In a first in the entire country, Kerala will soon have a sex offenders’ register and a comprehensive relief fund for sex crime survivors.
Announcing this in the course of his customary policy address to the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, Governor P. Sathasivam said the register, to be kept in the public domain, would contain all identification details of sex offenders. Interim relief would be provided to the survivors of sex crimes, children and adults, from the proposed relief fund.
The government, he said, would soon come out with a comprehensive law covering citizens’ charter, transparency, accountability and social audit, the core of which would be public service delivery. Massive reforms would be initiated to put the State on top in ‘ease of doing business'. Kerala would stick to the Five Year Plan mode.
In another first for the State, the government proposed to come out with an export policy to boost the State’s export potential.
A fast track system for clearing investment proposals would be put in place. Projects with an estimated outlay of ₹10,000 crore would be cleared by the newly formed Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board by next month.
In the tourism sector, the government would soon introduce ‘Safety App’ for tourists. Each of the five cities in the State would get metropolitan transport authority to ensure transport operations under a single command.
Mr. Sathasivam said the demonetisation move was one of the most devastating catastrophes in India’s financial history and heart-rending stories were coming in from various parts of the State on how farmers had to dump their crops, and small and marginal business and households had to give away at throwaway prices inventories built up over time.
The Governor was greeted by Opposition banners containing slogans such as ‘mafia rule’ and ‘no rice, no money, no work, no water, no pension.’ The Opposition leaders termed the policy address a ‘disappointment,’ and a reiteration of what was stated in last year’s policy address and the last budget of the LDF government.
