Caught between a surging COVID-19 pandemic and recurring natural calamities, Kerala is at a crossroads and facing the risk of losing its gains in human development and life standards. The expatriates from the State whose remittances drive the State’s economy are returning en masse, raising serious questions about the future of Kerala’s economy. The agricultural and industrial sectors, which were on a decline over the years, have been hit further. The tourism industry, the biggest contributor to the State’s GDP, is the worst hit.
Pandemic and natural disasters
Kerala was the first State to report a COVID-19 case in India. Sadly, it was also the first State to have officially announced community transmission of COVID-19 cases. As early as March, we had cautioned the LDF government not to treat the pandemic like the Nipah virus outbreak and come up with a mix of containment and mitigation strategies. However, the government went ahead with extreme containment measures alone. Though this contained the virus for a small period of time, it wreaked havoc on the State’s economy. The treatment of a public health hazard as a public relations exercise also created a false sense of security amongst the people. The poor emphasis on mitigation measures led to non-discovery of hidden cases and led to a second surge of cases in June. Now, Kerala is witnessing over 1,000 cases per day and some coastal villages are seeing community transmission.
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To tackle the situation, Kerala needs to ramp up its daily testing capacity to 75,000 tests a day. Mass testing in public places like markets and retail shops needs to be initiated and proper surveillance strategies are required to identify the super spreaders early. Further, mild and asymptomatic patients need to be identified and private hospitals need to be roped in as quickly as possible.
Its ironic that this government is approaching a healthcare crisis as a law and order problem. The government needs to withdraw its order of roping in the police for COVID-19 containment immediately and instead use professional healthcare workers for the same. COVID-19 cases need to be dealt with in a humane manner and not with an iron fist.
From the Ockhi cyclone in 2017 to catastrophic floods in 2018 and 2019, Kerala has been facing the brunt of natural calamities that are killing many and destroying property worth thousands of crores of rupees. The catastrophe continues this year too. About 10 days ago, landslides occurred in Pettimudi near Munnar . The death toll has increased to more than 50. It is unfortunate that the Rebuild Kerala Initiative, set up to address these issues, is a non-starter.
With the State seeing high rainfall in the last few years, the situation has aggravated further. That may have destabilised various areas that were not vulnerable previously. What Kerala requires now is an immediate blueprint on environmental land management and a landslide susceptibility map.
We may not control natural calamities but we can always control human greed and man-made disasters. This government has given licences to hundreds of illegal quarries in environmentally vulnerable areas. These need to be reviewed immediately.
Identifying the risk-prone areas of the State, ensuring that there is constant monitoring during the monsoon season, giving proper advisories to those living in risk-prone areas and ensuring their eviction during the initial signs of the calamity are also immediately required.
Not a model of governance
There are other problems too. For the first time in history, the National Investigation Agency has entered the State Secretariat with regard to a gold smuggling case . The Sprinklr controversy, where a U.S.-based firm was given the right to collect data of citizens without consent, left even the CPI(M) speechless. A communist Chief Minister tolling the bell at the London Stock Exchange for purchasing Masala bonds and the precarious dependence on foreign consultancies have also put the Left ideology in the dock.
The backdoor appointments, including of a prime accused in the gold smuggling case; complaints of plagiarism to rampant malpractices during the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) exams; and periodic expiry of PSC lists without appointments being made have even put the credibility of constitutional bodies at stake.
This government has also failed in bringing any big-ticket investments or projects to the State.
To summarise, a government which was touted as a model for alternative governance has left the citizens of the State in search of better alternatives.
Ramesh Chennithala is Leader of Opposition, Kerala Legislative Assembly
