotted to each MLA was spent on developing basic facilities in the government schools.
I see the latest projects including the international-level schools as a continuation of those activities. But we have to wait and watch how far these projects would proceed with funding from the KIIFB.
I expect this government to take forward the projects announced by the UDF government, including the Asap (Additional Skill Acquisition Programme) for skill development and the community skill park. The Education Department should be vigilant not to allow the leak of question papers.
Kerala became the first state to form a policy for the transgender community in 2015 during the term of the UDF government.
The Kochi Metro Rail could employ a few transgenders with the Kochi Metro as part of that policy. The LDF government is already taking credit for this but remains silent on imprisoning transgenders en masse during its term.
Those who had expected an alternative mode of development from the LDF are a frustrated lot. The government is only interested in massive works like the Athirappally hydel project.
The government is silent on its poll-time promises of a white paper on environment or a satellite-assisted data bank. There is no signs of any action against unauthorized sand mining and quarrying or of taking mining into the public sector. I expect the government to add these issues in the Haritha Keralam project.
I do not want to brand this government a total failure on its first anniversary. However, Pinarayi Vijayan is yet to prove that the "Ellam Shariyakum" (Everything will be fine) campaign was not just an election jumla like Narendra Modi's "Ache Din". I wish the government is able to correct its mistakes in the coming years.
(The author is a Congress legislator)
