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Act decisively on development issues: Isaac

Staff Reporter

Says absence of ideologues like EMS is greatly felt in the present situation

T.M. Thomas Isaac describes Lavalin case as an issue of development.

MALAPPURAM: Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said here on Saturday that there was the absence of an ideologue like E.M.S. Namboodiripad who could suggest solutions to the problems faced by the Left in the present political situation.

Presenting a paper on ‘Kerala development: expectations and challenges’ at a national seminar on ‘World of EMS’ at Perinthalmanna, Dr. Isaac said the State should not plunge into a situation where no proper and effective decision on development could be taken.

He described the controversial SNC-Lavalin case as an issue of development. “We carried on what the UDF (United Democratic Front) government had begun in a bid to address the power crisis in the State. But, we certainly clinched much better deals with Lavalin than the UDF,” he said.

Dr. Isaac said the LDF government, unlike the UDF’s, had never implemented any major project without global tenders. “I challenge the UDF to show us a case of MoU,” the Minister said, adding that no irrigation or power project had been carried out with global tenders during the UDF regime.

Presenting a paper on ‘Democratic perspective of development,’ Prabhat Patnaik, vice-chairman of the State Planning Board, said Kerala could never replicate other States in development. “Many industries are not suited to Kerala, considering its unique ecology and land-people ratio,” he said.

“If we imitate other States, much of our freedom would be negated,” Dr. Patnaik said, adding that indiscriminate encouragement of capitalist investment would be dangerous for Kerala.

Praising the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) for ensuring labour for the unemployed, Dr. Patnaik said this scheme alone could not eradicate poverty in a State like Kerala. “We should address the poverty of not only the labourers, but also commodity producers,” he said.

He said ensuring remunerative prices to commodity producers was as important as ensuring employment for labourers. “Poverty in Kerala is, thus, of a peculiar nature,” he said. Local entrepreneurs should be identified and encouraged. The revival of public sector was a major achievement of the Left government, he said.

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