THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is no change in the Budget script as far as Kerala is concerned. It has been an unredeeming tale of severe neglect from the Union Government, repeated ad nauseum over the years.
For once, both the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government and the Congress-led opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) were united in condemning the raw deal meted out to the State.
In his reaction, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the Budget has ridden roughshod over Kerala’s demands and interests. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s sixth budget holds little promise for not only the State but also for the country, youth, farmers and women, Pinarayi added.
The interim budget has maintained a deafening silence on one of the State’s main demands – that the Union Government refrain from limiting the borrowing limits of state governments. The Budget has also violated the basic principles of cooperative federalism. It reveals a thinly-disguised attempt to centralize fiscal power.
Leader of the Opposition (LoP) V D Satheesan also turned a scathing tongue against the Modi Government for its neglect of the State. The Budget has made no secret of its pro-corporate bias, even as it does little to protect the interests of the poor and downtrodden, Satheesan pointed out. The unkindest cut, he said, is the refusal to curb inflation by reducing fuel prices although crude oil prices have fallen globally.
BJP leaders in the State, however struck a different note. They said the interest free loans to spur essential infrastructure development would benefit Kerala in a big way. Both Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muralidharan and BJP state president K. Surendran said the Budget was visionary.
They are also trumpeting that the Railways’ allocation of Rs 2,744 crore to the State was phenomenal. It was a big amount compared to the Rs 372 crore set apart by the UPI Government during 2009-14. Bu the hollowness of their claim is evident from the fact this was a pittance compared to the Railways’ allocation for other States like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. True, two Vande Bharat trains are running in Kerala now. But the detention of other trains to ensure their smooth passage is causing untold hardships to rail passengers in the State. Also, the long-standing demand for a separate zone has not been conceded either.
The Railway Minister’[s announcement on SilverLine is also misleading. He wants to create the impression that Kerala has stopped making a pitch for SilverLine. This is not true. The State Government has been taking all steps to realize the project. But BJP leaders from the State have been taking a blatantly anti-Kerala stand by saying that that they would pull out all stops to prevent the project from becoming a reality!
Similarly, the rubber farmers in the State have been administered a rude shock. The Budget has ignored their long-pending demand to increase the import duty of rubber and the MSP of rubber to at least Rs 250 from the current Rs 175. . No special attention has been given to the State’s farm sector, especially paddy, coconut and spices either. Also, no new establishments like the AIIMS have been announced.
Kerala’s Finance Minister K N Balagopal termed the Budget as a big disappointment and said it was nothing but a ‘copy-paste job’ of past announcements. The Budget, he said, does not contain any constructive measures to address unemployment, increase the income of the people and arrest inflation. Balagopal also blasted the Union Government’s double standards on issues like borrowings. The Union Government, which has been objecting to the borrowings made by Kerala, boasted borrowings of Rs 16,85,494 crore, accounting for 36 per cent of its total receipts of Rs 47,65,768 crore.
As if all this was not enough, Kerala’s long-standing demand that the sharable portion of Goods and Service Tax(GST) be changed from the current 50:50 ratio to 60:40 in favour of the States has also been ignored.
At the end of the day, the BJP has taken all that it takes to further alienate the party from the Kerala voters. On the one hand, the party blames the people of Kerala for not supporting the Union Government. In the same breath, the party and its government at the Centre are doing everything to thwart the State’s development. Unless the BJP changes its Kerala-hostile stance, there is no hope of the party opening its Lok Sabha account from the State. (IPA Service)
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