Thiruvananthapuram: Loka Kerala Sabha (LKS), an ambitious initiative started by the State Government to bring together its diaspora and contribute to the development of the state, is not serving its purpose and rather drains the public exchequer.

One can make an assessment of the success of the first-of-its-kind initiative by a state in India, by looking at the effective suggestions and projects that came up in the last three editions of the initiative.

For instance, only 67 suggestions were received in the third LKS edition, which was organized by spending over Rs 1 crore. Nine months have passed since then, and no action has been taken to implement even a single suggestion out of them.

Similarly, the data obtained from the NORKA department through the Right to Information Act reveals that measures have been taken to implement only 58 of the total 138 project suggestions received during the second edition of the World Kerala Assembly.

The revelation comes even as the Chief Minister and his team of ministers are set to attend the US and the Saudi Arabia regional conferences, of which there were no references made in the third edition of the LKS held on June 17 and 18 last year.

The RTI replies further make it clear that the London regional conference, attended by the Chief Minister and ministers in October 2022, was one that the Government had rejected in the second LKS edition as “not practical”.

The most suggestions received in the third LKS edition, which saw the participation of 296 representatives, were related to the NORKA, a total of 13. The second was that requiring the interference of the Union Government in resolving various issues, a total of 11 suggestions. Just each one suggestion was received by the Education, Home, Local self-Government, Planning, Finance, and Agricultural departments.

Though many of the suggestions were forwarded for the consideration of the Union Government, the state has no idea about their progress.

Out of the 138 suggestions received in the second edition, as many as 25 were rejected. Not even a single suggestion was implemented by the Transport, Cooperation, General Education, Water Resources, Labour, Local Self-Government, and Civil Supplies Departments and the institutions like K DISC (Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council) and CDS in the last three years. The inspections or directions given in any department were included in the list of completed projects. This includes the ambitious SilverLine project, which was virtually halted at the beginning stage itself.

Move to form a law as well
The Government has initiated moves to install a law to give legal validity to the Loka Kerala Sabha. It has been revealed in an RTI application that the draft of the Bill for the purpose is in its last stages. Currently, the Sabha functions as an interface between the government and the expatriates.

The aim is to convert it into a statutory authority with advisory/recommendatory powers like the Assembly Committee and the Human Rights Commission. Thus, the Sabha, which will include only those in the good books of the government, will assume an official nature. The spending will become a legal obligation.

Loka Kerala Sabhas at a glance
2018 January 12, 13
Expenses – Rs 2,03,21,861
Directions: Not available
Actions: 10

2020 January 1,2
Expenses: 1,21,68,733
Directions: 138
Actions: 58

2022 June 17,18
Expenses: 1,14,49,533
Directions: 67
Actions: 0

The First Loka Kerala Sabha in 2018:

Directions Implemented
Company to collect expatriates’ deposits
Co-operative society for expatriates
NRK Women’s Cell
High power committee for skill development
Publication for expatriates
Complaint redressal cells in districts